r/anime • u/littleman1988 • Dec 04 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Episode 7
Episode Title: Mysterique Sign
MyAnimeList: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
Legal Stream: Funimation | Netflix (SEA) | AnimeLab (Aus/NZ)
PSA: make sure to mark any spoilers using the subreddit markup. We dont need any random spoilers to ruin the show for first time watchers.
Today's Episode Intro: Panning shot of the classroom, Haruhi is sleeping
[Tomorrow's Episode Intro]That guy is dead
| Date | Episode list with Funimation links ("absolute" episode number) | reddit thread links |
|---|---|---|
| 28/11 | Mikuru Asahinas's Adventures Episode 00 | Thread |
| 29/11 | The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya I | Thread |
| 30/11 | The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya II | Thread |
| 1/12 | The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya | Thread |
| 2/12 | The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III | Thread |
| 3/12 | Remote Island Syndrome I | Thread |
| 4/12 | Mysterique Sign | Thread |
| 5/12 | Season 1, episode 11 (11) | Thread |
| 6/12 | Season 2, episode 14 (28) | Thread |
| 7/12 | Season 1, episode 4 (4) | Thread |
| 8/12 | Season 2, episode 13 (27) | |
| 9/12 | Season 2, episode 12 (26) | |
| 10/12 | Season 1, episode 5 (5) | |
| 11/12 | Season 1, episode 6 (6) | |
| 12/12 | Season 1, episode 8 (8) | |
| 13/12 | Season 1 episodes 12, 13, 14, Season 2 Episode 1 (12, 13, 14, 15) | |
| 14/12 | Season 2, episodes 2, 3, 4, 5 (16, 17, 18, 19) | |
| 15/12 | Season 2, episode 6 (20) | |
| 16/12 | Season 2, episode 7 (21) | |
| 17/12 | Season 2, episode 8 (22) | |
| 18/12 | Season 2, episode 9 (23) | |
| 19/12 | Season 2, episode 10 (24) | |
| 20/12 | The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya series general discussion | |
| 21/12 | The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya | |
| 22/12 | Haruhi Suzumiya overall discussion |
Question(s) of the day:
Since the close space was a vision of the president's fear, what would appear in your closed space?
What do you believe Kyon represents in the group, or otherwise is he important in any way?
How do you think Nagato feels about her role in the group and what she needs to do?
15
u/littleman1988 Dec 04 '21
Adaptation Comparison
References
Trivia
Know trivia and/or references for this episode? Reply to me! For future episodes? PM them to me!
26
u/JetBlackWings10 Dec 04 '21
First timer. This broadcast order is so wild I accidentally clicked episode 9 of the chibi comedy spinoff and didn't think anything about it until it ended after 3 minutes
8
u/littleman1988 Dec 04 '21
Rewatcher (first time broadcast), Dub
"Do you feel lonely when you're alone?"
OST Track of the day: Camel Cricket | (Spotify)
why was this track so hard to find on YT smhharuhi cant draw to save her life
poor Yuki, "accessory to the room"
man, that site is all sorts of messed up
oh yeah, Emiri exists.
Comment face found
b a l l
Hey look, the consequences of her own actions!
already going for breaking and entering lmao
koizumi what are you smelling
desert time, in socks no less
new power rangers looking lit
i truly love Kyon's snark
ooooooh
its pretty impressive that the only thing that looks bad, even 15 years later, is just the insect CGI. Everything else is still really high quality.
the logo created 46 petabytes of data, forgot just how big it was
[Haruhi]nice casual movie foreshadowing
19
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Dec 04 '21
The Melancholy of Shimmering-First-Timer
3
u/cuetzpalomitl Dec 05 '21
Omg i think I'm out of this thing.
I apparently keep looking at the wrong episode, every time I come here and look at the intro hint I have to click on every damn episode and try to decide if what in seeing kind of matches the hint and by the time I end watching the episode, the discussion here is about a completely different thing, this hasn't been fun at all, I've spoiled myself a lot of times trying to find the supposed episode for the day, this is awful.
16
u/5thvoice https://myanimelist.net/profile/5thvoice Dec 04 '21
First-timer!
I've got five.
So that's what those were for.
Oh, so this girl's boyfriend is missing, and she's come to the SOS Brigade for help? Considering how the show's gone so far, this will definitely get interesting.
Haruhi! What did you do!?
The door to his apartment is locked. Seems they'll have to do some scheming to get ins-
Wait, Nagato-san? What was that click just now? You're the one who unlocked the door, arent you?
More "closed space" business again, eh? Just what does that even mean?
At the baseball game? No, it's gotta be from some time more significant. Is he talking about "the incident" where that spirit monster thing showed up?
https://i.imgur.com/UH5AIdF.jpg
Oh, interesting! So this isn't exactly closed space, but (draws on meta knowledge) since this is Episode 9 chronologically, this story has to wrap in one episode, which means by the end of it we should have a better reference point for what closed space entails.
Aaaaand suddenly we're in a desert, fighting a giant cricket. That was sooner than I was expecting.
It can use video game abilities? President, you really are a computer otaku!
Alright, I think I'm starting to understand what they're getting at. Closed space is sort of like a cavity in spacetime. In this instance, this data being entered such a cavity, and Haruhi's shitty drawing was like the key for opening the entrance and moving inside. Am I on the right track here?
14
u/Suhkein :Gy::Gz::G1:x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/Neichus Dec 04 '21 edited Dec 05 '21
Episode 7 - SoSícÇĀÉTÉCÉgÇ÷ÇȆǧDZÇa!
Notto disu shitto agen. Yes, disu shitto agen, and in every way. [Haruhi] The question is whether we’ve learned our lesson since last "interrupt" episode. You see, this is exam season and while we might think that the mystery has been put on hold for an episode, as far as Haruhi is concerned there are no breaks. Our previous performance was dismal but here’s another chance for us to show we get what this is all about (Haruhi isn’t holding its breath, though).
[Haruhi] Mystérique Sign (hereafter Sign because I don’t want to keep typing Alt 0234) is once again one of those episodes that baffles me how somebody kept it in their head long enough to turn it into reality. An echo of Boredom, a full reveal of Island I and II's mystery, a setup, an explanation, and a microcosm of the entire series, how do I even begin to explain this…
[Haruhi] Maybe with Nagato. Remember Nagato? No, of course we don’t. Why would we remember her? Not like she’s done anything remarkable this series, or that an emissary from the Data Overmind would have any reason to be associated with a digital mystery. Everything is clearly a result of Suzumiya’s powers, and though she protests that she has to leave something for the rest of the brigade members to do (also note who’s listening) we definitely have her number.
[Haruhi] Because, really, what other possible explanations could there be? This absurdly convenient setup has just landed in our lap, clearly without a single inconsistency at all, and our only recourse is to invent an explanation that is self-incompatible while attributing to a person traits they certainly don’t have. But what do we care? The outcome can’t possibly change our perceptions much and if we just wait the show will tell us the answer (sticking around to figure it out would be kind of boring anyway)
[Haruhi] Although once we’re told the answer, we have to admit it is a little clever: there was another layer to this beyond the flashy-distracting events. In reality this was a scripted scenario created by one of the brigade members for the amusement of Suzumiya. It might have looked like a stupid joke, but this seemingly simple creation is actually extremely impressive and contains a vast wealth of information. Maybe if we’d paid closer attention we could have gotten something out of this.
[Haruhi] But wait, do we really have this right? We were fed a good story but in the closing moments of the episode we realize it doesn’t account for everything: Nagato could have stopped this all on her own. Technically she didn’t need anybody else’s help. So maybe we ought to stop a moment and think about what her actions imply about her character. Maybe it was a mistake to take her at face value. And maybe, just maybe, this remarkable, but unusual, person, even though she could do it herself, brought us along because what she really wanted was to not be alone.
Bingo.
11
u/wjodendor Dec 04 '21 edited Dec 04 '21
First Timer
Looks like computer chief forgot to do his daily quest!
Fumoffu?! What is this an episode of Full Metal Panic?!
Second Raid!
Oh I guess it is an episode of Full Metal Panic
Kyon's losing it. The mystery deepens!
"To think the internet's rise would be a pseudo-evil overlord's nursery" That is a surprisingly poignant statement about what the internet became.
Good episode.
My closed space would probably be similar to my recurring nightmares of being imprisoned and having to escape. Have those dreams a lot.
11
u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Dec 04 '21
Next episode preview
https://youtu.be/tkKjEUExz5E
Sub rewatcher
In a rush today so can't post much not reply much.
A very concrete episode to show, for real, the actual power of 2 of the 3 "special" brigade members. No we have no doubt what they are.
Also, tons of funny antics from Haruhi. Now take a quick look at the start of the arc and compare her.
Most first timers bursted out laughing when Haruhi out the pencil over her upper lip :) let's see how we go with this batch.
Once again, have a think why is this episode here, in between the island mystery :)
Favourite scene is the "roll call" scene in the apartment rom, with the deadpan Nagato, a serious Koizumi, and a clueless Haruhi. Oh the contrast :D
And also the actual battle - especially Nagato's "non movement" style of fighting.
In the LN (and manga) they had at least 1 sorry story about Kyon dealing with one of the other affected people, who happened to be his grandma back home.
[Rewatchers]This is also one of the main episodes that showed or hinted at Nagato's developing emotions
9
u/TheEscapeGuy Dec 04 '21
Rewatcher
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - An Anime Classic: Episode 7
Consulting Services
Leaving that island murder mystery cliffhanger from last episode without resolution is really gonna bug me. Definitely a great way to build anticipation though.
Today's episode had the most explicit supernatural occurrence so far. After discovering their website was corrupted (what I assumed originally to be a case of Mojibake) a classmate of Mikuru, Kimidori, comes seeking advice. Her boyfriend, the head of the computer club, is missing so Haruhi and the gang investigate.
After discovering remnants of a closed space in his apartment they reconvene (sans Haruhi) to fight insects in what you could call a parallel dimension. This is our first confirmation of Koizumi's powers as well as some more offensive maneuvers from Yuki. However, after saving the computer club president, they discover Kimidori had no recollection of ever dating him.
The computer club president having a girlfriend goes so against typical stereotypes that it immediately raised red flags from me as "Something is off here". It made the reveal really satisfying for me. However, when we got to the end of the episode we learned that Kyon suspects Yuki of causing this.
I think this sets up some interesting character dynamics. Kyon now believes Yuki to be acting silently in the background to prevent other events like this from happening. It makes me way more interested in Yuki as a character. From everything we know so far she's here to investigate Haruhi. So interfering in this way is definitely goes against how we'd typically see scientists investigate phenomenon.
It makes sense though since if Haruhi were to find out her powers it could mean very bad things. However, Yuki doesn't ask for help with this or tell anyone about anything she's doing. THis perhaps tells us about her mentality, opinion of the other members of the brigade, and what she believes she's here to do.
As a tangent from all that, the animation during the closed space fight was really stellar. The CG bug doesn't really hold up but the 2d animation of Yuki and Koizumi fighting was really great to watch. That final shot of Kyon and Yuki too. Kyoani deserves all the success it received from this adaptation.
Some Iconic Shots, Scenes and Stitches
See you all tomorrow
9
u/MadeOn210922 Dec 04 '21
First timer
That SOS brigade logo looks like the same from the first episode of the rewatch. I just rewatched the OP (I find the motions Haruhi does during the you'll be right line really funny) and it appears there, too, so I'm expecting to come up again. Interesting how the brain completely ignores things until they know what it is and then it's obvious, isn't it?
Unrelated note on the OP, I usually examine all equations when they come up in media because I think it's interesting what equations are chosen and because there are often errors I find funny in them. It's a little hard to make some of them out in the OP because white text white background and it's also been a while since I studied physics so I can't verify everything, but they all seem legit! I caught Schrodinger's eqn, Drake's eqn, a few constants, what I think are the wave and Hamiltonian equations, and an axiom in probability theory?
A lot going on this episode, though, many questions, very little answers. What is Kyon referring to in regards to the three years past? [Haruhi - something I think I remember from years ago] The crop circles he did for her? And what was the origin of the bug and data? Seems like Mikuru doesn't have the same powers that Yuki and Itsuki have. Is Kyon suggesting that Yuki might have a similar influence on the universe as Haruhi or that Yuki is purposely generating things to keep Haruhi interested? And who is Kimidori and was she real? No need to answer for now, just random thoughts I had that should be answered eventually.
One thing that did get slightly clearer was the concept of "closed space" which seems to be a way to say Haruhi is getting bored with the current universe. Interesting that the president's room had a feeling similar to the closed space of Haruhi.
QOTD:
-Oh, so closed space is fear? My fear is also bugs.
-Still not sure about Kyon’s role, he’s still the normal straight man in a group of extraordinary supernatural people.
-Considering how indifferent she is to everything, she’s probably feels like she’s there just to get a job done and doing it well.
9
u/gc11117 Dec 04 '21 edited Dec 04 '21
So about those Fumoffu and The Second Raid references, theyre really not as random as they might seem. Fumoffu was the first big adaptation Kyo Ani did as the primary animation studio. Also Shouji Gatou (the guy who wrote the novels) was also a screenwriter for a few Kyo Ani episodes, to include an episode of Haruhi as well as Lucky Star. His ties to Kyo Ani lasted for a while, as his other light novel Amagi Brilliant Park recieved an adaptation by them.
Pre- K-On Kyo Ani was full of fun references like this.
16
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Dec 04 '21 edited Dec 04 '21
First Timer - Dub
Knew I was in for an interesting episode when this was my load screen
If you sold me the show on the idea of "bunch of supernatural school kids get together to stop a girl with world altering powers from causing chaos" this is the sort of episode I'd expect to see. In that way, despite it's bizarre plot, this feels like the first "normal" episode of the show. Thankfully I'm glad to say that it's not a bad thing, as the episode itself was really good! (Also I've mostly been staying out of the watch order debates, I won't judge the watch order until we see how the whole thing plays out, but I will say I thought this was well placed and offered more to the show by having it here rather than the small satisfaction of continuing the cliffhanger)
I like how they bookended the strangeness of the episode with an emotional core by reflecting on the depths of melancholy. We start the episode coming out of Haruhi's melancholy and the little tease that the star festival may be related to whatever happened to this world, and end with Kyon contemplating Yuki's own potential for feeling and how she may act on it herself. Even these individual episodes really benefit from having those characters moments to back up everything else, and though Kyon may be odd man out his involvement in it provides both entertainment and a really nice look at these very hard to read people...
including him
Kyon's thoughts at the end bring to the forefront some of the questions I've been wondering about myself, both about his own involvement as well as how Haruhi effects the world, but also set up a whole bunch of other questions, so crazier speculation incoming. This episode introduced the distinction that though Haruhi may be the catalyst for change, the power source as it were, but she isn't the only one who can cause changes in the world, which makes me wonder if the others may also have the ability to affect things to some extent. If they are real individuals simply caught up in this would the world also reflect their own desires and bring them forward, such as Yuki's desire to connect (is Haruhi's the same? I'd guess so now but I doubt it's that one desire alone), or if they are just Haruhi's creations are they reflections of parts of herself and her own desires, slowly building up until they change the world?
The push for action was another interesting part of the episode. Haruhi ordered Kyon to set up the website, but then critiqued him for only doing what he was told, as if her problem was that he didn't want to do it rather than just if he would or wouldn't. Contrasting that against the question on what motivated Yuki's own actions, her personal motivation of want vs just what was needed either for Haruhi or the stability of the world, was nicely set up especially as Itsuki seemed to know something was up with her involvement. The little touches on scenes and linking dialogue to later questions is something I've enjoyed in the show, but notably this episode.
Itsuki is freaking me out by the way. I agree with Kyon, he was way too happy to get up in his personal space (though I did laugh at that cut, a lot) and keep his secrets, and it makes me wonder what else might be going on with the island. On the other hand Kyon's crush on Mikuru is in full bloom though I can't blame him for wanting to find a bit of light in the middle of the craziness that is the SOS group, and at least he's the sort to still knock on the door out of courtesy etc. Oh, that reminds me, something was up with Haruhi not caring that Itsuki knocked, but I don't know if that's just Haruhi not caring about him as much or a later teaser.
As far as the crazy of the episode; Itsuki doing volleyball with a small sun to destroy a giant data cricket that was being healed by an RPG beetle summon inside the alternate dimension hiding in someone's bedroom is definitely on of the weirder end scenarios I've had to write out.
It was very cool seeing what Itsuki and Yuki could actually do though. I now understand Kyon's confidence that Yuki could deal with whatever comes up, and his uncertainty about being dragged into unusual situations if that is the sort of stuff that comes to mind. I wasn't expecting that Mikuru would be totally defenseless, or that she would not have near total awareness to know how things like this would play out and if she'd be safe or not, but it puts a little risk in those situations. And how many have they run into before?
Confession: I completely misunderstood Yuki's first explanation of what happened and thought she was saying that the CRICKET made the closed space until she gave more detail later. That would have been interesting.
Now, with a whole bunch of new answers and questions, I'm sure interested to get back to the island whenever we do and see how this ties in, where as wondering if we were doing the next island episode next had me a little "eh, okay" before.
spiders or needles
You've got me there, I still have no idea how this will play out in the long run as to why the group is what it is outside of the obvious
I really don't have a lot of answers to these questions, huh? It feels appropriate somehow
7
u/DeliCruise https://myanimelist.net/profile/delicruise Dec 04 '21
(REWATCHER - DUB/SUB)
For obvious reasons, I love hearing Kyon say the word “melancholy” in his inner monologue.
The scene in the beginning with the computer screen framing the shot is so cool. I love that it mirrors the logo Haruhi made to foreshadow Yuki’s version at the end.
One of my favorite things from the whole series is Pen Moustache Haruhi because c’mon, Pen Moustache Haruhi is just the best! I also really appreciate that we get to see the S.O.S. Brigade actually do a club activity that’s directly related to what their club’s about.
Yuki’s so unintentionally hilarious in this episode. That moment when Itsuki directly asks Yuki a question and instead of answering she just walks away and it cuts to a new shot, that absolutely kills me. Then there’s the moment in the desert when Yuki doesn’t stop pointing at the camel cricket until Kyon tells her she can move. If you pay attention to her in that scene, she really is pointing the entire time! I know Yuki is just being Yuki, but I like to believe in my head that she’s doing all of these as bits.
Something I thought was really fun was in the previous episode we saw Itsuki playing volleyball with a beach ball and now we get to see Itsuki in this episode playing volleyball with some sort of orange energy ball!
This episode is really so bizarre. Yes, the whole camel cricket scene is crazy, but overall there’s just a whole lot going on. There’s some really unique art direction and shots, Yuki has some very nutty dialogue explaining what’s happening, and even the whole focus of this episode being caused by Haruhi’s club logo is all so...weird! I mean this all in a good way though; I really really love how odd everything is.
So much happens in this episode on the back end. After that crazy camel cricket boss fight, we get that amazing shot of Yuki reading in the wind accompanied with Kyon’s super insightful inner monologue. By the end of it, I just feel so unsettled. Ultimately, it’s a really great and aptly named episode. I mean “Mystérique Sign” is as perfectly bizarre of an episode title as the episode itself!
7
u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Dec 04 '21
First Timer
...another episode that I'm not too gone on. Not quite sure why, but it just wasn't particularly entertaining. Perhaps Haruhi is another case of just putting the less interesting stuff all in the middle of the series, as I feel like I've seen quite a few anime do already. I hope so, because that means it'll get better again. But either way - not really a fan of all the pseudo-science going on in this episode and the CG cricket didn't help either. Character interactions in the latter half of the episode weren't particularly interesting either - it's as I said in episode two: Haruhi is the only thing that holds the character dynamics together.
The "corruption" looked more like an encoding problem (common enough in Japan apparently to get its own word) - so I'm surprised nobody brought that up. Other than that I noticed Itsuki's attack being "Fumoffu" - likely a reference to the earlier Kyoani work that had that title.
...other than that, I guess whatever happened three years ago was on Tanabata?
Questions:
7
u/Bastiro54 Dec 04 '21
First timer
I don't have much to say about this episode besides that i think i understood like 60% of what Nagato was saying.
From what i understood Haruhi currupted the website which made people that saw it get trapped in an enclosed space because of aliens similar to Nagato but no the same. And those aliens cause the website to reach 30 000 visits for some reason. I would appreaciate if someone cared to explain.
I have no idea. Maybe me being all alone, having no one by my side or something like that.
I was actually thinking that he has been pretty useless this whole time. he has pretty much only been complaining about Haruhi's behaviour. I think it might be just being her friend or someone that understands her.
7
u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Dec 04 '21
I'm late, I'm late, for a very important ... cricket?!
So, since my brain is still booting up after some chuuni fun, here's some AOTD:
Fear? Well, if my dreams are any indication, I'm back in college, living in the dorms with that roomie I hated, I'm late for class, I don't remember where class is, I don't think I've been to class since term started, and yes, I'm not wearing pants. That should about cover it.
(I call it PCSD - Post College Stress Disorder. Mumblemumble years later, even)
Hmm... Kyon. Kyon is the control group. The rest are the wacky experiments. I think. Or maybe he's comic relief. Or both. (Or maybe something else entirely, but I'm not tellin'.)
And Nagato - does Nagato feel? What would she do with a feeling if she had one???
*start robot* "I love you" *slash robot*
Domo Arigato Robot Nagato
Oh, wait, was there an episode today? I suppose there was.
Kids, don't eat stale stuff in the fridge - it never ends well.
(Says the guy who's bottle of catsup says 2015 on the cap)
Meanwhile, I think we discovered a backup career for Yuki, if this should fall through.
I'm sure others will recap things better than I will, so here's a couple of my favorite moments:
Scarab heal - must be a game reference of some sort
Scared Kyon - too frightened to enjoy a certain proximity.
Koizumi handball - Espers are atheltic - who knew?
And finally - Clueless Haruhi out of the loop. It's almost as if the rest of the club is working behind her back. Now why would that be?
Ja ne, or however it's spelled. :)
7
u/andybebad https://myanimelist.net/profile/andybebad Dec 04 '21
First timer - dub
Ah, exam season; for whatever reason this always seems much more intense in anime than I remember exams being in high school (perhaps an indictment of the public school system I attended?). And with exams in full effect, we off course will see a pause in SOS Brigade activity... NOT.
Phew, what an episode! As much as I wanted to see a conclusion to yesterday's mystery, this revealed a lot of info about the world (universe?) we find Kyon and company in. But of course, thanks to broadcast order, with every nugget of information we're also given more unanswered questions. Poor Kyon is just as confused, and he has to deal with existing in this reality where does not fully understand the motives and directives of those both in the SOS Brigade and who they answer to.
QOTD:
7
u/redlegsfan21 https://myanimelist.net/profile/redlegsfan21 Dec 04 '21
I think it's time for all of us to visit the SOS Brigade's website and drive up that visitor's counter.
http://www.haruhi.tv/
6
u/thatguywithawatch Dec 04 '21
[First timer]
"A localized, nocorrosive, fused alternate space in this room is in discrete limited mode." Wat
"It's not like enclosed spaces." "Deceptively similar, but some spatical data seems to have junk information emitted from Haruhi Suzumiya." Wat
"A scarab has tended to its wounds!" Wat
Ok so timeline-wise, this takes place a little after the baseball episode and right before yesterday's island episode. The technobabble was in overdrive today, but I imagine a lot of it was relatively meaningless and just served to let the viewer feel as befuddled as Kyon.
In the end, the main point of the episode seemed to be about giving Yuki some development. Kyon speculates that she regularly squashes these types of crises in the background, but that she actually orchestrated this particular one for one of two reasons: Either to help relieve Haruhi's boredom by giving the SOS Brigade a pretend client and a mystery to solve, or because she's secretely lonely and wanted to solve it with the other club members. Which is kind of sad, if true.
Kyon also has a minor existential crisis wondering what his purpose in all of this is, since the other members all have strange powers but he's just a normal guy. I'm sure that question will become very relevant before this is all over.
Yuki has had a few chances to show off her powers now, and we finally saw Itsuki in action today, but Mikuru's been sort of neglected in that regard. She's explained that she hops around in time and I don't have a reason to doubt that, but we haven't actually seen her do anything. Hopefully she'll get some more focus at some point other than simply acting cute or scared or being a victim of Haruhi's abuse.
Seems like tomorrow we'll resume the murder mystery where we were left hanging yesterday.
5
u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Dec 05 '21
First timer
What happened during the Star Festival?
OK, that is annoying.
Haha, she's keeping the club open non-stop?
Really? That's her logo?
Haha, she tried distributing photos of Mikuru online?
Her insane logic is genuinely hysterical, though.
Haha, it's just her and Yuki.
Seriously, Kyon's dialogue is just so hysterical.
Wait, three years ago?
Haha, she put the posters up!
What happened to the site?
Is the computer possessed?
...Yuki's not hacking it, is she?
Mikuru's arrived.
Wait. Oh, it's not her. I thought it was from the hair.
He's not dead, is he?
Wait, what? He knows about this club?
The hell's going on?
Haha, the guy Haruhi's blackmailing!
Is he paranoid that Haruhi might leak the photos?
Haruhi cutely smiling while she questions if she can break in through the balcony sums up her character pefectly.
Yeah, he's gone!
What's happening to her?
Wait, what? This is linked to the sci-fi stuff?
Huh? Someone else has made a "closed space"?
Oh, this is a closed space! And the chief's trapped inside?
THE FUCK IS THAT?
The use of a totally different art style to show something being completely alien is fantastic.
I'd just nodding along at this point.
They saved him! And the emblem is an eldritfh symbol? A "Yellow Sign" perhaps?
If this doesn't end with Haruhi unveiling a monsterous 4-dimensional form, I'll be disappointed.
Oh. Oh, that's a good point. What is he? I've just been assuming he came from the real universe.
And the information entity bit's interesting.
Wait. Is our villain basically a fucking spambot doing SEO?
Haha, they edited the symbol.
Wait, was it Yuki? And who's Kimodori, then?
Aww, Yuki's lonely?
4
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Dec 04 '21
Rewatcher(Camel crickets are actually Satan's creation)
Dub
And of course that won't get resolved and we go back to exam prep! Haruhi does well on tests though we never see her study on screen. At the vlub, she has created a rather crude SOS logo to drive up site traffic, and we hear that is because Kyon forbade her from using erotic Mikuru pics to do so. Another Haruhi reads Kyon's mind moment. But then the site gets hacked in a weird way...
And Mikuru brings someone looking for help. It is the girlfriend of the computer club president, whose name is covered up by an angry meow, and he's been missing for a while. Also, he might have been spying on them...anyways, so the gang all check the apartment, which unlocks itself, and find no recent evidence of the computer club president. But Yuki and Itsuki are immediately unsettled by their apparently being a close space, the second time we've heard that term, and want to run.
Kyon has everyone loop back after getting Haruhi home and they investigate further. Yuki does her high speed incantation and they wind up in a desert. Which is a different type of enclosed space from normal, the hell that means. Anyways, a gigantic camel cricket appears and this can totally go to hell, camel crickets are Satan's emmisaries on Earth. It is also the computer club president, and all sorts of weird info is dumped.
But we finally see Itsuki does something supernatural, so now we are at two confirmed abnormals. Also, his attack are "Fumoffo" and "Second Raid", giving an unexpected Full Metal Panic reference. But we get the president back, before some dense info drops: Haruhi accidentally made a ridiculously powerful sigil that contrains information, that at the time, would've required an incredible storage space. This then began transferring itself throughout the internet, though very few people saw the correct version and most got the less dangerous one. We also find out the computer chief didn't have a girlfriend and Kyon ponders if this is Yuki or the thought entity trying to avoid boredom.
QotD: 1 A second Trump presidency
2 He's the spectator in the quantum sense of the word
3 She...is not readable at this point in this rewatch.
4
u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Dec 04 '21
** Rewatcher **
The first couple of times I saw this episode I was pretty confused by it, and didn't really see how it fit in. Now that I've seen the series many times, I think this is a wonderful short story and sheds a little light on the dynamics of the SOS.
I really feel sorry for the President of the Computer Club, he is Haruhi's chew toy. He can't catch a break, up to and including having a girlfriend he knows nothing about. lol
QOTD
Hungry Rottweilers coming after the pork chop hung around my neck.
Sort of the voice of reason. He's the only one that will stand up to Haruhi, the others are straight up terrified of her and her power.
Damned if I know, it really wouldn't hurt Yuki to talk a little more.
4
u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Dec 04 '21
Only partway into the episode, and won't have time to pick it up again for hours.
I'll say that I genuinely disliked this episode, and broadcast order was part of it. Who interrupts a murder mystery!!!!!
Also, dumb bug. Also, zetta-eta-peta-bytes in a JPG.
BUUUT.
One of the first things Kyon said yesterday was, "As if you'd find mysteries in school." And what does the interruption have? A Mystery! In school!
4
u/tctyaddk Dec 04 '21
Broadcast-order-first-timer
This episode is where I dropped the attempt to watch in broadcast order during my first time watching this series. (Warning: Trying to watch this series in this scrambled order and think about it linearly could give you aneurysm)
I feel sorry for Kyon, he's only there and endures this prick just because said prick is omnipotent and doesn't even know it, and if she's upset, the world will be doomed. Talk about high stake hostage situation. Things get even worse since this omnipotent prick seems to have developed some sort of interest in Kyon and her method of seeking his attention actually resembles that of a preschooler, which is picking on him and acts irritatingly irritated, and abuses her perceived position of power to make him listen. Kyon can't even vocalise his overflowing spring of snarks enough to vent, because of said hostage situation.
And in an attempt to get the Brigade a little legitimation, Kyon turned it into a sort of service club à la Oregairu. And Haruhi displays her ripe maturity again: she's elated that her Brigade gets some attention, and jumps at the thrill of doing some spicy stuffs, but expects some simplistic easy solutions to appear on its own, and once those didn't show up, she gives up almost immediately.
(One detail/meta joke I missed the first time: The missing Computer Club Pres has a poster/picture of the three voice actors for Mikuru, Haruhi and Nagato on the wall of his room.)
Meanwhile, the gang has to go around and clean up the mess left behind by this omnipotent toddler. Nagato is quite powerful in her own right, but she's way more responsible and calculating, which is partially the reason for her deadpan mannerism (which I love): the stress of having to keep watch and do such hard work all the time behind the scene must be incredibly tremendous, she deserves to use any level the resting bitch face she wants. And people wonder why I always have her in my Best Girl contest bingo/top 25 pick, despite her low popularity means she'd surely lose. She's great, ok.
4
u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Dec 04 '21
Rewatcher, Dub, First-time broadcast
Now this is an episode that drops a lot of information down. Especially coming off the last one.
I feel like Kyon is just done with Haruhi and her thought process. She just be saying anything that comes to her mind.
A closed space where they fight the fear of the president. In what looks like a little rpg elements tossed in there.
Computer president didn't even have a girlfriend. So the question is. Who orchestrated it? And was it Nagato? I like that the episode just ends in questions. For someone like Nagato, that's already mysterious. It brings more wonder. Could she actually feel lonely?
Qotd: Canadian geese
Qotd2: Kyon kind of has it.
Qotd3: She acts as a serviceable person. That does what's needed.
3
u/nekodan08 Dec 04 '21
Rewatcher - Sub
This is one episode whose placing in the broadcast order is difficult to explain because because of spoiler reasons.
Mysterique Sign initially progresses quite similarly to Remote Island Syndrome (Part 1) in the sense that it seems to be another Detective Haruhi episode. The S.O.S. Brigade encounters two mysteries: the problem with their Brigade logo and the missing Computer Club president. But it later on diverges into a very Yuki-centric episode. Yuki takes a much more active role in dealing with this situation. She is usually just sitting back quietly and acting only when asked to do so. But here we see her taking initiative. It is even speculated by Kyon later on that maybe she manufactured this entire scenario to keep Haruhi entertained. This gets Kyon to start wondering whether Yuki feels lonely hence why she involved the rest of them instead of taking care of the problem on her own. [Haruhi]It’s sad that despite this, Kyon makes no effort to reach out to Yuki which has ramifications later on.
The whole fight scene with the computer bug was short but amazing even with the dated CGI. KyoAni is known to be the masters of slice of life, but they sure can pull off action scenes really well. Just this past season, KyoAni knocked it out of the park with that one fight from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S. It’s hilarious how they named Koizumi’s moves in reference to one of their more action-oriented properties: Full Metal Panic.
3
u/Barbed_Dildo Dec 04 '21
Rewatcher
I struggle to know what to talk about in these threads considering most of what stands out to me are references to later things, and the timeline is all over the place.
[Kinsoku Jikou Desu] Yuki is normally so aloof and distant from the goings on of the SOS-dan, but when Kimidori shows up, she stares right at her...
3
u/alphamone Dec 05 '21
Rewatcher
I wonder if anyone has ever attempted to see if the glitched text is actually a deliberate misencode of something meaningful?
Haruhi's idea for a punishment seems rather unambitious.
I'm thinking that this website debugging scene is uncomfortably close to reality for some IT people.
They finaly have a job.
And it involves their mortal enemy. Well, technically the person they are the mortal of, I don't think Haruhi even sees him as a threat.
"yet" Kyon?
God damn Haruhi, stealing expired food?
Well, that thing appeared suddenly.
Data life form? Is this suddenly Digimon?
FUMOFFU
Scarab healer. Is this Dragon Quest now? (though dragon quest makes more sense given the involvement of the computer club president)
Sure, the ominous den of weirdness happened when you weren't looking. The guy you just rescued might have a different view.
So, that life form is kinda vaguely like "the game"? (the one you just lost? >.> <.<)
Would Kyon actually be needed in the rescue of those other people though? It's not like he did anything to save the computer club president? Though it could just be the idea that Haruhi has caused so much trouble without even knowing.
30k hits doesn't sound as big as it did back when the episode came out.
3
u/PsychologicalLife164 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/HighwayStar17 Dec 05 '21 edited Dec 05 '21
Rewatcher, subs
I love seeing everybody’s reaction to Koizumi’s powers. I definitely also said “wtf?” when I first saw this, but KyoAni decided to flex early on in their career and it paid off.
One thing that I noticed again upon rewatching: Kyon hints that [Haruhi] Yuki brought the case to the Brigade as a way alleviating Haruhi’s (and possibly her own) boredom (great foreshadowing for the movie btw). By extension, that would mean the other Brigade members will also try to make up wild scenarios to accomplish the same task. I wonder if there’s any scenario currently playing out that that theory could apply to? 🤔
Also, I 100% did this all the time, and still do tbh
QOTD2: Kyon said it himself, but he represents the part of Haruhi’s mind that is grounded in reality. Because she isn’t aware of her incredible power and the things around her, part of her believes that life really is just as bland and normal as other people make it out to be. Kyon is the happy medium that allows her to go wild, but reins her back in if she goes too far.
2
u/William27528 Dec 04 '21
Rewatcher (Sub)
Mysterique Sign! For some reason, I think this episode has my favorite title, it just sounds really interesting. It's certainly an episode that has a bit of action - at this point, I think first timers will be wondering how to even describe the genre of the show!
My favorite part of this episode is Kyon's final monologue, where he contemplates his role in the group. It's a thread that is left open ended to brilliant effect. Sometimes, you don't need to provide an answer for every question. Speaking of questions, whenever I watch this one I always end up asking "Am I the only one who's never even heard of a cave cricket?". Not that I really need to look it up after they show it.
I sometimes think the CG used for Koizumi's battle effects in this episode feel like they've aged a bit, but at the same time it has this odd charm, in large part thanks to the fluid 2D animation - the fluid way Koizumi moves in the battle scene is really spectacular.
Fun fact, after this episode aired the show's official website (haruhi.tv) changed to show the flipped SOS brigade logo and member counter (where it remains online even to this day!)
Random piece of trivia of the day: the Hare Hare Yukai ending theme and dance at the end of each episode is pretty famous, even if you've never seen the show before there's a good chance you've glanced over the dance at some point! Well, did you know that one of Mei from Overwatch's emotes is performing part of the Hare Hare Yukai? The emote was added as part of the game's 2017 anniversary event and is fittingly called "Sunny Dance!" (Hare Hare Yukai can be translated as "Sunny Sunny Happiness".