Tenchi's Thoughts: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya series report

So, as I think I have already stated, I like reading other people’s blogs and looking at their convention pictures. I kept coming across many pictures with people doing some crazy dance and girls in school uniforms with a yellow ribbon in their hair. After a little investigating, I discovered this anime series was called The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and it is EXTREMELY popular. Of course, I was about a year…or two late finding out this anime and I am sure there are tons of reports about this series already. The great thing for me was I did not have to sit around every week waiting for a new subbed, I could dive right into the series (of course, the longer you wait to watch a series, the more likely it will become licenses and it will get pulled from the internet…so maybe those people who watch it when it first comes out are on to something…).

The Hare Hare Yukai dance that really has
nothing to do with the show :O

So, here is the basic plot of TMHS and yes, there are going to be some spoilers, more so later in the blog. :P The show starts off with Kyon starting high school and talking about how he is leaving behind the childish ideas of aliens, time travelers, and espers. So of course the girl sitting behind him in class announces that she is looking for such beings and that normal humans are boring to her, making a great first impression. Despite his friend’s warnings, Kyon makes the mistake of talking to the girl, Haruhi, and tells her instead of being bored with every club on campus and complaining, she should start her own club. Next thing you know, she has stolen a club room that only has one member anyway, demands that one member Yuki and Kyon join, and sets off to find two other members that fit her needs. One by one, each member of the S.O.S Brigade (the name of the club) approaches Kyon and informs him that they in fact are aliens, time travelers, and an esper who were all sent to watch over Haruhi and obtain data from her. Kyon can kiss goodbye any thoughts he had of his high school life being normal as he slowly sinks into the crazy life that is Haruhi.

Major spoilers for you...

My first reaction when watching this show was….wtf??! 0_o It made no sense. The first episode had some poorly made movie being shot and we were given no character introduction or any clue on what was going on. I did a little research to make sure I was even watching the right show when I found out that TMHS was broadcast a little different than normal animes. Instead of being shown in chronological order, the episodes were shown in the nonlinear narrative perspective of Kyon. The episode I just got done watching was actually episode 11 chronologically speaking, but was episode one when they were broadcast in Japan. So, with that in mind, I realized that making sense of this anime might not work until the very last episode. Knowing that it was not going to make sense actually made it make MORE sense in the sense…I knew it would not make sense. Some people watch the series the broadcast way first, then the chronological way. If you wish to watch it the chronological way, you need to watch the episodes in this order: 2, 3, 5, 10, 13, 14, 4, 7, 6, 8, 1, 12, 11, 9. I decided to watch it the broadcast way and can see how the storyline would have seemed different and certain events would have made more sense.

Thinking too hard may hurt your head.

My next reaction was…right, this guy has stopped believing in aliens, espers, and time travelers and he meets a girl who ONLY wants to meet them. THEN all three of these specific people are gathered in the same club? It almost had me taking a magical eye roll, until Kyon is told WHY they are all there: Haruhi….is God/god. Yuki is actually an alien data collector….THING who was sent by her creator because THREE years ago, there was a huge spike of energy and her creator believes that Haruhi has the ability to control the universe or in fact create another if she so chooses. Mikuru is actually a time traveler trying to find out why no one can go back in time beyond THREE years from this present day. Itsuki turns out to be the esper and his organization is in charge of stopping the grey space Haruhi creates when she gets angry or bored. Oh, and he and other members of their organization gain their powers THREE years ago. Their explanations of who they think Haruhi is differs a little in each story, but the bottom line is Haruhi has the power to change things to her will and preventing her from being bored with this world and destroying it is one of their top priorities. Naturally, Kyon thinks they are all crazy, but soon they prove to who they really are (Mikuru actually proves her way via a future self whereas Yuki basically is stabbed a million times and lives and Itsuki becomes orb man to destroy Blob monsters from destroying the grey area.) Now, I do not know about you, but this plot sounded VERY original to me and seemed beyond different than anything else I have ever heard. At first you think that Haruhi was choosing these members based on what she perceived were a must have according to shoujo mangas: Yuki is the meganekko, Mikuru is the moe type, and Itsuki is the mysterious foreign exchange student that transfers in mid semester. Then you realize that they have been gathered because of Haruhi’s desire to meet them. It is often wondered if they exist only because Haruhi wanted to meet them and if they came there to study her because of their own free will or was that a desire too. Kyon has stated that those three should come out and tell Haruhi who they are so perhaps she would not be so bored and it would protect the world. The three answer that some individuals want them to do that, but they fear of what damage that might cause if Haruhi becomes aware of her powers.

Are you okay?!

So, even if you ignore all that crazy godlike abilities/the world ending issues, this show is STILL great. Because of Haruhi’s short attention span, the S.O.S Brigade is always up to something. Oh, I suppose I should explain what the S.O.S Brigade is/does. As I mentioned before, Haruhi decided to make her own club since she decided all the clubs on campus sucked and only had normal people in them. Although there is a slight difference in what S.O.S stands for due to the language differences, it was translated into English to stand for “ Save the World by Overloading it with Fun, Haruhi Suzumiya's Brigade”. As for what the club does…well the original goal of the club was to find espers, aliens, and time travelers. Of course she already IS and since those people are not going to tell her who they are, that is not what the group ends up doing. It turns into Haruhi gets bored and decides they are going to enter a baseball tournament, go visit a creepy island, or film an action movie with Mikuru as the star. The four other club members usually sit around in the club house waiting for Haruhi to think of what to do for the day.

This of course is the proper way to hand out fliers to people.

Like many others, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out WHAT happened three years ago! I had all sorts of theories in my head, the most bizarre one involving some kind of butterfly effect twist where this Haruhi was trying to make up for future mistakes she knew was going to happen. Did three years ago she got some magical wish making device that allows her to control the world?! Was Haruhi even human?! Well folks, we were finally told what happened and it is something that seemed so ordinary, it made me upset at first. I mean, it seemed rather lame that suddenly the world changed because a girl suddenly realized that her world was very small. The ordinary things that happened to her at school and home happened to many people across Japan. Basically, she found out she wasn’t special and that changed how she saw the world and her place in it. It is not clear if she had those powers before that time or her recognizing her place in the world changed her, but at that moment, time travelers could not go any further back in time (some believe that is when Haruhi created this world), the espers got their powers, and the aliens in space felt…a disturbance. So..after finding out the plot of this show was based on the fact a kid could not handle she was special was a little -__- at first. It wasn’t anything supernatural or awesome or even mildly stupid about this scenario. It was just…reality. So after I got done watching that episode, I actually thought about it and decided…maybe I understand (as much as one can understand MOHS). When we are all little kids, we think our world is so important and HUGE, we know 12 people and we go on the best adventures ever. Mom makes the best cake and Dad’s job is the most important job in the world. Then one day it hits you that…yes, everyone has basically the same class make up as you, everyone goes on little field trips, and yes, everyone gets a homemade cake on their birthday (or store bought to be safer…). So, Haruhi could be anyone. Anyone who had those kinds of thoughts and decided…you know what, I understand that I am a normal person, but I strive to be more. I will discover things no one else knows and prove everyone wrong. I will make things happen. Perhaps her powers come from her determination to make things happen. Yes, I am getting all deep about a show whose real purpose might be something completely different, but this is how I feel about the show. After a while, anime shows with normal kids who have powers can start blending together. But MOHS goes a different route; this show’s main character with a power does not even KNOW she has a power. She thinks she is a normal person and tries to spice up her life while other’s around her try to make sure she does not accidentally break reality. The show never explains WHY Haruhi can do the things she can do, it is only explained what happened right before she got them. That sorta mysterious atmosphere I find interesting. I would also like to add I have yet to read any of the manga where I hear there may be answers to this.

Birth of god?

Another thing we gain with this piece of information that…Haruhi is just a normal girl with normal emotions (of course her emotions can destroy everyone and everything…let’s just put that aside). She acts tough and hard sometimes, but she was lonely kid who just wanted someone to pay attention to her. She got that when Kyon first spoke to her and that is why she reacted so quickly to him. When you watch the show in the broadcast order, it seems as if Kyon and Haruhi develop a relationship much slower than they actually do. Kyon is the only one who does not want to give Haruhi her way all the time, that he wants to trust in her enough to know she will not destroy the world because she is told no. Haruhi wants Kyon’s attention and only picks him to start a new world over with. She also wants to start a new world over because she is jealous of Mikuru’s relationship with Kyon. She gets jealous, bored, angry, ect. She is just trying to function as a normal girl and it is interesting watching Kyon try to treat her like a normal girl instead of the god he is told she is.

A jealous Haruhi is a scary Haruhi.

Another thing I enjoyed about this show is how Kyon reacts to the situations he is placed in. He almost seems like the main character in my mind, as we are told things from his point of view. Sometimes he comes off as a very cocky guy who just will not believe all these things are happening. He tries to protect Mikuru from Haruhi’s constant molestings and Yuki from Haruhi forcing her ideas on her (and possibly selling her for computers…). I also find it interesting we never learn his name the entire series, as Kyon is a nickname (someone else pointed out we are not told his sister’s name either, I cannot remember that). Kyon’s prospective on what Haruhi is or could be is different from the others. They are around her for different reasons and perhaps not of their own free will. Kyon is there because he wanted to talk to her for whatever reason and he feels she is just a normal girl (deep down). He does not give into her and I think that is what Haruhi likes about him. Kyon also might give a more honest account of what is happening in the show (aside the fact he is in love with her of course) than anyone else could. Also, seeing his reactions to how much his actions have a cause on the world.

The blurry kiss that saved the world!! (we think..)

People have said MOHS is the best anime ever and others have said it is WAY overhyped. Without all the hype, I might have never heard of this show and I am glad I did. It was a very fresh anime with great art. It had “stereotyped’ characters that were really different than the norm. It was a high school set story that had them doing basic things with a scifi twist. The romance is not forced and there are plenty of crack moments that kept me laughing, my favorite being the space commanding scenes. The only downside is 14 episodes did not seem like enough for this anime. There have been talks for a second season or show for some time now. Hopefully it will come out soon, as this show has a great following. I for one will be one of the ones waiting for the next chapter of this show and hope it is as great as the last!