The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

This is an anime I often saw pop up on Crunchyroll. A classic that has been released in a few orders with varying number of episodes, Haruhi Suzumiya follows Kyon who is recruited by Haruhi as she seeks to encounter the mysterious and supernatural. Haruhi recruits 3 other members in addition to Kyon to form an official school club to help her with this. Now honestly I went into this show knowing nothing about its premise, so I really had no preconceived ideas on whether this show was suited to me or not.

What we end up with took a while to hook me in, with not much happening in the first four episodes besides introductions. I resolved to watch to the end of the first arc, and I’m glad I did as we got some development and it felt like from there the show kept delivering on good episodes. At its best, this show has Haruhi finding joy in normal school life with the SOS Brigade, usually with some amount of supernatural thrown in that she’s not aware of.

I do have somewhat of a problem with most of this show’s dialogue being internal to Kyon, who narrates and guides the viewer through the story. It feels like we’re mostly with his thoughts rather than things being expressed in actions or interacting with the other characters. However, for what the show is perhaps this format makes the most sense. After all, title character Haruhi is more a subject to be observed from the outside than directly understand and follow. Still, I wish they could have relied a little less on narration.

There are a few parts to take points off for. One character, Mikuru, seems to exist only for fanservice purposes. Often the target of sexual harassment from Haruhi, she is also regularly exposed. We get some redemption for the club by it not being 4 girls and Kyon, but another guy is also present. This makes it lean away from the harem aspect at least, but again if fan service is not your cup of tea then this show is not for you. While usually if a show is good I can live with it, the fact Mikuru’s existence seems to only be for this makes it a negative that’s harder to look past.

One more downside, at least in an age of binge watching, is the Endless Eight arc. I understand it got a lot of hate when it first aired, and I imagine waiting 2 months for real progress is frustrating. In the age of binging, 4 hours of virtually the same episode also isn’t great, and I ended up skipping 4-7 of the arc. The Sigh arc that follows is also pretty tough to watch. While usually there’s some fun associated with Haruhi’s antics, this one ends up more frustrating, which is reflected in Kyon’s actions and trying to shut things down. Of course with these feelings being present in the show, it does serve a purpose in Kyon and Haruhi’s relationship. Overall these two arcs added as part of “season 2” bring the show down, reflected in the scores on AniList where the 2009 version is a whole 5% lower than the original airing.

Overall my feelings on this show are complicated. When I like the show I really like it, but it’s hard to ignore that the back half leaves something to be desired. Certainly I would recommend not watching all 8 episodes of Endless Eight, maybe just watch the first 2 or 3 and then the last one. As for Sigh, while you might find yourself frustrated I think there’s a good reason for it, although since the show didn’t continue much further beyond the arc the reason doesn’t make itself entirely clear. It’s a good show, just one that may have been improved through a few decisions and running longer. Perhaps the movie will correct some of this.