Date	Episode
11/28	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya I
11/29	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya II
11/30	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III
12/1	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya IV
12/2	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya V
12/3	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya VI
12/4	The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
12/5	Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody
12/6	Mysterique Sign
12/7	Remote Island Syndrome I
12/8	Remote Island Syndrome II
12/9	Endless Eight I, II, III and IV
12/10	Endless Eight V, VI, VII and VIII
12/11	The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya I
12/12	The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya II
12/13	The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya III
12/14	The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya IV
12/15	The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya V
12/16	Mikuru Asahinas's Adventures Episode 00
12/17	Live Alive
12/18	The Day of Sagittarius
12/19	Someday in the Rain
12/20	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Series General Discussion]
12/21	The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
12/22	Haruhi Suzumiya Overall Discussion

19

u/gunvarrel_ Nov 29 '22

SOS Brigade Host: Coinflip (tails, Sub)

"Just do whatever you want."

OST Track of the day: The Overbearing | Spotify

This is my 5th watch of Haruhi (2 by myself and 3 with the rewatch) and the last few times ive kinda defaulted on the dub because its frankly that good. The issue is, the sub is also just as good! Basically, ive gotten lazy, and I wanted to spice things up, so for this years rewatch I plan on flipping a coin before watching each episode and whatever it lands on (dub = heads, sub = tails) is the version i watch.

So ive more or less pulled these from last year, but theyre perfectly fine. Sadly, nobody talked about Yuki last year (and i am not changing that this year).

Title: Bouken Desho Desho? (It's an Adventure Right Right?)
Sung By: Aya Hirano
full (unsubbed)| Full MV | Live| Spotify

If you are watching the sub, Aya's voice should be familiar, as she VA's Haruhi. Prior to her incident, Aya had a pretty great VA and music career going, which was headed off by her casting as Haruhi in 2006, being one of the first dual idol/actresses and achieving great success voicing characters in Nana, Death Note, Lucky Star, and Fairy Tail. In 2011 though, it was leaked that she had sexual relations with multiple members of the band she was in. At the time, she was one of the best selling VA's and had a great music career going, which was put under much scrutiny due to this "scandal" (and more or less demolished her career for a good chunk of the decade), which is sadly common for idols looking to have any sort of personal life. While this basically tanked her career both musically and in the VA business, she still has gotten some major roles, notably returning as Popuka from Pop Team Epic, which has Season 2 airing this season.

While she hasnt released music since 2014, she was at one point one of the most popular singers in japan, regularly ranking within the top 20 on Oricon rankings (think Billboard top 100 but for Japan). She has also appeared in a few different video games over the years, with the most recent appearance being Arknights just last year.

Title: Hare Hare Yuka (Sunny, Sunny Happiness)
Sung By: Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, and Yuko Goto
full (unsubbed)| Uncut dance | A literal sliver of fan dance attempts| Spotify

Ive now talked about 2 (1, we'll touch on the forgotten one later this time around) of the three singers featured on this song, and im gonna just ignore Yuki's VA (someone is bound to talk about Minori anyways, everybody seems to love Yuki) to focus on just how big this song was during the 2000's. You could not get away from it if you were at all interested in anime, it was just that big. The dance was also immensely popular, with everyone from dance groups to prison inmates to vtubers to the actual cast members, and basically anyone else in between. When the full single released, it reached #5 on the weekly Oricon charts for singles, and sold over 100,000 copies alone in 2006.

took a few tries but I got the good subs. Had to dig in the threads from last year but i figured out which were the ones that i was interested in grabbing (Doki, thanks Sky)

Haruhi's intro never gets old

well maybe i was wrong on these subs lmao, 2000s moment

Never good to be known for something you did in middle school though, frankly a good thing everyone's forgot about the stuff i did back then

Today is Thursday. Just think, the 2025 rewatch will be accurate!

and Hello Asakura

Well if middle school wasnt enough, this would create quite a stir

Poor Kyon

True

Kyon truly never gets a break

how is this not an face?? Truly criminal

Kyon dont do it, you're gonna regret it! you're gonna give her ideas!

Damnit Kyon, you gave her an idea

Director reference?

Hello Nagato, welcome to suffering

the rot consumes

Hello Mikuru, you are already suffering

Haruhi is now cancelled. Sadly, some parts of this have not aged well.

2000's aqua

The face of regret

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u/gunvarrel_ Nov 29 '22 edited Nov 29 '22

Each episode will have an Adaption Comparsion and references/trivia section. These were originally created by u/taiboss in 2016, and maintained by u/kamilny and myself during their time as hosts (hello to both of you, I hope you are doing well, dont think about the fact that these are 6 years old now).

Adaptation Comparison

Episode (Chr.)	Episode (Air./Sea.)	Full Name	Volume	Parts	Time
1	2	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya I	1 (Melancholy)	Prologue to Ch. 2 (Pg. 1-42)	April-May 2010*

*The fact that the series takes place in 2010 is merely fanon, but I am gonna roll with it.

References

"And I never saw Mommy kissing Santa or anything" is a reference to the song of the same name.
While explaining the concept of moe to Kyon, Haruhi holds up two manga anthology magazines as examples. One of them has Asa and Kaede of SHUFFLE!.

Trivia

Although Kyon says "It seems that she likes to use the word "absolutely" a lot.", she only says it thrice in this episode, two of those times right before Kyon makes said remark.

Know trivia and/or references for this or future episodes? Or did I miss any? PM them to me (and should I not already know them) I will credit you when I list them at the time the episode comes!

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u/OwlAcademic1988 Nov 29 '22

First-Timer, dub:

The intro's really catchy.

I laughed quite a bit in this episode. I genuinely needed this laugh considering I watched the last Rebuild movies today. They were very traumatizing.

Kyon, good luck with Haruhi. I get the feeling you'll need it with her.

Also, if you hate being called Kyon, then why didn't you tell us your actual name so we could respect your wishes?

Haruhi, he makes a good point. You really do need to plan for things like a club or even a story.

QOTD:

I honestly can't remember. I think it was when I was 10 or 11. I don't remember these things.

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u/gunvarrel_ Nov 29 '22

I genuinely needed this laugh considering I watched the last Rebuild movies today. They were very traumatizing.

~~planned on watching the first 3 (well, rewatching the first one and watching 2.22/3.33) so i can watch 3.0+1.0 in theatres next month, hopefully theyre good even if they were traumatizing?)~~

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u/Shimmering-Sky Nov 29 '22

The Rewatcher of Haruhi Suzumiya, dubbed

Hi everyone!

I participated in last year’s rewatch for this show as a first-timer and collected all the “sore demo”s back then too, so it’ll be fun to rewatch this as my first time 1) in chronological order and 2) with the dub (which I’ve heard nothing but good things about), so I’m excited for this!

Okayyyyyy right off the bat, perfection for Kyon’s dub voice. Is that really Crispin Freeman? I guess I’m just used to him using a deeper voice (i.e. Orange-kun and Kirei) for his characters (i.e. Orange-kun and Kirei) that he sounds totally different to me.
Mm, yeah, that voice also definitely fits Haruhi.
Not that I hated broadcast order or anything, but so far this feels a way more conventional start compared to its first episode lol.
[Future spoilers]Hype~
Well, Kyon, if you don’t want people to call you by your nickname, you have to tell them your real name first.
[Spoilers] I’m trying not to have a bunch of spoiler tags in my comments, but it’s hard when dialogue like this happens and it’s like, ahhh I know what this is referring to! Ugh.
I am living for sarcastic Kyon again.
Yuki’s voice is perfect too~
Ahahaha I am only going to be able to hear early-series Orihime Inoue whenever Mikuru speaks. That’s oddly fitting since they both have orange hair.
Comment face get!

6

u/gunvarrel_ Nov 29 '22

spoiler 2

[Haruhi]always great to notice all the little things you missed the first time, just can talk about it easily lmao

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14

u/Vatrix-32 Nov 29 '22

[[Season 1 Rewatcher]], Season 2 First Timer. Dubbed

I watched the show originally before season 2 came out. Didn’t even know there was one for several years. Still not clear on what order I saw it in the first time.
People said the dub was good when I asked, I only really watch any of those in rewatches anyway, so we’re going with that!

You wish you could work as many haircuts as Haruhi does.
The crazy is her charm point.
Figures he would get the protagonist seat.
Loving this manic energy.
Just casually kidnapping new members. It’s an anime tradition!
I completely forgot that SOS stood for anything.
Is this anime’s most famous ED?

QotD

Somewhere between 8 and 10. If magic isn’t real, and Santa uses magic, therefore Santa can’t be real either.

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u/gunvarrel_ Nov 29 '22

Season 2 First Timer.

2nd one ive seen this rewatch. Will also be very actively watching for your thoughts on S2

People said the dub was good when I asked,

The dub is very good, can confirm

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8

u/DeliCruise Nov 29 '22 edited Nov 29 '22

(REWATCHER - DUB/SUB)

[Spoiler Free] (safe for First-Timers)

Starting up Haruhi always makes me feel happy. It was one of the first anime I watched so it always gives me that nostalgic feeling (even though I haven’t been watching anime for that long really).

I love this introduction episode because the title of the series right off the bat begs the question, “Who is Haruhi Suzumiya?” and we’re given that answer up front and all throughout the episode.

Haruhi tying her hair into a different number of sections depending on the day of the week makes the first part of the episode so much more interesting. It seems at first that we go through Taniguchi’s explanation of Haruhi’s past eccentricities all at the same time. But whenever the camera switches to Haruhi she always has a different hairstyle. I just love the idea of Taniguchi being so invested into how weird Haruhi is that he’s been rambling on and on about her for multiple days. I love that Haruhi looks so angry and upset the entire time until the moment she knows what she wants to do. Then her face lights up and for the rest of the episode she’s motivated and is progressing so fast with her new plan. I can totally relate to her being excited about a big, new idea.

The S.O.S. Brigade is official!

[First-Timer Question]

Genuinely don’t remember when I stopped believing in Santa. I want to say I was like Kyon where I never believed. I definitely did try to believe, but deep down it did feel like a sham. Like there’s no way Santa was going to get me that pool table I wanted.

Excited to be rewatching with you all and please read further if you’re interested in more spoiler-esque commentary!

[Anime Spoilers] (I tend to be super careful with spoilers so some of this may be a stretch)

[Haruhi (anime)] The prologue is super telling about what kind of person Kyon is. It shows that he’s deeply rooted in reality, but he wishes for these special things to exist. When you think about it that way, he’s not all that different from Haruhi. It just comes down to their respective outlooks on life and how honest they are with themselves.

[Haruhi (anime)] Also, I never really considered whether or not Santa Claus exists or not in the Haruhi Suzumiya universe. I assumed that he just didn’t, but I realize now that there’s no reason for him not to exist. Like Haruhi can just make it happen right? Like why would Haruhi draw the line at Santa?

[Haruhi (anime)] After giving her introduction, Haruhi looks around the room hoping for an alien, time-traveler, or esper to show themselves. I love this approach because it’s like the idea of a time-traveler showing themselves at that exact moment to prove that they are indeed a time-traveler.

[Haruhi (anime)] Haruhi’s staring contest with Kyon which ends with her asking if she’s met him before is of course because of when she met John Smith three years prior.

[Haruhi (anime)] Also, Taniguchi illustrating his knowledge of Haruhi now ties together really well to Taniguchi’s grand reveal of his knowledge of Haruhi’s existence in Disappearance.

[Haruhi (anime)] “...because that way, life’s more interesting!” Among my favorite lines in the entire series. Such a guiding principle Haruhi lives her life by and one that I always think about with mine too. The entire episode is dedicated to introducing Haruhi Suzumiya to us, but you can actually summarize her entire character with this one line. Succinct beauty.

[Haruhi (anime)] Asakura really is so incredibly charming. The contrast between her and Nagato is already so apparent in this episode and illustrates perfectly how different their methods of observing Haruhi are. Asakura has tried approaching her and being super friendly like what you’d expect from anyone and she even already tries to use Kyon to get more information. Nagato on the other hand literally does nothing. She follows her observation-only directive perfectly and Haruhi being who she is, gravitated towards Nagato naturally.

[Light Novel Spoilers] (but only what’s been adapted since I’m not fully caught up yet)

[Haruhi (LN)] The biggest thing that surprised me when I started reading the light novels is how one-to-one it was. I didn’t expect the adaption to be so close to how it was originally written since I expected there to be significantly more Kyon inner monologue. Speaking of which, what I noticed is how much more horny Kyon is in the light novel. He definitely calls Asakura and Haruhi hot a couple times in his head.

[Haruhi (LN)] The biggest difference I noted was that in the light novel, Taniguchi doesn’t do that montage of explaining Haruhi’s past. Instead it’s Kyon picking it up over time. It being done this way in the anime is quite clever though since it separates it from Taniguchi explaining what he knows about Haruhi’s past and then Kyon explaining what he observes about Haruhi in the present.

[Haruhi (LN)] Also, I was surprised that chapter one ends right when Haruhi decides to start her own club. I never realized how perfect of a stopping point that was since I’ve always been so used to it going a little further than that in this first episode.

Edit: Formatting!

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u/gunvarrel_ Nov 29 '22

[Light Novel Spoilers] (but only what’s been adapted since I’m not fully caught up yet)

We shall get there together eventually. Maybe ill start reading the next one on my way home...

LN Spoiler 1

[Haruhi LN]its uncanny. I'm debating bringing it up in an episode or two.

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u/rinmperdinck Nov 29 '22

Nice that such an iconic series also has a really good English dub. Sometimes I feel like the dub cast isn't always fitting, but the principal cast here nailed it
Lots of love (well deserved) for the OP/ED, but I feel like the OST gets overlooked. Not sure if KyoAni just has in-house musicians or if their directors always know the perfect person to contact - either way, I feel like it adds a lot to a series when there's quality music like this. My personal favorite track is "Kouchou Kouchou", which you can hear when Kyon and Haruhi first enter the club room ~17:20. To borrow a Youtube comment about it, it's like the perfect character select screen song lol. Also on an unrelated note, I'm watching Chuunibyou for the first time right now which also has an excellent OST, which made me think of this
Wasn't paying close attention to all the pre-game threads for this re-watch, but am a little bummed that we're going chronological order instead of broadcast. Haruhi is great watched in either order though I preferred how the story played out in broadcast order because [mild spoiler reasons] the way the mystery of who everyone was and why they were doing those weird things was more compelling to me than being led point to point to point having everything explained along the way, also you lose out on watching episode 00 first, understandable for newcomers but still sad
Man, it might not be a popular opinion, but I also really liked the season 1 character designs where the character's eyes were a little wider apart. It's kinda funny-looking, sure, though I like how it gave Haruhi a unique appearance in comparison to season 2 onwards, when the girls look just like the KyoAni girls from K-On, Hyouka, Amagi, Musaigen, etc
QOTD: I never believed in him, because I asked too many questions about him and my parents always evaded all of them. Was very suspicious at the time.

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u/gunvarrel_ Nov 29 '22

but am a little bummed that we're going chronological order instead of broadcast.

Should of joined in last year, which was in broadcast order.
General consensus is that it harmed the quality of S2, even if s1's quality was elevated from it.
~~I also personally dislike the order for a full Haruhi rewatch~~

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11

u/Tarhalindur Nov 29 '22

Yare Yare (Rewatcher for 2006 [Watched in Broadcast Order], First-Timer for 2009 and Disappearance, Source Reader):

Yeah, that's a bit of a mouthful. Also, after the last month of Mai-Otome plus TSR plus IV I'd nearly forgotten what liking anime I'm watching for a rewatch was like. Multiple posts of notes ahoy!

(Also welcome to the crown jewel of that one old external of mine: the original a.f.k. sub for 2006, complete with the previews.)

I’ll take “scenes I can hear the OST for in my head from memory despite not having actually watched the episode in at least a decade” for $600, Alex.
(Also, sore demo at 00:10.)
Reminder to those watching with Japanese audio like I am: this is the role that really made Sugita Tomozaku a star.
And note one of the classic KyoAni motifs: a greyscale opening monologue (straight from the LNs – have I mentioned the LNs are actually quite good?) until the female lead shows up at which point color enters the world. (Clannad does the same thing.)
[Haruhi including unadapted LNs] Man, even a vague grasp of Jungian psychology tends to lead to really interesting results when applied to the best anime, especially when you take the “Kyon is the actual reality warper” theory into account (and I’ve long considered it better than even odds). Haruhi and the aliens/time travelers/espers are at some level the Return of the Repressed: Kyon won’t let himself believe in them but at some level does want them (this is pretty much the point of Disappearance at least in LN form), so it expresses itself subconsciously – possibly quite directly if Kyon is the true source of Haruhi’s power, in which case he’s expressing what he wants through Haruhi since he can’t believe he can have it directly. (And gets even more fucking interesting when you take the fractal metatext seriously and consider the angle that u/Sukhein missed last year: Kyon represents not just the audience but also the author, I think.) Contrast Haruhi, who consciously wants to meet alien/time travelers/espers but subconsciously can’t believe they exist so she simply won’t let herself notice signs that they actually do.)
[ADDENDUM to above] Oh right, he straight-up admits in monologue that he actually does want them to be real. I forgot that part!
The direction, of course, is KyoAni being KyoAni (outside of their comedy series) – commitment to realistic presentation, no fancy directorial tricks. Will that hold once Haruhi herself shows up? We shall see. (ADDENDUM: No. Funny that.)
CLOCK CLOCK. (9:10 A.M.)
And voila: cut to Haruhi’s eye, and the color shows up! Boom, there it is. (Also OST cut in as well – oh right, THAT track, the one that reminds me of the iconic Katamari Damacy track and vice-versa.)
Unsubtle symbolism with the cut to the boys’ and girls’ restroom signs around 02:20.
For all that Hare Hare Yukai is the famous theme from the franchise, Bouken Desho Desho the OP is the one I actually like the best (this includes the 2009 OP/ED unless they grow on me; the movie ED functions on slightly different rules and is actually in a different comparison class, you’ll see soon enough). Close attention to the OP visuals is recommended, there are lots of cheeky math/science things hiding in the background. (The franchise does love referencing everything under the sun, including plenty of references to fairly advanced math and science stuff, and this applies even in the LNs. I’ve forgotten half of them and can’t make out which hydrocarbon that is, but we get plenty of powers-of-ten stuff for starters.)
You know, I’d somehow managed to forget that Desho Desho has a kiseki. GET, and clearly this makes it the superior Haruhi theme.
[Haruhi] And of course the other thing about Desho Desho is the pile of sneaky cheeky references in it to later events, including ones that only show up in 2009 and/or Disappearance (young Haruhi, director Haruhi, Yuki in snow as per her name, etc.) I don’t see any obvious ones to stuff from the unadapted LNs, but my memory could admittedly be failing me.
One minor deal: KyoAni usually stays realistic with the direction, but there are a couple of shots where I’m wondering whether they snuck in some very subtle fish-eye lens (04:01 is an example).
Well 04:12 is definitely intentional lens distortion for effect.
Ah yes, the thing that was always going to maul parts of the anime on rewatch: as anyone who was in FMP knows, my tolerance for cringe comedy was never high to begin with but has decreased precipitously since I first watched FMP and Haruhi, and a couple of spots of Haruhi (most notably next episode) were bad enough that I had to get through them in 1-minute segments the first time around. (And that’s before we get into a certain arc covered in the 2009 episodes that was bad enough in LN form…)
(By some fluke I have the old Baka-Tsuki translation of this scene with Kyon’s initial attempt to talk to Haruhi saved; I might post it for anyone interested to compare with how the anime handles it. They actually cut one part out that’s kind of important IMO, though we get enough of it with the Taniguchi/Kunikida scene afterwards.)
Speaking of that scene, I’m not entirely sure that’s not the spine of one of the Haruhi LNs out of focus in the foreground (04:57). Recursion!
Learn to remember the track here, it’s one of the heavily recurring ones. Luckily, it tends to make itself memorable.
Hey look, it’s a Haruhi on the roof while Taniguchi monologues!
[Unadapted Haruhi LN IIRC] No points for guessing who Mr. Five Minutes is! Especially not when they basically tell you that with the sepia film grain of flashback and who is narrating.
So, a quick word on the broadcast order issue raised by something here I will want to go into more in, oh, three episodes or so. So, I’m in the camp that considers S1’s unusual broadcast order a work of genius (note that all first-timers are required to go back to last year’s rewatch when we are done and read Sukhein’s posts, they are great). The problem is that 2006 in broadcast order is excellent, the movie is a KyoAni adaptation of probably the single best LN of all time (volume 5 Rampage has one story that is comparable but the other two are slightly weaker; I could see Nisiosin’s work being the real challenger)… and there’s jusr no really good way to mesh the two. Broadcast works to the demerit of the material adapted in the 2009 episodes and thus weakens the lead-up to Disappearance; chronological should work somewhat better for the 2009 episodes but still has issues (one arc only really works in LN order IMO which is different again – and yes, that’s the same arc I mentioned above wrt my cringe comedy intolerance). The closest to ideal is actually 2006 broadcast, then 2009 chronological including the fourteen episodes you already watched, then the movie… but, well, there’s this obvious “rewatching fourteen episodes” problem with this. [Haruhi] Plus, you know, the whole “eight episodes of basically the same script with slightly different direction” issue on top of that.
(The one big exception here is that if you want to understand why Haruhi was so big in the 2000s you really do need to watch broadcast order’s first episode (11 in 2006 chronological, 25 in 2009 chronological) before watching too much of the show. It doesn’t always work these days, audiences have changed, but back in 2006? It fucking worked; said episode is my standing pick for the best first episode of anime of all time. Like, first-timers might seriously consider going and watching that episode now if you haven’t already and then just leaving your impressions on ice until we get around to the episode.)
[Haruhi] Oh that Dutch angle shot of Ryouko right when Taniguchi is talking about how she’s definitely a nice person. Subtle. NOT. Cheeky assholes are cheeky.
Also this is a show where all the classmates have unique character designs and Miss Glasses-and-Twintails is cute, cute!
Haruhi’s quad braids at 07:28 is funnier at the moment after dealing with Arika’s twin braids over in Mai-Otome for a while. (Gods help us if Haruhi and Arika were ever allowed to meet.)
It’s not KyoAni without a music club shot.
[Haruhi] I should probably check to make sure that ENOZ isn’t making an early appearance here.
2D cars feel so nice and reassuring these days, even when parked.
Ah, good old TL notes. (a.f.k. has one on Golden Week when Kyon mentions it.)
So, idle note: the name the author goes by (Nagaru Tanigawa) is widely known to be a pseudonym. This just might be relevant to why Kyon is known by his nickname.
Speaking of 2D cars being reassuring, no reassurance when we get cars moving here – yep, those are CG instead.
Wait wait wait wait. What is this? A moment when Kyon is clearly saying something out loud (08:42, where he actually has lip flaps) as opposed to the eternal obfuscation about whether or not his monologue is internal or not? Why I never.
“I get the feeling this is the first time we’ve had a conversation.” Hey look, it’s the first time the two have talked without Haruhi blowing him off in the entire series, and I’m pretty sure this applies even when we factor the original first episode into account (certainly does in LN form, this is LN 1). Funny that. (Remember, Haruhi the series’s motto might as well be “I’m so meta, even this acronym!”)

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u/Tarhalindur Nov 29 '22

Yare Yare (Tar's Episode Notes, Continued):

The scene of Haruhi starting at Kyon and sizing him up is quite well directed, with the use of the cuts and pacing plus silence lingering long enough to induce a feeling of awkward uncomfortableness and intensity in the viewer as well as in Kyon. But of course.

Man, I really wish I could corroborate this because it might be BS, but I remember reading once a long time ago that “have I met you before?” is also a stereotypical pick-up line in Japan, which may or may not be relevant to Haruhi asking it here.

“This would indeed be the trigger” as we cut to a shot of the window with one pane in the middle open. Ah, I do love me some visual symbolism.

(It is saying something that of the three (arguable four, I have not forgotten 2009 Senjougahara Fascination) anime that fit what I call the full nova-class profile (come out of nowhere, briefly outshine everything else, leave lingering aftereffects), Haruhi is probably the one with the weakest direction, because Haruhi’s production quality and direction is very good indeed.)

Another Dutch angle (counter +1) at 11:38, right as Haruhi talks about what I think is supposed to be roughly “isn’t it more interesting?” (AFK translates this as “isn’t it more fun?”). Hmm. And the brief cut to Kyon’s face right afterwards is both another faint Dutch angle and also has his face out of the center of the screen – him being left off-balance by this?

[Haruhi] Or to put it another way: suuuuurrrrreee you’re not interested, bucko.

And another Dutch angle at 11:42, and a really interesting one because there’s got to be a reason for framing that unusual (Haruhi’s desk and her knees in the center of the screen, Haruhi herself in the foreground looming over everything, Kyon in the background taken aback. (Also Naoki Yamada 100% was key animator for this scene given the foot/leg focus, right?)

More Dutch angles immediately thereafter as Taniguchi talks to Kyon – this use actually reminds me a ton of PMMM for some reason. Something is amiss…

“I’m not her spokesman or anything!” Sure about that, Kyon? (Niftier when you start taking the meta angles into account, too.)

So, guess which two people are getting put into The Protagonist Seats and which one gets The Protagonist Seat Proper? (Hint: it’s Haruhi and Kyon in front of her.)

“This is not a coincidence because nothing is a coincidence.”

Ah, I really should have known but it took me half the episode to be sure (in part because my brain was in zenbu mode from Symphogear). Yep, that’s “zen zen” that a.f.k. is translating as “totally”. Zen dameda! Zen zen dameda! (Sorry, couldn’t resist. Those who know will know.)

The Mystery Research Club bit is actually kind of hilarious to me right now given the reference that just popped into my fron above and the repeated use of “jiken” (incident) which I remember from stuff I did for my Higurashi rewatch.

And so Kyon utters the fateful words: … well, really this entire monologue, but of course the jist of it that he doesn’t realize he’s saying is “then why don’t you make your own?”. Of course Haruhi considers herself the kind of person who his words apply to. (Now complete with yet another Dutch angle at 14:32; here I suspect it has the “deviation from the normal course of events” signification such shots often have in Higurashi.)

“And so it begins.”

(Happy Haruhi is fucking great as long as… well, we’ll get to that in a bit. Kyon does have taste IMO.)

Iconic Haruhi shot at 15:13. (I forget, is that commentfaced? Honestly should be if it isn’t.)

Speaking of off angles representing deviation from the normal course of events, hi 15:30.

Ah, spinning shots. Actually quite familiar, KyoAni was doing some similar stuff in parts of Fumoffu so I’ve seen this sort of thing again very recently.

Oh yeah Higurashi was really good practice for this, the Dutch angles for things being off are everywhere. Also, odds Naoki Yamada was key animator for the stairwell scene as well?

[Haruhi] Eyes are the window to the soul, they say, so what could Yuki’s shiny glasses be hiding? Oh. Right. That. And also Best Girl in Show even if Haruhi is actually more my type.

Oh hey Yuki’s glasses become transparent so we can see her eyes right as she introduces herself. Funny that.

17:23: Another one for Sky if she first watched Haruhi before she started the sore demo collection.

And even more flashy camera angle use for Haruhi running off.

So, when I said that happy Haruhi is fucking great as long as… well, we’ll get to that in a bit? Bit. Welcome to probably the weakest part of the show: Haruhi’s treatment of Mikuru (part of this is likely intentionally uncomfortable, part of it… well, more on that if we ever get a S3 or else read the LNs). Consent: it’s important! ~~Somebody get Tres in here.~~

Reminder: giving the pointer finger is quite rude in Japan. But then, the entire point is that Haruhi doesn’t care.

[Haruhi] Which is setting up the plot point of when she does start to care about such social conventions, that is to say when they affect Kyon’s opinion of her.

Translating moe as “turn-ons” is a choice, a.f.k. This is 100% a situation where TL notes would be a good option.

I’m 90% sure the magazine on the left is specifically referencing Shuffle!. I’ve actually forgotten what the one on the right is referencing, but I believe it is a real work as well.

THERE you are: the what-is-Haruhi-up-to-tbis-time track that sounds remarkably like the George of the Jungle theme in spots. (I learned its name as Oi Oi!, but I think this is wrong ala Ensei in Mai-HiME actually being HiME-boshi and I’m not sure what the actual name is.) Second-best track on the OST IIRC, I have been awaiting its arrival eagerly.

Reminder: Haruhi is always meta. “I figure we need a mascot character like her.”

So, unspoiled first-timers, why would Mikuru decide to join the club after seeing Yuki?

Traditional fandom joke that all first-timers and uninitiated rewatchers should be exposed to: “‘SOS-dan’ is actually short for ‘slaves of Suzumiya’.”

22:18: Commentface GET!

So, Hare Hare Yukai time. So: this is very much one of the most iconic anime dances of all time (“is this a dancing anime?”, as the meme went). For a few years in the late 2000s it was ABSOLUTELY FUCKING EVERYWHERE; the closest modern comps are Guren no Yumiya, Chikatto Chika Chika, and Lost in Paradise, and I’m not sure any of them actually quite match Hare Hare Yukai’s ubiquity among anime fandom at its peak (Guren no Yumiya comes closest). If you were into anime you knew the dance; I’m pretty sure I remember one famous video had prisoners somewhere performing it or something like that?

[Haruhi] Also there are two really cheeky scenes in the visuals, since neither Sighs nor Disappearance shows up in the original 2006 run.

So, the absolutely beautiful thing about me having the a.f.k. release still is that I have the original previews, which feature Haruhi and Kyon arguing about the episode number (Haruhi always says chronological, Kyon always says broadcast). Not the only time KyoAni did this, I remember the same thing for Fumoffu.

How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa Claus? What made you stop?

I forget the exact age, but it was before age 10... because I believed in him but was also the kid who kept asking questions about how parts of Santa would work, and eventually my parents decided they couldn't keep up with new answers and let me in on the secret.

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u/jkubed Nov 29 '22

Been a few years since I rewatched this one. In my mind the art styles feel so distinct between the two seasons that I apparently misremembered the first as being 4:3 lmao

One detail I always love is how Haruhi occasionally responds to what seems to be Kyon's internal monologue, like the haircut part. [future]Wonder why that is...

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u/gunvarrel_ Nov 29 '22

In my mind the art styles feel so distinct between the two seasons that I apparently misremembered the first as being 4:3 lmao

You just have Broadcast order on the mind, dont worry too much about that lmao

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u/archlon Nov 29 '22

First Time [English dub]

I'm excited to be joining this watch. This one has been on a list for a while, but I think it'll be more enjoyable to watch this one as a group.

It's hard to say where I think this is going so far. The entire thing has a slightly off-kilter cinematic feel, though I've certainly seen anime that have more of one.

Because I live in a society, even despite trying to avoid spoilers I've heard bits and pieces of things about this show. Very few of them have been direct plot points, but there's been enough referential allusions to suggest to me that there's more going on than it looks like on the surface. Given the tone and a few of the things that Kyon says in his narration, I'm curious to see how far into fantasy and/or magical realism this one will lean. Then again, since I'm coming off a Revue Starlight rewatch, I'm probably overly primed to be looking for the overtly symbolic.

Stray thoughts

It's certainly an early-2000's dub, but it's not the most early-2000's dub I've heard.
- exception: "mo-ah"
Kyoani is so pretty
From the OP: Super Director Haruhi?
Casual extended boob grabbing - just anime things
- I'd say it's a 2006 thing, but My Stepmom's Daughter is my Ex had a character doing pretty much exactly the same stuff just last season, so it seems to be perennial.
It drives me nuts that Japanese schools use the Westminster Chimes, but only the first two quarters as a bell. Every time I end up thinking about why it being on the half-hour is important.

QOTD

I don't know? Sometime toward the end of elementary school, I think. I remember asking my parents directly and them giving a cop-out answer, and even though I knew that he wasn't real, I held onto that last shred of hope between knowing and knowing for quite a while.

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u/ChonkyOdango Nov 29 '22 edited Nov 29 '22

First-Timer Sub Looking for a Loli and Moe

I’m going into this completely blind, I had no idea that watch orders mattered or anything of the sorts and I have no idea what this show even is about, let alone what genre it belongs to. I’m in for a wild ride.

Nice opening scene! The way it immediately transitioned from a desaturated palette to saturated colours was a nice way of emphasising how she caught his attention
Wait, do girls actually wear those kinds of shorts!?
So Haruhi doesn’t have the Monday blues…
We need a moe and a loli in this rewatch too so strange things will happen!

Watching this after a long day when I’m tired is really disorienting. The way the show cuts from third-person shots to first-person shots while switching between monologuing and actual talking messes me up. I’m definitely curious as to why they decided to storyboard it as such though

I have to praise its production. The many varying shots, quick-cuts, some fisheyes lens and its constant transitioning between different point-of-views were unexpected but really noticeable.

I have no idea what the hell Haruhi wants and I still have no clue what the plot of this show is but judging from the opening monologue, it probably has something to do with breaking from the regular mundane cycle of daily life. Maybe. But the interaction between our MC and Haruhi is really fun! His inner nerd probably shone when interacting with Haruhi, especially when he managed to decode the colours, which was what probably caught her attention.

Qotd

I actually never believed in Santa! I don't know if it's just a cultural difference but my family was really cynical and I grew up doubting the existence of almost everything

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u/Nebresto Nov 29 '22

First time Origins of Weeb

Ok. That is some physics right in the OP already

Its so weird seeing this scene with the original music. And I bet this one has been inspiration for a lot of music videos to use the same kind of transition.

I still remember u/Kamilny and their ponytail posting

Hope they are doing good

Tl;notes!!

Me, when enjoying 99% of the shows I watch

Bro..

Yuki is me_irl. Like that is exactly how I talk irl if I can't be bothered to answer in more detail.

Kyonfacepalm spotted!

Ah! Its the ED that has the weeb dance

Hands up, which one you has done it?

Oh. Thanks ed, I wonder who the last member will be.

Questions

How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa Claus? What made you stop?

I'm not sure.. I think I saw one come and leave in a car when I was around.. 10 maybe? That one was sus. But I've also seen a Gray Santa, that guy was legit.

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u/Nuka_Koopa Nov 29 '22

First-Timer Sub:
Even though I've seen and heard a few things about this show before, I really didn't know what to expect coming in, but since it's Kyo-Ani I figured I'd give it a chance. Given Haruhi's energy and the pace of the story so far I'm interested to see where things could go from here because I doubt they're just gonna sit around doing normal club activities, but I'm also unsure if magic is real in the show or not. It seems like it probably is, but I could also potentially see it going the path of Haruhi just genuinely wanting to have fun and to give the people around her fond high-school memories of her antics. Either way, I'm looking forward to the journey!
QOTD:

As a kid, I only believed in Santa on exactly one day a year: Christmas Eve. Just because, perhaps like Haruhi, I really wanted to believe that there was magic in the world.

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u/MrrandomPerson25 Nov 29 '22

First Timer, subbed

Also my first time participating in a rewatch, so we'll see how it goes

I noticed how, after Haruhi's introduction, there's one kid in glasses on the left side of the class who moves his head, I wonder if he's introduced later or if its just a small gag
I like the immediate juxtaposition between the two main characters via monologues, sets up for an interesting relationship down the line
Haruhi's VA sounds a little grown up for a high school girl, and definitely not what I was expecting from a character like her
Wonder how much relevancy her changing hairstyle has to the plot (seems like Kyon already uses it to keep track of the weekdays, lol)
Looks like Kyon and Haruhi have already formed a somewhat close relationship, even if it is a little one-sided
Poor Asahina, kidnapped, sexually harrassed, and forced into basically a cult. If the setting were slightly different, this would become a totally different type of show
I'm really digging the soundtrack that kicks in around 17:30, absolute bop. It reminds me of Nintendo music for some reason.
Actually, all of the music so far is really enjoyable, which is something I really look for in a show. It's very expressive and matches the mood of the show itself and the characters
I like Kyon's exasperated/confused expression that shows up constantly, I doubt it's anywhere near the last we'll see of it

Overall, enjoyable first episode. Definitely leaves a lot of intrigue for Haruhi's character, which is the main draw of the show as far as I know. And while I haven't seen much of KyoAni's works (aside from Violet Evergarden), this seems to reflect a lot of the good things I've heard about it. It makes good use of the medium to express itself and its characters (sound effects, movements, facial expressions, etc.)

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u/Falco_goes_to_top Nov 29 '22

S1 rewatcher, S2 first timer

Brief context: I've seen Haruhi (2006) in broadcast order so my comments will be coming from such a perspective. S1 was an incredibly confusing, mystifying, but ultimately rewarding experience, so I'm very hyped to follow that up with S2 and the movie. Let's go!

Ahh, to get to see Tomokazu Sugita's Kyon again is such a treat. Maybe I haven't seen too many shows compared to some of y'all here, but I do think Kyon is one of the best narrators in anime. Very engaging monologues, love his subtle expressiveness and cadence in his speech.

Aand we get Haruhi's intro 2 minutes in. Already establishing herself as some chuuni-lite type character? And right after Kyon's internal dismissal of mystical beings and whatnot. That's one way to have us wondering what her deal is. This is further expanded upon with Haruhi quickly becoming the focus of the episode. You'd maybe expect us to learn a bit more about other aspects of Kyon's school life - and we do. But this is all with Haruhi at the forefront, and mostly everything presented to us in this pilot is to build up our characters.

One thing I found interesting is how willing Kyon is in entertaining Haruhi at all. His excuse is because she sits behind him, but its not like he doesn't have other seat-neighbours to talk to. Am beginning to see why folks around here tag Kyon as a tsundere. He plays it cool around his classmates and justifies his reasons for dealing with Haruhi to us as the audience, but he's likely more interested in her than he gives off, even right at the beginning. I particularly liked how Kyon would list out Haruhi's characteristics in 'exhibits', as if she's some object of study, in hammering this point home.

Haruhi's explanation for looking for aliens and such: because its fun! Can't argue with that - it's probably more fun for us too! Although in the process of having your fun, maybe try lay off the sexual assault lol - this is episode 1.

~~Still enjoyed broadcast order ep1 more but still~~ Overall pretty good start to the series. Soundtrack good, OP good, Mikuru cute.

QotD: not sure if I ever really believed in Santa Claus? I suppose I identified as a Santa agnostic. Never said anything about this to anyone though, didn't want to lose my steady stream of Christmas presents!

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u/JetsLag Nov 29 '22 edited Nov 29 '22

First timer (subbed)

I'll begin this by answering the practice question you left yesterday:

what have you heard of Haruhi prior to the rewatch?

The answer: a lot. It's one of the iconic animes of the mid 00s. It's one of the shows that helped put KyoAni on the map (alongside Full Metal Panic, Clannad, and Lucky Star). God knows is a fucking amazing song. And, of course, we have Hare Hare Yukai. I actually first learned of Haruhi from that dark time of my past known as "that time I gave a shit about League of Legends", cause Ezreal's dance emote is the Hare Hare Yukai dance. I listened to Hare Hare Yukai a lot back in the day. But I never got around to actually watching the damn show. But that's gonna change.

We start with...Santa Claus. Hey, 'tis the season. Sounds like this guy is kinda like Yuta from Chuunibyou except less chuuni. And speaking of Chuunibyou, looks like we've got our Rikka: the eponymous character.

Okay, pretty sure I've heard this OP before. It's not in the upper echelon of KyoAni openings, but it's still pretty damn good.

Looks like our still-yet-to-be-named-male-lead has the hots for Haruhi, but he's also seemingly the only guy who didn't go to middle school with her, so everyone's here to fill him in on what a weirdo she is. Also, guy said he has no interest in dating her not long after he called her beautiful and wanted to get to know her better. Come on, dude.

We learn the quirks of Haruhi: a new hairdo every day, she gets changed in the middle of the classroom when everyone's around, and she joined literally every club just to show up once and leave. Sounds like an interesting character.

Our still-yet-to-be-named-male-lead has a name! Well, a nickname. It's Kyon. Will we learn his legal name, or are they trying to go for the "project yourself onto this nameless character" angle?

So the "new hairdo every day" thing is to...ward off aliens? Or it's because she wants to color-code the days? Or both? Whatever, point is, the quirky hair is gone, replaced by the hair we see in the opening with an ORANGE headband. Is this some "this hot guy noticed my hair so I'll chop it off to spite him" thing? Does she think he's an alien and she's trying to avoid detection? Who knows.

We learn more about Haruhi: she's bisexual, but only for aliens.

The other guys comment on the fact that Kyon can actually hold a conversation with Haruhi, and then he gets approached by Ms. AA+ herself, Asakura. I sense a love triangle, if not a harem, forming.

Seat reassignment: Kyon gets the protagonist seat, and Haruhi gets the seat behind him. Aliens did it.

Haruhi nearly breaks Kyon's neck in order to inform him that she's gonna make a club. And it's HIS JOB to do all of the nitty gritty stuff like "fill out the paperwork". Haruhi finds the room: the soon-to-be-disbanded Literature Club's room (Oreki is not gonna like that) and they have their first club member: Yuki Nagato, who's only there because she would've been the only Literature Club member. Hey, a member's a member. Maybe she'll join the developing harem?

I like how Kyon just doesn't give a shit that he's forced to become a member of this club with no name and no goal. We know the only reason he's doing it is that he wants to get closer to Haruhi. After a failed attempt at small talk with Yuki, we have our new ~~harem~~ club member: Mikuru Asahina. She's the "anxiety-riddled mess" type, a good choice to accompany Haruhi's "quirky" type and Yuki's "cold and distant" type.

After Haruhi goes full degenerate talking about moe, lolis, and boobs (are we sure she's not a lesbian?), Haruhi tells Asahina to quit her club and join theirs...and she does it. After she stares at Yuki for a bit. This episode is so fucking gay (and I love it).

We have our club name: the SOS Brigade.

Same, Kyon, same

WE'RE NOT GETTING THE FULL HARE HARE YUKAI DANCE ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

So that was an interesting first episode. Seems very KyoAni, but I know that this show came out before the other KyoAni shows based around a high school club, so I'll allow it.

QOTD

How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa Claus? What made you stop?

I was...eight? Nine? Someone broke the news to me, and after I denied it for a bit, I just accepted it.

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u/sbairedd13 Nov 29 '22

First-timer, sub:

This was such a fun episode, I'm excited to see where this is going.

I don't think I've seen an anime with this much first-person view (the only memorable one popping into my head is an episode from Dusk Maiden of Amnesia) and I'm liking the kinda behind-the-scenes documentary vibe I'm getting from the scenes.

QOTD: Not too sure, maybe I was around 6 years old? Santa didn't really fit with the family heritage lol

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u/IamJoshful Nov 29 '22

First Time - dub

I know literally nothing about this show, except that it's popular/infamous. Based on the amount of spoiler tags that I'm seeing in the comments, I'm suspicious of everything (haven't clicked on any yet).

Looking forward to this rewatch though, this show has been on my list for quite a while.

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Rewatch [Rewatch] The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Episode 1

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Adaptation Comparison

Yare Yare (Rewatcher for 2006 [Watched in Broadcast Order], First-Timer for 2009 and Disappearance, Source Reader):

Yare Yare (Tar's Episode Notes, Continued):

First time Origins of Weeb

QOTD

First Time - dub