Haruhi Reviews

Also known as "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya".

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is an anime about cliches trying not to be cliches and as a result of which end up in cliche situations. Kyon spends his time in the company of aliens, time-travelers, and espers, who use their limited ability to subdue the force of nature which created them, and must act as the devil's advocate to its actions in order to protect the good of the world which it created.

It is a show about characters who are cliches because they act like such on purpose. It is a show where their personalities are not ever spelled out, but are inferred through their private moments with you. It is a show where the stories do not particularily matter but are instead used as the catalyst to get to know more about these nuanced individuals that play pity to a God who is not aware of its powers, only talking in confidence between a very special, very ordinary, non-believer.

It also happens to be a show that evokes the right emotions at the right times. It knows when to be subtle, and when to be bombastic. It knows how to have a quiet moment and to let the audience breath, right after a musical number that is much better than it needed to be. It makes you feel things about ordinary people through virtue of them just being ordinary - and a show that can make you find beauty in regular people through a normal relationship is one that should be watched by ordinary people like you or I.

I recommend this show to anybody who enjoys animation in any form, and I especially recommend it to those who believe they have "seen it all", so to speak. This is not because it is one of the most mindblowingly special things you will ever see in your entire life, with nude girls, blackjack on every table, and more flashing lights than a police car siren test, but instead because it is one of the most effortlessly subtle and down-to-earth deconstructions of the medium of anime that you may ever see.

This show earns my top recommendation, and these reviews explain why. They also happen to be in "original broadcast" order, based on the recommendation of Digibro, as it provides better series pacing and a much better first episode. If you want to watch it in the chronological order, know that you will be watching an inferior experience.

The reviews:

Episode 01 - The shitty movie.

Episode 02 - Getting to know Haruhi.

Episode 03 - Where they steal the computer.

Episode 04 - The Gang plays baseball.

Episode 05 - Exposition time.

Episode 06 - The crime is afoof.

Episode 07 - Giant fucking bug.

Episode 08 - The crime is solved.

Episode 09 - The Gang grabs a space heater.

Episode 10 - Kyon fucking dies.

Episode 11 - The Gang plays eSports.

Episode 12 - The Gang dicks around the cultural fair.

Episode 13 - Two nerds in a taxi.

Episode 14 - It was actually a dream.

God Knows Froghand.

Today's page was updated on September 2, 2016!

It's just a prank bro.