Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya5dvddub,sub
haruhiThe Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya follows the high school life of Haruhi Suzumiya, a young and very active high school girl, and those who are caught up in her antics. While Haruhi is the central character to the plot, the story is told from the point of view of Kyon, one of Haruhi's classmates.
Volume 1
I thought that when I entered high school, my days of believing in aliens, time travelers and ESPers were over. That was, until she introduced herself. Claiming to be interested in only aliens, time travelers, and ESPers, Haruhi Suzumiya was the strangest girl I'd met in a long time...
Before I knew what was going on, I'd been dragged into her weird club, and it looks like I'm not the only one who has been drafted into this "SOS Brigade" of hers, because there are three other students here who don't seem to be so ordinary themselves.
Either way, we've all found ourselves caught up in Haruhi's quest to search for all things extraordinary. And what's this I hear about us making a movie...?
Kyon
Volume 2
Aliens, time travelers, and ESPers... I used to believe that none of these could possibly exist. But now everything I once believed to be the subject of TV specials, comic books and an over-active imagination have all come tumbling into my life! And apparently they've all gathered because of Haruhi!
The appearance of these fantastical beings is occurring right under Haruhi's nose and to make matters worse, she's getting bored! And when Haruhi gets bored, it can lead to some full blown trouble...
In order to deal with her boredom, I'm going to have to escape from homicidal classmates, a grey world filled with gigantic beings bent on its destruction, and win a game of baseball! And what does Snow White have to do with all of this?
Kyon
Volume 3
It seems that Haruhi has made a full recovery from her state of melancholy, and is back to doing whatever she wants. And even though all club activities are supposed to be suspended for the exam season, the SOS Brigade still continues to meet. But at least we've got something to do this time, as the computer club's president has gone missing and his girlfriend has sent us to look for him! But what does it have to do with the new SOS Brigade logo that Haruhi's come up with?
The SOS Brigade finally gets a vacation when Haruhi drags us off to an island villa owned by one of Itsuki's relatives. But when does the SOS Brigade really take a break? We're going from a closed space to a closed circle as we find ourselves trapped in the middle of a freak storm. To make matters worse, there's a murderer on the loose. This couldn't be all Haruhi's wish could it? She wouldn't want anybody to die... right?
Kyon
Volume 4
The annual school culture festival has begun, and with it comes the debut of Haruhi's surreal film! Who did she threaten this time to have her movie shown? More importantly, what other event has she schemed up and what impact will it have on the rest of the SOS Brigade? At least I've got Mikuru and the cosplay cafe to look forward to, but perhaps someone should explain to Yuki that fortune-telling isn't about eerie accuracy!
The computer club counter-attacks! After Haruhi extorted the club's president for their best computer they challenge the SOS Brigade to a not-so-friendly strategy game. How are we going to win when our chief's strategy doesn't exist? We should just raise the white flag and give up. Can we win without the help of Yuki's bogus magic or will defeat drive Haruhi into a world-ending rampage?
Its a slow day for us in the club room - that is, until Haruhi arrives. She's somehow managed to swindle a heater from one of our movie's sponsors. I hope Mikuru's okay while I'm forced to make the exhausting trek in the rain to retrieve it. What bizarre activity will Haruhi force upon our club members while I'm gone?
Kyon
Details
Commentary
I've had a chance to look at Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The story centers around Haruhi, an energetic and rather eccentric teenage girl who wishes that aliens, people from the future and ESPers really existed. The story is told from the point of view of Kyon, a classmate of Haruhi, who has the misfortune of being seated in front of Haruhi. Kyon's attitude throughout the series is one of quiet determination and resolve.
The story, at first glance, appears to be a fairly typical "slice of life" drama. But, once Yuki invites Kyon to her apartment for a "chat", things start to get weird, but, in a good way. Then, there's poor abused and mistreated Mikuru. Her antics really spice up what would otherwise be a quite bland series. Although the weirdness happens quite early in the series, the characters spend a lot of time talking and just being more or less average teenagers. Granted, they're facing somewhat unusual circumstances, but, they all still live fairly mundane lives. In fact, aside from some surprising revelations from the members of the club, and some rather eccentric behaviour on the part of Haruhi, almost nothing happens in the first volume. Even so, the series managed to capture my attention and hold my interest.
My favorite quote is from Mikuru after she's been abducted, forced to join Haruhi's club, stuffed into a bunny-girl suit and publicly humiliated:
Kyon, if I am no longer able to be a bride, will you marry me?
In the second volume, things start to get a bit more interesting. Kyon is still holding out hope that his classmates' wild assertions and antics are just the result of their insanity or perhaps that he's been the victim of a bad joke. But, all that comes to an end when Ryoko invites Kyon to meet with her after school for a "chat". Things start to go downhill pretty fast for Kyon after his meeting with Ryoko.
There's quite a bit of fan service and more groping than I've seen in a while. But, it's all good clean fun. Although there aren't any naughty bits, the fan service may not be really suitable for the younger anime fans among us. There's very limited violence and blood shed and no gore to speak of.
The animation quality is superb. The series has a nice, bright, fresh and highly polished look and feel. Even so, there's not much in the way of eye candy. In fact, fan service and comedic elements aside, the series is an entirely character-driven drama. The characters and story really provide the momentum in this series rather than action scenes or dramatic animation sequences.
I chose the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya pretty much at random. I hadn't heard about the series before and I thought I would toss a volume on the heap of unwatched anime just for kicks. The story on the back of the box seemed vaguely intriguing, but, the packaging didn't capture the magic that lay within. It was only much later, that I began to hear vague indications that this series was something that I should keep an eye on. I had been making fairly good progress on the heap of unwatched anime and I thought I might watch the series sooner rather than later.
Without giving too much away, there are shades of the second UY Movie - Beautiful Dreamer, in the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Overall, I'm very pleased that I took the chance to invest time on a title that didn't really speak to me. I believe the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya will very likely be a title that I'll visit again and again.
BTW, I would really like to have used a better picture for Kyon, but, I didn't have one on hand. I have the standard editions of the first three volumes and the special edition of the second volume. The standard edition packaging is quite plain.