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

Impressions:

Ah yes, episode 8; my favourite. It was the most interesting and exciting of them all. I was convinced that guy was dead until the last moment when it seemed like Kyon had killed Koizumi. At that moment, I knew it couldn’t have been for real. Such a shame … it would have been good if the series was darker, but that’s about as dark as it gets. I really hope for a sequel, but for now, Kyoto should be busy with Kanon so I’ll watch that for now. Still, Suzumiya Haruhi is awesome and the withdrawal from it that I’ve been suffering from compounded with no bleach last week – sigh … And who was that girl at the start of episode 6? The one tearing up the paper and such. Mysterious…

Episode 6: (episode 9)

The SOS Brigade is sailing on the sea, headed for a remote island for a three-night stay planned by Koizumi. The purpose? To look for any unusual things (like always).

One day earlier… Haruhi announces the first overnight trip of the summer vacation for the SOS Brigade. Koizumi’s rich relatives had bought a small island and built a villa there. Haruhi promotes Koizumi for his help, assigning him the name of Deputy Chief.

Back to the present… Koizumi is talking with Kyon, comparing fictional detectives in novels to Haruhi. The works of literature will place the detectives in one mystery after another, to create a story. He explains that Haruhi actually wants to be thrown into such a world. Koizumi says that in reality, mysterious things don’t just appear like that. However, he also says that the island that they are going to is a perfect place for a murder to occur… (What a giveaway!)

When they arrive, Koizumi greets his friend, who replies with, “It’s been quite some time.�? This statement is very important! The butler, Arakawa, and the maid, Sonou Mori, are the ones who greet them. They then take another half-hour boat ride to the villa.

When they reach the villa, they are greeted by the master of the manor, Keiichi Tamura. Haruhi asks if anything unusual has happened to the villa, but as it is only a few days old, nothing has. The group spend the day on the beach (Nagato spends the whole time reading) and finally return at dusk. After dinner, they return outside and light fireworks. And after that, they went bushwalking.

It is raining heavily the next day – not a very good sign. During breakfast, Kyon notices that Tamura is absent. The butler explains that he is not a morning person and has a hard time waking up. Haruhi complains about the typhoon, which reminds Kyon that there had been no forecast of it, and thinks it’s probably because Haruhi self-consciously wished for it to happen.

The next day, it is still raining. Haruhi want to have a pillow fight, but the butler shows up with a troubled look on his face. Yutaka is missing and his bed looks undisturbed. Keiichi is also troubling him. Arakawa had tried contacting him through the intercom but he hadn’t replied. Koizumi suggests they check Keiichi’s room, but it is locked and only the master has the key.

Haruhi runs upstairs to where the master’s room would be, but there are multiple doors and she doesn’t know which one is it. Koizumi runs past, heading straight for the master’s room. This is another important piece of information. Koizumi tries to open the door, but he cannot. He then suggests that they break it down. When they do break it open, they find the master lying on the floor on his back, a knife stuck in his chest.

Episode 7: (episode

During the exam period, Haruhi comes up with a club emblem (that looks horrible). Haruhi actually looks very sad (and angry) when Kyon cannot recognise what it is. She decides to put the emblem on their site’s front page after she had given up on attracting visitors by erotic pictures of Mikuru.

Later on, Haruhi is expecting visitors because Kyon had put up a poster a while ago, saying that the SOS Brigade is a counselling group. Aside from that, Haruhi notices that their site’s homepage and logo are completely screwed up, and asks Kyon for help. Kyon tries to repair the files on the server, but the problem persists. Haruhi thinks it’s a hacker while Kyon thinks it’s some sort of network error.

Kyon tries fixing the problem for hours, but nothing works. Mikuru arrives after finishing her exams, bringing along visitor, Kimidori Emiri. She wants the SOS Brigade to search for her missing boyfriend. The girl had not seen her boyfriend for days, even went to his house but found no one there. It turns out that the missing boyfriend is the president of the computer club.

The SOS Brigade goes to the president’s apartment but the door is locked and no one is answering. They plan to ask the landlord for a spare key when Nagato places her hand on the door and stares into Kyon’s eyes, as if asking for permission, before opening the now unlocked door. The student is not inside.

Suddenly, both Nagato and Koizumi tell Kyon that they should leave at once, while Haruhi is jumping around playfully. Koizumi has a strange sensation of closed space. Nagato says that a dimensional rift exists and that phase conversion is occurring.

As the group is departing, Haruhi runs off. The rest of the group pretend to leave, but quickly regroup. Kyon tells Mikuru that the reason is because Nagato and Koizumi are concerned about the room they were in.

More Nagato gibberish… ‘A limited-area amalgamated (complex/combined) alternate timespace with non-corrosive tendencies is independently is occurring in restricted mode within this room.�? Koizumi asks Nagato if the president’s disappearance is a result of this occurrence and Nagato replies with a ‘yes’. She raises her hand, makes some quick mouth-movements and suddenly the group is in the middle of a vast desert. Nagato explains that the closed space they are currently in overlaps the space outside.

Suddenly, (and I mean SUDDENLY) a gigantic monster of sorts appears behind them and the sky turns dark. It happens so suddenly that it’s funny. The monster turns out to be an enormous cave cricket, the creator of the abnormal space. Koizumi explains that his strength is only a tenth of what it should be in closed space. Koizumi forms a ball of fire in his fist. Nagato says that the president is inside the huge bug. Koizumi tosses his ball of fire into the air then whacks it at the bug while muttering ‘Fumoffu’ (from FMP). It doesn’t work very well and the insect lunges at Nagato. She creates a repulsion field and repels the bug. Koizumi attacks again, yelling ‘Second Raid’ (from FMP again). The bug disintegrates, leaving the president on the ground.

Now to the website problem. It seems that a life form that arrived on earth 280 millennia ago and went into a state of hibernation. When computers were invented, it reached a half-awakened state. Then, an enormous amount of data which was transferred from a parallel world caused it to awaken. This parallel world was the club emblem that Haruhi drew, which is about 436 petabytes in size.

After more explanations, the computer club president claims that he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Strange…

Episode 8: (episode 10)

This ep starts where episode 6 left off – the SOS Brigade finding the master of the manor with a knife in his chest. Haruhi is sweating (it’s nice to see someone as confident and naive as her to be panicky), as she goes to feel the man’s pulse. The butler tells her not to (the reason for this is important) and feels his pulse for himself. He says that the Keiichi is dead.

Several observations are made. One, the small fruit knife has penetrated a notebook before reaching Keiichi’s flesh, which means that the murderer must have incredible strength, which also means that it must be a male. Also, the fact that Yutaka is missing makes this situation even more one-sided.

The second observation: this happened in a locked room with the windows locked as well. How could someone commit this crime in a locked room, escape then lock the room again from the outside? It is also pouring outside, making escape a pretty hard thing to do.

The group sit in silence back in their room. Mikuru is still in bed from shock and Kyon’s little sister is asking questions. Haruhi asks Kyon to go outside with her, and tells Nagato to lock the door and to not open it for anyone. Haruhi moans about how something like this could happen, and Kyon says that she had wanted someone to die. Haruhi counters by saying that the only reason for that was because she wasn’t expecting anything to happen. How truthful! Kyon wonders if Yutaka did it as he would be the main suspect, which reminds Haruhi of yesterday, when Mikuru had noticed Yutaka and Keiichi arguing. Haruhi also mentions that last night she had overheard Yutaka calling to prepare a passport and traveller’s checks, possibly arranging his escape.

Haruhi urges Kyon to take another look, but they are stopped by the butler. He had called the police, who had asked him not to allow anyone in the room. Kyon asks him if Yutaka and Keiichi didn’t get along. The butler says that he wouldn’t know as he has only been working here for a week. HOWEVER, if you remember when the SOS Brigade first arrived on the island, Koizumi had greeted him with, “It’s been quite some time.�? Obviously this piece of information is false.

Haruhi decides to go outside and see if the boat is still there. Mori, the maid, tells them that Yutaka had been in a hurry last night, heading for the entranceway. This had happened at 1 o’clock AM.

Kyon and Haruhi still decide to go outside though, and due to the strong winds, they hold hands (how cute!). When they reach the cliff and look down at the pier, they see that the boat is indeed gone. Haruhi suddenly sees someone down near the pier. Haruhi drags Kyon down a ridge, and what happens? They fall. Actually Haruhi falls and drags Kyon down with her. When Haruhi wakes up, she finds herself on top of an unconscious Kyon. She desperately tries to wake him up, and when he does, gives him a sweet, “daijoubu?�? This is the reason I really like this episode; all the moments of bonding between Haruhi and Kyon, and also a chance to see Suzumiya’s soft and caring side.

The two manage to get inside a cave and dry their clothes. Haruhi begins to doubt that it was Yutaka who killed Keiichi, as Mori had said that he left at 1 am, but when Haruhi had felt the dead body, it was still warm. She also doubts that Keiichi had died later on as well, as everyone had been moving around the house before they found the body. Finally, she comes to a conclusion (which is wrong by the way.)

Haruhi: “There’s no doubt that Yutaka stabbed Keiichi. Or else, you said he would have no reason to run away (talking to Kyon.) I don’t know his reasons, but Yutaka stabbed Keiichi. I doubt it was a premeditated (planned) murder. It was probably something like they got into an argument, and he picked up a nearby fruit knife and ended up using it. But the knife didn’t reach his heart. The knife was obstructed by the notebook and didn’t cause a fatal wound. However, this is when it got complicated. Keiichi fainted from the shock. Upon seeing that, Yutaka believed that he had killed him. The problem is what happened next. Keiichi, who had merely fainted, remained unconscious until morning. Once Keiichi came to, he stood up in a dazed state, and remembered that his brother had tried to kill him. Unable to think clearly, he locked the door. That’s when tragedy struck. Keiichi tripped over himself and fell on his face. As a result, the knife was driven into his heart, and Keiichi met his demise. This is the truth.”

Kyon does not buy this, and says that the body was found face up. THEN… Haruhi finally realises the real truth. Kyon asks her what she had just realised, and Haruhi says it was nothing. That is when Koizumi finds them.

Kyon is thinking about the murder when he sees his little sister searching for food in the kitchen. He notices that there is a plate of food already eaten, with a knife and fork resting on it AND some carrots leftover. Mori says that it had been eaten by the butler, but Kyon is not too sure.

Kyon arrives back at his room to find Haruhi and Koizumi stuck outside. Nagato was refusing to open the door because she was instructed not to open it for anybody. Haruhi tries to reason with her, but as Nagato is a super-intelligent alien, Haruhi fails. Kyon then steps up and says that he will override Haruhi’s orders. Nagato obediently opens the door.

Koizumi asks Haruhi if they should continue to investigate, but she tells him to forget it. How unlike her. Kyon then tells Koizumi about the discussion he had with Haruhi in the cave. Koizumi then explains what Haruhi had realised in the cave and why she didn’t want to continue investigating.

Koizumi: “Suzumiya’s deduction was partially correct, but the last part was wrong. Keiichi was stabbed by Yutaka, but he didn’t die. Yutaka made the wrong assumption and escaped. That much is all correct. Keiichi was awakened by our voices, and just as we were about to open the door, he locked it in his dazes state. That was when… That was when the knife was driven into Keiichi’s body.”

Kyon: “Which means the perpetrator…”

Koizumi: “Would be the ones who broke the door down. In other words, myself. You. And Arakawa. Suzumiya probably realised this. That’s why she didn’t say anything. In order to protect us. Hiding the truth within her own heart.�?

Kyon: “Your story makes sense…but it’s unfortunate that you learned the truth. (Kyon looks scary…) If I seal your lips… nobody will ever know of this. (Kyon advances on Koizumi) That would be the logical course of action.”

Kyon’s little sister runs to the butler, yelling that Koizumi is dead. The butler is truly shocked, as there isn’t meant to be anyone dead. Haruhi and Kyon enter Keiichi’s room. They say that they will stab the body a few more times and upon hearing this, Keiichi immediately gets up.

At the dining table, Haruhi explains everything that had happened – about the act that was put on by the master, brother, maid, butler and Koizumi, Kyon pretending to kill Koizumi and how his little sister distracted the butler.

After all the explanations, the group return home.

Popularity: 25% [?]