Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is one of those anime that you can't stop hearing about or seeing. Everywhere you turn, you see a Haruhi avatar, or stumble upon a raging KyoAni fanboy's blog post about how stupid Endless Eight is. And you're probably thinking, "What the hell is a Kyon-kun denwa?" Seitokai no Ichizon also made a parody reference to it. With all this publicity, you can't help but think, "I should really watch this anime, just to see what it's about. It's probably going to be awesome!", right? Well...it actually depends on your sense of humor, enjoyment, and...well everything really. About 60% ofanime watchers like/love it, 25% hate it and consider it overrated, and 15% don't actually like it, but give in to peer pressure and just say that it's great.
TL;DR? Short version: It might not be your cup of tea.
The story follows a boy named Kyon, who had long since given up on his dream of witnessing paranormal activity. That is, until he meets Haruhi Suzumiya, who forms a club to look for anything supernatural (that's right, Haruhi isn't the main character). The club itself is pretty ironic, since Haruhi is thought of to have powers equal to that of a god, and is made up of a time traveler, an alien, and an esper. The main formula for a generic Haruhi episode is:
1. The first half of an episode disguises itself as a routine slice of life anime
2. There is some talk about some alien/esper/time traveling stuff
3. Cool fantasy/supernatural things happen.
2. and 3. can be interchangeable or combined.
The art is very good, something you'd expect from Kyoto Animation. There are abstract camera angles aplenty, and the lighting is very vivid. The effects are also well done and succeed in giving it a supernatural feel at times. The animation is very much like KyoAni's other project, Clannad, except the lines in TMoHS are sharper and the characters are drawn differently, for a less shojo-ish style and more for a general style.
The characters...meh, what can I say. There is really little to no character development. Kyon is very laidback, witty, and satirical. Haruhi is very hyperactive. Mikuru is your typical moe type that gets raped in almost every episode (it's by Haruhi though, so it's funny), and Yuki is a Ayanami Rei copy - silent, unless she needs to talk.
LIke I said before, the enjoyment of the series depends on what your sense of humor is. The story is told from Kyon's point of view, so if you think that his wittiness and satirical humor is funny, then you'll enjoy this series. If you get annoyed by his "No I don't want to do anything Haruhi tells me to but I'll do it anyways but I'll whine and make witty comebacks to everything she says. And I'll always look pissed when I'm doing anything with Haruhi, which is all the time. But anything Mikuru does is so kawaii that I can't help but smile for 3 seconds before I go back to looking pissed." ...then don't bother with the series.