TheLlama

Warning: This review contains some SPOILERS I've read many reviews of this show, and they're varied - some people love it, some hate it. Personally, I love this show, and am almost surprised that some people don't. But then again, if you don't like the sheer randomness and wackiness that the show builds on, the anime won't appeal to you. The setting is as following – a girl (Haruhi Suzumiya) has the power to change reality – a sort of God, in other words. She is unaware of this ability herself. Her wish of meeting espers, aliens and time travelers, combined with the aforementioned power, endsup in her making a club where said types of beings come together (she’s unaware of them being any more than normal humans, though) – along with a perfectly normal guy named Kyon; the first normal human to get along with her. Her club is called the SOS Brigade (Save the world by Overloading it with fun Suzumiya Haruhi’s Bridage), and we follow them as they partake in various – and humorous – activities. Story-wise, you can say the anime is episodic in that there's a new event every episode, but there's still ties between the individual episodes, which makes a true chronological order present. However, they were originally aired in a non-chronologic order, to make things even more confusing and random. Personally, I prefer the chronological order over the broadcast order, but I've heard people say otherwise. I'll try to list ups and down as good as possible: Broadcast order: + You'll get some good character development + The end of the series actually come at the end - References to episodes that you haven't watched yet - First episode might scare you off (watch it till the end!) Chronological order: + Linear story - The ending is kinda in the middle of the series - Character development may feel a bit reset after episodes Decide for yourself =) To me, the story was really great, and so was the setting. Each episode contained so much - you may feel that you've watched more than one episode's length at the end of an episode. This is partially due to the pacing - it varies from the slow, standard slice-of-life pacing to hyperactive and fast pacing which fits with Haruhi's character. The animation style of the show is excellent. Kyoto Animation definitely lives up to their reputation - most of the series they've worked on has an excellent animation quality (note: excellent, not necessarily perfect). The characters move so fluidly, the coloring is great, and other details are good too. Haruhi's various hair styles are a plus too. Lighting effects are good too..Their faces lost detail too often, which drags it down. The soundtrack is so-so. It's not the best, but it's good nevertheless. The OP/ED themes are catchy and good stand-alone songs, and the BGM is decent for this type of show. Voice acting is really good too; they manage to portray Haruhi's hyperactiveness and Kyon's laid-back, sarcastic character very well. When it comes to the characters, many people drag the score down because of the near-absence of character development. But, hey, guess what folks? It's a 14-episode slice of life/comedy anime. You don't watch these if you want character development. Sometimes you've got to think about what you're rating before you rate it. I don't let low amounts of character development drag down the score for this kind of anime. Though, watching it in broadcast order presents you with some good character development towards the end. Okay, the characters may be a little unoriginal - the laid-back guy and the hyperactive girl pair is definitely not something unseen. A quiet and shy girl and a moe/loli girl aren't unusual either. But what made the characters in TMoHS as good as they were was the unique way in which they were presented - it kinda made me forget that they're based on character types seen many times before in the world of anime. The story is told from Kyon's point of view, and he tells the story in a style that just made me burst out in laughter from time to time. Haruhi's hyperactiveness and, as Nagato said, "absence of universally accepted personality traits", makes her really fun to watch, and she gives me a good laugh more than once per episode. What people may find repulsive about her behavior is her constant sexual harassments of poor Mikuru. But I've seen people who hate the show based on only that, which I find stupid. Anyway, you've got to be prepared for a little fanservice from Haruhi's and Mikuru's interactions, if that's the correct term. All in all, TMoHS is a series which, to me, lived up to most of the hype. Good way of telling a 14-episode story, good animation, decent soundtrack, characters who were portrayed in a way that made them original, and of course, a unique setting. And not to mention, it's highly rewatchable, both for getting to watch it in both orders and because it's just pure fun to watch over and over again. To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =)

Sii_Kei

2 things before you read this review: 1) I (unfortunately) watched the series twice, both in airing and chronological order, so I can compare them. 2) This is not a praise Haruhi review, but rather a review from someone who truly dislikes and despises the show. I tried to include all reasons behind this; so even if you are a Haruhi fanatic, please try to understand why I rated it so low. Now onto the review. MAL is the place where I usually decide the new anime series I want to watch. Unfortunately, this sometimes proves to be disastrous - like the case of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.Reading the synopsis, seeing the nice graphics and all the hype around it, I really expected something great, intelligent and unusual. Instead, I got a really big disappointment - manifested by a boredom and annoyance overdose. From what I've seen, there are usually two approaches of the show that Haruhi fans support. First is the parody one - TMoHS is supposed to be a light comedy not meant to be taken seriously, destined purely for laughter. Second states that TMoHS is a deep, subtle and intelligent show that has a lot of hidden meanings. I honestly disagree with both. TMoHS is nothing more than a series that delivers to fans what fans want - exaggerated, cliche characters, lots of fanservice, predictability and little to none plot and character development. Story You can't talk about the story without mentioning the really unusual way in which the episodes are aired - and that is, not chronological. I admit, this is an extremely intelligent, even brilliant idea - to hide the fact that the plot of TMoHS is basically zero. Nopes. Nothing ever happens; it's just a bunch of high school and spare time events that some teenagers go through randomly thrown in. That's why, it really doesn't matter in which order you watch the show, since you won't miss anything. Now, the whole 'God is amongst us' concept could have been really interestingly developed - if it wasn't for the characters. Characters In my opinion, characters truly represent the poorest aspect of the show. Leaving aside the fact that there is no development in their personalities at all, they are so poorly made, that it's almost as if they were created to be mocked at. In an elegant way, you could say that they are one-dimensional sketches or exaggerated caricatures. In a non sophisticated, yet same true way, you could just call them crappy. Either way, they cut off all the enjoyment the story could have brought. Because they are so simplistic, the viewer is basically able to predict anything that's about to happen in the following 5 minutes with an accuracy of 95% - unless he's an idiot. So let's move onto each one of them. Haruhi: Haruhi is what every teenage girl would want to be - she's beautiful, she's smart, she's talented and athletic. She could be called either a Mary Sue character or a tsundere - I don't care. Because of all her qualities, her life was probably pretty easy, thus leading her to believe she's special. However, she doesn't want to be special only for herself - she wants the world to know how great of a person she is. So far, so good. Then why is she so unlikeable? Well, Haruhi's way of proving she's something else is definitely WRONG. If there was one adjective I had to pick to describe Haruhi, then I'd probably choose aggressive. Haruhi is aggressive in everything. Her speech is aggressive, her ideas are aggressive, her way of waving her hands is aggressive, but most important of all - her relationships towards other people is aggressive. She has no value of human morals whatsoever, considering everybody her pawns. Therefore, Haruhi thinks she is allowed to do everything just because she's able to. I honestly waited throughout the whole series for someone to slap her, disagree with her or at least spark the tiniest bit sense of reality into her. Unfortunately, there was no positive development at all. Haruhi started out as a perfect, bossy bitch and ended up as an even more bitchy one, receiving several ego boosts as the series advanced due to her talented, almighty nature. Yuki: Yuki could as very well be replaced by a broken alarm clock that rings when it shouldn't or by an old, rusted door and there would hardly be any differences. 90% of Yuki's actions are static - she's just, well, there, reading a book. (The climax of Yuki's passiveness is reached during episode 14, when the viewer is shown 5 minutes in which basically all she does is change the page while voices full of references echo on the school corridor. That's 5 freaking minutes of NOTHING. Yet I, as a viewer, should find this utterly amusing.) The rest 10% of Yuki's actions make absolutely no sense. She's just programming computers or fighting cute aliens while being equally cute, silent and moe. Mikuru: Mikuru's only purpose in this show is to bring fanservice. Lots and lots, if possible. Mikuru has this high-pitched, squeaky scream and this shy personality which enables her to make all fanboys fall for her. She's like a sickening cute, fluffy hamster that starts squealing every time she's touched (and she sure gets touched a lot, mind you.) Every once in a while, she might give you the unpleasant surprise that she's not actually a commercial item and she can exit her tormented animal state too and be human - by speaking. Koizumi: I haven't read the original novels so I can't tell for sure what role Koizumi plays in them - but to me, it seems as the creator of TMoHS had, at some point, reached a pinch. He had to create a new character. Therefore, his line of reasoning was probably something like this: "Hey, I already have 3 extremely moe and likable female characters. I should make a guy too, so the female audience would be pleased. Yeah, yeah, I should make a guy - as elegant and charming as possible." Thus Koizumi was born. Basically, unless you're a crazy fangirl or something similar, you'd barely be able to notice Koizumi - I, for once, kept forgetting his name all the time. To be honest, the only time I acknowledged his existence was when he kept staring at Kyon's hair in the middle of a mole fluttering in the ocean breeze. I thought it was the most irrelevant and repulsing thing TMoHS had brought so far. Koizumi serves as the voice through which the strange events occurring around Haruhi are explained. Translation: his speeches are long, boring and put you to sleep. When he talks, he talks. When he doesn't talk, he still talks. Kyon: Kyon is a sword with two edges. On one hand, he's really sarcastic, being quite innovative to the ordinary guy genre - thus proving to be the only aspect that might seem slightly interesting during the series. On the other one, he's extremely unlikable due to the fact that he doesn't take any action at all - unless forced by Haruhi. Kyon was the viewer's last hope of Haruhi redemption - yet he fails miserably, by making her even worse than how she actually started off. Art and Sound Art and sound are probably the only positive aspects of the show. TMoHS manages to create a pretty good atmosphere - the movements are flowing easily, the colors are bright and clean, the background music fits in - even though it doesn't stand out as more than ordinary. The OP and ED are either really addictive or annoying to the core - I'm more inclined to the latter. Voices are OK, the actors managing to catch each character's personality - which only adds up to how you, as a viewer, perceive them. Overall, no major problem. Enjoyment Zero. Zero enjoyment. I can't quite comprehend how a normal, rational person can watch a show where the characters are horrible and the story is predictable - and, at the same time, enjoy it. Haruhi is a mediocre anime for the masses. It was meant to be liked by all those who want to stand out but have no means of doing so. I honestly expect much more from my anime when I watch it. I want to be hooked or at least slightly entertained. Leave aside the fact that I constantly kept staring elsewhere asking myself 'when will this crap be over?'; I couldn't even grin ONCE throughout the series. That's how uninteresting it was. Overall When rating, I usually consider two aspects. One is enjoyment; the other is the effort that I feel the creators put into the certain anime. Animation-wise, KyoAni really overdid itself. Plot-wise, it was a total wreck. Therefore, I really cannot rate TMoHS more than 4 out of 10.