Review of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
The disapearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is the movie that continues on the story from the anime, based on the novel of the same name. It tells the story of how Haruhi plans to have a christmas party at school, so she orders Kyon to buy some decorations for said party, Kyon then wakes up the next day and everything is changed. Asahina does not know her, Asakura is back in class, Haruhi and Koizumi are both missing, plus Nagato is a normal high school girl, this confuses and terrifies Kyon, and he sets out to look for clues and correct the timeline. This movie elevateson what was missing from the anime, a actual coherent and well executed story, great facing, plot actually being explained for once, and some well needed character development for Nagato Yuki. This movie also has that factor that makes the viewers emotionally invested in what is happening to Kyon, and how it takes a toll for him to get put in scenarios like this one, the scenes, voice acting and the plot are also well executed, like for example you can see that Kyon is genuinely terrified when he finds out that people don't know Haruhi Suzumiya, and when Mikuru doesn't know him. I also liked how the normal universe versions of the SOS brigade are a bit different from themselves, like how the Haruhi in the dissapearance timeline just straight up believes Kyon, while the one in the normal timeline does not , those are some pretty good quality of life changes. I can see now how this movie was very influential and one of the best anime movies back in its time. I'll say this movie is pretty good, mainly because of how it had the elements that the anime needed but sadly didn't have, which is a shame since I didn't enjoy it that much. I would recommend this movie to Haruhi fans out there.
Pros:
-Has great pacing
-Has a actual coherent plot
-Drops the romance tag since there is no romance at all
-Great execution
-A pretty good ending
-Capitalizes on how a light novel should be adapted
- One of the most influential anime movies to date
- Puts on some necessary character development for some characters
Cons:
-Not enjoyable enough for me
-Kinda predictable that Nagato was the one behind the altered world
-Plot convenience where Kyon meets Haruhi and Koizumi immediately after setting out to find them in their new school
-Animation is dated
Overall The Dissapearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is definitely better than the anime, it takes all the elements that are missing and well needed for the anime and executes on them really well, schools it on how to adapt the novel series into the big screen, while creating a wild heartbreaking mystery Sci-fi rollercoaster of a movie. I give the disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya a 8/10 for my personal anime rating.