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Jul 14 2006

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

24 Comments »

A quick recap of the series… the first number is the episode number as according to air date, the second number is the episode number according to the timeline.

“And that’s exactly what it is, only the director doesn’t think that it’s a low-budget, plot-hole-filled mess. In other words, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu is an anime about an aspiring director, Haruhi, who dreams of working for Sunrise one day.”

Loved this episode. Got me hooked on the series, which is exactly what an episode 1 should do. That and spawn off numerous Gundam dances. Beam attack!

“I’m wondering where the hell the series will take me, and I know it’s going to be one heck of a ride.”

Really, really kicked Haruhi into high gear and showed that this ain’t going to be yet another fanservice harem comedy. I had so many questions during this episode, I looked at the clock and wondered, “Damn, how long before the next one airs?”

“(Damn. This club is like a million times better than Science Olympiad. I feel so shafted. We didn’t even have any hawt girls let alone hawt girls stripping themselves to put on bunny outfits. Though, we had an abundance of pocket protectors, TI-85 graphing calculators, and the entire TekWar novel collection. No, not even close. OTL.)”

I must have watched this episode twenty times that week. I needed an IV afterwards.

“DOWN Mikuru’s fielding skillz… she’s no Ichiro. Hell, she’s not even a David Ortiz when it comes to fielding.”

Probably third greatest sports episode in a non-sports anime series. First, of course, would be Fumoffu’s rugby match. Second is Tenma and her merry friends’ epic 300 point basketball game.

“I… I… I… am at a complete loss of words as Haruhi very dilligently explains how busty, lolita, moe meido wearing glasses is ‘subarashi’ as Mikuru squells. Haruhi’s the best.”

Spawned many memorable phrases, like “day-to ja nai” and “classified information.” Also our first real glimpse at the true story… also the episode that made he hate episode skippage. All three main girls were uber-cute this episode, and all in their own way.

“The best part was before they start swimming, Haruhi is still going on about her murder predictions, and pinpoints Mikuru as the victim with Mikuru doing an ‘uguu~~’-type Mesousa impersonation in the background with Kyon’s blood pressure continuously rising. Haruhi’s the best.”

YTAMR: waista, “I am shocked you didn’t mention Haruhi’s lack of underwear.”

Decent episode… I kinda liked the slice-of-life elements. If Haruhi forced Kyon into Higurashi-class penalty games, it would have been one of the better episodes. If Haruhi forced Mikuru into those penalty games, it would have caused me to faint and pass out. Imouto-san in a bag is now an instant classic screenshot.

“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!”

Quite possibly Kyon at his absolute bitterest. I was quite bitter too as they interrupted a cliffhanger for no apparent reason. Redeeming features: Itsuki’s attack catchphrases and how they tossed in a Higurashi-parody next episode preview.

“DOWN Ace and Gary… when Kyon returned to his room with Itsuki, and the two were sitting very close to each other, I was very afraid that something would happen. And I’m not talking about killer lolis showing up with machetes.”

YTAMR: Alex, “Why isn’t Haruhi’s shirt / underwears soaked to show some degrees of translucency? :)”

One of my least favorite episodes. I’m not a Phoenix Wright fan, and I still think Ouran would have been a better parody idea for this episode. Lack of Mikuru and Tsundere Haruhi dooms it.

“I recently witnessed an idiotic debate arguing if Tsuruya’s proper meme was either Fang-tan or LOL-tan. Wow, there’s people out there who have too much free time. (I’d rather debate ‘cowering Mikuru vs terrified Mikuru.’) I’m calling Tsuruya LOL FANG-TAN just to combine the two.”

YTAMR: deftoned, “I give 2 thumbs up to Haruhi with a cardigan and thigh-highs, so hopefully there will much more of that. :D”

A lot of people didn’t like this episode, but I thought it would have been a great epilogue episode. Maybe after the last episode… wait a few weeks… then show this. Just doesn’t fit well in the flow of the series. Reminds me a lot of Kanon‘s Kazehana special. Random note: only episode to be an anime exclusive.

“Men are potatoes. Love is just a temporary lapse in judgement like a kind of mental illness. Even I get in the mood for that crap every now and then. I am a healthy young girl, deshou deshou. My body has its urges. But you know, I’m not dumb enough to let a moment’s slip-up leave me with a huge burden.”

YTAMR: SH, “you forgot to mention that full-woman mikuru goes bra-less.”

One of my favorite episodes… we got an pantheon-level Ryoko vs Yuki fight, All-Woman Mikuru, as well as my favorite Haruhi rant.

“UP Cocky Haruhi… a hybrid of megalomaniac and tsundere Haruhi. Her expression after qcf-king the computer club president was just priceless. Her staring at Kyon to transfer those two milligrams of Haruhi-cocaine was just priceless. And her movements and hand gestures as Command in Chief was just beyond haruhigastic.”

YTAMR: Skane, “You know what KyoAni should have done? They should have done what GI:Joe did to fans who decoded Cobra’s spellchanting. ‘If you are hearing this, you have too much time on your hands.'”

I didn’t like this episode that much due to the lack of Captain Mikuru fidgeting on the bridge. But that’s just me. I do like how this episode shows off more of Yuki, who by now has become the SOS Brigade’s most useful member. If they were a FFXI xp grinding party, Yuki would be the whm/blm, Itsuki would be a blm/whm, Mikuru would be a brd/whm, Kyon would be a pld/war, and Haruhi would be nin/thf talking in all l33t and missing all the chains.

“MY WISH kanaetai no ni / Subete wa GOD KNOWS”

YTAMR: Alpha123, “Secondly, is it too late for Haruhi to kidnap Mizuki, the band drummer, and force her into the SOS-dan? I mean all the hawt girls seem to congregate in the SOS Brigade so why isn’t she in it? This would give Haruhi a drummer for her band as well so it’s a win situation all around! And that black choker that Mizuki had on was just too hawt. Chokers FTW!”

Great episode, even if they did get a lot of storyboard cues from elsewhere. Can I think of another anime episode so far this year that was this different from normal anime fair yet so enjoyable? No. Plus, Aya Hirano joins the pantheon of great seiyuu. Random note: only episode to fit properly in the timeline as aired.

“Haruhi, with her soliloquy, gets across her feelings of, well, existentialism pretty well. ‘Nothing ever happened. Before I knew it, I was in high school. I thought something would change.’”

YTAMR: kablaq, “heh… when the old apartment manager mentioned that kyon shouldn’t let her get away, i immediately wondered what adult haruhi would look like, in a bunny suit… and then i added adult mikuru in a bunny suit, and it got quite good.”

Tons of Itsuki and no Mikuru makes for a sad jason.

“Actually… ponytails turn me on.”

“What?!?”

“That ponytail that you had back when we met looked so good it was criminal.”

“Baka ja nai no!!!”

YTAMR: DF, “Just how much does it cost to get a morning call from Kyon’s sister?”

Just as an example of how much Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has affected my anime watching, I now want the animators to start doing the little things that Kyoto did with Haruhi such as proper blinking, change of outfits (like how Kyoto even changed Mikuru’s understyle from episode to episode), and definitely halfway decent frame rate.

Other than that, Mikuru has completely destroyed all others in moe. And Haruhi has set a very high bar for tsunderes. Tough to top. Just like how Shinji’s wussiness is still legendary a decade later. Great series. Rock on, Haruhi Suzumiya.