i'm inclined to disagree with that. imo, the story of Haruhi is a Bildungsroman aka Coming of Age story (pity J.K. Rowling's work is considered Bildungsroman, while Tanigawa Nagaru-san's isn't). though haruhi's character was made to seem like that of a 15-year old nihon shoujo, if seen in a different angle, her personality is still very much childlike. i do not say this out of spite, but look around you. what are the chances of anyone finding someone still very much into fantasy, so much so that they make it their lifelong dream?Kaisos Erranon wrote:"Not romantically inclined"? Half the point of the story is that Haruhi wants Kyon to bone her.shichinanatsu wrote:but wouldn't you say that haruhi doesn't have a full concept of what a 'good friend' is? i mean, yeah, she 'could' have created aliens, time travelers, and espers, but i don't think giving kyon a 'good friend' is possible for her.. the very concept is foreign to her, as koizumi told kyon that she didn't have anything even coming close to friendly relations with ANYONE, when she was still in junior high.
consequently, haruhi MIGHT be thinking along these lines: kyon, though always complaining, is always by my side. he could be... INTERESTED in me.
i'm not hinting that SH-verse is about to become romantically inclined anytime soon, its far too interesting without that, no point adding any more. still, through the length of the story we see haruhi and kyon growing into each other, that the thought of the SOS-Dan (and the two of them) continuing their quest for the paranormal well into the future sounds quite appealing. however, its not like Haruhi is into things we normal humans can so easily predict, through author-san we might just witness an ending never before seen in all of manga/anime/ranobe history..
however, the possibility of haruhi's film being a glimpse of the ending is very much probable, as a lot of the sub-plots seem circular in nature. just a thought
Though your point about the b-plots being circular is pretty interesting...
If you ask me, I think that we might finally get a glimpse of overarching plot elements in Vol.10, in order to set up an eventual ending properly.
this is where kyon comes in.. though the story has some romantic overtones, kyon is in the story primarily to guide haruhi into growing up. the best part of that is, the driving force for haruhi's growth isn't a series of events, but a person, and that makes it all the more worthwhile.