The Final Thoughts & Overall Series Impressions of Haruhi Suzumiya

[Ithekro]

Jaded long time posters sometimes forget that there are new people who post. Those that are not yet tired of reading the same thing posted over and over again because they've never seen said thing posted even once yet.

Do remember that sometimes.

[Tyabann]

Blargh I fail hard.

[Code Geass]

Originally Posted by C.A.

This is actually a reason why i love Haruhi so much, because i actually had an experience similar to her. I posted this somewhere in this subforum before.

Spoiler:

When i was 15, 3rd of 4 years in secondary school, I was in this new class, supposedly a weaker class. Basically because 90% of the class were the school's atheletes and sports people, Who doesnt care a bit about studying. There was me, a science fiction/martial art loving choir member, I was quite out of place in the class. But luckily theres this muslim guy whos an insane science fiction reader and doesnt take part in any school activities.

He sits somewhere around me, I forgot where though. But he was one of the few people i made contact with, besides some old friends who got into the same class. I quickly found out hes a weird one, he doesnt smile, he speaks very formally. His words are serious and harsh, he responds with 'I dont know', 'I dont care' and 'negative'. Importantly 'I hate humans' was his infamous line, lets call him 'Omar'.

After a few weeks of the new school term i made a few more friends, some were omar's old class mates. Including one who was in the same class with him for 6 years, from primary school till now. I learnt from all of them especially the guy who was with him for 6 years, that hes always like that, he hates humans and is always solemn and frowning.

For some reason, maybe because of our scientific enthusiasm, i always approached him for a chat. He does put up a chat sometimes, there are things that do interest him. (He isnt as bad as haruhi lol)

I had my own observations of him, like how Kyon observed Haruhi.

Omar never had recess, he doesnt like them, he doesnt like to eat, he says he only eats when hes low on energy, food doesnt interest him. Actually im similar to him in this aspect, im not a food enthusiast, i had less than 200 meals bought from school in my entire life.

Omar hangs around every where during recess or after school, he doesnt like to go home. He gives people the impression that hes somewat omnipresent. He tend to show up at unexpected times, in the least expected places, doing the weirdest things. One couldn't tell that Haruhi is a nut because shes cute, but omar was different, one look and you can tell hes mentally unstable. He has a murderous look in his eyes, his thick eyebrows added to his sinister visage. Almost all of 3rd year students know that hes a weird guy.

Omar doesnt have a hairstyle, but he kept his hair very short. One day he actually combed his hair to everyone's amazement, eveyone asked him why he did it. In response he shaved his head shortly afterwards.

Also omar was kinda omnipotent like Haruhi. He's definitely good at science, but he never studies. He mixes up some weird chemical concoctions and bring them to school for unknown purposes. He deals with micro organisms at home. He handmade a filter for his goldfish and it works. He doesnt seem to be the exercising type, but hes very fit.

Oh yes, Omar resorts to threats too, he tells you he will kill you if he wants to. The guy who was in the same class as him for 6 years was threatened with a sharpen pencil at his chest. Or he would destroy the planet if hes given the appropriate materials, supposedly he knew wat materials he needs to destroy all humans. He's actually nicknamed the terrorist, because of how he looks and how sinister he is.

But unlike Kyon's relationship with Haruhi, my encounter with Omar wasnt as 'fun'. (In case you didnt feel it, im kinda like Kyon and Omar is an evil version of Haruhi in this short story of mine lol)

As if Omar's actions and behaviour arent weird enough, he believes hes an alien or other-worldly being sent to earth for 'training' or to destroy all humans. He hates his family members, which he thinks is hindering his 'growth'. Well he does have a more accepted reason for us to understand why he hates them. We all know that his mum wasnt really nice, supposedly she used his money to buy clothes or something instead of letting him buy his textbooks and stuff. Teachers now about it too, since his mum has been called to school for multiple times. He's from a really messed up family and undergoes counselling which never worked in any way.

Omar believes that his existance in this world is threatened by 10 other people, most of them were people closer to him, mostly other muslims. But i learnt that i was identified as one of those threatening his existance, i wasnt surprised lol, considering how long I've been pestering him.

The class monitor and the form teacher, seems to think that Omar and I are friends and had been placing us together in sitting arrangements. They think I am probably the only person in the class who could stand his insanity. They most probably thought this way because no one else in the class could hold up a conversation with Omar, especially when he usually goes talking about black holes, hyperspace, time travel, omega particles and such. He's more of a star trek guy, but im all star wars, maybe a reason why im threatening his existance.

Anyway he never attempted to destroy me(maybe I didnt noticed and he failed lol) and i thought i would lose him after we graduated. But no, he got into the same school as me, but fortunately hes in another course. He behaves pretty much the same, quiet, solemn, but now hes more normal. He plays dota with his classmates, chats about more casual stuff.

He's definitely one person I would never forget in my life.

Also I had a time of depression in my life and I can relate to Haruhi's thoughts most of the time, especially what she said in episode 13/ novel 1 chapter 6.

Recently I have alot of Haruhi dreams, yes I think Haruhiism has quite literally taken over my mind. When I was awaiting my Haruhi novels, I had to order them, I kept having dreams of the novels being delivered to my house but after flipping through the novels, I found them to be something else or nothing inside.

3 weeks ago I had this dream where I was attacked by something undescribable, its like a parasite trying to take over my body. I yelled Haruhi-sama(yes I did) and the next thing I saw on my arm(in the dream): Not sure if you guys have seen this Nokia commercial, where the people have markings, like tatoos that pulse on their bodies and change shapes rapidly to music. I was yelling Haruhi-sama with my right arm in the air and I saw a dark tatoo/marking crawling towards my hand from my shoulder. It was a very beautiful pattern, much like freestyle art and when it crawled to my palm, at the end of the design was a H, quite gothic in style.

Next thing I knew was the parasite was gone and I woke up, I was looking at my arm. I still remembered a little of the design of the marking, I'm really considering designing a tatoo as close to that as possible and get my entire right arm tattoed according to that.

Just yesterday night I had this dream where I saw Haruhi, Kyon and the first appearance of Yuki. I spoke to Kyon but no chance to talk to Haruhi, Yuki didn't want to reply to me lol. Then Kyon wanted to tell Haruhi that she looks kawaii today, but Haruhi was in a Haruhi and ran off before Kyon could tell her that lol

...That's amazing. (No, I'm not being sarcastic. ) I also have sort of a Suzumiya Haruhi in my life. She's a neighbor of mine. When we first met, she didn't really show any interest in talking to me. But then I started talking to her, and after a while, we became buddies, and we still are. She used to be more quiet and a bit more innocent. But now she's becoming more outgoing. She even cut her hair short, and she even sorta looks like Suzumiya herself (what, with her short brown hair and her brown eyes). They have a lot in common, and she hasn't even watched the series yet! I thought it was odd, but I guess I enjoy and appreciate that part of her.

[C.A.]

lol weird things happen in life. One must appreciate the weirdness so that it becomes less weird and more interesting.

[Kid Ying]

Thank god i don't have one Suzumiya Haruhi in my life. But i would be the happiest person on earth with one Yuki around me.

Well, at least i've got one Tsuruya. Beside's me, since i'm kind of a male Tsuruya myself.

BTW, i can tell something: That Omar is FUCKING CRAZY. You should run while you can.

[C.A.]

Its 3 years ago lol, it should just be hormones during puberty, after that he became quite regular. Watched anime, played DOTA with classmates between lectures.

Recently I saw him and he seems to be doing well serving national service, if anything happens it should be on the news, but I don't think he's crazy anymore lol

[Kid Ying]

Ah, he was just a excentric teenager then. Happens with a lot of people.

[Code Geass]

That's very true, but do that many people act that much like Haruhi? Not something you'd come across every day... Although I can see your point.

[Kid Ying]

There's a lot of crazy people in the world, my friend.

But i'm sure that someday Kyon will make Haruhi a normal person.

[Bri]

Lets see, I’ve seen MoSH for the first time a few months back and a few times in total now. Haven’t read the novels. That said, its time to write down some thoughts and impressions of the series so far. I’ll stick to some random thoughts, as I haven’t really fully digested it yet. I’ll leave out the Kyoani love fest. They haven’t failed me yet, that should be ‘nuff said.

First of all I don’t understand the dislike that people show for Haruhi. I feel she is a very likeable person from the series alone. Her explanation of how she felt her life diminished as just one of the masses is so defining. “If you want to make life interesting you have to do it yourself”. So she takes on the world. How can you not love a character like that? Selfish, energetic, impulsive but never childish. She knows what is socially acceptable but breaks the rules regardless. She is like a Don Quixote but one whose imaginary giants are a bit less imaginary then expected. Making Kyons job as Sancho even harder.

Haruhi and Kyon both have tsundere traits but are so much more complex. Their relationship is very interesting, a hedgehog dilemma. They both have feelings for the other, and they are aware the other knows. But they don’t dare to give in first, for fear of getting stung. So the dance continues. “Someday in the rain” is my favourite episode because of that. Haruhi never says thank you to Kyon, she shows it, by waiting for him and putting the coat over him. Kyon knows it, mocks her for it and wouldnt have it any other way.

Kyon is by nature a slacker. Intelligent, sarcastic, funny but he is ultimately a passive personality. Without Haruhi he would lead such a dull life. I guess that is why Mikuru is around; she is a temptation for Kyon. If he gets together with her, he will lead a boring, uneventful life, she will never be his equal or push him the way Haruhi would.

Mikuru, Itsuki and Yuki are all great supporting characters. They all seem to be forced to be in the SoS-dan but in reality that’s where they want to be most. Itsuki, a philosopher gets to hang around with a being that can change reality at will. Mikuru, a shy person, gets pushed to do things she’d never dare to do herself and secretly enjoys it. Yuki gets a place to belong out of it.

To top it all some Basara love with "Watashi no uta wo kike! Bombaaa!

[Sute443]

Originally Posted by Bri

First of all I don’t understand the dislike that people show for Haruhi. I feel she is a very likeable person from the series alone. Her explanation of how she felt her life diminished as just one of the masses is so defining. “If you want to make life interesting you have to do it yourself”. So she takes on the world. How can you not love a character like that? Selfish, energetic, impulsive but never childish. She knows what is socially acceptable but breaks the rules regardless. She is like a Don Quixote but one whose imaginary giants are a bit less imaginary then expected. Making Kyons job as Sancho even harder.

As someone who had zero fondness for Haruhi until late into the novels, I feel that I should address this.

"Never childish," you say? How is "I'm not the most interesting person in the world so I'll waste three years of my life moping about it" not childish in the extreme?

Then there's how she treats the rules. There's breaking the rules because the rules suck, which is admirable, and just being a sociopath, which is what early-Haruhi was. She engaged in cruel and occasionally outright criminal behavior that hurt other people simply because she felt like it (she may or may not have realized it hurt them, but a little thing called empathy is part of what separates childish behavior from mature behavior).

She gets better eventually, but the show didn't last long enough for it to show her growing into a better person.

It should also be noted that Cervantes didn't want Don Quixote to be admired, as the work was written as a satire of the contemporary Knight In Shining Armor literary tradition.

[Bri]

Originally Posted by Sute443

As someone who had zero fondness for Haruhi until late into the novels, I feel that I should address this.

"Never childish," you say? How is "I'm not the most interesting person in the world so I'll waste three years of my life moping about it" not childish in the extreme?

Then there's how she treats the rules. There's breaking the rules because the rules suck, which is admirable, and just being a sociopath, which is what early-Haruhi was. She engaged in cruel and occasionally outright criminal behavior that hurt other people simply because she felt like it (she may or may not have realized it hurt them, but a little thing called empathy is part of what separates childish behavior from mature behavior).

She gets better eventually, but the show didn't last long enough for it to show her growing into a better person.

It should also be noted that Cervantes didn't want Don Quixote to be admired, as the work was written as a satire of the contemporary Knight In Shining Armor literary tradition.

Haruhi doesn’t play nice. That does not affect my ability to like her or not in the slightest.

I don’t think her depressed state for those 3 years is a sign of childish behaviour. Questioning your environment, your life and your role in the world is a sign of growing up. Selfish yes, childish no. An inability to change that situation lead to frustration. In Haruhi’s case it creates a drive for when she goes to high school. It’s an essential characteristic for those who are by nature competitive and want to achieve a goal.

Empathy in itself is not a sign of maturity. The way you act on it is. Sometimes people benefit more from a kick in the butt instead of a pat on the back. Haruhi can do both things. She drives Kyon and Mikuru hard but also takes responsibility for her actions things go wrong like when she and Mikuru get caught passing flyers in bunny suits.

Nor do I agree with the notion of her being a sociopath. A sociopath would not have tried to protect her friends in the “murder” case nor help the Enoz girls or put a coat over a sleeping person. Haruhi is not “nice”, but show empathy at times. Judging a person on being nice is just superficial.

As for the criminal part, I guess you refer to the extortion of the computer club. Was it cruel? Yes, but the president made the mistake of playing by the rules and Haruhi taught him a lesson. He should have stood up to her and didn’t, so she walked all over him. By the time of days of Sagitarius showed that he had learned his lesson and tried to fight the SoS-dan on equal terms and as a result got a new part-time member in the form of Yuki.

As for Don Quixote, it is a satire of knight in shining armour but the book is also a social critique that shows that society can be more insane then the fool. Whether his actions are admirable or not is a moral judgement. That does not exclude feeling sympathy for the character.

[Code Geass]

Originally Posted by Bri

Mikuru, a shy person, gets pushed to do things she’d never dare to do herself and secretly enjoys it.

Secretly enjoys it? Mikuru never enjoyed the things Haruhi made her do! She was always so upset about them.

[Bri]

Originally Posted by Code Geass

Secretly enjoys it? Mikuru never enjoyed the things Haruhi made her do! She was always so upset about them.

Rewatch the scene when adult Mikuru meets Kyon in the clubroom. She walks around remembering things fondly, that's not a person with a Haruhi trauma. Also she has lost a bit of her sense of shame

[C.A.]

Yes, Mikuru definitely missed the days where she actually had fun, she grew up to become a lonely agent eternally trapped in time travel and not allowed to have close relationships with people.

[ijuinkun]

I could do without the whole "subconsciously attempting to erase the world and replace it with a new one" part, though. Unintended genocide is still genocide.

[Code Geass]

Originally Posted by Bri

Rewatch the scene when adult Mikuru meets Kyon in the clubroom. She walks around remembering things fondly, that's not a person with a Haruhi trauma. Also she has lost a bit of her sense of shame

But she did apologize to Kyon for it, which meant that she wasn't proud of it at all.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by ijuinkun

I could do without the whole "subconsciously attempting to erase the world and replace it with a new one" part, though. Unintended genocide is still genocide.

She's not going to really kill everyone though. Just reset them. Kinda.

If you believe what Koizumi says, she could be doing that every five minutes and no one would notice. Of course, you should never believe what Koizumi says.

[C.A.]

Haruhi never wished directly to destroy the world or to reset the world. Her powers work by removing something from reality or by shifting something in her mind, the Closed Space, into reality.

The only things she ever thought were stuff like any growing girl would think.

Frustration: "I hope everyone could just shut up and get lost"
Her powers will interpret as everyone simply disappearing.

Disappointment: "I hope this didn't happen at all"
Stuff will reset and produce a different outcome, it may follow up with what she wished would happen instead.

Anger: "I wished I was born in a world where there was no annoying people"
Closed space will manifest as the world she wishes and then take over the reality that she's in.

In episode 14, she wished that she only wanted to be with someone that she liked, which is Kyon. Her powers manifest and Closed Space starts taking over everything in reality except for Kyon and herself.

Destroying the world, resetting everything? She never thought of such, she only wished for something better to happen. Everyone in the world have selfish thoughts for themselves.

And when you wish for something good to happen to yourself, you don't wish at the same time, "everyone shall remain on Earth, they won't disappear, nothing bad will happen to them". Yea, no one makes wishes like that.

She is as innocent or guilty as anyone else on Earth, she is just blessed or cursed by this power that she is not allowed to know she has. You can say that she's subconsciously destroying the world, genocidal and stuff. But what if you actually have these powers and you don't know that you have such powers, does that make you genocidal? No, even people who don't have those powers, all humans think of similar stuff all the time, the entire human race could be genocidal.

[ijuinkun]

Whether you know that you did something or not does not remove the fact that you did it. If you ran over somebody in your car, but you had never seen the person in front of your car, nor noticed the collision (maybe you were really distracted), then you've still killed him/her, even if you are not LEGALLY liable for the death because of lack of intent.

I'm sorry, but the notion that, if you were living in Haruhi's world, she could eradicate you from existence with as little awareness as when you or I unwittingly step on a bug while walking, is Nightmare Fuel in itself. Within Haruhi's world, the only way to be at all safe from such a thing would be for her to actually care that you exist--everybody else is just part of the backdrop.