The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol. 2 (Manga) [Paperback]

This is a review of Volume 2 of COMIC version of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" illustrated by Gaku Tsugano. Don't confuse this with Nagaru Tanigawa's original novel of the same title. (Though credited, Tanigawa only provided the story for this comic book.)

The second volume shows more of the characters' personal feelings and special abilities, plus "Closed Spaces" and "celestial." Here an ordinary high school boy Kyon is to know some of the secrets of cute Mukuru Asahina(s) and her star-shaped mole, and the ever-smiling enigmatic "esper" Itsuki Koizumi and his superpowers. There is an episode about Haruhi's ponytail and a cameo of Tsuruya-san (I suppose). Those who have seen the Kyoto Animation's acclaimed animated version remember these episodes, though the manga version is slightly different in some of the details.

The problem of this manga version is its rushed pace and illustration. The early part of the second volume goes too fast, leaving not much room for the characters to develop. Gaku Tsugano's illustration has become slightly better than in the previous volume, but some part still need improvement, especially the designs of a "celestial" which, frankly, looks amateurish. The faces of Haruhi, Mikuru and Nagato are good; Koizumi's facial expressions should be much richer, and as to Kyon ... well, not bad in the ponytail episodes.

The original Japanese comic was published in June, 2006. Yen Press's English edition has faithfully reproduced the original's artworks including the opening color pages. Translation is fine, and Yen Press didn't forget to provide translation of the FX and signs. The publisher even changed the font in some places, as in Japanese counterpart. However, some words look out of place, Kyon's expletive in p.142, for instance.

I am a fan of the series (and energetic Tsuruya-san), but I have to say the comic is slightly disappointing, after looking at Noizi Ito's superior original character designs. The comic is strictly for the fans of the Haruhi series.

Just finished the 2nd one yesterday. One of the best moments in haruhi series is in this manga. Not going to ruin anything so i will keep my mouth shut. The only think i was disappointed in was haruhi's ponytail. Looked very odd to me at least but kyon does explain that it looks better when its grown out. Almost done with the 3rd one so i will write a review on that as well.

This manga adaptation for "the Suzumiya Haruhi" Series is quite bellow expectations.

First the story is a bit changed, nothing troublesome, but it changes the way things occurred in the original novel...

The character design by the mangaka is not that beautiful, the art is not worthy the story, but i think the artist improves with the story.

But the most troublesome is the English translation... I know it's very, very difficult to translate a so different language and culture story into another, but I've read many others english adaptations of other mangas, and those went better. I think it about this volume, I have others yet to read, let's see what waits for me...

The overall evaluation is 3 and half stars - unfortunately it's not available - the original story has a strong influence in the grading, because the story is so good that even with these flaws, it's worthy every cent spent.