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stimmypaw · 3 years

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stimmypaw reads the apprentice’s quest, a blog post

A big one, just a bunch of thoughts as I’m reading it, of course, lots of spoilers for the first book in the Warrior Cats series A Vision of Shadows. This will be covering just the first book tho, it’s all in the Read More, let’s gooooooo!!!!

Vision Of Shadows time

Lots of new cats!!! I don't remember these guys as kits or anything wrow!!! I like their names but itll take a while to get used to them

Also cant believe they printed stormcloud's dead name

Omg there's a cat named beepaw

I love these cats all of them so much im going 2 cry

All new names are perfect

I FORGOT HOW GORGEOUS THE CAT VIEW IN THE RECENT BOOKS WAS, LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT

I'm glad leafpool smokes weed

I love reading from Jayfeather's point of view, his grumpiness hasn't grown on me ever but thats just me, I still enjoy it lots he's great and its fun

Firestar and Leopardstar's characterizations are On Point i love it

OOF i feel so bad when jayfeather is mean to others, poor kestrelflight, I love those two

Lovely Jayfeather moments now its time for the first chapter

I like this duo! Also I didn't think I'd ever say this but shut up squirrelflight one can have fun AND learn with their mentors

Sparkkit sounds nice she makes jingling bell noises when she walks around

Alderkit is chadphobic /j

I can see Alderkit taking deep breaths to relax its rotating in my mind its beautiful

God this first chapter feels so good and comfortable, like eating noodles and chicken nuggets. I am so so deeply in love with it, its gorgeous!

Sparkkit is so perfect too, and Graystripe remembering Firestar aaaaaa

DUSTPELT SAID WHAT? PHDHAHAHHA OH NOOOO I don't remember their relationship much, must have been fun, I love young little creature squirrelflight I MISSED HER SO BAD WOW

I started reading the second chapter and died, I think ill take a break now 2 sleep heehhee

I love them describing twoleg stuff its always so fun and alien, like watching an animal planet show about funny sea creatures.

Also I have determined sparkpaw is my favorite, might be my favorite cat ever next to hollyleaf??? I really identify with her and also she's autistic i have decided that

Alderpaw baby noooo hhhh their mentor at least is trying to show its okay, he seems very emotionally distant so far and alderheart feels very emotionally needy, actually both of them do, did I mention I love Sparkpaw??? I might be imprinting myself 2 much on her

I love how like, its clear both of them are absolutely anxious and worried about others opinions on them, which is clearly something they got from being Firestar's grandkids, deputy kids and leader kids. And bramblestar too, I recall him being quite the anxious lad ahhah. Sparkpaw will be showing confidence and being loud but the second anyone isn't approving of her or she does something "wrong" she gets small and quiet, and she ended up setting a high bar for herself by being good at hunting and fighting so I'm curious to see how that will go. Also there's nothing wrong with being guided through a crowded place to meet others Sparkpaw!!! I bet the two of them would be stuck without not knowing how to talk to others had Needlepaw not shown up. I love them, my gf is mocking me saying I'm a Sparkpaw kinnie.

Apprentices will like learn about a thing and tell everyone about it all the time and assume its always true in every situation and thats valid I love kids like that. Also in my head Needlepaw kinda looks like a porcupine. Oh boo she's fatphobic >:(

I love apprentices they are so fun and silly, just making fun of the leaders like its nothing. The way they are clearly learning and absorving everything their warriors say and do like sponges its just ***chefs kiss***

Omg shadowclan is just full of 12 year olds help

And then the old person said "it sure is hard being old!" And everyone clapped

Shout-out to pretty Riverclan apprentice #481977 I love her

Leafpool: 👁👁

Alderpaw: I knew it im cursed and awful and terrible and I will never amount to anything

I wish the cats didn't seem to be giving up on him so easily though

Ah yes the classic thunderclan move "you suck, into the medicine hole you go"

The way sparkpaw changes the things she says and how she does when it isn't the status quo around her oooooooooooooyeaaaaaaa I love 1 autistic cat

Alderpaw considering your problems lesser than other cats won't help you deal with them better bro

I love Needlepaw's excitement about Alderpaw being a medicine cat apprentice, and her sarcasm, she feels like a preppy teenager

Ahhh this is so good, I am so thirsty for family moments like this, just Alderpaw bonding with grandma, I’ll definitely want to draw this one it’s so sweet.

Oh to be young and silly.

I really am enjoying like, Alderpaw’s struggles to seeing how he fits in the clan, how he fits in himself, how he wants to be seen and what he wants to be, it’s really good. I Am Engaged(tm) With This Plot.

SPARKPAW NOOOOOOO but also Yes I want her to be shown vulnerable and weak please

POP, god watching this stuff always awful, the cats must have thought he broke her ahahah

Also, really great that they learned from Dovewing and now like leave choices and discussions about prophecies between adults

And plus Brambles seemed to take the time to explain stuff to him, seems he wont be going alone either the 1 thing is that he will be the only one knowing what the journey is really about, why though??? I didnt read Firestar's Quest or whatever why does Skyclan need to be secret??? Seems quite silly really!

YESSSS SANDSTORM GET HIS ASS FIGHT FIGHT LOVE THIS LOVE SANDSTORM

I could feel squirrelflight nearing explosion here, this was very fun, i wish they werent hiding this though!!!

The secret thing is showing to be a plot point so I am once again Very Engaged

Also, wonderful dialogue bit, someone asked Bramblestar why an Elder is going and:

Lovely perfect perfect

I miss you dovewing

SQUIRRELFLIGHT LOVE YOU

Oh boy this is it

Traveling book moment

Graystripe: Soooo you're excited to go on the journey to the old territories and Skyclan?

Sandstorm: Yes! It's been ages and-

Graystripe: I'm sure the tribe will love the visit too

Sandstorm, groaning: Oh noooo I forgot about how the tribe is in the way of every journeyyyyy noooooo they're such a racist caricature, please tell me you have a plan

Graystripe: Yes don't worry about it the writers forgot about the tribe in my comic book so you can just use the excuses i did to actively avoid it

Sandstorm: Oh thank Starclan

Sparkpaw's desperation to prove herself oof, her anxiety with understanding the prophecy, oh boy, and Alderpaw feeling too overwhelmed by the questions and not managing to talk!!!! I am so glad they are both autistic

Hoping "Being Leader" wont mean theyre putting nonsense responsibility on the apprentice again

Ah good Sandstorm is on the lead again, as she should, she should have been leader she would have been great

I can't believe Alderpaw thinks I look stupid and diseased :( /j

Everything about this twoleg scene was scandalous I loved it, Sparkpaw just toppled over a trash bag and they are eating from it, iconic, also did those twolegs throw out a whole turkey? Damn

Its not that Sparkpaw is freakishly good at hunting she is very hungry and constantly on the watch for things to eat

BRO Ive never been in a road where the drivers are this wild, throwing bottles out of the car????? Ive seen Fruit being thrown like once or twice, what the fuck!!! I'm glad they are going to wait until the morning to continue

Okay I was not expecting Needlepaw to show up this girl is chaotic I love her

ACTUALLY YEAH WHY DIDNT THEY TELL THE OTHER CLANS ABOUT THIS SINCE THE PROPHECY IS ABOUT ALL THE CLANS???

Needlepaw is like Rono from Bambi 2 if he wasnt a mean bully and thats very epic

Very curious character though, how come her mentor isnt teaching her the warrior code properly? Is that an issue with all apprentices?? Is the clan overwhelmed by 12 year olds and they won?

Having lots of fun trying to play the game "what animal are they describing this time" the erins made here, im glad they're in a farm. Worried about Sandstorm though :c

Fuck im worried about sandstorm a lot, her wound hurt on Me

Yeah water is good youre right sandstorm

Aw man I hope she's okay let her at least survive to meet skyclan please

NOOOOOOOO SANDSTORMA A AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Sandtteooonrjrbbbmmnnnnnnnnnn

I am so sad

Alderpaw denying it, Starclan shining upon their vigil, everything crushed me i cried

Alderpaw considers Nihilism

Haven't seen a cat thank starclan for prey in a while its

Oh look they time skipped a journey! They don't tend to do that thats nice

I'm so excited to be meeting The Skyclan that everyone in the fandom knows now

So far they seem kinda mean but thats most clans at first glance really

Okay somethings up

I uh have heard of Darktail pretty sure he's a bad guy so yeah something really bad happened to Skyclan

Am worried

Darktail sounds like an evil himbo* i may be enjoying him actually

*himbos are usually nice by default so he's just evil and stupid and strong

Does needletail know these cats already?????

Shit

Oh okay fuck

I've been quietly reading the rest because I am just concerned and I want them to be okay as quickly as possible

Waterfalls are a classic nice

Oh boy time for our unlikely duo of Alderpaw and Needlepaw to get out of a Mess!

I did not expect this to end up with the two of them journeying into parenthood, but I'm happy it did

Well actually I'm very unhappy theyre so lost and there's no sign of Skyclan I am very worried for everyone involved Sparkpaw must be feeling awful!

Twigkit is a great name

Yeah this ended terribly

Overall! Frigging loved it this book was GOOD and a great start for the series I am very excited to read the rest, SO WORRIED ABOUT SKYCLAN THO AAAA the characterizations were great the characters were great the pacing was fun and I didn't get bored once!

I think o only wish I had read this sooner really so I could look up others thoughts without getting heavily spoiled about the last books, I can watch a few videos already though thats a start ahhaha. But yeah it was great and it felt very good to read, haven't swallowed up a book so quickly in a very long time!!! Very happy I finally got my hands on this 💕💖💕💖💕💖 cant wait 2 start the next one

If you read all this, hope you had fun hahaha, ill be making more of these cus theyre fun and I like talking about warrior cats thats just my thing

Til next time

#wc #the apprentice's quest #warrior cats #a vision of shadows #avos #warrior cats avos #avos wc #wc avos #avos warrior cats #warrior cats a vision of shadows #alderpaw #needlepaw #sparkpaw #violetkit #twigkit

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thisizaraisu · 4 years

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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: A Tale of Two Seasons

Welp, here it is. The last post I’m going to make in regards to the Haruhi series. And it’s gonna be a LONG one, so be ready for some reading.

Looking back on my reviews of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, I feel like I may have been a bit harsh in what I had to say. I mostly attribute this to recency bias, however. As I’ve said, the second season of Haruhi is one of the worst anime I’ve ever watched, to the point where at the time of my initial reviews, I had forgotten what I enjoyed about the first season. So I wanted to both seasons justice by reviewing them separately and drawing comparisons and contrasts between them.

The thing about The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is that I went into the series totally blind. The little knowledge I had of the series was gained from Lucky Star’s frequent references and parodies, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Having watched Lucky Star and Nichijou before this one, comedic high school slice-of-life series both made by KyoAni, I expected Haruhi to follow suit. What I ended up seeing was beyond anything I could have anticipated. Aliens, time travelers, ESPers, and just a ton of bizarre happenings were not what I expected from this series. And at first I was totally on board with the premise, but later episodes ended up making the premise the source of all of the show’s flaws.

I’m going to go episode-by-episode, in Funimation order, to outline just how drastic the show’s nosedive in quality really is.

Season 1

The first six episodes are all titled, rather conveniently, “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.” Once again this gave me no indicator of what I could expect from the series. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya I follows this pattern well by taking the form of a standard slice-of-life pilot. Everything starts off incredibly tame, with Haruhi’s character summed up as a beautiful, eccentric high school girl. The SOS Brigade is formed with three characters of distinct personalities, Kyon, Yuki Nagato and Mikuru Asahina, personally recruited by Haruhi. Outside of the blatant sexual harassment Haruhi inflicts upon Mikuru, which is honestly one of the funniest moments in the series, everything feels completely standard.

It’s the ending of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya II where the true premise begins to show itself. Again, outside of Mikuru being harassed, both to get a computer for the clubroom and advertise the SOS Brigade in a bunny girl costume, it’s just normal slice-of-life pacing and dialogue. It was around this point that I wondered why this show was so iconic, and what set it apart from other slice-of-life series.

Then Yuki tells Kyon that she’s an alien.

All of a sudden, you’re thrown back to episode 1 where Haruhi expressed her desire to interact with aliens, time travelers and ESPers, and the pieces start falling into place. Yuki, Mikuru and Koizumi all have different perspectives on the function that Haruhi serves, but you know one thing for sure: Haruhi is not an ordinary human being. As much as things were beginning to click, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III was still rather... boring. It’s mainly just a lot of expository dialogue of the three outsiders explaining why they’re actually in the SOS Brigade: to observe Haruhi Suzumiya. As interesting as the premise was at the time, the show itself just didn’t feel like a lot of fun to watch, and I was honestly tempted to back out if the fourth episode didn’t do something interesting.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya IV responded to my concern by being one of the best episodes in the entire series.

Ryoko Asakura, the most popular member of Kyon and Haruhi’s class, is actually an alien interface who was sent to earth with Yuki who becomes hellbent on killing Kyon to elicit a reaction out of Haruhi. The first three episodes were rather boring but this one did a complete 180 in creating what’s honestly one of the best fight scenes I’ve ever seen in an anime. This whole scene got me for two reasons: first is the fact that Asakura contrasts the main cast entirely by being set up as a completely normal high school student. People know who she is, she’s sociable, and she shows concern for students aside from Haruhi. One minute later she pulls out a knife and tries to slit Kyon’s throat. It’s just a total trip. The second reason is that in a lot of fight scenes, we have a general idea of the characters’ powers. That’s something that Haruhi doesn’t take any time to set up, so every move that Asakura and Yuki make is a complete surprise. Yuki being stabbed with six metal spikes, then casually removing one from her chest before deleting Asakura from existence can’t be described as anything but a badass sequence. It was this point where I was absolutely all-in on finishing the show. It felt incredibly satisfying to get through the exposition to see something like this go down.

A quick side note I should have mentioned in my review of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, it’s absolutely strange seeing Asakura NOT trying to kill Kyon for the entirety of the series.

So I ventured on to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya V, and the series continued this level of insane but good quality for a while. What was really interesting about this episode and Haruhi’s quest to find out what actually happened to Asakura is the fact that we already know what happened. As a result, instead of focusing on the mystery element we get to focus on the solid character development that this episode provides. Haruhi’s tenacious nature is in full display as she is determined to find the answers she’s looking for. That and the segment where she tells Kyon about her childhood is the most genuine and heartfelt moment we get from Haruhi in the entire show.

After this great 11 minutes of character building, we get to learn all about closed-space, something that’s incredibly important to the rest of the series (and eventually becomes a big reason that the show goes south). As Koizumi takes Kyon to a closed-space, we get to see the extent of Haruhi’s unconscious power, and how the fate of the world is entirely reliant on Haruhi’s emotions. This becomes a HUGE problem later, but season 1 utilizes this concept very well. While the SOS Brigade still has to submit to Haruhi’s frequent demands, they aren’t nearly as toxic as what’s to come.

Closed-space immediately makes its presence felt in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya VI, where one of Haruhi’s dreams traps her and Kyon in a hellworld of her own unconscious creation. This is the episode that was really able to elicit emotion from me. The conflicting views between Kyon and Haruhi, the former wishing to return to the world they know and the latter being elated at the change of scenery, creates a very tense situation, especially with the knowledge that Haruhi is ultimately the one in control of this closed-space. Tied in with Haruhi’s monologue in the previous episode, you completely understand where Haruhi is coming from while also knowing that this can’t be where she spends the rest of her life. I’m going to go against what might be the common opinion and say it’s not entirely selfish for her to take the opportunity for a new, interesting life that’s opened up in front of her.

Unfortunately, all of this good setup leads to a rather disappointing ending to the episode. Did I enjoy the kiss scene? Yes. What disappointed me was the dialogue that led to it. I wanna do a quick experiment here: I’m going to show two short moments of dialogue, and if you haven’t seen the show before I want you to guess which one was in the actual show and which one was in an abridged series called Haroohee.

Option 1:

Haruhi: Aren’t you sick of living the same life day in and day out, in a world with nothing to live for?

Kyon: You know... for a while, I thought the same thing. No matter how hard I try to convince myself otherwise, I just fall apart. But then I realized something: There really is no point to it all, baby! None of this matters! That’s why it’s up to us to make something worth living for. If there’s nothing interesting happening in the world, then we just have to make something interesting happen! *kiss*

Option 2:

Haruhi: What’s wrong?

Kyon: I’ve sorta got a thing for girls with ponytails.

Haruhi: What?

Kyon: I don’t remember when it was, but you had your hair in a ponytail and it looked so good on you, it was criminal.

Haruhi: Huh? What’re you, an idiot? *kiss*

Would you believe that option 2 was from the actual show? Yeah. This is the first moment in the show that left me with a real feeling of disappointment. Instead of saying something profound, Kyon merely rambles on about how badly he wanted to kiss Haruhi because she once had her hair in a ponytail. The scene that follows in which Haruhi wears her hair in a ponytail the next day is hilarious, but I was kind of disappointed to see an abridged series on YouTube do the dialogue for this scene much better than the original show.

Let’s move right along though, because that’s just one small moment in a very good overall episode.

As I’ve been watching anime more and more frequently, there are three types of episodes that I’ve considered “rite-of-passage” episodes for a slice-of-life anime. These would be baseball episodes, Christmas episodes, and beach episodes. The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya is the first of these types, and it’s probably one of the best baseball episodes I’ve seen aside from Ball Game Tournament Time from Assassination Classroom. This is the episode where it’s really shown how important it is for the main cast to keep Haruhi happy at all times. Closed-space can open up anywhere without warning if she feels displeasure, and the baseball game has much higher stakes than anyone could comprehend.

THIS IS THE PREMISE FOR THE REST OF THE SHOW, and ultimately, it becomes an issue. What makes the overall premise work in this episode, however, is that nobody is getting hurt. It’s an exhibition game of baseball, one that the opposing team’s coach is ultimately happy to lose because it provides his team with a much-needed reality check. Haruhi drops her team out of the tournament with a perfect record, and everybody wins in the end. This is how I WISH the rest of the show handled this premise, but that just doesn’t happen.

While Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody is often considered the Season 2 premiere, Funimation has it as episode 8 and it does make chronological sense so that’s also where I’m putting it. Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody is an episode that I can only describe as strange but heartwarming. This episode’s overall impact is much greater in hindsight after watching The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, where John Smith becomes an important name for Haruhi. In fact, this is one that I can’t say much about without mentioning the movie. It introduces the strange ways that time travel works in the Haruhi universe, and ultimately leaves these concepts in ambiguity until it becomes vital to the plot of the film.

Mysterique Sign kick-starts the overarching problem with the show’s premise, which is that Haruhi’s powers are capable of putting people in danger. Case in point, the president of the school’s computer club becomes trapped in a simulated desert, taking the form of a giant camel cricket which somehow has something to do with Haruhi’s design for the SOS Brigade logo. As confusing as that sentence was, it does mark what I would describe as the small beginning to the show’s sharp nosedive in quality.

My worries were temporarily put to rest with Remote Island Syndrome (which I falsely referred to as “Remote Island Mystery” in my previous reviews, sorry about that), a two-episode arc that shows the RIGHT way for the main cast to stave off Haruhi’s boredom. Rather than Yuki inadvertently trapping a student inside of a camel cricket in an effort to give Haruhi something to do, Koizumi sets up a fake murder mystery scenario at the mansion of a distant relative. It’s perfectly executed because Koizumi gives absolutely no indication that the whole ordeal is a set-up until the very end. It’s tense in the moment, funny in hindsight. Again, the direction I WISH the rest of the series had chosen to take.

But then we get into... *sigh*...

The Endless Eight

I want to make something perfectly clear: I don’t consider The Endless Eight to be part of Season 1 or Season 2. It’s a monster that falls into its own category. And I put myself through this trial so you hopefully don’t have to.

If you’re not already in the know, The Endless Eight is essentially the same episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya repeated eight times, with only different animation to separate them. Personally I chose to endure the experience so I didn’t find it infuriating, but I was bored out of my mind. I can’t imagine how people waiting for a new episode of the show felt for those eight weeks though.

I’ve already talked about The Endless Eight extensively in previous reviews, so I’m not going to discuss it too much here. Just know that this is the point that dramatically marks the series’ decline in quality.

You might not believe me when I say this, but it gets worse than the Endless Eight. MUCH worse.

Season 2

When I called Season 2 “the worst anime I’ve ever seen,” you may have expected me to be referring to the Endless Eight. In actuality, I was referring to The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, the arc that completely flips the moral implications of the show on its head.

To sum everything up so far, Haruhi is an unconscious god whose powers are capable of altering space-time. In spite of everything that’s happened so far, the SOS Brigade has done everything in their power to ensure the safety of the public, with only one person aside from them being affected by her powers, and this person was ultimately unscathed (Mysterique Sign). That’s all about to change because The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya is a direct outlet for Haruhi to do horrific shit and get away with it because upsetting her could put the fate of the entire world at risk.

THIS is what I mean when I say the premise becomes a huge problem. Prior to this arc, Haruhi’s eccentricities didn’t have much potential to harmfully impact those around her. Granted, closed-spaces have that potential but only if the giants destroy the entire space before action is taken. Nobody in the real world had been affected by closed-space to this point besides Kyon and Koizumi.

Ultimately, the fear of Haruhi creating more closed-space is what allows Haruhi to get away with everything I’m about to describe with no repercussions, something that still frustrates me.

The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya begins with Haruhi expressing her desire to create a film for the school’s cultural festival. Haruhi ultimately recruits the members of the SOS Brigade to star in the movie (except Kyon who performs manual labor), and negotiates with shop owners to get a free high-definition video camera and airsoft gun.

And we’re off to a pretty good start.

The first episode of this arc has a solid idea for a premise and plenty of comedy throughout. But in hindsight, there are a number of factors that spelled disaster for this arc. Namely the fact that Haruhi is obviously the director of the movie. Haruhi is incredibly self-entitled, but she has exercised some degree of restraint up to this point. This time around though, she’s fully determined to get the movie she wants with no script, regardless of how the other members of the SOS Brigade feel about the way they’re being treated.

In an ordinary set-up, the cast would ultimately get fed up with the director’s overbearing nature and abandon the project before the director embraces humility, apologizes, re-recruits everyone and gets the movie they want by treating their cast properly. It’s incredibly cliche but it’s a scenario that can be done well.

However, because of the ever-looming threat of closed-space, this scenario cannot happen. And this is the biggest problem.

The following events occur over the span of the SOS Brigade’s attempts at filming the movie: -Haruhi forcibly dresses Mikuru in her bunny girl costume and makes her advertise for the stores that provided her with the free camera and airsoft gun. She also forces Mikuru to dress in either the bunny girl costume or a much skimpier variant of her maid outfit for the entire duration of the movie and filming. This is the greatest degree of public humiliation Mikuru receives throughout the entire series. -Haruhi’s imagination lets Mikuru fire deadly laser beams out of her colored contact, nearly hitting Kyon and burning the palm of Yuki’s hand. -Haruhi forces the extras to throw Mikuru into a polluted lake several times to film a specific fight scene. And last but certainly not least... -Haruhi spikes Mikuru’s drink with alcohol in order to mellow her out for the filming of a romance scene between her and Koizumi.

SERIOUSLY. Having to sit and watch Mikuru endure all of this torture for the sake of an independent film is just an incredibly uncomfortable experience, to the point where I WANTED Kyon to hit Haruhi towards the end of The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya IV. There are so many things about this arc that get me, but the one that stands out the most is that it’s morally reprehensible. The main cast’s fear of Haruhi creating closed-space has completely taken the place of mystery in the show’s forefront, allowing her to get away with anything and everything, regardless of how it affects those that she calls friends. It’s to the point where the fear of closed-space not only prevents Kyon from giving Haruhi any repercussion that she deserves for her actions, but also forces him to make up with her the day after their dispute. In this arc of five 22-minute episodes, where the uncomfortable experience is incredibly drawn-out, it only takes five minutes of show time for Kyon to make up with Haruhi. THIS. IS. AWFUL. WRITING.

SPEAKING OF AWFUL WRITING, let’s talk about The Sigh of Mikuru Asahina. By far the worst episode of the series. The Endless Eight may have been eight episodes back-to-back, but at least the animation was different every time. The Sigh of Mikuru Asahina, on the other hand, is essentially just the movie that the SOS Brigade created. As a result it’s a lot of re-used animation and unfunny moments with a film-grain filter placed over it. It’s a filler episode to the absolute most extreme, and it’s so bad that it’s now only considered as a bonus episode of the show. Yes, it’s so bad that it couldn’t even join the likes of the Endless Eight.

Live Alive is an episode that exists. It’s basically just showing how the school’s cultural festival goes as Haruhi’s movie premieres in the film room, but it’s a premise that I’ve seen executed much better by shows like Lucky Star. God Knows is a bop but there’s nothing else really remarkable about it, good or bad. Also, this is just a nitpick but when you dub an anime, you should NEVER dub over songs. Those are in Japanese for good reason. And yes, I admit I watched the dub instead of the sub for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, I just think KyoAni’s dubs are better than their subs. Again, just a small nitpick though, it wouldn’t have been a complaint at all if I had watched the sub.

Fortunately the writers remembered how to make a good episode with The Day of Sagittarius, an episode that is considered part of Season 1 by everyone’s metric aside from Funimation’s, and for good reason. This episode shows Yuki at her most entertaining, as well as Haruhi at her least selfish and overbearing, as she allows Yuki to spend time with the school’s computer club in the end. I found this to be an absolutely perfect episode, and I consider it a “needle-in-the-haystack” moment as I had finally found an enjoyable viewing experience after suffering through the majority of Season 2. I’m just glad that The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya ended with a great episode reminiscent of Season 1...

Is what I would say if the Funimation order didn’t end with Someday in the Rain, another filler episode and probably the most boring of the bunch. There’s a scene that’s literally three minutes of Yuki reading in the clubroom, occasionally flipping pages as faint dialogue goes on in the background. This is the episode about nothing, and it is objectively the most boring that the series gets.

And that’s all 28 episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I’ve ragged on this show a lot in past reviews but I was definitely too generalizing about it, so I really wanted to break this show down into its parts and provide my opinions about all of them. This is just a very inconsistent show, and most of my generalized negative opinions about it were due to the recency bias of having watched the dumpster fire that was Season 2. I did greatly enjoy the first portion of the show though, as I also mentioned in past reviews. It’s just a shame that the premise disintegrated the way it did, ultimately creating the self-entitled fearmonger named Haruhi Suzumiya.

I’m done with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I’ll always have good and bad memories of the show, but I’m certainly done talking about it. This post took me over an hour to type out, so I really hope you understand where I’m coming from on this show. I know it’s one of the more iconic anime out there but from my own perspective I just can’t see this show as anything but a disappointment. It sets itself up so well only to tumble into its downward spiral, and the downward drop is especially steep given the order the episodes were presented to me.

Thanks for reading this humongous post, the Blend-S review should be happening soon. GlassCannon, out.

#anime #anime review #The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya #the disappearance of haruhi suzumiya

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