Kyon

"I'd sort of like to know what you consider normal, but I'm almost afraid to ask."

- Kyon

Kyon (キョン Kyon) is the main protagonist of the series and primary narrator. He is the second person to join the SOS Brigade, and unintentionally gave Haruhi Suzumiya the idea to form the club. He is the "fourth seat" of the group. He is the only member of the group who is "normal", having no special abilities at all.

Kyon is enrolled in North High, and his real name is unknown. His nickname, Kyon, was created for him by his aunt and then spread by his little sister. This is an "unwelcome twist" on his real name. He sometimes feels that having Mikuru, Nagato, and Koizumi in the club is what makes being in the club worthwhile.

Personality
Kyon's most obvious characteristic is his snarky and cynical manner, which he often uses to hide his true emotions. This results in contradictions between his stated desires and his actions, which he usually rationalizes by claiming that he was coerced into his own actions.

For example, he outwardly presents himself as a skeptic, always arguing in favor of the most mundane possibility in any situation, and claiming that Haruhi forced him to join the SOS Brigade, but confesses in the opening narration of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya that he wishes extraordinary things existed. As he stated in "The Day of Sagittarius", he seems to naturally stay in the absurd environment of the SOS Brigade. At the time he claimed this proves his adaptability, but in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya he realized that he enjoys being in a group where strange things happen.

Likewise, he rarely admits to fondness for any person, even mentally referring to his friends Kunikida and Taniguchi as idiots. In at least some cases his snarky commentary on the people who are closest to him seems to stem from either force of habit or momentary frustration rather than an attempt to hide his feelings; his narrative continues to include remarks professing a complete disregard for Haruhi even alongside the occasional admission of his fondness for her.

He is a normal student but time traveled with Mikuru in Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. In The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, it was thought that he transcended dimensions of reality or timelines, although he has no abilities or special technology. It was later revealed that Yuki used some of Haruhi's reality-warping abilities to completely rewrite the world.

Kyon is intelligent and perceptive enough to solve the mystery in Lone Island Syndrome. However, he does poorly in school, at least in part due to a lack of willingness to study.

He often states that he doesn't understand Itsuki's and Yuki's explanations, but he is able to easily understand the general sense of the paranormal situations. He finds himself feeling out of place whenever put into a supernatural situation such as the closed spaces in Mystérique Sign and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 6 or when placed into the rewritten world in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, claiming he has misfortune since he is the only "normal" one in the SOS Brigade.

Biography
Apparently, in middle school, Kyon had dreams that people like aliens, time travelers, and espers existed.

At his middle school, he knew a girl named Sasaki, but didn't really become friends with her until they went to cram school together. He tried to explain these dreams (about aliens, time travelers and espers) to Sasaki, but she only denied their existence. By the time Kyon got into high school, he put those dreams behind him.

At North High, Kyon tries to make small talk with the girl sitting behind him, Haruhi Suzumiya, after she introduced herself as only wanting to associate with aliens, time travelers, espers and sliders. She wondered if she had met him before but otherwise dismissed him as an ordinary person. He was able to converse with her when he noticed other examples of her oddness, such as changing her hairstyle with a different number of braids for each day of the week. He gave her the idea of forming her own club, which resulted in her dragging him into founding the SOS Brigade and recruiting members. Kyon soon finds out that her new members - Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina, and Itsuki Koizumi, are in fact an alien, a time traveler, and an esper respectively. Kyon has a hard time taking this all in, but eventually the others come to prove their identities. Itsuki also shows Kyon that Haruhi can alter the world and create closed space, in which "Celestials" destroy what is within and possibly create a new world.

The SOS Brigade fails to alleviate Haruhi's boredom, so she triggers a closed space consisting of only herself and Kyon in the school; Kyon, however, uses clues from Yuki and a future Mikuru to get out by kissing her and convincing her to bring the old world back. Afterward, Kyon witnesses the development of several issues around Haruhi, some of which Kyon solves and some of which the others solve.

In "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", Mikuru takes Kyon three years back in time, where he helps a young Haruhi draw her infamous design at East Junior High. When she asks him his name, he calls himself "John Smith" (ジョン・スミス, Jon Sumisu), an obvious pseudonym which she derided. He also suggests she could meet interesting people at North High.

In The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyon is thrown into an altered world in which Yuki, Mikuru, Haruhi, and Itsuki are normal humans, Haruhi and Itsuki attend a different school, and there is no SOS Brigade. Kyon realizes he could stay in this "normal" world for good and join the Literature Club, but immediately decides that a world with the SOS Brigade is more interesting and fun, no matter how annoying it is.

In The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina Mikuru recruits Kyon to rescue a child, but cannot tell him her real reason for inviting him out due to her orders from the future. Kyon prevents the boy from being run over by a truck, implied to have been driven by rival time travelers.

The future version of Mikuru informs Kyon in The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya that Kyon will soon be forced to make a choice that determines the fate of the future.

In The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya Kyon becomes involved in a timeline split.

A mysterious woman calls him...

Beta
Sasaki calls him, ending up in a tense meeting with her and her "associates" Kyoko Tachibana and Fujiwara (who had previously tried to kidnap Mikuru) and Kuyou Suou (a representative for an organization which had previously attacked Yuki). His choice is presented to him at the meeting: transplant Haruhi's powers into Sasaki, who is revealed to have similar powers to Haruhi, or let Haruhi keep her powers and risk turning over the world.

Kyon starts to show negative feelings towards the Data Overmind and its Humanoid Interfaces bar Yuki when it becomes clear that they will do nothing to help Yuki in her sickness while she tries to sort things out with the Sky Canopy Dominion. In desperation, in The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyon contacts Sasaki and her companions hoping they will have a solution.

He has been told that he is the one who can move Haruhi's powers to Sasaki.

Haruhi Suzumiya
Kyon is the only person in Class 1-5 to show a shared interest with Haruhi. He influences and helps Haruhi create the SOS Brigade. Kyon describes Haruhi as an annoying and reckless girl, although he believes she can be more likable if she learns to calm down and help others instead of demanding things. Kyon always complains about Haruhi's unreasonable demands, yet he still helps to accomplish most of them. In "The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 4" he realizes that even as he complains about her projects, he enjoys them for the excitement and break from routine they represent. In some cases, however, he follows orders from her that he genuinely disagrees with, out of simple loyalty.

Unlike the other three Brigade members, Kyon is confident that Haruhi would not destroy the world out of petty frustration, and treats her the same as if she were a normal human. He firmly maintains that one of these days she will "have to learn her lesson" and frequently complains about needing to help control closed space. Kyon is the only one who Haruhi will listen to even when his advice goes against her personal desires. As such, Itsuki has given him "responsibility" for controlling Haruhi's emotions. Kyon wishes that Haruhi would return to a normal life, and says in "Love at First Sight" that he wishes she would get a boyfriend so he would not have to go through so much work.

Though he compulsively argues with Haruhi, the two of them share similar outlooks and opinions on most subjects. In "Mystérique Sign", for example, he accuses her of taking Emiri Kimidori's case too lightly when she assumes her boyfriend is just hiding at home, but concedes as an aside that this was the same conclusion he'd drawn himself. He enjoys light debates with her (in The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya he narrates that "Haruhi and I bickered for a bit just to settle our stomachs"). Their underlying closeness is strong enough that Haruhi often realizes what Kyon is thinking without him speaking aloud.

Kyon is the only person to address Haruhi by her first name (without honorifics). This is unique on both ends; she is the only person he addresses by given name instead of family name. In "Seven Wonders Overtime" he passively admits to Koizumi's hypothesis that this manner of address expresses a level of affection that he feels uniquely for Haruhi.

For much of the series Kyon denies having any liking for Haruhi, but in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya he becomes desperate to see Haruhi, and ultimately realizes that he is fond of her. He becomes uncomfortable when he meets with other girls on a one-on-one basis, and goes to great lengths to prevent Haruhi from finding out about these encounters. When she pries into his romantic history in "Editor in Chief★Straight Ahead!" he avoids telling her about Sasaki, who his middle school classmates thought he was romantically involved with.

In The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya he seemingly admits to himself the full depth of his feelings for Haruhi, instinctively shielding her from a fatal fall with his own body while calling her "My only boss." He also does not object to Koizumi's implication that he is doing after-school study with Haruhi in the hopes of being able to go to the same college as her.

Yuki Nagato
Yuki Nagato saves Kyon's life in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Because of this, Kyon trusts her more than anyone else in the Brigade. Kyon takes pride in being able to detect Yuki's changes in mood and development in becoming more human-like, but how accurate his detections really are is always left ambiguous. Seeing the human version of Yuki in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, in particular her grasping his sleeve when he attempts to excuse himself from her apartment, leaves a strong effect on him. He believes that Yuki's actions to alter the world were because of emotions, and he tries to keep up with her emotional development.

Like most characters in the series, Kyon refers to her by her family name with no honorifics. In the movie version of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, after she is restored, he seems to call her by her first name, but is actually referring to the snow that had started falling (yuki means snow in Japanese). He apologizes for not doing enough to prevent the strain that led her to change the world and gives her a message which would protect her from being erased by the Data Integration Thought Entity, prompting her to thank him.

Kyon has occasionally taken his friendship with Nagato for granted, such as not going to the library with her when she asked him to at the end of The Melancholy and several times inviting and then "dumping" her in The Intrigues. (He apologizes, but tells her that he's doing so because Mikuru told him to.)

Kyon supports her against Haruhi when he notices her interest in computer games. Kyon was disdainful of the control the Data Overmind had over her life, especially when its actions threatened her. He expresses concern over her boredom in Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and Endless Eight, and when she didn't appear to value herself in The Dissociation, he tells her "having no concern for yourself is behavior I absolutely will not allow."

Mikuru Asahina
Kyon has an interest in Mikuru, which is somewhat flirtatious given that he keeps files of her pictures. In fact, Kyon is attracted to Mikuru more than any other female members of SOS Brigade because of her beauty and timid appearance. Kyon once said that a cup of tap water from Mikuru to grace him is much more delicious than anything else. He refers to her as the 'clubroom angel' of the SOS Brigade. Kyon is deeply attracted to Mikuru's shy actions as he will blush and say, "so cute!" whenever he sees one. However, she informs him in one of their first conversations that she is not allowed to be romantically involved with anyone from the past, and Future Mikuru warns him not to get too close to her.

In contrast to his familiar, unguarded relationship with Haruhi, Kyon regards Mikuru with a sort of reverence and is shy about interacting with her closely. She is the only member of the SOS Brigade (and one of the few characters period) whom he addresses with an honorific, referring to her as "Asahina-san".

Kyon is able to tell the difference between a real Mikuru and a fake one (although a fake Mikuru has only appeared once, in "Snow Mountain Syndrome") as he knows about the birthmark on her breast.

He sometimes defends her against Haruhi. When Haruhi is harassing Mikuru in The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya IV, Kyon was mad enough to try to hit Haruhi, although he was stopped by Koizumi before he could do so. However, in "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 2" he does nothing to stop Haruhi from changing her into degrading costumes, and in the light novel and manga versions he actually assists Haruhi in her plan to get The Computer Research Society President to grab Mikuru's breast.

Kyon's defensive actions have led Mikuru to have feelings towards him. He also declares in "Love at First Sight" that if she ever gets a boyfriend, he'll "stalk him all day". At one point Koizumi points out that the character of Mikuru may be just an act to seduce Kyon, because getting close to Kyon can help her investigation of Haruhi (or even convince Kyon to let Haruhi alter the world to what she wants).

Itsuki Koizumi
Itsuki introduces Kyon to closed space. Itsuki annoys Kyon with his relentlessly cheerful personality, wordy lecturing, tendency to violate Kyon's personal space by putting his face too close, borderline-outrageous comments, kowtowing to Haruhi's ideas, and half-joking insinuations of a romance between him and Haruhi. However, Kyon is seen talking to Itsuki more than any of the other members, and as with Haruhi, seems to hold a grudging fondness for him. 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.

Koizumi has repeatedly suggested that Kyon date Haruhi, suggesting that would make her happy (and reduce incidents of closed space).

Despite Koizumi's tendency to be noncommittal in his statements, frequently claiming to have been "Just kidding", he remains essentially honest with Kyon, sharing information with him beyond what he strictly needs to know. In "Love at First Sight" he even reveals to Kyon that his relentless cheerfulness is feigned. Kyon replies that he has no desire for Koizumi to behave any other way than his true self, but Koizumi says he has to keep up the act for Haruhi's benefit.

In Random Numbers, Kyon believed that while he could interpret Koizumi's feelings from his expression, Haruhi could not.

Family
Both of Kyon's parents are alive and well. Neither have been seen in the series, but Kyon does refer to his mother's actions on occasion.

Kyon has at least one aunt, who gave him his nickname. Two of his grandparents are alive (mentioned in Mystérique Sign Returns; Kyon's grandfather looked just like him when he was Kyon's age). Kyon's family typically meet during Golden Week in early May.

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan
Kyon is the male romantic lead in the alternate universe spinoff The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan, and though the series uses omniscient perspective instead of the first person limited used in the original series, he is the narrator for a number of scenes. In this universe he does not have his characteristic snark and cynicism (though the snark often surfaces in his conversations with Haruhi Suzumiya), and is instead more openly warm and sympathetic to his companions. He often serves as the straight man in the show's physical comedy, frequently being shoved over, jump-kicked, and physically intimidated by the other characters.

Early in the series he becomes smitten with Haruhi, who, as in the original series, shares his fondness for the supernatural. He is visibly crestfallen when, in "Her Melancholy", Haruhi gives Itsuki Koizumi a Valentine's Day chocolate identical to the one she gave him because this implies it was an obligation chocolate and not a love chocolate, and seemingly gives up his romantic interest in her after this. When Yuki Nagato suffers a form of dysmnesia which produces a quiet, bookish personality, Kyon becomes romantically attached to this alternate personality instead. She confesses love for him right before reverting to her original personality, causing Kyon to feel awkward around Yuki for a time.

Trivia

 * According to the writer of the light novels, Nagaru Tanigawa, Kyon was originally intended to be an esper, but during mid-writing Kyon was eventually made into a normal human.


 * Although Kyon is considered normal, he has traveled through time several times with Mikuru Asahina.


 * Kyon is not considered a slider during the events of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya since technically Kyon did not jump to another world/dimension, but was the only one in the world that was not affected as a result of Nagato's tampering by hijacking Haruhi's powers.


 * The name Kyon used when visiting the past, John Smith, is a common placeholder name and assumed name used in the UK and other Commonwealth countries.


 * His phone contains unseen names such as Sawada Keitai, Sugiyama and Setsuki Yu, who are presumably friends from his old school that he is still in contact with.

Gallery
Kyon