The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya V-VI

This episode is very light on Yuki and I had already gotten most of the Yuki screenies in the previous post. In the anime broadcast, this episode was the penultimate one, setting up the finale of MoSH VI (with the Kiss). Besides giving us the proof of Itsuki's ESPer powers, it is even more important because Haruhi explains the origins of her current behaviour - which, for me, made her a much more sympathetic character and also showed how she was willing to open up to Kyon.

Others have commented on how, in this episode, Kyon predicted Haruhi's Great Detective mode for the Lone Island Syndrome arc. It seems that Kyon has done this more than once e.g. right at the beginning (see the prologue of the novel's vol.1) when he confessed to having a fantasy of being a sidekick flunky to the super-main character. This also appears to happen again (novel vol.4 spoiler) ▼ Show

(On the use of spoiler tags for novel spoilers, please see the "blah blah blah" on the second last line of the spoiler policy page.)

It also seems that Haruhi's ability to read Kyon's thoughts (particularly noted in the Day of Sagitarius when Kyon muses about getting two milligrams of Haruhi's confidence) partly manifested at the start of this episode. Kyon was thinking about how he always dreamed about walking home from school with a girl and now he's doing that but he's not happy at all. Haruhi then asks if he said something. I suppose it makes sense that her ability to read his mind would increase as their relationship improved and deepened.

And on to the next episode (also see previous post in the anime broadcast order):

... they should tell Haruhi themselves.

In the prologue of the novel's second volume, Kyon does tell Haruhi that Yuki is an alien, Mikuru is a time traveller and Itsuki is an ESPer. Of course, as Yuki predicted, Haruhi thinks Kyon is making fun of her. The trio (especially Itsuki) later blame him for getting them cast into their respective roles for The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina. The differences between the anime and the novel include how the former doesn't actually show us what he told her and it seems that this conversation didn't take place in the context of their Mystery Patrol / date.

This sequence gave me the impression that Haruhi chose Kyon to be her companion because she could recognize that he shared the same desire to meet aliens, time travellers and ESPers (as he mentioned in MoHS I) - this is implied by her questions and his admission above. This is an important pivot in the story because when Kyon finally comes to terms with Haruhi and realizes that he wants to continue having fun with the SOS Dan, this is the point that Haruhi's melancholy ends. Thus Kyon's character growth directly affects Haruhi's.

Kyon also switches his form of address when talking to Haruhi. (He refers to her as "Haruhi" when in background commenter mode, sounding like he's looking back on his past adventures with her.) Before this moment, he had always addressed her as "Suzumiya" - which is not as formal as "Suzumiya-san" (which is used by Itsuki and Mikuru, I don't think Yuki addresses anyone by name throughout the whole series) but less formal than, say, "Haruhi-san" - for him to call her just "Haruhi" implies that they are very close.

From Del Ray's manga note on honorifics: "The lack of honorific means that the speaker has permission to address the person in a very intimate way. Unusually, only family, spouses, or very close friends have this kind of permission. Known as yobisute, it can be gratifying when someone who has earned the intimacy starts to call one's name without an honorific. But when the intimacy hasn't been earned, it can also be very insulting."

Thus Kyon is also sending a very strong signal to Haruhi that he considers her to be a very close and good friend. In addition, with the compliment about her ponytail, he is telling her that he finds her attractive.

I've already mentioned previously that this chatlog tells us that Yuki likes Kyon and that she does have an individual personality underneath that blank face. In addition, after she saved him from Ryoko, Kyon doesn't just value her role as a super utility player in the SOS Dan but also thinks of her as a sort of safety blanket. In Disappearance (novel vol.4), ▼ Show

(Repeated notice: On the use of spoiler tags for novel spoilers, please see the "blah blah blah" on the second last line of the spoiler policy page.)

So that's the first major arc completed. The main characters are introduced, their powers revealed and their relationships set up. With the female and male leads having come to a mutual understanding, it's time for more adventures!

Related posts:

1. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 5
2. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III
3. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 7