The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Complete Collection

Introduction

Here's a title that reviews itself, everyone's talking about it, or rather raving about it, and word of mouth has done far more than advertising or reviews could ever do. In a year of must-own anime, this is the must-own-est of the lot. Haruhi Suzumiya is one of those special series that come around once in a while, grab fandom by the scruff of the neck, and gives it a good shaking to knock all the detritus, clichés, and tropes that have become lodged in its collective brain, delivering a dose of something fresh, new and exciting. FLCL did it ten years ago, and Haruhi Suzumiya first made its impact in 2006 when it was released in Japan. Unlike FLCL though, it hasn't taken as long to get to the UK, and even now fan forums are buzzing with the impact this short, delightful series has made, conventions are filled with Haruhi fans, and if you get five of them together, you'll inevitably get a performance of the Haruhi dance. As well as bringing it over in a timely fashion, Beez are giving UK audiences the same full Haruhi treatment as US audiences got.


You get your basic vanilla discs, with the series and extra features, retailing at about £20 each, while for twice the price you have the Limited Edition releases. These have special packaging, bonus soundtrack CDs, bonus DVDs, and heaps of merchandising as well. They're the Holy Grail for a Haruhi fan, and even for a non-fan they are tempting in the sheer amount of love poured into them. I wasn't a fan, and £120 after the average discount is a little steep for a blind buy fourteen episode series. It would be the singles for me to try it all out first. Except I'm too much of a cheapskate even for that, especially when this summer, the region 1 Haruhi boxset came out. For the equivalent price of one of the UK singles, I can have all four of the US releases, which are identical except for region coding. If it was good enough, I could always go for the Limited Edition releases later, and although it isn't as cheap as watching them on TV first, or loathsome fansubs, it's still an economical way of trying before buying. Except damn! When they say Limited Edition, they aren't kidding, as the volume 1 LE is rapidly disappearing from retailers' shelves even as I type. By the time I finish the review, they'll all probably be sold out!


One of the peculiarities of the Japanese education system is the emphasis on extra-curricular activity. It's practically expected that students take part in some sort of interest outside of lessons, to foster individual or team development, and encourage initiative. The dropouts who go home at the end of the school day are the exception rather than the rule. It's a little factette worth noting when watching any anime set in a school environment, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in particular, as it focuses on a rather peculiar set of dropouts. The anime is based on a set of novels by Nagaru Tanigawa, and is told from the point of view of a boy starting High School. Kyon like many other young teens had a brief flirtation with the paranormal, the extra-terrestrial and the just plain weird, but now that he is starting high school he has put such juvenile pursuits behind him as he begins the road to adulthood. But then, on the first day of school he winds up sat in front of the class cutie, Haruhi Suzumiya, who promptly makes a statement when introducing herself, that unless they are aliens, espers or time travellers, that no one should bother her. The students who came up to high school with her tell Kyon that she has always been the eccentric, and that befriending her would take more energy than it is worth. She's obviously smart and capable, she winds up trying all the after school clubs, yet packs them in as a waste of time. Then Kyon, on his umpteenth attempt to make conversation tells a rather sullen and withdrawn Haruhi that she should just start her own club.


Suddenly she's energised and enthused, and Kyon has a new role in life, that of Haruhi's lackey. "The Spreading Excitement All Over the World with Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade" is born, the SOS Brigade for short, and they soon find a headquarters for the club. But school regulations state that an after school group needs a minimum of five members. Fortunately the clubroom comes with the sole member of the otherwise graduated Literature club, Yuki Nagato, a rather introverted girl who always has her nose in a book, and she gets co-opted by Haruhi as the first member of the Brigade. Next comes Mikuru Asahina, a timid young thing who's pleasing on the eye in Kyon's opinion, but who Haruhi sees as her personal plaything, ideal for advertising the Brigade by handing out leaflets in a bunny-girl outfit, until the teachers nix that idea. Of course the oddest students of all according to Haruhi are exchange students, with mysterious pasts and hidden abilities. The first such student that arrives at school gets press-ganged by Haruhi, and with Itsuki Koizumi, the Brigade has its mandatory five members. And so the search for weird phenomenon, time travellers, espers and aliens, begins, although the rational Kyon isn't expecting it to bear fruit. But no one in the SOS Brigade is exactly as they seem, and odd things start to happen around Haruhi Suzumiya.


The fourteen episodes of The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya are presented across 4 discs.

Disc 1

The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 1
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 2
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 3

Disc 2

The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 4
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 5
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 6
The Boredom Of Haruhi Suzumiya

Disc 3

Mysterique Sign
Remote Island Syndrome: Part 1
Remote Island Syndrome: Part 2

Disc 4

Live Alive
The Day Of Sagittarius
Someday In The Rain


That's the original production order by the way, and it's perfectly acceptable and even logical to watch the show that way. It's almost chronological, except the rather bizarre opener, The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina should slot in 11th in the running order to make it wholly systematic. But, do you remember those bonus DVDs in the LE collections I mentioned? They are the episodes repeated again in original broadcast order. The experience that viewers got when the episodes aired in Japan was wholly different from what you will get if you just watch the discs one after the other, the order of the episodes actually enhances the mystique and allure of the story, creating a fractured narrative somewhat akin to films like Pulp Fiction and Memento, and making it more of a puzzle to be solved. It draws the viewer in and gets questions asked and debate going. It's well worth watching the show this way, especially the first time out, and for lazy bones who find getting up and swapping DVDs tiresome, the three final limited edition sets have bonus DVDs that have the episodes in broadcast order, albeit in Japanese with subtitles only. For dub fans and owners of the standard discs, a regular commute to the DVD player is in order. For your reference, the original broadcast order is…


00. The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 1
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 2
The Boredom Of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 3
Remote Island Syndrome: Part 1
Mysterique Sign
Remote Island Syndrome: Part 2
Someday In The Rain
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 4
The Day Of Sagittarius
Live Alive
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 5
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya: Part 6

Picture

NTSC anime is a bit of a lottery for me. Naturally you have the decreased resolution of the format, but that is offset by clarity and smoothness of the animation, something that can be lost with standards conversion from NTSC to PAL. But a bad NTSC disc can suffer from interlacing problems, which can be exacerbated by playback on a PAL machine, and I'm quicker to notice a slight flicker in the image than I am a pitch alteration because of a PAL speedup in films.


Haruhi gets a gorgeous transfer, the sort that makes me ask why all anime isn't sold as NTSC in the UK? The image is crystal clear and pin sharp. The decreased resolution isn't at all apparent, and the only moment of artefacting is during a particularly cluttered moment during the opening sequence. The animation is smooth, as are any pans or scrolls. Haruhi is an excellent, high quality production, with vibrant, impressive animation, great character design, and a really high budget feel to proceedings. The world of Haruhi Suzumiya is warm and lush. There is golden glow to the anime that makes it a pleasant and inviting show to experience, and the attention to detail and little character nuances that show up make it a feast for the eyes. It's up there with Mushi-shi in terms of mood and ambience, but the quality of the transfer nudges it ahead in my opinion.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 5.1 and DD 2.0 English, as well as the original Japanese track, again in DD 2.0. Haruhi gets an excellent English dub, with the voice actors cast well for their roles, and it's a show that I can happily watch in either language. While you get the surround goodness in the English track, you have to make do with what Prologic can manage with the Japanese stereo, but it's still a pleasant enough experience. The music is certainly catchy, as scores of cosplaying dancers can attest to, although having the in-show songs dubbed into English is perhaps my sole quibble, a practice I don't agree with. Translated English subtitles are provided, as is a separate signs track, although the big colourful, playtime font takes a bit of getting used to.

Extras

The boxset collects the four single Amaray releases and places them in a thin card box. It's a bit of a hassle trying to open the thing without creasing it, and it doesn't look too sturdy. A shame really as the artwork on it is quite nice.

Despite these being the lowly vanilla discs as opposed to the delicious Limited Editions, they certainly don't scrimp on the extra features. Each disc has the usual animated menus, and begins by autoplaying a trailer for The Third: The Girl With The Blue Eye. This trailer, along with trailers for Scrapped Princess, Eureka Seven and .hack//Roots are repeated across all four discs.


Disc 1

You'll find the textless credits for episode 00 here. You'll also find two making of featurettes.

Making Of Haruhi #01 lasts 15 minutes, and Making Of Haruhi #02 lasts 10. The title is a bit deceptive really, as they don't go behind the scenes of the animation, rather they follow Haruhi's Japanese voice actress Aya Hirano as she works on promoting the series. Both these featurettes go behind the shoots of commercials for the show.

You can see the completed commercials in CM#1 ver.1, CM#1 ver.2, CM#2 ver.1, and CM#2 ver.2.

The TV previews for episodes 1-4 are here, and they are worth noting for the main characters arguing over whether the next episode will be the production episode or the broadcast episode.

The Adventures of the ASOS Brigade follow a fan collective as they profess the love they have for the show, and the characters they emulate as the American branch of the Brigade, and also follows them as they go behind the scenes of the US adaptation.

Ep 00 lasts 6 minutes and sees the live action members of the brigade introduced.

Ep 001 lasts 6½ minutes and sees them make the move to America, and look for a new base, which just happens to be the offices of Bandai Entertainment.

Ep 002 lasts 9 minutes, as the girls go to Bang Zoom Entertainment to find out about the Haruhi dub.


Disc 2

You'll find the anime staple of textless credit sequences here.

Nekoman is a mascot that voice actress Aya Hirano likes to sketch, and you can see the first two Nekoman slideshow galleries here, running to about 30 seconds each. The eagle-eyed may spot a Nekoman or two in the show itself.

The Making of Haruhi #3 lasts 10 minutes, and follows Aya Hirano into the recording studio, where she is scheduled to lay down some vocals for one of the Haruhi songs.

The Making of Haruhi #4 sees Hirano, joined by voice actresses Minori Chihara (Yuki), and Yuko Goto (Mikuru) for a 10-minute promotional photoshoot.

The TV previews for episodes 5, 6, 7, and 8 are here.

The Adventures of the ASOS Brigade show up on this disc also.

Ep.005 lasts 12 minutes and sees the girls go looking for alien spaceships in the US, in an odd way to promote the volume 1 limited edition.

Ep.003 offers 11 minutes of nonsense as Haruhi goes to Bang Zoom Entertainment to direct an episode, and encounters voice actor Crispin Freeman (Kyon).

Finally in Ep.0013, the girls experience Springtime at Ueno park for 5 minutes, before meeting the representative from Kadokawa Pictures responsible for the show's US distribution.


Disc 3

You'll find the 3rd and 4th Nekoman Gallery slideshows here, running to 30 seconds each.

The Making of Haruhi #5 sees Aya Hirano on a photoshoot for the Haruhi poster.

The Making of Haruhi #6 sees Aya with Minori Chihara attending a signing of the latest Haruhi novel with the writer. Both featurettes last 10 minutes each.

The TV Previews for episode 9-11 are here.

The Adventures of the ASOS Brigade are here as well.

Episode 009.0 lasts 8 minutes and sees the girls in Akihabara to meet an otaku who has become a fan of the US fansite.

Episode 004.1 offers 3 minutes of interviews with members of the US dub cast Jonny Young Bosch (Koizumi), and Wendee Lee (Haruhi).

Episode 004.2 continues with 5 minutes of chat with Stephanie Sheh (Mikuru), and Michelle Ruff (Yuki).

The US Launch Event Video rounds things off, with a 5½-minute piece from the US DVD debut of Haruhi, complete with proud Bandai execs, and sweaty palmed eager fans.


Disc 4

The fifth and final Nekoman gallery is here.

The Making of Haruhi #07 lasts 10 minutes and sees Aya Hirano on the promotion trail for the single of the show's end theme.

And finally with The Making of Haruhi #08, we get to the studios of Kyoto Animation to take a look where the series is made. Aya Hirano gets a guided tour that lasts 16 minutes.

The TV previews for episodes 12 and 13 are here as well.

The Special Ending lets you see the Haruhi dance in full. They did animate it, just so you can pick up the moves, perform it and put on Youtube.

The Adventures of the ASOS Brigade conclude in this volume.

Episode 0010 sees Haruhi and Mikuru go to a maid café in Akihabara to pick up a few pointers (6 minutes)

Episode 0011 collects some interview-ettes with the Japanese voice cast, 9 of them in total that run to a total of 7 minutes.

Episode 0012… Yes, it's that dance again. 90 seconds.

There is a two-minute piece from the Japanese voice cast that played at Anime Expo 2007.

This disc concludes with a teaser clip from Lucky Star that has the characters of that anime slip into Haruhi mode. Incidentally, "When is Lucky Star coming to the UK?" is a question that Andrew Partridge of Beez never tires of being asked.

Conclusion

'Melancholy' is such a nice word, it has a touch of the romantic about it, and it's poetic, rolls off the tongue. It means, sadness of spirit, a depression, but it sounds like the sort of malaise that can be shook off like an April shower. If we were being totally current and politically correct, this show would be called The Bi-Polar Disorder of Haruhi Suzumiya, and we'd be looking for the sales figures with a microscope. But for once, the sales figures are deserved, the hype is more than justified, and you begin to understand why there is such a fan-mania for this series. With all the brilliant anime this year to devour, I feel like I'm a pig being fattened up for the slaughter, and Haruhi Suzumiya is just the latest gourmet meal. I really can't get away with saying it's the best anime I've seen yet again, but once again I experience a feeling that is all too common lately, that of absolute absorption and wonderment, as I get sucked into an animated world that delivers something original and fresh, with production values at the top end of the scale, intelligent and thoughtful writing, and characters that are rounded and enthralling to watch. I had a feeling of mild breathless excitement as I prepared to watch each new episode, and never once was I disappointed, feeling a little euphoric each time the credits rolled.


I'd love to go into greater detail about the story than the summary above, but this is truly one series that should remain unspoiled, left to be discovered by everyone who watches it afresh. The extra-curricular club is a rather unusual setting for a sci-fi show though, and the way the story develops is unexpected to say the least. While the story is certainly intriguing, and the production values make this show terribly easy on the eye, much of the appeal lies in the characterisation, not least the titular manic-depressive at the heart of the show. Haruhi switches from sullen and moody to hyper at the drop of a hat, and both aspects of her personality are infectious. She's the classic disillusioned over-achiever, who turns her attentions to the bizarre and paranormal when the real world isn't fulfilling, and she drags everyone around her into her enthusiasms. She fills the screen, even though she isn't the main character. That would be Kyon, narrator of the show, and whose story we actually follow. It's obvious why he initially approaches Haruhi, but what isn't so clear is why he persists. Perhaps it's that he started high school with a conscious decision to leave childish pastimes behind, but meeting someone who resolutely refuses to do so leaves him in two minds about his decision. Regardless, he's soon recruited as Haruhi's general dogsbody, and while her latest crazy scheme usually invites some wry sarcasm from Kyon's inner monologue, he still goes along with it. The other three members of the brigade are the bookish Yuki, who communicates more with a glance than most do with a paragraph, the timid Mikuru, whose busty figure makes her ideal for Haruhi's cosplay ideas, and the enigmatic Itsuki, who appears perfectly happy to be shanghaied into the brigade. Of course this is the least that these characters are, but to say more would be spoiling it.


As for production order versus broadcast order… I haven't seen it in the former but I do highly recommend watching it in broadcast order. Either way, the first episode is an utter oddity, and if anything could put you off this series it would be The Adventures Of Mikuru Asahina. All of a sudden we're in 4:3, shaky and blurry video, and some really poor acting in what amounts to a high school project. The only clue that we're not just watching a really cheap and awful sci-fi home movie is the narration by cameraman Kyon. But as the film progresses, there are little hints of strangeness and oddity that pop up, little indications that there is something more than just bad acting going on here. Of course the talking cat is a whopping great indication, but as well as being entertained by the naffness of it all, there is just enough mystery to whet the appetite for the rest of the series. If you watch it systematically in production order, it's all explained for you in a straightforward way. The six Melancholy episodes are really a movie in six parts, which introduces the characters, sets up the world, and takes us through a coherent story that explains the rules of the universe, and unveils all the secrets. The subsequent episodes would be the equivalent of the series spun-off from the movie, with plenty of fun with the characters, entertaining stories, but never really quite reaching the emotional intensity and cinematic climax of the opening.


But in broadcast order, that enigma of The Adventures Of Mikuru Asahina carries forward to the series. You watch a bit of Melancholy, then all of a sudden you jump forward several months to Boredom, and something odd happens that you can't explain. Until the next episode where you jump back and discover the meaning with the characters for the first time. It's a journey of entertainment and discovery that adds a dimension to the show in my opinion, and it's well worth watching the show in this way. It also means that you get the big cinematic climax at the end of the series instead of the middle, although the final episode in the production order is also a suitable conclusion, understated but character focused.


Haruhi has been a delight to watch, and with the news that there is another season of Haruhi on the way in Japan, it actually gets better. It's jack of all trades and master of all as well, offering sci-fi, comedy, drama, slice of life escapist entertainment, and I can't recommend it highly enough. If you're hasty, you may just find the last of the Volume 1 Limited Editions in store, and be able to complete the set. But the Beez regular releases aren't to be sniffed at, given the extras that come loaded on each disc. Hypocritical cheapskates like me, and believe me, my hypocrisy is boundless, can do a happy dance with this Region 1 boxset from Bandai. I may feel a little guilty about failing to support the UK anime industry, but my wallet doesn't. Regardless of where and how you buy the discs, buy the discs. This is one anime series that no one should be without.