[Anime] The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Haruhi always announces the chronological sequence, while Kyon corrects her with the TV airing sequence.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Dark Nation

as the acting was noticalby (perhaps on purpose by the animators) crappy and full of cliches

My god, you went through the entire first episode and you couldn't really tell whether it was on purpose?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Since I am fiercely anti-Nipponsei, here is the single in lossless:

http://www.condign.org/media/Suzumiy...rt%20songs.rar

Feel free to ask me if you don't know how to split the file.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The easy way would be to load the .cue into Foobar, select all 3 tracks, right click and choose "convert to same directory". That'll spit out 3 .wav files, which you can then compress into whatever format you like.

Alternatively, you decompress the .ape file into .wav using either the Monkey's Audio GUI or DBPowerAmp with plugin installed. Then you load up EAC, choose "Tools -> Split WAV by CUE Sheet -> With Gaps", select the .cue, and you get 3 .wav files. Make sure you inspect the .cue beforehand and check whether it is referencing the correct file extension (.wav, not .ape). Edit it as appropriate.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The broadcast order was actually suggested by the original author of the novels (yes, Haruhi is based off a series of novels, and the anime follows them virtually word-for-word for the most part). After watching the entire series, I can fully appreciate why episodes 13 and 14 were shifted from their chronological places (smack in the middle of the series) to the end -- the climax there is really the only satisfying way to end it. Broadcasting the episodes out of order doesn't create that much confusion unless you're really thick, in fact the reverse foreshadowing allowed for much more speculation and the subsequent elevated anticipation for more episodes that would help tie up the various plot points. And here I really must commend Kyoto Animation for their superb level of attention to small details, like

Spoiler:

how Yuki Nagato twirls the mouse in the air when she first starts using it, but later in episode 14 it's revealed that she was simply copying Kyon's movements as he tries to avoid Mikuru (which was hilarity A+++, by the way)

and

Spoiler:

how, during the baseball episode, Haruhi considers tying Mikuru's hair in a ponytail, but abandons it with a disgusted look after glancing at Kyon -- and the reason for this is revealed at the very end of episode 14

There's plenty of details that tie in with one another, and this adds to the charm of airing the series out of chronological order. It certainly gave my brain something to work with.

Out of the entire last season, this was the only series that managed to hold my attention right to the very end. Out of the 70 or so shows available. There's a reason why Haruhi is now rated #1, or close to it, on most of the popular database sites, and why its related merchandise (novels, character song albums, DVDs) are clamouring for top spots in the Amazon.jp sales list.


(For the people inquiring about a second season, nothing has been announced, but there's still hope -- there are plenty of short stories in the novels that have not been animated, and the author is still writing more novels.)

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by surasshu

Did you read them? Are they worth it?

There's a translation project ongoing, I've browsed through a couple of chapters. They're good for a read if you're interested, but there's not much new material (in volume 1, that is).

One of #a.f.k's members also has his own translation going, so try that one if you prefer their translation style (it flows much better, I think).


Also, for anyone who wants to know what happens right after the very end of episode 14, here's a sneak preview (WARNING: novel spoiler):

Spoiler:

"Listen to me, I need to tell you something very important."

"What?"

"Haven't you always wished for the existence of aliens or time-travelers or espers?"

"That's right. So what?"

"In other words, the purpose of our SOS Brigade is to find these people. Right?"

"Not only to find them, we have to be able to play together. Just finding them isn't good enough, I want to participate in the act, not just be part of the audience."

"But I always wish I was watching from the sidelines... sigh, whatever. But have you ever thought that these aliens, time-travelers, or espers might be surprisingly close to us?"

"Ah? What do you mean? Don't tell me you mean Yuki, Mikuru, or Itsuki? If it's them, then that's not really a 'surprise'."

"Umm... actually I meant to tell you that it was them all along."

"Are you an idiot? It can't be that easy."

"That's true, this would be too simple by normal standards."

"Then tell me, who's the alien?"

"You would be very glad to hear this. Nagato Yuki is the alien. Hmm, how should I put it? Should be Integrated something entity... or Data something entity... something like that. Basically created by aliens and given a body."

"Hm, then what about Mikuru?"

"Asahina-san is easy to explain: she's a time-traveler. She comes from the future. There's no problem calling her a time-traveler right?"

"Then how many years into the future is she from?"

"I don't know this, she didn't tell me that."

"Oh, I see."

"Really?"

"That means Itsuki is an esper? Were you planning on telling me that from the start?"

"That is correct."

"Ahh."

Haruhi twitched her eyebrows while she spoke, then slowly breathed in some air, and screamed:

"DON'T MESS WITH ME!"

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by MrMonkeyMan

So who can tell me what's up with the cat in the first episode?

It wasn't explained since the series didn't reach the novel chapter describing the making of the student film, but in the novel, essentially:

(WARNING: HUEG NOVEL SPOILAR)

Spoiler:

the cat is a perfectly normal specimen, and started talking because Haruhi willed it to happen. Same thing with the MIKURU BEAM (yes, Mikuru really did end up shooting that laser from her eye).

FELIPE NO

There probably won't be a formal soundtrack released. It looks like they're going the Shuffle! route -- releasing bits of the soundtrack in bonus CDs included with the individual DVDs.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Taking this news with a grain of salt, since there's already been a false alarm before.

I'd wait for confirmation from KyoAni themselves.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Awesome, that English page for Haruhi even has the EUC-JP encoded "secret message" in the HTML source, just like the original website.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Nope, no indication of when the second season is going to come. KyoAni has this bullshit slated after Clannad After Story.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.