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The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
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A world without Haruhi is not a world in which I want to live.
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:CreationDate: 2012-09-23 19:39:56
:Id: anime/review/disappearance-haruhi-suzumiya
:tags: - anime
- review
:rating: 4.5
:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/the-disappearance-of-haruhi-suzumiya
All right, I have to admit up front that I'm in love with Haruhi. This
review is unavoidably coloured by my attachment to the character.
Even so, this movie is great :) If you haven't watched at least the
first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, go do so now. I'll
wait. Done? Good.
After a "normal" day at the SOS Brigade, Kyon wakes up in a world in
which Haruhi does not sit behind him in class, apparently no one at
Kita High has ever heard of her, and there's no sign of the SOS
Brigade. The only glimmer of hope if Nagato, who's the only member of
the Literature Club, just as she was before Haruhi found her. Will
this be enough to restore Haruhi to the world? Does Kyon even want to?
Or would he quite prefer this more prosaic version, without Haruhi's
bossing?
No, I'm not going to tell you the ending. Seriously, get this movie
and watch it. Don't feel embarrassed if you want to watch it more than
once :)
This movie would be part of my (not so small) set of "anime movies you
really have to watch", were it not that it's completely impossible to
understand on its own. You are supposed to know already who the
characters are, their personality and relationships. I know that most
movies-from-a-series have this issue, and that trying to introduce the
characters again would have bogged down half the movie and bored the
fans; still, I can't say "watch this, it's great!" to anyone who
hasn't seen the series, I can't use it to introduce people to good
anime. This is, essentially, a long episode: if you are not sure you
like the series, this movie will quite probably not change your
opinion one way or the other; if you like the series, you'll love this
movie.
We get to see some new facets of the main characters: Kyon is more
active than in the past, and has some interesting, although not very
explicit, soul-searching time; Nagato is shy and cute and not sure
what to do with her feelings; Mikuru is even more passive and useless
than usual; Koizumi is not his reserved and mysterious self. And the
big reveal at the end is a very nice piece of character development:
although in hindsight it feels almost unavoidable given the
personalities and roles in play, it's still interesting and
surprising. And the story is peppered with hints that you probably
don't get the first time you watch it.
Short version: what are you doing reading this review? Go get and
watch the movie!
