LogFAQs > #900596103

27. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006)
Leonhart (3/5)


The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a comedic slice of life about a wacky girl of the same name, who starts a school club called the SOS Brigade, which specializes in supernatural phenomena. The twist is that everyone except the MC, Kyon, is a supernatural being. The thing is, Haruhi is the one person in the group who is completely unaware of everyone's true natures. This makes for a pretty fun dynamic between everyone, as you have a snarky esper, an emotionless alien, and a moeblob time traveler to add to the "normal" human beings. It turns out Haruhi is a God, capable of shaping the universe to her whims. All of the extraordinary beings are in cahoots to make sure Haruhi doesn't do anything stupid like destroying the planet or something.

I had a lot of trouble describing the premise, since it's a ton of detail for something so seemingly simple. I mean, Haruhi isn't exactly deep or anything, but it is one of the most unique shows out there. Haruhi was responsible for being the first anime I ever noticed to get such a massive following. I'm not really talking about things like Naruto or One Piece that are simply popular. Haruhi was the first thing I saw with such a passionate fanbase that you couldn't really get away from it wherever you went. I watched Haruhi two years after it aired, yet I watched it only after seeing the mass praise it received here and on other online communities. The hype arorund this thing was insane I think I read somewhere that people were getting arrested for performing the ED dance in the streets? It had an actual religion spring up, worshipping the titular character! I've honestly never seen anything like it before.

But things got a little more complicated in 2009, when the second season began airing. It started off fine, but it soon delved into the infamous, almost unanimously despised Endless Eight arc. Eight straight episodes of the same script repeated with slight changes and a few new animations. I ended up binging this, so I can't imagine how it would feel to be stuck on this storyline for two months. Perhaps that was the intention, since it connects the viewer to the characters thematically, but that doesn't make it good. I suppose the staff who made this decision had guts to take a show that was on top of the world, and use it for something experimental and unheard of, but you could achieve the same effect in like, half the time, or use the resources to work on one of the many other plots covered in the novels. And guts are really aall they have, since the arc is barren of any quality or ambition. I don't even know if I'd call it unique, since airing the same episode eight times seems like the least unique thing you could possibly do for an eight-episode stretch. I think this season jaded many of the series' fans.

But my grievances were more or less shot and buried with the film, Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, which I remember thinking was a masterpiece. Unfortunately, I don't really have much to say about it, as I don't remember it a ton, despite being my favorite part of the franchise. I might have to rewatch it soon! It ended up being the final anime realease for the series, and I think it's safe to say the series won't be coming bck for a couple reason. One, the author rarely creates new material, so there's no content that needs advertised. Two, the KyoAni that created the show is pretty much gone at this point. It's a shame it had to end on such a note, but at least it was a positive one!
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