hontou ni
12Apr/0617

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 01-02

Yet another winner from the most anointed Kyoto Animation. I thought ep 1 to be pure genius; the satire of satires and parody of parodies. Kyon should be crowned the king of contextual humour and Mikuru's seiyuu (incidentally who voice-acted Kaede ~SHUFFLE and Nanami ~Lamune) should be awarded an anime oscar for her solid performance in these 2 eps. Her Mikuru song (ep 1) is more than sufficient to snag this honour.

Thus with Kyoto Animation at the helm supported by a strong cast of talented seiyuus, we can be assured of the highest producton values and engaging characters imbued with souls. That leaves the question whether or not the source material is up to scratch (since I would always remember how KyoAni worked so hard to make sense of AIR's ending.)

I know nothing of novels which the series is based upon. But given just 2 eps, I'm thoroughly intrigued by its premise. It's deceptively slice-of-life with School-Rumblish mad capers but the few glaring abnormalities seems to suggest there's a lot more than meets the eye. In fact from 2 eps, I'm rather inclined to think that the casting in "Asahina Mikuru no Boken" is no coindence. Yes, I'm probably infected with Haruhi's insanity but I am starting to believe Mikuru to be from the future ~mirai-jin (although not a combat waitress), Yuki an alien and finally, Itsuki an esper. Here's my crazy thoughts on the characters...

Asahina Mikuru

Kawaii lolita (looks 13 but is 17 - Legal!) with huge endowments. Meek as a mouse and unable to fend off sexploitations. Doesn't that sounds like the future where men eventually succeeded in genetic manipulation? Ok that's weak I know. :P Well then, riding a clock in the OP's got to count for something?

Nagato Yuki

She's creepy. Lolicious yes but still I can imagine her suddenly turning into a mass of tentacles if you try to make out with her. Her ominous and impeccably delivered lines in ep 1 cast her in a great foreboding shadow. I bet that's her drawing that knife in the ep 2 OP (Wind ~ A breath of Heart anybody?)

Koizumi Itsuki

Esper. See how he defeated Yuki at the end of the movie. Nope, that stuff's way above the cheesy special effects plaguing the rest of the production. It's reinforced by the speaking cat who's dead serious about taking his power. IMO, if a cat talks, you listen.

Kyon and Suzumiya Haruhi

Now where does that leave our two protagonists? My guess is that Kyon has already met Haruhi in the past when he visited from the future. That triggered off Haruhi's obsession for the supernatural which essentially is a search the future Kyon. (See the start of OP as she yearns/searches for someone in the sky and how she finds Kyon vaguely familiar) Which further leads me to suspect that Kyon is somehow linked to Mikuru. I don't know how aliens and esper would fit into this story... hmm need a shot of the sky here....

Anyhow, this is my work of fiction and surely any semblance to Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu is purely coincidental. Can't wait for ep 3.

Related posts:

  1. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 10
  2. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 05
  3. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 06

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  1. crimson
    April 12th, 2006 - 07:47

    feels like there are so many animes to get nowadays….disgaea (some acclaimed ps2 slg rpg game)…school rumble 2 (need to get season 1 some day)…xxxholic….and that anime named in asakomi’s blog recently…

    anyway… * *adding this to current list of animes* *

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  2. Xellos-_^
    April 12th, 2006 - 13:36

    You left off Utemaroue or something witht he cute dog girls. I think i will just refer to it as doggie style. name is too long to remeber to spell.

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  3. Stripey
    April 12th, 2006 - 18:24

    crimson: yeah just too many anime to follow this season. :) School Rumble’s entertaining, once they get pass Tenma and her tired routine with Karasuma that is. :)

    Xellos-_^ : LOL! I saw the caps for that one.. nice art but I’m not really one for cat/dog or animal girls for that matter.. :) But since I’m such a sucker for h-game turned anime, I’ll probably pick up ep 1 for a preview. Thanks for the highlight! :)

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  4. Skane
    April 12th, 2006 - 20:08

    Despite the presence of the animalistic girls( and guys), Utawarerumono( I confess, I had to look up the name) seems to have taken the wise route of not focusing on these traits. Of course, with only one episode to guide me, I may yet to be proven wrong, but so far, Utawarerumono( hurray for Ctrl+V) has been a pleasant surprise.

    I swear to master the name by the end of the second episode!

    Even if you were to make the characters normal humans, the first episode will still work( save one humourous scene which does not seem to be plot essential). I am actually more interested in what seems to be an ongoing war( seen in the OP and mentioned during dialogue in the first episode). If anything, the animal traits seem to be more of an excuse to give them supernatural powers, than it is to make them… eh… cute?

    Creator: “They are not human, therefore they can have all sorts of uber-powerz! So shaddup and watch!”

    I have been waiting for a loooong time for a decent medieval fantasy-setting-WITH-NO-ELVES-OR-ANY-OTHER-D&D-REFERENCES-GOSHDAMNIT, and Utawarerumono seems to be able to cater to this desire.

    I am not opposed to watching D&D inspired fantasy anime, but the stock cliches are always painful. Name one anime where the Elven and Dwarven race are bosom buddies, as opposed to where they are wary of each other.

    ~~~~ ~~~~

    On to the actual topic, Suzimiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu.

    Is it just my imagination, or does it seem as though the anime companies are competing with each other this spring season to see who can come up with the most convulated title?

    The first episode was a mixed bag for me, and if not for reading up summaries on animeblogs, I would have most probably abandoned the series after the “OP”. :P

    Watching the first episode was like watching a poetic train wreck in slow motion. The “movie” was bad, so bad that it made other anime train wrecks seem like works of beauty( I shall refrain from naming names). By now, anybody who has watched SHaruhi should know what were the best bits in the first episode. I must add though, that there were also bad bits. Bad bits that were intentional, but still bad bits that leave an awful aftertaste and makes one want to claw his eyes out and stab his ears.

    Episode two is where SHaruhi gets into its’ groove, and I look forward to the future hijinks of this crazy crew.

    Finally, I must declare that SHaruhi has the best ED of the season, period.

    Cheers.

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  5. vexx
    April 12th, 2006 - 20:44

    Suzumiya can pull my tie any time …. I’m entranced by her ….

    If they don’t do anything else right these first two episodes are stellar. However I’m told the source material maintains this level of energy (even if it gets more serious later).

    Some stunning animation effects for the budget and the VA for Kyon delivers his lines in a lovely bit of dry wit better than his work in Shuffle! as Rin (regardless of what I thought about the plot).

    I’m in a bad habit of just watching the ED repeatedly.

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  6. Stripey
    April 13th, 2006 - 08:37

    Skane: I haven’t seen that many good medival D&D-esque fantasies in animes and maybe that’s cos I haven’t seen Slayers. :) I’ll give Uta-mono a shot since I need some nutrition from a h-game turned anime this season :)

    vexx: That’s really assuring! thanks for the highlight. :) Kyon’s seiyuu is outstanding in these 2 eps. The only problem is that there are times I have difficult differentiating his thoughts (which is articulated) and his conversation. :P

    and haha! I have the bad habit of reviewing the 2 eps repeatedly too.. I need to get a life… :)

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  7. crimson
    April 14th, 2006 - 06:01

    yuki in witch custume is so stylish. Anyway, its really nice to see an anime about club actitivities other than sports, with wack and twists rather than typical romance :P

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  8. crimson
    April 14th, 2006 - 06:09

    Really, at first i didnt know what’s going on. Maybe its an alien show with KAMI as the narrator.

    yeah, the first episode is a “movie”. The clue is given at the end of it, lol. Why would the bunny girl do shaky ultra man posts? Becos its embodying the flaws of non professional actors. For that, episode 1 seems to capture ‘natural beauty’ on camera for me.

    I guess this only works if your in a movie of a movie.

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  9. wontaek
    April 14th, 2006 - 08:33

    uhhhh, stripey. There is a chance that some of your comments may qualify as spoilers.

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  10. Stripey
    April 14th, 2006 - 09:36

    crimson: yeah if there was an SOS dan during my JC I would have joined it… of course I would have made a harem movie instead… :P

    wontaek: oops… i was wildly speculating actually :P if there’s some truth in there… then we’re ready for one crazy ride.. :)

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  11. crimson
    April 15th, 2006 - 00:45

    stripey, i suspect the director will make you an alien that abducts all the kotoris in the world instead, lol.

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  12. crimson
    April 17th, 2006 - 09:54

    i forgot to say, the 1st 23 seconds of the movie mtv was very nice for me.
    The piano feels retro for me and the lyrics were kinda simple and meaningful. The “beam attack” high pitch part sounded like a nice retro effect too :P
    The part where yuki in witch custume being stationary while her exterior sways due to the breeze, it was a fine moment for me (ahhh so cool~~ nani? i said that alrdy?).

    The part where bunny girl starts to sing me me me me in the beginning was kinda funny too like she’s suddenly pushed into singing the thing by the suzumiya, super director.

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  13. Stripey
    April 17th, 2006 - 12:16

    LOL! I loved the “beam attack!” part in the soon too! Hilarious! Apparently Mikuru does her own background singing… ROFL!

    On another note, I just caught ep 3 and personally the way Haruhi’s treatment of Mikuru is utterly callous. I actually had the urge to slap Haruhi…. Maybe Kyon will grow a backbone soon and stand up for Mikuru.

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  14. crimson
    April 17th, 2006 - 17:12

    yeah, suzumiya has some big time attitude problem since episode 1.
    I’m still waiting for epi 3 :P

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  15. Stripey
    April 17th, 2006 - 18:26

    She’s abolutely clueless when it comes to sexuality or dealing with people’s feelings. I feel so sorry for Mikuru. Would like to hear your thots once you have caught ep 3 :)

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  16. crimson
    April 18th, 2006 - 05:17

    i was doing in-line recording just now to transfer some of the cool sound effect moments.

    With the earphones, i realised that magikano episode 9 has some pretty cool bgm (the part near yuri’s black devil wing chant).
    I also transferred the 1st 25 seconds of suzumiya. But it feels like the beam attack sounds best without the earphones.

    Just tot i would highlight to you guys maybe u’ll wanna use a earphone (which i didnt b4) when watching anime ;)

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  17. greyscalefuzz
    June 23rd, 2006 - 15:17

    Oh my god, this anime is hilarious! :) Just saw ep 1 and I’m dying from laughter. :P

    Think this will get better.

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