Review of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

You know, I had my fair share of problems with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, even though I think it's overall a solid anime. Too many experimental themes and plotlines, practically unnecessarily convoluted timeline/watch order, and I never really felt like it had that big WTF type of moment (except for the God Knows scene but that scene is kinda random honestly and isn't really relevant to the main story) that made it stand out. That is, until I watched The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. I'm not joking when I say it is worth to watch the entire 28 episodes of The Melancholy of HaruhiSuzumiya just for this movie.

This movie has one of the most well thought-out and intriguing plot, with some fantastic plot twists that really sucks you into the story that constantly keeps me on the edge of my seat. It manages to build upon everything that was established from the two seasons and utilize it to its maximum. The overall quality is just a complete step up from the already good Kyoto Animation quality, with fantastic art and music. I really enjoyed the pacing and I feel like it is a rare case where an light novel movie actually got its time to build up its story.

And of course we can't talk about Haruhi Suzumiya without talking about its fantastic cast of characters. What makes The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya particular interesting is that Haruhi herself isn't really present (cuz she's "dissapeared"), and this allows Kyon, which was already a fantastic character, even better. Kyon's monologues was always a huge part of why the original seasons of the TV series was so good in my opinion, and the movie was able to elevate that. Kyon's ultimate realization that he does enjoy the time he's spent with the SOS Brigade was such a satisfying conclusion to the movie as a whole. But the character that stood out the most was of course Nagato, and I liked how it was the SOS Brigade that slowly made her, a humanoid interface, slowly learn what it means to have "feelings" and slowly becoming "human", without making it feel like the cliche "kuudure slowly gains emotion" trope.

This is just one of the most satisfying conclusion to a series, and definitely solidfies The Dissapearance of Haruhi Suzumiya as one of the best anime movies of all time.