Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

 

 

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Boy, where to start... Well, this has been my favourite show so far. I had to own it, and this seemed like the best way to. You get them all in one package, AND the outer box that keeps them all nice and neat together (the cover art is quite nice as well). The bonus features are what really won me over though, with nearly three pages of extras per DVD, including videos by fans for fans and the seemingly random, yet hilarious neko-man galleries.

I was a little disappointed by the "Making of Haruhi" videos, that are part of the extras, as I was expecting the animation process and story boarding and stuff, only to find it is just a hand held camcorder following Aya Hirano (voice of Haruhi) around as she works (which is still quite enjoyable). One thing to point out, if you're like me and like to keep your possesions in mint condition to the point of sterile tweezers, it's important not to close the box without all of the DVD cases inside as it will become extremely hard to re-open it without tearing the box.

I watched the series without reading the manga, but when suggesting it to my brother, he said he had started reading the manga but didn't really like it. Once I got this response from a bunch of my friends as well I decided to read it my self, and to be honest I didn't even last to the second chapter. Basically, in my opinion;

DON'T LET THE MANGA BE AN EXAMPLE OF THE ANIME!

Though it didn't really bug me that much, I noticed a few, not so much errors, but merely "odd wordings" in the english subtitles. For example, they use the phrase "future-men" where "time travellers" would be more appropriate. My guess being that the translation is kept too literal.

Overall though, this is by far the best show I've ever seen, combining comedy with sci-fi and mystery. This is not your average anime and is a must see for everyone. As for the box set, it was MADE for fans, and they stuffed as much stuff as they could possibly find into each disc. Combine that with the cover art and even the great DVD menus and you've got absolutely every reason to buy this wonderful collection!

This serie is just incredible, but don't expect something like Naruto. I watched it on internet about 3 times so I decided to buy the DVDs. If you are interested in a one of a kind anime, take this one. The story is really original and each episodes are differents. There will be a battle between aliens in one and a murder case in an other.

I had read very positive reviews about this series before ordering it, and it isn't bad, but it's by no means a 5-star masterpiece. The main thing that struck me about this series is that it is relatively tame when compared to other popular animes.

Despite the "aliens, time travelers and espers" theme, this is not an off the walls or action oriented anime so don't expect Naruto or Gurren Lagann style pace. In fact, parts of the show feel static. One scene that comes to mind features two of the characters sitting in a car and talking for a good ten minutes with nothing really happening onscreen. While this scene is essential to explain the story, it's visual presentation doesn't really keep your attention. This is because this series was adapted from a light novel (which is actually very enjoyable and worth reading if you're interested in this series). Novels don't need to constantly present a visual image, so the book isn't hurt by the fact that much of it is just the main character reflecting or two people talking without much else happening. But watching the same scene on a tv really feels lacking. It just seems like the animators could have made slight changes to these parts of the story to take full advantage of this visual medium, but as it stands, they didn't do much to improve upon what was already there.

This doesn't mean that the series just drags along though, some episodes do have a quicker pace, and the few fight scenes present are well done. It's just a shame that there is the occasional slow down.

So if the story is the main draw is it good? Well don't expect something on par with Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note or Code Geass. It's a simple comedy show and most of the twists are predictable, but the characters are all pretty likeable (especially Haruhi) and there are some pretty wacky/funny moments, even though some of the humor from the book was censored in the anime, which is a shame.

Another thing to note: they were only able to stretch the novel over six episodes, which means that more than half the series is filler. This isn't all bad, as episode 00 is hilarious. The others are hit or miss though, and almost nothing happens in the final episode. As for the english dub, it's what you've come to expect. And the DVD extras such as: "the adventures of the ASOS Brigade" and the Nekoman Galleries are just awful.

All in all, this series is enjoyable, but there are much better animes out there (for my tastes anyway). Without spoiling too much, I will say that the premise is very original and had good potential, but the actual events of the show don't always live up to that potential.

It might be my own fault if I didn't enjoy this DVD collection more, though. Reading the book first spoiled some of the stronger moments of the show for me and the humor seems aimed more at people in their early teens. So you might enjoy this series a lot more than me. My recommendation, though, is to grab the novel instead, it's cheaper and very enjoyable.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

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