Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

This review is a review of the entirety of Haruhi Suzumiya's anime series (both season one and two), excluding the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, since that movie really doesn't fit the tone of the origional series. Mini-review of the movie: IT'S AMAZING. Now on with the actual review. PLOT: Going into this show, I expected something like Angel Beats; a high school romantic comedy type anime that features supernatural elements. In this sense, I wasn’t disappointed. I just thought that the supernatural elements would be more on the foreground instead of in the background. In which sense I was disappointed. The idea that an obnoxious high school girl isGod is genius. No other way to describe it. It opens so many routes and possibilities. And the anime tries to explore them, it really does, but I just feel like it could’ve done so much more if it hadn’t tried to stick to the high school comedy that it is.

Throughout the show, characters (mostly Koizumi) hint towards some war going on behind the scenes. People want Haruhi, they want to see what she can do, they want Kyon dead just to see what would happen, they want Haruhi dead because she is a threat, all sorts of things are hinted at, but never shown (well, except for one thing, but still very briefly). Which I think is the show’s biggest flaw. I wanted to see those elements explored, and I wanted to see how our heroes would react if Haruhi’s life was actually endangered.

Instead, what we got was a high school comedy in which Haruhi’s powers are mostly explored through various every day scenarios, that, while mostly entertaining, can be horribly bland and drawn out
(*cough*EndlessEight*cough*).

This may also be because I really don’t care about high school or slice of life, and fans of those things should have no complaints about the story whatsoever.

CHARACTERS:

The characters in this show all fit into nice little stereotypes/character tropes:

Haruhi Suzumiya: The bipolar ADHD girl that wants her childhood fantasies to be real. She is eccentric, does not abide by any moral code, and more stubborn than any character than I have ever seen. She is also God(-ish).

Koizumi Itsuki: The passive-aggressive esper that just loves to invade Kyon’s personal space and is basically the information-tap of the show. He also has a permanent smile on his face, which is so fake it almost hurts to look at. (I should probably also mention that I love this d*ck)

Mikuru Asahina: The cry-baby of a loli that is always the victim of Haruhi’s sexual promotion stunts. The fan-service girl of the show. Also, really, really annoying to watch. Lastly, she is a time-traveler.

Yuki Nagato: The token emotionless doll. She is a total badass when she comes into action and is an alien. Her powers are also very similar to Haruhi’s, being able to rewrite the data of this world, but the show never addresses this, so we're just supposed to ignore that.

Kyon: This is actually his nickname, since the show never bothered to give him a real one (odd choice). He is best described in one word: sarcastic.

Throughout the show, Kyon constantly gives long-suffering and sarcastic commentary on Haruhi’s actions, which I, in the beginning, had a hard time getting used to, but when I did, had me smiling. He makes this show. I know people say it’s Haruhi, but it really isn’t. Without Kyon there to give a well-needed different perspective, a lot of the jokes would fall flat. He is also very relatable and really just your average school boy, except that he is ‘The Chosen One’, in massive airquotes.

This means that Haruhi has taken a liking to him, and that he is essentially her punching bag that must be protected at all costs, as without him, there would be nobody to keep God on a leash. He is the only one without powers in the SOS Brigade and not really sticking to one character trait.

Now, for my actual opinion about the characters (even though the description wasn't that unbiased to begin with):

Let’s get this clear: I. Hate. Haruhi. Yes, I actually went there.

It’s not even her personality that makes her annoying, that’s something I actually find enjoyable. I love eccentric ADHD kids. I really do. It’s just the amount of bullsh*t she can get away with that makes me wanna punch her.

Because she is God, the majority of the SOS Brigade constantly tries to please her. Koizumi, Mikuru and Yuki all go along with whatever it is that she planned. Kyon tries to stop her, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. This is hilarious sometimes, but other times, I really don’t find the things that Haruhi does funny.

For example, play this scenario out in your head: You are the chief of the computer club. You have just bought a new, expensive computer with your club money. Then, suddenly, a girl bursts in, forcing a cute loli along with her, demanding your best computer. You say no, of course, since you need it. Then, she suddenly grabs your hand, puts it over the loli’s breast (while the loli is nearly crying, mind you), and snaps a picture before you can pull away. She declares that she has now evidence of you sexually harassing said loli, and proclaims that if your club tries to vow for you and say it was forced, she will tell the teachers that they were all planning to gang rape her. Then, she blackmails you into giving the computer, and takes off smiling.

Does that sound funny? It might seem funny on screen, but if this was a real life situation, this would be beyond fucked up. This is molestation and rape we are making jokes about. Molestation and rape. I do not find that funny.

And there are lots of scenes like that throughout the show, and it just annoys me. Not all necessarily revolving around molestation, but other things that just surpass my moral limits. The SOS Brigade goes along with it, and never even tries to stop her. Halfway through the show, I was just sitting there going: ‘Slap her. Please slap her.’ And when it finally seemed like Kyon would do that, he was stopped by Koizumi. Because God forbids that she is put in her place! (Pun so intended)

So, I dislike Haruhi. Immensely.

The other characters are underdeveloped. I just find Mikuru annoying because she is constantly crying (though there is this fantheory floating around that this is just a farce, because the elder!Mikuru does actually seem competent. I find this a very interesting idea and support it), Yuki never really gets a personality so I never care about her, and Koizumi is funny, but a real asshole. Kyon is the only one with a varied personality, and even he is never fully developed.

In short, I think the characters are the worst part of the show.

ENDLESS EIGHT:

Endless Eight is a story arc that takes up eight episodes that follow each other up (the way I watched this show at least, with both seasons interwoven).

This can technically be considered a spoiler, but really, everybody should know about this arc going in.

The arc takes place during the last two weeks of the summer vacation. Or rather, the over five thousand loops of the last two weeks of summer vacation. You see, Haruhi felt like she missed something during her summer vacation, and unconsciously set the weeks to a loop. The loops will keep going on until she gets what she wants.

The problem: the characters loose there memory after every loop, making them think this is the first time. So they can’t really make any progress in discovering what Haruhi wants, making this mission almost impossible. The only one who remembers every loop is Yuki, and she was told not to intervene. So how can our heroes solve this?

Why, by doing the exact same thing over and over again, of course!

Eight episodes long.

You see the problem?

The eight episodes this takes place in are almost identical. Sure, the animation and dialogue are a bit different, but this doesn’t make it any more entertaining to watch. It’s the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over until you ask yourself: ‘Why was I watching this again?’

Now, to be fair, it does serve a purpose. It provides major character development for Yuki, for one. It is not really noticeable, but when you see the Disappearance (yes, I know I was going to leave that movie out of this, but screw the rules), you can find it. Also, it gives a small look into her pain. We had to sit through this eight times. She had to sit through this for more than five thousand times. Five. Thousand.

But overall, it just doesn’t hold a candle to the annoyance that this story arc causes. The version of the show I watched had twenty-eight episodes: that means that this arc is almost one third of the anime. One third. It was not worth it.

Also, Yuki said that sometimes, things went differently. They got other part-time jobs, skipped some activities, etcetera. If they had shown us those times, this would’ve been a lot more enjoyable, because then there would be a difference.

They could also have stopped the runtime at four episodes. That way, we would’ve felt the pain, but not for as long enough for the novelty to wear of completely.

But all in all, considering the amount of character development it provides for Yuki, I say that you should at least watch its first two episodes and its last one. Maybe one in the middle as well. That way, you will get the story, but won’t be bored that badly

SOUND AND ANIMATION:

The animation is very good, at Kyoto Ani's normal standards. The art itself however is rather bland, though that could have been done on purpose. I do like the touch in the first episode where the colors are gray until Haruhi pops up. That was very clever.

In the sound department: I hate it. I normally dislike the soundtrack of high school centered shows, and this is no exception. It's just too cheerful for me. This is just a personal preference, however, as the sound does fit the show and other people should have no problem with it.

SUMMARY:

I did not enjoy this show as much as I hoped to. The story didn’t get enough depth, the characters aren’t developed, and I just found myself bored throughout the majority of the series.

HOWEVER.

I cannot stand here in good conscience and say that this anime is bad. Even at its weakest, I can see why people like it. It takes the common high school drama and gives it a very unique twist. The reason why I couldn’t get into it was more because of personal preferences than anything else.

The setting is genius. The idea that God might be a high school student is great and opens many possibilities. It’s just sad that they didn’t get explored as much as I think they could’ve been.

All in all, this is a decent anime. I would recommend it to everyone who likes high school comedies and/or romantic comedies (though the romance part is very downplayed, so if you don't like it, don't worry, you can just ignore it like I did), and doesn’t mind the supernatural. If you are only in it for the supernatural, however (like me), give it a pass. While some story arcs will be enjoyable, the majority is just boring, and the characters won’t keep you interested, either.