Review of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

Haruhi anime fans must have had a real experience way back when. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't the biggest fan on the main series, especially the second season. It had huge emotional highs, but such boring slice of life episodes as well. The Endless Eight... yeah we don't talk about that. Having watched all the episodes from the main series and the movie today, over a span of two weeks, has been an experience for sure. Watching The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya when it's been over 10 years since its airing feels so interesting, as even in the swamp of anime that we're thrown nowadays,this movie holds itself extremely well to this day.

My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Comedic/Romance themes /20

STORY: 23/25

I'm not going to describe the plot at all, as all of you can find that out by yourselves. It is worthy of note that this used a much more somber and solemn tone to tell the story. Fans that were looking for a fun slice of life movie were likely a little put off, but seeing as the movie was 162 minutes long, I don't think I could have handled 162 straight minutes of the normal stuff Haruhi episodes bring.

The solemn tone, and the atmosphere provided some of the best writing throughout this series, with a plot that made a lot of sense. It's excellent that they expected you to be familiar about what happened in the main series, and I found myself backtracking to the events of "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" while watching the movie, which proves just how engaging the plot was.

I loved the mystery aspects of the original series, but this movie takes it to a whole new level. There was such unexpected twists in the story that while I had some speculations and guesses as to what those twists would be, the result was almost always above and beyond what I could have ever imagined. The way they threaded past events and created a very fluid plot-line was very commendable.

ART: 9.2/10

Another step up from the original series, and the animation is good even in today's standards.

MUSIC: 8.9/10

Excellent soundtrack here. Really engrossed me in its atmosphere.

CHARACTERS: 18.3/20

The biggest complaint I had about the main series was the lack of characterization of each individual character. Other than in a few episodes, the characters seemed largely static, with Kyon just there to be pushed around and for comedy, Asahina being there for fan service and moe, Koizumi not doing much of anything, Nagato being quiet and mysterious, and Haruhi was just... the eccentric Haruhi. In the movie, we see more of each character's personalities.

Kyon asks a lot of tough questions to himself, and to us, the viewer. It's a deep question, kind of, asking if he would prefer a peaceful world, or the supernatural world with Haruhi in it that he complained about so much. It's a question we should ask ourselves really, if we want peace, or excitement in our lives.

Nagato was another great character in this movie as we saw an alternate version of her as a normal girl. We find out that the emotionless robot we all knew and loved had maybe a little bit of emotion after all, and that truly is a bit touching.

Koizumi and Asahina also have their roles to play, but there wasn't much change here.

Haruhi didn't get much screen time, but I never expected there to be much Haruhi at all, so that was fine with me.

All in all, we saw a heck of a lot more character depth in the movie and that's a stark improvement to the main series.

ENJOYMENT: 14.9/15

What a wonderful movie, honestly. Was engaged for most if not all of the movie.

COMEDIC/ROMANCE THEMES: 18.5/20

This movie continues the excellent comedy style, but what I want to emphasize are the themes in the movies. The "romance" theme is not exactly romance per say, but I believe the relationship between Kyon, Haruhi, and the rest of the SOS Brigade to be very thought-provoking. Kyon complains a lot about the SOS Brigade and Haruhi especially, and we can relate that to that one annoying friend we might have in our own lives. Yes, we might "hate" them and not want to see them all the time, but when they are actually gone, you know you'll miss them. We don't truly appreciate the people around us when we see them every day, we underestimate how much the people we see every day mean to us. It's only when they're not here do we truly appreciate them.

OVERALL: 9.28/10

Watching this for the first time 11 years after its release is rather late, but still very worth it. The amazing plot twists, the lovable characters, and the whole atmosphere of this world of Haruhi Suzumiya was indeed incredible. It'll definitely be one of my favourite anime movies of all time.