Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Hello everyone! My one first Anime review will be about the famous about this series: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TMoHS). INTRO (if not interested, skip to REVIEW) Seeing as how much the overall perception and critique of the show on MAL were positive, I did told myself one thing: “This is the next show I'll be watching”. I was hyped. Not only was I very curious about TMoHS, it would be a totally new genre to me. I'm always curious about the public opinion and I like, as everyone else, to see it myself and judge it. I consider in my review the whole series.It won't be big of a problem since the show don't drastically change between seasons. In my opinion, it's what any sequels should do.

I'll start by saying my overall impression of this show. To me, TMoHS was disappointing. Not a “That's not what I was expecting” kind of disappointment, but a “Damn, this show was almost there but missed something big” kind of disappointment. Now, you might think it's because I was too hyped. First, I'm not the kind of guy that only judges a book by its cover. A good impression is useless if the rest doesn't keep up. Second, I can clearly point out the sources of my disappointments and that's mostly what I will explain in this review.

EPISODE ORDER... WHAT???
If you didn't watch the show yet, you may have realized that the order of the episodes are messed up. I'm talking about the order of the show as presented on DVD (and TV?). They aren't in chronological order. Once you know that, you will ask yourself the question we all had: “Should I watch it in chronological order or not?”. To be honest, I have no idea why it was presented that way. However, if you rather have the climax to be at the end of the show (as if you won't), I'll advise you to watch it as presented, not in chronological order. You'll also have a better ending. Believe me, other than that, it has no real purpose whatsoever.

REVIEW

THE GOOD
TmoHS starts strongly. It piques your interest in the first episode. The art is beautiful, one of my favorites, and god knows I usually don't care about that aspect. Kyon meets Haruhi Suzumiya, a weird girl that makes up with nobody. She creates a school club with him, the “SOS Brigade”. Kyon isn't so thrilled about that, but ends up following her anyway throughout the series. Moreover, Suzumiya has a mysterious power that she doesn't know (that is the Fantasy part, between). The few other club members will end up being the rest of the “main” characters, which all have a connexion with Haruhi's mysterious power (yup, Fantasy part). The characters are all interesting, intriguing, and have their (one-sided) personality. Following Kyon being dragged into all kind of situations, with the other members of the SOS Brigade, and the mystery revolving around Haruhi will be the main entertainment of the show. TMoHS doesn't take itself seriously, but it's what makes its charm. It is fun, unpredictable, and always be motivated to watch more.

THE BAD
As I said earlier, TMoHS was disappointing. With all the job keeping your interest, it ends up not doing so much:

--> The mystery revolving around Haruhi is not the main focus of the show. Most episodes are about school life and have no real meaning to its development. Sometimes, it seems to be more of a pretext than anything else. For example, an episode where the group plays Baseball. They play because it will prevent Haruhi's power to be prompt. In the end nothing happens.

--> When there's no high level of action, I want at least character developments. The show barely gives sign of any development EVER, may it be throught actions or dialogue.

--> You might think The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya will be continuous at first, but you'll realize it's episodic. The main plot is concluded, but with the fact that there's barely no character evolution, and that most episode has barely no connexion with the mysery around Haruhi, you could link the beginning with the end, and skipping everything in between.

OVERALL
In the end, the show throw us a plot but doesn't exploit it. We catch a glimpse here and there thinking it might make some kind of progression, but in the end, nothing really happens. I could pretend the plot wasn't there and it wouldn't change much. If it's not the progression about the plot, it's about the characters. But, it's the same. No evolution in any characters. If you skip episodes, you will see every characters identical from before, they won't even mention any past events. Yes, there will be a climax. But, it will seem like thrown because of these facts. Even when the show sells Haruhi Suzumiya as a “weird & crazy” girl, I found her more adorable and entertaining, and it made me wonder why nobody wanted to be her friend in the first place. If you watch the show, you will understand better what I meant by “disappointment”. I wasn't asking much, I was asking for something that would link the episodes together while giving a purpose to the plot.

However, from an episodic perspective, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is fun. The characters will be the main source of enjoyment and I laughed from time to time. I'm sure you will get through pretty quickly, as it is addictive. Was it Great(9) or even a Masterpiece(10)? It could've been. It was just fun, nothing more. There is better Anime out there. That's why I give it a 7(Good) which is still positive in my book (of rating).