Kyon: Big Damn Hero

I wouldn't worry too much on Sasaki's Repetitive Name. It was created out of an out-of-universe neccessity after all.

Re. Kyon tries to sing 'Airman ga Taosenai': Nice link, thanks!

: By the way, I'm still working on the translation, but it's been slow going with time being eaten up by college work and so on.

Random thought: A while back someone commented that they thought the box of condoms Mori gave Kyon would probably come up again, because you don't introduce random elements for no reason. I happened to think of that while I was reading that chapter the other day and I realized the condoms did serve a narrative function already - they introduced us to Kyon's "ultimate hiding place," explaining why he thought to check that same place in Yamane's room when he was looking for Ryouko's "corrupted data thingy."

That's true. It looks like it fulfills the requirements for Chekhov's Gun, or it's perhaps an example of Chekhov's Gag. Now I wonder if the box of condoms will be upgraded to a Chekhov's Boomerang. It would be a first in my knowledge.

BTW, I found something in GU-4 related to the past of Kyon's parents, but I'm not sure under what trope it might go:

What do you think? Foreshadowing, "Funny Aneurysm" Moment, Chekhov's Gag or none of the above?

Yuuto and Akane are within a year or so of each other, so I don't think it's related. Maybe he was originally supposed to be older but Brian changed his mind?

IIRC, it was mentioned in the last chapter (Re-3) that Akane was very young-looking at the time Kyon was born*

I just read over it again and all it says is that it took Akane a long time to realize she was pregnant because she was "a late bloomer in some ways," and that she "wasn't physically able to care for" baby Kyon, which I took to mean she couldn't breastfeed. Neither one really tells us she looked like an 11-year-old girl, unless you're assuming flat-chestedness is indicative of that.

This feels like an odd point to be making about a fanfic based off an anime/manga style work considering I've seen other series like Negima where girls stated to be preteen and in middle school collectively have the bodies of much older girls.

Tropes page.

I deleted the following example under the trope Right for the Wrong Reasons in the main page:

I asked about it and Word of God says that Yuuto was impressed that Kyon was confident he'd want to stand by Tsuruya, with no mention of the Marry Them All scenario. Source: question, answer.

edited 4th Mar '13 10:09:40 AM by Specular

I thought the same thing about Yuuto being privy to the Marry Them All scenario. The question that immediately raises in my mind is "then what did Yuuto mean by 'There are parts of this your mother can never know about?'" The only other thing I can think of is that when Kyon brought up Mion and Keiichi, Yuuto caught on to the Yakuza half of the conversation, but based on his reaction when Tsuruya's father made it clear that his family was Yakuza it doesn't seem like he was actually privy to that either.

edited 4th Mar '13 10:19:18 AM by Eamil

That was me, I admit.

Now that means there are a few other pieces on the puzzle:

That means Yuuto learned/confirmed something he doesn't thing Akane would like. Current opinions were the Marry Them All scenario and Kyon working for the Tsuruya family Yakuza.

Well, then Kyon has a "complicated dating situation" and it isn't about the Marry Them All scenario as the Word of God you mentioned. That'd leave just the Yakuza business with the Tsuruya family...

... except neither Yuuto and Akane knew about the Tsuruya family business.

...

Exijo una explicación!^note I demand an explanation! (by the way, it's intended to sound frustrated instead of upset)

edited 4th Mar '13 11:07:55 AM by Filraen

Re. "the parts you mother can never know about"

I think Yuuto thought Kyon was talking about the Beta Harem, or at least about the relationship between Keiichi and Mion, and he was warning his son about handling that information with care around Akane, who seems to be unaware of the ongoings of the Higurashi cast. IIRC, Rika said something similar to Haruhi during the first trip to Hinamizawa.

On the subject of the extent Yuuto's knowledge, from OB-7 we know he is aware of the Sonozaki-gumi:

Although, I wonder why Yuuto learned about their background in the first place if Akane didn't believe it until recently. "Persuasion"?

Random thought.

Considering how much Irie Kyousuke helped Akane and Kyon during the Maternity Crisis in their backstory, do you think Kyon was perhaps named after him? The aversion of the One-Steve Limit would explain why Kyon got a nickname in the first place.

I'm just not sure how he could be aware of the Beta Harem and not interpret what Kyon said as admitting to a polyamorous relationship, especially after a line like "she's not the only girl I'd go that far for."

And come to think of it, Yuuto does say something about Keiichi to Kyon in an earlier chapter, but all he says is that most of Keiichi's work is funded by a Yakuza family. It seems hard to say how much he knows or doesn't know about it.

edited 4th Mar '13 6:07:35 PM by Eamil

Yuuto may be aware that something is going on; he did turn a blind eye when Kyon had to get Kanae out of the house after her first accidental teleportation. Granted, he didn't know what Kyon was doing exactly, just that it was something that Akane would likely not appreciate at all.

I'd suspect you're right on at least the nickname-deriving-from-the One-Steve Limit part, since Mion states that the One-Steve Limit is what gave Akane her disliked nicknames (Acchan? Aki-aki?) and initially alienated her from the village.

It's too indirect to really qualify as a Shout-Out but I just noticed in chapter 21 Kyon wakes up to the "unfortunately familiar ceiling" of the hospital, which made me laugh when it reminded me of the "unfamiliar ceiling" line from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

edited 8th Mar '13 2:47:40 PM by Eamil

@Grahf:

IIRC, in that scene Yuuto saw his son apparently playing a Stealth-Based Game around the house one morning and putting on his coat over his pajamas. From just that, I wouldn't be too sure about what to think in Yuuto's place. Kanae's visit a few minutes later makes things more suspicious, but not too much IMO.

@Taper:

Now you mention it, I wonder if (just like Kyon) Akane got a recurrent nickname. Considering that she was born before the Maebara family arrived to Hinamizawa, most likely her and Sonozaki Akane's given names are not written with the same kanji*

@Eamil:

Actually, I thought the same thing when I read that line. Perhaps it might count as a Shout-Out.

Unrelated.

I mentioned this before, but how do you think Tsuruya Kenshiro is handling the reveal of the Big Damn Harem?

Assuming that it was Shinobu who did the honors, it makes sense that he's remaining quiet about it. After all, if someone who is dedicating her life to atone for the death of Tsuruya's mother tells him that something is in the Tsuruya's best interest, he should at least listen. I'm still wondering how exactly that conversation went, though.

From an old post of mine:

Now that I think about it, from a purely pragmatical standpoint, it would still make sense for Kenshiro to turn a blind eye to Kyon's "dating situation" even if he has a problem with it. That's because, IMO, at this point Kyon represents a potentially very profitable investment even if it's not in the typical sense of the word.

I mean, as a member of a crime family, Kyon is an interesting mix of competence, charisma and lack of ambition. His martial prowess or planning skill alone made him a valuable asset, but I think his real value lies in the kind of reputation that he gathers with them. For example: if you are his enemy, you don't send a half-assed force against him with a half-baked plan because he will crush you, but at the same time you don't have too much to fear if you don't go out of your way to provoke him.

With Kyon's allies in the Yamaguchi-gumi, I think things work in a similar manner: it's unlikely that someone will disregard Kyon's opinion offhandedly, no matter how young or inexperienced he may be on the paper, because it's easy to tell he is too smart and level-headed to ask for something nonsensical or unfeasible. Also, high ranking members have little to worry about due to that fact Kyon is not after a higher position in the hierarchy and he seems to be content with working for Tsuruya-hime in a Lady and Knight kind of way.

I think these are one too many sleep-induced random thoughts, so I better stop now. See you later.

You know, I didn't think of it before, but I guess that Akane's backstory also explains why Nonoko still looks 10 when she's almost 13(?).

12, I think. She was 11 in the baseball tournament in "Boredom."

And Akane might've been a late bloomer but I doubt she was that late.... Honestly Nonoko looks more like 7 or 8 than 10 to me. She fit herself inside a duffel bag in the anime.

She's so small because she doesn't eat enough vegetables.

So by extension, Kyon owes his existence to his mother's dislike for vegetables?

(Though if you think about it, if that distaste existed/exists, it may be why she's still such a lousy cook.)

Edit: I've deleted an extended rambling about the conversation Specular brought up above — because I completely forgot that it'd been previously mentioned and wrote as if I were noticing something novel. Um. This is the first time I've managed to bring up a point on which I was not merely ninja'd, but time-machine ninja'd.

edited 16th Mar '13 1:34:17 AM by Taper

He meant Nonoko, not Akane. And I'm still kind of scratching my head at the assumption that "late bloomer" automatically means she was as bad as Nonoko.

edited 16th Mar '13 1:38:55 AM by Eamil

@Taper:

So by extension, Kyon owes his existence to his mother's dislike for vegetables?

That wording...

Do you think we could say that kbdh!Earth owes its continued existence to Kyon's actions and, indirectly, to every circumstance surrounding his childhood, including the Teen Pregnancy and the fact that the Higurashi cast acted as his surrogate parents?

I mean, if there is something that Kyon took after his extended family, it has to be his faith in the Power of Friendship. Without it, I don't think he would have sticked around Haruhi at the beginning of the story or to try to help Yuki after he learned more about her.

Makes me wonder if Time Travelers had a hand in ensuring that Kyon's birth went as it did. It reminds me of the Midwives Fraternity in Continuum. IMO, it would be funny if Kyon discover that Mikuru had/will have a hand in his parents' first meeting.

I didn't see the post, but it sounds more like a case of Strange Minds Think Alike.

@Eamil:

I think it's a sum of hints and educated guesses. For example, when Mion used the expression "late bloomer" it sounded a lot as if she was making an effort to phrase it as politely as possible and, barring diseases or a bad diet, a slow/delayed growing is most likely a genetic trait.

Random thoughts.

Considering that Yuuto and Akane are in fact around 32-33 years old, do you think they would want to have a third child? (Bonus Points if it's a girl. Nonoko acting as the 'onee-chan' would be just too funny/adorable IMO). I mean, money wouldn't be an issue if the Tsuruya family gives Yuuto a better-paid job.

BTW, I must admit I still haven't given up on the idea of Yuuto and Akane joining the Yakuza. It's just that the mental image of Akane and Mori glaring down/smiling at a mook, with Kasai in his Cool Shades cracking his knuckles just a few steps behind them and Yuuto just sighing and/or face-palming as if saying "Not Again" with his body language ranks very high in my book.

Another thing I found myself wondering about is what kind of date plans (involving special powers or not) the Brigade could come up with if they ever find the time to go through with them. For example, things like Kuyou taking Kyon to her Shadow Song to show him how she cooks asteroid-sized cookies, having a picnic on Mars' surface (Peraea Mons sounds like a nice place), visiting the nicest library in the world (I think Kyon still owes that date to Yuki), etc. On the more mundane side of things, the idea of Kyon taking Kuyou to a concert of a philharmonic orchestra is oddly appealing to me for some reason.

For kicks-and-giggles: Taniguchi learning that Mikuru has a "twin sister", preferably in presence of Yanagimoto and "Shutaro".

@Eamil:

My reasoning:

• "wasn't even... physically able to care for" boils down to either a failure to lactate or some kind of extended hospital stay due to injury in childbirth. Since Kyon was delivered right there in the middle of the festival (no evac, no caesarian), I'm leaning towards the former, but either indicates lack of development.
• The description of how it took Akane quite a while to figure out she was pregnant — until she was around six months along, based on Yuuto's travel timing — indicates that— well. The stereotypical way for a woman to find out that she's pregnant is to miss her period. The time lag suggests that Akane hadn't started to menstruate yet, or that she had barely started and was very irregular. "Catching" on your first ovulation can happen. (And might explain why neither Yuuto nor Akane thought about individual foil-wrapped protection, or they might have just been dumb kids.)

I'm not suggesting that Akane looked 8 years old at age 15, of course, but something like Kanae's situation (Taniguchi's comment about "she's kind of cute, in that pettanko, lolicon way" comes to mind) seems quite likely.

edited 17th Mar '13 5:05:01 PM by Taper

I agree with what you're saying overall, it's just that Nonoko's case is really, really extreme, more so than I'd expect even from Akane's situation. TBH her character design has always bothered me in that regard even just from watching the anime, so it's not like I'm not really opinionated to start with.

edited 17th Mar '13 10:09:51 PM by Eamil

So, guess who showed up◊ in the Yuki-chan spinoff. She looks cute with glasses.

P.S. Please let me know if the image link works. I got incredibly sick of Photobucket's shit, so I got dropbox.

edited 18th Mar '13 1:16:36 AM by Grahf