In December 2020, I ran a twelve-day-long group rewatch of my favorite anime of all time, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I rambled. A lot. Below are my collected posts
Post for December 9th, 2020
Day 1: The adventures of mikuru asahina episode 00
- Aired April 2nd in the 2006 Broadcast (1st of 14)
- Aired September 18th in the 2009 Broadcast (25th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 6: The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 2: The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part One
- Aired April 9th in the 2006 Broadcast (2nd of 14)
- Aired April 3rd in the 2009 Broadcast (1st of 28)
- Adapted from Book 1: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
And the rewatch is a go! Welcome to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the ride has only just begun. First, some questions you probably have: What the hell did I just watch? What you just watched was the exact same experience Japanese viewers got when they tuned into Haruhi during the first two weeks. Episode 00 chronologically takes place roughly half way through the series, but the madmen at KyoAni decided that this would be a good way to start. Week 2 (episode 1) is when the series actually introduces the characters.
What’s with the weird episode numbering? 2006? 2009? This is too confusing!
The first thing you need to understand about Haruhi is that the concept of chronologicality is merely a suggestion. The original light novels were written out of order, and published even more out of order. Book 1 wasn’t even the first bit of material published. The first chapter of book 3 made it out first, as a short story in the magazine The Sneaker. When it came time to produce an anime for the series, KyoAni decided to do something similar, with the 14 episodes airing out of order. When they released the show on DVD, they re-ordered the episodes into chronological order, with the exception of episode 00, which still came first. 3 years later, they rebroadcast the series, airing the episodes in true chronological order for the first time (with episode 00 placed where it should), and they surprised the world (well, Japan) by sneaking in 14 new episodes scattered throughout. That’s right, Haruhi’s second season was never announced. It just started airing one day. The new episodes were then released by themselves on DVD and Blu-ray, referred to as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Second Season. All you need to know is that due to all of this, there are 5 different orders in which to watch the series, with another 3 unofficial ones (we’ll get to those later). What this rewatch is doing is what’s referred to as “Blu-ray Order”, which is episode 00, followed by the rest of the episodes in chronological order.
And now my thoughts:
The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00
I can’t talk too much about this episode right now, as I may accidentally veer into spoiler territory, but there are still a few things I want to point out. Did you notice anything weird about the video quality versus today’s other episode? The video is noticeably more washed out, and is 4:3 instead of 16:9! This was actually a stylistic choice, as Episode 00 is supposed to feel like a really low budget home movie. They even fake bad ADR at one or two points! Man, KyoAni is even good at making bad anime! Is there anything they can’t do?
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part One
Now we get onto the actual first episode, and all that that entails. One concept used heavily throughout this episode is the use of color. From the grey, lifeless palette of the show until Haruhi’s introduction to the sepia-colored flashback of her rejecting Taniguchi, to Haruhi’s ribbons and colors for each day, Haruhi is color in Kyon’s drab world. Interesting fact regarding Haruhi’s colors for each day – they’re not random. In Japanese, each day of the week is written with a unique kanji, and each kanji has an associated real-life object which correlates to the color Haruhi assigns each day. Sunday is 日曜日, with 日 representing the sun (white), Monday is 月曜日, with 月 representing the moon (yellow), Tuesday is 火曜日, with 火 representing fire (red), Wednesday is 水曜日, with 水 representing water (blue), Thursday is 木曜日, with 木 representing a tree (green), Friday is 金曜日, with 金 representing gold, or money (gold), and Saturday is 土曜日, with 土 representing earth, or dirt (brown). There is method to her madness!
Another point I wish to bring up is Kyon’s voice. Throughout the episode, at times it is quite difficult to tell if Kyon is narrating, or actually talking out loud, as his mouth is offscreen. This is a carry-over from the books, where quotation marks were rarely used with Kyon’s thoughts, making it ambiguous if anyone else was aware of them.
A Note on the Dub
I make no secret of the fact that I love a good dub, and Haruhi is no exception. I honestly feel the dub is superior to the original Japanese in the case of Haruhi. While the original Japanese cast is great, with Aya Hirano leading as Haruhi (and singing the OP, and the ED), and Tomokazu Sugita is great as Kyon, Yūko Gotō’s Mikuru voice is high enough pitch to break glass, and Minori Chihara never really worked as Yuki for me. The English dub, on the other hand, is phenomenal. While Wendee Lee is trying her hardest and falls just short of Hirano, Crispin Freeman is Kyon. From the snarky narration to the exasperated tone, Freeman was born to play Kyon, and does it far better than Sugita. Also Stephanie Sheh as Mikuru doesn’t make my ears bleed like Gotō, so that’s a plus.
I do have some questions for new viewers. What are your thoughts after these episodes? Was Episode 00 confusing? How much do you hate Haruhi yet? Are you watching dubbed or subbed?
Post for December 10th, 2020
DAY 2: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Two
- Aired April 16th in the 2006 Broadcast (3rd of 14)
- Aired April 10th in the 2009 Broadcast (2nd of 28)
- Adapted from Book 1: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Three
- Aired April 30th in the 2006 Broadcast (5th of 14)
- Aired April 17th in the 2009 Broadcast (3rd of 28)
- Adapted from Book 1: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Welcome back to The Rewatch of Haruhi Suzumiya, I’m your clinically insane host, vi, and today we have parts 2 and 3 of the arc The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Two
Before I talk about anything else, I need to point out the obvious. Haruhi is a terrible person. I want to say she gets better, and she does. Sort of. You just won’t see it. As of December 2020, the Haruhi series has 11 (or 12, depending on how you count) books, and the TV series and movie only fully adapt the first 4, with bits and pieces of 5 and 6. This means that you start to see Haruhi’s character development towards not being the disaster she currently is, but you don’t get all of it. This more so than almost anything else is the major issue with the series. You could say the biggest problem with Haruhi is Haruhi. Thankfully?, this episode is really her at her worst.
So Yuki’s an alien. Or at least claims to be. Is she actually an alien? Is she crazy? Find out next time on Haruhiball Z!
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Three
Previously, on Haruhiball Z: So Yuki’s an alien. Or at least claims to be. Is she actually an alien? Is she crazy? Find out next time on Haruhiball Z!
So through a very funky scene, we learn Haruhi is the special. She’s the “key to human auto-evolution.” And Kyon is… something or other. Next we learn through Asahina that again, Haruhi is the special, and Kyon is… something or other. And through Koizumi again. Sensing a pattern? The concept that the world was created 3 years ago, or really, and set, short amount of time ago is not a concept made up for an anime. It’s been around for a while under the scientific name of the Omphalos hypothesis, and the much more common name of Last Thursdayism. What’s to say the universe didn’t start last Thursday? Any memories you have could have just been planted in your head. It’s widely considered more of a thought experiment than an actual scientific theory (despite what some Young Earth creationists may say), but it’s quite interesting nonetheless.
Random trivia time: You may have noticed that Yuki Nagato seems very similar to a certain other blue/purple haired emotionless girl, Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion. This is not a coincidence. In fact, Nagato’s name is a reference to Ayanami! Rei can mean cold, and Ayanami was a class of WWII battleship. Yuki means snow, and Nagato was also a class of WWII battleship.
Question time again! After Nagato’s reveal, did you guess the other 2 members would be a time traveler and an esper? Do you think there’s still a slider who has yet to make an appearance? Do you hate Haruhi yet?
Post for December 11th, 2020
DAY 3: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Four
- Aired June 4th in the 2006 Broadcast (10th of 14)
- Aired April 24th in the 2009 Broadcast (4th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 1: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Five
- Aired June 25th in the 2006 Broadcast (13th of 14)
- Aired May 1st in the 2009 Broadcast (5th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 1: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Ciao, my cartoon consumption chums! Today we continue the arc “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” of the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, based on the book The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Confused yet? Let’s go!
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Four
No OP this episode. That’s how you know serious stuff is about to go down. Haruhi seems like the kind of person that would fall for a Nigerian prince scam, except it would actually be a Nigerian prince on the other end. As for Kyon, who leaves their (almost) porn stash on a school computer? And even labels it “mikuru”! Not a bright idea. Fight Scene time! KyoAni doesn’t do fight scenes that often, but when they do, they look really good. Here in the anime, they kind of just show Nagato’s mouth moving really fast and throw some random words in, but in the books, she actually uses valid SQL commands to edit the “data” of the classroom.
This was our first real evidence that something is actually going on, and Haruhi isn’t just surrounded by chunibyou. Also, Asakura obviously had to go. Too confusing having 2 characters both have names starting with Asa, and Asahina is the club mascot, so she can’t go! Speaking of Asahina, we get Asahina from the future!
Now all we need is for Koizumi to do something esper-y, and we’ll have seen them all! Oh, and apparently, Haruhi doesn’t think people live in Canada.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Five
“I know that, I heard you already” Kyon is clearly not a fan of anime recaps. Haruhi really shows throughout her investigation into the “transfer” of Asakura that she really is smart. She may be very eccentric, but Haruhi still has a brain full of logic. Continuing on from this, Haruhi’s speech to Kyon about insignificance provides a much needed background as to why, at least to a certain extent, Haruhi is the way that she is. Also, note Haruhi refers to the world as a “dull, grey void”. Remember what the world looked like to Kyon before Haruhi showed up? We get another lecture from Koizumi about another philosophical thought experiment. If you haven’t been able to tell by now, he kind of likes them. Koizumi also goes back into the concept of Last Thursdayism we discussed yesterday. For all we know, Haruhi has reset the universe a million times. We finally get to see Koizumi’s powers (other than summoning cool cars). Turns out he can pretty much go super-saiyan in Haruhi’s subconscious. The final episode of the arc is tomorrow. Kyon is foreshadowing… something.
Questions for you all: Nagato: glasses or no? Did you expect Asakura to be, well, crazy? Does anyone really live in Canada?
Quote of the day:
I don’t understand, are you talking about the Japanese economy?
Me, watching Eden of the East
Post for December 12th, 2020
DAY 4: THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA PART SIX
- Aired July 2nd in the 2006 Broadcast (14th of 14)
- Aired May 8th in the 2009 Broadcast (6th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 1: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Aired April 23rd in the 2006 Broadcast (4th of 14)
- Aired May 15th in the 2009 Broadcast (7th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 3: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
Okay, I only managed to get my write up done for today’s first episode
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Six
Congratulations on watching the Haruhi season finale. No, seriously! While this may only be the seventh episode we’ve watched as a group, the original 2006 out-of-order broadcast had this episode as the grand finale. Given KyoAni only had one full novel and some side stories to work with, this kind of makes sense, but it’s still weird to be saying so early on. Now that the TV series is complete, (or at least as complete as we’ll likely ever see it), this matters a lot less, as there are two other finales to look forward to.
We get another opening-less episode, so soon after the last one. Again, this makes sense considering this episode’s status as a sort of pseudo-finale, but it still seems weird when watched in the “proper” order. The first real arc isn’t even over, and you can probably see the debate on whether chronological truly is the best order in which to watch the series.
Fun little easter egg you may or may not have caught. Kyon’s sister was humming the opening when she went to grab scissors out of his room. SO i guess this episode did have an OP! The series finally gets some conflict, other than the vague threat of Haruhi-god ending the world, and Kyon is taking it exceedingly well. I mean, even with the knowledge that Kyon knows, what would you do if you woke up in a crazy highschooler’s dream? Especially when it turns out that Haruhi is about to literally end the world!
Seems Nagato is enough of a 1337 h@xx0r (it’s 2006, okay) to contact Kyon over the dimensional/subconscious/pschyoscientific mumbo-jumbo barrier, and give him a lifeline, cryptic as it may be. That’s two times she’s saved his life in what, three episodes?
A bunch of stuff happens, probably not important, and we end on the OP. Well that was a fun series. Shame they never made any more. /s
At this point, I get sick and don’t write for two and a half days.
Post for December 14th, 2020
DAY 4 6: The Boredom of haruhi suzumiya
- Aired April 23rd in the 2006 Broadcast (4th of 14)
- Aired May 15th in the 2009 Broadcast (7th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 3: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
DAY 5 6: Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody
- Aired May 22nd in the 2009 Broadcast (8th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 3: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 2: Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody
Mystérique sign
- Aired May 14th in the 2006 Broadcast (7th of 14)
- Aired May 29th in the 2009 Broadcast (9th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 3: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 3: Mysterique Sign
DAY 6: Remote Island Syndrome (Part One)
- Aired May 7th in the 2006 Broadcast (6th of 14)
- Aired June 5th in the 2009 Broadcast (10th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 3: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 4: Remote Island Syndrome
Remote Island Syndrome (Part Two)
- Aired May 21st in the 2006 Broadcast (8th of 14)
- Aired June 12th in the 2009 Broadcast (11th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 3: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 4: Remote Island Syndrome
I’m back! Time to catch up on some Haruhi
The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
I don’t have much to say about this episode, other than the fact that I love it. We get our first real standalone episode, and you start to see the gist of the series going forward: Haruhi gets bored, the brigade tries to keep her occupied, and something sci-fi-y happens. We also get (re-)introduced to Tsuruya, Asahina’s hyperkinetic friend. Koizumi talks about Haruhi’s mental state, Asahina gets dressed up in a skimpy outfit, Nagato literally life hacks, Kyon gets exasperated, and Haruhi leaves happy. If you were to sum up Haruhi in 25 minutes, it would be this episode. Interesting fact: this was actually the first story published, coming out in The Sneaker magazine roughly a month before the first book was released.
Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody
Man, I love this episode. We get time travel, character development, and Nagato being awesome. Time travel is rarely done well in media, and I think Haruhi does it really well. Not only did the series do something interesting with it’s time travel and the way Kyon and Asahina got back to their time, the entire thing was foreshadowed! If you remember in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part One, Haruhi asked Kyon if she had ever met him before, because she had met him before! Also, a time traveler going by the pseudonym “John Smith”? Kyon must be a Doctor Who fan. We also get some insight into Asahina, showing that despite her having the power to time travel, she (at least in her current form), is kind of useless. Her future self is calling most of the shots, and doesn’t seem to want to tell her past self anything. The real question remains however, will the world start spinning backwards in 16 years? Also, note the new intro, as this is the first 2009 episode.
Mystérique Sign
Haruhi author Nagaru Tanigawa claims that Mystérique Sign was the fastest he’d ever completed a short story in the series, and it kind of shows. While this episode is still great, it honestly feels like it’s lacking a bit, and feels quite a bit rushed to me. It is fun seeing another fight scene, especially against something as weird as a 20-foot tall cave cricket in the middle of a virtual desert. Fun fact: Koizumi screaming “fumoffu” and “the second raid” are references to another KyoAni series, Full Metal Panic!, where his voice actor, Daisuke Ono, played a major role. An interesting thing you may have noticed by now is that the series doesn’t like to give characters names. Only 6 characters have had their full names revealed (Haruhi Suzumiya, Mikuru Asahina, Yuki Nagato, Ikutsuki Koizumi, Ryoko Asakura, and Emiri Kimidori), 3 are only known by a single name (Taniguchi, Kunikeda, and Tsuruya), 1 only by a nickname (Kyon), and 2 don’t even get that (Kyon’s sister and the computer club president). In addition, you may have noticed that Koizumi and Nagato don’t even use “Kyon.” Throughout the entire series, they never mention Kyon by any name. I’m not exactly sure why the series seems so averse to names, but I do find it interesting. Fun fact of the episode: the SOS brigade website is actually real, and after this episode, they flipped the logo. You can visit it here.
The counter at the top of the website is interesting. If you inspect the source code, it takes 29800 and then adds a random number from 0 to 59
Remote Island Syndrome (Parts One and Two)
This is an interesting set of episodes for a variety of reasons. The first and foremost is we finally see Haruhi show regret for her actions. Haruhi has shown little regard for anyone other than herself so far in the series, and going in, seemingly wanted someone to die, just so she could solve a mystery. Later, when her wish comes true, at least as far as she’s aware, it throws her into a rut. She logically knows that she couldn’t have caused it (well, if she was anyone else but Haruhi), but still feels guilt. While it’s minor, this is still character development for her. While almost every other episode is a very faithful adaptation of the source material, this pair of episodes takes a few liberties. In the original source material, Kyon’s sister did try to hide in his bag, but he caught her, and left her behind. In addition, in the books, the brigade got quite drunk each night, but the network wouldn’t allow KyoAni to show high schoolers drinking, so it had to be dropped.
Finally, did you catch the extended Phoenix Wright reference? It lasts like 2 minutes.
Questions of the day: Can you guess why we’re watching 4 episodes tomorrow today? Have you ever gotten so bored you almost destroyed the universe? Do you have sleeping time travelers in your closet?
Post for December 15th, 2020
Day 7: Endless Eight I
- Aired June 19th in the 2009 Broadcast (12th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 5: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: Endless Eight
Endless Eight II
- Aired June 26th in the 2009 Broadcast (13th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 5: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: Endless Eight
Endless Eight III
- Aired July 3rd in the 2009 Broadcast (14th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 5: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: Endless Eight
Endless Eight IV
- Aired July 10th in the 2009 Broadcast (15th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 5: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: Endless Eight
Do not adjust your TV set, your stream isn’t broken. It’s finally here, the day any rewatcher has been dreading anticipating. It’s time for Endless Eight
Uh, what’s going on? Why is everything repeating?
“We have entered an endless recursion of time.”
Ikutsuki Koizumi
Wait, this is called Endless Eight. Is it going to repeat eight times?
“15,513 times? What do you mean, 15,513 times?”
Kyon
Is everything going to be identical in each episode?
“Not necessarily.”
Yuki Nagato
If that’s the case, then I won’t watch any of them, how about that?
In all seriousness, I implore you. Watch all of the episodes, at least once. Even if you just have it on in the background, watch them. I can’t tell you why yet, but if you have the time, please at least try. I know it’s painful, but it’s all worth it. I guarantee it. If you absolutely can’t dedicate that much time, I understand. The only episodes you need to watch are 1, 2, and 8, but again, I ask that you watch all of them.
So now that you know what’s going on in-universe, let’s take a minute to discuss why this is happening from a production point of view. Why in Hariuhi’s name did KyoAni animated the same episode 8 times? The simple answer is they got more than they asked for.
While Endless Eight is adapted from book 5, it takes place chronologically quite early in the series. When KyoAni started planning out the 2009 broadcast, they wanted to fill in the gaps from the original series, and finish with the 4th book, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, which takes place in December. This was all fine and dandy, and they had just enough stories that chronologically took place between the start of the series in April and Disappearance in December to make it work. That was, until part of the way into the 2009 broadcast, Kadokawa approved a movie. Instead of splitting the 14 new episodes between various side stories and Disappearance, KyoAni now had 14 episodes just for the side stories that took place between April and December. This posed a problem, as there just weren’t enough of them. KyoAni’s solution? Take what was a 30 page short story, and show eight of the loops, instead of just one.
And KyoAni didn’t cheap out here, either. Other than the opening and closing, each of the Endless Eight episodes is entirely new footage, from the animation to the voices. Was it worth it? It’s up for debate, and something I’ll get more into tomorrow, when I discuss the fandom’s wide array of responses to what can best be described as KyoAni trolling their fanbase. There are further narrative purposes to Endless Eight, that I sadly can’t discuss yet, but trust me, I will.
Questions of the day:
- Something’s wrong. Can you feel it?
- Something’s wrong. Can you feel it?
- Something’s wrong. Can you feel it?
- Something’s wrong. Can you feel it?
Quote of the day:
“Yeah, you already said that.”
Kyon
Post for December 16th, 2020
Day 8: Endless Eight V
- Aired July 17th in the 2009 Broadcast (16th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 5: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: Endless Eight
Endless eight vi
- Aired July 24th in the 2009 Broadcast (17th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 5: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: Endless Eight
Endless eight vII
- Aired July 31st in the 2009 Broadcast (18th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 5: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: Endless Eight
Endless eight VIII
- Aired August 7th in the 2009 Broadcast (19th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 5: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: Endless Eight
2020 Summer break continues on with no end in sight. Will the madness ever end?
Yesterday, I talked about why Endless Eight happened, but today I’m going to talk about how such a stunt was received by the anime community. Picture this. It’s 2009, and you read on your brand new iPhone 3GS that the series that shook the anime world 3 years ago miraculously started to get new episodes during a rebroadcast. You do the math with your translated Haruhi light novels, and realize that at the rate of adaptation set by the 2006 broadcast, there’s just enough episodes to adapt up through The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, widely considered the best book in the series. You start watching, week by week, and everything is going fine. You’re doing the Hare Hare Yukai dance at the end of the 2006 episodes, you’re jamming to Tomare! in the new episodes, and everything is looking fine, up until you hit Endless Eight. “Okay,” you say. “At the current rate of adaptation, Endless Eight should be a single episode, and then we can move onto The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya!” The episode airs, and something is wrong.
“Wait,” you cry. “What happened? Why wasn’t the looping acknowledged?” You chat on 4chan’s /a/ board, the premiere place for anime discussion, and you all come to the conclusion that it’s going to be a 2 episode arc, like Remote Island Syndrome. Kind of odd, but hey, you get to see the time loop in action. You spend the week posting totally hilarious memes, awaiting the conclusion.
A week passes, and you anxiously start streaming the next fan-subbed episode on your new Windows 7 laptop, as despite Steve Job’s promises of “the entire internet” on your iPhone, it can’t play Adobe Flash, and everyone knows that’s the future of the internet. You watch the episode, and something is terribly wrong. New stuff happens, but the loop hasn’t been broken yet. You quickly log back into 4chan, wade through even more knee-slappingly funny memes, to see what’s going on
After a lengthy discussion, including something about how your opinion doesn’t matter because you can’t “triforce,” whatever that means, you come to a conclusion. “Okay, it’s going to be three episodes. Kind of stretching it, but it’s all worth it once we make it to Disappearance” You decide to get into this “Umineko” show everyone is saying is going to be great, and wait another week. A week passes, and after wading past conspiracy theories about how this new “swine flu” is going to kill us all, you start the next episode.
And you watch. And you watch. And you start to get confused. “Did I start the second episode again?” “Why wasn’t it concluded?” “Endless Eight refers to it taking place in August, right?” You get back onto 4chan, break through the endless posts about how “Obummer” will be a terrible president, laugh until you cry at the “comedy genius” memes, and try to find out what’s going on.
Hours later, you all reach a consensus. KyoAni was trolling you all, and it was hilarious. You break out the troll faces and laugh at how funny it was. It was hilarious, but you’ll be glad when it ends next week. You go off to play some Swedish digital lego game you heard about on YouTube.
Another week passes. You watch the episode. And the internet explodes.
Not since Steven Spielberg ruined Indiana Jones last year had the internet been this upset. It was clear at this point that KyoAni was in it for the long haul. You would be getting eight loops, and no Disappearance. The memes began to flow like water.
For two months you endure. You watch once a week, 8 times. All hope of anything ever happening again is lost. You’ll never see 2010. When it finally comes to a close, the internet rejoices, but it’s a hollow victory.
All hope is lost, and you watch the remaining episodes. You no longer dance to the Hare Hare Yukai. You’re sick of Tomare! 2008 hit song Viva la Vida plays as you cry. That is, until October 8th, when a 30 second video is uploaded to the internet. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is coming. And it will all be worth it.
Questions of the day: Could you have made it 2 months? How about the 500+ years Nagato did? Are you looking forward to Dreamworks’ next masterpiece for 2010, Shrek Forever After?
Quote of the Day:
“Hm, okay. I guess that we did everything we set out to do this summer, so that’s good enough.”
Haruhi Suzumiya
Post for December 17th, 2020
DAY 9: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Part One
- Aired August 14th in the 2009 Broadcast (20th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 2: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya
THE SIGH OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA PART TWO
- Aired August 21st in the 2009 Broadcast (21st of 28)
- Adapted from Book 2: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya
Endless Eight may have finally ended, but Haruhi is never one to sit down and do nothing. So without further ado, on with the show! Kyon, at this point you just have to accept that no matter how hard you try, Haruhi is going to make you stand out like a sore thumb. We get some antics, including Haruhi almost giving Kyon 3rd degree burns, and then we learn the topic of this arc. Haruhi Suzumiya is going to make a movie. And all will suffer. In this episode, you may have noticed something odd. Haruhi seems meaner and less understanding, closer to how she was at the start of the series then say, the guilt she showed in Remote Island Syndrome. This is a side effect of how the books were written, Despite taking place so much later than the Melancholy arc, Sigh was actually the next book written, with the short stories that fall between the two coming later. This means that even though Haruhi does have quite a bit of character development, when the series is watched in chronological order, it gets jumbled somewhat. On a somewhat related note, I was curious, and looked it up. Sadly, no, you can’t buy dynamite on the internet, but up until 1971, you could buy it at your local hardware store. Thanks Richard Nixon.
Quote of the Day:
“I take back everything I said. I shouldn’t have been psyched.”
Kyon
Post for December 18th, 2020
DAy 10: The Sigh of haruhi Suzumiya Part Three
- Aired August 28th in the 2009 Broadcast (22nd of 28)
- Adapted from Book 2: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya
THE SIGH OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA PART FOUR
- Aired September 4th in the 2009 Broadcast (23rd of 28)
- Adapted from Book 2: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya
In tonight’s episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyon becomes an Internet meme! Haruhi shoots a monk! Ikutsuki almost dies! Haruhi is a dangerous psychopath. If you’ve made it this far, that should be pretty obvious. Even ignoring the dangerous part that comes from her unconscious reality-warping powers, Haruhi is a terrible person. She treats those around her as more objects than people, and all suffer because of it. When Taniguchi said not to get involved with Haruhi at the start of the series, all should have listened. Haruhi is less of a benevolent god and more of a force of nature, and this arc does not pain her in a good light. A good chunk of the series is spent with Haruhi seen as almost a sort of idol. Kyon’s vision of what he subconsciously wants out of life, but it all comes crashing down in this arc. Haruhi is a broken, cruel person, and we start to see the side effects of that.
We see Haruhi at her absolute worst, right off of the nightmare that was Endless Eight. If anyone is still watching, I beg of you. Keep going. It gets better. It’s all worth it in the end. I promise. Fun fact: The below pose by Kyon became something of an internet meme after it aired, referred to simply as “dame”
Post for December 19th, 2020
Day 11: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Five
- Aired September 11th in the 2009 Broadcast (24th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 2: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya
LivE Alive
- Aired June 18th in the 2006 Broadcast (12th of 14)
- Aired September 25th in the 2009 Broadcast (26th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 6: The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 1: Live Alive
>DATE: 2020-12-19
>LOCATION: Somewhere on the Internet
>YOUR MISSION: Watch The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya V and Live Alive
>DO YOU ACCEPT? Y
insert Angel Beats! “Operation Start” gif here, because I can’t find one
THE SIGH OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA PART FIVE
We cold open the episode with Haruhi choosing a cat. This cat just so happens to be a male calico cat. For those not particularly familiar with genetics, this is nearly impossible, and a testament to Haruhi’s godly powers. Haruhi then names the cat Shamisen. For those unfamiliar, a shamisen is a music instrument with three strings, traditionally made of cat intestines.
This is like if you adopted a cow, and named him “Leather Couch”. Truly, Haruhi is one of a kind. You may have noticed that in the dub at least, Shamisen’s voice has changed since The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00. I guess Steve Kramer wasn’t available when they dubbed the 2009 episodes, so they had to get Michael McConnohie. I personally love Shamisen’s speech about the nature of communication while he keeps slipping off of Nagato’s shoulder. It just shows how ridiculous this show has gotten.
And with that, the movie is made! If you really want to, and I’m not saying you need to, now would be the time to watch The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00 again in proper chronological order. It would make total sense now.
Live Alive
There’s not much for me to say about this episode other than that wow, Kyoto Animation is good at the whole animation thing. The entire concert scene was heavily rotoscoped for the finger movements, and according to K-On! director Naoko Yamada, was what convinced KyoAni they were good enough at animating instruments to make an entire series about them.
Right after the episode aired, someone uploaded the scene to youtube. It quickly became the most viewed anime video on youtube of all time. I believe it’s been passed a few times since then, but it’s sitting at 104 million views now. Kadokawa actually issue a copyright strike on it back in 2018, but put it back after they realized it was probably the best advertising the series ever got. Below is the song in Japanese, as as awesome as Wendee Lee is as Haruhi, Aya Hirano is an actual rock singer, and it shows.
Post for December 20th, 2020
Day 12: The Day of Sagittarius
- Aired June 11th in the 2006 Broadcast (11th of 14)
- Aired October 2nd in the 2009 Broadcast (27th of 28)
- Adapted from Book 5: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chapter 2: The Day of Sagittarius
Someday in the Rain
- Aired May 28th in the 2006 Broadcast (9th of 14)
- Aired October 9th in the 2009 Broadcast (28th of 28)
- This is the only anime original episode, written by series author Nagaru Tanigawa
Welcome back, disciples of her godliness. Today is the final standard day in the rewatch. We’re almost done folks, and tomorrow is the day you’re all here for. With all of that out of the way, 3, 2, 1, let’s jam!
The Day of Sagittarius
We’re a space opera now, boys and girls! With bad CG! I want you to take particular note of the crew of each brigade members’ ship throughout the episode. Haruhi has creatively designed space aliens, Asahina has cute cat things (apparently based on doodles Aya Hirano drew on her scripts), Nagato just has more Nagatos, Itsuki has henohenomohejis, and Kyon has traditional bridge bunnies.
The Computer Club President (real name TBA) is back! And he wants revenge! And Haruhi has no idea who he is! I also love this blatant parody of Captain Okita from Space Battleship Yamato on the cover of their game.
Why The Computer Club President (real name TBA) feels he has any chance of beating Haruhi is beyond me, and those laptops don’t look cheap. I’d cut my losses if I was him.
Remember a few days ago, when I said that Haruhi views the brigade members more as objects than people? She literally uses Nagato as a wager in a duel. Brigade chief of the year, everyone! Also, according to Haruhi, Nagato is worth exactly three computers. Interesting. Haruhi “charges” Kyon with energy of some sort, and asks if he’s feeling it.
Meanwhile, the battle rages, and we find out that the computer club is cheating
On a slightly more serious note, this episode is very important for one specific reason. Nagato is showing emotion. Not much, but Nagato has a desire to win. Compare that to the Nagato that sat through 500+ years of an endless summer, and something’s changed.
Someday in the rain
Remember when I said that Endless Eight was stretched out as far as it was to fill time? Well, as it turns out, KyoAni didn’t have 8 episodes to fill, they had 9. So, we get something unique. The one and only anime-original episode, written by series author Nagaru Tanigawa, and they made it a bottle episode. Nice.
I can’t really say much about this episode, other than it’s KyoAni trolling their fans, yet again. The 2006 broadcast ended on the explosive The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya VI, with the world almost ending, and the big kiss. The 2009 broadcast? Nagato sitting in a room. For 25 minutes. It’s terrible, and by far the worst episode of the series, but you have to admire the gall to do something so stupid crazy.
And with that, the series is a wrap! There have been many highs, and many lows, but it’s all worth it in the end, I promise. Tomorrow we watch the movie, and it all comes together. I leave you with the original theatrical trailer for the movie. Mild spoilers, like every movie trailer.
Quote of the Day Series:
“Are you forgetting I’m the divine and sacred leader of the SOS brigade?”
Haruhi Suzumiya
Post for December 21st, 2020
DAY 13: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Premiered February 6th, 2010
- Adapted from Book 4: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
This is it. We made it. I’ve been hyping it to no end, and it’s finally time for the payoff. It’s finally time for The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Before I get deep into my analysis, I want to do something I don’t normally do. I want to discuss fan theories. Most fan theories are flat out garbage. Something like “everyone in SpongeBob is dead.” or “Shinji Ikari is actually Jesus.” But every once and awhile, one stands out. So tonight, I’m going to talk about The Melancholy of Kyon. Let’s rewind back to the beginning of the series for a second. Kyon starts everything with a simple monologue. He talks about how despite his beliefs in the fantastical as a child, they all slowly withered away as he grew older, and accepted reality. All of this comes back when he meets the magical Haruhi, god of all things, and he meets and befriends aliens, time travelers, and espers, begrudgingly. But what if that’s not what happened? What if instead, Kyon is god? What if Kyon, desiring a more interesting world, created the being known as Haruhi to make his life more interesting? Kyon is too rational to think he, himself is god, so he creates a new one. It’s an interesting theory, but it’s only a fan theory, and shouldn’t be taken as anything more.
The reason I brought this up is simple. For the majority of the series, Kyon is in denial. From his very first line about believing in Santa Claus to him berating his sister for the same thing at the beginning of the movie, Kyon sees himself as a normal, rational person. And normal, rational people don’t believe in things such as Santa Claus, aliens, time travelers, or espers. He can’t admit he’s having fun, as that would be accepting the impossible. In order to maintain a sense of rationality, Kyon builds a wall of cynicism around himself throughout the entire series, snarking all the way.
So when he’s finally faced with it all vanishing, he’s thrown for a loop. The color from his life has been drained back out. Both figuratively and literally. The series has reverted from the warm, vibrant colors back to the dull greys and blues of the first episode’s opening. Does his rational side take over, thanking the universe for ending his torment at the hands of a selfish god? Or does he curse his fate, saddened by the loss of what he secretly found fun? In one of the best monologues ever given in anime, Kyon makes his decision.
After 28 episodes of Kyon remaining a static character, at least externally, he finally makes a decision. For the first time in the series since he talked to the strange girl who sat behind him, Kyon was proactive.
Despite Haruhi’s disappearance being key to the plot of the movie, she remains an important character throughout. While Haruhi’s character doesn’t really change, we get more background into her. Even in a world where she is completely normal, at least in terms of godly powers, to quote Kyon, “Haruhi is Haruhi”. At the suggestion that Kyon comes from a world more interesting than hers, Haruhi rounds up Koizumi, sneaks into North High, and decides to re-establish the SOS Brigade in this world. Haruhi’s god-like powers are not because of her eccentricities, but in spite of them. Deep down, Haruhi is still a rational person. If she wishes for aliens, time travelers, and espers, and she gets them, she doesn’t believe it. After The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya VI, Kyon flat out tells her the identities of her brigade members, and she doesn’t believe him. Nothing would be that convenient. Thus, Haruhi is in an unfortunate feedback loop, where despite her wishing so hard that the supernatural happens, by the very nature of how it occurs, she will never believe it.
While Kyon spends the series behind a mask of cynicism, Koizumi spends it behind one of guile. So when the world changes, we finally, for the first time in the series, get a small insight into what makes him tick. While Koizumi may not think Haruhi is a god in the “normal” world, the relationship the two share is shockingly similar. Haruhi goes, and Koizumi follows. Based on the behaviour of the other club members (Nagato excluded), it can be inferred that this Koizumi, the one in love with Haruhi, has the same feelings as the original Koizumi. His jealousy of Kyon, mentioned in passing here, is likely also held by the original Koizumi. As much as the original may try to hide it, he is forever chasing after someone who has eyes for another.
Near the end of Live Alive, Asahina mentions to Kyon that she believes, unlike Koizumi, that the universe is static and pre-determined. Haruhi didn’t reinvent the world three years ago, and it has in fact, always been that way. Throughout the entire series, and specifically the movie, she personifies her belief just as Koizumi does his. Asahina remains unchanging and unaffected by any of the supernatural antics surrounding her. She’s unable to fight the cave cricket, she doesn’t know anything about the future she can share, and she remains the same klutzy moeblob after the world changes that she was before. She remains the one constant throughout everything that occurs, just like the fixed events her future self is so fond of.
So why is all of this important? Because all of this is masterfully interleaved into the background of the actual point of the film. Yuki Nagato. Despite being named The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, and being told from Kyon’s point of view, neither are the main characters of the movie. Nagato is. And the entire series has been building to this point. Every time Haruhi made you angry. Every time you suffered through Endless Eight. It all was done with one specific purpose. To make you, the audience empathise with a being that shouldn’t feel, but does. What was eight loops for you was 15,498 for Nagato. That’s 594 years of frustration. Of helplessness. After all of that, Nagato finally cracked. Hints of this were shown in The Day of Sagittarius, but Nagato has changed. Dramatically. Despite all I wrote above, Kyon, Haruhi, Koizumi, and Asahina are all essentially the same people. Sure, we get a bit more in-depth to their character, but the actions they take at the end of the series are almost identical to those they would have taken at the beginning. The one exception to this is Nagato. Was Nagato in the right to desire a normal world? Was Kyon right in changing it back? It’s up to the viewer to decide.
And with that, we have reached the end of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It’s been an honor watching with you all, and I hope you enjoyed the show even close to as much as I did. I want to end our journey on a slightly bittersweet note, just as the film has. On July 18, 2019, A mentally unstable arsonist burnt Kyoto Animation’s studio to the ground, killing 33 people. One of those was Yasuhiro Takemoto, director of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’s second season and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. Last month, when Haruhi author Nagaru Tanigawa put out his first new book in 9 years, he included the following:
And with that, I bid you farewell. Even if your life isn’t full of aliens, time travelers, and espers, you can still live it to the fullest. The “normal” Haruhi is proof enough of that.
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