Review of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

*Spoilers for Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu* Imagine you hang out with this certain group every day. Each member has their own eccentricities, but there’s that one in particular that manages to really grind your gears at times. She harasses everyone in one way or another, she’s loud-mouthed, she’s obnoxious, and sometimes you really wanna showcase true gender equality by giving the same slap she might sometimes give you. However, what do you do when she’s gone; how would you feel? Given the title of this movie, that seems like the appropriate question to ask, but, in reality, it isn't. What you should be asking is: “What wouldhappen if you were the one who suddenly disappeared?” “How would you feel?” “How would the other group members feel?” Two of these questions happen to be the ones that main character Kyon is forced to answer. That begs the questions: “Does the movie hold up in comparison to the praise people give it?” and “Is it better than the first season of Haruhi, or at least the second?” There have been a lot of questions here, and I can only really answer the last two right now with the rest of this review. If you wanna answer the rest (or all of them), then go ahead: tell me after reading this review. So, in regards to those final two questions, let’s find out, shall we?

It's almost Winter Break for the SOS brigade and it's your typical day with them, as typical as it going to get for Haruhi standards anyway. However, as Kyon wakes up, not only does the day repeat, and not only is Haruhi not in this school, but no one recognizes him, except for a much more expressive and timid Yuki Nagato. Kyon is now in an alternate reality, and the bulk of this movie is him developing a stronger connection with Yuki Nagato while also trying to find a way back to his reality, and there are lots of incredibly handled moments here, like when Kyon tries to walk out but Yuki Nagano silently and nervously grabs his sleeve without anyone saying a word, which ends up convincing him to stay with her longer. For most part, the plot is really well handled and interesting, of unsettlingly alienating at the 10-20 minute mark (intentionally).

The problem lies with the final act, more specifically the resolution. Ryouko Asakura, who is alive here, is once again, a crazed lunatic who stabs Kyon, and all of this is after some time travel that ends up connecting to the events of second season’s first episode. He then chooses between the new reality with the more tolerable Haruhi that he doesn't really know yet is a better person altogether, and the one of both that he is familiar with. He ultimately chooses the latter, and then the former gets erased, which, should basically erase 95% of this movie’s events, and ultimately, this raises paradox after paradox but for the sake of plot, it's how the conflict of the film is resolved. There are probably more logical ways to arrive at the same conclusion than “and then that reality got erased”, like, for instance, “both have their proper Kyon back after they ended up getting swapped by that thing Yuki Nagato did”. Needless to say, this was an instant breaker of my suspension of disbelief. Whatever, the gang is all happy and relieved to see him since he manages to recover from that nasty knife wound; the end.

I must stress that for the most part, the film executes its premise rather well, and up until the falling actions, there really isn't anything wrong with the plot, but that one moment basically wrecked the plot of the movie since it in all logic should basically erase all of the events of most of the movie from ever happening yet Kyon still remembers them. Nonetheless, I do still appreciate what the film does up until that point since it manages to really flesh out its characters and make them even better than they were before.

Let's discuss them while the segue is still natural. Kyon is as we love him, a snarky and tired man lost. However, not only is he every lost and confused at this scenario, but he almost becomes timid. It's nice to see him in a more isolated situation without having to put up with Haruhi all the time, that way we actively see him in more typical scenarios. However, the real star is Yuki Nagato, or rather her new self in this alternate reality. We get to see just how timid and lonely she really is under that stoic and badass exterior, and it's genuinely charming to see that, partly due to the film’s impressive directing. Haruhi’s presence is as unwelcome as ever, but the alternate Haruhi is infinitely superior. Not only does she have a better hairstyle and clothes, but her attitude is much better and calmer. I found it especially funny when she effectively called our Haruhi an idiot. Alternate Itsuki and Ryouko are the same as ever, and it's still cool to see them here.

Mikuru is somehow the same in both realities, and as beautiful and adorkable (look it up) as ever. As for Tsuruya, we don't see her usual self this time. Instead, we see the alternate reality version, who is rather protective of Mikuru to the point of hurting anyone who scares her, which Kyon learned the hard way. Well, with that, we covered all of the characters important to this movie whatsoever aside from Kyon’s sister (who we still don't know the name of), and they're mostly good. Again, the real stars of the film are Kyon and Yuki Nagato, and again, it's touching to see their chemistry blossom in the way that it did.

Given that this film was animated by Kyoto Animation, it's no surprise that this film looks as impressive as it does, even by KyoAni standards. The movements feel even more natural and methodical than before, as it really helps the more grounded, emotional, and quiet tone of this film. I also like how the film’s color palette is much whiter and more washed out than with the rest of the series, to really sell the aforementioned tones as well. It's hard to really do this film’s impressive direction and animation justice, really. Even pointing out scenes like the aforementioned scene of Yuki Nagato getting Kyon to stay, or even the iconic moment of Kyon making the decision to go back to his reality while glass snowflakes fall, can't do it enough justice, as those scenes deserve to be talked about in greater lengths than what I can provide.

Unfortunately, there really isn't much that I can remotely remember from the OST. While it has been over a year since I've seen it, that's no excuse given that I can vividly remember and celebrate scores from anime that I hadn't seen in less than or over a year, such as the OST for Fate Zero and the songs from Macross Frontier. At the very least, it was really joyful to hear the first Haruhi OP return as the OP of this film, as it is a great song. The ED doesn't stack up, unfortunately. The dub is as good as ever, and some of the weaker voices don't have as much of a role here. It's still nice to hear Crispin Freeman as Kyon and Johnny Yong Bosch as Itsuki, and it's nice to hear Michelle Ruff give a heartfelt and fragile performance as Yuki Nagato. It's the best dub of the franchise, even though they all have the exact same actors each time, probably due to the more emotional material here, but hey, it's still great, and that's what matters.

This is certainly a well-written and impressively directed film and a great sendoff to the main series (since nothing got adapted past this until a few spin-offs). I'm sure that many of you enjoy this film more than I did, but ultimately, it's still an impressive film and a charming one at that. It's certainly a breath of fresh air after the abomination that was the second season, endless 8 included. Well, with all that said, I bid you adieu.