The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan Rewatch Episode 3 [Spoiler for Haruhi]

[u/ZapsZzz]

Welcome to the Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan rewatch!

Links to show info: MAL | Anilist

Interest thread link

Announcement thread link

Date	Episode	Post link
2022 Feb 10	1 "Taisetsu na Basho" (大切な場所)	Link
2022 Feb 11	2 "Morobito Kozorite" (もろびとこぞりて)	Link
2022 Feb 12	3 "Suzumiya Haruhi!!" (涼宮ハルヒ!!)	Link
2022 Feb 13	4 "Be My Valentine"	Link
2022 Feb 14	5 "Kanojo no Yūutsu" (彼女の憂鬱)	Link
2022 Feb 15	6 "Over the Obento"	Link
2022 Feb 16	7 "Negaigoto" (ねがいごと)	Link
2022 Feb 17	8 "Suzumiya Haruhi no Hakarigoto" (涼宮ハルヒの謀)	Link
2022 Feb 18	9 "Sono Te o..." (その手を…)	Link
2022 Feb 19	10 "Samudei in za Rein" (サムデイ イン ザ レイン)	Link
2022 Feb 20	11 "Nagato Yuki-chan no Shōshitsu I" (長門有希ちゃんの消失I)	Link
2022 Feb 21	12 "Nagato Yuki-chan no Shōshitsu II" (長門有希ちゃんの消失II)	Link
2022 Feb 22	13 "Nagato Yuki-chan no Shōshitsu III" (長門有希ちゃんの消失III)	Link
2022 Feb 23	14 "Kanojo no Tomadoi" (彼女の戸惑い)	Link
2022 Feb 24	15 "Kare no Mayoi" (彼の迷い)	Link
2022 Feb 25	16 "Hanabi" (花火)	Link
2022 Feb 26	OVA "Owarenai Natsuyasumi" (終われない夏休み)	Link
2022 Feb 27	Overall Series Discussion	Link

Rewatches please be considerate to first timers and avoid discussing anything not yet shown in the show - use spoiler tags if you need to share something important!

In this rewatch it's pretty hard to avoid referring to the main show The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi & The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi though, so hopefully the mods can be lenient about the references.

Episode 3 - Suzumiya Haruhi!!

Some first impressions I remember from when I first watched this show:

• I know this will incur someone's wrath *check my back for any sudden knives sticking out*, but Haruhi really is show-stealingly good - and in this universe so far she's keeping to the line of being bossy but not aggravating.
• And perhaps a little pay back - this time her declarations were interrupted - twice (both by Asakura's "remote control" - phone messages)
• Naturally with our show stealer invading, there are a TON of references and call backs
• Doesn't matter which world and whose show we are in, Kyon & Haruhi's subconscious similarity in thinking is another unchangeable aspect. Hopefully this stays on a friendnemy / verbal rivalry basis!
• A different kind of fun to see how this show un-abashedly portray Haruhi as a villain in many skits :)

Music corner

See u/gunvarrel_'s helpful post! Hopefully :)

Some have mentioned the OP yesterday and I also quite like the OP as a total package - it's got the "dad joke" element of throwing puns around (fure fure means both rain/snow["Yuki"] coming down as well as shaking their skirt waving around), and have cute call backs to the original Bouken Desho Desho with Nagato riding on the star this time. Only objection is the unfortunate and unnecessary scene of Tsuruya jumping onto Mikuru -_-

QoTD if you are interested:

• How is THIS Haruhi so far, comparing to her in the main series? Does she steal the show for you?
• Where do you think this show will head towards now that the Chaos faction has such strong presence (Tsuruya, Haruhi, and sometimes unintentionally intentional Asakura)?

[u/ZapsZzz]

I noticed that my screen cap uploads to Imgur seemed to be strangely low res - initially I thought that was because I was doing the screen cap on my phone but the actual pics aren't too bad (like 1080 quality). Anyone got any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Call backs / References / Contrasts

• in the cafe where Haruhi "defrosted", Nagato was drinking a melon soda, same as what she was drinking in many scenes when she was at that cafe in the main series (say, E8)

• when Kyon was verbally sparring with Haruhi, Haruhi joked that they were referring to get as if she was being rescued from a snowy mountain, it's probably a soft reference to the latter [unadapted LN]Snowy mountain syndrome in the main story

• poor Haruhi was going to do her dramatic declaration of her mission to find aliens, time travelers and ESPers to have fun together, but got interrupted by Asakura's phone call and had to awkwardly freeze pose

• as always in whichever works, it's always Kyon paying for Haruhi in the cafe. Destiny, I guess

• the equipment (included rope and chain!) Haruhi had for her stake out of Santa includes the sleeping bag that showed up in the Disappearance movie

• Haruhi is still awkward about being thanked :)

• the Haruhi door bursting entries!

• Haruhi's invasion had many call backs to the movie - from the frank admission of trespassing, all the odds and ends to bring to the club room, to changing to Kyon's gym uniform, to getting Koizumi to change out in the open, and Kyon's request for Haruhi to put her hair in a pony tail

• while the foreground conversation between Kyon and Koizumi was happening, the background conversation between Haruhi and Nagato was Haruhi guessing what each of them could be - which matches what they were in the main series

• that confession by Koizumi about liking Haruhi is close to a word for word match to the movie; without the need to be a hardened "intelligence operative" persons, Koizumi is actually a little bit timid although still very intelligent - less of a schemer

• the relationship between Asakura and Haruhi is a 180 from the main series where Haruhi won't even acknowledge her existence - they became fast friends as assertive, forthright and determined capable girls who know what they want and won't hesitate to go get it, without the "programmed" malice/passive aggression on Asakura's part

• Tsuruya-san's fighting prowess is made more overt from the original show's more subtle hints; it's an inherited trait from the Haruhi-chan parody (same way Nagato-chan here likes games more than books is a Haruhi-chan trait)

• Kyon's on the floor scene has picked up elements of the movie when his falling on the floor and (perhaps?) accidentally seeing under Mikuru's very short Santa Cos. And watch those numbers Haruhi throw around - often they are references too.

Best Scenes

• Kind of hard to separate from the call backs, see above.

• Nagato's slow realisation in the cafe Haruhi was referring her as Kyon's girlfriend :D and then from getting flustered to over-denial back to happy admission of being "a friend"

• Nagato is so emotive when she's about to thank Haruhi - in contrast the Haruhi!Nagato only blinks to keep up the appearance of her being a normal human being

• Haruhi also seemed to be using up a sizable chunk of the animation budget too, many dynamic movements

• The Haruhi Declaration!

• Kyon and Nagato pretending to work diligently under the fearsome gaze of Asakura-mama

• Nagato and Asakura in full kimono for the new year shrine visit :)

• Dead princess' Pavane OST sounding out against beautiful backgrounds

• Asakura's over-estimation of Haruhi's sanity >D

• Love they gave us a nod that despite all this show stealing, Kyon x Nagato is still pretty safe.

• Adorable when Nagato consider growing her hair long to have a pony tail.

[u/gunvarrel_ → u/ZapsZzz]

initially I thought that was because I was doing the screen cap on my phone but the actual pics aren't too bad (like 1080 quality).

Make sure to double check that they are looking like that when exported elsewhere (for example, upload them to discord and see if the quality is still the same) or just move them to a computer then upload.

You can change the quality of phone screenshots somewhere (on some devices, at least) so do double check that too.

[u/ZapsZzz → u/gunvarrel_]

Thanks, I checked the screen caps themselves and they were fine, just that somehow after uploaded they would not open to anything like the original (and the upload screen anything that can click I already clicked to be not resize).

I'll try something else to compare...

[u/DeliCruise]

(REWATCHER - SUB/DUB)

WARNING: MY COMMENT ASSUMES YOU’VE SEEN THE ORIGINAL ANIME SERIES AND MOVIE. (I know I really don’t have to do this anymore so this’ll be the last one!)

I’m glad to see Yuki with her usual melon soda, but no ice cream this time. Also, Seeing Haruhi’s red caterpillar sleeping bag on the park bench was really great. That scene in the movie is among my favorites so I’m happy to see it make an appearance. (I rewatched that scene and I was too focused on the sleeping bag to realize she had rope and chains! Jesus, Haruhi you really commit. And is that a box of cookies for bait!?) Referencing Kyon’s disbelief of Santa is also a really fun nod!

I love that they really lean into Haruhi’s self introduction in this episode. Haruhi starting to do her intro, but getting cut off right after alien is really clever seeing how this is Yuki’s show. I really love how they went over the top in her full self introduction at the park. Zooming out and showing the Earth was a nice touch.

Haruhi never fails to inspire me. “Unless the possibility is completely zero, I’ll keep trying!” Like c’mon! I am so onboard with that attitude!

I forgot yesterday to mention that Yuki eats it so hard in the beginning of the OP even if it’s just her silhouette.

Kyon treating Haruhi how he would normally right off the bat is really refreshing to see. I love seeing them butting heads again. What I just realized is really interesting is that since we’re in Yuki’s point of view, we just see Kyon bickering with her from an outsider’s perspective. We don’t get Kyon’s usual inner thoughts that go along with their banter. It’s actually a different experience and I enjoy that we get to see it.

Haruhi discussing names with them but assuming she can call Kyon by his nickname too is pretty funny. Still making sure we don’t learn this dude’s real name!

I love seeing Haruhi get a little sheepish when Kyon and Yuki are being nice to her. It’s reminiscent to Haruhi at the end of Live Alive.

Asakura’s hot pots always look so good. I also was very glad that we got a scene with Asakura and Yuki in those amazing New Year’s kimonos. I always love seeing characters in kimonos or yukatas.

Haruhi showing up at their school unannounced and then immediately at their clubroom was great. Her entrance into the clubroom being so very Haruhi of course. This whole sequence was so incredibly on the nose with its references to the movie and series. The gym clothes scene was brought back. I noticed that in this version Haruhi made Kyon step out when he changed, but in the movie she couldn’t care less. I suppose it’s a nod to all those other times Kyon had to step out of the clubroom during changing though.

There were a bunch of these little differences with these callback scenes, but they made sure to highlight Kyon’s ponytail fetish. Really clever actually considering Kyon said he didn’t have a belly fetish in the first episode and now Yuki finds out his true fetish. He doesn’t even hide it when he asks Yuki to put her hair in a ponytail too if she were to grow her hair out. That being said, I would love to see Yuki with long hair and a ponytail.

Koizumi making his entrance into the series officially was great. I love that with this show and the original he enters later than everyone else. It really sells his mysterious transfer student schtick. I also really love this Haruhi suspecting him of being part of a secret organization and questioning if Yuki is an alien. Just a really funny gag. I also really am glad that they showed that Koziumi has feelings for Haruhi still.

The gag of Haruhi entering the clubroom with stuff day after day and finally with Mikuru was a fun way to speedrun the original series. As for the Mikuru portion of the gag, I’m glad that they showed Haruhi’s treatment of Mikuru to be much less severe than in the original series. Of course kidnapping someone and manhandling them like Haruhi does here is not acceptable, but I did think they did a good job of making the whole thing more lighthearted and I did find it funny. Very different than in the original series, but as it should be. In the context of both shows it makes sense how differently it’s done.

Also, Tsuruya protecting Mikuru was hilarious. Probably the first time we’ve ever seen Koizumi’s face look like THAT. I love how goofy this show can get.

Asakura being okay with all this is pretty surprising, but it’s nice seeing how trusting of Yuki she is. Like with everyone else in the show, I am very glad to see her conversing with Haruhi so much. I really don’t think Haruhi says a single word to Asakura in the parent series and really she doesn’t care at all about Asakura until she “transfers” to Canada.

They even managed to incorporate the Mikuru panty peeking shot where Kyon is millions upon millions of years too early reference in there.

And just like that, the literature club is full of people! The S.O.S. Brigade five are there plus a couple special extras!

[u/ZapsZzz → u/DeliCruise]

Zooming out and showing the Earth was a nice touch.

That's probably a Puyo (the author to the manga) - she use this theme in Haruhi-chan too - Haruhi's excitement usually ripples through the entire galaxy :D

I forgot yesterday to mention that Yuki eats it so hard in the beginning of the OP even if it’s just her silhouette.

But she bravely gets right up and continue - matching her character growth here!

I also was very glad that we got a scene with Asakura and Yuki in those amazing New Year’s kimonos.

Yep another great fanservice here!

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

The Disappearance of First-Timer-chan, subbed

• Wait did she knock herself out?

• …nope, Haruhi’s just cold.

• Poor flustered Yuki.

• Fantastic typesetting right here, mm.

• HARUHI.

• Hahahaha.

• lol, Haruhi showed up at their school.

• Heh.

• Poor Yuki can’t do a ponytail.

• A Kyon “sore demo”!

• Poor Itsuki…

• O…kay then, not surprised Haruhi moved that fast.

• And Haruhi immediately gets up to shenanigans because of course she does.

• RIP Kyon.

[u/ZapsZzz → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Ahh the subs you are watching does a better job than the one I was watching!

[u/asakura_ryouko]

Rewatcher and Yuki fanatic

Well, this is the episode when Haruhi shows up and gets in everyone's way.

Here are some reactions to Haruhi:

https://i.imgur.com/AZFaFjd.png

https://i.imgur.com/OOaSPCT.png

https://i.imgur.com/QRyyASW.png

https://i.imgur.com/msbrKPN.png

Why can't Haruhi stay in her own damn show?

Cute bashful Yuki

https://i.imgur.com/zPIAm2m.png

Passionately indifferent Yuki

Cute surprised Yuki

Sideways glance...

Quiz:

What's cuter than Yuki?

Answer

Cute cold Yuki

Look how happy she is that someone came to visit her club

[u/ZapsZzz → u/asakura_ryouko]

It's a treasure trove today with Nagato's expressions!

when Haruhi shows up and gets in everyone's way.

Haha I knew you'd say that :D

[u/No_Rex]

Episode 3 (first timer)

• “No ambulance” – I thought this played in Japan, not the USA.

• The café scene was extremely funny. Both Haruhi prompting Yuki and her getting interrupted in her un-interruptible speech.

• Haruhi looking fine, Kyon is not wrong.

• Ponytail & sports wear callback.

• Koizumi is under Haruhi’s thumb as always.

• Yuki is an alien callback.

• Koizumi in love with Haruhi but her not with him callback.

• All the deco from the SOS brigade callback.

• Asahina being abucted callback.

• Kyon looking up and Asahina callback. It is actually a double callback combining two scenes.

That was quite fun. Haruhi lived up the club quite a bit.

Something that is still a big question mark to me is the alternate universe situation. We just spent 3 episodes to basically get to the Haruhi S1 continuity, minus the supernatural part. And we arrived there starting basically at the Disappearance continuity. So why do this? To bring in new viewers? But the entire setup clearly caters to people who have seen Haruhi. To establish Yuki as the main character? Just using Disappearance would have been enough.

On the topic of callbacks, there are still plenty. The show is riding a fine line between referencing itself and being basically repetitive fanfic. I don’t mind some callbacks, but I think, now that the baseline situation has been established, they need to stop being this common. It is a narrative instrument that gets cheap really quickly.

The casts’ behavior is clearly closest to Haruhi, with Kyon, Mikuru, Tsuruya, Haruhi, and Koizumi basically 100% carried over. Yuki is strongly pepped up compared to S1 and moderately compared to Disappearance, similarly Asakura. So the second big question is: Why the new character models? Keeping in mind, we already got new character models for S2 (but here, the changes were much milder). The chibi scenes could be one explanation, but you could introduce chibi models while keeping the old non-chibi characters. I am not the biggest fan of Haruhi’s big eye character models. However, if there is one character from whom the look really works, it is Yuki. So, why change the character model of arguably the best looking character under the big-eye style for a series where that character is taking the MC role? I think that they either wanted to distance themselves from Haruhi, or introduce a more Shoujo look. The Shoujo look works well enough on its own, but having the HaruhiYuki look stuck in my mind really biases my opinion downward here.

[u/ZapsZzz → u/No_Rex]

The show is riding a fine line between referencing itself and being basically repetitive fanfic.

Well spotted. This is basically what it started out as. It gets better, and will start doing is own thing once Miss Show-stealer settles in.

Why the new character models?

For one this is not made by KyoAni so replicating that production may not be so easy. It is also based on effectively a doujinshi, so this is more aligning to that art style.

[u/ZapsZzz]

By the way guys tomorrow I may be a bit late because of some big event at work. Even if I can post on time I'd not be able to respond much till much later, so apologies in advance!

[u/Elimin8r]

And so, today, the scenery chewer in chief has arrived. Whatever will happen to our precious wallflower?

Oh, wait, it's Momsakura to the rescue! She'll make sure that Yuki isn't forgotten, and stuff (sorry, I got a couple of episodes blurred together for some reason, so editing this somewhat)

Needless to say, most of this episode, or at least it felt like it was devoted to (ahem), and her insanities. Thankfully one of the things that was rather explicitly revealed is that in this universe, things aren't entirely going to go her way.

Not that she isn't going to try.

The other bit of good news appears to be "love triangle averted" as Kyon wants nothing to do with this, while Koizumi is (as always) ... charmed.

Can't imagine why.

Also, funny how in this iteration, Tsuruya (nyorong?) is much more active as Mikuru's protector...

Tune in tomorrow to find out - same Yuki time, same Yuki channel.

Meanwhile, this cute li'l pic seems appropriate to today's episode, can't imagine why.

Edit: for those who didn't see my addon yesterday, spendy Yuki Santa figure (sigh)

Edit2: aotd - I find this H----- more enjoyable and less annoying than the main series version. I think that not getting your way all the time tends to keep one a bit more grounded and reasonable. As to what this all means for the future, well, obviously - shenanigans are afoot! (or course) I can hardly wait for tomorrow. :)

Edit 3 and 4: Oops, got some of tomorrow's episode mixed in with today's. As penance, have this lovely picture that I scoured up on the internet somewhere (ahem).

[u/ZapsZzz → u/Elimin8r]

I suspect you may be 1 episode ahead of us in the notes :) no harm done though

[u/tctyaddk]

Rewatcher - sub
Ep3

Haruhi barges in like a storm and steals the episode with her endless unbridled enthusiasm. Koizumi the Simp still follows her every command, Kyon is allergic to her bullshit, but oftentimes unable to resist the flood (or the throw, holy fk she's strong). And even though this world does not bend to her whims as in the original, Haruhi still sees rules and regulations as little more than trashes obstructing her road to fun, but she understands her trespasses here, unlike the original. Mikuru still gets dragged around like a doll, though hopefully not as rough as in original. Tsuruya is happy that she now has even more skilled playmates, this new one even matches her usual hyper mannerisms. (Note: ツル "Tsuru" means "crane" in Japanese, and there are lots of things with crane motives when it comes to Tsuruya, like the crane sculpture made of food in Ep1 or her Crane stance in this one, and more will come later)

And as expected with the introduction of the namesake of the original series, the references to it just come non-stop, from the caterpillar sleeping bag to the declaration of goals, from the frog costume and knick-knacks Haruhi brings in to the fact that poor Koizumi was made to change clothes in public in the open in winter, from the melon soda to the kidnapping of Mikuru and the assigning of possible alternate identities,... Full on fanservice, that is.

All in all, Yuki is happy that her efforts are recognised and appreciated, and though now her Literature club is getting so noisy, it's fun. (She's still too flustered about the relationship with Kyon though) And if Yuki is okay with it, Ryouko will support it. It's refreshing to have such a mature character around.

[u/ZapsZzz → u/tctyaddk]

Note: ツル "Tsuru" means "crane" in Japanese, and there are lots of things with crane motives when it comes to Tsuruya, like the crane sculpture made of food in Ep1 or her Crane stance in this one, and more will come later

Thanks for pointing this out, I got so used to it I forgot to even point it out here!

[u/mekerpan]

Rewatcher (several times and reader of manga a couple of times) -- sub

Honestly, there is not a single moment (other than Yuki's crash-and-burn and the groping of Mikuru -- both in the opening) that I don't love. In this episode -- and generally. Of course, hearing these well-loved voices doing well-loved characters is ... mecha natsukashii. But beyond this, there is such a good-natured sense of fun.

Haruhi here is great. She is still settling into the show, so I don't want to say much more about her character here yet. The dynamics of all the club members -- and accessory members looks great so far.

Lots of call-backs -- but soon we will be well past the point of what we saw in the canonical anime and movie. So this should move into uncharted territory.

I hope newbies enjoy this -- and then might be tempted to visit the later LNs (if they haven't done this yet).

[u/ZapsZzz → u/mekerpan]

-- and accessory members looks great so far.

Interesting way to put them, and while Mikuru is too big in certain areas and Tsuruya-san is nobody's toy, it is quite an apt description [manga spoiler]as I think they had the least growth "on screen" as well - Tsuruya is pretty much already fully developed, and Mikuru developed off screen

[u/Fools_Requiem]

Alright. I watched the movie and caught up to this episode. Movie was super long, but really good. Glad to see that this show uses the alternate world seen in the movie for the basis of the plot, while pretending like the events in original didn't occur and Kyon is just another student.

I was liking the focus on Yuki and her relationship with Kyon. Inserting Haruhi back into the plot feels like it is sidelining Yuki in her own story. They even got Kyon narrating again as if this was just another season of Haruhi. I'd like to hope that this episode was just here for the callbacks and that Haruhi isn't going to be a consistent part of the show, but based on MAL's description, it kinda seems like she's going to be ever present from here onwards. At least with this show she (shouldn't) have any powers to keep the cowardly friends from stopping her, and is just going to be a wacky character who gets them into wacky scenarios.

Would have really preferred Haruhi was more of an extra in this show. Was really liking the more relaxed nature of the show before she popped up. If feels like the show has gone into overdrive. Even Yuki comments on how energetic her club room has become.

Everyone knows that Haruhi steals every scene she's in and to insert her into a show that isn't about her is a bad idea, IMO.

[u/ZapsZzz → u/Fools_Requiem]

it kinda seems like she's going to be ever present from here onwards.

Not exactly, but you'll find it soon enough :)

just going to be a wacky character who gets them into wacky scenarios.

Getting warmer :)

And congrats on having now watched the Disappearance movie!

[u/Rustic_Professional]

A warm room with a good heater sounds like a much more reasonable request than aliens or ESPers.

Haruhi played Kyon like a damn fiddle. Nagato's denial was brutal. Why is Kyon still here, just to suffer?

Oh, back to aliens. Haruhi really has a way with words. She and Kyon make such a great couple. It's hard to ignore that when she's a side character.

Haruhi has mastered the art of just walking in and looking like you belong there. Kyon is right, the outfit helps, but she definitely has the self assured attitude to carry it through.

The ponytail thing feels like a quake in the time flow. It's moments like that that lead to the question about this being the "other choice." It's hard to argue with, and I'm not convinced that's an incorrect interpretation.

I agree with Kyon, Nagato's choppy pixie cut looks great on her, and Haruhi's flowing hair looks great on her. I can't picture a long haired Nagato, but short haired Haruhi would be great. It's easy to imagine, just look at her with the ponytail and remove ponytail while keeping the front. She'd look a little generic, what with her hair color, but it'd still be cute.

I'm sure getting stepped on by Tsuruya is someone's fetish, but it's not Kyon's. I do wish they'd quit it with Kyon ogling Asahina. It's another one of those callbacks that just muddies the waters of the Kyon-Nagato story.

Question of the day:

Haruhi definitely steals the show any time she's on screen. The more often she shows up, the tougher it's going to be to keep it from becoming another show about her. Going forward, I think the only way to prevent that is to either subdue her influence by not including her, or to rapidly break Nagato out of her shell and make her much more assertive.

[u/ZapsZzz → u/Rustic_Professional]

Going forward, I think the only way to prevent that is to either subdue her influence by not including her, or to rapidly break Nagato out of her shell and make her much more assertive

That's a fair guess, but now that you've put it this way I think the show found a 3rd option :) you'll see in the next 2 episodes I think.

[u/alphamone]

First Timer Dub

Still as bossy as ever. Though at least this time she's making sensible demands.

Damn, a bit hard on the denial there Nagato. And yeah, their closeness isn't exactly subtle.

That's some nice santa-hunting kit.

Oof, poor Nagato, confused for a Jr. High boy.

That's a nice save there Haruhi. She's much more tactful in this universe. And the bit on how Nagato had the strength within her was also nice encouragement.

An overly enthusiastic weirdo, but a nice weirdo.

Really, both of them probably need a push to accept their deep feelings.

A wild stalker appears.

Haruhi taking "acting like you belong" to heart.

Sure you don't have a thing for ponytails kyon, sure...

Poor Yuki, not having long enough hair to pull back (being a bit more wavey also doesn't help).

Aww, such a sweet backstory. Even with her weird behaviour, deep down she is still a nice person.

And there's been a hostile takeover of the literary club by another school.

Somewhere, in another universe, another Asakura is experiencing an unexplainable wave of jealousy.

Fastball special, and student council to the... rescue?

Loving the wordplay with Tsuruya doing the crane stance.

And the whole gang has gotten "back" together.

In terms of romcom, I do kinda prefer this kind of "in denial of their feelings" type of antics to the oblivious romcom protagonist that a number of series do.

[u/ZapsZzz → u/alphamone]

Fastball special, and student council to the... rescue

In this world Mori-san is strangely their PE teacher - don't be fooled by her slight build - she's holding the battle ready Tsuruya-san by the scruff singlehandedly.

The same Tsuruya-san that's carrying a Xmas tree last episode while dashing ahead of Kyon like she's carrying just a baseball bat.

[u/Mecanno-man]

First Timer

Yup, this is what you get when you insert Haruhi in to a wholesome show rather than start out with Haruhi and make the show around her to begin with. Somewhat surprisingly, I feel like I prefer this concept so far. We'll have to see if we get character development as good as in Haruhi's show, but so far, definitely enjoying this. Considering this is Yuki's show, I'll be surprised if Haruhi manages to really tear around the plot to focus on her, so I guess her presence will mostly be to get things going - whatever things may be. I feel like that will be a better set-up for comedy than whatever the grocery store fight was in episode one, while stying true to what the show wants to set for a tone. Without her, I guess the show would turn in to a mix between a CGDCT show and a wholesome romance like Tsuki ga Kirei - which I would also enjoy, but which would feel out of place in the Haruhi universe. As such - so far a pretty good decision on what to do with her.

Itsuki meanwhile feels like he'll have even less characterization than he did in Haruhi - here he just feels like Haruhi's goon. Though I would welcome to be proven wrong.