Despite the cold and wet weather that predominated the episode, it left me with quite a warm and fuzzy feeling. All the boxes got ticked: Kyon sarcasm (small tick - though bonuses for the scenes when he seems to look at the viewer for support and affirmation of his exasperation like in a stage play), Mikuru moe (tick), Yuki poker face (tick), Haruhi tsundere (big tick).
So far, I haven’t been able to figure out how to tie a scarf in that way. Well, this is coming from someone who had to check online for picture instructions of how to iron a shirt. T_T
Ah sweet jealousy. Though Haruhi’s face looked like she’d put on twenty pounds while she’s pouting. The animation was also surprisingly flat and textureless.
Was pretty funny how Yuki’s head is used to censor Haruhi costume-raping Mikuru, particularly the fortituous timing of how Yuki moved to reveal or block various stages of the custome changes.
I thought it was pretty funny and sweet to see the Invincible Haruhi looking visibly flustered. ^_^
All aboard on the Tsundere Express! Definitely the opposite of “coy” defined as “(especially of a woman) making a pretence of shyness or modesty which is intended to be alluring.” As for the umbrellas, it must tsuyu season in Japan now as it formed the central motif of the most recent episode of StoPani too.
This episode has convinced me that the Kyon is the center of the universe which Haruhi created and modifies. Think Anthropic Principle. This is from the footnote of wikipedia article
^ Carter was not the first to invoke some form of the anthropic principle. For instance, Robert H. Dicke wrote in 1957 that: “The age of the Universe ‘now’ is not random but conditioned by biological factors … [changes in the values of the fundamental constants of physics] would preclude the existence of man to consider the problem.” (Dicke 1957, “Principle of Equivalence and Weak Interactions,” Rev. Mod. Phys. 29: 355) Alfred Russel Wallace anticipated the WAP as long ago as 1903: “Such a vast and complex universe as that which we know exists around us, may have been absolutely required … in order to produce a world that should be precisely adapted in every detail for the orderly development of life culminating in man.” (Wallace 1912, Man’s Place in the Universe: 256-7). The WAP is also echoed by Karl Marx’s theory of historical materialism: “The first premise of all human history is, of course, the existence of living human individuals. Thus the first fact to be established is the physical organisation of these individuals and their consequent relation to the rest of nature.” (The German Ideology, chpt. 1.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_Principle
I’m coming round that point of view as well. I was entertaining another set of theories that it’s Kyon who’s got the God-like powah and that his encounter with Haruhi has unconsciously re-awakened his youthful desire to meet aliens, time travellers and ESPers. Or that he is Haruhi’s co-equal. However it doesn’t quite make sense unless one speculates that Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki told him after Haruhi’s God-nature as a form of misdirection.
Zyl, I see that you picked all the scenes which I found particularly enjoyable about this episode, I salute you!
To be honest, the relationship development between Haruhi and Kyon is one of the most original and enjoyable ones I’ve seen in a long long time. And Haruhi’s panicked reaction to being “caught” brought a huuge smile to my face. Sweet.
I guess they will end the show with the awesome chapter 7 of volume 1 of the novels. Looking forward to it!
If you think in line of Kyontropic Principle, some obvious property about Haruhiverse appears.
1. Haruhiverse must be stable enough to allow Kyon to observe and report it to us.
1′. This means that Haruhi cannot be changing her mind everyday, and there are some check and balances in her mind to keep things as it is.
Counter-claim: Haruhi, when creating a universe, will rewrite the past, thus a being in this universe cannot know of any changes in their past.
Counter-counter-claim: 3 year ago something happened to normal flow of time. Kyon has witnessed attempts to rewrite the universe.
1-a. Haruhi cannot realize her divinity for that would mean great temptation to rewrite things at her whim. This is why Gray world even appears, for otherwise, she would change things in a instance. Please note that Yuki checks the broken door in the Lone Insland syndrome II and sees that there is no mark on the wood.
1-b. Haruhi cannot believe that aliens, time travellers, and an esper is already in her club, for believing that can lead to her being aware that she is special, thus possibly violating condition 1-a.
2. Kyon must be someone Haruhi thinks about, even subconsciously. Otherwise, he could not have joined SOS-Dan in the first place. Before Kyon realized Haruhi isn’t normal human, there was no reason why he would curtly tell Haruhi to go away and ignore her. Had something like that happened, Haruhi would likely have ended up rewriting the universe until she got Kyon to be inside the club.
Counter-claim: Among the infinite universe Haruhi created, this one just happened to have Kyon coming along for the ride.
Counter-counter-claim: Too many people told Kyon that he was completely normal human, yet someone special to Haruhi. Kyon is the rare exception to all what Haruhi openly desires, yet he also is someone closest to Haruhi.
2-a. There must be sufficient things of interest to assure that Kyon will continue to attend all SOS-dan activity. This may be why Haruhi asks if Kyon would like to fondle Mikuru with her, and why Mikuru is such naive, weak, but pretty in order to get Kyon’s full attention. Without Mikuru, Kyon may not come to SOS-dan at all. This is probably related to 1′.
2-b + 1-c. Kyon must play sufficiently hard to get for Haruhi, for otherwise, things would be too boring and uninteresting, thus god-people attack.
2-c. Some of Kyon’s desires and concerns must be addressed in order for Kyon to remain active within SOS-dan. Perhaps this is why Yuki seems so obidient of Kyon.
All the alphabet subsections are colored a little by my opinion, but the first two numbers must be true: That of stability and the specialness of Kyon in Haruhiverse. Those this mean Kyon is also god? This is a very complex question that goes to Schrodinger’s Cat and Lao Tzu’s Butterfly, which basically means that it is possible to think that act of observation, by itself, is a divine act. Ask the people who are working to make a Quantum Computer.
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~hassoun/ep8.htm
Mentar: ^_^
wontaek: I’m particularly intrigued by the application of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle raised in your last sentence. In any case I’m happy to wait and see… it will be great if the jumbled up episode order will contribute to the overall understanding of this series as a whole.
If it was KyoAni’s intention to show how lonely Yuki is during the book reading scene, then I dare say that they have succeeded. If not, it is still more Yuki screentime for me to enjoy anyway. :P It was particularly amusing how they had a ‘commercial break’ of Kyon riding the train halfway through the book reading scene.
Yuki said not one line during this whole episode, and yet she got a Kyon&Yuki moment.
I like how it was subtlely hinted that Yuki placed a cardigan on Kyon before Haruhi came along. Just as is her nature, she is so secretive even when helping others. Kyon is oblivious to it though. :P
I also applaud KyoAni’s way of censorship. :P Itsuki also score more points for either being more guy-inclined by not staying in the room when Mikuru was being undressed, or for being a non-pervert.
Cheers.
Due to Jason’s post, I now know that Yuki was left out of the ending credits…
;_;
“Lonely… oh so lonely, tonight.”
I support your theory about Yuki putting the first cardigan on Kyon. I’m convinced - there are only two candidates - Yuki and Mikuru - as indicated by Kyon’s glances to Yuki’s chair and Mikuru’s costumes and that the cardigan is only part of the female school uniform. Given Haruhi’s displeasure at Mikuru putting her scarf on Kyon, I don’t Mikuru would want to risk her wrath again and even if she did, Haruhi would probably have removed it in a fit of jealousy and replaced it with just her own to mark her ownership of Kyon. However, I don’t think Haruhi sees Yuki as a serious competitor for Kyon at all. Also after Kyon falls asleep, Yuki stands up abruptly before the scene cuts and I think she put the cardigan on him during the scene transition.
About Yuki not having any lines, while it was pretty cruel to her seiyuu (no pay for this episode!), I think KyoAni wanted to doubly emphasize Yuki’s silent moé appeal - her silence was very in-character and still extremely appealing - esp for a Rei Ayanami fanboy like myself. As Ronan Keating once sang: “You say it best when you say nothing at all.”
P.S. Would be so hilarous if the frilly meido thing on Mikuru’s head suddenly said: “Yakiniku banzai…”
*Sighs*
And here comes the *Love Theme*
Another cool girl yet again is going down that road. And losing the cool thing.
*Sighs*
And if that wasn’t enough, now Saber is one of them too.
*Grahhhhhhhhh*