The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

2 things before you read this review: 1) I (unfortunately) watched the series twice, both in airing and chronological order, so I can compare them. 2) This is not a praise Haruhi review, but rather a review from someone who truly dislikes and despises the show. I tried to include all reasons behind this; so even if you are a Haruhi fanatic, please try to understand why I rated it so low. Now onto the review. MAL is the place where I usually decide the new anime series I want to watch. Unfortunately, this sometimes proves to be disastrous - like the case of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.Reading the synopsis, seeing the nice graphics and all the hype around it, I really expected something great, intelligent and unusual. Instead, I got a really big disappointment - manifested by a boredom and annoyance overdose. From what I've seen, there are usually two approaches of the show that Haruhi fans support. First is the parody one - TMoHS is supposed to be a light comedy not meant to be taken seriously, destined purely for laughter. Second states that TMoHS is a deep, subtle and intelligent show that has a lot of hidden meanings. I honestly disagree with both. TMoHS is nothing more than a series that delivers to fans what fans want - exaggerated, cliche characters, lots of fanservice, predictability and little to none plot and character development. Story You can't talk about the story without mentioning the really unusual way in which the episodes are aired - and that is, not chronological. I admit, this is an extremely intelligent, even brilliant idea - to hide the fact that the plot of TMoHS is basically zero. Nopes. Nothing ever happens; it's just a bunch of high school and spare time events that some teenagers go through randomly thrown in. That's why, it really doesn't matter in which order you watch the show, since you won't miss anything. Now, the whole 'God is amongst us' concept could have been really interestingly developed - if it wasn't for the characters. Characters In my opinion, characters truly represent the poorest aspect of the show. Leaving aside the fact that there is no development in their personalities at all, they are so poorly made, that it's almost as if they were created to be mocked at. In an elegant way, you could say that they are one-dimensional sketches or exaggerated caricatures. In a non sophisticated, yet same true way, you could just call them crappy. Either way, they cut off all the enjoyment the story could have brought. Because they are so simplistic, the viewer is basically able to predict anything that's about to happen in the following 5 minutes with an accuracy of 95% - unless he's an idiot. So let's move onto each one of them. Haruhi: Haruhi is what every teenage girl would want to be - she's beautiful, she's smart, she's talented and athletic. She could be called either a Mary Sue character or a tsundere - I don't care. Because of all her qualities, her life was probably pretty easy, thus leading her to believe she's special. However, she doesn't want to be special only for herself - she wants the world to know how great of a person she is. So far, so good. Then why is she so unlikeable? Well, Haruhi's way of proving she's something else is definitely WRONG. If there was one adjective I had to pick to describe Haruhi, then I'd probably choose aggressive. Haruhi is aggressive in everything. Her speech is aggressive, her ideas are aggressive, her way of waving her hands is aggressive, but most important of all - her relationships towards other people is aggressive. She has no value of human morals whatsoever, considering everybody her pawns. Therefore, Haruhi thinks she is allowed to do everything just because she's able to. I honestly waited throughout the whole series for someone to slap her, disagree with her or at least spark the tiniest bit sense of reality into her. Unfortunately, there was no positive development at all. Haruhi started out as a perfect, bossy bitch and ended up as an even more bitchy one, receiving several ego boosts as the series advanced due to her talented, almighty nature. Yuki: Yuki could as very well be replaced by a broken alarm clock that rings when it shouldn't or by an old, rusted door and there would hardly be any differences. 90% of Yuki's actions are static - she's just, well, there, reading a book. (The climax of Yuki's passiveness is reached during episode 14, when the viewer is shown 5 minutes in which basically all she does is change the page while voices full of references echo on the school corridor. That's 5 freaking minutes of NOTHING. Yet I, as a viewer, should find this utterly amusing.) The rest 10% of Yuki's actions make absolutely no sense. She's just programming computers or fighting cute aliens while being equally cute, silent and moe. Mikuru: Mikuru's only purpose in this show is to bring fanservice. Lots and lots, if possible. Mikuru has this high-pitched, squeaky scream and this shy personality which enables her to make all fanboys fall for her. She's like a sickening cute, fluffy hamster that starts squealing every time she's touched (and she sure gets touched a lot, mind you.) Every once in a while, she might give you the unpleasant surprise that she's not actually a commercial item and she can exit her tormented animal state too and be human - by speaking. Koizumi: I haven't read the original novels so I can't tell for sure what role Koizumi plays in them - but to me, it seems as the creator of TMoHS had, at some point, reached a pinch. He had to create a new character. Therefore, his line of reasoning was probably something like this: "Hey, I already have 3 extremely moe and likable female characters. I should make a guy too, so the female audience would be pleased. Yeah, yeah, I should make a guy - as elegant and charming as possible." Thus Koizumi was born. Basically, unless you're a crazy fangirl or something similar, you'd barely be able to notice Koizumi - I, for once, kept forgetting his name all the time. To be honest, the only time I acknowledged his existence was when he kept staring at Kyon's hair in the middle of a mole fluttering in the ocean breeze. I thought it was the most irrelevant and repulsing thing TMoHS had brought so far. Koizumi serves as the voice through which the strange events occurring around Haruhi are explained. Translation: his speeches are long, boring and put you to sleep. When he talks, he talks. When he doesn't talk, he still talks. Kyon: Kyon is a sword with two edges. On one hand, he's really sarcastic, being quite innovative to the ordinary guy genre - thus proving to be the only aspect that might seem slightly interesting during the series. On the other one, he's extremely unlikable due to the fact that he doesn't take any action at all - unless forced by Haruhi. Kyon was the viewer's last hope of Haruhi redemption - yet he fails miserably, by making her even worse than how she actually started off. Art and Sound Art and sound are probably the only positive aspects of the show. TMoHS manages to create a pretty good atmosphere - the movements are flowing easily, the colors are bright and clean, the background music fits in - even though it doesn't stand out as more than ordinary. The OP and ED are either really addictive or annoying to the core - I'm more inclined to the latter. Voices are OK, the actors managing to catch each character's personality - which only adds up to how you, as a viewer, perceive them. Overall, no major problem. Enjoyment Zero. Zero enjoyment. I can't quite comprehend how a normal, rational person can watch a show where the characters are horrible and the story is predictable - and, at the same time, enjoy it. Haruhi is a mediocre anime for the masses. It was meant to be liked by all those who want to stand out but have no means of doing so. I honestly expect much more from my anime when I watch it. I want to be hooked or at least slightly entertained. Leave aside the fact that I constantly kept staring elsewhere asking myself 'when will this crap be over?'; I couldn't even grin ONCE throughout the series. That's how uninteresting it was. Overall When rating, I usually consider two aspects. One is enjoyment; the other is the effort that I feel the creators put into the certain anime. Animation-wise, KyoAni really overdid itself. Plot-wise, it was a total wreck. Therefore, I really cannot rate TMoHS more than 4 out of 10.

It's not easy writing a review for such a well known and extremely successful anime. I'll do my best though. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is, I feel I can safely say, a milestone in Anime history. Much like Evangelion, Suzumiya brings new light and brilliance to something we didn't know could exist. It brings pure genius comedy and an excellent array of characters to keep you hooked. What's so good about it you ask? Why's this anime good enough to be deemed a milestone. It's simple. Haruhiism. It's a religion named after Haruhi herself. Her character posses such a strong charisma that you can't helpbut feel attracted and entertained by her. Her comments throughout the show are comparable with no other characters in any series that I can think of. Kyon along side her completes the two so incredibly well that its near impossible to not want to watch the next episode to see how the two will interact. Enough rambling, the story is awesome. It's presented to you out of chronological order. That means episode 4 comes after episode 6, and episode 8 comes before 5 (not the actual order of the show). Don't worry though, the episodes are out of order with purpose and intention, and it makes the anime all the more interesting. The Animation is top notch. There's one episode where a particular character is singing and they have the lyrics/drummer/guitarist sinked perfectly. Beautiful fight scenes (though these are short and infrequent) too. The sound/music is pretty decent, with the opening and ending pretty catchy. Nothing amazing though. I only gave the characters a 9/10 because there isn't enough information given about everyone to really get to know the character. Sure each definitely has their own personality, but we don't "know" them by the time the show ends. 10/10 for enjoyment, without a doubt. If you haven't picked this series up, do it now. It's one of those "must sees" and you will not regret it.

Haruhi plays off of everybody\'s favorite comedic cliche, where a straight-shooting, somewhat-dull, and mostly-normal lead character is paired up with an energetic free spirit thanks to a convenient set of circumstances. These personalities play off of each other, resulting in wild adventures with both disastrous and hilarious consequences. Are there wild adventures? Yes. Are the results sometimes disastrous and/or hilarious? Yes. Is this an excellent series that is well worth your time? No. Haruhi is nothing more than a mediocre series with illusions of grandeur. Many of the show\'s aspects, such as the supernatural characters and the irregular airing order (oh how avant garde!), may appeargroundbreaking on the surface, but there is nothing especially extraordinary about Haruhi as a whole. Despite their strange origins, most of the cast is comprised of tired, one-dimensional caricatures; Haruhi is certainly not the first anime to feature a well-endowed ditz, a withdrawn bookworm, and a domineering foil to a reserved protagonist. The situations that these characters are placed in are somewhat unique, but their behavior during each episode is painfully predictable. The story wraps up nicely and some depth is added to each character when all is said and done, but the whole ride through is rather bland and at times downright boring. Haruhi is not terrible. The plot is decent through and through. It is not, however, an artistic breakthrough in the genre of anime (as some would have you believe). It is for that reason that I give it a harsh \"4\" rating.

I watched this about two years ago.Maybe I was still young and couldn't understand the "greatness" of it.Thinking back to that time even if I re-watched it I doubt it'd make any difference.So I guess I'm just one of those people who didn't like it.So I gathered up all my courage and decided to write a review about it despite all the fans that might get offended by this. So here I go. Story 3/10 Never made me excited.Maybe the order I watched the episodes is to be blame,although I highly doubt that's the reason.After all the order they were released was wrong they wouldn't hae done so,soI believe it was surving the purpose of making the anime look more interesting and kind of confusing.The whole God thing wasn't really my thing.Actually the story didn't progress at all till the last episode.Except for the info that was shared with the viewers,nothing else really happened.Just daily activities and Haruhi being unaware of her "abilities"(if that's the right word to use) Art 8/10 I must admit though,despite the story that was offered to us,the art was pretty nice and still is.The characters were beautifully designed,nothing too original but still.Of course let's not forget the animation.I personally was pleased with it. Sound 7/10 I think I'm being generous at the moment.The Op/ED wasn't all that special.Not to mention that most times I found my time skipping the OP,but meh it wasn't all that bad.It was good but not exceptional just a regular anime OP song.The rest of the sound was ok in the anime.The voice actors did a pretty good job and I think Haruhi had being voiced pretty well,just like the rest of the characters. Character 2/10 I couldn't get connected with any characters,AT ALL.Maybe with Mikuru at first but it ws futile hoping something would happen during the anime(like she protecting herself from Haruhi,O.o) but no,instead the characters lack depth.Most of the times they seem repetetive and are there just for the so called "story" to progress.In my opinion the anime just focuses on three,Haruhi,Kyon and Mikuru(fanservie) characters and the others are just there for decoration or when they need to get some screentime. Let's start off with Mikuru,the stereotype of the shy,cutie big-breasted girl,who can be taken advantege of(in this case Haruhi) and serves for fanservice reasons.Doesn't change during all of the episodes.Meaning no development. Kyon,well to most Haruhi haters,he's the most likeable person.To me he just isn't there.Most of the times I'd ignore him cause to me he looks like he is so tired of living that he just sits there doing nothing.Can't understand what purpose this one serves though. Last but not least,Haruhi.Yay!!!Or no? From the first time she appeared I hated her.She's so aggresive and bitchy.How can people like her?I don't understand at all.All she does is take advantage of people in any way she can.She does whatever is possible for her own gain yet you feel like hit by Cupid every time you see this character?Honestly I doubt you would be really like that if she were a real person and it was you who she was treating that way.But she's not,that's why the fans find her to be perfect.She has everything(according to them).She's beautiful,smart and has a weird personality but also dynamic(maybe that's her main attraction).I'm trying to convince myself that I've misunderstood this character,but everytime I see her in the anime she just pisses me off.Really,I never have hated a character this much.Sorry if you got offended by this but it'strue! Enjoyment 4/10 I should have given this a 1 but there must have been some kind of enjoyment out of it,right?It's not possible to hate every episode.Yes I did enjoy around 2-3 episodes,but that's about it.I was literally pushing my self to bear with it.It only had 13 episodes so sooner or later it'd would end and I really had to watch of all them to understand how "magnificent" this really is and what's the reason why all people have gone crazy over it. Overall 5/10 I gave it a 5,cause this anime will make you either an extreme fan or an extreme hater in most cases.So me being kind of an extreme hater didn't want to affect my rating.It's not either too good,not too bad.But I personally have weird tastes so if I didn't have those then I believe I might have rated it higher.I wouldn't recommend this to anyone looking for good characters or story but if you just want to relax and sit back just go ahead and watch it.The only thing I'm gonna is don't expect a lot cause you'll be disappointed and won't enjoy it.(my case here) This is my first review,hope I did well on writing it but more will be coming.I am glad to have shared my opinion/review with you all.Let me know what you thought of it and what I could possibly improve to make better ones in the future.