Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

It's been a while since I've seen this series, so I believe this is the right time to write a review. A lot of people sit down and rave about this show after having just seen it, but if you give yourself some time, you can write with a clear head. On with the show. And please, people, let's try to be as unbiased as possible. Just because you thought this show may have been epic win, don't allow that thought to distract you from the facts. Let's read on shall we? Story: 7 The story is original, I'll give it that. It's a neat idea, but farfrom epic as some fans make it out to be. When it's not focusing on the main plot, this show is more or less like any other set in this time, place, and atmosphere. A typical high school slice of life, with a pinch of something new. However, it could be improved upon, and is not air-tight. It's good at best, but again, far from epic.

Art: 7

The art is well done. It's not the best I've ever seen, and it's not eye-catching to the degree that some other anime out there are, but it's obviously got a decent budget backing it, and the artists put good work into what they do. At some points there is the odd "short-cut" that can be caught, but not often, and this is typical of many other series, so it's nothing to really complain about. The show never did air in Hi-Vision, but I suppose I can't knock it for that because of when it aired. I'd say the art in this show is on par with most of the other well animated anime out there, and maybe goes a bit farther. But like a lot of things, it could have been better.

Sound: 8

The sound and music in this show was very good, I quite enjoyed it. I think just about anyone will find themselves tapping their toes to some of the tracks and humming along here and there, and it's pleasant to listen to when the background music gets going and not much is happening (when the characters are in-between action scenes or are lazing about like they sometimes are on occasion). Not epic, but very good and enjoyable.

Character: 6

This is where I have to give this show a bit of a shake. Although the character development was fair for a show of this length and an aim to be more original by sort of just throwing you in (which worked out in this case), I disliked Haruhi as a main character quite frankly. I know that a lot of fans out there will think "How could you? She is everything a main character should be!", but I'm afraid I have to disagree. In one word, she is annoying. In another, bitchy, and yet another, completely predictable. I'm sorry to say it fans, but I just don't like her one bit. I gave her a chance, I did all I could to find something I liked about her, but I just can't follow the flock on this one. Otherwise, the other characters are alright, and much more likable.

Enjoyment: 6

At times I enjoyed the show, and at times, I was falling asleep.. I was probably falling asleep more than anything else. I can't really say why, most of the time it was just.. Uninteresting? You get a rather long stretch of nothing much happening in this show (or just something you don't care about much), then you're hit with something spectacular and unexpected. Unfortunately, it just doesn't happen often enough, or you can see it coming all too soon. For the rare occasions where this show caught me off guard and made me go "wow", I kept its head above the water of a 5. But for the rest, a 6. Fair.

Overall: 6

The show is fair. It has it's faults, and really good things about it as well, but after watching it quite a while ago and writing this with a clear head, it wasn't anything special. It had some neat ideas which were incorporated quite well, but it just didn't have enough kick to it to keep it at the top of my list of shows I really, really enjoyed. It fell down in there with a lot of the rest of them: It was alright.