Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

This covers the two series, and I suppose the franchise in general (I just watched the two series) The title of this review should be: THIS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. The anime. This is a really weird anime, but the weirdest thing about it isn't what happens in the plot itself (which don't get me wrong, it is weird), but the relationship with it's audience. Why? Because it's only enjoyable if, and only if, you're the target audience. What is the target audience? Teenagers that are weirdos/who doesn't fit really well in... well, school. Let me elaborate on this. This anime is somewhat reassuring for peoplelike this (people like me years ago!). Is that kind of story you need to watch when you have few friends, and you feel that the world doesn't understand you and yada yada yada. And the series not only focuses a lot on this kind of audience, but gives us a really nice product! The story itself is well constructed and well paced. The characters are compelling. interesting and even memorable. Specially Haruhi.
Oh and the protagonist is a self insert quasi-blank slate at the point of not having his real name reveled, and this is, incredibly, a good thing. It's the only anime I ever watched in my entire life that made a self-insert character work. Again, this is made completely on purpose, to cater to it's target audience. It's like saying "Look! This guy is like you!".

There is a problem on all of this. If you aren't the target audience and you try to watch it, you probably will end up pulling your hairs out of your head and not enjoying it at all. The main feature is it's main bane. It's extremely centered on appealing it's target audience, so if you didn't watch it when you were part of it, you aren't going to enjoy it now. Maybe you are going to like it if you are making a rewatch, but it won't be the same.

I didn't talk about the plot because I don't think, in this anime in particular, is really important when explaining why it isn't for everyone. The plot is good, but it won't matter if you aren't the target audience. That's why it isn't for everyone.

So TL;DR, if you are a teenager and a weirdo, watch it. If you are not, just don't.