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Impressions:

Two excellent episodes: 12 with the awesome performance by Haruhi/Hirano Aya, and 13 with heaps of mayhem as well as Koizumi finally showing off his powers as an esper (ESP user). I also tend to like episodes when Koizumi has a large part, as he usually finds a way to make everything so wordy and increase the length of a conversation from 2 or 3 to a dozen, and his lines are always interesting. So are Kyon’s of course with his hilarious sarcasm. But still, the last episode is the best, even though technically it’s not the last one and only the 6th. Oh well.

I’m sure many people know the two songs from episode 12: “God Knows” and “Lost My Music”. Two pretty good songs in my opinion, though they’re not that good. Nevertheless, both are pretty famous as well as the episode which featured them. Some even say episode 12 was the best episode because of these two pieces. I can understand that. I was quite shocked too when Haruhi started performing like a pro, but after thinking about it for a while, it was pretty reasonable, as she’s the type of person who involves herself in everything. The episode was high quality as well – I’ve seen other Animes which attempt to throw in a band scene and screw it completely; the drummer looks like a robot, every guitarist does the same hand movement at the same time, none of the performers are moving except their arms etc. KyoAni sure did a good job with the band scene, and that’s probably one of the reasons why everyone loved it so much.

The next episode, 13, was good in another way. First, there was quite a bit of destruction, which I always enjoy. Koizumi’s esper demonstration was cool too, but I thought being an esper just meant being able to read minds and stuff. And of course, Kyon spending time with Haruhi is good too (yes, I’m a Haruhi fan, not a Mikuru one). Well anyway, holidays are over for me so there’ll be less updates now (damn, fall series are starting!!)

Episode 12:

It is the day of the cultural festival. Kyon is wandering through the various displays around the school; Haruhi is handing out flyers advertising ‘The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina’ in a bunny costume; Nagato is meant to be telling fortunes but is giving accurate predictions of the future; and Kiozumi is acting in a play. Kyon visits them all and decides to go see Mikuru at her fried soba café. He meets up with his friends Taniguchi and Kunikida and they all head to the café together. They meet Tsuruya at the reception, who informs them that they are serving badly made soba and tap water. Half an hour later, they manage to get a seat. Mikuru serves them and in 5 minutes, they finish and are ushered out.

Kyon wanders around with nothing do and winds up in the performance hall. He falls asleep as the many bands play, until he sees something shocking. Haruhi and Nagato walk onto the stage, along with two other girls. Kyon does not think that Haruhi has any singing ability (and neither did I), but the performance is actually good. Nagato, the lead guitarist, had learned how to play (and be good) the electric guitar in a second after she read the sheets of music. Haruhi, the singer and rhythm guitarist, looks unsure of herself for the first time as she performs. The first song she sings is sung way too low for Haruhi’s voice, though the second one is more believable. She is ecstatic after performing, happy about something other than finding something mysterious.

The next day, Haruhi seems less energetic than usual. She tells Kyon how she winded up performing. When she was heading back to the classroom yesterday, she saw a North High Festival executive committee member arguing with the band going on stage. The lead singer was hospitalised due to tonsillitis a few days ago, and the guitarist had injured her wrist so she couldn’t play. Haruhi offered to step in with Nagato and the band had accepted the offer. Haruhi actually doesn’t sound hyper as she explains this to Kyon, which is a nice change.

The real members come asking to see Haruhi. She’s not used to this kind of attention and drags Kyon with him. The band members express their gratitude and invite them to the next performance. After lunch, Kyon wanders outside and sees Haruhi lying on the ground staring at the skies. She is still thinking about the performance, unable to calm down, as she is not used to being appreciated by people. Suddenly, Haruhi’s signature grin returns and she asks Kyon if he can play an instrument. He says no but she doesn’t listen and begins planning out the year, deciding to make a band of her own and performing at the next cultural festival. Looks like she’s back to normal…

Episode 13:

This episode continues from episode 10, when Asukura Ryoko made an unsuccessful attempt to kill Kyon, who was saved by Nagato. Haruhi finds it strange that someone would suddenly transfer schools without informing anyone first (as Nagato had manipulated data and made every think Asakura had moved) and decides to investigate the matter. She heads to Asakura’s apartment with a reluctant Kyon and finds the door locked. Not giving up, Haruhi asks the manager about Asakura’s sudden move. She is informed that no movers had come when Asakura left. She is also told that Asakura began living in the apartment 3 years ago (a familiar number!) Not finding anything useful, Haruhi decides to leave. The manager tells Kyon to let Haruhi go (but Kyon is obviously not interested…or is he?)

As the two leave the building, they encounter Nagato returning home after doing some shopping. Haruhi asks her about Asakura, but Nagato says (or rather, simply nods) she doesn’t know anything. When she is asked what happened to her glasses, she glances at Kyon, probably thinking back to when Kyon had she looked cuter without them. As they part, Nagato tells Kyon to be careful, but of what to be careful of, she doesn’t say.

Haruhi begins walking in random directions with no particular destination in mind. They stop near a railway crossing, and Haruhi suddenly asks Kyon if he has realised how insignificant his existence is. Apparently she has, and after informing Kyon of this, she begins to tell him of how it happened. Three years ago, she had gone with her family to see a baseball match. She was shocked at the number of people in the stands. After asking how many people were in the stadium and doing some calculations, she realised that the people in the stadium only made up a very small fraction of the population of Japan. Two use Haruhi’s metaphor, ‘not only was she one little person in that sea of people in that stadium, but that sea of people was merely a drop in the ocean.’ Haruhi had thought she was special before that realisation, being in a class which she thought had the most interesting people in the world. But the baseball match made her realise that the same kinds of people were in every school in Japan, and that she wasn’t special at all. After coming to this conclusion, she felt that everything around her became boring, and began her campaign to find interesting things in junior high. But in the end, nothing interesting had happened.

After a moment of silence, Haruhi decides to go home and Kyon doesn’t follow. When he arrives at his own home, he finds Koizumi waiting for him. Koizumi hails a taxi, and while they are driving, he tells Kyon that an opportunity to prove he’s an esper has arrived. As they travel, Koizumi explains to Kyon about the anthropic principal, a theory that his agency believes in. ‘If something must be true for us, as humans to exist, then it is true because we exist’. Sound confusing? Basically what he means is that, if existing as humans is true, then it is true because they exist.

Koizumi then gives an example: ‘Humans, the intelligent life forms of this planet discovered the laws of physics and other physical constants, and through those discoveries, became aware for the first time of the existence of a universe bound by those observations. Therefore, if the humans on Earth who observed this universe had not evolved to the current level, there would be no one to make those observations, and consequently, the existence of the universe would remain unknown. In other words, it wouldn’t matter if the universe existed or not. The existence of humans permits the existence of the universe.’ (Sheesh! How wordy can this get?)

However, this speculation brings about some interesting facts that should be noted. Why did the universe happen to be created to accommodate human life? (Isn’t it the other way around? Humans evolved to survive in this particular type of environment.) Koizumi continues, saying that if there had been the slightest difference in the universe, the Earth wouldn’t have been created (and some other form of life would evolve to survive whatever environment sooner or later.)

Anyway, after some more confusing metaphors, Koizumi finally explains the reason he brought the anthropic principal up: to create a comparison with Suzumiya Haruhi. Koizumi had said that Haruhi had created the world. She has the ability realise her own wishes. She wished for aliens, espers and time travellers to exist, and that is why Nagato, Koizumi and Mikuru are here. Kyon asks him how he knows this, and Koizumi says that it was three years ago when he (and all the other espers in the agency) suddenly received their powers and knowledge. I guess it must’ve been something like enlightenment.

Koizumi says the fact that Haruhi can create the world also means she can destroy it, and create a new world from scratch. The world that Kyon and Koizumi are currently in could even be the ‘latest in a string of reincarnations’, to quote Koizumi. So why doesn’t he just reveal his identity to Haruhi so she stops being bored? Because if Haruhi believes the existence of espers to be common, the whole world would end up that way. The laws of physics would crumble and the world would end up in turmoil. Kyon then asks why Haruhi hasn’t noticed yet, and Koizumi explains that it’s because of her common sense. She has enough of it to know it’s impossible for espers and such to exist. Haruhi had calmed down during her middle school years, but when she started high school, she became eccentric again, her level of energy soaring. This was Kyon’s fault as he had given Haruhi the idea to form the SOS Brigade. Kyon claims this as a false charge.

Anyway, the two finally arrive at their destination, somewhere in another part of the city. Koizumi asks Kyon to close his eyes and takes his hand, dragging him into a dimension known as closed space. Closed space occurs in concurrence with Haruhi’s mood. Whenever she is mentally unstable, and depending on how unstable she is, closed space develops. Koizumi can detect closed space, gain entry and destroy it. Destroying closed space requires the elimination of the beast inside. In this instance of closed space, it is a giant of light who is wrecking havoc in the city. Kyon, who had been perfectly calm until now, finally shows some emotion: shock. The reason the monsters destroy their surroundings is to ease Haruhi’s raging emotions. Koizumi says he must join his colleagues, referring to red lights encircling the giant. Koizumi creates a red orb around himself and flies off toward the giant at and incredible speed. The red lights around the giant accelerate and slice the giant to pieces, destroying it quite efficiently. I wonder why Koizumi didn’t do this during the encounter with the giant cricket. After destroying the beast, Koizumi returns just as closed space crumbles and they are transported back to the real world.

As Koizumi and Kyon are returning home, Koizumi explains that his agency calls the monsters Celestials, which are linked to Haruhi’s mental state. Espers are also linked to Haruhi. Only when they are in closed space can they use their powers. They also can’t let the Celestials wreak things as they wish, for the more destruction they cause, they large the closed space becomes. If they did nothing, closed space would envelope the Earth, taking the place of the real world. When they arrive at Kyon’s house, Koizumi asks him to tae notes of Haruhi’s mental condition. She has been stable for a while, but this has changed recently. The closed space that had been destroyed that day was one of the first in a long time. Kyon asks how would monitoring Haruhi’s behaviour and Koizumi replies with a ‘You never know.’

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