Kyon, your typical high school student, has long given up his belief in the supernatural. However, upon meeting Haruhi Suzumiya, he quickly finds out that it is the supernatural that she is interested in; aliens, time travelers and espers among other things. When Haruhi laments about the lack of intriguing clubs around school, Kyon inspires Haruhi to form her own club. As a result, the SOS Brigade is formed, a club which specializes in all that is the supernatural.
Much to his chagrin, Kyon, along with the silent bookworm, Yuki Nagato, the shy and timid Mikuru Asahina, and the perpetually smiling Itsuki Koizumi, are recruited as members. The story follows the crazy adventures that these four endure under their whimsical leader, Haruhi.
CHARACTERSHaruhi Suzumiya
Voiced by
Aya Hirano (Japanese)
Wendee Lee (English)
While little is revealed in the story about the details of Haruhi's origins or family, she cites an revelatory incident in her childhood when she attended a baseball game with her family.[2] While before she would think of herself and her life as being special and interesting, the sheer number of people in the stadium and she later calculates live in Japan brings her to the realization that they fit into the normal, everyday occurrences and habits of Japanese citizens and humans in general. Her belief that at least one of person in the world would have to have a truly interesting and unique life, and her desire to be said person, led her to begin her search for the extraordinary. Throughout middle school, she gained a reputation as an eccentric for incidents such as painting hieroglyphs on the school grounds and moving all desks into the hallways and rejecting every boy who asked her out for being boring (the longest lasting a week, the shortest being five minutes).
Her entrance into high school is marked by her meeting her fellow student, Kyon, who proves to be the first to engage with her in serious conversation. He proves to be the inspiration for Haruhi, in despair over the lack of interesting school clubs, to create her own: the Spreading Excitement all Over the World with Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade (世界を大いに盛り上げるための涼宮ハルヒの団, Sekai o Ōini Moriageru Tame no Suzumiya Haruhi no Dan?) or the SOS Brigade.
Kyon
Voiced by Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese)
Crispin Freeman (English)
Although Haruhi Suzumiya is the title character, the story is told from Kyon's point of view. He narrates with sarcastic commentary on the various absurdities of Haruhi, club activities and events related to Haruhi. Kyon may also direct his thoughts at Haruhi, which Haruhi might respond to, thus making it unclear whether he is speaking aloud or merely thinking to himself. This could also be interpreted as an ability for Haruhi to occasionally achieve nearly telepathic empathy with Kyon. Kyon's narration follows the format of a Greek Chorus, speaking directly to the audience through internal dialogue. Though a self-described barely-above-average student, Kyon—particularly in the light novels—very often peppers his narration and dialogue with references to ancient mythology, advanced scientific concepts (the laws of thermodynamics, the theory of relativity, etc.), alternately well-known and/or obscure pop culture (he identifies a Marilyn Manson song Haruhi hums in the second light novel), and various esoteric subjects, often comparing the Brigade's situation to a typical role playing game.
He is also the only "normal" human in a club otherwise assembled to include a membership of an alien, esper and a time traveler. This is a cause of curiosity and concern amongst many parties, since Haruhi is "not interested in ordinary humans". Yuki Nagato refers to Kyon as an "irregular factor near Haruhi" responsible for an abrupt change in the data around Haruhi. Itsuki goes as far as to investigate Kyon's identity, only to affirm that Kyon is indeed an ordinary human. Ryoko Asakura herself is quite puzzled by Haruhi's interest in Kyon and asks how it was that he has gotten Haruhi to open up.
He can be very observant and quite intelligent, despite his average grades. It is Kyon who solves the murder mystery during the events of the Lonely Island in the light novel, not Haruhi. He had known the truth since the beginning, as he does not believe that Haruhi will wish for someone to die and comes to the truth after he notices several facts.
In an article that interviewed Nagaru Tanigawa, the author admitted that Kyon was originally supposed to be an esper, but while writing
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyon was instead portrayed as an ordinary student.
Yuki Nagato
Voiced by
Minori Chihara (Japanese)
Michelle Ruff (English)
Yuki Nagato is a quiet high school freshman that is the only member of the SOS Brigade that willingly joined Haruhi's SOS Brigade and was not "voluntarily arrested," or forced into joining, by Haruhi Suzumiya. She was a member of the Literary Club, whose other members were all seniors who graduated, leaving Yuki the sole member of the club. She lives alone in the same apartment complex as Ryōko Asakura, in room 708. She wears her school uniform almost all the time (even on non-school days). She initially wears glasses but, after the confrontation with Ryōko Asakura, they break. She planned to create new ones, but decided against it after Kyon told her that she looked better without them. She wears a different outfit for the first time when the SOS Brigade goes on vacation to the remote island in "Remote Island Syndrome".
Yuki is a "humanoid interface", or artificial human, created by the Integrated Data Entity for the purposes of interacting with and observing events on Earth. Specifically, she has been created to observe Haruhi, who can create huge quantities of data from nothing. Haruhi represents the potential for an evolution in autonomy; an ability that the Integrated Data Entity does not have.
As an artificial human, she has numerous paranormal abilities. She is capable of manipulating the properties of the environment and any materials within it at any scale to her desire, referred to as "bogus magic" by Kyon. For instance, she can modify the "elemental boost information" of a baseball bat to hit only home runs, nullify data links (removing other artificial interface connections from their bodies), plus she is able to make a cover up story (since Ryōko was gone, she made a cover up story that she moved to Canada), and reconstruct a classroom, down to the last detail, after everything in it was completely destroyed. As a result, she is capable of feats of superhuman strength, agility, and stamina. In one instance, she was unfazed while impaled by multiple metal spikes, and effortlessly reconstructed her body afterwards.[1] Her state also affords her an extreme level of intelligence. She can comprehend the rules and concepts of a game instantaneously, as well as create flawless strategies based on her observations, and was able to learn how to play a guitar mere moments after receiving one. However, she has been seen to be fallible, such as when she reconstructed the devastated classroom but forgot to reconstruct her broken glasses.[2] Yuki also has a lack of understanding towards social norms and earth technology, as demonstrated by her bluntly literal future predictions and her clumsy attempts at using a computer mouse. However, it can be construed that the mouse incident came from her watching Kyon hold the mouse away from Mikuru. This is likely due to her self-imposed state of near-total isolation in order to interfere with as little of the environment around Haruhi as possible.
Mikuru Ashina
Voiced by Yuko Goto (Japanese)
Stephanie Sheh (English)
Considered one of the most beautiful girls in high school, Mikuru, a second-year high school student (a junior in the English anime), is described as being an "untouchable flower on the mountain" by the male student body. Her popularity among the boys, however, doesn't detract her from being very shy and easily embarrassed. Before being forced to join the SOS Brigade, she was originally a member of the Calligraphy Club. She's best friends with Tsuruya, who is also a second-year student. In addition to starring in the SOS Brigade's amateur-movie in the first episode, both Mikuru and Tsuruya were waitresses for The Acorn, a short-stop dine-in for fried soba that was run by all the girls in Mikuru's class during the school festival.[season & episode needed]
Unlike Haruhi and Yuki, Mikuru has no athletic ability. She does, however, show a gift for brewing and making tea and is often praised for it by Kyon.
Mikuru is actually a time traveler, sent back to investigate a massive timequake that occurred three years prior, the cause of which is Haruhi. As a result of this event, time-travel beyond that point had become impossible. Mikuru is very knowledgeable about the science and theories of time and time-travel, and shows it when giving Kyon a brief explanation about why she is in his time plane. She refers to her presence in the past as like adding an extra picture in a flip book. Because of the dangers involved with time-travel, as well as the sensitivity of the mission, most information regarding the future, Haruhi, Yuki, Itsuki and herself are highly classified, as she states this whenever Kyon asks her questions involving such topics, leading to her famous phrase "Classified information" (禁則事項, kinsoku jikō?). In fact, it's revealed in the first light novel that before going back in time, she underwent mental preperation and hypnosis so that if she reveals anything unnecessary, information regarding time travel will be blocked off from her mind. There have been instances when she was instructed by Kyon to travel back in time in order to alter certain events relative to the Brigade. For the most part, Mikuru strictly follows standard protocol and obeys any orders given by her superiors in her organization. Additionally, she is forbidden in engaging in any romantic relationships with anyone outside of her original time span.
Itsuki Koizumi
Voiced by Daisuke Ono (Japanese)
Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
Itsuki is constantly smiling and always speaks in a formal and polite manner. He is also prone to giving long and detailed explanations, usually illustrated by exaggerated hand gestures. Itsuki has confirmed to Kyon once that his outer personality is merely an artificial image he fakes in accordance to Haruhi's impression of him, and hints that his true character is something quite different, being "less pleasing" in the eyes of others. Maintaining his casual, constantly smiling self, however, is vital for keeping Haruhi's mentality balanced. Kyon himself thinks that he prefers seeing him smiling instead of looking melancholic, although the feeling makes him uncomfortable.
Out of the four Brigade members, Kyon is initially the least fond of Itsuki. He often finds himself annoyed with Itsuki's plastic smile, his willingness to acquiesce to Haruhi's outrageous schemes, playful teasing and his various forays into his psychological and philosophical theories (e.g., omphalos hypothesis, Anthropic principle, etc.). He is also distrustful of Itsuki's intentions, comparing him to Yuki Nagato when it comes to deciphering his expressions. However, he eventually comes to trust Itsuki, and despite his constant protests, is more often seen conversing with Itsuki than any of the other members, as Yuki is usually silent and Mikuru is abused by Haruhi most of the time. Itsuki's fondness for speculation often causes him to produce explanations for situations involving the SOS Brigade, its members and related events. Ironically, Itsuki can only share his theories with Kyon and also enthusiastically plays different kinds of board games with him to pass the time, despite losing all the time. Despite Kyon's less-than-enthusiastic approach to the SOS Brigade and the various external forces at work around it, Itsuki is usually the one to explain supernatural phenomena to Kyon when necessary.
Although Itsuki was named official second-in-command by Haruhi for providing the Brigade a place for their vacation/mystery investigation (Remote Island Syndrome Part I), this title appears to be little more than formality since, in every aspect, Kyon is still technically Haruhi's right-hand man.
Itsuki is often seen fighting various Shinjin in closed spaces throughout the anime. During these instances, Itsuki displays some of his esper abilities. His esper attacks are named "Fumoffu" and "Second Raid", both references to the mecha anime Full Metal Panic!.
