The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Review :
Haruhi Suzumiya is one of the most well known faces in the anime community. Until recently, I had absolutely no idea why the show was so popular, and to be perfectly honest, I still don't. Your going to see this word a lot in my upcoming Angel Beats review: potential. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya had unbelievable potential. While it didn't quite live up to it in the show, it was still very fun to watch and a very good show.
Story 7/10:
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is about a freshman called Kyon who is quite the cynic and is skeptical about all things supernatural. On the first day of school during role call the girl sitting behind him announces to the class that all aliens, time travelers, and espers come see her immediately. Intrigued by this girl, Kyon begins talking to her and learns her name is Haruhi Suzumiya. They become friends and establish a club called the SOS Brigade where lo and behold an alien named Yuki Nagato, a time traveler named Mikuru Asahina, and an espers named Itsuki Koizuma are forced to join. As time goes by, Kyon learns from the other brigade members that Haruhi is actually able to change the world around her almost like a god. Haruhi is unaware of her powers and of her friends being supernatural beings. Thus the story revolves around preventing Haruhi from getting bored and destroying the world through her subconscious. Now, I watched the show in chronological order (there are 3 ways to watch the show) , and found that the first 6 episode arc was brilliant and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately the episodes to follow were a different story. They were fun yes, but they felt like filler episodes to me, and because the entire series after the first 6 episodes was actually fillers, the ending was abrupt, providing no closure whatsoever. The "second season" episodes also felt like filler episodes and the endless eight felt lazy because they could have just shortened it to 3 episodes. I feel like if the series was better paced and had a larger main plot, the show could have been something really special. Thankfully, my desires were met in the movie The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, which is now one of my favorite movies of all time. In short, the story started off with a bang, then fizzed away.
Art 9/10:
It really is amazing that this show came out back in 2006 because the art is fantastic. This is probably one of the main reasons why people have been so attracted to this show. The character designs are all great and they aren't bound to the same set of clothes every day. The wide array of settings are well done and this is just overall a very well produced anime.
Sound 6/10:
I do not understand where some people are coming from. I watched the dub and the sub version of this show, and in neither did I find the "superb" voice acting that everyone was raving about. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, it's actually pretty good, but it's definitely not anything special in MY opinion. Don't hate on me for my OPINION of the voice acting. Many people find the voice acting superb especially for the 2 main characters, unfortunately I did not. I did like how the story was presented with Kyon thoughts however. The real reason I gave this section a 6 (enjoyable) instead of a 7 (good) was because the music really wasn't anything better than a 5 (average), I found no songs to be catchy, and the mood setting songs (particularly the dramatic ones) often found themselves misplaced in scenes. Overall the sound aspects of the show was above average due to the good voice acting, but not anything really noteworthy.
Characters 7/10:
The characters in this show were quite good. Haruhi is a sporadic bundle of craziness, Kyon is the cynical voice of reason, and the other 3 leads were over the top stereotypes. Although these 3 were stereotypes, they were so intentionally. Because haruhi basically wished for these 3 stereotypical characters to be there, they arrived on q. It's satisfying to have an explanation to why the 3 characters are so one dimensional instead of just throwing them at us and expecting us to relate to them. And even though they were stereotypes, they were very well done and a joy to watch. And if the show didn't provide enough for you, the movie really brings them out of their shells and provides much deeper insight on them, particularly with Yuki. Obviously the strongest characters were Haruhi and Kyon due to their yin and yang type presence in the show. However, there were drawbacks to the characters. My qualms were that Kyon really did complain A LOT, and Haruhi can sometimes come off as a real bitch when she bosses people around. My main issue is just that the characters had almost no development throughout the story. I mean Haruhi developed a lot in the first 6 episodes. But after that there was almost nothing. However, once again the movie answered my prayers on this issue too (see a trend here?). The characters were great, but lack of development really prevented them from being more relatable and and interesting, so in the end I rate them as good, but not anything more.
Enjoyment 8/10:
I have no idea why but I REALLY enjoyed watching this show. If there was more closure at the end of the season I most likely would have given this show an 8 (which is a very rare score from me). The tasks that the cast had to do to entertain Haruhi were fun to watch and the first 6 episodes were pretty intense. Maybe it was the characters, or maybe being able to hear all of Kyons thoughts. I really don't know why I enjoyed this show so much. Ultimately with better pacing and a thicker plot, I would have fallen completely in love with this show.
Overall 7.5/10:
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was a show that I thoroughly enjoyed watching. I can see why some people absolutely love this show, but unfortunately for me it had too many flaws particularly in the pacing and lack of plot after the first 6 episodes to make this truly great. However, if you enjoyed the show like I did, you HAVE to watch the movie: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, because it is exactly what I was hoping for from the series. I may or may not write a review for it, but just know that it is everything you could ask for in a movie and has become only the 4th anime to ever get a 9/10 or higher from me.
The Verdict:
Very good show that is very fun to watch, gleaming with potential but unfortunately falls short of what it could be.
Pros:
+Great Characters
+Fantastic first 6 episodes
+Amazing art especially for the time
+Addicting to watch
Cons:
-Plot dies after 6th episode and climax in the middle of the season
-Lack of a memorable soundtrack
-Almost no character development
7.5/10 - Very Good
No comments:
Post a Comment