Haruhi Suzumiya/Tropes O-S

Tropes for Haruhi Suzumiya, O to S:
"Kyon: I'm screwed!"
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Kyon constantly denies knowing or understanding things that the events or narration show that he does, as a way of avoiding conversation with others; most notably Koizumi, but also quite a bit with Taniguchi.
 * Occult Detective: Ostensibly the goal of the SOS Brigade, though they very rarely get around to it. Though, to be fair, the SOS-Dan's objective has already been fulfilled: "To find aliens, time travelers, sliders and espers and have fun with them", right...?
 * They haven't found a slider yet.
 * Odd Friendship: Kyon (laid-back and skeptical) and Haruhi (borderline sociopath with a huge belief in the supernatural).
 * Off-Model: Haruhi in the second season occasionally looks like one of the characters from K-On! (also produced by Kyoto Animation) cosplaying as her.
 * Oh Crap: In Disappearance, Kyon's reaction to
 * Towards the end of Melancholy Mikuru accidentally stumbles across the folder where Kyon stashed her sexy maid pictures. The dub put it best:

"Haruhi: Okay, Yuki, wreck her with your magic!
 * His general reaction to, well,
 * That isn't even the biggest one, though. His biggest one?
 * In Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, when young Haruhi says, "North High, huh," Kyon's eyes immediately show that he's fully aware of how monumental that moment is, and what it means for his future.
 * Kyon is similarly disturbed in the preview for Astonishment when
 * Itsuki's face in the novels when he realises his screen-time in the movie he doesn't want to be in has been increased due to his questioning of the lack of characters.
 * Considering his typical Stepford Smiler expression, the fact that his smile becomes visibly strained in the anime can probably still be considered an "oh crap" face.
 * Ojou: Tsuruya
 * Old School Building: The SOS clubroom is in the old wing of the school.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting: Bilingual Bonus, to boot; the music is part of the first movement of Mahler's 8th Symphony, and the lyrics are taken from the Latin hymn, "Veni, Creator Spiritus", which talks about the creator of the world.
 * Omniscient Morality License
 * One Head Taller: This becomes extremely obvious in the gender-bent fan version: when you switch the genders, the heights are also accommodated.
 * One Myth to Rule Them All: Haruhi is behind everything. Or time travelers. Or aliens. Or espers.
 * One Steve Limit: Haruhi is a very common name in Japan, but in the Disappearance movie, on December 18, no one at Kyon's classroom seems to know a single Haruhi.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: Kyon.
 * Parodied in the abridged series, where Kyon has actually forgotten his real name.
 * Only One Name: We never get to know Tsuruya's complete name; it's never even made clear if Tsuruya is her first or second name. People who don't hang around with her call her "Tsuruya-san" and Itsuki refers to "The Tsuruya Family", so it may be her second name, but Haruhi calls her "Tsuru-chan" so it could very well be her first name. The fact that the name Tsuruya can serve as both doesn't help. Or maybe her first and second name are actually the same.
 * Orange-Blue Contrast: Somewhat. The covers of volumes 10 and 11 of the light novels are orange and blue respectively, and they're getting a simultaneous release. Bonus points because it further shows how Haruhi and Sasaki are on opposite ends of...whatever.
 * Ordinary High School Student: Kyon actually is confirmed completely 100% ordinary. Through background checks.
 * For now at least. Considering that this is the Haruhi verse, it's quite possible that this will change. The fact that sliders are so far unaccounted for has caused many fans to believe that Kyon may eventually become a slider.
 * Or Was It a Dream?: What Kyon is asking himself after the climax of Melancholy, until it becomes obvious.
 * The Other Darrin: Shamisen's dub VA switched from Steve Kramer in season one to Michael McConnohie in season two.
 * Out of Focus:
 * Outsourcing Fate: In Disappearance,
 * Kyon does something like this on a daily basis in the series, but without anyone willingly empowering him.
 * Overly Long Gag: "Endless Eight", with a full eight episodes. Based on one single 30-page chapter. With each episode about 24 minutes long, the gag ran for three hours and twelve minutes. It has not been received well.
 * The Arc Number is visually cued in episode 6: Kyon endlessly repeatedly scrawls an '8' into Haruhi's checklist, and from the camera angle it appears to be the sign of 'infinity'. Yes, eight whole episodes were committed to this symbolism.
 * Let's put this in perspective. While it only takes three hours and twelve minutes to watch every episode, this is not what was was Overly Long about it. Many fans watched these episodes as they came out over the course of a few months. Yuki Nagato was an effective woobie because after about 4 episodes the viewers began to get more and more frustrated and felt like they themselves were stuck in the endless recursion of time with the characters. It didn't help that each episode teased at breaking the cycle at the very end of each episode, only to have Kyon not know what to do/chicken out.
 * Pac-Man Fever: Possibly justified, as it was a game built by a bunch of talented amateurs.
 * Pals with Jesus: Kyon. To the point that anyone who wants to affect Haruhi in any way goes through him first (sometimes with a knife), to his irritation.
 * It's combined with Kid with the Leash for Yuki, who listens to Kyon and Kyon only.

Yuki:... *looks over at Kyon*

Kyon: (narrating) No. No. No. I shouldn't even have to tell you that."


 * Panda-ing To The Audience: In Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, there is a picture of a panda on little Haruhi's shirt... teehee.
 * Panty Shot: There's one in "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina". Guess who it's from?
 * Paratext: The layout of the 2009 episodes plays around with this by reflecting their content: the new episodes came three years after the first run, playing on the interval of time travel in "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody"; "Endless Eight" had eight iterations; and The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, about the SOS Brigade's creation of a movie, was treated like a single long movie-like episode and simply cut whenever each episode's time limit was reached (even in the middle of conversations). It had also become a minor meme to state that "Disappearance disappeared" or some variation of it, but it's now The Movie. And it was released on DVD and Blue-Ray on December 18, a majorly significant date in the story.
 * Perverse Sexual Lust: Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
 * If by "your feelings" you mean "the Internet," then the answer would be a resounding YES.
 * Pet the Dog: Haruhi has a few. Most famously, the ENOZ concert and in the later novels...
 * The way she deals with little kids, such as Kyon's sister, qualifies as well.
 * The Philosopher: Itsuki. Not only effective as The Philosopher but nearly as difficult to follow as his ancient Greek forerunners. Just trying to make sense of what he's saying is a mental workout, for the audience as well as Kyon.
 * Kyon himself is a more down-to-Earth version of The Philosopher (especially in the books), but unlike Itsuki usually keeps it to himself.
 * Shamisen deserves an honorable mention. Although he only has one speech, he's a good enough philosopher that upon being introduced he manages to sidetrack the brigade members into a debate over the nature of conversation and away from the fact that, you know, he's a talking cat.
 * Sasaki exemplifies this trope, so much that even the aforementioned Itsuki is impressed. You have to admire someone who can come up with a clever and confusing speech about light and quantum mechanics on the drop of the hat while talking about schoolwork.
 * Pinball Protagonist: Kyon. He grows out of it.
 * Pinch Me: Kyon in Disappearance.
 * Pinky Swear: This gesture has apparently persisted into the far future, if older Mikuru in "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" is anything to go by.
 * The trope's name is also the title of Ryoko Asakura's first Image Song, showcasing her Nice Girl personality.
 * The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite being a club for investigating paranormal activity, the SOS Brigade rarely actually does anything, at least in the anime.
 * Playboy Bunny
 * Plot Hole: Directly referenced and combined with Incredibly Lame Pun in "Intrigues"; when Kyon  has to move a boulder, he comments on the crater it leaves behind and asks if anyone will notice it.
 * Porn Stash: Well not porn as such, but Kyon has stashed a few photos of Mikuru that she most certainly wouldn't be happy about him having on the Computer Club's... that is, the SOS Brigade's computer.
 * Post Episode Trailer: The "broadcast order" featured Kyon and Haruhi arguing over the episode number. The "DVD order" has Yuki laconically state everything deadpan.
 * Post Modernism
 * POV Boy, Poster Girl: Kyon is the POV protagonist, but Haruhi drives the plot.
 * Powers as Programs: The humanoid interfaces.
 * Power Nullifier: Yuki Nagato.
 * Power Trio: Ryoko as Id, Yuki as Ego, and Emiri as Superego.
 * Powers That Be
 * Practical Voice Over: Kyon, narrating the first episode film.
 * Pragmatic Adaptation
 * Precision F-Strike: In the anime: "Then I'll tell everyone at school that all you geeks ganged up on her and [bleep]ed her!" Of course, the line in the novel is the relatively innocuous "gang-raped". In the Disappearance novel, Kyon swears once at the very end (apparently for the first time in the series). By the Astonishment novel, he's less restrained.
 * Prepare to Die: A crazed says this to Kyon in a Creepy Monotone before Yuki's Big Damn Heroes moment.
 * In the anime, it wasn't a Creepy Monotone, it was very cheerful, as if she was talking about a book she really liked. It made Kyon miss what she actually said, until after she flew at him with a knife.
 * Press-Ganged: Pretty much everyone in the SOS Brigade can attest that they were bodily forced- er, recruited using this method.
 * Prima Donna Director: Haruhi throws some epic tantrums during the making of The Adventures of Mikuru and displays some of her worst behaviour for the entire series.
 * Prolonged Prologue: The novels often have extremely long prologues, or at least chapters titled so. Kyon lampshades the very long prologue of Disappearance, but the prologue in Scheme is nearly twice as long as that, and the prologue in Dissociation is in turn considerably longer than Scheme...
 * Kyon does have a point though, despite their length there really isn't any other name for them other than "prologue" as they don't quite fit into the story proper.
 * Promoted Fanboy: Apparently, the owner of the English license hired at least some of the a.f.k. anime sub team to do the official English translation of the light novels.
 * Puberty Superpower: Haruhi and Koizumi (both at age 12).
 * Public Domain Soundtrack: Classical music is used very effectively throughout the series (see the trope's page for details).
 * Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Yuki, though she stops wearing them later.
 * Rapid-Fire Typing: And Rapid Fire Speaking, too. In fact,  Yuki takes this to such a ludicrous degree that Mikuru gets scared.
 * Yuki's typing during the Day of Sagittarius is so fast that an ordinary computer should be unable to keep up.
 * Rapunzel Hair: Tsuruya has this, as well as Haruhi in the beginning.
 * Reality Warper:.
 * Real Place Background: The anime is set in clearly recognizable locales in and around the city of Nishinomiya, with occasional glimpses of Osaka (the Celestial attack in "Melancholy V") and Kobe (the fireworks in "Endless Eight").
 * Reality Warping Is Not a Toy
 * Red Armband of Leadership: Haruhi, naturally.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Asakura (Red) and Yuki (Blue). Actually subverted, as their inner workings are exactly flipped.
 * Red Pill, Blue Pill: Kyon is given the choice to either.
 * Refuge in Audacity: "". Or not.
 * Reverse Psychology Marketing: Over and over again. Why do we keep coming back?
 * Restraining Bolt: Yuki places one of these upon This also has a unique subversion --
 * Rhetorical Request Blunder: Throughout the Haruhi series, Kyon continually wishes that he were living a normal life. In the fourth book provides just that.
 * Ridiculously Humanoid Robot Interface: Yuki Nagato fits this trope to a T.
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Averted and played straight. Once in "Endless Eight" and once in Disappearance. The times it is played straight are explained. and
 * Robe and Wizard Hat: Yuki wore this for her fortune-telling, the student film, and impromptu guitar replacement. "The Wizard of Rock" indeed.
 * Role Playing Game Terms: Often in the novels and once in the anime, Kyon references Haruhi having a negative effect on his HP and MP.
 * Kyon also mentions stat points during "Endless Eight".
 * In addition, during the baseball game, Yuki specifically says that she has enhanced the attributes on the team's bat.
 * Kyon seems to be a fan of RPGs in general - he describes one instance (involving Mikuru and time travel) as "like a quest in an RPG" and wonders if he'll get an item as a reward.
 * Rubber Face: Poor Mikuru Hilarious punishment!
 * Running Gag: Kyon always being the last one to arrive at any outing of the SOS Brigade, and consequently always being the one who ends up paying for the group's lunch.
 * Itsuki will lose any game he tries to play.
 * Sailor Fuku: Kyon comments on the school's girl's uniforms in the first novel, and wonders if the principal has a Sailor Fuku fetish.
 * Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: This is set out for Kyon and Haruhi in the prologue of the first novel and extends to at least the tenth novel.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Yuki, until she stops wearing them. When the Student Council President attempts to shut down the SOS Brigade, Kyon notices his glasses were flashing for no reason. "Are those special effects?"
 * Scenery Censor: It's a Running Gag to have characters and objects blocking the view of Haruhi forcibly stripping a flustered Mikuru while commenting explicitly on her body. It was played most obviously and repeatedly in "Someday in the Rain", with recurring shots of Yuki discretely turning to gaze into the bookshelf while Itsuki courteously leaves the room.
 * Scenery Porn: Compare the real town of Nishinomiya with the anime. (See also this page with photos of locations of scenes from the anime.)
 * Schedule Slip: The tenth light novel has been delayed for three years. The second season was delayed for almost three years. The first episode of the second season suddenly aired in the middle of a rerun of the first season. We can only hope that the updates stay constant.
 * School Festival
 * School Uniforms Are the New Black: Yuki Nagato will wear her school uniform even when the rest of her friends change into their casual clothes. Kyon suggests that maybe she just likes her school uniform because she exhibited similar behavior with her fortune telling/witch costume.
 * Secret Keeper: For three opposing factions, all whom seem to get along pretty well for opposing factions, although it is mentioned that certain parties within each group don't get along as well as the three close to Kyon.
 * Until he actually
 * Sekaikei
 * Selective Obliviousness: is acceptable in the anime, as the series is short and romance is not a gigantic focus, but it's getting downright ridiculous in the novels. It's even got Itsuki openly exasperated. Bear in mind though that in regards to his feelings for Haruhi, Kyon's an Unreliable Narrator. The issue is less any stupidity on his part and more of a refusal to understand.
 * But on the other hand, there are occasions where Kyon's thoughts clearly betray that he knows that . Happens in "Live Alive" and Sigh.
 * Given that twice in the anime ('End of the World' and Endless Eight) solutions cause Kyon to directly interact with Haruhi on a personal basis, it might be less of 'obliviousness' and more 'refusing to see it'.
 * Seinfeldian Conversation
 * Sempai-Kohai: Subverted: Although Mikuru is Haruhi and the others' senior, she still gets used like a dishrag by Haruhi.
 * Sequel Hook: In the end of novel 11,
 * Series Continuity Error: In the movie, Haruhi says she had sworn off alcohol. However, the kids were never drunk in the anime version of Lone Island Syndrome. The dub sidesteps this, as mentioned above under Bowdlerize.
 * Sexy Discretion Shot: More like a nudity discretion shot. In "Someday In The Rain," whenever Haruhi changes Mikuru's outfit, the viewer is treated to what could only be described as sounds of rape, a shot of Nagato's face as she's picking out a book, and Itsuki standing outside the room saying something completely unrelated.
 * Nagato is apparently Genre Savvy and aware of the viewer and the camera placement during these scenes. At one point after switching out her books during one such occasion, she makes a deliberate glance at the bookshelf, and presumably, the viewer, as if she knows what we're all thinking.
 * Shadow Archetype: Kyon and Haruhi to each other. Kyon is the rational Agent Scully that Haruhi learnt to suppress for the sake of fun. Haruhi is the irrational Daydream Believer that Kyon learnt to suppress for the sake of order (and lack of disappointment) in his life. To a lesser extent, Itsuki and Taniguchi could be considered Kyon's shadows, contantly bringing up things that Kyon would prefer not to think about.
 * Shameless Fanservice Girl: Haruhi is an example of this.
 * Ship Tease: Everyone and everything.
 * And all of the Kyon/Nagato shippers got a massive dose of Ship Tease from the movie. Sadly (for some), it looks like Kyon will always go back to Haruhi.
 * At the risk of starting certain...arguments he might just enjoy the old SOS Brigade and the weird things that happen around him when he's with Haruhi.
 * Kyon kisses the princess awake is naturally, yet frustratingly, wiped out with All Just a Dream.
 * Intensifying Ship Tease concluding each episode of the "Endless Eight", until Kyon's momentous epiphany...of Anticlimax.
 * In ''Snow Mountain Syndrome" Kyon and Haruhi get into a spirited game of Twister.
 * In novel 11,
 * Shirtless Scene: Kyon in the second part of "Endless Eight". Stupid sexy Kyon.
 * Endless Eight VI has both Kyon and Koizumi in swim trunks, and Endless Eight V has Koizumi in what is basically a thong.
 * Also, chapter 10 when Kyon and Haruhi crawled into a cave and took off their dripping shirts. This one, however, is Fan Service-free.
 * Show Within a Show: The movie.
 * Also, the books within a book, when Haruhi forces the SOS Brigade to write short stories for a magazine  Through these, we get some interesting looks at the personalities (and possibly even back stories) of the SOS Brigade; especially noteworthy is Yuki's, where it is hinted that
 * Shout-Out: Has its own page.
 * Sighted Guns Are Low Tech: the hypodermic dart gun looks distinctly sci-fi-ish (or like a toy); either way, it is missing its sights.
 * Significant Anagram:
 * Silent Bob: One single word with a bit of emotion from Nagato says it all.
 * "Silly Me" Gesture: Kyon's sister's trademark. Future Mikuru also does it in Disappearance.
 * Single-Target Sexuality: Yuki Nagato may be Kyonsexual. Given that she's a stoic Emotionless Girl who hardly says a word to anybody, it's interesting that she talks with and defers to Kyon on a regular basis. Then there's also that time Nagato
 * The Singularity: Mechanical technology is a dead end in the Haruhi-verse: both the are past it.   can't operate anything more complicated than a flashlight because what she's familiar with isn't remotely similar; when asked about   This makes Yuki's love of Science Fiction novels and games an interesting quirk.
 * Sitcom Character Archetypes:
 * Kyon is the Square and the Wisecracker
 * Haruhi is the Goofball and the Bully
 * Yuki is the Stick
 * Itsuki is the Sage
 * Mikuru is the Precocious and the Goofball
 * Ryoko is the Charmer.
 * Skepticism Failure: one character causes skepticism to fail.
 * Sleep Cute: Mikuru and Haruhi in "Endless Eight".
 * And the "Endless Eight" episodes of the anime.
 * Sliding Scale of Realistic Versus Fantastic: the series has three discernible layers with regards to this scale: a Mundane layer (Kyon, school life and the club's for-fun activities), an Unusual/Fantastic layer (the aliens, time travelers and espers, whose powers are bound by rules they don't create), and a Surreal layer (Haruhi, whose power is implied not to be bound by the rules that the others' are).
 * Slipstream: With all the post-modernism, genre-blending, and the layered scale above, this is about as close to a genre as this series is likely to get.
 * Slow Motion Fall: Kyon in the Disappearance movie
 * The Slow Path: Mikuru.
 * Small Girl, Big Gun: Haruhi invokes this trope during the filming of the movie by outfitting Mikuru with twin (airsoft) Desert Eagles. The results are about as awesomely, ridiculously hilarious as you'd imagine.
 * Snark Knight: If it was an actual chivalric order, Kyon would be its Knight Grand Cross, maybe the patron saint.
 * Some Kind of Force Field: The walls of Closed Space.
 * Something Completely Different: "The Adventures Of Mikuru Asahina"; "Someday In The Rain" Arguably, most of the episodes anyway.
 * Sound Effect Bleep: Kyon's Little Sister and Computer Society President's real names.
 * Sparkling Stream of Tears: Mikuru, in the opening.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": The usual problem with the extended "o" sound. For that matter, Ryoko/Ryouko Asakura. Her surname is easy enough, but her given name sparks nerd-fights over the exact way to spell it to reflect pronunciation.
 * Spin-Off: Haruhi-chan.
 * The Vanishing of Yuki-chan Nagato
 * Nyoro~n Churuya
 * Spinning Paper: Kyon randomly remembers a scene from a previous episode in this format.
 * Spock Speak: Yuki Nagato.
 * Spoiler Opening: But only once you've seen the episode.
 * For a Brick Joke Spoiler Opening, go back and rewatch "Bouken Dessho Dessho" after Disappearance. Several scenes from the opening are taken directly from the movie.
 * Stable Time Loop: Lots of these:
 * Kyon is, who met a young Haruhi and influenced her to become who she is today; at one point in the novels,.
 * When an older Mikuru informs Kyon about her star-shaped mole, only to realize he was the one who told her about it, and he didn't know until she told about it. She's understandably upset at the implications.
 * The events of Scheme. At the end of the novel Kyon sends Mikuru 8 days back into the past to find him and follow his instructions, because at the beginning of the novel he finds the 8-days-later Mikuru that he will send back.
 * At the end of Disappearance,
 * Starfish Aliens: The Data Overmind and its "inhabitants" are really these, even if the Interfaces all look like high school girls. Also hilariously played with in the Book 10 preview,
 * Even more hilarious, however, is the suggestion that the Data Overmind ultimately view humans as a kind of Starfish Alien. Just consider the fact that specific "Humanoid Interfaces" needed to be constructed to even attempt to communicate with mankind. It also explains a lot of their oddities; for example, Yuki's furnishings are very simple because she literally does not understand the need for decoration or comfort (at least at first), those being relatively pointless (as we know them) to her in her "natural" state.
 * Start My Own: Haruhi's motivation for starting the SOS Brigade.
 * Stepford Smiler: Itsuki, always cheerful and smiling even if the world is in serious danger. Kyon is not amused.
 * Itsuki is always smiling, anyway. There are many hints, even in the anime, that he is  Kyon a bit.
 * The Stinger: After the Disappearance movie. Yuki is shown reading by herself at the public library, but stops for a moment to watch a boy help a girl make a library card. Yuki then looks toward the camera and does that adorable thing where she holds her book in front of her face with only her eyes peeking out over it. Who said Yuki needed emotions to be Moe?
 * Stockholm Syndrome: Adult Mikuru looks back on the days in the SOS Brigade fondly. Whether it's really stockholm syndrome, or Nostalgia Filter, or she started to simply enjoy it for it's own sake is uncertain though.
 * Straight Man: Kyon.
 * Strange Girl: Haruhi.
 * Strange Minds Think Alike: Kyon and Haruhi provide a number of subtle examples of this. Arguably the reason why Haruhi "chooses" Kyon.
 * In the very beginning of the chronological first episode, Kyon specifically mentioned that in the past he hoped that there are "aliens, time travellers, and espers".
 * Kyon seems to actually understand the logic of pre-SOS Dan Haruhi's cyclical hairdos, and can follow her explanation of which color belongs to which day.
 * In "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" there's a couple of superficially apparent false examples of this: Kyon tells Haruhi to go get the line marker before she explains what they're going to do (which visibly surprises her in the anime), and he also manages to guess the symbols are a message to Orihime and Hikoboshi without her explaining it. He has the advantage of, well, knowing high-school Haruhi, but her middle-school version seems surprised at John Smith's ability to understand what she's thinking.
 * In "Someday in the Rain" and Disappearance, both Kyon and Haruhi, upon being woken up by the other, think that the other one must have been drawing on their face.
 * In the 8th book, both Koizumi and a random passerby come to the conclusion that cats and dogs must be avoiding a certain area because there is a hibernating bear somewhere. In the middle of the town. In the same book, both Haruhi and Sakanaka's father use the nickname "J.J." for a dog called Rousseau. Maybe they had the same philosopher in mind.
 * In Sigh, Kyon accurately guesses why Haruhi wanted to make a movie.
 * 101 Hamsters, but perhaps this is an artifact of her powers at work.
 * Stringy Haired Ghost Girl:
 * Student Council President: The... um... Student Council President from the short stories.
 * Stylistic Suck: The student film in "Episode 00". One of the few justified examples, as it's a student film, trying to look like a Toku show. Oddly enough, the effort required to achieve this look in animation makes it perhaps the most technically sophisticated episode.
 * Subverted Trope: In Disappearance we are initially led to believe that, since he's in an apparently alternate universe, Kyon is technically our much-awaited slider.
 * Suddenly Always Knew That: Yuki's unexplained guitar skills surpass come close to even those of Buckethead! She learned guitar by reading a booklet.
 * Sufficiently Advanced Alien:.
 * Super-Deformed: Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san, though apart from these self-parodies, it consistently averts the trope.
 * Superpower Lottery: Yuki, and how!
 * Super Reflexes: Nagato can react fast enough to block lasers.
 * Supporting Protagonist: Haruhi is usually the focus of the story (and leader of the brigade), but Kyon is always the main character.
 * Suspiciously Apropos Music: "God Knows" in "Live Alive."
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In "Live Alive," after wolfing down his lunch at top speed, Kyon takes a walk just to settle his stomach. Seriously. There was no other reason. Don't read too much into it.
 * Synthetic Plague: One of the characters knocks out half the class with a sudden flu so she can have some quality time with the male lead. Unfortunately there is one survivor who unravels her evil plot.
 * Superpower Lottery: Yuki, and how!
 * Super Reflexes: Nagato can react fast enough to block lasers.
 * Supporting Protagonist: Haruhi is usually the focus of the story (and leader of the brigade), but Kyon is always the main character.
 * Suspiciously Apropos Music: "God Knows" in "Live Alive."
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In "Live Alive," after wolfing down his lunch at top speed, Kyon takes a walk just to settle his stomach. Seriously. There was no other reason. Don't read too much into it.
 * Synthetic Plague: One of the characters knocks out half the class with a sudden flu so she can have some quality time with the male lead. Unfortunately there is one survivor who unravels her evil plot.