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Jun 08 2006

Categories: anime, melancholy of haruhi suzumiya, responses
Tagged: haruhi suzumiya

32 Comments »

“Hi, I’d like to supersize that melonpan.”

I have a small treat. Remember the Haruhi commercials from a while ago? I bundled them along with a bonus version of Hare Hare. Grab it off of Rapidshare.

Is that the Sophie I’m thinking about, I wonder. – Tess

About “so dark the con of Haruhi,” thinking about it, there’s a lot of parallels: Haruhi is supposed to be divine, just like how Sophie is supposed to be descendent from someone possibly divine. Haruhi’s adventures started when she met Kyon, just like Sophie and Langdon. Her hair can even be symbolism for Sophie’s grandfather. Haruhi has her templars in the SOS Brigade (SOS is a distress signal!), and everyone speaks in a certain code around Haruhi. .. the code, of course, is that they’re all aliens, espers, and time travelers except Haruhi doesn’t know. And, of course, both Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Da Vinci Code has generated so much groundswell, it’s redunkulous.

Okay, I know what everyone has on their minds this episode… Mikuru! A lot of interest in Mikuru’s mole this time around. For good reason.

The mole has been there from the beginning. In the very first view of Mikuru in episode 00, during the opening credits, it’s in plain sight. Go and watch it. – Sang

Mikuru-run 0 chronologically happens after this episode, so the mole is not big deal. We have to look at episodes that occur prior to episode 10… 4… 5… 350891 whatever. The only episodes that have occured chronologically prior to episode 10 has been episodes 2, 3, and 5. So Mikuru should not have a mole in these episodes. It was a tough job, but I went back and scanned through those three episodes keeping a keen eye on Mikuru’s melonpan for the mole. It appears magically for one frame in episode 5 and then gone.

ep5 meido DID have mole. look at 5th pic kyon took with closeup (you showed 3rd). it’s there. pic you mentioned not having mole is more of a combination of lower res and the paper/sheat pattern covering up the mole. – blerg

It’s there in the HD version as well. When Kyon is snapping pictures, one picture didn’t have the mole. The next had the moe. The next, the mole was gone. I’m leaning production mistake now.

My question is where it went in the scene from episode 3 that you linked. – Vinland

I wish I had paid this much attention in organic chemistry. Then again, my lecturer wasn’t anywhere as hawt as All-Woman Mikuru.

Mikuru having sex with herself… would that still be defined as masturbation? (;^_^) – Zyl

Normally, I’d toss this in the “Yep, these are…” bin. But I think this topic is important and needs to be addressed. I think masturbation implies no one else is helping out. Let me post this scenario: let’s say Lacus has a clone, and she becomes intimate with the clone. Two people right? That’s clonecest. Seems straightforward. So Mikuru and her future self rock the casbah? It’s two people so I feel good about using “selfcest” or “futurecest,” which isn’t as zesty or emcompassing as “selfcest.” See, these are the types of discussions that are more important than any nuclear negotiations going on in Iran.

Of course, it can also lead to a very disturbing train of thought: what if Kira had a clone, and his clone gets a Kashimashi-like sex change, and they have sex? Is it selfcest? Clonecest? Word-yet-to-be-coined? See, it’s a dangerous game.

Who do you prefer, the All-woman Mikuru or the young-girl Mikuru? – wontaek

Another internationally important issue. Let’s do this… Dr Jack style!

Hawtness

All-Woman Mikuru: Lost the baby fat. Dresses provocatively yet not slutty. Incredible melonpan and ass. Wears make-up to good effect.

Mikuru-run: Dresses very conservatively unless a Haruhi is near. Very good melonpan and ass. Has some loli-like features.

Advantage: All-Woman Mikuru. One of these knockouts that if you saw her walking along the sidewalk, you may just run into the Honda in front of you because you’re craning your next to see her. And not one bit of regret. Plus, I want to see that in a bunny girl costume. (BTW, winking girls 4tw.)

Personality

All-Woman Mikuru: Assertive with hint of confidence. Not shy. Still very cute when panics.

Mikuru-run: Haruhi’s slave. Very obedient. Very quiet. Very scared.

Advantage: Push. While I like the All-Woman Mikuru’s demeanor, I will miss Mikuru-run’s cowering.

Otome

All-Woman Mikuru: Ruined for marriage.

Mikuru-run: Will be ruined for marriage.

Advantage: Mikuru-run. Remember when Mikuru asked Kyon if he’ll still have her even if she were ruined for marriage? Looks like he didn’t still have her. There is definitely a mystery with Mikuru as to why she tells Kyon to stay away from her (is it just Haruhi? Doubtful). Unlike Yuki, there’s a plenty of Mikuru to talk about so how Mikuru is central to the story (beyond being the SOS Brigade’s mascot) is still to be revealed. What does Mikuru bring to the table besides the ample, overflowing, supersized servings of moe?

Also, (* minor spoiler *) the star-shaped birthmark discovery is a time paradox, because later in the novel kyon told Asahina she got a birthmark on her breast, but she never knew that until then; on the other hand, kyon was shown the birthmark that he never noticed before. – DF

Points for Kyon for keeping close tabs on Mikuru’s melonpan.

Also, I think that a.f.k. is going for some sort of award for amusing subbing decisions when they translated Kyon’s exclamation when bra-less Mikuru flashed him (”tokibori”, I think it was?) as “Super-size me!” I don’t know if that’s accurate or not, but I’d inspect her Happy Meals any day. – teki

I have never heard the phrase either, but I generally give a.f.k. the benefit of the doubt. They’re one of the few groups who nail Japanese colloquisms, like when the were subbing Karin, they properly translated “ano he” as “that time of the month” instead of “that day” like everyone else did. Of course, they screw up the Engrish, like they had “YOU’LL BE MINE!” instead of “YOU’LL BE RIGHT!” for the OP for a few eisodes (I thought it was “YOU’LL BE MINE!” also… makes more sense at least). Aya Hirano just cannot pronouce English words. They need to get Raging Heart’s seiyuu to dub over her English lines.

Poor Kyon, to lust after such a hot babe, and yet they have to stay away from each other or maybe risk time paradoxes. Not to mention destruction of the world by a jealous goddess! – ubu

I’d risk it. As I maintained, I think the best solution is the threesome. I dub it the Chasing Amy Defense. Everyone’s happy that way, except Itsuki.

I’m beginning to feel that Yuki is the most complex of all the characters… Not the prettiest nor cutest girls in the show, but definitely the deepest. – justanothergirl

All of the original novel readers love her. I think in book form, there’s more opportunties to talk about Yuki. In the anime, she is pretty much an inanimate object who does nothing and doesn’t say a word in the “final” epsiode. I think people honestly want to like her, but when she gets so little lines, so little screentime, it’s kinda hard.

This episode made me understand why a lot of the novel readers have Yuki as their favorite character. – Daniel E

I mean, bookworm alien with sci-fi geekness who can hack the Matrix (well her ‘magic’ look like it works that way hahah) then she is later responsible of something big in the novel that deserve to be shown in a second season (should KyonAni ever do that). What to not like about her? – Sheba

See? People want to like Yuki! She’s likeable! Give us another season!

I just know that I now love Yuki. But Tsuruya is my favorite. How strange, I always seem to have a thing for liking the green-haired-females. Ah, and Asakura gets lots of love in this episode too. Maybe the aliens have something to do with Oyashiro-sama? – Tess

Mmm… how do you feel about Emiri? She has green-ish hair. Now that I think of it, couldn’t she be Yuki’s new backup? Anyway, you have won my heart with the Mion/Shion symmetrical docking. (I’m easy that way.)

So far with 8 novels, I think Haruhi has been on the cover for two. Mikuru has two. Yuki has two, and LOL FANG-TAN has two. Doesn’t this mean that LOL FANG-TAN is awesome? She gets as many covers as any of the SOS Brigade heroines! BTW, I love typing “LOL FANG-TAN.” Good times.

Here is a tricky question for everyone: who’s more emotionally mature ? Asakura or Nagato ? – DF

That’s like asking, “What’s the more stable operating system, Windows 95 or Windows ME?”

I personally find Yuki way more likeable than Rei or any stoic, nearly emotionless and introverted girl I’ve seen so far in an anime. And God knows I am not the biggest fan of this stereotype, being more attracted by the Sakaki-like. And unlike Rei, her design doesn’t strike me as a fantasized barbie doll. – Sheba

Thank Oharuhi-sama that we have Mikuru to fill that fantasized Barbie doll void. Whew. I think Yuki is the evolutionary Rei Ayanami. People want more in their characters now, and Yuki takes what worked with Rei and duplicates it while forging her own stamp on the design. As I said many times before, I still think Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is an evolution Evangelion. I honestly can’t think of another series in the past half decade that has caused such a comotion… not even Hughes’ death in Full Metal Alchemist or Lucy’s epic killing spree has generated such discussion that Haruhi is generating today, even when extrapolated to today’s internet fuckwad dollars. We only need episode 14 to be drawn with crayons to complete the circle.

Actually, when Yuki was impaled, she kind of reminded me of Chise with her crystalized wings. – justanothergirl

I let out a gasp when I saw Yuki get impaled… looks very painful. I can’t even imagine what must have been running through Kyon’s mind at that point… everything was normal, he thinks he’s getting a love letter, then suddenly, he’s getting stabbed, and two classmates are doing a dance of death in front of him. One of them gets reamed. I’m surprised he didn’t faint or scream. (Nevertheless, I bet Yuki can manufacture land-to-air missiles and launch them from her blouse just like Chise.)

Someone knows what is written in yellow on 23:38? Is seems to be the date of the last episode to me (10/30) and so we would have 27 or 26 episodes! (because 10/30 would be a monday, the day Haruhi is shown in japan >_>)

Besides, where did you guys take that 14 episode thing? Considering Episode One was “Episode 00″ (such as an interlude) and episode 14 (9) was already shown, doesn’t this mean that there are AT LEAST 15 episodes? õ.o – Mayumi

The text is a programming note for an unrelated show saying that next week, it’ll start at 10:30. I wish there that there would be more episodes as well. I’m going to enjoy blogging Kanon… I even have some handy phrases queued up: “Explain to me how Ayu tripping is an improvement over Cowering Mikuru?” and “Instead of this filler epsiode about Matoko, we should have gotten a five episode arc about Yuki.”

Mikuru-run 0 is considered episode 1. Here’s a timeline for the series. Great reference.

I’m pondering the episode numbering. – rikchik

See, perfect reference. :)

If Kyon wasn’t getting what he wanted, would he have stayed around SOS-dan? – wontaek

What does Kyon want? I’m not sure if he knows… save the world? Score with Mikuru? Play Othello with Itsuki? I never really understood why he’d stick around… if he has no attraction to Haruhi (he did seem a bit disgusted when Itsuki proposed the solution back in 4), why does he still bother with the club, especially on days when Haruhi storms off? (Also, I wonder what does Haruhi do at home? Does she have a family?)

The CASO fansub this week mixes Yuki vs Ryoko with Fate/Stay Night – genius! – Alex

What just happened here?

It’s too bad that there wasn’t any graphing in this review, since I liked how it worked with the previous aa-Megamisama, but to be fair there was a heck of a lot to get to in this episode. I’m hoping that the Killer-Loli-Squad-Death-O-Meter will make a show for the next Higurashi ep, though. – teki

Takes too much time to do the graphs, so unless I can streamline it, I’m going to use it sparingly. Definitely will use it for the killer lolis. :( I need to start outsourcing this blog to India.

is it a coincidence that Haruhi, the script writer, assign all the characters with their “real” identity?? – Takahashi

Like Lost, there’s a lot of theories about what’s really going on with Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The first is that all the world’s Haruhi’s dream. Her subconsicous brings to life all the events around her. The second is that everyone is dreaming about Haruhi. She’s a figment of Kyon’s imagination, just like Tyler Durden. Either way, it explains why Haruhi is so dead on, yet so clueless about the truth.

It’s interesting to see how Kyon almost has as much influence with everyone as Haruhi does… even if he can’t rewrite reality with a thought, the way she can – at least, when it comes to the female characters. – Haesslich

See, if Kyon is the one imagining everything, wouldn’t that explain it? He’s really in a nut house somewhere, and Itsuki and Yuki are doctors at the asylum. Mikuru’s the nurse, and Haruhi’s his imaginary tsundere.

Haruhi read Kyon’s thoughts again. – Fencedude

One of the odd things about the series is I can never tell for sure when Kyon is talking to himself, or talking aloud, while the camera shows something else. Many times, Haruhi responds as if he was talking to her. I noticed the novel does that a lot too, but that could just be the translation. – ubu

Supports both my “Haruhi is dreaming” and “Haruhi is a figment of Kyon’s imagination” theories. W00t! Or it could just be that the two of them has quickly developed into an old married couple’s mentality where they know what the other is thinking.

The charm of the show has always been three things: Haruhi’s egocentricism, Kyon’s sarcasm, and the utter mind bend of What Happens Next. (Charm as opposed to attraction, which is Mikuru, Mikuru, and more Mikuru; adult Mikuru FTW!!!!) Knowing what was coming definately spoiled that feel. Next week, I’ll know for sure, since I haven’t read that part. – ubu

I agree with your points, and I think you need to toss in Haruhi’s tsundereness, Itsuki’s yaoibility (for the fangirls and non-traditional males), LOL FANG-TAN’s cameos, Yuki’s underappreciatedness, Ryoko’s short but awesome appearance, Imouto-san hiding in the bag, the pantheon-class OP/ED/Mikuru-beam, random board games, and completely oddball but delightful homages (FUMOFFU!).

I stopped reading both the manga and the novel translations, and I probably won’t read them until after the series is done. It’s a lot less fun to know what happens. (Same reason why I tend to skip next episode previews, like the ball-busting choice of having Shana stabbed at the end of 21 then showed a preview with a healthy Shana flying around… takes all the suspense out.) By the way, I just found out that I scheduled a vacation over when episodes 13 and 14 would air. I will now stab myself with my letter opener.

Further more, if Asakura is just a backup of Nagato, then why would she have a more advanced *interface* (communication-wise)? – DF

It’s just preparedness. Ryoko had home turf advantages; Yuki was the visitor plus Yuki did most of her damage beforehand… remember, Ryoko remarked that “Ah, that’s why Yuki seemed so weak.” And both of them would have kicked Saber’s ass.

I’m pretty sure a few events can only be plausibly explained by the Novikov principle as commonly applied to pop fiction: paradoxes are made impossible by the guaranteed occurances of insanely improbable (yet physically possible) events that prevent the paradox. – Vinland

What just happened here?

From the Novel. So basically, changing the past does not change the “future” for someone who has come back in time. Mikuru’s time will be unaffected by any changes that happen in the present. Mikuru isn’t in the present to change and preserve the timeline, she’s more there to observe and find out why they can’t go back earlier than then. So All-Woman Mikuru coming back in time to warn Kyon is really more of a personal favor because she doesn’t want him to get hurt, rather than trying to change anything that might actually affect her or her time. – Zeboim

The time travel arguments hurt my brain. Still, I don’t think All-Woman Mikuru came back just to warn Kyon. It’s an either or situation… either Kyon figures out how to save the world or he doesn’t. There’s no “Kyon screws up but the world isn’t destroyed… turned instead into a dystopic wasteland like Now and Then, Here and There with Mikuru only fillingan a-cup.”

what’s with the talking cat “Shamsen” at the last fighting scene? It’s funny how Yuki tries to cover it up by jokingly saying that was ventriloquism :)

We don’t see this cat anywhere in the anime thus far – possibly a future character? The voice actor for Shamsen (Kenchi Ogata) is even mentioned in the ending credit ( Oh shit, I’m really becoming an otaku) – Takahashi

Welcome to the club! Here’s your complementary Mikuru goodness, and you should be getting a membership card in the mail in the next 10 to 15 business days.

hmm…I’m trying to figure out how this was similar to Kanon, and all I can think of is that there was that supernatural romantic feeling, which isn’t unique to Kanon. was there something else? – kei-clone

I meant that Ryoko and Kyon’s meeting after class was pretty much ripped from any dating game. Same atmosphere… the sunset in the back, the playful guile… until she whips out the knife and goes Kaede on him. And, frankly, there’s still time for Nayuki to break out boxcutters and scream, “AYU!!!”

The Medocricity of Haruhi indeed, a couple of arguably weaker episodes and people were starting to give up on this series…. – mikemil828

After game 4 against the Spurs: Dirk is awesome! Duncan can’t stop him!
After game 6 against the Spurs: Dirk sucks! Duncan owns him!
After game 7 against the Spurs: Dirk is awesome! Did you see that game-winning three-point play that left Duncan in the dust?

After game 1 against the Suns: Dirk is awesome! Nash can’t keep up!
After game 4 against the Suns: Dirk is a huge disappointment! Overrated! He can’t possibly lead to Mavs to a championship playing like this!
After game 5 against the Suns: Dirk is awesome! The Suns have no chance!

(In other words, instant history is just that– instant.)

you forgot to mention that full-woman mikuru goes bra-less – SH

Yep, these are my readers.