[Lost]

First up, I'm gonna shamelessly jump on the holy-crap-train and give a HUGE thumbs up to the subbers of a.f.k. for their consistently fast and high quality subbing. As if releasing it within a few days wasnt fast enough, they went superspeed with this episode and released it in a matter of hours. I'm pretty certain everyone there lost ALOT of sleep over it; so, thank you very much.

I haven got off the train yet. A stellar episode this was. A fitting end to season1, because it had everything perfectly packed into 24+ minutes. While it didnt move me as much as 12, and didnt make me think as much as 13; this one had emo as well as logic. I loved how Haruhi was looking in that closed space, finally we see her actually and really happy. At first I was quite pissed because it seemed that she was being irresponsible (you know, pursuing her happiness, while ditching the rest of the world and the billions of other people and their happinesses) but then it struck me that I couldn't blame her, because she didnt know at all what was going on and what the consequences of her actions would be.

And I have to confess this. I'm digging for a Yuki x Kyon relationship. The scene on the computer.. when Yuki said that personally she wanted to see him again, how it'll be nice to and at the end! when she looked at him and said that she would not let them kill him.. *swoon* Seriously. Yuki wants Kyon

And I had to LOL and yet cry at the last Mikuru scene. The tears in her eyes as she ran to Kyon almost moved me to tears (I've been pretty prone to crying the past few days) and that "I didnt know it was star-shaped" had me LingOL. Mikuru FTW seriously. She was on top MOE~~~ form in this ep. 04:35 when she sidestepped away from Kyon Later when she was tearing and whimpering (?) at Haruhi's braiding. Now I can't choose between Mikuru or Yuki for the 2nd character poll.

Okay sorry for ranting. Seriously now.

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by The Sphinx

I think everyone's overthinking this. The episode itself tells us a lot about what's going on and why. Starting at about 15:32...

Kyon and Haruhi begin to have this strange argument. I say strange because at first they seem to be talking past each other, and also because the topic of the argument is unconventional (how often do you debate with someone whether the world should continue to exist or not?)

Kyon asks Haruhi whether she wouldn't rather go back to the old world. He gives several reasons the new world would be undesirable: There doesn't seem to be anything to eat, the things Haruhi put so much effort into (SOS-Dan) don't exist anymore. Haruhi glibly deflects all these complaints because she has a feeling it will all work out in the end. At 16:06 Kyon says "I want to go back" and she hesitates for the first time.

Kyon's half of the argument takes a very interesting turn. He says "I found out something interesting after being thrown into this situation. I may complain all the time but I really liked how my life was." (emphasis added by me). That's a deep insight into Kyon's personality... Don't necessarily believe him when he complains about something. He complains about SOS-Dan perpetually but he never leaves. Is this because of some sense of duty to the human race? I believe he stays because he really likes the company, and he complains because that's just his personality. He gripes about Haruhi all the time too but that's no reason to think he dislikes her.

Then he mentions how much he's enjoyed being around his friends at school, including Mikuru, Itsuki, and Yuki (and surprisingly Asakura). Haruhi response is VERY interesting: "I'm sure we'll see them again. This world won't be covered in darkness forever. The sun will rise tomorrow." She's making a promise to Kyon to include those people in the new world. You could say the new world will be what Kyon wants it to be, at least in part.

Then Kyon flat out says that's not good enough. "I want to see the old them in the old world." Stop this new world business, it's not what I want. And THAT makes Haruhi let go of his hand and stop in her tracks.

"I don't get it. Weren't you fed up with that boring world? Didn't you want something more interesting to happen?" She looks like a kicked puppy. The most astounding part of this is... When has Kyon ever told her that he was bored with the old world? When has she ever said her goal was to make Kyon happy? I thought Haruhi was supposed to be the bored one! Isn't she a megalomaniac? Yet everything in her words and mannerisms here say she was trying to do this for Kyon, not herself!

Even more stunning is Kyon's response at 17:20: "I did indeed [want something interesting to happen]." This is completely against everything Kyon's told us to this point... He constantly gripes about just wanting to lead a normal life, about wishing he'd never met Haruhi. Hell, he even starts this episode with a monologue about how he wishes the time travelers, espers, and aliens would just tell Haruhi their stories and leave him alone! But there's really no reason for him to lie to Haruhi here... He's telling her the truth, and has been lying to us (and himself) this whole time.

The reason he wants to stay in the old world? Because there really are aliens, time travellers, and espers. Not because he wants to go back to a normal life, but because the old one was plenty abnormal already. He tells her that she's the center of the universe but doesn't realize it. That's not good enough for her... It's not good enough that everyone else thinks she's great. It's not good enough that Kyon's happy (though that's very, very important to her). She wants a reason to be happy in the old world too.

And then he kisses her.

I like Sphinx's clearheaded analysis. +rep To add to you, Kyon did hint at his want for a more interesting life. At 5:50 he tot: When I did feel a bit dissatisfied when nothing was going on.

So perhaps some of Haruhi's spirit lives in him. And thats what makes this odd ball pairing so wonderful as Prodigous expertly pointed out above.

Anyway I do want to make sense of why Kyon got blinked into the new world with Haruhi.