Haruhi’s Endless Eight: An Indictment Against Kyon

by Moonlily on Jul.31, 2009, under Anime

You <strong>are</strong> the goddamn problem!

You are the goddamn problem!

There’s no doubt that Haruhi’s Endless Eight has been a major PR disaster for Kyoto Animation, but while the rage regarding this stunt can be placed because each episode differs very little in terms of content, my annoyance is on Kyon’s passivity which stands as the root of the problem.

No, I’m not even trying to suggest that he’s at fault for not moving the story along by doing his homework or anything of that sort. In fact, this time loop could be interesting because of all the possibilities it brings to the reality in which Kyon inhabits. The fact that he fails to take advantage of this is extremely mind-boggling and makes for a dull viewing experience. You all might be screaming at Kyon for not doing his homework, but I’m screaming at Kyon for not having the audacity to work on hard problems.

What would you do when you’re told that a sequence of time has repeated over 9000 times by a being you place a high degree of trust in? I think we’d be treated to a wide variety of responses ranging from living a life filled to the brim by engaging in bacchanalian revelry, learning how to take over the world within a short span of time (my favorite activity by far), or bet on a sporting event while knowing the results beforehand and use money from the winnings to live out the rest of the week in luxury. The great thing is that even if these plans do fail, all one would have to do is simply ask Yuki if anything went wrong with those plans and she’ll be able to tell you, allowing you to make any adjustments necessary to make it right (this works great for world-domination plans by the way). In essence, the world is your playground and there is no shortage of possibilities as each person is unfettered and can do anything they want without having to deal with the long-term. Consequences? Screw that!

She was told to observe, not to interfere! Eeeeeexcellennnnt...

So, what does this say about Kyon exactly? Well, Colony Drop describes him as a self-insertion character, but I’m not even sure that’s accurate. Sure, he does take us through all of the events with his laconic musings, but it’s really hard to identify with him at this stage. I find it difficult to believe that anyone would lack the intellectual curiosity or hedonism to simply experiment around with this time loop and see what happens. After all, failure is no big deal when time is going to reset anyways. All right, that’s not completely accurate since one’s actions might result in the time loop going away altogether, but if say… you decided to bet on the sporting event and use the winnings for whatever you wanted, you’ve basically put yourself far ahead of your peers in life.

Carpe diem, you twit!

If we take the assumption of Kyon as the self-insertion character to be correct, this is quite a depressing turn of events. If we’re supposed to identify with a character who is unwilling to take the initiative in seizing control of his destiny and lacks the intellectual curiosity to tackle hard problems, that would be an utter disaster and by all rights, he should have to suffer due to his ineptitude. I just wish he didn’t drag us all along with him.

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:Anime, Character Analysis, Editorial, Endless Eight, summer 09, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

3 Comments for this entry

Pontifus
July 31st, 2009 on 5:02 am
Nice post. Let me throw this out there, though, going with the assumption that Kyon is a self-insertion character (I doubt it), or at least a kind of audience proxy/unwitting everyman insofar as he’s the POV character (a more reasonable alternative, I’d think).

Kyon’s inability to act at the end of each episode frustrates me, too. It’s also in line with his semi-fatalism, so maybe he really just doesn’t have the initiative to take on a tough problem, as you suggest. But I think his deciding not to run off and lay as many women as he can and murder his enemies and whatnot shows that he’s at least willing to try to a point, if only out of a sense of duty to his friends. This is a stretch, but maybe he’s also concerned that nothing so exciting will happen again, which makes some strange bit of sense given certain things at the end of the Disappearance novel.

I think he’s complex enough, then, not to fail utterly at generating audience identification — at least from where I’m sitting, which is the only perspective I presume to speak from with any real authority. If anything’s worrying, it’s that Kyon might serve as commentary on the audience, that we might be so willing to ignore our agency over our fates that we wouldn’t so much as try to suggest some activity to Haruhi in the restaurant 15,000-some times. If anything, it’s the sheer probability of Kyon’s doing absolutely nothing when given the choice, combined with his being at least moderately fleshed out and relatable, that depresses me.
Baka-Raptor
July 31st, 2009 on 8:07 am
When two hours are left and he knows time is going to repeat, Kyon could at least blow his life savings on strippers instead of going to bed.
Moonlily
July 31st, 2009 on 5:26 pm
@Pontifus
Exactly! Maybe the presentation is so poor that aside from Koizumi’s suggestion during the stargazing event, we never really see Kyon tackle the problem at all. Aside from the last moment in the restaurant, he just goes along with the flow rather than be proactive in getting things done. Depressing indeed.

@Baka-Raptor
The fact that such a thing never crosses his mind just goes to show how lacking he is in the imagination department. Maybe he’s just sexually repressed because of Haruhi or something.