Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

I had heard a lot about this anime and finally figured that I would see what all the fuss was about. Impression the first two episodes seemed boring until at the end of ep. 2 you really get the impression that something is really up and as the story goes on it gets more and more interesting until the climax of the first major story arc in the first six episodes. I have to say I was completely blown away by how imaginative this anime was where at the will of one girl (who's kinda bipolar), time travelers, aliens, and espers (people with psychic powers) can exist, whichis what our lead female protagonist "Haruhi Suzumiya" claims that she wants to meet to her entire class. Kyon who is our lead male protagonist is the point of view at which the story is told.
To basically sum it all up Haruhi is god, I know that might seem like a spoiler but calling her god is really a vague statement because I already knew this before watching and pretty much anyone that has already seen this show will tell you that but it really doesn't spoil much as with concept, anything can happen.
another good thing about this show is the sheer attention to detail, what I mean is that every thing that happens in this show, holds relevance later on so it makes every episode important, so from writer's perspective the story is pretty well thought out.

Problems
the only problem I really spotted was something called the endless eight which is an 8 episode long story arc of the same thing happening over and over again as the characters are stuck in a time loop, and it gets pretty boring until they finally figure out how to get out of it.
NOTE: this story arc does hold major importance in the movie but I would suggest skipping through it and only watch a few episodes.

Characters
the characters in haruhi kinda consisted of your typical anime cast but their unusual backgrounds make them interesting and compared to other anime characters that can be compared to them, these guy's are at least able to be unique with their own personalities.
first there is Kyon, Kyon is actually a nick name and it is never revealed what his actual name is.
most of the anime is filled with Kyon's inner monologue and thoughts about what is going on around him. I found him to be somewhat relatable because he basically says everything that the audience would likely be thinking though he is a little over sarcastic at times, and he tends to get a little annoyed with some of the crazy things Haruhi does and is kinda like her polar opposite.
Then there is Haruhi Suzumiya who is an extremely eccentric girl who is also god and has the entire plot around her little finger (subconsciously). Haruhi can seem like kind of a bitch some times but does have a soft side which is shown early enough that I don't hate her, she isn't a really complicated character as for many of the other characters in this series.
Then there is Yuki Nagato who is your typical Rei Ayanami clone, but unlike Rei she is more like a robot and shows absolutely no emotion, she is basically the one that first explains what is actually going but uses a lot of technical terms which can be confusing but still remains a fan favorite.
Mikuru Asahina is your typical moe character that is usually forced to do things by haruhi, Kyon tends to hit on her a bit. She has her own take the situation but is a little confusing, but she does prove to be a useful character.
Itsuki Koizumi is one of those characters that always has his eyes closed and is kind of a smart ass but gives the best explanation to what is going on.
I had some favorite ones that didn't get a lot of screen time, like Tsuruya who was kinda hyper and a little annoying but I liked her energy and she came up with "Nyoro" (which is basically YOLO)
and above all my favorite character of this show and my top favorite villain of anything there is Ryoko Asakura...
now she doesn't get a lot of time to be the villain but is the only major antagonist in this show and when she is the bad guy, she completely steels the show and to me was a very unique character in this show. A lot of the time she is really just a nice girl until you see that she is a little crazy but not as the craziest yandere in anime but is powerful enough that it really doesn't matter. This girl just pulls off being a villain perfectly with almost every word and every action and is kind cute too.
the characters don't really get much development in this show as most of it is kinda episodic but no one is really complaining about that.

sub vs. dub
this is considered one of the greatest dubs of all time and I agree with that statement, but there is a sub too, and on further inspection the sub isn't that bad.
to be honest both are actually very good in there own respects but have more impact if you watch it in your native tongue, however I did find some interesting differences Koisumi has a really deep voice which makes some of what he says seem important in japanese while in english he is voiced by Johnny young Bosch who has a lighter voice but is a pretty good speaker.
that was really the only difference I found interesting the rest is pretty much 50/50 and I'm only considering that a japanese audience is watching this too but personally I liked the english better because of Asakura, as everything she says and how she says it is pure gold as I was laughing at how purely awesome she is.

Final verdict
I'm gonna have to give this a 9.
The series ends abruptly though according to the light novels the story continues on but endless eight kind killed this anime but I would like to see it continue and perhaps even end.
other than that there are a ton of cool episodes that reach out to a wide audience,
Stuff like mystery, sci-fi, they even have a space battle episode that reminds me of legend of the galactic heroes but that's another anime for another time.