An Article of Suzumiya Haruhi
Novels that the anime is based on Rank Highly on Best Seller List
The first seven Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu novels by Nagaru Tanigawa, on which the new TV series is based, have ranked highly on Amazon Japan’s best seller list.
The books, which were released between June 2003 and August 2005 have been ranked 5-11 for a week now on a list that updates every hour. They are kept out of the top spot only by the pre-order of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and various editions of The Davinci Code.
The novels rank in their release order (from volume 1 in fifth position to volume 7 in eleventh position).
The newest book in the series, The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Fungai, released on April 28, is not yet ranked in Amazon’s best sellers list.
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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya ( Suzumiya Haruhi no Y?utsu?)Published on June 6, 2003 (ISBN 4-04-429201-9) Haruhi forms the SOS Brigade.
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The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya ( Suzumiya Haruhi no Tameiki?)Published on September 30, 2003 (ISBN 4-04-429202-7) The SOS Brigade films a movie for the school cultural festival.
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The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Taikutsu?)Published on December 27, 2003 (ISBN 4-04-429203-5) A collection of short stories.
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The Vanishing of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu?)Published on July 31, 2004 (ISBN 4-04-429204-3) Haruhi vanishes one day, and it seems like she was never there. Confronted by a “normal” school life, how does Kyon react?
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The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Bousou?)Published on September 30, 2004 (ISBN 4-04-429205-1) A collection of short stories, taking place in summer, autumn, and winter.
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The Agitation of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Douyou?)Published on March 31, 2005 (ISBN 4-04-429206-X) A collection of short stories.
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The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Inbou?)Published on August 31, 2005 (ISBN 4-04-429207-8) Mikuru from eight days later shows up before Kyon, and she was sent back in time by Kyon himself. Why?
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The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Fungai?)Published on May 1, 2006 (ISBN 4-04-429208-6)
Please note: Suzumiya Haruhi no Fungai was previously translated in this article as The Resentment of Suzumiya Haruhi but has been changed to The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya, we feel this is a more appropriate translation.
SOS Brigade members
Haruhi Suzumiya
Haruhi Suzumiya is a girl in her first year of high school, as well as the title character and main focus of the anime series. She is characterized by her classmates as: eccentric, beautiful and explosive. She is very athletic, and her grades are described as “better than others”. Her social life is non-existent - she detests small talk and is viewed by others in her class as a deviant. She appears to be interested only in aliens, people with supernatural powers (espers), time travelers and sliders (dimensional travellers), with no desire to mingle with normal humans, even going so far as to found the SOS brigade to try to meet and play with them.Before she formed the SOS Brigade, she joined every single club in her high school to find out if they were worth her time or not. Incidentally, she ended up quiting every single one only after a couple of days because they weren’t interesting enough for her. However, many of the clubs wanted her to stay, especially the athletic clubs since she is a natural at sports and physical activities.Haruhi is regarded by several groups as the cause of an incident approximately 3 years ago before she entered high school. These groups believe that there was a crack in the space-time continuum which is related to Haruhi. They also believe that Haruhi gifted selected lifeforms, the ‘Espers’, with supernatural powers to control ‘closed space’. They also believe that Haruhi is the first technological singularity to be spontaneously born in the universe. Haruhi drew the attention of these groups; the data entity aliens, a future human civilization with advanced time traveling technology, and a group of ‘Espers’ who spontaneously developed powers during the incident. They were drawn to Haruhi, respectively; by an off-the-scale data spike, inability to time travel to any date before the incident, and an inherent knowledge of the origin of their new powers.
Kyon
Kyon is one of Haruhi’s companions, and the second founding member of the SOS Brigade. His name since then has become intricately entangled with Haruhi’s. Cynical and sarcastic, Kyon is the sole voice of reason in the SOS Brigade, sometimes having to take charge if Haruhi gets too much out of hand and unreasonable. He is the only “normal” human in the SOS Brigade.The name Kyon is actually a nickname bestowed upon him by his aunt. His sister is responsible for spreading its use to his schoolmates, much to the chagrin of Kyon, who misses being called Onii-chan, meaning “older brother”. His real name remains unknown.Although the title of the series implies that Haruhi Suzumiya is the main character, the story is actually told from Kyon’s point of view.
John Smith
John Smith is a fake name used by Kyon in a time travel. He once travelled back to three years ago and met Haruhi at that time. He told Haruhi his name is “John Smith” in order to hide his identity. (”John Smith” seems to be a reference to John Smith of Jamestown, but in the novel he is incorrectly credited as the first person who discovered the Americas.)
Yuki Nagato
The only member of the club not recruited by Haruhi, Yuki Nagato was originally the lone remaining member of the Literary Club, but became a part of the SOS Brigade when Haruhi forcibly took over the club room. Yuki is short, succinct, emotionless, seeming to avoid speaking at all, though she will give a concise answer when need be. In addition to a love of books and knowledge, she also enjoys working with computer software.Yuki is in fact not a human, but a “humanoid interface” sent by the galaxy-wide group of information synthesis thought-entities to investigate the cause of the “explosion of information” three years ago which far exceeded anything they have ever observed. She is capable of manipulating data, which can have an effect upon the physical world itself. She used to wear glasses, but she lost them in an incident involving classmate Ryoko Asakura.
Mikuru Asahina
Mikuru Asahina is Haruhi’s senpai and a time-traveller. She was “voluntarily arrested” by Haruhi, who was searching for potential members, and caught Mikuru daydreaming in a second-year classroom. Mikuru was forced to leave the Calligraphy Club to join the SOS Brigade instead.The primary reasons for Haruhi wanting Mikuru to join were her moé appeal, lolita-like face and large bust. Haruhi believes that a mascot-like “loli character” needs to be around for anything extraordinary to happen.Mikuru’s character is cute and she has a childish naïveté when compared to the rest.The future human society had sent Mikuru to investigate the cause of the turmoil in the space-time continuum three years ago which prevents them from time traveling any further back than that point.
Mikuru Asahina (big)
An older Mikuru Asahina, from farther into the future. Referred to as Asahina-san (big) by Kyon, in order to diferentiate between the older and younger versions. The younger Asahina is referred to as Asahina-san (small) ( Asahina-san (Sh?)?) when the older Mikuru is around.
Mikuru Asahina (Mikuru) (Asahina Mikuru (Mikiru)?)
In the 7th novel of the series, Mikuru was being sent back to 2 weeks ago by Kyon to save herself. When she was looking for a place to stay, Kyon told Tsuruya that this Mikuru is the long lost twin sister of the Mikuru of that time plane.
Itsuki Koizumi 
Itsuki Koizumi is a “mysterious transfer student” with supernatural powers and a membership in a secret association known simply as “The Agency” (Lit. “The Organization”) which consists of special humans (espers) who gained unique ESP-like powers three years ago, that have been actively protecting humanity by fighting the “Divine Ones”. He has a constant smile and seems to accept any and all of Haruhi’s quirks without flinching or even seeming to doubt Haruhi’s actions, apparently because he is trying to keep Haruhi entertained so she doesn’t get bored and perhaps destroy the universe. Itsuki often gives long detailed explanations, along with exaggerated hand movements, as seen in the movie created by the club. He also has a habit of bringing different kinds of board games into the clubroom, although it is often pointed out by Kyon that he’s no good at them.Itsuki was sent to observe and protect Haruhi by “The Agency”. Haruhi got him to join the SOS Brigade because he qualifies as a “mysterious transfer student” by her standards.