< Haruhi Suzumiya

Haruhi Suzumiya/Tropes J-Z


Haruhi Suzumiya
  • Freudian Trio: Ryoko as Id, Yuki as Ego, and Emiri as Superego.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: What Haruhi eventually matures into.
  • Jerkass: Haruhi in the beginning of the series. Until...
  • Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: A Gambit Pileup, Stable Time Loop and Love Dodecahedron form around a Wrong Genre Savvy Ontological Mystery title character and an Unreliable Narrator protagonist who doesn't really understand what's going on (or does he?). Said narrator relays most of the background information and interpretation from a Mr. Exposition who nobody completely believes or trusts.
  • Joshikousei: In the book, Kyon wonders if the principal has a fetish for this, since male students wear blazers and ties, but girls wear the more traditional sailor uniform. Ironically, the real school North High is based on features the opposite uniform configuration, with militaresque gakuran for boys and parochial-style uniforms for girls.
  • Just Eat Gilligan: In Sigh, Kyon repeatedly suggests doing this to Haruhi to solve the problem.
  • Kansai Regional Accent: Notable for its absence — the series is set in Nishinomiya, on Osaka bay, in between Osaka and Kobe, home of the Hanshin Tigers, etc. As the creator of the series was born and raised in Nishinomiya, it's not surprising he'd want to avoid the usual grossly exaggerated, stereotypical Kansai accent heard in most anime.
    • This can also be excused by the fact that Kyon is an Unreliable Narrator; he could easily be rendering everyone's dialect (including his own) as Standard Japanese, just because.
    • The author could also be doing this to sidestep the stereotypical characterization associated with the dialect. It might partially agree with Haruhi and Tsuruya's personalities, but it would be very much at odds with Kyon's Ordinary High School Student/Unfazed Everyman role in the narrative.
  • Kawaisa: The show is actually a huge sendup of the entire concept on some level. Mikuru is selected by Haruhi for SOS membership due to many of these characteristics... and those characteristics make her a doormat as a result. Haruhi herself could be a kind of Genki Kawaisa... except that her exuberance means she doesn't understand what's appropriate and not (or at least, she doesn't care) making her profoundly annoying in many cases.
  • Keep It Foreign: "Why?" -> "naze?"
  • Kick the Dog: Haruhi, obviously. Most famously, the blackmailing of the computer club president. Some people don't find the molestation of Mikuru very funny, either. In the novels, Haruhi actually punched Mikuru on the head several times because her contact lens didn't fly out like in stories. She nearly gets hit by one really (and understandably) upset Kyon, but Koizumi restrained him.
  • Knife Nut: Ryoko Asakura.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Where to begin?
    • Among the popular Japanese media tropes, if it isn't lampshaded, then it was probably invoked by Haruhi.
  • Language of Magic: Sped up and backwards-played SQL queries.
  • Layman's Terms: Particularly in the Drama CD. Kyon is fond of asking for his companions' Infodumps to be rendered in words he can understand, though he's generally good at getting the gist of things.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Haruhi behaves this way when they play a LAN game against the Computer Club.
  • Lemony Narrator: Kyon, especially in the novels.
  • Light Novels: Yes, the anime is based on them and covers the first novel of eleven and some side stories. The second season covers the first three novels, plus chapters from novels 5 and 6.
    • Including the movie, the first four are completely done, and as above, chapters from 5 and 6.
  • Lighter and Softer: While the main series is relatively light in tone, The Vanishing of Yuki-chan takes it even further — there's no impending threat of the world being remade, Kyon isn't a nervous wreck from waking up in an Alternate Universe, Asakura isn't a Knife Nut Psycho Lesbian, and the closest things the series has for "antagonists" are Mikuru and Tsuruya, with the former only having that status because she follows the lead of the latter. Of course, when Haruhi shows up again, she and Tsuruya team up almost immediately.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Yuki. Eventually Kyon picks up that maybe she just likes her school uniform.
  • Little Miss Almighty: Haruhi, or maybe not.
  • Little Stowaway: Kyon's sister tries this when the SOS brigade goes on vacation, but she gets caught in an instant. In the novels, she has to stay home, but in the anime they ultimately allow her to go with them.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: There's a lot of things Haruhi doesn't know about herself and the other members of the SOS Brigade.
    • The Time Travel arcs often leave Mikuru in a similar position. Kyon, Yuki, and Future Mikuru all know what she needs to do and why, but they can't tell Mikuru 'cos of paradoxes.
    • Kyon himself seems to be left out of a lot of the secret meetings between Yuki, Itsuki, and Mikuru.
  • Locked Room Mystery: "Remote Island Syndrome."
    • Done again with Where Did The Cat Go?, the murder mystery that was supposed to be the main excitement during the Snow Mountain Syndrome trip.
  • Loli In A Bag: Kyon's little sister hid in his duffel bag so he would take her on vacation with him.
    • Amusingly, Reality Ensues — Kyon immediately notices that his bag is a good 30 kilos heavier than it should be and catches her. In the anime he brings her along anyway, whereas in the Light Novels he sends her back home.
  • Lost Him in a Card Game: Haruhi bets Mikuru during "The Day of Sagittarius." When the Computer Club President is taken aback by this, she offers Yuki instead. And when Kyon protests her willingness to wager other people, she relents and offers herself — an offer which the Computer Club president very much rejects...
  • Lotus Eater Machine: The Alternate Universe in Disappearance seems to be like this for Kyon, but gets subverted hard when he goes into a panic over the one good thing it had over the real world—that is, the SOS-Dan.
  • Love Letter Lunacy: in the short story Charmed at First Sight LOVER, Kyon transcribes a (hilariously melodramatic) love note from an old classmate to Yuki. Unfortunately, when he's done reading it aloud to her, he tosses it out the window — just as Haruhi is passing by. Or, as Kyon puts it in helpful question-and-answer format:

Question 1: What was written on that paper?
Answer: A confession of love for Nagato.
Question 2: In whose handwriting was it written?
Answer: Mine.
Question 3: What would happen if some uninformed third party read it?
Answer: They would probably get the wrong idea.
Question 4: What if Haruhi read it?
Answer: I don't even want to think about that.
<Haruhi looks up at Kyon in the window and grins unpleasantly.>
...That cinched it. Today was not my day.

  • Macross Missile Massacre: Kyon on a bike with fireworks, in "Endless Eight".
  • Magic From Technology: Yuki's incantations in SQL.
  • Magical Girlfriend: Or at least Magical She Is Not My Girlfriend.
  • Magical Incantation: See below.
  • Male Gaze: Really confusing when used on Yuki's chest in Disappearance.
    • The pool scene in the 7th Endless Eight episode begins with Haruhi's bikini-clad butt taking up almost the whole screen.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Haruhi
  • Masquerade: On just about everybody's part
  • Mayfly-December Romance
  • Meaningful Background Event: For just a split second in "Live Alive," when Kyon is talking to Taniguchi and Kunikida, Haruhi and Yuki can be seen in their costumes with guitars strapped to their backs.
  • Meaningful Name: according to Wikipedia, Kyon's nickname might come from κύων (kyôn), Ancient Greek for "dog", from where the word "cynic" may come from. Another possibility: Haruhi in the novels loves the story of Tanabata, involving a romance between a man and a woman separated and only allowed to meet once a year; the Korean name for the man can be romanized as 'Kyonu'.
    • It should be noted that while Kyon is certainly a cynic in the modern sense of the word, the Ancient Greek Cynics (i. e. the Dog Philosophers) actually espoused a philosophy that has more in common with Haruhi's than Kyon's.
    • Probably unintentional, but 'Kyon' is also Hindi for 'why?': something Kyon must be repeatedly thinking throughout the series...
      • Keep in mind, however, that while the name "Kyon" is pronounced as you'd expect a Japanese name to be, the Hindi word "kyon" is pronounced like "kyo" or even "kyo", with a slight nasalization of the final consonant. The resemblance really ends at the transliteration.
    • Yuki's name as written means "has hope", which arguably fits with her later Character Development. Written in another way, it can also mean "snow", leading to several snow motifs. The 8th novel suggests that "snow" meaning was why she chose this name for herself as a metaphor, because as the Entity is formless and unified, like a mass of water, or a cloud, she is individual, and material, like a snowflake originating from that water.
      • Additionally, the kanji in her surname name can translate to "gate manager" (or "master", in that context), which makes sense since she's essentially managing a "gate" to the Data Overmind.
    • Another probably intentional one -- 'Mikuru' written a certain way in kanji can mean 'future'.
  • Meaningless Meaningful Words: Played with in The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina when Itsuki and Yuki, to fill Haruhi's Wall Banger script improvise a dialogue and manage to talk for a full minute without saying anything that makes the tiniest sense!
  • Meta Guy: Kyon, Genre Savvy Deadpan Snarker that he is.
  • Mind Screw: If you haven't been spoiled, watching the series from the start in its original out-of-chronological-order order, will mess you up.
  • Miracle Rally: Played with in "The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya". Yuki cheats and modifies the attribute data of the baseball bat the team uses ('Homing Mode'). Kyon asks her to disable it afterwards, and the team go right back to sucking again... but they still win. And then forfeit, because Haruhi's had her fun. And then Kyon sells the other team the bat.
  • Mistaken Message: Ryoko's anonymous note on Kyon's Inside Shoes locker.
  • Moe: Mikuru, who Haruhi tries to make as Moe as possible. Subverted and maybe invoked since there are hints that Future Mikuru is driving the whole plot behind the scenes, and also (via Koizumi) that her moe-ness is deliberate so that the time-travelers can use Kyon's protectiveness to manipulate him.
    • Also, Kyon's little sister. You can't look at her and not say that she's adorable. (Unless you're Kyon, who would disagree.)
    • Yuki, especially in Disappearance (and is turned Up to Eleven in the movie).
    • Also, Yasumi, from Surprise.
  • Moment Killer
  • Mood Dissonance: The episode "Sometime in the Rain" has Haruhi share an umbrella with Kyon, and act like she cares about him, as they walk home together. There's a sense of them almost being friends, honestly. It's a noticeable difference from where Haruhi was at the beginning of the show, and definite character development. It was a little hard to take at face value though, considering that Haruhi had spent the day forcibly dressing Mikuru up and filming her, after sending Kyon off on an errand so he wouldn't interfere.
  • Mood Whiplash: Ryoko's conversation alone with Kyon at first sounds like a heartfelt confession of love... then it starts making no sense ("the higher-ups are all sticks-in-the-muds who can't keep up with change, but I can't afford such complacency out in the field")... and then she says she's going to kill him, pulls out a big Rambo knife and lunges at him.
    • The movie ends on a rather light note--basically, Kyon states he chose this world. It's way more fun here. I have to go back in time and make sure I don't screw up foiling Nagato's plan at some point, but whatever, time for some Christmas hot pot. Cut to the credits and an a capella song called "Gentle Oblivion". Especially sad when you realize that it's a character song for Yuki.
    • Watch the cheery first episode of "Endless Eight," then watch the following ones.
    • Kyon's confrontation with Haruhi in Sigh leads to a sudden change of the mood. And to a dark, overcast, rainy, musicless day.
  • Morality Chain: The only reason Haruhi got any nicer is Kyon. And we don't wanna know what would happen if he should die.
    • But Ryoko Asakura does.
  • The Movie: An adaptation of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, to be exact.
    • Big Damn Movie: Naturally, since Disappearance is one of the more epic stories in the series.
  • Mr. Exposition: The show hangs a lampshade on this with Kyon constantly telling Itsuki, aka Mr Exposition, that he talks too much.
  • Mr. Vice Guy: Haruhi starts out as a jerkass Genki Girl and eventually becomes, well, a selfish jerk who means well and values her friends more than making the world exciting.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Mikuru again.
  • Mugged for Disguise: Invoked by Kyon during Disappearance (when Koizumi and Haruhi, who attend a different school in the altered reality, try to sneak into North High), but averted with them using Kyon's P.E. uniforms instead. Though Haruhi naturally thinks this trope is an equally good idea.
  • Multiple Demographic Appeal: And how.
  • Mundane Fantastic
  • Mundane Utility
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: Ryoko's motivation for stabbing Kyon in Disappearance. Probably also a secondary motivation when she initially tries to kill him in Melancholy.
  • Musical Pastiche: Soundtrack during the baseball match pastiches the theme to Touch).
  • Myself, My Avatar: The Data Overmind/Sky Canopy Domain "Agents".
  • Mysterious Backer: The Data Entity.
  • Necktie Leash - Mostly just in the anime. In the novels she leads him arm in arm.
  • Neutral Female: Mikuru. She even knows that she won't be a combatant or competent.
  • New Transfer Student: Itsuki.
  • Newspaper Dating: Kyon in the novel of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
  • Next Sunday A.D.: It's implied in Disappearance that Kyon's freshman year in high school started in April, 2010. (He mentions that the date, July 7, is a lucky date -- 7/7/07.)
  • Nightmare Fetishist: Haruhi.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Episode 00 "The Adventures Of Mikuru Asahina", Mikuru's and Yuki's characters.
    • Kyon's suggestion for the cultural festival: "Let's combine everything and do a fortune-telling survey play cafe."
  • No Communities Were Harmed: The series' setting is described/rendered in sufficient detail (in both novels and anime) to be readily identifiable as the author's hometown of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, but it's never referred to by name in-series. Most likely, unwillingness to come out and say it is to avoid invoking a different trope based on the dialect of the region. Nevertheless, there are a few dead giveaways in the series, such as scenes directly in front of (a circa-2006) Osaka Station in "Melancholy III" and an establishing shot in "Endless Eight" that is unmistakably the waterfront of Kobe. (Perhaps the series' attention to detail is also its own undoing.)
    • Dead giveaways, you say?
    • The American DVD release of Season 2 includes extra videos where some of the crew walk around the town visiting the real-life locations that served as the models for many of the scenes.
  • No Name Given: Kyon, the Computer Club President, and Kyon's sister—Kyon bemoans his stupid nickname but never says his real name (his school introduction is cut off). Even his sister's image song had to be titled as "Kyon no Imouto-san" or "Kyon's Little Sister". When someone is about to say the president's name, it is covered up by a sudden cut-off to a random cat meowing.
    • The novels tease us by saying that Kyon's actual name is "hard to spell" and "regal sounding."
    • At the beginning of "Melancholy", the introductions were alternately boy/girl, with boys and girls each being alphabetically ordered. After Kyon, Haruhi Suzumiya introduces herself, then Taniguchi. So Kyon's name likely starts with "Su," "Se," "So," or "Ta." Among the resulting possibilities are "Nagaru Tanigawa" and "John Smith" (Jon Sumisu), although in Disappearance Kyon makes it explicit that John Smith is not his real name.
    • Haruhi introduces Asahina to Kyon, but then fails to introduce Kyon to Asahina, a fact that doesn't escape Kyon's attention. And a few days later, when Koizumi is introducing himself to the Kyon, Haruhi interrupts Kyon's self introduction with "That's Kyon!"
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Koizumi, to Kyon's constant annoyance and the fangirls' constant delight, as well as Asakura, which doesn't stand out too much for various reasons,[1] and for both the question if it is intentional or not is valid.
  • No Such Thing as Wizard Jesus: There are alien data creatures, life forms that are based around physical bodies, but their data can live without their silicon-based bodies. Wait! Doesn't it mean that maybe if humans are also like this, it could be proven that there is life after death for our non-physical part, call it data, mind or soul? The trope is averted, as Kyon does ask this question as soon as he can, and Nagato knows the answer but it is classified information
  • Non Sequitur Thud: Yuki's messages to Kyon at the beginning of book 10 suddenly become completely unintelligible before she passes out. Not Played for Laughs.

yuki.n> i will not allow them to harm you or haruhi suzumiya
yuki.n> this is one of my duti□□□□□□□□□ata integrati□□□□□□□ciousnes□□□□□□ttempt□□□□□□□municat□□□□□□□□□□□□□□anopy doma
yuki.n> my operat?????æ–‡å —å????OE–ã‘ã??§ã™????æ–‡å??? —åOE????–ã‘ã§???
yuki.n> ????????ã“ã‚O Eã?????‚‚æ–‡å??? —å??OE–ã‘ã???•ã“ã‚???O Eã‚‚æ?????????????–‡å —åOE–ã‘ã•??
yuki.n> need to sleep

  • Non-Indicative First Episode: First episode, which parodies most of the Japanese Media Tropes and many others in The Catalogue.
  • Noodle Incident: Only Kyon's "dream" is shown in Snow Mountain Syndrome, the other "dreams" sound interesting.
  • Not a Date: Kyon and Mikuru. Aww.
  • Not So Stoic: There's definite traces of actual emotion under Yuki Nagato's Extreme Doormat Emotionless Girl facade. She's still pretty hard to read though.
  • Not What It Looks Like
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Kyon constantly denies knowing or understanding things that the events or narration show that he does, as a way of avoiding conversation with others; most notably Koizumi, but also quite a bit with Taniguchi.
  • Occult Detective: Ostensibly the goal of the SOS Brigade, though they very rarely get around to it. Though, to be fair, the SOS-Dan's objective has already been fulfilled: "To find aliens, time travelers, sliders and espers and have fun with them", right...?
    • They haven't found a slider yet. Unless Kyon counts after "Disappearance". Probably not, though. It was technically the same universe.
  • Odd Friendship: Kyon (laid-back and skeptical) and Haruhi (borderline sociopath with a huge belief in the supernatural).
  • Off-Model: Haruhi in the second season occasionally looks like one of the characters from K-On! (also produced by Kyoto Animation) cosplaying as her.
  • Oh Crap: In Disappearance, Kyon's reaction to the revival of Ryoko. Understandable when your last interaction with a person was her trying to stab you to death. This reaction turns out to be wholly justified, too.
    • Towards the end of Melancholy Mikuru accidentally stumbles across the folder where Kyon stashed her sexy maid pictures. The dub put it best:

Kyon: I'm screwed!

    • His general reaction to, well, the disappearance of Haruhi is pretty frantic as well, especially since his initial thoughts center around the idea that she somehow unmade herself (and just how profoundly fucked the universe might be in this case, given what he knows).
      • That isn't even the biggest one, though. His biggest one? Realizing the true nature of the paradox, what caused it, and exactly what his decision could mean for Yuki. (And everyone else, but Yuki above all.)
      • In Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, when young Haruhi says, "North High, huh," Kyon's eyes immediately show that he's fully aware of how monumental that moment is, and what it means for his future.
    • Kyon is similarly disturbed in the preview for Astonishment when Yuki's text messages reassuring him that there is nothing to worry about suddenly degenerate into unintelligible gibberish, and he becomes horribly aware of just how much strain Yuki is being put under. And then Asakura comes back.
    • Itsuki's face in the novels when he realises his screen-time in the movie he doesn't want to be in has been increased due to his questioning of the lack of characters.
      • Considering his typical Stepford Smiler expression, the fact that his smile becomes visibly strained in the anime can probably still be considered an "oh crap" face.
  • Ojou: Tsuruya
  • Old School Building: The SOS clubroom is in the old wing of the school.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: Bilingual Bonus, to boot; the music is part of the first movement of Mahler's 8th Symphony, and the lyrics are taken from the Latin hymn, "Veni, Creator Spiritus", which talks about the creator of the world.
  • Omniscient Morality License
  • One Head Taller: This becomes extremely obvious in the gender-bent fan version: when you switch the genders, the heights are also accommodated.
  • One Myth to Rule Them All: Haruhi is behind everything. Or time travelers. Or aliens. Or espers.
  • One Steve Limit: Haruhi is a very common name in Japan, but in the Disappearance movie, on December 18, no one at Kyon's classroom seems to know a single Haruhi. The novel explains that all of Haruhi's classmates from her junior high were out sick that day.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Kyon.
  • Only One Name: We never get to know Tsuruya's complete name; it's never even made clear if Tsuruya is her first or second name. People who don't hang around with her call her "Tsuruya-san" and Itsuki refers to "The Tsuruya Family", so it may be her second name, but Haruhi calls her "Tsuru-chan" so it could very well be her first name. The fact that the name Tsuruya can serve as both doesn't help. Or maybe her first and second name are actually the same.
  • Or Was It a Dream?: What Kyon is asking himself after the climax of Melancholy, until it becomes obvious.
  • Orange-Blue Contrast: Somewhat. The covers of volumes 10 and 11 of the light novels are orange and blue respectively, and they're getting a simultaneous release. Bonus points because it further shows how Haruhi and Sasaki are on opposite ends of...whatever.
  • Ordinary High School Student: Kyon actually is confirmed completely 100% ordinary. Through background checks.
    • For now at least. Considering that this is the Haruhi verse, it's quite possible that this will change. The fact that sliders are so far unaccounted for has caused many fans to believe that Kyon may eventually become a slider.
  • The Other Darrin: Shamisen's dub VA switched from Steve Kramer in season one to Michael McConnohie in season two.
  • Out of Focus: Haruhi Suzumiya herself!
  • Outsourcing Fate: In Disappearance, when Yuki left it to Kyon to choose between the old and new worlds
    • Kyon does something like this on a daily basis in the series, but without anyone willingly empowering him.
  • Overly Long Gag: "Endless Eight", with a full eight episodes. Based on one single 30-page chapter. With each episode about 24 minutes long, the gag ran for three hours and twelve minutes. It has not been received well.
    • The Arc Number is visually cued in episode 6: Kyon endlessly repeatedly scrawls an '8' into Haruhi's checklist, and from the camera angle it appears to be the sign of 'infinity'. Yes, eight whole episodes were committed to this symbolism.
      • Let's put this in perspective. While it only takes three hours and twelve minutes to watch every episode, this is not what was was Overly Long about it. Many fans watched these episodes as they came out over the course of a few months. Yuki Nagato was an effective woobie because after about 4 episodes the viewers began to get more and more frustrated and felt like they themselves were stuck in the endless recursion of time with the characters. It didn't help that each episode teased at breaking the cycle at the very end of each episode, only to have Kyon not know what to do/chicken out.
  • Pac-Man Fever: Possibly justified, as it was a game built by a bunch of talented amateurs.
  • Pals with Jesus: Kyon. To the point that anyone who wants to affect Haruhi in any way goes through him first (sometimes with a knife), to his irritation.

Haruhi: Okay, Yuki, wreck her with your magic!
Yuki:... *looks over at Kyon*
Kyon: (narrating) No. No. No. I shouldn't even have to tell you that.

  • Panda-ing To The Audience: In Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, there is a picture of a panda on little Haruhi's shirt... teehee.
  • Panty Shot: There's one in "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina". Guess who it's from?
  • Paratext: The layout of the 2009 episodes plays around with this by reflecting their content: the new episodes came three years after the first run, playing on the interval of time travel in "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody"; "Endless Eight" had eight iterations; and The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, about the SOS Brigade's creation of a movie, was treated like a single long movie-like episode and simply cut whenever each episode's time limit was reached (even in the middle of conversations). It had also become a minor meme to state that "Disappearance disappeared" or some variation of it, but it's now The Movie. And it was released on DVD and Blue-Ray on December 18, a majorly significant date in the story.
    • The tenth and eleventh novels came out in May. Despite the majority of them taking place in April, Kyon travels a month in the future in the ending of the eleventh.
  • Perverse Sexual Lust: Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
    • If by "your feelings" you mean "the Internet," then the answer would be a resounding YES.
  • Pet the Dog: Haruhi has a few. Most famously, the ENOZ concert and in the later novels... Valentine's Chocolate!
    • The way she deals with little kids, such as Kyon's sister, qualifies as well.
  • The Philosopher: Itsuki. Not only effective as The Philosopher but nearly as difficult to follow as his ancient Greek forerunners. Just trying to make sense of what he's saying is a mental workout, for the audience as well as Kyon.
    • Kyon himself is a more down-to-Earth version of The Philosopher (especially in the books), but unlike Itsuki usually keeps it to himself.
    • Shamisen deserves an honorable mention. Although he only has one speech, he's a good enough philosopher that upon being introduced he manages to sidetrack the brigade members into a debate over the nature of conversation and away from the fact that, you know, he's a talking cat.
    • Sasaki exemplifies this trope, so much that even the aforementioned Itsuki is impressed. You have to admire someone who can come up with a clever and confusing speech about light and quantum mechanics on the drop of the hat while talking about schoolwork.
  • Pinball Protagonist: Kyon. He grows out of it. Because this sort of thing is part of what led to the events of Disappearance.
  • Pinch Me: Kyon in Disappearance.
  • Pinky Swear: This gesture has apparently persisted into the far future, if older Mikuru in "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" is anything to go by.
    • The trope's name is also the title of Ryoko Asakura's first Image Song, showcasing her Nice Girl personality before she decides to kill a boy just to provoke a change in the status quo.
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite being a club for investigating paranormal activity, the SOS Brigade rarely actually does anything, at least in the anime.
  • Playboy Bunny
  • Plot Hole: Directly referenced and combined with Incredibly Lame Pun in "Intrigues"; when Kyon and future!Asahina-san (small) has to move a boulder, he comments on the crater it leaves behind and asks if anyone will notice it.
  • Porn Stash: Well not porn as such, but Kyon has stashed a few photos of Mikuru that she most certainly wouldn't be happy about him having on the Computer Club's... that is, the SOS Brigade's computer.
  • Post Episode Trailer: The "broadcast order" featured Kyon and Haruhi arguing over the episode number. The "DVD order" has Yuki laconically state everything deadpan.
  • Post Modernism
  • POV Boy, Poster Girl: Kyon is the POV protagonist, but Haruhi drives the plot.
  • Power Nullifier: Yuki Nagato.
  • Powers as Programs: The humanoid interfaces.
  • Powers That Be
  • Practical Voice Over: Kyon, narrating the first episode film.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation
  • Precision F-Strike: In the anime: "Then I'll tell everyone at school that all you geeks ganged up on her and [bleep]ed her!" Of course, the line in the novel is the relatively innocuous "gang-raped". In the Disappearance novel, Kyon swears once at the very end (apparently for the first time in the series). By the Astonishment novel, he's less restrained.
  • Prepare to Die: A crazed Ryouko Asakura says this to Kyon in a Creepy Monotone before Yuki's Big Damn Heroes moment.
    • In the anime, it wasn't a Creepy Monotone, it was very cheerful, as if she was talking about a book she really liked. It made Kyon miss what she actually said, until after she flew at him with a knife.
  • Press-Ganged: Pretty much everyone in the SOS Brigade can attest that they were bodily forced- er, recruited using this method.
  • Prima Donna Director: Haruhi throws some epic tantrums during the making of The Adventures of Mikuru and displays some of her worst behaviour for the entire series.
  • Prolonged Prologue: The novels often have extremely long prologues, or at least chapters titled so. Kyon lampshades the very long prologue of Disappearance, but the prologue in Scheme is nearly twice as long as that, and the prologue in Dissociation is in turn considerably longer than Scheme...
    • Kyon does have a point though, despite their length there really isn't any other name for them other than "prologue" as they don't quite fit into the story proper.
  • Promoted Fanboy: Apparently, the owner of the English license hired at least some of the a.f.k. anime sub team to do the official English translation of the light novels.
  • Puberty Superpower: Haruhi and Koizumi (both at age 12).
  • Public Domain Soundtrack: Classical music is used very effectively throughout the series (see the trope's page for details).
  • Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Yuki, though she stops wearing them later.
  • Rapid-Fire Typing: And Rapid Fire Speaking, too. In fact, being an alien, Yuki takes this to such a ludicrous degree that Mikuru gets scared and Kyon gets nervous she'll blow her cover.
    • Yuki's typing during the Day of Sagittarius is so fast that an ordinary computer should be unable to keep up.
  • Rapunzel Hair: Tsuruya has this, as well as Haruhi in the beginning and in Disappearance.
  • Real Place Background: The anime is set in clearly recognizable locales in and around the city of Nishinomiya, with occasional glimpses of Osaka (the Celestial attack in "Melancholy V") and Kobe (the fireworks in "Endless Eight").
  • Reality Warper: Haruhi.
  • Reality Warping Is Not a Toy
  • Red Armband of Leadership: Haruhi, naturally.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Asakura (Red) and Yuki (Blue). Actually subverted, as their inner workings are exactly flipped.
  • Red Pill, Blue Pill: Kyon is given the choice to either remain in the new world where espers, aliens, and so forth don't exist or return the world to its former crazy, troublesome self.
  • Refuge in Audacity: "Endless Eight". Or not.
  • Restraining Bolt: Yuki places one of these upon herself after the events of Disappearance as a precaution, disabling her ability to time travel via synchonization. This also has a unique subversion -- losing her knowledge of what the future holds gives Yuki "freedom beyond what I had imagined", allowing her to exercise free will for the first time.
  • Reverse Psychology Marketing: Over and over again. Why do we keep coming back?
  • Rhetorical Request Blunder: Throughout the Haruhi series, Kyon continually wishes that he were living a normal life. In the fourth book Yuki provides just that.
  • Ridiculously Humanoid Robot Interface: Yuki Nagato fits this trope to a T.
  • Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Averted and played straight. Once in "Endless Eight" and once in Disappearance. The times it is played straight are explained. Yuki in "Endless Eight", because her information is the time frame and Kyon in Disappearance, because Yuki precisely made it so he'd remember.
  • Robe and Wizard Hat: Yuki wore this for her fortune-telling, the student film, and impromptu guitar replacement. "The Wizard of Rock" indeed.
  • Role Playing Game Terms: Often in the novels and once in the anime, Kyon references Haruhi having a negative effect on his HP and MP.
    • Kyon also mentions stat points during "Endless Eight".
    • In addition, during the baseball game, Yuki specifically says that she has enhanced the attributes on the team's bat.
    • Kyon seems to be a fan of RPGs in general - he describes one instance (involving Mikuru and time travel) as "like a quest in an RPG" and wonders if he'll get an item as a reward.
  • Rubber Face: Poor Mikuru Hilarious punishment!
  • Running Gag: Kyon always being the last one to arrive at any outing of the SOS Brigade, and consequently always being the one who ends up paying for the group's lunch.
    • Itsuki will lose any game he tries to play.
  • Sailor Fuku: Kyon comments on the school's girl's uniforms in the first novel, and wonders if the principal has a Sailor Fuku fetish.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: This is set out for Kyon and Haruhi in the prologue of the first novel and extends to at least the tenth novel.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Yuki, until she stops wearing them. When the Student Council President attempts to shut down the SOS Brigade, Kyon notices his glasses were flashing for no reason. "Are those special effects?"
  • Scenery Censor: It's a Running Gag to have characters and objects blocking the view of Haruhi forcibly stripping a flustered Mikuru while commenting explicitly on her body. It was played most obviously and repeatedly in "Someday in the Rain", with recurring shots of Yuki discretely turning to gaze into the bookshelf while Itsuki courteously leaves the room.
  • Scenery Porn: Compare the real town of Nishinomiya with the anime. (See also this page with photos of locations of scenes from the anime.)
  • Schedule Slip: The tenth light novel has been delayed for three years. The second season was delayed for almost three years. The first episode of the second season suddenly aired in the middle of a rerun of the first season. We can only hope that the updates stay constant.
  • School Festival
  • School Uniforms Are the New Black: Yuki Nagato will wear her school uniform even when the rest of her friends change into their casual clothes. Kyon suggests that maybe she just likes her school uniform because she exhibited similar behavior with her fortune telling/witch costume.
  • Secret Keeper: For three opposing factions, all whom seem to get along pretty well for opposing factions, although it is mentioned that certain parties within each group don't get along as well as the three close to Kyon.
  • Seinfeldian Conversation
  • Sekaikei
  • Selective Obliviousness: Kyon's non-comprehension of Haruhi's feelings for him is acceptable in the anime, as the series is short and romance is not a gigantic focus, but it's getting downright ridiculous in the novels. It's even got Itsuki openly exasperated. Bear in mind though that in regards to his feelings for Haruhi, Kyon's an Unreliable Narrator. The issue is less any stupidity on his part and more of a refusal to understand.
    • But on the other hand, there are occasions where Kyon's thoughts clearly betray that he knows that if Haruhi gets jealous over him she might end the world. Happens in "Live Alive" and Sigh.
    • Given that twice in the anime ('End of the World' and Endless Eight) solutions cause Kyon to directly interact with Haruhi on a personal basis, it might be less of 'obliviousness' and more 'refusing to see it'.
  • Sempai-Kohai: Subverted: Although Mikuru is Haruhi and the others' senior, she still gets used like a dishrag by Haruhi.
    • Yasumi calls Kyon "sempai".
  • Sequel Hook: In the end of novel 11, Kyon travels a month into the future, and because there already is another Kyon in that future, he must return to mend the timeline. It also will serve for us to find out what the hell happened.
  • Series Continuity Error: In the movie, Haruhi says she'd sworn off alcohol. However, the kids were never drunk in the anime version of "Lone Island Syndrome". The dub sidesteps this, as mentioned above under Bowdlerize.
  • Sexy Discretion Shot: More like a nudity discretion shot. In "Someday In The Rain," whenever Haruhi changes Mikuru's outfit, the viewer is treated to what could only be described as sounds of rape, a shot of Nagato's face as she's picking out a book, and Itsuki standing outside the room saying something completely unrelated.
    • Nagato is apparently Genre Savvy and aware of the viewer and the camera placement during these scenes. At one point after switching out her books during one such occasion, she deliberately glances at the bookshelf, and presumably, the viewer, as if she knows what we're all thinking.
  • Shadow Archetype: Kyon and Haruhi to each other. Kyon is the rational Agent Scully that Haruhi learnt to suppress for the sake of fun. Haruhi is the irrational Daydream Believer that Kyon learnt to suppress for the sake of order (and lack of disappointment) in his life. To a lesser extent, Itsuki and Taniguchi could be considered Kyon's shadows, contantly bringing up things that Kyon would prefer not to think about.
  • Shameless Fanservice Girl: Haruhi is an example of this.
  • Ship Tease: Everyone and everything.
    • And all of the Kyon/Nagato shippers got a massive dose of Ship Tease from the movie. Sadly (for some), it looks like Kyon will always go back to Haruhi.
    • At the risk of starting certain... arguments, he might just enjoy the old SOS Brigade and the weird things that happen around him when he's with Haruhi.
    • Kyon "kisses the princess awake," but this is naturally, yet frustratingly, wiped out with All Just a Dream.
    • Intensifying Ship Tease concluding each episode of the "Endless Eight", until Kyon's momentous epiphany...of Anticlimax.
    • In Snow Mountain Syndrome" Kyon and Haruhi get into a spirited game of Twister.
    • In novel 11, Kyon is sent a month into the future. Where does he appear, you ask? On all fours over Haruhi in her bed.
      • And Haruhi doesn't seem very bothered by it.
      • And just before arriving there, he found himself apparently a few years in the future. On a college campus. With Haruhi. Who's completely unsurprised to see him, until she notices he's wearing the North High uniform, and looks younger, and is also "over there" as well as right beside her....
  • Shirtless Scene: Kyon in the second part of "Endless Eight". Stupid sexy Kyon.
    • Endless Eight VI has both Kyon and Koizumi in swim trunks, and Endless Eight V has Koizumi in what is basically a thong.
    • Also, chapter 10 when Kyon and Haruhi crawled into a cave and took off their dripping shirts. This one, however, is Fan Service-free.
  • Shout-Out: Has its own page.
  • Show Within a Show: The movie.
    • Also, the books within a book, when Haruhi forces the SOS Brigade to write short stories for a magazine to save the Literature club from being disbanded due to lack of membership. Through these, we get some interesting looks at the personalities (and possibly even back stories) of the SOS Brigade; especially noteworthy is Yuki's, where it is hinted that Kimidori has known Yuki since she was first "born," and helped her come up with her name.
  • Sighted Guns Are Low Tech: the hypodermic dart gun that Yuki gives to Kyon in Disappearance in order to inject the corrective program looks distinctly sci-fi-ish (or like a toy); either way, it is missing its sights.
  • Significant Anagram: Watahashi Yasumi(zu) = Watashi ha/wa Suzumiya = I am Suzumiya.
  • Silent Bob: One single word with a bit of emotion from Nagato says it all.
  • "Silly Me" Gesture: Kyon's sister's trademark. Future Mikuru also does it in Disappearance.
  • Single-Target Sexuality: Yuki Nagato may be Kyonsexual. Given that she's a stoic Emotionless Girl who hardly says a word to anybody, it's interesting that she talks with and defers to Kyon on a regular basis. Then there's also that time Nagato recreated reality, including shunting the other three members of the Brigade out of the way. The alternate version of Nagato had a pretty obvious crush on Kyon.
  • The Singularity: Mechanical technology is a dead end in the Haruhi-verse: both the Aliens and Time Travellers are past it. Mikuru can't operate anything more complicated than a flashlight because what she's familiar with isn't remotely similar; when asked about the future, she can't reveal anything, but her non-answers imply that mankind doesn't even need to use boats anymore. This makes Yuki's love of Science Fiction novels and games an interesting quirk.
  • Sitcom Character Archetypes:
    • Kyon is the Square and the Wisecracker
    • Haruhi is the Goofball and the Bully
    • Yuki is the Stick
    • Itsuki is the Sage
    • Mikuru is the Precocious and the Goofball
    • Ryoko is the Charmer.
  • Skepticism Failure: one character causes skepticism to fail.
  • Sleep Cute: Mikuru and Haruhi in "Endless Eight".
    • And the "Endless Eight" episodes of the anime.
  • Sliding Scale of Realistic Versus Fantastic: the series has three discernible layers with regards to this scale: a Mundane layer (Kyon, school life and the club's for-fun activities), an Unusual/Fantastic layer (the aliens, time travelers and espers, whose powers are bound by rules they don't create), and a Surreal layer (Haruhi, whose power is implied not to be bound by the rules that the others' are).
  • Slipstream: With all the post-modernism, genre-blending, and the layered scale above, this is about as close to a genre as this series is likely to get.
  • Slow Motion Fall: Kyon in the Disappearance movie
  • The Slow Path: Mikuru.
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: Haruhi invokes this trope during the filming of the movie by outfitting Mikuru with twin (airsoft) Desert Eagles. The results are about as awesomely, ridiculously hilarious as you'd imagine.
  • Snark Knight: If it was an actual chivalric order, Kyon would be its Knight Grand Cross, maybe the patron saint.
  • Some Kind of Force Field: The walls of Closed Space.
  • Something Completely Different: "The Adventures Of Mikuru Asahina"; "Someday In The Rain" Arguably, most of the episodes anyway.
  • Sound Effect Bleep: Kyon's Little Sister and Computer Society President's real names.
  • Sparkling Stream of Tears: Mikuru, in the opening.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": The usual problem with the extended "o" sound. Kuyou Suo? Kuyou Suou? Kuyo Suo? Kuyoh Suo? For that matter, Ryoko/Ryouko Asakura. Her surname is easy enough, but her given name sparks nerd-fights over the exact way to spell it to reflect pronunciation.
  • Spinning Paper: Kyon randomly remembers a scene from a previous episode in this format.
  • Spin-Off: Haruhi-chan.
    • The Vanishing of Yuki-chan Nagato
    • Nyoro~n Churuya
  • Spock Speak: Yuki Nagato.
  • Spoiler Opening: But only once you've seen the episode.
    • For a Brick Joke Spoiler Opening, go back and rewatch "Bouken Dessho Dessho" after Disappearance. Several scenes from the opening are taken directly from the movie.
  • Stable Time Loop: Lots of these:
    • Kyon is John Smith, who met a young Haruhi and influenced her to become who she is today; at one point in the novels, there are four Kyons and three Mikurus existing simultaneously.
    • When an older Mikuru informs Kyon about her star-shaped mole, only to realize he was the one who told her about it, and he didn't know until she told about it. She's understandably upset at the implications.
    • Following Future Mikuru's instructions, the two of them plant the basic ideas of time travel in the head of a primary school boy. Present Mikuru recognises him as the future inventor of time travel.
    • The events of Scheme. At the end of the novel Kyon sends Mikuru 8 days back into the past to find him and follow his instructions, because at the beginning of the novel he finds the 8-days-later Mikuru that he will send back.
    • At the end of Disappearance, future Kyon, Yuki, and Mikuru come back to save Kyon's life after he's stabbed by Asakura. Think about that for a minute: If Kyon hadn't survived at that moment, he couldn't have gotten them to come back in time to save his life at that same moment. He lived because he lived.
  • Starfish Aliens: The Data Overmind and its "inhabitants" are really these, even if the Interfaces all look like high school girls. Also hilariously played with in the Book 10 preview, as the residents of the Canopy Domain are incomprehensible Starfish Aliens to the Data Overmind. Part of the reason Ryoko engaged Kuyo was to try and gain at least a modicum of understanding of the latter. For Kyon's part, he finds Kuyo so unbelievably alien and bizzare that he calls her and her fellows straight-up Eldritch Abominations.
    • Even more hilarious, however, is the suggestion that the Data Overmind (and the Canopy Domain, for that matter) ultimately view humans as a kind of Starfish Alien. Just consider the fact that specific "Humanoid Interfaces" needed to be constructed to even attempt to communicate with mankind. It also explains a lot of their oddities; for example, Yuki's furnishings are very simple because she literally does not understand the need for decoration or comfort (at least at first), those being relatively pointless (as we know them) to her in her "natural" state.
  • Start My Own: Haruhi's motivation for starting the SOS Brigade.
  • Stepford Smiler: Itsuki, always cheerful and smiling even if the world is in serious danger. Kyon is not amused.
    • Itsuki is always smiling, anyway. There are many hints, even in the anime, that he is jealous of Kyon a bit.
    • Ryoko Asakura. Big Time. Her cheerful personality is, at best a facade over total lack of emotion and lack of understanding of human concepts.
  • The Stinger: After the Disappearance movie. Yuki is shown reading by herself at the public library, but stops for a moment to watch a boy help a girl make a library card. Yuki then looks toward the camera and does that adorable thing where she holds her book in front of her face with only her eyes peeking out over it. Who said Yuki needed emotions to be Moe?
  • Stockholm Syndrome: Adult Mikuru looks back on the days in the SOS Brigade fondly. Whether it's really Stockholm Syndrome, or Nostalgia Filter, or she started to simply enjoy it for its own sake, is uncertain, though.
  • Straight Man: Kyon.
  • Strange Girl: Haruhi. Until Sakaki steals the title when Haruhi starts acting a bit more normal.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Kyon and Haruhi provide a number of subtle examples of this. Arguably the reason why Haruhi "chooses" Kyon.
    • In the very beginning of the chronological first episode, Kyon specifically mentioned that in the past he hoped that there are "aliens, time travellers, and espers".
    • Kyon seems to actually understand the logic of pre-SOS Dan Haruhi's cyclical hairdos, and can follow her explanation of which color belongs to which day.
    • In "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" there's a couple of superficially apparent false examples of this: Kyon tells Haruhi to go get the line marker before she explains what they're going to do (which visibly surprises her in the anime), and he also manages to guess the symbols are a message to Orihime and Hikoboshi without her explaining it. He has the advantage of, well, knowing high-school Haruhi, but her middle-school version seems surprised at John Smith's ability to understand what she's thinking.
    • In "Someday in the Rain" and Disappearance, both Kyon and Haruhi, upon being woken up by the other, think that the other one must have been drawing on their face.
    • In the 8th book, both Koizumi and a random passerby come to the conclusion that cats and dogs must be avoiding a certain area because there is a hibernating bear somewhere. In the middle of the town. In the same book, both Haruhi and Sakanaka's father use the nickname "J.J." for a dog called Rousseau. Evidently they had the same philosopher in mind.
    • In Sigh, Kyon accurately guesses why Haruhi wanted to make a movie.
    • 101 Hamsters, but perhaps this is an artifact of her powers at work.
  • Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Kuyo Suo
  • Student Council President: The... um... Student Council President from the short stories. Though he's really a Punch Clock Villain working for the same Agency as Koizumi, and was brought into the school to prevent Haruhi from inventing her own Big Bad. It doesn't work.
  • Stylistic Suck: The student film in "Episode 00". One of the few justified examples, as it's a student film, trying to look like a Toku show. Oddly enough, the effort required to achieve this look in animation makes it perhaps the most technically sophisticated episode.
  • Subverted Trope: In Disappearance we are initially led to believe that, since he's in an apparently alternate universe, Kyon is technically our much-awaited slider. He's proven to not be one in short order when we find out that he didn't go to an alternate universe; Yuki just changed everyone's memories in the current one.
  • Suddenly Always Knew That: Yuki's unexplained guitar skills surpass come close to even those of Buckethead! She learned guitar by reading a booklet.
  • Sufficiently Advanced Alien: Yuki and the others of her kind.
  • Super Reflexes: Nagato can react fast enough to block lasers.
  • Super-Deformed: Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san, though apart from these self-parodies, it consistently averts the trope.
  • Superpower Lottery: Yuki, and how!
  • Supporting Protagonist: Haruhi is usually the focus of the story (and leader of the brigade), but Kyon is always the main character.
  • Suspiciously Apropos Music: "God Knows" in "Live Alive."
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: In "Live Alive," after wolfing down his lunch at top speed, Kyon takes a walk just to settle his stomach. Seriously. There was no other reason. Don't read too much into it.
  • Synthetic Plague: One of the characters knocks out half the class with a sudden flu so she can have some quality time with the male lead. Unfortunately there is one survivor who unravels her evil plot.
  • Taking the Bullet: Partially subverted. Yuki doesn't sustain lasting damage shielding Kyon with her own flesh.
  • Talking Is a Free Action: Somehow, Kyon in the anime, when thinking or narrating (you can hardly tell the difference between the two). Especially obvious during "Someday in the Rain".
  • Tanabata: One of the festivals the SOS Brigade celebrates in Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody. Also the day when Haruhi first met Kyon.
  • Team Mom: Haruhi is actually turning into this, starting around Disappearance, but especially obvious in the preview chapter of novel 10.
  • Teasing Creator: Kyoto Animation's "trolling" regarding this show has become legendary. The worst so far just had its punchline delivered. Let me outline it for you:
    1. Drive the fans crazy by temporarily replacing the show's website with a Disappearance reference and make everybody assume it'll be in the second season.
    2. Air "Endless Eight" and act as if the above never happened.
    3. Expect everybody to buy four DVDs of said. To say nothing of the volume numbering gag, which just comes off as condescending.
    4. Hint at an Endless Eight movie.
    5. Win every single fan back with a 30-second, unanimated commercial.
  • Techno Babble: Every time Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki explain something to Kyon, who normally lampshades it.
  • Technology Porn: The futuristic videogame "world," with tons of ships and views of torpedoes being loaded everywhere.
  • Temporal Paradox: Future Mikuru would not have showed her star-shaped breast mole to Kyon as a Trust Password if Kyon didn't tell Present Mikuru that she had one after Future Mikuru told him, because she didn't even know until Kyon told her.
  • Temporal Sickness
  • Tempting Fate: Or rather, Tempted Fate In the infamous "Endless Eight" arc, Koizumi said that Haruhi is so happy and could not possibly do anything horrible. Guess what happens.
    • "Stop yelling contest over and over. If those words reach Haruhi's sharp ears..." (HARUHI KICK!)
    • In Kyon's opening narration in the very first episode, he says he just wants a quiet life, passing through high school uneventfully. Then he meets Haruhi...
    • Real-life example: When the first Endless Eight episode was aired and it didn't end the plot conclusively like the original novel did several fans jokingly said that there'd be Endless Eight repeating for the whole season. Others jokingly responded that KyoAni would never do such a thing. Guess what happens.
    • Mikuru almost catches Kyon looking at his folder full of pictures of her, but he quickly closes the window, thinking smugly that he doesn't make mistakes. Immediately...

Mikuru: "Huh? What is this? This MIKURU folder."
Kyon: Gah! I slipped up.

  • Ten Little Murder Victims: "Remote Island Syndrome"
  • The Three Faces of Eve: Haruhi as the wife, Yuki as the child and Mikuru as the seductress.
  • Time Travel: The novels get really complex about this later.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: One of the reasons Kyon hates Time Travel.
  • The Door Slams You: Kyon happens to be leaning against the clubroom door the first time Haruhi yanks it open. It opens inward, slamming him against the floor rather than the wall. He avoids the door after that.
  • Theme Tune Cameo: Kyon's sister hums "Bouken Desho Desho" in "Melancholy VI", and Haruhi sings a few lines of "Hare Hare Yukai" while stripping Mikuru in "Someday in the Rain".
  • The Time Traveller's Dilemma
  • There Are No Therapists: Early Haruhi hit a fair few points of the criteria for Psychopathy (or similar social disorder), and as far as we know, never gets taken for therapy of any kind, even though she really could have used it. Then again, you could make a decent argument that Kyon is acting as her therapist.
    • Psychopathy is normally not diagnosed in minors, and there's disagreement over whether therapy can help with it at all.
  • Theme Naming: Twice called out over Yuki Nagato's name in the books, once in Wavering and again in Indignation.
    • Mikuru's name can be read to mean "Sees it coming."
    • Kimidori can be read to mean "green"—something lampshaded in Haruhi-chan.
    • Itsuki means "tree." Mori means "forest."
    • There is a large hotel chain in Japan named "Tsuruya" (similar to Hilton or Marriott in the United States).
    • Haruhi itself means "spring day" (as in the kind of day that makes one energetic) and can also mean various things depending on what kanji are used.
  • This Is a Work of Fiction: In Sigh, Kyon actually uses this to save the world from talking cats, Mikuru Beams and autumnal cherry blossoms.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: Movie!Asakura's way to vaguely threaten Kyon should he happen to start dating Yuki and not take it seriously. The official English translation in the novel is a bit less threatening ("...if you intend to go out with Nagato, you'd better be serious about it. Or else I won't allow it.")
  • Those Two Guys: Taniguchi and Kunikida—though we see a lot more of Taniguchi.
  • Throw It In / Hilarious in Hindsight: The infamous "Supersize me!" line was in one of the fansubs before Crispin Freeman made it official. Hmm...
  • Tin Man: Subverted with Yuki, who legitimately appears to lack normal human emotions... at least, at first glance.
  • Together Umbrella: The anime-only episode "Someday in the Rain". D'awww...
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Haruhi and Mikuru, respectively
  • Touched by Vorlons: Espers. But if you apply it strictly, then every super-natural being only exists because Haruhi created a world like that 3 years ago..
    • If you believe what Itsuki has to say. Mikuru's camp seems to have the exact opposite perspective on the matter.
  • Trapped in Another World: Kyon in Disappearance. Subverted in that the timeline of the original world has been altered instead of going to another world directly.
  • Triang Relations: Nagato poses a math puzzle that has Kyon -> Mikuru -> Haruhi -> Kyon in a type 2 and herself and Itsuki towards Kyon in a type 3, or perhaps it was just a dream.
  • Troperrific: Five trope pages and an impressive character sheet. The Genre Busting nature of the series helps.
  • Trope Overdosed: Really, it was inevitable.
  • True Companions: Subverted in the first few novels, at least for a while; neither Itsuki nor Mikuru trust the other fully, if at all, and Yuki warns Kyon not to trust anything any member of the SOS Brigade tells him. Kyon in particular is annoyed by most of the members, particularly Itsuki and Haruhi, and explicitly only cares about Mikuru, and regards Yuki as no more than a part of the furniture. The fact that the entire group has been brought together against their will is often a point of contention, and though Haruhi treats the group as True Companions, no-one else sees it as such until Disappearance. After that, however, the characters begin to treat each other in a manner that befits the trope, with Itsuki in particular saying he would gladly betray the Organization for the SOS Brigade.
    • The 11th book REALLY showcases this trope, with Itsuki once again being the main one to show it, saying that the SOS Brigade has become a part of him now.
  • True Love's Kiss: Kyon kisses Haruhi to convince her to turn the world back to normal—or at least give her an interesting romantic subplot with Kyon, keeping her from getting TOO bored....
  • Trust Password: A crowning moment of awesome for Kyon in Disappearance -- "I am John Smith."
    • There's also "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody"—first, Kyon proves himself to three-years-ago!Yuki with a note from present!Yuki. She then proves herself to Kyon -- after synchronizing with herself from three years from then, Yuki pulls off her glasses as if to say "Yes, Kyon, you don't have a glasses fetish."
    • Adult Asahina attempts to use her mole as a Trust Password with Kyon. It doesn't quite work.
      • Similarly, in the movie, Kyon tries to use this with younger Asahina, but it doesn't work out either.
    • In "The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina," Kyon says that his option of telling Asahina his knowledge of her future self is a trump card comparable to telling Haruhi that he is John Smith.
    • Kyon might also be the key to unsealing Yuki's full power. Yuki says she has willingly sealed off her ability to synchronize, and that she cannot unseal it herself. She says the password to unsealing is in someone else's hands, but doesn't actually say who.
  • Twelve-Episode Anime: Plus two, originally. The second season's episodes (also presumably a Twelve-Episode Anime) are interspersed in the rerun of the first season, making it twenty-eight in total.
  • Two Haruhi Limit: With one exception, this Haruhi is the only memorable one.
  • Uncanny Valley Girl: Ryoko Asakura.
  • Un Confession
  • Unequal Pairing: the Kyon x Haruhi pairing hinted by the series comes with a really big double bind: Haruhi can't be Kyon's equal as long as he actively continues to deceive her about her true nature, but Kyon can't be Haruhi's equal if she becomes aware of her true nature.
    • The fans who want Kyon with Yuki (also hinted by the series) notice the all-powerful data entity probably doesn't want to see Yuki actually liking someone. SHOCK. And loli-Mikuru can't have any (sex) relations with anyone not from her future.
  • Unfamiliar Ceiling: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya combines this with Timey-Wimey Ball. Kyon wakes up after experiencing being stabbed by Asakura, but by the time he wakes up, the past has been rewritten so that he fell down a set of stairs and hit his head.
  • Unfazed Everyman: Kyon, quite obviously. He's quite Genre Savvy about it, too, although having a world-changing demiurge as a friend/boss kinda forces him to be.
  • Unlimited Wardrobe: Mikuru Asahina and by extension everyone except Yuki.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Kyon is odd. There are contradictions and quirks in what he says as a narrator and as a person that are just out of place.
  • Unreliable Voiceover: Sometimes Kyon's narration is contradicted by what's on the screen, with no reason to doubt that the visuals are anything other than the truth. The best example is in the first chronological episode, when he says he's not interested in Haruhi, despite having just spent several scenes very obviously checking her out.
  • Unwanted Harem: It seems like the rest of the SOS Brigade is this to Kyon.
    • Including Itsuki.
  • Vaporware: Subverted. The tenth novel was delayed for over three years, but was finally confirmed with a release date of May 25, 2011.
  • Villainous Breakdown: In the 11th novel, when Fujiwara meets Future!Mikuru (whom he believes to be his older sister) he completely loses it.
  • Viral Marketing
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: As Taniguchi said about him and Kunikida, "So I threw him out the window, and that's how we became friends." * Tsuruya laughs*
    • Haruhi and Kyon also have this sort of relationship.
    • Itsuki and Kyon as well, particularly because they're the only males in the SOS brigade and Itsuki is the most open and talkative compared to Mikuru and Yuki.
  • Viewer-Friendly Interface: Averted to extreme detail. The Literature Clubroom computer in Disappearance is a genuine PC-9821 running NEC Windows 95, complete with original start-up chime.
  • WAFF: Disappearance, but only at first glance...
  • Wager Slave: "You're late! Penalty!"
  • Weirdness Censor: It largely seems like nobody who hasn't had the Masquerade broken for them can connect the dots and notice the weird events that happen around Haruhi for what they are. Events or situations where this is evident:
    • Haruhi's herself, of course. Most incredibly in the "Snow Mountain Syndrome" story.
    • Many of the supernatural events in Sigh happen in the presence of Haruhi, Tsuruya, Taniguchi, Kunikida, and in one case the whole city, who either don't notice them or come up with mundane explanations for them (for example, "the fence must be really old" when it breaks in perfect, neat lines due to Mikuru's cutter beam).
    • Nagato's performance in "The Day of Sagitarius."
    • Nagato's "ventriloquism" in the student movie.
    • The SOS Brigade's baseball game—though the Kamigahara Pirates become superstitious about Kyon's bat.
    • Possible exception: Tsuruya, as seen in Novel 7. She knows that the SOS Brigade isn't normal, but we don't know whether she's figured it out on her own, or whether she's been told.
  • Wham! Episode: Oh, there's been a couple so far.
    • To start with, Melancholy, part 5. Now that is how you peel back a masquerade!
    • The biggest Wham so far, though? Disappearance, entirely, in both book and movie form. It's basically three hours of having your face hit with a sledgehammer over and over—and you'll love every second of it. By the end of it all, everything you knew about the universe of the show has been turned on its ear and all previous suppositions are called into question.
      • It all goes something like this: Wait, where'd Haruhi go? Wait, Ryoko can be revived?! Wait, Yuki really is madly in love with Kyon?! Wait, Yuki can steal Haruhi's power?!?! (And as an aside, wait, Yuki can defy the Data Entity like that?! (Later on: wait, oh crap, she can't. Which leads to the Crowner directly below.)) Wait, Kyon might not want the old world back?! WAIT, RYOKO STILL HAS A KNIFE AND OH SHI-"
      • And then, to cap it all off: "I AM JOHN SMITH." WHAT?! WHAT.
    • If the preview is anything to go by, Book 10 is going to pull this off rather nicely too. It's even called "The Surprise/Astonishment of Haruhi".
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Kyon using Hot Blood to plan a day of homework and BREAK THE TIME LOOP in the anime version of "Endless Eight". It even had epic music to accompany it, and was preceded by the coolest and most dramatic "Oh Crap Haruhi's about to leave the restaurant" sequence of all eight episodes.
    • The music was most likely because the Kyo Ani staff knew the viewers would be celebrating.
      • Even if the visual for the Oh Crap looked like a bad acid-trip.
    • That five minute scene that climaxes in Kyon stomping on himself with his decision to go back to the world he knew in the Disappearance movie, anyone?
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: In novel 11, Haruhi is crucified in the air by Kuyou, under the orders of Fujiwara. Yes, they finally did it.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Shamisen, the talking cat, appears in episode zero (eleven chronologically) of the 2006 version of the anime, in the opening and ending animations, and nowhere else in that season. It's implied that Kyon takes the cat home with him after the filming incident, but he's never seen at their house in the later episodes (most of which take place earlier in the year). This can be confusing to first-time viewers, who might think of this as clumsy continuity until they figure out the gimmick of the first season. The 2009 version of the series, however, inserts the episode that introduces Shamisen into the proper place in the chronology.
    • Amusingly, the short story that expands on Shamisen is called "What Happened to the Cat?"
  • When It All Began: Three years ago...
  • When the Clock Strikes Twelve: The anime's "Endless Eight".
  • Who You Gonna Call?: The SOS Brigade.
  • Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: Despite having "total data jurisdiction over [the classroom]," Ryoko insists on using her military knife to do the deed when she obviously could've crushed Kyon with flying desks (or done anything else, really).
  • Woman in White: Haruhi during the prologue of "Remote Island Syndrome".
  • Written Sound Effect: The opening of the new episodes.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Everyone has realistic hair colors, except for the Humanoid Interfaces and Tsuruya.
  • Younger Than They Look: Yuki is technically only 3 years old, until "Endless Eight" anyway.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: Haruhi can alter reality unknowingly.
  1. ↑ since the most memorable things about her are magnificiently psychopathic stabbing scenes, but on least at two occasions she is deeply immersed in Kyon's personal space
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