The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiyaisa slice of life classicthat has helped carve out a niche within anime for a very popular media trope – the manic pixie dream girl (MPDG). The series' titular character is an exemplary case of manic pixie dream girls in anime, and is one of the archetype’s definitive characters within anime and manga.
The term “manic pixie dream girl” was coined by film critic Nathan Rabin after watching Kirsten Dunst’s role in the 2005 movieElizabethtown, and it was used to describe one-dimensional female characters whose role in a story is to spice up the life of a brooding male protagonist. They often have eccentric personalities, express traditionally feminine traits and are usually the romantic interest of the protagonist.
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A Criticism of One-Dimensionality
The MPDG as a concept was coined in response to clichéd female characters whose only purpose in a narrative is to teach the protagonist certain lessons or provide them with some kind of profound assistance in some area of their lives. Through coming to know the MPDG, the protagonist is able to self-actualize. This becomes the MPDG character’s most important contribution, and it is quite often a conscious mission of the character to breathe new life into the cynical main character. While the trope is pervasive, the use of the term “manic pixie dream girl” has deviated from its original context as a result of its amorphousness, and come to be used in the description of quirky characters with complex personalities and roles within their respective narrative.
What remains is a term denounced by the person who coined it, one often used incorrectly in misogynistic “critiques” of not only a character, but of real-life women as well. This problematic application of something intended to be a critical tool is important to note, as Rabin himself wishes that he had never come up with it in the first place because of how widely and massively misinterpreted the term came to be.
Basic Attributes
The main characteristics of characters who are quoted to be MPDGs are often eccentricity, girlishness and a tendency to remain static throughout the course of a story. Eccentricity is perhaps the most crucial aspect of their personalities, as it is often the vehicle for the kind of hijinks and adventures that leave the male protagonist with a more hopeful, upbeat or positive outlook. That being said; however, the MPDG is also by definition someone considered to be very attractive, which is presumably a symptom of the trope’s consistent inclusion in male-dominated narratives and in some cases, proves to be a relevant and defining attribute of the MPDG in question throughout the narrative.
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There is also the element of hyper-fixation on the part of the MPDG, as they often tend to focus thebrunt of their attention on the male protagonist(for whatever reason) and have no internal workings, desires, or any complex motivations of their own. Lately, anime has attempted to subvert certain aspects of the trope, like the MPDG’s eccentricity being based on a more sedated or introverted kind of character compared to the most basic depictions of the trope.
The Influence of Haruhi Suzumiya
The character Haruhi Suzumiya fits the basic description of an MPDG at first glance, but part of what made The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya such an influential title in the world of light novels and anime was none other than Haruhi herself. While narrator/protagonist Kyon’s life is changed forever after their initial meeting, and her eccentricity spawns all kinds of wacky adventures from that moment onwards, the series is actually about Haruhi’s boredom with life. Her “melancholy” is the seemingly boring, mundane and unexciting reality of which she is a part, one she wishes could be punctuated with destined encounters with fantastical elements like espers, time-travellers and aliens.
Having tried all the clubs at school and found none to be exciting enough for her, Haruhi gets the idea from Kyon to start one of her own, setting into motion the events of the series. Kyon is continuously roped into Haruhi’s shenanigans, first looking for other members to fill out the newly created SOS Brigade, a club that seeks to “spread excitement all over the world” (with Haruhi). The members who eventually join the unofficial school club include some of Haruhi’s favoured kinds of people – an esper, a time-traveller and an alien, because Haruhi Suzumiya is unaware that she has reality-altering powers, effectively making her the unknowing god of their universe.
Haruhi therefore exists in a strange limbo where she is both the MPDG and the brooding protagonist whose life is livened up by the former. This careful straddling of positions is interesting on various levels because her abilities make her the narrative’s true agent, centre her desires and ambitions in the narrative while also making her the unchanging source of the narrator/protagonist’s newfound interest in living life. After being given the idea by Kyon, Haruhi addresses her own boredom by creating the SOS Brigade and drags him along in true MPDG fashion, but her actions are all motivated by her desire to do something for herself. This kind of MPDG has been attempted in anime countless times, with recent additions includingMy Dress Up Darling’sMarin Kitagawa. While the term MPDG was initially a critique of poorly written female characters who have the various attributes described here, Haruhi Suzumiya is one that perhaps changed the trajectory of the contested archetype at least in anime and manga, where the cliché remains a big part of slice of life and romance culture to this day.
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