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Also ... calling Haruhi herself "ugly" because "she has few redeeming traits" .... just keep in mind thats an opinion of her personality not everyone shares.
I find strong women very attractive whereas I find the docile types less so. Haruhi was a very compelling personality for me.
Her strength is complicated by her agonizing over the idea that she may not having meaning or worth because she's only 1 of a multiple billion people. She spends most of the series in an almost panic over that idea which she responds to with her assertive actions.
Japan produces anime for Japan... period. Meaning they aren't designing them for the cultural values or tastes of the rest of the world. If one happens to crossover and become popular (as this one did), its just bonus because they'll be more likely to license it to an American distributor. Many anime viewers (particularly the ones who don't just watch simple action anime) are looking for the expression of japanese culture and the novelty of that compared to their own culture. American TV simply doesn't offer much of this kind of story anymore (american tv tends to operate in a "herd" mode.... right now we're being buried in cop'n'law shows all almost identical with only a few of them actually developing their characters).
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