What’s the only thing that could stop a god from destroying the world? The answer lies in the clues ’sleeping beauty’ and ’snow white.’ Embarrassingly I didn’t get the answer right away, but it became very apparent just moments before it happened. That was really the best episode of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu. Haruhi and Kyon: they don’t seem to get all formally together in the series, but you know the attraction is there.

I’ve watched through Haruhi twice, both times in the anachronic order, and I’ve loved how the character development builds when watching it this way.  Now that I know what happens where, watching it a second time (either order) does reveal a lot more.  And I see the small bits of jealousy in episodes 7 - 14 whenever things happen to Kyon that are not to Haruhi’s liking.  And of course, the last episode itself with the coat, the umbrella, and the rain.  It’s a shame that so many minutes of the episode had to be just wasted on all that silence and non-motion (although it was kinda funny anyway), since we could have had a little bit more HaruhixKyon interaction that would make us all smile.

In chronological order, though, their attraction seems to develop pretty quickly. Kyon, out of not only curiosity but also luck for being seated in front of her, starts making regular conversation to try to understand Haruhi better. He figures out her hair pattern, which gets her to cut it all short, and then he was the inspiration for her to start the SOS Brigade. And it all goes from there where Kyon is a direct influence on what Haruhi does or doesn’t do, whether or not either of them realizes it.

It’s a love-hate relationship where Kyon would rather his life be a little less random and stressful, but Haruhi’s dynamic personality at least does bring new events and new thoughts to his otherwise routine life. For Haruhi, Kyon is her voice of reason and reality, even if she doesn’t want to hear it most of the time. But in a world where Haruhi has always felt insignificant or alone, Kyon provides a foundation where she could feel important again.

I just enjoy the subtle influences. Regarding the computer club, you’d think nobody could tell Haruhi what to do, but Kyon makes a comment about liking ponytails in ep6. And the next time he sees her, she’s wearing one (and not saying a word). Kyon quietly compliments it, and that’s all the two of them need for reassurance. In ep7 Haruhi suggests a ponytail look on Mikuru during the baseball game, but then she takes one look at Kyon and drops the idea, not wanting to concede any ground. It was really cute when I finally noticed it. Also at the end of that game, Haruhi would be fine with forfeiting from the tournament if Kyon was okay with it.

And then ep14 with Haruhi sticking around while Kyon slept, not waking him up or leaving him. Her excuse was that she couldn’t lock the door with him there, plus it was raining, but we all know that’s just a cover. And she had a nice deredere moment offering him the umbrella so they would walk home together. She didn’t grab onto his arm the whole way home, but that’s not her style anyway; just being near him is enough.

Overall it’s a relationship that leans more towards the ‘best friends’ side of the scale (rather than passionate love-love clingy affection). This one I’m not able to do; I’d rather a lot of physical hugging and smiling, but those do take a lot of effort. The advantage of the subtle relationship that Haruhi and Kyon have is that they can continue living their everyday lives without much change, but there they always are in the club room after school. And the small arguments or discussions satisfy their needs. …Although I do hope for more dramatic scenes in season two. Another world-saving kiss will be just fine.

~Crisu

[ View other posts in the Shameless Shipping category ]

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Kyon Falls from Heaven
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya ~ “Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody”/~Chihiro~ Re…