Canon info!
Okay. This post will contain lot of spoilers. For those of you who haven't yet seen The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi... why? Go to Haruhi's post and get it on direct download. XD
But watch it in the mixed up order! Watching it in "chronological" order... kinda ruins the plot. :O
So.
Q. What the heck is Yuki?
A. Yuki is an artificial human created by the Data Integrated Thought Entity which supervises the galaxy. Three years back from the present setting of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, there was a sudden burst of data from the small planet Earth. Specifically, from the small island nation of Japan. Suzumiya Haruhi. Before this occurred, the Data Integrated Thought Entity had no real interest in Earth. There are many living species throughout the galaxy, and the humans did not really distinct themselves... UNTIL they invented computers. That humans developed the ability to acquire and transmit data surprised the Data Integrated Thought Entity, but until Suzumiya Haruhi's incident, they still had no real reason to begin direct contact. After that incident, they had reason. And thus, Yuki was created.
She'd been living quietly as a girl in the same age and grade as Haruhi (but possibly not from the same schools), observing Suzumiya Haruhi when she could, an altogether stable situation. But, when Suzumiya Haruhi decided to create her own school club, Yuki positioned herself to be taken in as a member (or just happened to be recruited by Haruhi, whichever theory you subscribe to) and became the S.O.S. Brigades "necessary silent nontalkative character."
Q. So, it's a prerequisite that aliens don't talk that much?
A. Not at all. It's just Yuki's personality, or maybe even the personality she was created with.
One thing the three organic interfaces created by the Data Integrated Thought Entity have in common is that they're all more or less soft-spoken young girls. Asakura Ryoko for example maintains a sort of "good girl" nature/tone in everything she says, even when she decides she needs to kill Kyon with a big survival knife. Because of this, and also because of Yuki's tendency to say she's feeling emotion even when her expression and tone of voice goes without changing, ever, my matter-of-course theory is this:
The organic interfaces for the Data Integrated Thought Entity are 'created'/'programmed'/whatever with one expressed personality, though other feelings/interests can naturally develop. But though they do have the capacity to feel human emotions, they lack the ability to express it in any way other than how their original 'programming' dictates they act. Even when Haruhi directly tells Yuki: "Say 'I love you' with more feeling!" Yuki can only say it in a complete monotone. "I love you." View also when Yuki is hugging Itsuki in the first Magical Girl Asahina movie: it's a hug with no emotion, no feeling, she's obviously just doing it because "Yuki hugs Itsuki" was in the script.
Q. I've seen the anime (as I should), and weren't there only two organic interfaces?
A. I don't know exactly where it's confirmed... but Kimidori Emiri who appeared in episode 7 is also an organic interface, continuing the "soft-spoken high school girl" trend. The main give away? She has an actual name. People who have names in The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi are special. Haruhi herself, Itsuki, Yuki, Mikuru, Itsuki's friends in the island episode, Asakura Ryoko, and Kimidori Emiri are the only people with complete names. Everyone else only has their last name, with the exception of Kyon and Kyon's sister who go by nicknames (and the Computer Society President, who only gets the first syllable of his name revealed: 'Ya').
Q. So, that aside, what's Yuki's purpose?
A. To observe Suzumiya Haruhi and report all data to the Data Integrated Thought Entity, specifically looking for signs for auto-evolution. "Suzumiya Haruhi has the ability to create data from nothing, an ability the Data Integrated Thought Entity does not have." After Haruhi creates the S.O.S. Brigade and almost destroys the world, this task widens to include amusing Suzumiya Haruhi in her own indirect way.
To help obtain data, Yuki has the assistence of other organic interfaces (though Asakura Ryoko rebelled against her and had to be destroyed), and the ability to "synchronize." This doesn't come up in the anime, but it's the ability for Yuki to gain information from a future version of herself.
Q. What other abilities does Yuki have?
A. ...a lot.
Okay, the most obvious, flashy ones, is her ability to modify data. In episode 4, she uses it to make a bat hit a homerun every time, no matter who was holding it. In episode 10, she uses it to fight another organic interface and 'manipulate' a desert back to its original form as a classroom. She 'learns' how to play a guitar by picking it up and examining the sheet music... etc. etc.
Like any good godmoder character, she only really uses these 'powers' when other people ask her to do so. One of the few exceptions being her manipulation of the computer game in episode 11.
Edit: One other power Yuki has is the ability to alter her physical body at will. Presumably, she could age or de-age herself at any time, change the physical properties of her own body, etc... I'm not quite sure if Yuki could completely alter her features to look like someone else, though.
Q. So, Yuki definitely isn't human?
A. That's something I've heard second-hand that gets dealt with in the novels.
*SPOILERS FOR THE NOVELS FOLLOWS!
Kyon somehow visits an alternate universe where Suzumiya Haruhi didn't exist. In this universe, Itsuki doesn't transfer to his school, and Asakura Ryoko and Nagato Yuki are both normal girls. Yuki DOES express emotions, and is simply... a very lonely girl, who tries to find solace in books.
(This would seem to confirm Itsuki's theory that the aliens, time travelers, and psychics are only there because Haruhi wished them there. SEEM to. XD)
At any rate, in the "normal" Haruhi universe, yes. Yuki is definitely an alien, having fully proved herself by episode 4. (Or episode 1, if you know what you're looking for.)
Q. What's with the books Yuki's always reading?
A. That... deserves its own post! I'll write it up soon. |D
But watch it in the mixed up order! Watching it in "chronological" order... kinda ruins the plot. :O
So.
Q. What the heck is Yuki?
A. Yuki is an artificial human created by the Data Integrated Thought Entity which supervises the galaxy. Three years back from the present setting of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, there was a sudden burst of data from the small planet Earth. Specifically, from the small island nation of Japan. Suzumiya Haruhi. Before this occurred, the Data Integrated Thought Entity had no real interest in Earth. There are many living species throughout the galaxy, and the humans did not really distinct themselves... UNTIL they invented computers. That humans developed the ability to acquire and transmit data surprised the Data Integrated Thought Entity, but until Suzumiya Haruhi's incident, they still had no real reason to begin direct contact. After that incident, they had reason. And thus, Yuki was created.
She'd been living quietly as a girl in the same age and grade as Haruhi (but possibly not from the same schools), observing Suzumiya Haruhi when she could, an altogether stable situation. But, when Suzumiya Haruhi decided to create her own school club, Yuki positioned herself to be taken in as a member (or just happened to be recruited by Haruhi, whichever theory you subscribe to) and became the S.O.S. Brigades "necessary silent nontalkative character."
Q. So, it's a prerequisite that aliens don't talk that much?
A. Not at all. It's just Yuki's personality, or maybe even the personality she was created with.
One thing the three organic interfaces created by the Data Integrated Thought Entity have in common is that they're all more or less soft-spoken young girls. Asakura Ryoko for example maintains a sort of "good girl" nature/tone in everything she says, even when she decides she needs to kill Kyon with a big survival knife. Because of this, and also because of Yuki's tendency to say she's feeling emotion even when her expression and tone of voice goes without changing, ever, my matter-of-course theory is this:
The organic interfaces for the Data Integrated Thought Entity are 'created'/'programmed'/whatever with one expressed personality, though other feelings/interests can naturally develop. But though they do have the capacity to feel human emotions, they lack the ability to express it in any way other than how their original 'programming' dictates they act. Even when Haruhi directly tells Yuki: "Say 'I love you' with more feeling!" Yuki can only say it in a complete monotone. "I love you." View also when Yuki is hugging Itsuki in the first Magical Girl Asahina movie: it's a hug with no emotion, no feeling, she's obviously just doing it because "Yuki hugs Itsuki" was in the script.
Q. I've seen the anime (as I should), and weren't there only two organic interfaces?
A. I don't know exactly where it's confirmed... but Kimidori Emiri who appeared in episode 7 is also an organic interface, continuing the "soft-spoken high school girl" trend. The main give away? She has an actual name. People who have names in The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi are special. Haruhi herself, Itsuki, Yuki, Mikuru, Itsuki's friends in the island episode, Asakura Ryoko, and Kimidori Emiri are the only people with complete names. Everyone else only has their last name, with the exception of Kyon and Kyon's sister who go by nicknames (and the Computer Society President, who only gets the first syllable of his name revealed: 'Ya').
Q. So, that aside, what's Yuki's purpose?
A. To observe Suzumiya Haruhi and report all data to the Data Integrated Thought Entity, specifically looking for signs for auto-evolution. "Suzumiya Haruhi has the ability to create data from nothing, an ability the Data Integrated Thought Entity does not have." After Haruhi creates the S.O.S. Brigade and almost destroys the world, this task widens to include amusing Suzumiya Haruhi in her own indirect way.
To help obtain data, Yuki has the assistence of other organic interfaces (though Asakura Ryoko rebelled against her and had to be destroyed), and the ability to "synchronize." This doesn't come up in the anime, but it's the ability for Yuki to gain information from a future version of herself.
Q. What other abilities does Yuki have?
A. ...a lot.
Okay, the most obvious, flashy ones, is her ability to modify data. In episode 4, she uses it to make a bat hit a homerun every time, no matter who was holding it. In episode 10, she uses it to fight another organic interface and 'manipulate' a desert back to its original form as a classroom. She 'learns' how to play a guitar by picking it up and examining the sheet music... etc. etc.
Like any good godmoder character, she only really uses these 'powers' when other people ask her to do so. One of the few exceptions being her manipulation of the computer game in episode 11.
Edit: One other power Yuki has is the ability to alter her physical body at will. Presumably, she could age or de-age herself at any time, change the physical properties of her own body, etc... I'm not quite sure if Yuki could completely alter her features to look like someone else, though.
Q. So, Yuki definitely isn't human?
A. That's something I've heard second-hand that gets dealt with in the novels.
*SPOILERS FOR THE NOVELS FOLLOWS!
Kyon somehow visits an alternate universe where Suzumiya Haruhi didn't exist. In this universe, Itsuki doesn't transfer to his school, and Asakura Ryoko and Nagato Yuki are both normal girls. Yuki DOES express emotions, and is simply... a very lonely girl, who tries to find solace in books.
(This would seem to confirm Itsuki's theory that the aliens, time travelers, and psychics are only there because Haruhi wished them there. SEEM to. XD)
At any rate, in the "normal" Haruhi universe, yes. Yuki is definitely an alien, having fully proved herself by episode 4. (Or episode 1, if you know what you're looking for.)
Q. What's with the books Yuki's always reading?
A. That... deserves its own post! I'll write it up soon. |D