The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, Part 1

Being a seasoned Haruhi-veteran (I’ve read all the novels except 11) Watching the anime shows that the people at KyoAni really knew what they were doing.

In mindbending anime’s like Haruhi watching the first episode usually activates the part of my brain that just seeks clues for foreshadowing. Given that there are multiple theories about this series, I will be going through many of them, trying to pinpoint differences in execution, giving reasons to some things that may make more or less sense.

This will be different from my analysis on Bakemonogatari, where I explicitly went through one point of view that everyone seemed to miss. These theories of Haruhi are well known, but I’ll give my own twisted explanations on the matters. I’ll be telling them in one huge pile of text where I actually give my take to also some artistic touches that make the series interesting to watch in hindsight. And spoilerrific, this time I believe it’s going to be worse.

Surprisingly Complex: Suzumiya Haruhi, The beginning of the awkward, unrequited love

The whole point in the Miracle Mikuru episode being the first is to give the watcher a huge batch of foreshadowing to something miles (More exactly one “season”) away. It’s also there to serve as an introduction to the batshit crazy stuff of Haruhi…

Prepare to break the monochrome... 3. 2. 1...

One of the most obvious things one notices in the beginning of the series, is the monochrome which breaks with Haruhi’s introduction. It’s an obvious reference to the fact that Haruhi brought some simple joy into Kyon’s life that lies beneath his snarky and facepalm-y surface. It also supports the both general theories of godhood, Haruhi-theory and Kyon-theory respectively.

It supports Kyon-theory in the way that is pointed out actually not too long after that, when Kunikida explains Taniguchi how Kyon has always liked weird girls. So could Haruhi be just Kyon’s fantasy of meeting a batshit crazy girl with questionable morals and motives? Could be, or…

It could be Haruhi’s fantasy of showing the light to at least one person. Finding a one person to talk with. As such she could’ve created all the crazy stuff we’re to encounter in the series just to find a supernatural friend / a man to love (I will follow up on this in Part 2). Heartwarming in a way, but goddamnit. As we later see in the series, Kyon could be just a slider from a world where they never went to the same high school. When I get the Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, I’m gonna talk less Tanabata and more theory. 

The rest of the episode is fairly normal “Haruhi being Haruhi” from the hitting the globe with a ball to grabbing Asahina. Taniguchi’s clearly butthurt attitude toward Haruhi is still funny to watch though. It gives a nice touch of a world that’s more alive, as there are things we’re told by simply the actions of the characters, without obvious remarks of it. It also raises the question: did Asakura become what she was because Kyon wanted to prove Taniguchi wrong, or just because you should beware the nice ones?

The latter episodes give information about the Tanabata incident 3 years ago, and give the information that our supernatural trio have been told by their higher ups. Also, I would want to give a side-theory which doesn’t really have anything to do with godhood. I would say, that in a way, it’s possible that Nagato, Asahina and Koizumi are actually the leaders of every given faction. Koizumi is the easiest to explain, as he has all the spoils that only a very high-ranking officer would have. Nagato on the other hand is possibly the an incarnation of the Data Overmind/ Integration Thought Entity, that actually regains consciousness / evolves during the Endless Eight (Which is actually more ingenious than many think.). The Adult Asahina being the leader of the Time Travelers would be no surprise, as she doesn’t really have any of the restraints the Young Asahina has.

I highly doubt that.

The Haruhi as a god wanting to be sort of comicbookish character makes sense, like how all those times she says to Kyon how “It’s not a date!” when they draw lots when they divide on their Mystery Searches. Why did she not end up going with Kyon at any of those? Because in a true comicbookish sense she wouldn’t. It would make it mysterious. Yes, she’s weird enough to frustrate herself to make her character more real.

The other side of the argument lies in Kyon’s desire to get on a date with Asahina and Nagato, but while it may seem immediately more obvious, in the long run it makes no sense. IF not for the fact, that he may actually be searching for the comicbookish situation, where a pretty girl just randomly tells him that she’s supernatural. In that sense, yes, it makes sense.

 Regarding the two theories of godhood, interestingly, the longer the series grows, the Kyon-theory actually starts to make less sense, until it pops up again (Sasaki, but that can be interpretated...). The fact that all the weird things happen to Kyon actually enforces to think differently of Haruhi as a character, because maybe she doesn’t want to actually want to experience all that weird stuff, but more like wants to meet a person who has. If you think about the character it actually kinda makes sense.

Then comes the real juice. The dimension created in the last episode of the first season, where Kyon and Haruhi would’ve been trapped forever if Kyon didn’t act up. If Kyon really was god, why would he create that dimension? Does he really have the guts to destroy the whole world because he feels it’s a pain in the ass (Which is actually denied in Disappearance). He whines without purpose, not trying to really change anything.

Yes they do.

In my mind, this actually enforces the Haruhi-god theory that the series itself throws on us. She created that dimension because she felt Kyon wanted there to be a world with everything cool in it. And she also wanted to be with him. Kyon probably knows about Haruhi’s affection to him, but either he acts that he doesn’t because he doesn’t know what to do with it, or because he doesn’t want to deal with it.

Does Kyon feign ignorance?

Join me next time for Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and Endless Eight, where I go truly outlandish and explain my own view of the significance of the Tanabata 3 years ago -incident.