The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

I sat down to watch a nice, calming, slice of life anime, and my God was I wrong.

This is show that manages to present a well written thriller-esque story line whilst maintaining the façade of a slice of life anime, meaning it’s thrilling in parts and relaxing in others. The anime goes from the main characters doing a class project as a team, to fighting giant blue monsters in another dimension, and the transition between these parts are almost seamless. However it is let down by potholes in the story line, unholy amounts of filler episodes, and large gaps between the most entertaining parts, resulting in much left to be desired.

The largest problem with this series is the lack of consistency and characterisation which means it takes a while for the anime to get going. Although the transitions between a calm school life anime and a crazy thriller involving “quantum this through the nth dimension of that” are entertaining and keep us on our toes the timing of these jumps is a tad sketchy to say the least. The thriller-esque parts are far too short and occur far too little, meaning you’re left watching five episodes of school kids running around whilst waiting for the giant blue monster to show up to smack them about a bit. Don’t get me wrong slice of life is great, and the long parts that don’t involve much action can be very entertaining, especially with Kyon’s (the male lead) sarcastic undertones taking the mick out of the process but too often are you stuck with long drawn out filler episodes that don’t seem to have anything to do with plot development and at the very least only allow for little character development, of which there is almost none regardless. Character development rarely happens, and if it does it’s only really to Kyon, a little bit to Haruhi (the namesake, and female lead). But the worst part of the entire series by far is what fans have dubbed the “Endless Eight”. This is, as the name suggests, eight episodes in series two that are all the same. To no extent am I exaggerating, all eight are the same bar some minor differences such as clothing and a slight change in the story at the end of each episode. Seriously check it out it’s crazy.

Now something really needs to be discussed in greater detail, the plot development, there is none, and there isn’t that classic curve where the story starts of mundane and gets more exciting before reaching a climax and cooling down resolving loose ends. The series doesn’t even have that sheer kick ass factor that allows us to dismiss a non-existent plot and character development that Cowboy Bebop or Fooly Cooly had. The curve, if you will, for this series is constantly moving up and down meaning there is no true climax (apart from this weird thing half way through series one) and you’re left feeling unsatisfied by the end. The end as far as the end is concerned could have been any one of the filler episodes featured throughout the entire series and you wouldn’t notice. The “mini” climaxes that occur throughout the series, however, are brilliantly done. At parts (well one very specific part in particular) I was literally on the edge of my seat. And because the series is so cleverly disguised as a slice of life anime when the large plot twists occur it’s so shocking you’ll be gasping for air.

But overall The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is an exciting wolf in sheep’s clothing that needs a little more work on its plot. It’s entertaining, quite funny in parts especially where Kyon and girls are considered, and the supporting cast of characters do provide a refreshing line up for the various adventures they get up to. The ending is very non-climatic but hey the ride there was quite entertaining.

If you do watch this show now for the love of god don’t watch it in the released order, go for the chronological order otherwise you won’t enjoy this anime as much as you should.

Premise: 8/10

The idea this anime is based around is spectacular and, ignorant of the individual components of this anime, the mix up of different genres is a refreshing and exciting idea.  

Plot Development: 5/10

The plot development in this anime is terrible as a whole, as a result of the afore mentioned lacking of a climax  and a kick ass factor to allow you to ignore the lacking of a climax, but there are some moments when you just can’t stop watching and there are some amazing twists.

Animation: 7/10

The animation is this anime is good, but it’s nothing special. The only time the animation shines is during the heavy action scenes and during the intro and outro. Overall the whole thing is good, but there are some choppy moments, and it definitely isn’t a masterpiece in regards to animation.

Characters: 6/10

The line-up of characters provides a funny backbone for the series, but aside from the main leads in total the line-up can be frustrating and boring at times.

Character Development: 4/10

This is the only aspect of this anime that is actually bad, character development in this type of show is one of the driving forces to it, and it’s the area you rely on when the show is in-between thriller like parts. It’s what provides the backbone of the slice of life element. But unfortunately there is none whatsoever. At one point you think the two leads have started to develop but it backtracks the very next episode leaving you feeling unfulfilled.

Fluidity: 5/10

This show is strange to the affect that during the thriller-esque scenes it runs smoothly and alternates between thriller and slice of life seamlessly. But apart from those few times the show is jumpy. It builds up to events that don’t transpire and leaves you hanging.

Music: 7/10

This is one of the redeeming features of this anime. The music is well written and complements the scenes perfectly allowing for a light upbeat feel. And the intro and outro set the feeling for the anime perfectly. Although there is no problem with the music it could be better and more fitting, but overall I can’t complain.   

Intro: 8/10

The two intros for this anime are very good, and the balance of the music and animation help to set the scene for the anime perfectly. It’s upbeat and puts you in a good mood.

Outro: 9/10

The outro is hilarious and during the sadder episodes allows you to finish the anime feeling good. The second outro isn’t as good as the first one, ignorant of the annoying song (well it’s annoying after about the first 50 times…).

Personal Enjoyment: 8/10

Although there are a lot of let downs throughout this anime overall it’s fun and exciting.

Total: 6.7/10 (Fine)

Stuart Macdonald