![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mikoto.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/05\/snapshot20090514001935.jpg?resize=500%2C281\")
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Kyon, Kyon, Kyon. He says that he wishes people would “stop calling him that,” but I doubt that many in the audience aren’t intrigued about Kyon’s actual name.<\/p>\n
But why is his name never given? Why don’t we ever get to know the name of the person who speaks to us directly, the character who is so much more than simply a character, simply a narrator?<\/p>\n
There is quite a valid reason for this, but I’ll get to that a bit later.<\/p>\n
I’ve a single point to make on this page: that Kyon is the most unique character in anime (and that he contributes to the greatness that is Haruhi<\/em>).<\/p>\n To back up this point, I’m going to look at two things.<\/p>\n Kyon is a powerful character. A very strong male lead with a case of intense sarcasm unmatched by most, if not all anime characters.<\/p>\n He alone drives most of the show’s comedy. We laugh because Kyon never laughs. Because his almost always emotionless exterior contrasts so heavily with his sarcastic and funny thoughts. Even when his “passion is running wild” over Mikuru in a bunny girl outfit, Kyon still dons the straightest of faces.<\/p>\n Do we laugh at Haruhi’s random thoughts and actions? Yes. Her getting dragged away while handing out fliers in a bunny girl outfit is hilarious. But Kyon is much funnier. Mikuru is emotionally hurt by the bunny girl event, and as she walks away, Kyon keeps his signature straight-line-for-a-mouth while thinking of all kinds of things. Mikuru just “failed to get into college” and “bought a house beyond [her] budget.” His wild imagination parallels that of Haruhi, yet his static exterior differs from Haruhi’s eccentric exterior, and it is this difference, as well as the contrast between his own thoughts and actions, that ultimately run this show.<\/p>\n Yet does this alone make Kyon the most unique (redundant, I know) character ever? No, it just qualifies him as a “great” character.<\/p>\n What really sets Kyon apart from the thousands of anime guys is not his strength as a character, but rather his status as a narrator.<\/p>\n Is there any other anime told in a quasi-first-person point of view? Yes. The answer lies in the screenshot above. And he remains unnamed. Unnamed because he doesn’t need a name. He is us, and we are him. He is an audience member, a spectator in Haruhi’s world who observes Haruhi’s actions and makes his own remarks about everything, because that’s what we, as viewers, do. We watch the anime and think about it.<\/p>\n Not only this, but we also share Kyon’s thoughts. Although we may not be making sarcastic remarks at every corner, we believe what Kyon believes. “Deep in my heart, I wished that aliens, time travelers, ghosts, demons, espers, or evil organizations might pop up in front of me,” says Kyon, and so do I, and so do we. Kyon and us all share a wish that “common folk<\/a>” really can go beyond “an ordinary life,” though we realize that “geniuses” are the ones who advance society. This desire to change something, to makes yourself known and remembered, and to simply live the “more fun” life that Haruhi strives for is compromised by the harshness of reality.<\/p>\n We want to sprout wings and fly. We want to meet an alien, a time traveler, an esper. We want to lead the abnormal, extraordinary life that we know will not happen, that Kyon wishes for, that Haruhi wishes for.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mikoto.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/05\/haruhi-02-61.jpg\")
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\nAre any of them like Haruhi<\/em>? No.
\nWhy?<\/p>\n
\nKyon is<\/em> the audience<\/strong>. He represents us in this strange world of Haruhi’s. He talks to us directly, saying whatever comes to mind. The anime is often even shot from Kyon’s point of view.<\/p>\n