I've made an unprecendented step of rewatching a netflixed DVD yesterday, because I've completely turned around on Haruhi. I may expound on the reason later, but in one word: Kyon.

OK, one more sentence: the idea that he is the god is absolutely preposterous (not to mention, counter-textual in view of ep.6). The idea that The Fourth is Naruto had way more credibility and consistency than the concept of Kyon-god, before it was debunked explicitly by Kishimoto in Shippuunden, at least the way I see Haruhi. Oops, that's two sentences.

My initial antipathy originated in my dislike for assholes, such as Haruhi. God or not, it's not an excuse. If I don't like you, I don't want to watch an anime about you. It's not that I like Kyon either, but there's a certain personal connection now. After I gained this beachhead, I can watch for something else.

By the way, on the second pass I had subtitles off and it helped me to hear that one item on Kyon's list of troublemakers was "jishou... toki wo kakeru shoujo" (a self-styled time-traveller girl). The traditional translation for Tokikake is "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", which is literally correct, refers to the content, and sounds good in English. However, it may just be that "a time-jumper" is the stock phrase for a time-traveller. Did it occur to no-one?