Haruhi Suzumiya/Characters: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

 

These are the characters that appear in the ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' series of anime and light novels. A warning: this series is [[Troperrific|the poster child of tropes]], so entries could get a bit long.

 

 

 

[[File:HaruhiSuzumiya.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|Voiced by: [[Aya Hirano]] (JP), [[Wendee Lee]] (EN)}}

An eccentric, [[Genre Savvy]], [[Genki Girl|hyperactive]] young woman who enrolls in North High in her first year. She starts off the plot by roping in an unwitting Kyon into forming a club with her, the "'''S'''preading Excitement All '''O'''ver the World With Haruhi '''S'''uzumiya Brigade", or the '''SOS Brigade''' for short. Her eccentricity stems from the fact that she can't come to terms with the fact that she's not a special person, so she spends every day trying to look for something out of the ordinary.

 

 

The story essentially revolves around the antics caused by her powers, directly or indirectly, and the [[Character Development]] which ensues within the SOS Brigade.

* [[Agent Mulder]]: Or she'd like to be. Her inner [[Agent Scully]] keeps her from [[Weirdness Censor|actually recognizing the weirdness around her.]] When Kyon actually tells her about the truth about herself and the other members, she doesn't believe him at all and scorns him for it.

* [[Allergic to Routine]]

* [[Ambiguous Situation]]: Numerous points, but these are the two biggest: One, is she really God as Koizumi suggested early in the story? She seems mortal enough and it's implied she didn't always have her powers. However, is that really a meaningful question considering her implied omnipotence? Two, did she {{spoiler|rewrite the universe}} at the end of the first novel/season of the anime? Even the characters instory don't know.

* [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other]]: Often has these moments with Kyon or Mikuru.

* [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]]: The slider is frequently omitted from quotations of her famous first line.

* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: That's the whole point of the Kyon/Haruhi ship. Haruhi's a [[Jerkass Woobie]], Kyon's a [[Tsundere]] who doesn't dare beat up the universe's equivalent of a deity.

* [[Berserk Button]]: An upskirt directed at Mikuru, be it ever so accidental, has set her off at least once.

*** It's also very clear she wants Kyon in the worst possible way too.

* [[Black Comedy Rape]]: With molestation rather outright rape.

* [[Broken Bird]]: One that manifests her disillusionment at the world through cheery obnoxious behavior.

** She appears to be one when Kyon first sees her in the alternate world in the Disappearance film. While she seems normal, you can clearly tell she's not very happy with life.

* [[Compliment Backfire]]: Every attempt to compliment her fails and she can't stand criticism so she winds up in the arms of the [[Silent Snarker]].

* [[Cosplay Otaku Girl]]: Not your typical [[Otaku]], but the girl loves her costumes. And her [[Anime]] [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]].

* [[Cruella to Animals]]: Unfortunately her bumbling henchman Kyon can't figure out how to get 101 hamsters.

* {{spoiler|[[Crucified Hero Shot]]: Gets one at the hands of Kuyo near the end of ''Astonishment Vol. 2''.}}

* [[Crystal Dragon Jesus]]: And just like in Christianity, debates rage over her nature as God and girl.

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: Normally she would qualify as merely [[Genre Savvy]]. However, her abilities to shape the fabric of reality itself to her will means that any genres she thinks should apply to a given situation suddenly WILL apply.

* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Well, '''duh'''.

* {{spoiler|[[Deicide]]: A near-victim of this during the climax of ''Astonishment Vol. 2''.}}

* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]: What the other three members of the SOS brigade fear would happen should something drastic happen, particularly to Kyon.

* [[Eyes of Gold]]

* [[Fan Nickname]]: "[[God-Emperor|God Empress]]" Haruhi

* [[Faux Action Girl]]: Invoked in-universe. She can deliver a flying kick to the head to the [[Chew Toy]], but she can't be called on to help with the fights that are being kept from her because...''they're being kept from her.''

* [[Loveable Rogue]]: Kyon is careful to not ask where all the stuff in the clubroom comes from.

* [[Magic Skirt]]: Never gets so much as a [[Panty Shot]] despite her reputation as an [[Innocent Fanservice Girl]].

* [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]]: She takes the job seriously enough to graph out how he's failed to progress, even after a year of her hard work.

* [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds]]: Several times, Haruhi endangers the universe without realizing it.

** It's strongly implied that she destroyed the universe [[Arc Number|3 years ago]], and replaced it with one more to her liking.

* [[Moment Killer]]: Will happily bend the laws of space and time just to keep Kyon from talking to other girls. Has berserk superhuman strength when he seems to be writing love letters to other girls.

* [[Mood Swinger]]

* [[Murder the Hypotenuse|Molest the Hypotenuse]]: Reacts coldly to girls that Kyon seems to favor. It gets worse when he then jumps to their defense.

* [[Naughty Is Good]]: Well, to her it is.

* [[Never My Fault]]: Even [[Peanuts|Lucy van Pelt]] apologizes more often than Haruhi. Of course Haruhi is never even told of most of the things she does.

* [[No Sense of Personal Space]]

* [[No Such Thing as Space Jesus]]: Most brigade members question God being one of us, rather than above the clouds.

* [[Parody Sue]]: Of [[God Mode Sue]] and [[Jerk Sue]]

* [[Pet the Dog]]: As the series progresses, she reveals that [[Character Development|she genuinely cares for her friends.]]

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: In episode 2 of the anime, but it got [[Sound Effect Bleep|bleeped]]. Unabridged quote below:

{{quote|'''Haruhi''': Then I'll tell everyone at school that all you geeks ganged up on her and fucked her!}}

* [[Reality Warper]]: Although she doesn't realize it, but maybe its for the best.

* [[Really Gets Around]]: A mild example, since in middle school Haruhi had the tendency to date every guy who confessed to her. Even if the relationship would only last ''five minutes''.

* [[Serious Business]]: To Haruhi, ''everything'' is [[Serious Business]].

* [[A Simple Plan]]: Form a club, pass out flyers, win a baseball game, make a movie. There must be a conspiracy sabotaging each of her simple plans.

* [[Shameless Fanservice Girl]]: She doesn't care if guys see her naked. Kyon concludes that mentally she views them as being the same as potatos. The point where she starts kicking Kyon out of the room when changing is therefore pretty telling on her part.

* [[Skepticism Failure]]: Haruhi ''causes'' skepticism to fail.

* [[Skirt Over Slacks]]: Briefly in ''Disappearance'', when she's changing into Kyon's tracksuit. When trying to fit the skirt of her uniform underneath, she fails miserably, basically says "Ah, forget it!" and drops the skirt entirely.

* [[Start My Own]]: Her motivation for this after Kyon talks to her a little about how people adapted or created things to suit their needs.

* [[Stepford Smiler]]: Demonstrates this after finding Nakagawa's written love confession to Yuki. She does it again in "The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina".

* [[Strange Girl]]

* [[Supreme Chef]]

* [[Team Mom]]: Yes, really! {{spoiler|Especially in the first chapter of Vol. 10, where she takes care of a sick Nagato.}} Also, when she plays with a bunch of kids in Endless Eight.

** In Snowy Mountain Syndrome she almost overbearingly insists on caring for {{spoiler|Nagato, even overriding Yuki's claims of being okay now.}}

* [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]]/[[Villain Protagonist]]: She [[Character Development|gets better]].

* [[Who Wears Short Shorts?]]: Sometimes, most notably in "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", "Remote Island Syndrome", and "Endless Eight". The rest of the time she wears a [[Magic Skirt]]. One imagines she'll wear a long dress exactly one time.

* [[Zettai Ryouiki]]: [[Justified Trope|Only in the winter, though.]]

 

{{quote|Voiced by: [[Tomokazu Sugita]] (JP), [[Crispin Freeman]] (EN)}}

 

{{quote|''"The question of how long someone believed in Santa Claus is a worthless topic that would never come up in idle conversation. Having said that, if you're going to ask me how much of my childhood I spent believing in an old man in a red suit, I can confidently say that I never believed in him to begin with."''}}

 

 

Unfortunately for him, his curiosity gets the better of him when he is introduced to irritable [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Haruhi Suzumiya, and they strike up a sort of friendship, which eventually leads to him being the first member inducted into her bizarre [[Five-Man Band|"SOS Brigade"]], a club dedicated to finding all those things Kyon refuses to believe exist.

 

Kyon [[Unreliable Narrator|presents himself in the narration]] as a [[Blatant Lies|levelheaded, objective, philosophical guy]].

* [[Accidental Pervert]]: Although his thoughts regarding Mikuru sometimes move toward [[Covert Pervert]] territory.

* [[Action Survivor]]: Several times. One of the most dramatic ones being when he's attacked by Asakura, which causes some severe [[Mood Whiplash]]

* [[Badass]]: All things considered.

** [[Badass Boast]]: The message he gave to the Data Entity. {{spoiler|"If anything happens to Yuki Nagato; I will let all hell break loose." He tells Yuki to tell the Data Entity that if it ever remotely thought of punishing her; he'll tell Haruhi everything. And make her believe it with "I am John Smith." Then he and the SOS would go as far as destroying existence and rebuilding it to get Yuki back. Oh, and the rebuilt reality would not have the Data Entity in it.}}

** [[Badass Normal]]: It´s really impressive, how far a humble human being can get just by saying the [[Trust Password|right words]] at the right time.

* [[Beleaguered Assistant]]

* [[Cassandra Truth]]: Kyon stutters out an explanation of the SOS Brigade to Haruhi in the prologue of ''Sigh''. She doesn't buy a word of it. Obviously.

* [[The Comically Serious]]

* [[Character Development]]: As mentioned under [[Pinball Protagonist]] Kyon goes from being incredibly [[Brilliant but Lazy]] to much more assertive and active in the story's action. This is because his lack of action and over-reliance on the other SOS Brigade members (especially Yuki) lead to the events in ''Disappearance.''

* [[Chick Magnet]]: He seems to be one due to the fact all the girls like him.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Dear God, ''the'' [[Deadpan Snarker]].

** Taken to hilarious extremes in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7bQG6LcMDY his version of Hare Hare Yukai] in his [[Image Song]] album, where he keeps interjecting in between ''his own singing'' to snark at the lyrics.

* [[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?]]: Both the novel and the anime play with this. In the novel, Kyon's dialogue is very rarely formatted as such, leaving it indistinguishable from his usual narration. The only way to tell if he's either saying or thinking something is from his interlocutors' responses. The anime achieves this effect by having his mouth offscreen during these parts. In both cases, it is the audience that is meant to be confused, Kyon himself never makes the mistake.

* [[Dismotivation]]: One might ask himself if he's gonna be an [[Almighty Janitor]] someday.

* [[Even the Guys Want Him]]: [[Memetic Mutation|Everyone is Itsuki for Kyon!]]

* [[Face Palm]]: Often does one anytime Haruhi brings up her crazy ideas for the SOS brigade.

* [[Filming for Easy Dub]]: Used in the anime to recreate the novels' lack of distinction between Kyon's thoughts, narration and speech.

* [[First-Name Basis]]: With Haruhi.

{{quote|I did not want to remember that bespectacled Literature Club member who wore a troubled face in front of an outdated computer at a time like this. Seeing her in my dreams at night is enough. }}

* [[Foil]]: Arguably the whole point of the Haruhi/Kyon relationship is how their opposing personalities come to a balance.

* [[Gratuitous English]]: Dubbed in one instance into [[Gratuitous Japanese]].

* [[Grumpy Bear]]

* {{spoiler|[[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice]]}}: In the fourth novel/[[The Movie]].

* [[Inner Monologue]]: All the time.

* [[It's All My Fault]]: He feels personally responsible for the events of ''Disappearance'' as even though the Integrated Data Thought Entity failed to give Yuki a more complete personality (which put a strain on her) he decides that his over-reliance on her was the straw that broke the camel's back.

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Despite his snarky dismissal of, well, everything and everybody, Kyon is a deeply compassionate person who treats everyone equally and seriously in thought, if not in action. This applies whether they're a normal student, a [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|living computer]], or God.

{{quote|'''Kyon:''' [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Position target in the center, pull the switch.]]}}

* [[Meaningful Name]]: [[wikipedia:Cynic|according to Wikipedia]], Kyon's nickname might come from κύων / kyôn, Ancient Greek for "dog", from where the word "cynic" may come from. Another possibility: Haruhi in the novels loves the story of Tanabata, involving a romance between a man and a woman separated and only allowed to meet once a year; the Korean name for the man can be romanized as 'Kyonu'.

* [[Meta Guy]]

* [[Morality Chain]]: To Haruhi.

'''Kyon:''' (out loud) Why would anyone care what I look like when I'm sleeping or when I'm waking up? }}

** Itsuki [[Lampshade Hanging|points out Haruhi's attraction a few times]], once to tell Kyon that he and Haruhi are the new [[Adam and Eve Plot|Adam and Eve]], and then later telling Kyon to embrace Haruhi from behind then whisper "I love you" into her ear. Kyon reacts angrilly, at which point Itsuki tells him it's a joke.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: He likes to think of himself as this, though it probably should be taken with a pinch of salt.

** It should also be noted that he accepts the eccentricities around him quite well. He claims it's because too much evidence has been thrown in his face for him to deny it, but overall he gets used to the idea of all this fantastic stuff around him much faster than any normal person would.

* [[Ordinary High School Student]]: Or so he would like to think. But the other SOS members, particularly Koizumi, constantly have to remind us that there's more to him than this trope alone.

** In the seventh novel Koizumi offers to train Kyon to be an esper. Apparently there are not a whole bunch of other persons who can be trained.

* [[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory]]: In ''Disappearance'', for [[Epileptic Trees|unclear reasons]]. {{spoiler|May have been intentional on the part of Nagato in order to give him a choice in the matter, but the fact that he needs protection from the reality warp when [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|he goes back in time to stop it]] leaves this in doubt.}}

** {{spoiler|There's doubt about this? Yuki says outright at the end of the movie that while she couldn't prevent herself from rewriting reality, she COULD ensure that Kyon would be unaffected. The reason he needs protection when he goes back is because her failsafe was used up when Kyon chose to activate it at the famous READY? prompt. The program said that once it was run it would be deleted, so it time-travelled him outside the sphere of effect at his choice. Presumably had he chosen to stay, he would have subsequently be subjected to the re-write (as seen in the spin-off manga).}}

* [[Role Playing Game Terms]]: In the novels, Kyon often makes tongue-in-cheek references to his HP and MP and Haruhi's negative effects on both.

* [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|Screw What I Said I Wanted I'm Doing What's Right]]: Kyon's personal theory as to why Yuki granted him his [[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory]] in ''Disappearance'', because he would choose to do the right thing and stop her despite being granted his fantasy.

* [[Secret Keeper]]

* [[True Companions]]: Starting around the third through fifth published books.

* [[True Love's Kiss]]: Sort of.

* [[Tsundere]]

* [[Unfazed Everyman]]

* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: Essays can be written here.

* [[Unwanted Harem]]: It's perfectly easy to make the case that everyone in the SOS Brigade, ''even Itsuki'' (what with the [[Ship Tease|sheer amount of]] [[Ho Yay]]), is out for him. Though somewhat subverted in that he actually WANTS Mikuru, who is '''not''' the archetypal "first girl" of the Harem. He has also expressed interest in Yuki. Most of all, he did make out with Haruhi, which is followed by him cursing away at his subconscious, and noting that it doesn't take Freud to comprehend the dream.

* [[What Beautiful Eyes!]]: At least according to {{spoiler|Kuyo, in her first coherent sentence ever.}}

* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: Answer: [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|exactly the same]].

* [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl]]: But Haruhi seriously pushes it, once or twice.

 

{{quote|Voiced by: [[Minori Chihara]] (JP), [[Michelle Ruff]] (EN)}}

 

[[The Reveal|Actually]], she's an advanced [[Artificial Human]] [[Robot Girl]] controlled by a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] known as the Data Overmind, which exists on a mostly non-physical level. Her purpose (and that of her fellow Humanoid Interfaces) is to observe Haruhi and her [[Reality Warper]] powers. Her [[Character Development]] stems from her continuing closeness to Kyon, to the point that her loyalty ultimately lies towards him and the SOS Brigade.

 

* [[Adorkable]]: Few people make dopey ignorance towards Earth-Technology so darned cute, as show with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHZmor8eadU&feature=related THIS little old scene].

* {{spoiler|[[And I Must Scream]]: Her fate during the "Endless Eight" arc, in which she is forced to relive the same 2 weeks for approximately 595 YEARS!}}

* [[Big Fancy House]]: The huge sparse apartment in the anime is a downgrade from the three bedroom spread she has in the novels.

* [[Bob Haircut]]

* [[Character Development]]: Her development goes in the direction of emotions and individuality. In one of the later novels, she {{spoiler|refuses to synchronize with her self from a different time, in order to retain her individuality.}} She flat out ''says'' {{spoiler|"Because I don't want to."}} She also begins to treat the SOS-dan more akin to [[True Companions]], going from caring about Kyon in particular, to ''also'' caring about the rest of the members.

** Some of this may be due to Kyon becoming an expert Yuki watcher or projecting his feelings on what he sees from her. For example when he's feeling guilty about a date with Mikuru he sees Yuki as being colder than usual towards him.

* [[Magic From Technology]]: Yuki's powers are described as "magic" but basically come from post-mechanical technology overwriting local reality. As a bonus, her "incantations" are Microsoft SQL scripts sped up and backwards.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Yuki's given name is obviously meant to evoke "snow", especially given her hinted-at backstory and [[Image Song]], but is written with the kanji for "hope".

* [[Nerds Are Sexy]]: Yuki and her large fanbase ''within'' the story.

* [[Never Gets Drunk]]: Yuki is shown to be capable of downing several glasses of wine without so much as a stagger.

** In ''Melancholy'', she claims that she will not travel through time. {{spoiler|She prefers cross-temporal synchronisation.}} However, it's unclear if this means that she permanently lacks the ability to travel in time, whether she's generally capable of doing so but unable or unwilling at that time, or whether she simply hasn't learned how to do it (given her remark that time travel is "not difficult"). In ''Disappearance'', Nagato says that {{spoiler|she cannot accompany Kyon and future Asahina back to December 18 because she must stay and guard their time-frozen past selves in her guest room}}, and for all we know, this may be the only reason for her statement in ''Melancholy''.

*** In the novels after ''Disappearance'', {{spoiler|Yuki reveals to Kyon that she has voluntarily had the Entity restrict her time-related powers, because synchronizing with her future self robbed her of the ability to freely choose her fate.}}

* [[Prescience Is Predictable]]

* [[Purely Aesthetic Glasses]]: Until she loses the glasses.

* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: The girly girl to Haruhi's tomboy and the tomboy to Mikuru's girly girl.

* [[True Companions]]: It is made obvious several times that she will ''not'' stay neutral when the Brigade members are in danger, even though her task is to simply observe.

* [[Understatement]]: Nagato's [[Silent Bob|laconic nature]], [[The Stoic|lack of affect]] when she ''does'' speak, and way of explaining things in [[Spock Speak|overly technical terms]], can make even the most earth-shattering pronouncements seem rather trivial. This occasionally seems to mask a depth of feeling not present on the surface: after determining that {{spoiler|Kyon's old friend Nakagawa fell for her based on a misunderstanding}}, she says it was "a little bit" disappointing. Coming from ''her'', this could easily be the equivalent of "devastated".

* [[When She Smiles]]: The first poster for the movie shot her Moe levels OVER NINE THOUSAAAND!

* [[The Worf Effect]]: The threat posed by the {{spoiler|Sky Canopy Domain}} is illustrated by how quickly they can put poor Yuki out of commission. {{spoiler|Twice.}}

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|You Gotta Have Purple Hair]]: At least you do if you're a Humanoid Interface.

 

 

[[File:Mikuru.jpg|frame]]

 

{{quote|''"That's [[Classified Information]]."''}}

 

 

Mikuru is, as far as the audience can tell, the least diligent in the whole "observe/control" Haruhi business. Indeed, she seems content to be the SOS Brigade's personal [[Meido]] (having an especial fascination with tea-brewing for some reason), deal with 21st-century culture shock, and endure Haruhi's [[Black Comedy Rape|constant molestation]] and enforced [[Cosplay]]. It's not that she's around [[Ms. Fanservice|solely for window-dressing]]. It's just that she's passive to the point of being [[The Chew Toy]]. (And partly around for window-dressing).

* [[Adorkable]]

* {{spoiler|[[Anti-Hero]]: Her older counterpart can be quite morally ambiguous and manipulative at times. Her younger self [[Alternate Character Interpretation|may or may not]] [[Obfuscating Stupidity|have her moments.]] Koizumi definitely originally thought she was faking her "moe" tendencies to manipulate Kyon.}}

* [[Femme Fatale]]: At least Itsuki suggests this to Kyon. More obvious in her older version.

* [[Fetish Fuel]]: [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] by Haruhi - She wants to make her as 'fetishy' as possible.

* [[Fish Out of Water]]: [[Fish Out of Temporal Water|Temporal Water, specifically]].

* [[Fragile Flower]]

* [[Future Badass]]: Maybe not badass, but Mikuru's future self [[Plucky Girl|is rather competent and self-confident]], compared to her younger self. On the downside, she's [[Manipulative Bastard|alot less morally clear.]]

* [[Future Me Scares Me]]: Averted insofar as Mikuru doesn't know that her boss is her future self. However, Koizumi is highly suspicious of the future Mikuru and by the end of ''Scheme'' Kyon's starting to agree.

* [[Gainaxing]]

* [[Gaussian Girl]]: Mikuru in a Yukata from Kyon's POV.

* [[Moe]]: [[Invoked]]. Played up to the point of absurdity by Haruhi. Heck, she's even the page image!

* [[Neutral Female]]: SOS Brigade Mikuru that is. Adult Mikuru is much more proactive... [[Manipulative Bastard|frighteningly so.]]

* [[Nice Girl]]: Present-day Mikuru is, at least.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Maybe.

* [[Team Pet]]/[[The Chick]]: How Haruhi sees her. And well, she really ''is'' [[The Chick]].

* [[Time Travel]]

 

 

[[File:itsuki.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|Voiced by: [[Daisuke Ono]] (JP), [[Johnny Yong Bosch]] (EN)}}

Itsuki Koizumi. [[New Transfer Student]]. [[The Philosopher|Prodigious talker]]. Perpetual annoyance to Kyon, and toady to Haruhi. Also the wielder of (rather specialized) [[Psychic Powers]] and representative of a shadowy conspiracy of similarly-empowered people, who credit Haruhi as the source of their abilities. Like Yuki and Mikuru, he's here to observe Haruhi and, more so, keep her under control; he knows from regular experience the highly destructive nature of Haruhi's teen angst, and his "Agency" is tasked with keeping it under control.

 

 

** There's even a bit of this in-universe with Mikuru distrusting his motivations originally, Koizumi swearing loyalty to the brigade, and Kyon being simultaneously annoyed by and trusting of him. Koizumi himself all but confirms his personality is an act, but even then he might have been lying...

* [[Ambiguously Bi]]: His interactions with Kyon tend towards this, though he tells Kyon that he acts that way because it's how Haruhi expects him to. [[Rule of Funny|Doesn't stop the]] [[Ho Yay]]... which seems to be carried out when Haruhi ''isn't'' around or paying any attention, though. On the other hand, he tells Kyon in the fourth novel that he is in love with Haruhi. Given that this took place in an alternate universe, it may or may not be the case in the main reality. This could be more or less a result of him being an esper and knowing that all that matters in the world is the wishes of a teenage girl. He's a teenager, has magic powers and belongs to an organization that probably supports him in whatever way he needs. This is a kid with no worries.

** At least until ''Snow Mountain Syndrome'' in the fifth novel. From then on, as Kyon [[Lampshade Hanging|notes]] the situation becomes [[Cerebus Syndrome|a lot more serious]]. By the ninth novel Koizumi has serious worries. So much that he lets his [[Becoming the Mask|mask]] slip more and more often to [[Ho Yay|Kyon]].

* [[Badass Bookworm]]: He is in North High's top class. The [[Badass]] part? See {{spoiler|[[Authority Equals Asskicking]]}}.

* [[Becoming the Mask]]

{{quote|'''Kyon''': Was it a guy, or a [[Bifauxnen|girl]]?<br />

'''Haruhi''': Could've been [[Sweet Polly Oliver|disguised]], but for now he looked male. }}

* [[Character Filibuster]]: Koizumi frequently (ab)uses his role as [[Mr. Exposition]] as an excuse to fire off [[Contemplate Our Navels|seemingly interminable dissertations]] about physics, philosophy, psychology and whatever other topic he can come up with that facilitates longwinded rants about abstract matters. He invariably ends these with some variation of [[I Was Just Joking]] to make absolutely certain that ''no concrete point whatsoever'' is ever made of these rants. Kyon, and most of the audience, are left with the impression that he just likes doing this [[For the Lulz]].

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In the end of the Snow Mountain Syndrome, he said that he would {{spoiler|betray the Organization exactly once}} to aid Kyon. We'll have to see when that comes to play.

* {{spoiler|[[The Chessmaster]]: He's the leader of [[Organization Index|The Organization]]. That should tell enough}}.

** {{spoiler|He eventually reveals that he's not the leader. When asked by Kyon if Mori is his superior, he is surprised by Kyon's assumption and states that the Organization does not run like a normal one, and that everyone is on the same level.}}

* [[Contemplate Our Navels]]

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Shows hint of being one in volume 8 and onwards.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: His role as [[Yes-Man]] to Haruhi; even though she only listens to Kyon and herself, Itsuki apparently sees no wisdom in opposing the girl who may or may not be God.

* [[Gratuitous English]]

* [[Homoerotic Subtext]]: It makes Kyon pretty uncomfortable.

{{quote|'''Koizumi to Kyon in "Snowy Mountain Syndrome":''' "'You appeared in my room as well. The appearance might have been you, but the behaviour was just terrifying... anyway, you did things that you wouldn't do.'"}}

** Many of his statements to Kyon end with his (nearly signature) 'Ah, sorry, that was a joke'. He stops tacking this onto his persistent hints that he has a thing for Haruhi by ''Disappearance''.

* [[Keigo]]: To death.

** Worth noting that his dialogue in the class play is actually ''an abridgement'' of [[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead|the source material]]; the simple fact that he was cast in that role [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshades]] the hell out of this trope.

* [[New Transfer Student]]

* [[Trickster Mentor]]

* [[True Companions]]: He declares that he would choose the SOS Brigade over the Agency, effectively betraying them [[Heel Face Turn]] style, should they turn out opposing to the Brigade.

* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: Itsuki tries to exploit Haruhi's Genre Savviness, but it generally doesn't work out so well for him.

 

== Secondary Characters ==

 

{{quote|Voiced by: [[Natsuko Kuwatani]] (JP), [[Bridget Hoffman]] (EN)}}

 

 

In the [[Alternate Universe]] stemming from ''Disappearance'', she is a normal student and still the [[Class Representative]] of Kyon's class. {{spoiler|Nonetheless, she ''still'' ends up trying to kill Kyon at the end, when things are about to return to normal.}}

Interestingly, she has a [[Evil Twin|good twin]] in ''[[The Vanishing of Nagato Yuki-chan]]''; a dimension where she ''is'' Yuki's [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/nagato_yuki_chan_no_shoushitsu/v01/c002/16.html best friend]; and genuinely tries to help her be with Kyon. Although she is just a little bit jealous ([[Les Yay|of Kyon]]), she tries to hide that.

 

* {{spoiler|[[Anti-Hero]]}}: {{spoiler|As of Book 10, a definite Type V. She's still the same Asakura, she just happens to be fighting on the same side as the Brigade now.}}

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: It can kind of be argued either way; on the one hand, when dealing with the vast majority of people, she seems to be legitimately, actually nice and to even enjoy it, doubly so in ''Disapperance's'' [[Alternate Reality]] and its related spinoff (which, given the nature of [[The Verse]], [[Mind Screw|may or may not count, depending]]). Her interactions with Kyon, however, run the gamut; she starts out nice, then there's the big stabbing incident, then a lot of her lines with him in ''Disapperance'' straddle the line between "good-natured ribbing about Yuki" and "passive-aggressive bitchiness", {{spoiler|then she stabs him ''for real''}}, and '''then''' {{spoiler|in Book 10, she saves his life ''[[Big Damn Villains|while holding a knife to his throat at the same time]]''}}. Perhaps it's most accurate to say that if she has an Inner Bitch, Kyon brings it out, and since [[Unreliable Narrator|he's our narrator]], we may get a disproportionate view of it.

* [[Yandere]]: Ryoko's human incarnation in ''Disappearance'' is very much one of these.

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]

=== Tsuruya ===

[[File:tsuruya.jpg|frame]]

 

No one really knows what's up with '''Tsuruya-san''', Mikuru's classmate, ersatz SOS Brigade member and something of a [[Sixth Ranger]]. She's got the ([[Rapunzel Hair|ankle length]]) [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|green hair]] one would expect from a Humanoid Interface, but seems to be totally normal, if just as much of a [[Genki Girl]] as Haruhi. She's also notable for her [[Cute Little Fangs|Cute Little]] [[Fashionable Asymmetry|Fang]], [[Big Fancy House]], [[The Hyena|tendency to point and laugh (very loudly)]], and for inspiring the [[Fan Web Comic]] and [[Memetic Mutation]] Sensation, Churuya. She also seems unusually aware of the SOS Brigade's oddities for a [[Muggle]], but seems content to enjoy the show rather than disrupt the Brigade's attempts to keep Haruhi under control. Sort of an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]].

* [[Big Fancy House]]

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Her tendency to laugh at almost anything.

* [[Verbal Tic]]: "Nyoro<ref>Japanese for [[Saying Sound Effects Out Loud|tilde (~)]]</ref>" though she only says it very rarely (once in the anime). The anime also adds "megas"; though it's used only once in the actual anime it appears in her character songs.

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|You Gotta Have Green Hair]]

{{quote|Voiced by: [[Yuri Shiratori]] (JP), [[Hynden Walch]] (EN)}}

 

* [[Adaptation-Induced Plothole]]: More regarding characterization. The character songs for the anime's first season were released prior to the tenth-novel preview; building off the fact that she's an interface, the songs portrayed her as someone reaching for humanity and wanting to participate in the fun everyone else has but being unable to. The tenth-novel preview, however, revealed that {{spoiler|she doesn't give a damn about anything that interferes with what the Entity wants, not even Yuki's personal safety}}.

* [[All Powerful Bystander]]: {{spoiler|Of the first and last variety at the same time: she hasn't been ordered to help out Nagato when she gets sick in the tenth novel, and she doesn't care enough about her to do so either. Thus, she just continues to watch.}}

* {{spoiler|[[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]}}

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|You Gotta Have Green Hair]]

{{quote|Taniguchi voiced by: [[Minoru Shiraishi]] (JP), [[Sam Riegel]] (EN)

Kunikida voiced by: [[Megumi Matsumoto]] (JP), [[Brianne Siddall]] (EN) }}

 

'''Taniguchi''' and '''Kunikida''' are [[Those Two Guys]] and Kyon's main non-SOS Brigade friends. Both totally normal to all appearances, Taniguchi is a [[Big Eater]] and something of a teenage [[Casanova Wannabe]] who is implied to have dated Haruhi for exactly five minutes back in junior high. Kunikida is Kyon's junior high friend, and receives no [[Character Development]] or [[Backstory]] detail whatsoever - except that he gets better grades than Taniguchi or Kyon {{spoiler|and, as is revealed in the eleventh novel, may have a crush on Tsuruya}}. They both act as an anchor of normalcy for Kyon, and occasional extra bodies in the SOS Brigade for things like baseball games or magazine publishing.

* [[Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?]]: Taniguchi briefly tasted Haruhi's shortest relationship, listed one alien as a top pick then dated another one for a few months. Fortunately for his sanity, he's [[Locked Out of the Loop]] and just a [[Romantic False Lead]].

* [[Shipper on Deck]]: Taniguchi for Kyon x Haruhi and Kunikida for Kyon x Sasaki. (In the novels at least.)

* [[Ship Tease]]: {{spoiler|Kunikida goes to North High so he can be with Tsuruya more often.}}

{{quote|Voiced by: [[Sayaka Aoki]] (JP), [[Kari Wahlgren]] (EN)}}

 

* [[Cheerful Child]]

* [[Genki Girl]]

* [[Hair Decorations]]

* [[No Name Given]]

{{quote|Voiced by: [[Dave Wittenberg]] (EN)}}

 

* [[Butt Monkey]]

* [[The Chew Toy]]

* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: After trying to cheat their way to victory in their game against the SOS Brigade, Yuki manages to one-up them by hijacking the code to their game and prevent them from cheating.

* [[No Name Given]]: The anime at least, plays with this by making Kimidori say his name, only to get cut off by the meowing of a cat.

[[File:HarSuzStuCoPrez.jpg|frame]]

 

Another character with [[No Name Given]], he is the school's [[Student Council President]] introduced in ''The Anger of Haruhi Suzumiya'' by Koizumi to give Haruhi an antagonist and to keep her from getting bored. He acts like a [[Bespectacled Bastard Boyfriend]] in his role as the president, but he is secretly laughing at how ridiculous his job is. Later on, it seems that Haruhi's influence is making him take his job more seriously.

 

* [[Becoming the Mask]]: He comments that he slips back into his mask every now and then, even when Haruhi isn't around.

* [[Full-Name Basis]]: Or a Japanese variant thereon: he always addresses female students with the honorific "kun," which is typically used for boys and young men. As [[That Other Wiki]] notes, there are two exceptions to that practice, "in business settings, young female employees may also be addressed as -kun by older males of senior status," and "in the Diet of Japan (Legislature), chairpersons use kun when addressing diet members and ministers." Either way, he's being pretentious.

* [[Student Council President]]: Invoked by Koizumi to keep Haruhi entertained.

 

 

 

Contrary to the popular pre-''Astonishment'' theories, Yasumi has not yet been revealed to be one of the supernatural beings that Haruhi has been pursuing. However, as her presence is the most obvious difference between the Alpha and Beta plots (aside from the mysterious phone call to Kyon {{spoiler|which was probably made by her in the first place}}), [[Haruhi Suzumiya/WMG|speculation has abounded as to her true nature]]. {{spoiler|But ''really'', she was born of Haruhi's subconscious to save Yuki and Kyon from the troubles they suffer in the Beta plot, causing the [[Alternate Universe|Alpha plotline]] to occur in the process.}}

* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]

* {{spoiler|[[Deus Ex Machina]]: Literally, she was created by Haruhi's subconcious precisely in order to handily solve the plot.}}

* [[Hair Decorations]]

* [[Genki Girl]]: Her energy even gets on Haruhi's nerves.

* {{spoiler|[[Literal Split Personality]]: To Haruhi.}}

* [[Moe]]: In-universe, where even Mikuru can't stand how adorable she is.

* [[Significant Anagram]]: When her name is read in the proper reading (Yasumizu Watahashi), it can be rearranged to say {{spoiler|''watashi wa(ha) Suzumiya'' -- I am Suzumiya}}.

* {{spoiler|[[Sixth Ranger]]: [[Averted Trope|Albeit briefly.]] }}

{{quote|Voiced by: Steve Kramer (EN, season 1) [[Michael McConnohie]] (season 2)}}

 

'''Yuki:''' ''(Matter of factly)'' That was ventriloquism. }}

 

* [[Contemplate Our Navels]]: He's awfully philosophical, when he can speak.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Shamisen (the instruments) use cat skin in their construction.

* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: He's a ''male calico cat''. Kyon mentally comments on this a single time.

 

== The Anti-SOS Brigade ==

 

[[File:asos.jpg|frame|Clockwise from the top-left:Fujiwara, Kyoko Tachibana, Sasaki, and Kuyo Suo.]]

 

 

* [[A-Cup Angst]]: A one-off comment from her in ''Rainy Day'', where she expresses a hint of jealousy upon the idea of Kyon ogling the popular girl in their class and her larger "assets".

* [[Evil Counterpart|Antagonistic Counterpart]]: To Haruhi.{{spoiler|..[[Good All Along|at first.]]}}

* [[Bokukko]]: Strangely, she refers to herself using male pronouns when speaking to boys, but switches to female pronouns when talking to girls.

* [[Catch Phrase]]: "Yare yare", at least in the past. Yes, ''she's'' the one Kyon picked that up from.

* [[Curtains Match the Window]]

* [[Deconstruction]]: It's a hobby of hers.

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: Feels the need to bring up the topic again and again to remind [[Not Love Interest]] Kyon (and herself) that about the [[She Is Not My Girlfriend]].

* {{spoiler|[[Token Good Teammate]]}}: {{spoiler|Just as Haruhi was [[Heel Face Turn|once]] the [[Token Evil Teammate|Token Antagonistic Teammate]] to the SOS Brigade, so is Sasaki ''this'' to the Anti-SOS Brigade, eventually to the point of actively trying to sabotage Fujiwara's goals with the help of Kyon and Yasumi.}}

** {{spoiler|She was one of few, however, to exactly ''know'' she was the group's pawn and secretly worked to stop it.}}

 

* [[Evil Counterpart|Antagonistic Counterpart]]: To Itsuki, even though she more resembles Mikuru.

* [[Dojikko]]

* [[Wham! Line]]: Delivers the main one in ''Dissociation'': {{spoiler|"We believe the existence of the real god is not Miss Suzumiya, but Miss Sasaki."}}

 

* [[Artificial Human]]: She is an interface, after all.

* [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: Does not understand morality. All she knows is that she wants to communicate, but doesn't know what it actually means to communicate or to fully grasp what other entities are.

* [[When She Smiles]]: Subverted; her smile is beautiful, but it's [[Uncanny Valley|just not right.]]

 

* {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]]: Of "Scheme of Haruhi Suzumiya" and also ends up as "Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya"'s one too.}}

* [[Deicide]]: Goes out of his way to {{spoiler|make a ''very'' serious attempt on Haruhi's life}} at the climax of ''Astonishment Vol. 2''.

* [[Have We Met Yet?]]: To Mikuru in Novel 7.

** {{spoiler|[[Long-Lost Relative]]: In Novel 11, it's revealed that Mikuru is Fujiwara's elder sister (well, he claims it to be, but it seems that he isn't her brother anymore due to alterations to the timestream).}}

** {{spoiler|Of course, given his nature as a time-traveller, there's always the possibility a Fujiwara from a different point in time could decide to drop in...}}

* [[Knight Templar]]: He pretty much drops all claims to well-intentioned extremism after he tries to {{spoiler|[[Deicide|kill Haruhi]].}}

* [[Screw Destiny]]: He wants to prove that the future isn't dependent on predetermined events. {{spoiler|[[Timey-Wimey Ball|He's right]]... [[Mind Screw|maybe.]]}}

* [[Smug Smiler]]: His perpetual expression is described as "an evil version of Koizumi's smile."