Review of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

The finale to the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise greatly surpassed my expectations for a number of reasons. The reasons go as follows: Pros: - Makes good use of the series prior a worthwhile experience (yes, even the Endless Eight arc). It heightens the tension and drama through its advantage of a better budget and character familiarity incredibly well. - While I might be alone in this, I loved the fact that they took more of a focus on Kyon and Nagato in this rather than Haruhi. Those two characters were the main reason I continued to watch the series, and I thought this movie dida great job of adding more character development even at its end.

- This movie gets surprisingly deep and psychological in some parts. Something I never expected from this series all throughout.

- Animation looks very fluid for an anime, and in many places very visually stunning.

- Music takes a more somber and subtle approach with the occasional cinematic flourish. This stark contrast from the series creates a great atmosphere for the film.

Cons:

- Way longer than it needed to be. It was engaging enough to fulfill the full potential of the run-time. But come on, this is about the length of half a typical anime season. They could have cut it down a bit.

Conclusion:

I greatly enjoyed the Haruhi Suzumiya series, but I think this takes the cake for the best portion of the whole series. If for this movie alone, watch the previous seasons. Without giving anything away, it ends on a note the left things open for continuation, but not in a cliffhanger sort of way. Sadly we never got more of this, and that's a shame. I do think, though, this ended the series on a satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend this after you've completed everything else up to this point.