Is this show even complete yet? Last I saw it wasn't even half-way there.
The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi tv Review
Haruhi Suzumiya is a beautiful first year high school student who is smart, athletic, and won't turn down any guy who asks her out. The problem is that she isn't interested in anyone or anything who isn't an alien, time traveler, slider, or ESPer - as such no guy has lasted for more than a week with her.
When she realizes that none of the clubs at school cater to her highly eccentric tastes, she drafts her classmate, Kyon (the narrator and voice of reason) and forms the "Suzumiya Haruhi's Save our World by Overloading it with Fun" Brigade (the S.O.S. Brigade for short). Nobody quite knows what the club does other than to satisfy the whims of Haruhi, but it is becoming evident that there is more to Haruhi than it seems, and that there may be more truth to her delusional beliefs than reason would leave most to believe.
Story & Characters
Haruhi Suzumiya is a good-looking first year high school student, who is both smart and athletic. However, during the class introductions, she states clearly that she isn't interested in anyone that is not a alien, time traveller, slider, or esper. She begins by joining all the clubs in the school, and leaving them just as quickly. Then, she gets the idea to form her own club, and names it the "Save the world by overloading it with fun Haruhi Suzumiya's Brigade" or S.O.S. Brigade.
Kyon, the protagonist and narrator of the story, is slowly dragged into Haruhi's distorted world. He begins to learn about the mysteries behind Haruhi's actions, and the truth about his fellow club members.
When the group is created, Mikuru is persuaded by Haruhi to join the group. Mikuru has a cute and innocent personality, which causes her to be sexually exploited by Haruhi. Nagato, who is part of the literacy club, unanimously joins the S.O.S Brigade also, since her clubroom is being used by Haruhi.
The basis of the story is fairly original, but there's no real plot. Like many other comedy anime, everything is kind of random. Every episode consists of school-related events, which Haruhi utilizes in order to find "mysteries."
Rating:
Art
The artwork was extremely well done. The animation was simple and clean. There was a episode where full 3D CG is used, though I'm not a big fan of, it happened to work in that circumstance. The background was also pretty nice. In short, for a comedy show, the animation is sufficient and near flawless.
Character designs were pretty unique, especially Haruhi and Mikuru's hairstyle. The hairstyles can even define the personality of the character, especially Mikuru's cute, and innocent personality.
I haven't read the manga though, so I don't know how the anime compares.
Rating:
Sound
Compared to the artwork in this anime, the Soundtrack seemed subpar. Nothing special about the OST at all.
However, having said that, I think that the voice acting worked out all right. In some scenes, we get to listen to streams of calculations from Nagato, and Kyon's stream of consciousness. Fast unbroken dialogue is always... cool... and chaotic =P
Lastly, the Opening "Bouken Desho Desho" and Ending "Hare Hare Yukai" by Hirano Aya was amazing. Although the animation was pretty random, it had a simple and catchy tune. You can't forget the dance in the Ending song too! =]
As a side note, the Ending Theme "Hare Hare Yukai" was released on May 10th. Stores were sold out by the end of the day, and the scene repeated the day after, when the stores that received more stock sold out again.
The Opening Theme "Bouken Desho Desho" was released on April 26, and was ranked #10 in Amazon Japan's CD Sales Chart.
Rating:
Presentation
This anime can be closely associated with the likes of School Rumble. Original, hilarious, yet doesn't make much sense.
The story seems to skip around sometimes, but it's still not that hard to understand.
I don't think theres a real audience that this anime tries to target. As for myself, I would give full marks for enjoyability.
As a last note, the first episode of the anime has got to be the most random thing I have ever seen. It's a movie clip that the Club made themselves, though it's shown before the Club has been created. The movie is so bad, that it is kind of funny, I guess. If you're not too sure about this anime, please watch Episode two first, at least, before judging this anime.
Rating:
Final Verdict
8.8333 (very good)
Reviewed by WateryAura, Jun 05, 2006
Comments
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shoujoboy Jun 05, 2006
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kyokujitsu Jun 05, 2006
Uh no, the series is up to ep. 9 of 14 (I think).
The review was nice, but I felt that it didn't give enough reason as to your ratings. You commented that everything was good, but for some reason, everything just felt really brief and skimpy. Also, I'm not sure if you used correct grammar for some phrases in the "Story and Characters" section properly. But aside from that, a nice review. And I agree with your final verdict ^_^
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Kidder Jun 05, 2006
lol, yeah the ED was ridiculously popular thanks to the dance sequence during the ending credits. The song's not even that catchy... it's just millions of Japanese fanboys and girls want to copy the dance sequence at the end. There's so many spoofs on youtube and videogoogle
One thing that sets this anime apart from many of its genre is the fast-paced dialogue. There are even moments where so many characters are talking over each other that it's quite chaotic (which probably plays into the whole theme of Haruhi's rather chaotic actions).
The most interesting thing about this anime is the seemingly random order the episodes are aired. Many Haruhi fans (or Harutards) will know that in the next episode previews, Haruhi tells us the real (chronologically correct) episode number as opposed to Kyon who just follows the airing order.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has a lot of ups and downs. There are instances and sometimes whole episodes where everything just goes crazy and you will laugh your ass off, but there are also times where not much happens at all.
Anyways, decent review. Next time a little more detail would be appreciated.
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WateryAura Jun 05, 2006
My first review >< It'll be better next time! D:
The series is on 9/14, Episode 10 airs today I believe.
Now, time to check out the dance spoofs o_O;;
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FlyMollo Jun 05, 2006
Honestly, I love the first episode.
Great foreshadowing, and a way to get to know everyone's personality before the series starts.
Plus the obvious mistakes that normal students would make and the crappy acting are halaroius.
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norine07 Jun 06, 2006
i found the first wpisode weird didn't inderstand till the las part...! haha...! ^^ but itsa nice show i can agree on that one...! hope everyone likes it too...! ^^ see ya...!ja-ne..!
*sakura-chan*
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tobiast88 Jun 06, 2006
Thank you for reviewing and letting me discover the chaos and the hilariousness of this show! It's horrendously funny and tries very hard to original. And I think it's doing fine.
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chi89 Jun 09, 2006
seems really cute ............................I MUST SEE IT lol
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RazorPhoenix Jun 09, 2006
Heh, being with aliens, time travelers, and espers are indeed fun. Wish i could be an SOS-dan member... ^_^.
Suzumiya Haruhi is the goddess of the year. wahahha -
jaalin Jun 09, 2006
its a tough series to review - to understand its brilliance would require not only experience (reading the novels) but also a broad understanding of where the production value is going to in the anime... the great direction, etc
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solidvanz Jun 30, 2006
From what I can say is Suzumiya haruhi is the best anime I ever see! From the great animation to the fantastic characters, I dare to say that well done to this anime! My favourite character is Haruhi & Mikuru! :)
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Firebee Jul 06, 2006
Very funny anime serie, I agree with most things you state in your review
Artwork's nice and well done, Music/OST's are good and not forgetting the voice acting too. :) ;) -
tzmtong333 Jul 12, 2006
At first when I watched episode 1, I had question marks everywhere on my head and I almost condemned the anime in my mind. But by giving it a second chance and watching episode 2, I was lucky not to miss out this wonderful anime. Very unique story development, plot twisting (to the point where some stuff is what a mere human brain like ours cannot understand), catchy songs and great animation made me wanting for more at the end of each episode. Pity it ended so soon, but it has concluded well. Highy recommended and just a personal viewpoint: start from episode 2.
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SebastianvonKane Aug 07, 2006
Well. Finally got to watch it completely. An in comparison of expectation and deliverance (in my case) I qualify it as disatrous.
First, tehre's no story at all. Second, some elements does not engage very well on the series, since this kind of story are quite oriented as a book novel. Third, the sci-fi/dogmatic questions surrounding Haruhi are badly excused (I'm a sci-fi storywritter, near submiting my firt screenplay), even when the writters waste almost 90 minutes of nicely set up sentences, they're still redundant i the case. And fourth, Haruhi does contradicts herself by feelling fun at the edge the end, of love. I mean, love feels really great. I won't deny that, but does not follow what the starring chara stated. And in fact, the ending is quite a loop of facts.
I only shall praise the character deisgn, the ED song and the concert.
Very very very very very original concept (specially by twisting the chapter order), but it really dissappointed me.
50/100, and I think is quite too high. -
maxenthe12 Dec 10, 2009
there will be season three isn`t it ?
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Sanisa Feb 24, 2010
Thanks for the review! Nice ^__^
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rukasu44 Oct 03, 2010
Good review, I agree about the OP and ED, but the OST is good too
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