Review for The Melancholy Of Haruhi-Chan Suzumiya & Nyoron! Churuya-san Collection 2

Introduction

If you thought that we were done and dusted with Haruhi Suzumiya following the release of Season 2 in the UK, think again. Next month sees the release in the UK of the feature film, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (except the Blu-ray, which has been delayed until February 2012), but before that happens, there is the small matter of completing the release of the short animations. If you happened to pick up the deluxe Season 2 boxset back in July, you will no doubt have noticed that alongside the three Season 2 discs, there was a fourth disc with The Melancholy of Haruhi-Chan Suzumiya & Nyoron! Churuya-san Collection 1 on it. 13 episodes of the former and 6 episodes of the latter, original net animations that took a somewhat twisted look at the world of Haruhi Suzumiya, playing several situations completely for laughs. That was only the first half of the collection, and now Manga Entertainment release the concluding half as a stand-alone disc. December turns out to be a mirror of July, with Manga re-releasing Season 2 as a series only collection, and Collection 1 of the Haruhi-chan shorts as a single disc release. Of course for those selective fans that like Season 2 and didn't want the shorts, or those who loved the shorts but couldn't stand Endless Eight, it would have been nice to know this schedule back in July.


The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya, based on the manga of the same name takes the characters from Haruhi Suzumiya, reinvents them as short and cute chibi versions of themselves, exaggerates their more comical characteristics and plays a series of skits, purely for laughs. Each episode begins with Haruhi on the verge of introducing the show before being whacked in the face by the camera, and thereafter all sorts of insanity ensues. The total running time for these shorts is 49 minutes and we get episodes 14-25 in this collection.


Nyoron! Churuya-san on the other hand was a fan creation that got animated for its unique brilliance. It focuses on one of the lesser characters from the show, Churuya, reinvented as an uber-cute midget, in a world of taciturn larger characters, as we follow her on her search for smoked cheese. These are short 2-minute or less episodes, in 10-seconds or so worth of fast sketches, which boil down to Churuya being nonplussed by a turn of events at which she issues forth her catchphrase… Nyoron! The total runtime for episodes 7-13 amounts to 15 minutes.

The Disc

1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with a native PAL conversion courtesy of Madman looks just fine. In addition you get DD 2.0 Stereo English and Japanese here, along with translated subtitles and a signs only track.

Extras

This time around there are more in the way of extras on this disc, although once again, the Adventures of the ASOS Brigade featurettes that were used to promote the second season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya remain a US exclusive. If you want to see those, you'll have to import the Region 1 release of the Haruhi-chan shorts.

What we in the UK get is the Japanese promotional material, including the second TV Commercial Spot and the Oniguchi Commercials.


The substantial extra on this disc is the collection of How About Oniguchi? Episodes, 40 minutes worth. The Japanese voice actor of Taniguchi, Minoru Shiraishi emulates his character by donning the red bodypaint and a demon mask to help promote the show. He's the one in the Oniguchi commercials. Here we go behind the scenes of the promotion as he attends a signing event, visits a memorial museum, has a battle with Ao-oni, and we get to see the making of the commercials.

Conclusion

I'm going to be unoriginal, and merely cut and paste my conclusion for the first half of the series. But there's not a lot that I can add to that review, and the mini-episodes aren't exactly the most profound creations ever, hardly inviting reams of insight and analysis.


I don't get Nyoron! Churuya-san. Some people think it's amazing, but it's a taste I haven't been able to acquire, unlike smoked cheese that is. I like me a bit of Applewood smoked cheddar, just the right side of delectable, with that little smoky tang to it that goes fine with crackers, or makes a cheese salad sandwich that bit special. But the whole Nyoron thing… I don't get. I find it obvious and unfunny.


Haruhi-chan on the other hand I find hilarious. I'd looked forward to each new instalment when it aired originally, and every joke I found to be a zinger. Rewatching the episodes now, my opinion hasn't changed, and I was laughing uproariously throughout. It takes the characters and enhances their absurdity, which makes Yuki the star of the show, now into erotic videogames instead of reading, and taking mini-Asakura home in a bag and adopting her as a pet. Thankfully Haruhi-chan outnumbers Nyoron by around 5 to 1 in terms of run time, making this a plentiful disc of joy for me, and in some endless eight ways it is indeed better than Season 2 of Haruhi Suzumiya.


The thing about the Haruhi-chan discs are that they will really only appeal to fans of the Haruhi franchise, which does limit their scope a bit. This isn't the show that you can latch onto at random and just appreciate; you need to know just what is being parodied. Much as I would like to recommend the show to everyone, I have to say that you need to watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya first. So I'll recommend that to everyone, and then I'll recommend these parody episodes.