NOTE: This post is a part of an effort on my end to bring my Reddit content to Lemmy.
Original Posting Date: 29/07/2022
Post:
She’s an insolent, stubborn, selfish piece of shit that won’t stop for anything to get things her way. Cast aside the over arching plot of supernatural stuff, she’s still an asshole. I hate her and the more I go into this series, the more I hate her with a burning passion.
Edit: adding that I’m yet to watch the movie. My opinion could change over time so let’s hope for the best.
Also, some people seem to think that I hate the series. Hell no. I’ve laughed my ass off at Kyon and the gang being annoyed at her whims and fantasies. I also know that that’s the point of her character. But apparently it’s criminal to join the subreddit of an anime to discuss our thoughts unless they’re positive opinions.
Lemme know what your views are.
Edit 2: This comment is really awesome. (Was posted by u/Cerber4444 on Reddit)
Okay, hear me out. I’m a big fan of this show myself. But Haruhi is indeed has not the best character in universe. But its kinda the point of the show. She isn’t badly written character, she’s a character with bad behaviour. She is designed with that in mind.
This whole show is partially a big self aware parody of clichés in anime. You know like in typical anime there is always main girl who is loved by people in anime itself and fans, but in reality she would be annoying and simply toxic friend/girlfriend.
Haruhi is this character but put in realistic setting. That’s why everyone in school avoid Haruhi, despite her being beautiful looking. Because that’s how any real person would react to insane girl who is not considering of their surroundings.
Same with other cast- Koidzumi, Mikuru and Yuki seems to be your regular one dimensional characters. But in reality they are good writen characters with their own motivation, secrets, internal conflicts and overall depth.
Overall this show is about four students who is friends with that annoying and toxic main character, and despite understanding that she is bad for them, they can’t leave this relationship because of existential threat for our world from Haruhi. Well three of them arrived to this time and place specifically because of this threat.
And remember how sometimes this show gets a little bit dark? Koidzumis monologue in taxi and on bridge, for example. He is turning it to a joke, but it doesn’t feel like a joke. That kind of moments make me confident, that all this dark theme between the lines was intentional.
And yeah, like Kyon said- he is a voice of reason for Haruhi, and he is changing her to a better side little by little. And his love to her is becoming obvious in this context. Because it’s isn’t rare, when a person falls in love with someone who is toxic, but displays a redeeming qualities time to time.
I could go on and on about all of this, but I already said a lot. And that is making this anime one of my favourite. It has so much depth, despite appearing as regular one dimensional anime at first glance.
Update: I watched the movie. Here’s my post talking about it.
Oh and one more thing: Nagato is best girl. Fight me, Harusimps.
Young people are flawed because they are young; they havenʼt had much time to get feedback on what types of behaviors are appropriate. Well-written high school students must all have obvious flaws. Many stories exist in which the flaws are superfluous or irrelevant to real life; worlds centered around wish fulfillment (e.g. isekai, harem, hentai) do not let characters grow or they grow in ways incompatible with real life; they should be treated like the fantasies they are: a goal state you cannot access.
That said, life without goals is boring. Goals, by definition, are future events and a future is defined by the fact a narrative between it and the present is not yet defined. Haruhi sets unreachable goals. Haruhi breaks social norms and taboos to achieve her goals. Haruhi is a criminal (trespassing, sexual assault, larceny). Haruhi is not a good person (does not listen, does not communicate well, does not respect boundaries). At the end of the light novel series, Haruhi is still an immature impulsive young person.
Yet, that impulsiveness can be appealing to watch since you miss every shot you donʼt take. I’m reminded of the Gary Larson comic of a spider telling another about why theyʼve built a web across the end of a playground slide: “If we pull this off, weʼll eat like kings.”.
- What if defacing a schoolyard allowed you to talk to aliens? You could, in theory, ask the school principal for permission to use school equipment to draw your pattern. Youʼd probably be denied and recommended for a psychiatric evaluation. Instead, you could just deface the schoolyard. A real alien might actually answer you.
- What if your classmate enjoyed you stripping their clothes off? You could, in theory, ask them and risk being avoided as being seen as a pervert. The conservative strategy would be to take time to get to know them and, when theyʼre feeling particularly open, to ask if theyʼd be okay with your sexually charged request. Instead, you could just start stripping their clothes off and see what happens. Your classmate might actually have been waiting for you to make a move.
- What if you won a film festival award for a story you dreamed up one night? What if that ridiculous fantasy you heard as a child was actually true? Film festivals are basically social clubs formed by wealthy patrons who take turns giving awards to film makers of baseline competence with superior lobbying skills, so a high schooler would be very unlikely to succeed unless their parents were already wealthy members of such a club. Instead, you could just start filming and see what happens. Your film might actually get noticed and recognized.
So, Haruhi is flawed like a DNA-mutating free radical in your body is flawed: destructive most of the time, but also a key requirement any change (i.e. natural selection-powered evolution) to take place.
