Haruhi Suzumiya Characters 3rd: Yuki Nagato (iMori's Favorite Female Chara)

Voiced by Minori Chihara (Japanese)
Michelle Ruff (English)
Profile
Gender Female
Species Data Entity
Occupation SOS Brigade fifth seat / North High student (second year) / former Literature Club Captain (technically still acting as such)

Yuki Nagato (長門 有希 Nagato Yuki) is a fictional character in the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series. She is initially portrayed as an introverted, taciturn bibliophile. She is actually an artificial human created by the Integrated Data Entity, and possesses supernatural powers as a result. She joins Haruhi Suzumiya's SOS Brigade in order to observe her on the behalf of the Integrated Data Entity. In addition, she is present to ensure that Haruhi does not use her godlike powers, and aids the other Brigade members in stopping forces that wish her to do so.

Appearance

Apparently, Yuki has extremely pale skin, as there are numerous times in the original light novels where Kyon describes her face, neck, hands, or fingers (as she flips the pages of the book she is reading) as "white". Also, Kyon always comments on how Yuki has the uncanny ability to walk "soundlessly". Yuki is attractive enough to earn an "A-" grade from Taniguchi.

Background

Yuki Nagato is a quiet high school freshman that is the only member of the SOS Brigade that willingly joined Haruhi's SOS Brigade and was not "voluntarily arrested," or forced into joining, by Haruhi Suzumiya. She was a member of the Literary Club, whose other members were all seniors who graduated, leaving Yuki the sole member of the club. She lives alone in the same apartment complex as Ryōko Asakura, in room 708. She wears glasses and her school uniform at all times, permanently discarding the former only after Kyon told her that she was cuter without them, and first wearing a different outfit when the SOS Brigade went on vacation to a remote island.

Yuki is a "humanoid interface", or artificial human, created by the Integrated Data Entity for the purposes of interacting with and observing events on Earth. Specifically, she has been created to observe Haruhi, who can create huge quantities of data from nothing. Haruhi represents the potential for an evolution in autonomy; an ability that the Integrated Data Entity does not have.

As an artificial human, she has numerous paranormal abilities. She is capable of manipulating the properties of the environment and any materials within it at any scale to her desire, referred to as "bogus magic" by Kyon. For instance, she can modify a baseball bat to hit only home runs, nullify data links (removing other artificial interface connections from their bodies), plus she is able to make a cover up story (since Ryōko was gone, she made a cover up story that she moved to Canada), and reconstruct a classroom, down to the last detail, after everything in it was completely destroyed. As a result, she is capable of feats of superhuman strength, agility, and stamina. In one instance, she was unfazed while impaled by multiple metal spikes, and effortlessly reconstructed her body afterwards. Her state also affords her an extreme level of intelligence. She can comprehend the rules and concepts of a game instantaneously, as well as create flawless strategies based on her observations, and was able to learn how to play a guitar mere moments after receiving one. However, she has been seen to be fallible, such as when she reconstructed the devastated classroom but forgot to reconstruct her broken glasses. Yuki also has a lack of understanding towards social norms and earth technology, as demonstrated by her bluntly literal future predictions and her clumsy attempts at using a computer mouse. This is likely due to her self-imposed state of near-total isolation in order to interfere with as little of the environment around Haruhi as possible.

Personality

Yuki has a very stoic and introverted personality, preferring simple body language rather than speaking. When prompted to speak, she does so in a very concise manner, always speaking in a monotone and displaying a dispassionate expression. She thinks very rationally, and finds it difficult to communicate with normal humans due to her intelligence and lack of empathy. She enjoys reading, and is seen reading a book in the majority of her appearances, typically of the science fiction or mystery genres. As the series continues, she displays an enjoyment of computer games and develops a sense of humor, although her unchanging facial expressions make it near-impossible to discern whether she is joking or not. Despite her reserved manner, she is reliable and trustworthy, resulting in Kyon trusting her more than any other member of the SOS Brigade. Though seemingly cold and devoid of emotions at first glance, Yuki subtly shows a genuinely warm care and concern for her fellow SOS Brigade members, Kyon in particular. This is shown by her keeping Kyon warm with her cardigan as he fell asleep in the club room, and her taking care of Mikuru when she fainted from terror in the "Murder Island" incident. At the end of The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya, she also expresses gratitude towards Kyon's promise to protect her from being deleted with a simple "thank you" (even though up this point, expressing gratitude or emotion is supposedly uncharacteristic of her).