Mayhaps the reason that we don't notice the Cerebus Syndrome is because the Cerebus Rollercoaster trope is in effect*, so the story is able to switch gears between comedy and drama quickly and effortlessly, to the point where it is difficult to notice at first glance, kitsu...
edited 29th Aug '12 8:35:15 PM by MadKitsu
I have returned, and my vacation in the void was so boring...KBDH has Breather Episodes, but it never really goes back into fluffy-mode.
edited 29th Aug '12 9:03:55 PM by Savoie
![]()
![]()
Let me put it this way - you've suggested that Cerebus Syndrome is in effect because Wham Episodes have happened that raised the stakes on the consequences of the dramatic segments. I personally think it would be in effect if more of those consequences actually happened - for example, if Kyon had had to recover naturally after being shot rather than being instantly healed by Yuki and back to business as usual. The only one I can think of that really delivered on this was Sasaki's kidnapping - they're still dealing with the fallout of that, while the thwarted extradimensional invasion was pretty much over after it happened. If there's been an overall shift in the story's tone, I think that's where it happened. On top of having to repeatedly rescue Sasaki (and even Haruhi) afterwards, everything that's happened as a result of the initial kidnapping has already caused more tension between the personal relationships of (some of) the SOS Brigade's members than we've seen in the entire story up until then.
I'm not trying to argue about it, btw, just offering my own point of view.
edited 29th Aug '12 9:36:01 PM by Eamil
@Marq FJA:
Why the Serious Mode (a.k.a. Let's Get Dangerous!)?
Just in case anyone want it, you can find the source of the symbol here
(SVG).
Re: Cerebus Syndrome
I don't think Cerebus Syndrome applies in K:BDH's case. I mean, right after the In Medias Res Action Prologue we are presented with the threat of Yuki's scheduled deletion followed closely by the end of The Masquerade. IMO, on one hand it was clear from the beginning that the main characters would be confronted with big problems and they would need rise up to the challenge to overcome them, but on the other hand the reader could be reasonably certain they would manage to do it.
Random picture.
For some reason this sketch
reminded me of K:BDH the moment I saw it. IMO, it's a likely visualization of how the characters could look in the future of the story*.
I think he meant Sincerity Mode rather than Serious Mode.
Well, I was trying to emphasize that my compliment was completely serious, and that I was incredulous at your suggestion that it's so bad, we should never talk about or mention it again; but yeah, Sincerity Mode would've worked better.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Really? I seriously thought it wasn't good at all. Still, I didn't noticed until I looked it up but the story describes Kyon's pin of affiliation as "a golden crane with tiny diamond eyes on a sharp green five-sided backdrop" (HAB-3), so perhaps something like
this
◊ would be more appropriated.
Suggestion for the main page.
I was thinking of making use of the abbreviations for the arcs names (the ones from the timeline
) in the tropes page to replace things like "Calm Before The Storm Chapter 1" for its short form "CBS-1". As I see it, it would be only required to include the meanings of the initials in the header of the page and some judicious usage of regular expressions, but I'm not sure whether it's a good idea or not.
What do you think?
Random question.
IIRC, there are recordings of Kyon kissing Mikuru, Kanae and Haruhi. Does he know about them? If he doesn't, how do you think he would react if he learns about it?
My K:BDH Recursive FanfictionI suggested on the discussion page ages ago (before I started posting here) that we start using the chapter numbers. I've always found "X arc chapter Y" to be a really confusing label, but I can see how it made sense when FF.net was the main place to go for this fic. Using abbreviations sounds like it would be even more confusing, so if we're going to change them at all, I'd like to suggest we just go with "Chapter 1, Chapter 6, Chapter 31," and so on rather than referring to the arcs.
Also, I'm pretty sure he doesn't know about any of those recordings. I was gonna say he probably knew about the one of him kissing Kanae, but then I remembered what he heard was Haruhi complaining that she didn't have her camera ready. I don't think he ever found out (on-screen at least) that Yuki got a recording.
edited 1st Sep '12 1:44:22 PM by Eamil
Now I think about it, the chapter number is perhaps more informative to the casual reader of the tropes' page. I'm probably think differently only because I'm used to correlate events with the corresponding Story Arc.
After checking I'm somewhat sure that Kyon has no idea about the recordings. I also noticed that Haruhi and Kanae (I'm not sure about Yuki) seems to be still unaware of pictures that Mikuru and Tsuruya took of each other and send to Kyon in early chapters (aka Kyon's Porn Stash). IMO, it would be an awkward yet amusing moment if both reveals took place at the same time
My inner fanboy can't help but wonder if in that situation Kuyou would decide to follow the girls' example and send her photo to Kyon. For some reason I visualize Kuyou doing a little research before taking the picture, just like Chii in this fanart
◊.
And Now For Something Completely Different, a random piece of trivia I found in a file
◊ from the game Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi
.
| Name | : | Suzumiya Haruhi |
| Phone number | : | ○△△×–⬜××○ |
| Birthday | : | October 8th |
| Constellation | : | Libra |
| Height | : | 158cm (5′ 2″) |
| Weight | : | 44kg (97 pounds) |
| Blood type | : | AB |
| Club activity | : | SOS club (sic) |
| Likes | : | Looking for the strange |
| Favorability twds MC | : | Normal |
| Imouto's comments | : | The chief of the SOS club seems to be famous |
I don't precisely have a chart handy, but that seems a rather low weight for her height.
Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)Well. I have little experience here, and no chart. But a friend of mine from judo was 5'2" and about 120 pounds, and she was noticeably very thin. I have to imagine that someone at 5'2" and 90 pounds would have ribs showing.
Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)According to this article
, the average body mass index (BMI) for a Japanese woman is 20.34 [kg/m²], which means that someone of Haruhi's height should weigh around 50.78 kg (111.9 lbs).
Anime and videogame characters (male and female alike) are usually very light for their specified height, I mean, in the cases where character designers actually bother themselves with numbers*. Just to give an example, I still remember jokingly wondering if Saber weight herself
◊ on a small body of water.
Birthdays.
Actually, the thing that piques my curiosity about my last post is Haruhi's birthday. It makes me wonder how the Brigade could handle the birthday parties of its members in K:BDH. To be precise, I'm talking about how they could determinate when to hold them.
Haruhi (Oct 8), Kyon (Jun 19), Tsuruya (Dec 6), Kanae (?) and Koizumi (?) surely would celebrate their birthday on the proper date, but what about the rest?
It wouldn't surprise me if Yuki chooses July 7th for her birthday instead of whenever her "activation time" was (or whatever date her in-story official records says). Disappearance gave me the impression that only after Kyon said "wait for us in the Literature Club room until then" she gained an actual reason to measure the passage of time.
For Kuyou I suppose Tanabata could work too because I'm guessing that the message "I am here" from Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody has a special meaning to her.
For Ryouko, how about June 7th because of "stupid feelings!"?
Mikuru's case is somewhat tricky. For all we know her birthday could be on Gemini 3rd
and every 686.98 days
. Time Travel further complicates matters. How about going for April 17th just to define an annual event and have a good excuse to celebrate the end of The Masquerade?
Oh boy. Here we go...
I get the feeling that we're about to see Tsuruya's Start of Darkness in the next chapter or so. Just before the trip to Hinamizawa too! Surely nothing too horrible could happen in a village with such an innocent and spotless history!
More seriously, I doubt it'll get that bad. I don't really think (or hope) that Tsuruya goes Shion on anyone.
I'd mention Sasaki learning about the mascaraed, but I think that was already discussed a lot when I was last on a few weeks ago.
And there should be a influx of chatter in this forum incoming within the day, kitsu. For now though, let's read on and wait for the reactions...
Edit: Gah, I've been ninja'd! The influx came faster than I expected!
edited 3rd Sep '12 3:29:44 PM by MadKitsu
I have returned, and my vacation in the void was so boring...YAY NEW CHAPTER
Commentary below.
Holy SHIT. Now I just want to hug Shinobu.
"He ... has been brought around to accepting that it is Haruka-chan's choice and it makes her happy" Heh, awesome as always.
Tsuruya is infecting Sasaki. Everything going as planned. :D
Join us, Sasaki~! We have cookies! Kuyou bakes them.
"Saki-nyan" Yup, she's in.
That's right, Sasaki. Open your mind. Who knows what you'll find.
And now the most important of SOS Brigade pastimes - Trope-tan!
Wakey wakey, Kyon.
His mother rolled her eyes while Kyon just wondered when his sister had become so devious. Just curious about what it was she did that was "devious". She did many funny things there, but...
Food is the way to go.
Yay! Yuki gets lap time!
"There is a spare seat." *internally* "Do you really have to show off, Kyon?" I wonder if Kuyou's timing there was on purpose.
Oh dear god, she's feeding him. I thought I reset my cuteness limiter a while ago, and it's already being busted.
And Kanae and Haruhi now. Love this freaking story.
Heh. Yanigimoto figuring out more and more than was ever intended. Also liked her getting close enough to Genre Savvy to realize she and Sakanaka are Those Two Girls for Haruhi, and being perfectly content with it. Not sure about her thinking the Tenchi Solution is just a cover story, though.
Oh, Tani-baka, how can you manage to so amazingly stumble into being perfectly right.
Ooh, Saki-nyan's got some mother issues. Why does that seem familiar?
Uh oh. What the heck's Tsuruya doing now? Still, at least she was smart enough to bring Yuki. I doubt they're gonna be able to do anything too bad with Yuki there and no Sasaki to block her powers.
All in all, another good chapter to add to the gigantic pile. Can't wait to see what happens next!
edited 3rd Sep '12 7:39:55 PM by thedarkfreak
@End of the chapter: Hoo boy, this is not going to end well.
I doubt they're actually in any real danger, as noted above, but this is going to backfire horribly in some way. The most likely result is Sumiyoshi-rengo attacks escalating even more, if not Tsuruya getting herself and/or Kyon in trouble with the Yamaguchi-gumi's leader. What would be the consequences of the latter, I wonder?
I don't think it will be her Start of Darkness though. She's the type to learn her lesson after making a mistake.
@Most of the rest of the chapter: SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Special mention goes to Yuki feeding Kyon while sitting in his lap. Now there's a mental image to giggle about while I try to sleep tonight.
I swear this whole fanfic is like 50% Fanservice for people who prefer adorable to sexy.
Edit: Did I just squee so hard the forums felt a need to add a pause for breath in the middle?
edited 3rd Sep '12 10:54:15 PM by Eamil
Glad to see someone else here is aware of just what is likely going to happen when the aftermath of Tsuruya's walk-in starts to blow through. Not only is this going to give the Haru-tachi trouble in the source of Shinobu Tsukasa, but I think Tsuruya-sama is going to be giving them grief after this, too.
Also, that's just what'll happen if they do get out without trouble. If they do get captured, not only will this be a stressor for Kyon, but there may also be a possibility that there is an IDSE interface over there, especially if they are still being manipulated. And that's even discounting the fact that Akasaka still has the case on the Sumiyoshi-rengo open, so if she has surveillance capability there (which is likely, due to Murphy's Law), she just might decide she has enough evidence to re-open her case against Kyon again.
Other than that... Well, Shinobu certainly had a... interesting story. I don't think anyone bet on her being Tsuruya's aunt, either.
The scenes of the nakama getting comfortable were all squee-worthy, like always.
And I have to say, that scene with Sakanaka and Yanagimoto was great. Seeing such a deconstruction makes character PO Vs interesting, even if it is those two girls.

Indeed, that was sort of the point I was laboring (unsuccessfully and on zero sleep) to make: the story certainly started out lighthearted (not out-and-out comedy, but that's not a requirement), but has been steadily amping up the dramatic elements through a series of well-paced WHAM Episodes. If we postulate that line C exists, where C-1 is Ante-Cerebus (AC) and C+1 is Post-Cerebus (PC)*, there is inevitably some trigger within the story that causes a fundamental shift. The problem lies solely in identifying that point.
edited 29th Aug '12 6:59:43 PM by Savoie