Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is an interesting hybrid of slice of life and supernatural/sci-fi, one that just falls short of making anything new or creative in either of these two genres. Although I sat through the entire show and did enjoy it, I have to say that at the end I was left with questions. I wanted more out of Haruhi. Needless to say, I was just a tad dissapointed at how the whole thing turned out. In my book, Haruhi isn't bad, but its not all that impressive either. Story: As stated, its a funny mix of supernatural and school life. It follows theadventures of 5 high school students as they do...stuff. Yeah that pretty much sums it up. On their trek to find aliens, time travelers, espers, and other supernatural beings they end up doing...stuff. This stuff includes, but is not limited to: Playing baseball, going on vacation to a deserted island, donning risque bunny costumes, combing the city for aliens, etc. etc. Occassionally we see the supernatural elements come in to play, such as when Itsuki reveals his esper powers, or when a closed space invades some poor saps room, but these elements are few and far. I feel like they could have done so much more in this area. I mean, you have an alien, a time traveler, an epser, and a pseudo god all in one school club. They could have done SO MUCH with this and made Haruhi so much more interesting. They could have expanded on the character's backstories to make them more interesting or have them show off their powers more. Hell, if they wanted to focus more on the "school life" of the series, couldn't we have at least gotten some character development? But alas, the story falls flat of being interesting in its supernatural or slice of life aspect. 6/10

Art and Sound: No complaints here. Each character is unique and attractive, the backgrounds are well done and colorful. The opening and ending theme are both catchy (Admit it, you tried the dance at least once when no one was looking). Insert songs are ok. 8/10

Character: Characters don't get much development in this series. For the most part they just stay the same. Which is a shame, because they all have some kind of interesting appeal, but that appeal won't hold up forever throughout the story. Yuki's enigmatic nature will eventually stop being cool, Mikuru's squeals and expressions are only cute for so long, and so on...I would have loved to see them grow a little. 6/10

Enjoyment: I did like this show despite its shortcomings. I really did. It made me laugh a few times and it kept me entertained for all 14 episodes. Since I own the DVDs I have rewatched the series many times whenever I'm in the mood for some mindless fun. But I can't help but feel that they could have expanded so much more on the story, atmosphere and characters in this show. The series just falls short in almost all aspects. 7/10