Kyon's most obvious characteristic is his snarky and cynical manner, which he often uses to hide his true emotions. This results in contradictions between his stated desires and his actions, which he usually rationalizes by claiming that he was coerced into his own actions.

For example, he outwardly presents himself as a skeptic, always arguing in favor of the most mundane possibility in any situation, and claiming that Haruhi Suzumiya forced him to join the SOS Brigade, but confesses that he wishes extraordinary things existed. As he stated in The Day of Sagittarius, he seems to naturally stay in the absurd environment of the SOS Brigade. At the time he claimed this proves his adaptability, but in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya he realized that he enjoys being in a group where strange things happen.

Likewise, he rarely admits to fondness for any person, even mentally referring to his friends Kunikida and Taniguchi as idiots. In at least some cases his snarky commentary on the people who are closest to him seems to stem from either force of habit or momentary frustration rather than an attempt to hide his feelings; his narrative continues to include remarks professing a complete disregard for Haruhi even alongside the occasional admission of his fondness for her.

Kyon is intelligent and perceptive enough to solve the mystery in Lone Island Syndrome. However, he does poorly in school, at least in part due to a lack of willingness to study.

You told him if he had fun being around the Brigade, and he blurted out angrliy:

"Of course it was fun! And I loved every minute of it! Don't go asking me stupid questions...that are so...OBVIOUS!!!!!! You'd have to be crazy to think it wasn't fun! Only the biggest idiot in the world would say it wasn't fun if they were asked! They'd be thirty times more dense than Haruhi! Aliens, time travelers, and ESPers man? One's enough, but no, I got to hang out with all three! And then there's Haruhi, who's got the craziest power of them all!"