Anime Review: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Title: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya / Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu / 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 Anime Genre: Comedy, School Life, Science Fiction Date of Airing: 2nd April 2006 Date Concluded: n/a Current Episode: 12 No. of Episodes Watched: 10 "Aliens, time travellers, and ESPers anyone?" Aah, Haruhi. That's all most anime watchers talk about recently. And in that light, I wouldn't be blogging about anime if I didn't say something about her, now would I? So, unless I'm proven desperately wrong, and this turns out to be a 100-episode Naruto-like series, I thought that 10 episodes in, I should be able to do an acceptable enough review. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is not your typical, run-of-the-mill anime. At least, that's what it's trying really hard to put forward. And it does so pretty well, for now. Kyon is your normal, uninterested schoolguy, who once upon a time dreamt of meeting aliens, time-travellers, and ESPers. Feeling that would never come true, he decides to enter high school and live a normal life. A boring one. That is, until he meets a girl in class that specifically only wants to meet aliens, time-travellers, and that's right, ESPers. Oh, boy. His interest piqued, Kyon finally approaches the beautiful, yet weird girl, and talks to her. Deciding to humour her, Kyon gets caught up in much, much more than he bargained for, starting with Haruhi's formation of the 'Save our world by Overloading it with fun Suzumiya Haruhi's Brigade' or the S.O.S. Brigade in short. Seriously, without reading anything much about it online, I first thought that this was another one of your school life satire and comedy series. Well, I was partly right. What I never expected were aliens, time-travellers, and ESPers (tired of that phrase yet?). Uh huh, this show is definitely more than meets the eye. Okay, a little rundown of the characters, as is the norm. The star is definitely Haruhi Suzumiya, the beautiful schoolgirl who has a very bossy attitude, and twisted mind, as one can definitely see in the way she orders Kyon around and 'uses' Asahina Mikuru for her own devices. ^^ Kyon is the disinterested schoolguy that Haruhi seems to demand having around. Asahina is the blur, moé-like (moé = naive or innocent character, often submissive, and lovable) upperclassman, who turns out to be a time-traveller sent to monitor Haruhi. Koizumi Itsuki is the ESPer who is another member of the S.O.S and is there, again, to monitor Haruhi. And yes, Nagato Yuki, an alien, is also sent to monitor Haruhi. Don't get the wrong idea, in most shows, they're nothing more than your everyday schoolkids with weird personalities, but they are what they are. It seems Haruhi is sort of 'special' in that what she does seems to influence time and space. For example, in episode 4, we hear Koizumi say that if Haruhi loses a baseball match and gets into a foul mood, the world will end. Okay, there's lots more 'closed-space', time-travel mumbo-jumbo in the series, but I'll leave that for you guys to figure out yourselves. No blatant flying saucers here, but definitely sci-fi oriented. Okay, I guess that explains the science-fiction genre then. What about humour, you say? Well, I find that while generally entertaining, most of the humour and satire present in the series comes from Kyon's actual narration of each episode and his inner thoughts during scenes. Sugita Tomokazu (Hideki of Chobits) voices Kyon, and does a really good job at making his thoughts and narration seem natural, no matter how irritated or sarcastic he is trying to be. Considering he is also Nova of Bleach, who says 2 words per episode, you'd think he'd strain his mouth talking so damn much here, lol. Oh, here's a particularly funny part. It's somewhere in episode 7, where Kyon sarcastically mimics Haruhi. I actually laughed out loud...getting strange looks from my family. ^^; Kyon is also viewed as the only 'normal' human in this loony group that is the S.O.S, but that can't be right, can it? After all, he IS interested in Haruhi and what she does, no matter how much he tries not to be. Haruhi herself is exuberant (most of the time) to the point of breaking. Her antics with Asahina, and herself included, often has me smiling at its sheer 'twistedness'. A character as vibrant and lively as her is not usually found as the lead of an anime. But, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is trying to be different, and Haruhi is definitely different. If you don't mind listening closely to Kyon's narration, then you'd definitely find things to laugh about. Oh, and Koizumi has some weird powers which apparently involve shouting out Full Metal Panic series names, bringing back some fond memories, like so: Another thing to mention is the nature of the series. Do not watch this expecting an episode-by-episode continuation. They decided to do a few arcs of the story together, and this can often get confusing at first. Also, it's best to have a couple of episodes ready to watch, unless you want to risk wondering where you've seen a particular scene before. Although unique, I could have done without this little addition. The story is screwy enough without cutting it up into pieces and randomly throwing episodes at us. For instance, episode 1 is actually somewhere in the middle of the series, while 2 and 3 are linked and 4 is another part altogether. Weird? You betcha. I have to say though, animation is definitely top-notch. Well, this is 2006, but it was a pleasant surprise to find a 'school themed' show having exceptional animation like this, IMHO. Fighting scenes (yes, fighting scenes) rival those of the recent Fate/ Stay Night, and while Haruhi seems to resemble a cat (?), everyone is drawn in a way giving that 'easy to the eye' feel. And this has got to be one of the best animes in terms of dance animations. I love the little Haruhi dance in the ending credits. Yes, I'm weird too. ^^ Music isn't the greatest, with not much during the show. And while catchy, both the opening and ending songs feel too much like generic soda pop for me to like them much. Oh well, that's not really important in the grand scale of things. Not everything is perfect in the world of Haruhi though. As funny as he is, Kyon's narration can get stale sometimes. The messed up episodes are another turn-off. The series, up to this point, is basically one crazy ride in PREVENTING Haruhi from getting melancholic, and while okay for now, may get tiresome soon. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya seems to be anything but that. An anime which you will either hate or like, depending on your tastes. But at least suffer through the first episode of 'Mikuru-Beam' and watch a few more before you make your decision. I'm not going crazy over it, but I find it's definitely one of the better animes from the spring line-up. *Out of 10* Animation (Quality of): 9 Story (Depth, twists, and extras): 8 Music (Songs, Suitability): 6 Characters (Dynamism, Background): 9 True to Genre?: 7 OVERALL RATING: 7.5/10 >>> Animania Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, Haruhi Suzumiya, Tenjou