The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

[shinta|hikari]

@the footnote - But like you said, Haruhi was all those things at the same time, which is a feat in itself. Add to that the postmodern twist of having an arrogant whimsical girl being God in a sci-fi setting, and you have something that I (and maybe others who aren't just blind fanboys) care about.

Saying that you don't need to watch Haruhi just because there have been others that surpassed it after it aired (in singular aspects, no less) is like saying you don't need to watch NGE just because series like Rahxephon etc. are around. Also, I don't agree to some of your comparisons.(1)

I do agree about the problems the extreme delay of this airing has caused. They should have aired this as soon as they possibly could to maximize the fan obsession.

PS. I also read the novels, but the anime is definitely much better judging from the first season. Its all about the delivery, and this is a rare case where the anime version exceeds its source material. Heck, the God Knows live practically revolutionized music in anime.

(1) Higurashi is an awesome mystery series, but its comedy is nowhere near as intelligent as Haruhi's.
Kannagi was a great show (although somewhat a copy of Haruhi's setting), but Nagi is not an actual God (and all the powers that come with it), and that is what made Haruhi's whims integral to the plot in the first place.
Bamboo blade was quite interesting, but it lacked originality. I would hardly compare it to Haruhi, much less say it exceeded it.
Shigofumi had the originality, but lacked the solid comedy and character development Bamboo Blade had. I didn't wait for each episode and watch it asap for these two shows.
Ef was not better animated. It was just slightly better directed, but that is mainly due to the artistic style it chose. You're right about Kanon and Clannad though.

But, this is also just my opinion.

EDIT: removed Aria comment upon reflection.

[Ryllharu]

Saying that you don't need to watch Haruhi just because there have been others that surpassed it after it aired (in singular aspects, no less) is like saying you don't need to watch NGE just because series like Rahxephon etc. are around.

I didn't say that you don't need to watch Haruhi, I explicitly remarked that if someone haven't seen it by now one should, but that I just don't give a shit after 3 years. Equally if not more entertaining shows have come along since then, and I don't think that Haruhi can compete any more.

The hype killed this whole franchise for me.

[RyougaZell]

While I respect your opinion Ryll, I do wonder... if the hype killed Haruhi for you... what's the need to post here then? It makes me think you still want/going to watch it, despite what you say, about not being interested in it anymore.

On other matters... lol. I got neg repped because the first torrent I posted wasn't real. I didn't know it wasn't though. I better delete it from the post...

Yuki's webpage says they are on the encoding stage currently.

[Nadouku]

I watched the CoalGuys/gg sub for the new episode. It was good and it surprised me that Kyon was the one that gave Haruhi a jump start on those weird imaginations about aliens, time travellers, and espers.

[shinta|hikari]

Great rendition of this chapter. I absolutely missed Haruhi's cute yet scary face, as well as her absurd and forceful remarks, like basing a proposal on the theory of relativity and throwing it out the window for miracles right after.

Kyon's nonchalant face is cool as always. I admire him for being able to keep such a face despite burning with cuteness overload over Asahina's actions. John Smith was a funny alias as well. His inner monologues are half the comedy in this show.

Direction still great, with the camera swing as Kyon looked around right after he woke up. Dialogue (or the lack of it at times) is as unique and interesting as it was before.

Loli Haruhi = win.

[Board of Command]

PS. I also read the novels, but the anime is definitely much better judging from the first season. Its all about the delivery, and this is a rare case where the anime version exceeds its source material. Heck, the God Knows live practically revolutionized music in anime.

I would say that the novels were much more enjoyable than the anime after having watched the anime first. If you read the novels first, it's hard to imagine the characters in your mind. However, after watching the anime, the novel's characters seemed very life-like. They were narrated from Kyon's first-person perspective, so you got all of his sarcastic remarks about daily life with the SOS Brigade.

The anime is still great, but it no longer has that "surprise" factor for me. However, this obviously isn't a knock on the anime, since I chose to spoil myself by reading all the novels.

[Buffalobiian]

So they decided to insert a new episode 8 into the original run, making the total count for "first season" 13 now? Besides that, the previous 7 have been identical, right? I'm going to watch this in their original airing order, so has that order been established yet? (ie the first 7 eps of the original run have now been aired in a different order.) Normally mixed-chronology happens in the beginning and tend to straighten out at the end.

[Yukimura]

No buff, the first 7 chronological eps of the first season have been reaired, however only three of those eps that have reaired were among the first seven eps ever broadcast. The other four reaired eps occurred much later in the original broadcast order.

If you check the wikipedia page you can get the chronological as well as broadcast orderings for the first season. If you downloaded fansubs from a TV source (like a.f.k's) chances are they will be numbed in the broadcast order. If you downloaded from someone who used a DVD source then chances are they will be in chronological order. The easiest method to tell what you have for sure would be to look at your episode 4. If it involves baseball then you have broadcast numbered eps, if it doesn't then you have chronologically numbered eps.

If you're worried about spoilers on the wiki page the order of the broadcasts in chronological numbers was: 11,1,2,7,3,9,8,10,14,4,13,12,5,6. The 1-6 that you see in this list are the same 1-6 that have reaired so far but their positions reflect the order they aired in back in 2006.

The rerun season is scheduled for 28 episodes, exactly double the number of episodes in the first season implying there will be 13 more new episodes (not counting the one that just came out) aired sometime between now and October.

[Sapphire]

Anyone have links to the pictures of the town that Haruhi is based off of? I saw it a few years ago and it was absolutely amazing!! But I can't find it on the Internets and I have no idea where to look..

[Buffalobiian]

No buff, the first 7 chronological eps of the first season have been reaired, however only three of those eps that have reaired were among the first seven eps ever broadcast. The other four reaired eps occurred much later in the original broadcast order.

I thought I understood, but I didn't, after reading more :S. I think my brain's fried.

Well, I'm downloading [Yuki]'s release of Haruhi HD, which seems to be named in the order which they are airing NOW.

I guess I should check back when it's all done...

[Sapphire]

I think Yuki means that only broadcasted eps 02, 03, and.. 04 (last season wise) are actually chronologically somewhat in the right place (before episode 7, in 2006 version). Other than that, the plot was chronologically 'scrambled'. But yeah, so far the episodes that have aired are from last season, up to episode 8.

And the episodes this season are in chronological order.

[KrayZ33]

I liked the new ep alot, it was really interesting and the fact that "John Smith" is the reason why she joined North High to see supernatural stuff is funny too

[Kraco]

Loli Haruhi = win.

She's just too cute.

[shinta|hikari]

Indeed she is.

[Nadouku]

Holy shit! I so did not see Kyon at the corner. Nice pictures, though.

[enkoujin]

I will just leave this particular link here:

[a.f.k.] The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 - 01.avi

[Board of Command]

140 MB Xvid? No thanks.

[Buffalobiian]

140 MB Xvid? No thanks.

Picky?

[Coalgirls] Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (2009) 01 (1280x720 H.264 AAC)


?? So the first season's finished reairing? I thought it only went up to 7, then they aired the special ep8.

[shinta|hikari]

It's an insert episode. The rest of the new episodes should air in July.

[Buffalobiian]

So some people are calling this insert episode Ep8, while others are calling it S2 Ep1, I take it? Makes sense then, if so.