Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009)
This is my first time writing a review, so i apologize if there are any faults in my way of viewing this anime. Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a very good, well-paced slice of life anime with elements of science fiction and fantasy sprinkled on top. I definitely would recommend this anime to anyone searching for a slice-of-life science fiction/fantasy anime without an overly serious story or action sequences. But it’s not without its faults. I give this anime a 7/10 rating. I’ll try to make the review as spoiler free as possible, and I will include a warning if there’s a spoiler ahead. Compliments - Plot: -The anime is mainly slice-of-life, with elements of Sci-fi and Fantasy added to it. I enjoyed the story quite a bit.
-Characters: - The relatively small cast of characters were well established with defining character traits; I enjoyed how all the characters interacted with each other, for the most part at least. The playful and arrogant nature of Haruhi was enjoyable but it did get annoying at times. The only character who wasn’t developed very well was Koizumi, in my opinion; he didn’t have so much of screen time or significant plot relevance, relative to other characters.
-Animations: - Character designs and animations are pretty low quality from today’s standards indeed, but personally I enjoyed the animations since they were quite pleasant and the animations aren’t as bad as I thought they were going to be, after all, this is made by Kyoto Animations.
Criticisms
-You might be thinking, why I didn’t give this anime an 8 or 9 out of 10, or even a 10/10 even when I complimented pretty much the entire anime as a whole. Well, the reason for that is, for the most part, personal interest, so if this factors does not bother you, then definitely you should give this anime a try, you will surely enjoy it.
*MINOR SPOILERS ABOUT CHARACTERS AND PLOT POINT ARE AHEAD*
-I personally am a story writer as well, and I’m the kind of a person who looks for the logic and reasoning of everything. It’s just my personality. Fantasy animes and Supernatural animes lack logic for the most part, and sometimes, even under the rules of its fictional world.
What annoyed me the most about this anime is how Kyon reacted to Haruhi. He was clearly annoyed by Haruhi’s arrogant nature, but he sticks around her and the SOS Brigade. We aren’t given a clear reason to why he stayed in the club, until the movie at least. He has every opportunity and right to leave the club. I know that this will ruin the plot, since it revolves around Haruhi. But there are ways to deal with these kinds of situations.
Take Kazuma and the gang from KonoSuba. Aqua, Megumin and Darkness are clearly useless and an annoyance to Kazuma. I was annoyed with KonoSuba regarding the same reason, at the beginning. Why doesn’t Kazuma just leave Aqua. But soon, I started to enjoy how they reacted with each other a lot and wanted more moments where Aqua annoys Kazuma. The reason is, the way Kazuma reacts to them. He is clearly annoyed, so he acts that way, argue with them, scold them and sometimes even acts selfish towards them. Because of these facts, the annoying nature of Aqua balances out with Kazuma and makes it enjoyable.
But in Kyon’s case, he just puts up with everything Haruhi says, which annoyed me a lot. The only moment I felt satisfied about the way Kyon acted was around the episode 23 or 24, where he almost hits Haruhi because she uses Mikuru like a toy. This reaction was completely logical since Haruhi was clearly stepping over the line.
I don’t mind the way the guy reacts towards the girl/any other character, as long as they give a reason. Kyon acts kindly towards Mikuru-chan because he thinks she’s cute. The writer could have given a reason like that for the behaviour of Kyon.
Mikuru-chan’s “classified information” excuse is also another point. This is another excuse the writer uses to not explain the reasoning, but I don’t mind it. It is quite funny, and again, there is a reason. Even though it is pretty pathetic.
So yeah, this criticism is entirely personal taste, so if those factors doesn’t bother you, then definitely go check out Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
*SPOILERS FOR THE PLOT ARE AHEAD*
- The only other criticism I have about the anime are about the episodes of the time loop arc. The plot is good, I always enjoy time travel stories, and time loop stories even more. So at first, I was clearly interested, but after about 2 or 3 episodes, it became extremely repetitive. In most other animes, the time loop arc would end in about 4 or 5 episodes. And if it didn’t, then each, or most, time loops will have a significant impact on the story and the plot. But in this case, there wasn’t any, variants of the same loop occurred for a about 10 episodes, which became quite repetitive.
Those are the only criticisms I have about the series, and other than that I enjoyed the story and the anime, a lot, and would recommend it to anyone.