Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Before I begin I'd like to clear up two things; 1.) This review will cover both s1 and s2, with little to no spoilers 2.) The website I watched the series on put all the episodes of s1 and s2 in chronological order, so I won't be able to speak to any confusion on that end, --- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was a series I picked up because I had seen amazing reviews for the movie, so naturally, I dad to watch the original series first. I hear that the first season was fairly popular during its initial release in 2006 but really wouldn't know since I was4 years old at that time.

As I said before I watched this entire series in chronological order, and I didn't realize I was watching in chronological order until I matched up the episode names on the website I was watching on with the episodes on the original airing list. I bring this up because the plot was fairly easy to follow along to and enjoyable to watch because of it, but I'm probably missing out on something because I watched it that way.

The plot initially reminded me of Love Chunibyo & other delusions, but if they were actually being serious. However, I would say the story developed fairly quickly from the first couple of episodes. Now we never really get a full explanation as to why Haruhi has all the power that she does, but I guess the viewer is just supposed to roll with it.

The plot itself follows the other members of the SOS Brigade slaving away for Haruhi throughout their high school days. They shoot a movie for the culture festival, spend the summer together, and do casual highschool things as the show goes on.

We also get the Endless Eight, which is literally 8 episodes of the same actions over and over and over again. I sat through all 8 of them and honestly it was something else, I didn't love it but it was just funny to see how literally nothing changed between each episode except for the outfits and the script. The show is filled with these transition like scenes, which is 2-3 minutes of just ... nothing? We get scenes of Koizumi's watch ticking for over a minute as he explains something, or a 3-minute scene of Yuki silently reading with the voices of the drama club members down the hall. Think of Evangelion's elevator scene, but reimagined.

Because of this fairly simple plot-line, the characters are what makes the show really shine, since those everyday activities become not so every day when there's actual time travelers, espers, and aliens involved. Let's start with the characters.

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Starting with Kyon, our everyday highschool boy looking to stay out of the way and is the first recruited by Haruhi. Although he obviously doesn't want anything to do with Haruhi and her delusions, he gives in to her demands even if its a pain in the ass for him. Very submissive as a character but we do get to hear his inner thoughts throughout the show, which is always sarcastic and genuinely funny.

Yuki is the quiet girl, always reading and keeping to herself. She's very observant of everyone and acts in a disconnected / aloof manner. She's simply there just to watch, and she won't act for herself unless she feels the absolute need to. Although her character is very easy to overlook, she's one of my favorites out of all of them because they're obviously is something there under the surface, we just don't see much of it in s1 or s2.

Koizumi is submissive like Yuki, but in a more positive way. He's always smiling and a lot of the explanation we get is from him, yet we are made aware that his side of the story may not be a complete truth. I do like his personality, but not as much as I would like, probably because of the lack of character development on that side.

Mikuru is the bunny girl, the maid, the nurse, the waitress of your dreams. Although a big part of her character IS fanservice, I do think that she plays a vital role in Kyon's development. It's evident that all the guy's simp for her, but its also obvious to the girls. The "girls" I'm talking about is Haruhi, and she often makes Mikuru wait at her beck and call in order to be dominant over her and also keep her out of Kyon's attention.

And lastly, we have Haruhi. Listen, she does have some really good moments, like when she plays in the band or walks home with Kyon in the rain, but there's no getting around her true personality. What is that you may ask? She's a brat. A literal brat. Used to getting what she wants when she wants it and will not take the feelings or wants of others into consideration.

Because she sees herself as this supreme being over the rest of the Brigade, she is often bossing people around against their will. I disliked her early into the series, but when she literally DRUGGED Mikuru was where I drew the line. No one really stands up to her except Kyon once or twice, and when he does she throws a complete hissy-fit at the expense of everyone else. I know the situation heir in and I know why they kind of have to put up with her, but I absolutely hate her personality with a passion.

Moving onto the animation, its pretty basic, but it's simple and clean. The OP and ED of the first season are amazing, and the second season's OP and ED were good too ( but i prefer s1 ).

Overall this series was honestly enjoyable and interesting to watch, except for the parts when Haruhi is being a complete bitch, I would definitely recommend and I'm glad I sat down to watch it