Wasn't expecting this to be a teaching moment episode, but I'm totally ok with that. Was actually surprised how the kid didn't leave him in disgust at seeing how impefect his idol really is. Never meet your heroes they say.
The game only focuses on the first Arc, and they just added Sinon DLC. If there was another game made I think they would skip all the elf incest stuff.
In which the love triangle is at least brought to the forefront so that all parties are aware of it, but it's not fully resolved. And won't be for a long time, we still have half the show left. It's about time Seiji became a MotW, and that both Hime and Megumi healed him does suggest something. The new ED is alright, a little slower of a beat compared to the first one. I do like the lyrics, and look forward to the group's power up form in the future. I just hope it's better than either Princess or Super Silhouette ie. Not just a dignified finisher.
Sasuga YuuYuu, she kept the romance subplot alive just when Hime was about to give up. And she apparently failed at the Seiji bowl earlier on before this started apparently. But it enabled her to be what looks to be a better best friend to Hime then Megumi is (which.... just doesn't feel right now).
Hime's fantasies may as well be Shoujo vision, because it actually made Seiji look cool. Seiji apparently got too riled up to the point that Blue said "Stop confusing little girls". God damn.
And the episode looked a bit off until the fighting began, in where there was a sudden bump... and I'm okay with this. But yes, Yuuko fucking delivered here, she got more screen time here as well as character development than I was expecting in this episode.
Although with that upcoming
Yuuko and Phantom becoming friends bit
makes me a bit weary on how this shit will go down.
This is really all ive been keeping up with this season, taking down the back log is a monumental task. And I keep getting Blurays in the mail that I want to watch.
I'm waiting till they confirm it before I buy it sadly. I'd rather just put that $40 towards the Asian release instead when it gets a little cheaper, and get all the extra content.
I'm waiting till they confirm it before I buy it sadly. I'd rather just put that $40 towards the Asian release instead when it gets a little cheaper, and get all the extra content.
Another potential problem with the English version, if the sales are not where they need to be and they don't bring over that content patch. I highly doubt our saves are transferable to the Asia version.
Another potential problem with the English version, if the sales are not where they need to be and they don't bring over that content patch. I highly doubt our saves are transferable to the Asia version.
I don't know if it's sad that Haruhi pretty much seemed to end with something as good as Disappearance, or a good thing that it went out on top like that.
Hime's fantasies may as well be Shoujo vision, because it actually made Seiji look cool. Seiji apparently got too riled up to the point that Blue said "Stop confusing little girls". God damn.
Long John Silver's Tier Free! Eternal Summer
T.G.I. Friday Tier Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Sonic, America's Drive-In Tier SAO II
Einstein Bros. Bagels Tier Terror in Resonance
Ruby Tuesday Tier RWBY
The ones who told me this show gets weird and experimental were not lying. Ever since like episode 13 (or whenever it was when this show "changed"), I've been enjoying it a lot more. It's just so random now. This episode, in particular, is my favorite so far. It's basically a Disney show. Plus, Pino is always great. Best character on the show, though that may not be saying much.
Long John Silver's Tier Free! Eternal Summer
T.G.I. Friday Tier Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Sonic, America's Drive-In Tier SAO II
Einstein Bros. Bagels Tier Terror in Resonance
Ruby Tuesday Tier RWBY
***Review remains mostly the same from when I wrote it a few months ago. The only new thing is the Movie Analysis section; Copy/pasted the original review for reference***
This is the story of a girl who seemingly has God like powers to bend the universe to her will, although she doesn't know this. In this show we see how everything plays out through the eyes of Kyon (not real name). Although we are never actually told Kyon's real name he doesn't seem to mind (or at least later in the series) to be called Kyon.
Throughout the beginning Haruhi and Kyon meet Mikuru, Nagato and Koizumi to round out their group and form the SOS Brigade. During this we learn that when Haruhi wants something to change it sort of happens and they must clean up after Haruhi without her knowing of what is actually going on. The group fears of enclosed spaces and does their upmost to keep Haruhi happy so they can prevent these spaces from happening.
This is the basic premise of the show. The show is mostly entertaining from it's back and forth of it's two main characters, Kyon and Haruhi. However the series never feels like it reaches a climax. It just sort of ends. Because of the series structure you can watch it in chronological order (like I did) or watch it in its broadcast order. No matter how you go about it you will be entertained. The thing is that the series really feels incomplete (this may have something to do with the movie, The Disappearance). The series feels like it's building up to something but doesn't really feel like it's going anywhere. But I suspect that's what happens when the person central to the story is a madwoman who does anything she wants, on a whim, to a hilarious degree.
Kyon - The most "normal" person of the group. Despite this his job is the most important. His opinion actually matters to Haruhi. In that respect it's up to him to try and keep the world "as is". He's snarky and sarcastic which clashes fantastically with Haruhi's high energy personality. It took a while but Kyon started to grow on me. He makes some dumb decisions throughout the show but is able to resolve them in time.... most of the time.
Haruhi Suzumiya - The title character. Haruhi is free-spirited and sees the world as her plaything. At the beginning of the show she states that she wants to discover Espers, Futuremen and Aliens. Her personality is what makes the show so enjoyable and hilarious. Despite some personality flaws she is one of the more likable characters
Mikuru Asahina - A future-woman. Recruited into the SOS Brigade by Haruhi. Haruhi labels her the mascot of the SOS Brigade because of how "moe" she is. Mikuru is very submissive (as is with her moe status) and cries a lot when Haruhi...... Erm... "teases" her. For some reason when Mikuru would cry I would laugh. I don't know why but for some reason her crying was somehow amusing as I assume that was the intended effect.
Yuki Nagato - The quiet alien girl. You see the pattern here? When Haruhi takes over the room of the Literature Club for the SOS Brigade she assumes that Yuki comes with the room and is thus part of the SOS Brigade. Honestly she is the most badass character in the show literally saving Kyon any time he is in danger. Nagato isn't much of a talker and only responds when asked to or to give any answers. When she does talk it's strait forward and to the point.
Itsuki Koizumi - The last member of the SOS Brigade. I had a hard time remembering his name to be honest. Koizumi is an Esper and is recruited by Haruhi into the brigade. He is really the only one who can explain to Kyon (and in that sense the audience) clearly what is going on in any given supernatural event that transpires in the series. He actually kind of comes off creepy and as someone who is hiding something. At the same time he is extremely cooperative and always tells Kyon exactly what needs to happen and how to go about doing things. Keeping everyone in the loop.
================================================== Music: http://youtu.be/lVYV-5TeYfg
Honestly with the exception of both OP's and ED's the music doesn't really stand out in this show. It's so-so. Average. It gets the job done. However you want to put it all it really comes down to is simply something that is there.
The overall animation quality is pretty great with Season 2 having some noticeably better animation than the first season. KyoAni did a great job with this. It's not their best work ever but it's still better than some other productions out there.
Endless Eight is the most evil thing ever thought up by an animation company!
When I look back on my time with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya one thing nags at me, I didn't watch this for it's story or how it progressed. Honestly how the series progressed was weird and really didn't matter. It was all for entertainment sake. If you watched and enjoy this show you watched it for Haruhi's hijinks and for the crazy things she would think of next. You would also watch for Kyon's commentary on all the going ons for the group.
Character progression was minor to minimal. The only character you can say changed between the beginning to the ending the most was Kyon. His only real change however was his acceptance of what is going on in the world.
Don't be put off by that though. This is a very funny show that will make you burst out laughing because of some of the outlandish things the show does. If your looking for something to have a good laugh with look no further. Though some may want to watch it in chronological order. Now onwards to The Disappearance...
===================================================== Movie Analysis/Thoughts (The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya)
Yeah so now all that stuff I said at the beginning about how the show doesn't feel like it reaches it's climax and it just sort of just ends? I take it back. At least if you watch the movie. The movie itself is a great ending point for the series and redeems the show for the evil Endless Eight.
The movie actually opens up like any other episode of The Melancholy but with just better direction overall. It's hard to explain but there is clearly better animation all around. Camera angles are used much more effectively and how lighting would set a scene. This was a different Haruhi Suzumiya. A better Haruhi Suzumiya. I could go on and on about the animation.
The clear difference between the show and movie is the music. It sounded like movie music. Now that could be good and bad. It was used to a degree like how all important points in the movie the music would overpower everything or a clear shift in music would happen. While at times it would make the music feel abrupt, some of the tracks would be used well and get you excited, sad, happy and tense when it needed to.
Another clear difference between the show and movie was how much more serious the movie is. While the movie doesn't have a lack of jokes, the period where Haruhi is gone makes for a very serious problem that lasts for a good portion of the movie. Without Haruhi the lively, slapstick jokes vanish. Which made for an ending that made me happy this group is the way they are.
There are several points in the movie that utilize twist though they do it in the same Haruhi fashion that keeps you guessing until the final minutes of the movie. There were even moments where it felt like the movie was going to do a cop-out but thankfully never resorted to it. It was smart writing with some great pacing.
Now let's focus on what this movie really punched in at the end. Yuki Nagato. She is the central character of this movie. While it's usually Haruhi surprisingly for this movie the central character turned out to be Nagato that was pushing the plot forward and solving issues but also being the one who causes them. This actually presented an interesting character break for a character I thought would never actually break. She just wanted some sort of normalcy and actually felt the weight of her responsibilities and decided to change the world. She wanted to be a normal girl. This also presented in a way of also showing how she actually felt about Kyon. It was nice, even if it was for a brief moment, to see Yuki's character this way and made me love this character even more.
Now let's talk about Kyon. While he has come far in the series, I feel a lot of progress is made in this movie in regards to his character. We know the change in his character in the series was from being a lazy, sarcastic dude to a person who accepts Haruhi for who she is. This movie reinforces that idea. At the end of the movie Kyon is given a decision about whether he wants to go back to the world where Haruhi has power or keep the world that Nagato made where everything and everyone is normal. Kyon literally fights with himself about what he wants and the truth of it all. In the end we find that Kyon is a character that wants to go back to the way things were because "it is fun" but I think there's more to it then that.
I think Kyon simply wanted to go back to how things are because he wanted the bond he shared with Haruhi back. He wanted the bond he shared with everyone back. He saw a world where there wasn't Haruhi attending his school and wasn't in his life. He didn't like what he saw. Haruhi, despite her troublesome nature, brought color, meaning and joy to Kyon's life and he did everything he could to get it back. And his solemn swear to Yuki that he would protect everyone in the SOS Brigade and would destroy the world for them just goes to show how far he's now willing to go to protect his friends.
So yeah this movie was pretty great and I recommend it to anyone who has finished the TV Series to watch. 9/10
Also dat
stand-off and near death experience for Kyon at the end
