+ | N o v a s t o r m | +

涼宮�?ルヒ�?�憂鬱

Release: 07/2006
Episodes: 14
Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction(?), Supernatural
OP: “Bouken desho desho?” by Aya Hirano
ED: “Hare Hare Yukai” by Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, and Yuuko Gotou

Impressions:

Okay, I had actually written these (very, very short) episode summaries a while ago and I’ve decided to repost them, slightly expanded and with more pictures, just because I loved the show so much. I wouldn’t be able to bear looking at my categories section and not see ‘Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu’ there. The show is highly orginal and I’m sure the majority of those who’ve seen it like it. I was quite surprised to see that the peer count for the Suzumiya Haruhi torrents did not reach the average amount which Bleach or Naruto had; both which are showing fillers (Bleach’s are alright, though Naruto’s are just random). But then again, Bleach and Naruto had a long time to build up its popularity, while Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu only had three months. I really hope there will be a sequel, which I’m sure will be a massive hit. The novels definitely have enough material for a sequel, unless the producers skip a lot of the detail, like they did with the first one. The show definitely was the favourite of spring Anime – something no one expected. Before it aired, hardly anyone knew anything about it. I was hoping for another sleeper like that this season, but I’m afraid that hasn’t happened. Oh well… I’m sure there’ll be another great Anime soon to come!

Kyoto Animation sure took a risk with the first episode. Showing something that really doesn’t have anything to do with the actual plot was pretty unexpected. You can either hate the first episode or love it. No… that’s not true. I didn’t hate it nor did I really like it. It was funny, but seemed extremely strange and random when I first saw it. I was about to stop watching five minutes after the first episode, but at the time I was waiting for another download so I decided to continue watching anyway. And what a great decision that was! Besides, what attracted me to the show was the character design, which I think is really good. That’s also probably what kept me watching, as I didn’t realise it wasn’t the actual storyline. I had strong suspicions about this at around halfway through it, though I couldn’t be sure until the credits at the end. At first, I didn’t even realise Kyon and Koizumi were different people! Almost everything was resolved in the next episode, but new confusion arose for me when the episode shuffing began. People say this first episode is episode 0, but if that were the case, there’d be one episode missing from 1 – 14. That episode which is missing is episode 11, and the movie just happens to fit in that timeslot. How convenient! And if you don’t know how to figure out the real episode numbers, simply Google it up, or, at the end of each episode, listen to the episode number which Haruhi says. The episode numbers she says are actually not wrong, as Kyon always says.

Overview:

Anyway, let’s talk about what Suzumiya Haruhi is about. I’m sure you all know about it, but I can’t write the first entry to a series without the overview, can I? (Well, ok, I can, but I’m still going to write the overview!) The main character is a combat-waitress from – oh wait! That’s in the movie. Hehe… The real main character is Suzumiya Haruhi… No, actually that’s wrong too. The REAL main character is Kyon, a first year high schooler (year 10), whose real name and last name remain unknown (yes, Kyon is not his real name. It is a nickname his younger sister gave him, which everyone around him has adopted). Ok, enough about Kyon. He’s actually quite boring (though the narration he gives is awesome!) Suzumiya Haruhi is the main focus of the show, which is why it’s called Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (or ‘The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi’). She is in the same class as Kyon, but she’s no ordinary human. She has the power to realise her own wishes, whether it be to pass a simple test to something as crazy as destroying the world. No, the show is NOT a fantasy! Well, technically it is, but that’s not the point! Anyway, Haruhi is bored with her life and wishes there are ESP users, time travelers and aliens. As she has the ability to do anything in the world, espers, time travelers and aliens appear around her, though as she does not realise her own power, she is unable to recognise them. At school, she has an argument with Kyon, which gives her the idea to create a club to search for interesting things in the world, called the SOS-Dan (SOS Brigade). She recruits Kyon, two girls; Nagato Yuki and Asahina Mikuru, and another guy, Koizumi Itsuki. Yuki happens to be an alien, Mikuru is a time traveler and Itsuki is an esper. How wonderful! Kyon is the only normal human, and also knows about the other club member’s special ’status’. The series centres around this club. Now, just by reading that summary, you probably wouldn’t be interested if you haven’t seen or heard about it. Some of my friends who I told certainly rejected it, but when they actually watched it, found it to be one of the best they’ve seen.

Summary:

There isn’t a lot to talk about in the first episode, so I practically wrote nothing. I didn’t bother to expand it as it’s not really important anyway. Like I said earlier, the first episode is not part of the real plot. It is the movie the SOS Brigade makes, which is shot very poorly and the acting is horrible. The OP was absolutely atrocious and the plot which the narrator described was completely stupid. Mikuru plays the ‘combat waitress’, who fights the evil wizard, Nagato, several times before finally finishing her off. Mikuru and the boy she saved, Koizumi Itsuki, lived happily ever after. Seriously, that’s all for the summary! After the credits roll, Haruhi, Koizumi, Nagato, Mikuru and Kyon (the narrator) are seen watching the film. Kyon is shocked at the movie’s poor quality. He is also shocked at the fact that Haruhi sees nothing wrong with it and is acting like it’s a masterpiece, preparing to show it to the public. (By the way, there is a talking cat in the episode that is not explained throughout the entire series.)

Popularity: 23% [?]