posts tagged “Haruhi Suzumiya”
[Anime Reviews]
18 May 2006
Posted by Martin [Tags: Haruhi Suzumiya]
If there's one word that can be used to sum up this show it's 'unpredictable'. In this episode there are countless bits of info thrown from all sides, plus a bizarre jump back in time. Remember the baseball game from the last episode? That hasn't happened yet: this might explain why it felt disjointed and why I felt like I'd missed something because it explains how Itsuki was dragged into the SOS Brigade, in a very literal sense (second pic). But I'm getting ahead of myself...the ep begins with Yuki elaborating on what she explained to Kyon in episode #3. Through a major infodump and some animation work that thumbs its nose at serious science fiction she outlines who she is, why she's here and so on. After a second viewing and some freeze framing I more or less got my head around it.
The conversation with Yuki gives way to something even stranger: while on club day out that takes the form of an active mission to seek out strange phenomena (aliens, epsers and time travellers don't seem to have access to the SOS Brigade's homepage to alert them to their presence, oddly enough), Mikuru has a confession to make to Kyon. Not
that sort of confession, either. Yep, you've guessed it, even the moe girl is important to the story. At that point I breathed a sigh of relief, just as I did when Kyon makes a more vocal protest at Haruhi's self-indulgent tormenting a few minutes earlier.
Then we meet Itsuki. He too has an interesting load of info to share with Kyon...see a pattern yet? I sure didn't at the time but it was quite fun to look backon afterwards. So, there is not much in the way of comedy in this episode but plenty of exposition that, while it doesn't explain why the series is so strange per se, gives plenty of scope for any weirdness that is to come. It gleefully jumps all over the genre boundaries too, apparently not paying attention to whether it's a comedy, sci-fi or fantasy show. Unfortunately this makes it damned hard to review because I don't know whether it's a piece of subversive genius or something that will turn into an overrated mess by the end; I'm hoping for the former.
At the end of this outing we learn more about the characters' motives, who they are and, erm, timequakes. Once again Kyoto Animation has done a great job with the visual side of things and I can see scores of people at conventions this summer trying to do the dance that goes with the closing theme. No, really.
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[Anime Reviews]
11 May 2006
Posted by Martin [Tags: Haruhi Suzumiya]
It's time for another review of the current Flavour of the Month which by my reckoning makes me the one hundred and first person to blog it. On with the show...
Haruhi's latest idea is to join the baseball tournament to further publicity of the SOS brigade. I'm sure there are other ways of doing this that don't involve signing onto an event that they have little or no experience in but, as usual, Haruhi is adamant and her friends reluctantly form a team of family and friends who happen to be free on the day of the event...which takes place the day after next. As poor old Kyon so eloquently puts it:
Quite.
So, they head over to the practice pitch to swing a few shots (one thousand to be precise) at which point it becomes clear that the school's official team will thrash them quite thoroughly. Haruhi is still undeterred, even when the team ends up as a ragtag band of Haruhi (who's insane), Kyon (who's there out of boredom), Mikuru (who is too scared of Haruhi and the ball to so much as swing the bat), Kyon's sister (age: 11), Yuki (who couldn't care less about what's happening), one of Mikuru's friends and Itsuki. At this point Yuki shows the most amusing behaviour, in that she doesn't really show any enthusiasm at all (below). It's surprising how the most underplayed and low-key gag had me cracking up the most!
Mikuru on the other hand is still a rather pointless character who is beginning to get quite annoying, merely fulfilling the moe stereotype and being the butt of much of Haruhi's cajoling and bullying. There are some pretty cool supporting cast members added as well though; Itsuki in particular is pretty interesting here, throwing in some theory concerning Haruhi's boredom threatening the fate of the planet: for this reason the SOS brigade team must not lose the match. No pressure then...
I must admit my opinion of sport and sport-related TV shows is usually that of apathy, which could explain why I didn't find this episode as engaging as the previous two. Itsuki's (admittedly baffling) explanations and Yuki's 'intervention' dropped in some more hints about the show's underlying sci-fi/fantasy themes that have not been explored much so far, which is a nice bonus. Of course, Yuki's bizarre reaction (such as it is) to having a baseball pitched at her is pretty much priceless.
At the end of this episode I was less than impressed with the theme in question but since I don't like baseball any more than Kyon seemed to I'll let that slide. Otherwise while it gives some more predictable Mikuru-tormenting there is a bit of strange supernatural goings-on and some more interesting characters. Now that the supernatural theme has been picked up I hope that the show's writers run with it: it's one of several aspects to
Haruhi Suzumiya that make it distinctive among the other zany high school comedies, and really entertaining to boot.
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[Anime Reviews]
06 May 2006
Posted by Martin [Tags: Haruhi Suzumiya]
As promised, my next review of The Most Hyped Fansub of 2006. In fact getting the screencaps was less hassle in comparison to trying to stay objective when everyone else is raving about it. With the pros and cons of all that aside in my other recent entry, here goes...
The SOS Brigade (total membership: 4, above) are now a bona fide school society complete with clubhouse but for their irrepressable leader this is certainly not enough. Her first mission is to 'acquire' the equipment she deems necessary; we are treated to one such operation, in which Suzumiya uses her ingenuity (and subordinates) to procure computer equipment from the IT club (below). The way in which he goes about this is pretty shocking, albeit in a comical way. I can only guess at the reasons why Ms Suzumiya is totally incapable of going about everyday activities in a normal fashion but I'm assuming they must be pretty serious.
As always it's the rest of the Brigade who take the flak for all this - Haruhi makes use of Mikuru's, erm, assets to get things done and Kyon can only look on (or avert his gaze) helplessly. He seems torn between trying to stop Haruhi tormenting the poor girl (I predict she'll be in counselling sessions before episode five) and watching with morbid curiosity - it's debatable that he could actually
do anything to halt Haruhi's steamroller of stubborn determination but still...If nothing else though, his character is getting a little more complex. One moment he's trying to stop Haruhi embarrassing herself and the others; the next he's trying to come to terms with resulting emotions he quite rightly feels less than proud about (e.g. failing to stop Haruhi and Mikuru going out in bunny girl outfits).
I'm still not too keen on Mikuru's inclusion: she's a rather shallow character who is purely there for the eye candy or more accurately to poke fun at the
moe characters who seem to be in every other anime title these days. A series that makes fun of fan service shows by actually using well-endowed stereotyped characters always runs the risk of becoming the very thing it's parodying and
Haruhi Suzumiya is no exception: it sends up fan service shows so well it starts to actually look like one at times. This is something that could prove to be a problem if it's over-used later on but we'll have to wait and see.
From a series point of view I'm finding
Haruhi Suzumiya a bit of a tease - just when the gags of the episode start to wear thing something new is thrown in towards the end that makes me want to watch the next one. In this case it's a conversation in the final scene that made me realise that it could get more interesting than just an offbeat comedy. I'm still not sure why it's received all the hype that it has but I'm still enjoying the show on its own merits.
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[Anime Reviews]
28 Apr 2006
Posted by Martin [Tags: Haruhi Suzumiya]
After the bizarre first episode I was in two minds about this series. It consisted almost entirely of an amateur video which, if it were to be made for real, would be to magical girl anime what Peter Jackson's Braindead is to zombie films. Only worse. It was not until the final scene that we meet the show's cast proper; because this little snippet left little to go on in terms of forming an opinion on the show I decided to give it another chance.
This ep jumps back to where it all began: as her first-day-at-high-school introduction Haruhi Suzumiya stands up in class, informs them that unless you are an alien, ghost or ESP-er she doesn't want to talk to you. She then sits down in defiant silence to looks of bemusement (not to mention amusement) from her new classmates. In the scenes that follow we see how this attitude causes Haruhi (above) to have no friends; a situation that doesn't seem to bother her one bit. Despite her antisocial attitude it has the reverse effect on classmate Kyon, who has the (mis)fortune of sitting in front of her in class. Intrigued by this strange girl and her strange views he actually manages to strike up a conversation with her, or as near to a conversation as anyone can have with her. During one of these strange exchanges Kyon suggests that if Haruhi isn't interested in any of the ordinary school clubs she might as well start her own...
At first I must admit the thought "not
another high school comedy..." crossed my mind but fortunately while
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is indeed a high school comedy it is at least an enjoyable one. The best way to describe it (and its lead character) is 'quirky': Haruhi is most certainly weird, very obnoxious, possibly insane but at least she's interesting. At this stage there are just the standard high school stereotypes who surround Kyon and Haruhi but the way that the two of them interact is entertaining on its own. Kyon doesn't pass judgement and accepts the oddest of things with curiosity instead of overreaction: the precise qualities that a conversation with Haruhi requires. This means that he is the only one in class who can actually talk to her and as a result the two of them get on remarkably well. It's a bit early for making predictions like this but I wouldn't rule out some sort of romance between Haruhi and Kyon...of course, he would have to be an alien or ESP-er for this to be on the cards (okay, that's two predictions)!
Anime high school comedies often rely on fanservice and slapstick to deliver the laughs, which rarely works for me. In the case of this show the sharp dialogue, rapid camera pans and dry humour offer a different type of comedy that has a 'sitcom' feel to it: not in the American,
Friends-style "look at Me! I'm soooo witty!" sort of way but more in an understated and deadpan fashion that is quite refreshing.
I had a much higher opinion of
Haruhi Suzumiya at the end of this episode than I did at the beginning. If the supernatural themes that Haruhi goes on about actually make an appearance I can see the show doing very well; equally this particular type of comedy works well from my own personal perspective (the only way to find out if it's to your taste is to see it for yourself) so it succeeds there too. Right now the series looks promising - I seem to share Kyon's view that
Haruhi Suzumiya is odd and slightly nuts but that just makes me want to get to know her better.
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[Anime Reviews]
25 Apr 2006
Posted by Martin [Tags: Haruhi Suzumiya]
Okay, what exactly do we have here? With a title that for some reason forces me to check I've spelt it right every time, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a comedy. I think. For all the overwhelming positive things I've read about this (plus some overwhelmingly negative ones) I can't really form a solid opinion on it. The cast and story of the series is scarcely introduced in this episode because it is actually a show within a show.
The show in question is quite possibly the worst student film ever made. Now, I've had film student friends of mine play me short films made on university coursework deadlines and budgets that cover the cost of the videotape and a bus fare to campus but they would look like David Lynch in comparison to this. The whole episode is a showing of
Mikuru Asahina's Adventure, a godawful home movie that is supposed to be a magical girlfriend/fantasy/romance. The camerawork is shaky, the dialogue is dreadful, the plot is a mish-mash of every magical girl anime in existence and a running commentary is given by the camera crew to explain away the plot holes. Imagine the stereotypical 'otaku' anime fan being told to make their own anime show...you get the idea.
I actually found this really funny in places. The tale was so shockingly bad some moments had me in stitches - much like the film
This is Spinal Tap. It was absolutely, embarrassingly cringeworthy. Of course anime parodies have been done countless times before but at times I was chuckling and literally sinking into my seat out of sheer embarrassment for the 'actors', including the hapless bunny girl in the lead (below). Suddenly, the end credits roll and we meet Haruhi Suzumiya and her friends in the movie theatre: they're aghast at the travesty that she has roped them into and she is dead chuffed with it. End of episode.
This is all well and good but the creators of
Haruhi Suzumiya have taken a big risk in essentially making one gag stretch almost the full length of the first instalment - some viewers might be put off entirely, others will watch ep 2 and find it to be nothing like they expected (this is assuming you find it funny in the first place, as some viewers inevitably will not). Personally I found it to be an amusing and interesting way of doing the oft-used 'parodying other anime' shows idea: some of the magical girl references went over my head (the genre doesn't interest me much and never has done unfortunately) but overall it raised a few laughs and certainly made me curious as to what
Haruhi Suzumiya is
really like.
After watching this episode I don't know what to make of
Haruhi Suzumiya, I really don't. The reason why so many fans took a liking to it purely on this ep alone is lost on me it seems - I'm not making any judgement until I've seen some more.
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