Anime review: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Today we review a more popular anime Haruhi Suzumiya.

Yet despite the popularity there’s bound to be some that have not seen it. So as with any other story we look at the premise the characters and then the story itself to give you the best objective review and ensure your money and time aren’t wasted.

PREMISE
The premise of Haruhi Suzumiya is that all these extraordinary people pretending to be normal are drawn to the main character Haruhi Suzumiya who is a god that has the power to reshape reality according to her will. However she is unaware that she has this power which creates most of the conflict in the show as everyone tries to stop her from being bored and changing reality.

CHARACTERS

Kyon despite the name of the anime is the main character and narrator of the series. He is a normal average human being that wants to stay average and yet gets pulled into all the craziness surrounding Haruhi Suzumiya after he speaks to her and gets her interested in him. Everyone else in the group relies on him to keep Haruhi under control to his annoyance.

Yuki Nagato is an emotionless alien girl that has been observing Haruhi Suzumiya for her unique abilities. She approaches Kyon as his protector after Kyon gains Haruhi’s interest. She has incredible alien abilities and is next to invincible. She also has a noticeable lack of emotion which makes the few emotions she does occasionally show stick out more.

Itsuki Koizumi is an esper belonging to an organization that has been observing Haruhi Suzumiya as well. His role is to try protecting the world whenever her emotional state becomes unstable and constantly puts pressure on Kyon to keep Haruhi under control as a result of that fact. He is impressed and sometimes jealous at how Kyon is able to do it.

Mikuru Asahina is a time traveler from the future sent to investigate Haruhi after the past disappears from three years ago. Haruhi often uses her as the club mascot and dresses her up in various kinds of outfits.

From the title of the show Haruhi Suzumiya is a human being with god like power over the world. At will she can change it or even destroy it and make a whole new one. She is unaware that she has this power which is the main problem of the show as those that know she has it don’t want her to ever find out or to use it. To that end they have to keep her entertained so she doesn’t become bored with the world around her. Kyon is the very first person she shows real interest in which kicks off the plot of the show.

STORY
The story itself is presented out of chronological order for a good reason. If you were to watch all episodes in chronological order as some fans advocate then all of the major plot points and twists will be shown at the beginning of the story and the end episodes will be boring.

The story itself makes a lot more sense once you actually start watching it. A brief summary goes like this:
Haruhi believes the world is boring and wants god like entities, aliens, time travelers and espers and other such things to exist yet she herself is a god like entity and is surrounded by an alien, a time traveler and an esper. Yet the main cast is doing everything possible to prevent her from finding out about that. That leads to scenarios where anime like things are happening but the cast is trying to make them look normal to Haruhi so she doesn’t find out she’s in an anime like she wants to be yet still try to make it as anime like as possible to where she’s entertained so she doesn’t destroy the world without knowing it.

Again it makes a lot more sense when you actually watch the show.

The main two people to watch the show for is Haruhi and Kyon, Haruhi is drawn to Kyon because he’s normal yet does want life to be interesting so he helps keep her grounded when she’s exploring for interesting things. It’s not quite a love story but the way the dynamic between them changes over the course of the series is interesting the watch.

CONCLUSION
In anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is definitely a unique show and that’s a big point in its favor. With most anime having plots points that are easily predictable and full of tropes that are a dime a dozen it is refreshing to see something different and different in a way that works. The main thing that loses the show points and then paradoxically enough wins them right back for use of very good meta effect is the Endless 8 section. That you are better off watching to see the reason, it makes sense in context.

If there’s one thing that takes at least half a point off it is the last episode of season 1 called Some day in the Rain. Trust me you're better off skipping that episode altogether.
Despite that the anime gets a great 9.5 out of 10.