melancholy of haruhi suzumiya 7

Where do I sign up for the Asahina-san lower-body workout class?

(Great episode. Record-breaking haruhigasm desho desho.)

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I think this episode occurs before the previous one, which wouldn’t be a problem except the previous one occurs after this one and left us chewing on a cliffhanger. And I saw a machete in the next episode preview… I’m beyond confused but hoping for Mikuru’s twin to murder Kyon. Oh, well, let’s just get this started…

I guess this episode takes place after the first “Closed Space” incident involving the Watanagashi Tanabata festival, whatever that means. Anyway, we know that Haruhi wasn’t her normally genki self, but now she is… and we’re back to a “normal” day for the SOS Brigade. They all look so bored, especially poor Mikuru. (Anyone else notice the “wish tree” in the back with wishes tied to it? I wonder what they wished for… did Kyon wish for Haruhi to change Mikuru’s club outfit from meido to bunny girl? I need to know these things.) Haruhi designs the infamous SOS Brigade logo, which Kyon thought was two drunken tapeworms mating, and orders Kyon to update their pathetic webpage with the image. Only their webpage is just that picture. Definitely a case of “Hey, we have no content, so let’s just put up pretty pictures!” In other words, what I do.

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The best part is just Haruhi’s constant bitching at Kyon. She’s a cross betwen the boss from hell and the wife from hell… and I’m sure Kyon felt like he was in hell. The next day, they find that the symbol and site has been corrupted, and Kyon works feverishly to correct it, only he can’t. Weird server error… or weird world error? Meanwhile, the SOS Brigade gets a customer, Emiri, who comes to them to help figure out where her boyfriend (the computer club president who fondled Mikuru) disappeared to. Only, last time I checked, the SOS Brigade wasn’t a club that takes customers, and Haruhi seemed more intent on having fun than listening to Emiri’s case. Kyon makes a comment about not wanting a criminal record… mada (yet). Mmm… what does he want his first criminal act to be? Smashing Haruhi with a bat? Something indecent involving Mikuru? I want to know these things.

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Anyway, they go over to the boyfriend’s apartment, and, magically, the door opens for them. Omnious sign. Once in, Haruhi is more intent on raiding the fridge than actually help look for clues. But both Yuki and Itsuki sense something is wrong and refers to the place as “closed space.” After Haruhi gets bored and eveyone leaves, Kyon asks everyone except Haruhi back as they investigate this closed space. Only, it’s not really closed space, only seems like it… it’s some kind of phase shift reality (I get lost on the technobaubble… it’s honestly worse than Otome and Destiny combined…), and the computer club fondler must be trapped there.

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Yuki activates something and transports the Haruhi-less SOS Brigade to the alternative desert reality, and the computer club fondler is trapped there in the form of a huge cricket. Uh huh. Yuki and Itsuki (who can now conveniently manifest his power, though this “1/10th” squaggle-waggle reeks of Bleach) then show off their powers in defeating the cricket and returning the computer club fondler back to the “normal” world. Only Kyon and Mikuru were absolutely useless during this scene, and I think Kyon was only around to provide Itsuki an excuse to explain what’s going on, and Mikuru was only around to give us more of cowering Mikuru.

They then return to the club room and give a post mortum on the event, which basically was that the cricket is a manisfestation of a data entry entity (sorta like Yuki, maybe) that was dormant until it saw the SOS Brigade’s logo on 2chan, which supposedly contains 436 petabyes of data. That’s enough information to hold over 2.6 million episodes of Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya… Kyoto better start cracking! Only 2,599,993 more episodes to go! Supposedly, the symbol has an effect on everyone who sees it, and somehow mutated the club room into a Den of Evil. Or something like that. It also seems to have boosted the SOS Brigade’s page’s pagerank. Fearsome symbol.

Or maybe fearsome Yuki. Kyon peels back the events a bit and surmises that Yuki is the one who prevented the symbol from doing more harm (Yuki was the other person in the room that day when the symbol got corrupted, and Kyon was surprised to see Yuki there). Kyon then hypothesizes that Yuki either has been secretly preventing more mismaps… or perhaps she’s creating some to ease Haruhi of her boredom… or maybe to ease Yuki of her own boredom.

The SOS Brigade Awesomeness Index

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UP Yuki… giving Yuki the top spot this episode. She’s just a huge puzzle waiting to be solved.

UP Erotic Mikuru-run pictureshow the hell do you think I get visitors?

UP Haruhi… she wasn’t just on fire this episode, she was the human torch. Not only does she come up with some doomsday symbol, not only does she force feed Mikuru spoiled food, not only does she bitch at Kyon with a ferocity yet unseen, she micromanages the SOS Brigade like the boss from hell and everyone just takes it up the ass. She’s just so full of herself, it’s beyond delightful… haruhigasmic is the only term that can describe her complete disregard for those around her. Men are potatoes. Women are accessories. And her eternal nemesis is boredom.

UP Kyon’s sarcasm… even better than the previous (or was it next) episode. I like his insulting of Haruhi’s SOS symbol… I liked his “I have a long list of complaints about Haruhi”… and I really liked his running commentary when Haruhi was interviewing Emiri… and I definitely like how he looks forward to oogling Mikuru… I look forward to that too!

DOWN Mikuru fetish modes… we just got a replay of previous ones. I think this is the first episode that we weren’t introduced to a new Mikuru fetish mode. And I’m sad. It’s like watching an episode of South Park without Kenny dieing, only 100x worse. I want new Mikuru fetish modes! I vote for nekomimi. (Though I liked her trained animal response when Haruhi suggested that they go pass out flyers again.)

UP In jokes… I just loved Itsuki’s battle cries of “Fumoffu!” and “Second Raid!” I love it when animation studios poke fun or play homages to themselves, and I definitely encourage this practice for more shows. I hope Kyoto works in some Haruhi into Kanon… maybe have Yuuichi accidentially open a door to find Mikuru changing in the SOS Brigade’s Den of Evil. Or my original idea of Tess, Ayu, and Haruhi sharing a hot bath together.

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DOWN Haruhi’s love for Kyon… ? I wonder if she purposefully gives Itsuki preference just to make Kyon jealous. (When Itsuki held up the board game, I was hoping that he’d hold up a Brokeback Mountain DVD instead. I would have laughed up a lung.) I’m beginning to think they’re going to be less and less like Shana and Yuji and more like Kaorin and Kimura-sensei (Kyon’s Kaorin).

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UP Haruhi’s face… sleeping face. Displeased face. Grumpy face. Pencil lip. Wonderous.

DOWN Emiri… was hoping for more. Didn’t do much. Wasn’t moe. What’s the point?

UP Story pacing… while I’m not exactly thrilled about the episode skipping (especially interrupting a cliffhanger with an one-shot), I am glad that the story is moving along brisky at a good pace. Keep in mind, by episode 7 of Fate/Stay Night, Rin is still explaining the rules of the Holy Grail game to Emiya on the school’s rooftop.

DOWN SOS Brigade’s home page… seriously, it sucks. While erotic Mikuru pictures is the easiest and fastest way to get a lot of hits, I’d rather see Haruhi write a blog. What would she write about? Fascinates me for some strange reason. Hell, I’d help her get WordPress up and running and everything. Though I think the greatest cross-series joke would have Haruhi redesign SOS Brigade’s page, and, afterwards, it looks exactly like Hell Correspondence.

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UP Attention to detail… well, just the poster of the three seiyuu in computer club fondler’s room. (Hey, can anyone help me track down a copy of Aya Hirano’s Bouken Desho Desho‘s PV?)

DOWN First production gaffe… when Haruhi was showing Kyon the SOS Brigade’s symbol, and we’re shown the viewpoint from inside the computer monitor (fantastic viewpoint too), it shows that the monitor is refreshing with the scan line going up… only Haruhi has a LCD. LCD’s don’t refresh with a scan line! CRTs do! Woohoo! 7 episodes, and I finally crack Kyoto’s armor… I’m going to crack open some Diet Pepsi to celebrate. (Though I’m not happy that they’re using IE. Sigh. Someone needs to make a Firefox logo with Mikuru-run with a tail skittering across the globe. That’ll promote Firefox in ways tabbed browsing can’t.)

DOWN Unbalanced fighting abilities… if Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya were Super Smash Brothers Melee, Itsuki would be Marth, Yuki would be Fox, and poor Kyon would be Mewtwo… and that leaves pathetic Mikuru as Pichu… useless beyond moe taunting. Haruhi would, of course, be that fricking’ hand that bitch slaps you around at the end.

32 Responses to “melancholy of haruhi suzumiya 7”

  1. Hints are made in this episode that Yuki can mind-control people, linking back once again to Ep00.

  2. More Mikuru-run moe overloads. Was very pleased since I didn’t really get any last episode :P.

    >>Or maybe fearsome Yuki. Kyon peels back the events a bit and surmises that Yuki is the one who prevented the symbol from doing more harm…

    This is primarily a Yuki episode, for those who can notice. There have been quite a lot of people complaning that Yuki doesn’t get too much air time, but KyoAni is actually handling Yuki’s character development like her personality… quiet, subtle, but if you look hard enough… she’s always there :).

    >>..that Yuki can mind-control people..

    I wouldn’t say it’s mind control… more like manipulation of data, which she can easily do. Plus, it seems that Kimidori might be also more than just a normal student (who was being manipulated by Nagato), but could be another of Nagato’s backup.

    >>In jokes… I just loved Itsuki’s battle cries of “Fumoffu!” and “Second Raid!”

    HAHA XD! Same here, same here. That, IMO was one of the funniest parts of the episode.

    >>Kyon’s sarcasm… even better than the previous (or was it next) episode.

    Yeah, Kyon’s sarcasm wins. A lot. He should be wordshipped as the Deity of Sarcasm and Cynicsm.

  3. UP Attention to detail… well, just the poster of the three seiyuu in computer club fondler’s room. (Hey, can anyone help me track down a copy of Aya Hirano’s Bouken Desho Desho’s PV?)

    your arrow’s pointing the wrong way, thought you might wanna fix that

    i like how the battle scenes remind me of Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles: few enough that they’re good wake-up calls when they do come out, and fluid enough to be excellent :D.

    you sure yuki didn’t just unlock the door with her powers? i was already guessing how that would be the case after seeing how yuki stayed behind.

    more yuki airtime! XD somehow mikuru’s getting old, with the same service over and over…

    although haruhi never fails to please! :D but her denseness somehow is getting kinda annoying at times

  4. For once I find myself unable to bitch about this show. Kyon’s indeed back in force, and I loved it. Also, Koizumi’s expression as he holds up the game… priceless.

  5. I can only hope that, next week episode, marks the end of all the story skipping so far.

  6. >> I can only hope that, next week episode, marks the end of all the story skipping so far.

    I actually like the story skipping. It makes it annoying during cliffhangers, but it’s not bad for simple anime-watching.

    Now if only they’d show the episodes faster ^_^;;

  7. Kyon’s sarcasm meter was off the charts in this episode.

    Haha, “電卓男” on the president’s bookshelf, KyoAni wins again!

  8. im sure kyon and haruhi will eventually end up being a joke-like yuji and shana
    the romance is probably not going to go very deep

  9. You keep crossing Haruhi and Higurashi in your blogs, yet you didn’t mention the white and red, with scary voice presented preview title of next episode?
    I’m disappointed :p

  10. I reccomend that:
    -UP Kyon Tech Support because he’s like AOL customer service he has no idea what he is doing and cannot appease the caller.
    -UP Haruhi is teaching the world how not to waste food. Solving world hunger, here here spoiled milk is just cottage cheese.

    I was really hopiong for a Mikuru beam in this one since it was fighting ep…guess we’ll have to wait.

    Perhaps we’ll see a return of smiling tsunderekko Haruhi when she and Kyon get caught in the rain. Bouns points if they both like Pina Coladas, I am sure Kyon is not into health food, and has half a brain.

    That’s right Haruhi has just kicked the devil in the teeth like a lost puppy and now has control of Hell by right of conquest!

    The Sacred Icon has been found, the Great Journey is about to begin.

  11. U gotta love the Lambda driver reference too XD

  12. >>“電卓男” on the president’s bookshelf, KyoAni wins again!

    Mind translating?

  13. densha otoko?

  14. Yep, densha otoko.

    >>UP Erotic Mikuru-run pictures… how the hell do you think I get visitors?

    Anyways. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m here because of the excruciatingly humorous content that the dear webmaster has to write about contemporary anime. *innocent look*

  15. I agree with number 9, you didn’t mention the Higurashi parody at the end!

  16. You know… what’s with this episode and focusing on skirts? There’s that shot of of Mikuru fingering nervously with her skirt then another of Haruhi’s skirt bouncing all over the place as she’s ‘trampolining’ on the bed… Kyon no ecchi… ^^0

  17. First animation gaffe? What would you call that haruhi-copter in the opening sequence for eps2-3 then? :/

  18. >>densha otoko?
    Close.

    電卓 = Calculator
    電車 = Train

    Calculator Man. xD

  19. Watching this show is getting more is getting more and more excrutiating. I really don’t understand what all of you Haruhi fans see in her. Coming from a real and ongoing experience, a monomanical and socipathic…woman…kicking you aound day in and day out (poor, poor Kyon) is anything but comedic. Don’t get me wrong the rest of the show is a complete gem but I wince in pain everytime Haruhi shows up to do her spiel. Its just too much.

  20. >> I really don’t understand what all of you Haruhi fans see in her. Coming from a real and ongoing experience, a monomanical and socipathic…woman…kicking you aound day in and day out (poor, poor Kyon) is anything but comedic.

    And what connection does the fascination with tsundere-kos and boxcutter wielding killer-lolis have with real life? Absolutely none. Do any of those who fanboy these characters really honestly want them for a partner in real life? No (or I hope not ^^0). Its a fantasy construct and so it is with the attraction to Haruhi. Lighten up.

  21. Jason, I just notice something. your site web address http://derailedbydarry.com —>miao is that your last name?

  22. I know that. I just find it hard to see anything attractive in that particular personality template/fantasy construct. I don’t understand masochism either. She’s being talked about alot and I want to know for what reason(s). There should be some right? That’s all. Just satisfying my abstract curiousity.

  23. >> That’s all. Just satisfying my abstract curiousity.

    Sorry for sounding harsh then ^^0. This is just me but I think if the fantasy construct in question is something you don’t get then no manner of explaining it would really make you understand it because I think unfortunately/(fortunately?) its precisely those very monomaniacal and sociapathic tendencies/qualities that draw people to Haruhi. Fantasy constructs are difficult things to get a grip on. For example, I for the life of me can not fathom why people go nuts over maids so much. I look at a meido character and I’m like, “meh” (Jason’s going to go nutz over this ^^0). It may also have to do with your real life experience with a similar character; because you’ve come face to face with the wreckage a Haruhi-ish character can really do in real life the ‘distance’ between the viewer and Haruhi that exists for others, which allows them to fantasy-construct all they want, doesn’t exist for you making it hard for you to fetishize her.

  24. Thank you melange. I don’t understand the maid fetish either, but it has to do in part with the subserviance factor. Its a loosely disguised power fantasy.

  25. The most incomprehensible fetish to me is the ninja / ninja butler (maid) / ninja village / ninja schoolgirl (schoolboy). If any of those show up I will stop watching even if ‘they’ cut back Haruhi’s role and give us more everyone else.

  26. Personally, I like characters who aren’t…”good”.

    Haruhi is a mean, vindictive, manipulative bitch. She has almost no real redeaming features.

    But thats what makes her interesting. Yeah, I’d never want to actually hang out with her, but she’s a heck of a lot of fun to watch in a fantasy setting.

    Similar to how Tomoe from Otome, The girls of Higurashi, Suigintou, and other “bad” characters are among my favorites.

    Evil is fun to watch.

  27. There’s no doubt that Haruhi is an almost impossibly self-centered character, but I think she has something of a bad rap. Despite playing to the Genki Girl architype more often than not (and displaying a dere side, uh, never) she’s often labeled as a kind of Tsundere Supreme because of the way she berates and orders around Kyon.

    Kyon is more than a bit of a jackass himself, though. While he remains in the SOS Brigade voluntarily, he bitches and moans about every little thing and constantly belittles Haruhi’s ideas and behavior both under his breath and to her face.

    Long story short, they share the blame for their disfunctional non-relationship. But look at the one (1) touching moment they share in the series thus far: the end of the baseball match. Kyon asks if they can forfeit, Haruhi says that if that’s what he wants, that’s fine.

    A civil exchange? How is this possible? It’s the first time Kyon has so much as smiled at Haruhi since their first conversation. Haruhi isn’t the tsundere here: Kyon is.

  28. Hey, that’s what they call a dysfunctional relationship. It seems to me if Kyon really hated the way Harushi is treating him, he wouldn’t have stuck around. For some unfathomable reason or another, the characters are all drawn to Harushi in spite of themselves. Maybe in a way, she acts out Kyon’s fantasy of being able to do all these crazy things and getting away with them. I think deep down, Kyon really craves for some wacky adventure involving time travlers, aspers and aliens. Personally, what makes Harushi attractive to me is her complete disregard for rules and social norms. She’s a free spirit, so to speak. Guess she acts out my fantasy too. :)

  29. Fencedude I guess I’m just broken in Haruhi’s case. I’ve never rooted for the good, upright character. Its always been the antihero or outright villain for me and this goes beyond just my taste in anime. For this show Haruhi is ‘god’ in a very literal sense and the mechanism for moving the story forward. I appreciate that and I view her position as beyond good or evil. But she’s just a god (gender neutral?) that I don’t like, avoid at all cost, and never pray to. I do have an altar dedicated to Suigin Tou though thank you. She’s enough for me.

  30. Coconut Being a completely free spirit also means being completely alone. Aside from Kyon who does Haruhi really have a rapport with? Even in the SOS-tan? Being routinely molested by someone does not equate a rapport with that person in case you’re wondering. Who doesn’t have a ulterior motive? IS this healthy for her? This does make me suspicious about Kyon’s ultimate role…but just so be clear I know nothing about the novels nor its writer’s style so I may be so off base that I exit onto psycho-moe killer loli blvd.

  31. maybe she’s just an hikkimori who’s an attention whore :D

    that would explain the total lack of social skills

  32. >>psycho-moe killer loli blvd

    I just had a thought… all we need now is for Kyon’s imouto to be revealed as the psycho-killer loli perpetrator of owner K1’s death and we can all die and go to heaven (literally).

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