A Review on The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi Anime

So I’ve just been on a “The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi” marathon and i must say Season 2 is quite disappointing. It might be because i am not a teenager anymore or something but it quite definitely bored me. Don’t get me wrong, it was entertaining but still some parts were boring.

Image from amcorenterprises.com

The story is fantastic. Who would have thought a bossy freshman student/high school girl would have the power to attract/find supernatural beings or make extraordinary things become real? Such things would ordinarily be impossible but may not be far from truth.

This anime is refreshing for me, the story is kind of new, in a sense that it is a story told from a first person’s perspective. I haven’t seen much anime like that so far except for this one. This story deals with Haruhi, a headstrong and somewhat self-absorbed girl who could make things happen just by wanting things to happen or wishing such things existed (although common sense might dictate that such things cannot exist). Meanwhile Kyon-kun (her seatmate, classmate, clubmate,”slave”, “love” interest) is sooo talkative! But hey, aren’t we all as talkative as him in our minds? That’s another thing that’s refreshing, this is an anime based on a person’s perspective where you don’t feel like you’re just watching from the outside but are actually being involved by that person in the story.

Anyway let me break this down for you a bit.

Season 1 is fun to watch. We get to see what kind of person Haruhi is. She’s a bit eccentric, manipulative and gets easily bored. All throughout the series you’d think she’s a spoiled brat who always gets her way. Good thing Kyon is there or else I would have hated her!  Haha~ Anyway she forms a school group – SOS Club – and it totals to only five people but boy do they have fun. They’re having the time of their lives and experiencing everything they could while still in high school. (Makes me kinda envious. XD) If it weren’t for the supernatural occurences I’d think this was just an ordinary high school slice of life anime but of course it would be a different anime if that happened.

The first season also has some nice songs, especially the two that Haruhi sang. Who would have thought she could play a guitar and sing really well? It would appear she’s such a talented and imaginative girl as she can almost do anything based on what i’ve seen from each episode so far. It’s just that she’s also very self absorbed and unaware of how her actions affect other people.

Image from amcorenterprises.com

Season 2 then comes in and kinda spoils all the fun from season 1. I got disappointed with most of the story, especially the Endless Eight arc. But it does show you “behind the scenes footage” of how they shot the school festival movie the SOS Club premiered in Season 1. That certainly made it more interesting.

All in all if I’d have to rate the anime, I’d give it a 2.5, 5 being the highest.

But wait, there is still something related to this series, and that’s the movie – The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. Now this seems like the culmination of everything from Season 1 to Season 2 except that it is a world wherein Haruhi is different and seems nowhere to be found.

Actually i watched the movie first before i even knew what the series is about. The movie can definitely stand on it’s own but everything else in it will be clearer if you’ve watched the two seasons first.

The movie animation is actually good, what with the fluidity and all that. For the story, well you don’t really get a sense of who Haruhi really is based on watching it alone but you can catch a glimpse of it. If i were to rate the movie I’d say it’s a 7, 10 being the highest. If i may say so, the movie is so much better than both seasons but you won’t know the whole story unless you watch the first two seasons (unless you read manga maybe). 

I do suggest you finish watching both seasons first before seeing the movie because it’ll be so much better. You won’t feel left out about certain things and you’d definitely feel more for the characters and appreciate the story rather than watching the movie first, as i did, followed by the TV anime.

By the way, i didn’t watch the series chronologically. Well, because it wasn’t originally aired in the correct order. According to the wikipedia article, the Japanese television networks kind of combined seasons 1 and 2 when it was re-aired in 2009 so it’s already chronologically arranged. Well who knows, maybe i’ll watch it in the correct order soon, but for now i’m done with this series. =) I’ll just wait until the third season is out, if there’s still any.

Image from animeshippuuden.com

On a side note there’s also the original net animation (ONA) titled The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya. According to the Wikipedia article, this web series is based on the fan-made manga which actually got produced by Kyoto Animation and released via YouTube in 2009. Each episode is around 2 to 5 mins except the last one. They’re really funny and cute. It looks different from the usual animation but it does from time to time have scenes that look as they originally do. These are light and fun stuff you can watch at your spare time.

All in all the series (and the spin-off) is fun to watch. It’s good for kids and “kids at heart who gets bored easily”. Haha.