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Impressions:

Well, er … nothing much to say since the Anime’s finished already. Episode 4 is when my favourite character is introduced – Tsuruya! If only she had more air time … Oh and episode shuffling starts episode 4 (not including the first episode). When I first watched the fourth episode, I honestly did not notice anything wrong with the order of events. I couldn’t remember what episode 3 was about so I thought I just missed Koizumi’s intro. Although Kyon and Haruhi seemed a bit closer at the end of that episode than how they left off of episode 3. It was only until the start of episode 5 did I realise. I’d say for this series, the episode shuffling is a positive thing – otherwise the last episode would’ve been that episode about Kyon getting the heater. Absolutely nothing happened in that episode!

Episode 3 (Episode 2):

Not long after the SOS Brigade is formed, Haruhi decides she wants to recruit a mysterious student, someone who transfers just 2 months after the start of the school year. But will such a thing happen? (Yes it will.)

Well, before it does, Haruhi decides to get a computer to make a web page for her club. Haruhi then barges into the computer club’s room and asks for a computer. Of course the leader refuses, but Haruhi gets her way – as usual. This next scene is both cruel and hilarious. Haruhi takes the computer club leader’s hand and forces it onto Mikuru’s chest. Before he can remove his hand, Haruhi takes several pictures of the act. She then kicks him onto Mikuru and takes more photos to use as blackmail. In the end, she gets her new computer.

Kyon tries to comfort Mikuru, is sulking on the floor. Mikuru then mumbles something weird, the first hint that she is not normal (did I say too much)? Anyway Kyon (under Haruhi’s orders) works on the club’s website. While he does this, Nagato asks him to read a book. Kyon agrees to take it home.

Later on when all the members are in the club room, Haruhi locks the door and reveals two sets of bunny costumes… sigh. Haruhi then begins to force Mikuru out of her clothes before Kyon can leave the room. After a while, Haruhi and Mikuru finish changing and Haruhi drags Mikuru out of the room, to distribute flyers outside the school. Mikuru pleads for Kyon to help her, but Kyon apologisers as he just can’t get enough of the outfit. Haruhi and Mikuru try to distribute the flyers but teachers forbid them to do so in their outfit. Before they all leave, Nagato reminds Kyon to read the book when he gets home.

Later at night, as Kyon is flipping through the book, he finds a note telling him meet somewhere. He rides his bike to the set location and finds Nagato sitting on the bench. She then leads him to her apartment, where she stays by herself. Nagato then explains about why she is here and about Haruhi. She claims that Haruhi and herself aren’t normal humans. Nagato is actually an organic life contact-purpose humanoid interface created by the Data Integration Thought Entity which supervises the galaxy, which means she is an alien.

Episode 4 (Episode 7):

All is peaceful and quiet in the SOS Brigade clubroom until Haruhi arrives proclaiming that they have entered the baseball tournament. By the way, the time interval between this episode and the last is quite substantial, where there are new characters that would have been introduced in this interval. There is a new member, Koizumi Itsuki, and Kyon has also accepted Nagato as an alien. Mikuru has also been revealed as not from this timeline (though the audience wouldn’t have known that yet). Kyon also knows that Koizumi is actually an esper.

Haruhi then forces the baseball team to let the SOS Brigade practice. Haruhi plays against the baseball team and is (not surprisingly) very good. By the time she decides to call it a day, all the baseball team members are on the verge of collapsing. Kyon asks Nagato to make it rain on the day of the match. Nagato says that if she does, the alteration in the ecosystem would affect the life on earth. These effects would show up from several centuries to ten millennia in the future, so Kyon decides to scrap that idea.

On the day of the game, Mikuru’s friend, Tsuruya, is introduced. Haruhi still thinks they will crush the other team, even though Kyon’s 11-year-old sister is playing as well. They then find out that their opponent is a college team who are expected to win. Haruhi has no chance of winning right?

Haruhi fares pretty well and is able to get on second base. Mikuru doesn’t even attempt to hit the ball and gets a strike-out. The same thing happens with Nagato. Kyon actually tries to hit it but also gets a strike-out. Then they switch. Haruhi manages to get the first batter out with a solid but straight pitch. The first batter warns the second and he easily manages to hit the ball. The next inning Haruhi’s team gets no runs again. Haruhi then forces Mikuru into a cheerleader uniform, which motivates her next batsman (Kyon’s friend). However, he gets a strike-out as well. Haruhi gets to third base on her first hit. It is Miuru’s turn, and Haruhi tries to give her a sign. Mikuru stands wondering about this and does not even notice that she has been bowled out.

Suddenly, closed space has appeared due to Haruhi’s foul mood. They must stop this or the closed space will continue to expand, unleashing monsters into the world. The baseball match has suddenly turned into a battle to save the world. Nagato then ‘enchants’ the bat to hit the ball by itself. Nagato hits a home run with the bat. So does Kyon, Kyon’s sister, Koizumi, Tsuruya and everyone else on the team. So the tides have turned!

Haruhi then changes her pitching position with Kyon. Nagato becomes the backstop. Each time Kyon pitches the ball, Nagato alters its data to make it fall into her glove. Everyone gets bowled out and they win the game. Thankfully for the other team, they forfeit and allow the college team to progress to the next round.

The next day, Haruhi barges into the clubroom with two flyers, asking whether the club wanted to play soccer or rugby.

Episode 5 (Episode 3):

This episode begins where episode 3 left off – Nagato telling Kyon that she is an alien. She now informs him that she is here to observe Haruhi and report all obtained data to the Integration Thought Entity. Apparently Nagato was born (or created) three years ago for this particular task. For those three years, nothing much had happened until Haruhi met Kyon. She explains about a whole lot of other things that I can’t be bothered writing down. All you need to know is that Haruhi was the centre of a massive explosion of data and that she is no ordinary human. She is able to manipulate data around her to coincide with her own desires. Nagato then goes to say that Kyon has been ‘chosen’ by Haruhi, without explaining what this really means.

Of course, Kyon does not believe a word Nagato says, and thinks she is crazy.

Nagato continues her speech, saying that she is not the only interface placed on earth (in fact, another person in Kyon’s class is one).

The next day, the mysterious transfer student arrives just as Haruhi had wished for it. After school as Kyon, Mikuru and Nagato are waiting for Haruhi, Nagagto begins to play a board game with Mikuru. Mikuru is very uneasy about this (as she knows Nagato is an alien). However, before anything else can happen, Haruhi arrives to destroy the tranquillity, dragging along the transfer student, Koizumi Itsuki.

After school the next day, Kyon walks in on Haruhi stripping Mikuru. Kyon runs back out. It turns out that Haruhi had gotten Mikuru a maid costume. After Koizumi joins them, Haruhi gives a not-so inspirational speech, and so the SOS Brigade go out in search of mysterious happenings around the neighbourhood.

The club splits into two groups. Kyon is paired up with Mikuru, and the other three are grouped as a three. After this decision is made, Haruhi constantly reminds Kyon that he is not on a date, even though he thinks it is.

As Kyon and Mikuru walk around, she decides to inform him about her true identity and that she is from the future. The conversation is extremely long as Mikuru tries to explain about time which is incomprehensible to normal humans. She then tells him that three years ago, a large timequake was detected and people from her time came to investigate. They were shocked to find that they weren’t able to travel further back in time. The conclusion was a large time-fault was created during the timequake. And the reason for this timequake? Haruhi of course. Like Nagato, Mikuru also claims that Kyon was chosen by Haruhi. The details are classified so she cannot explain further.

The SOS Brigade regroup, have lunch then split up again. Kyon is paired with Nagato. Haruhi is not happy as she obviously wants to be with Kyon, but the groups stay as they are. Instead of searching for mysterious things, Kyon takes Nagato to the library to kill time. Kyon falls asleep and is woken by his mobile. After yielding no results, Haruhi calls it a day and everyone goes home. The next week, Kyon confronts Koizumi, expecting him to be out of the ordinary as well. And it turns out he is. Koizumi is an esper and like the other two times he begins to explain about himself and the agency he is from, which was created three years ago. He describes the world as a dream, and for the person having this dream, manipulating it is easy. And who exactly is having this dream? Suzumiya Haruhi. Koizumi describes her as a god.

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