Haruhi Suzimiya, my religion and it can be yours too!

   As with most people, I  viewed the the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya back in 2006 through fabulous fansubs. I liked it enough, though I didn't understand the hype.  That was til I found out above the translation of the novels. I fell in love with the first volume. It only got better from there. Two weeks ago the Suprise of Haruhi Suzimiya was released in English, meaning we are caught up with Japan. I felt it was time to buy all the novels in English, and read them like a teenager reads a porno mag. Well, without all the fapping.

    Haruhi Suzimiya began as a light novel series in 2003. The series became very popular, and was adapted by Kyoto Animation. This was the series that helped KyoAni become the well known studio they are today. The novels kept selling well, merchandise did too, and in 2009 we received another season of Haruhi! The best part was that they were rebroadcasting Haruhi in order ( it originally aired out of order) and they slipped new episodes in where they were chronologically placed! They first slipped in Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, which involved time travel! Which I fucking love! Everyone was excited for more Haruhi!

Yes, there is plenty of fan service!

  The second Haruhi season hit a brick wall though- a wall known as the endless Eight. Originally a short story, it lasted eight episodes. They essentially reanimated the same episode eight times, with some epsiodes seriously lacking in quality (think K-on). At first it was like "well played, Well played", and near the end it was like "Oh god kill me please!" It was 2 months of summer showing the same episode over and over. I remember having my tonsils out while it was happening and being hopped up on pain killers I thought I fucked up and kept watching the same episode over and over. Then I went online and realized the pain was real. To this day I give the second season a 0 out of 10. I really hate Endless eight that much. I hear autists love it though!

  Still at the end of season 2, the rebroadcast, whatever you want to consider it Kyoani dropped a bomb that reingnited my love of the franchise; The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzimiya movie! It was three hours of pure awesome, and I believe Kyoto Animations first movie. I could be wrong though. I absolutely love it, it was my favorite novel in the franchise, and seeing it gloriously animated was a dream come true.It has time travel and takes place before Christmas! There was no way I wouldn't love it! Then, there was nothing. To this day, there is still nothing. The manga series ended, and there still hasn't been a new Haruhi novel since Surprise.

Dancing animez!

    So what makes this series so awesome ? It's set in high school, like every other anime and light novel! The story begins with our Narrator Kyon (real name unknown) talking about how he never believed in Santa, but it took him much longer to accept that aliens, time travelers and espers didn't exist. Enter the first day of High school, and it's time for the girl behind Kyon to introduce herself, and she says " I'm Haruhi Suzumiya, from East Junior High. First off, I'm not interested in ordinary people. But, if any of you are aliens, time-travelers, or espers, please come see me. That is all!" Kyon asks her if she's serious, and she replies "shut up."

Kyon, do you even lift ?

   Kyon doesn't stop there, as Haruhi is intriguing to him and she's a hottie. She tells him how boring all the school clubs are, and he encourages her with an offhand comment about making one. She takes this to heart, and commandeers the literary club.  It comes with the sole member Yuki Nagato. They're joined shortly after by Mikuru Asahina, and Koizumi Itsuki. Together they form the
Spreading Excitement all Over the World with Suzumiya Haruhi Brigade, or SOS Brigade under Haruhi's command.

The SOS Brigade and some wimmenz.

Anyway here's our cast!
Kyon- the narrator. A normal guy whom Haruhi is in love with, and can influence her mood. He has a younger unnamed sister.
Haruhi Suzimiya- The supposed God of this world. She can change anything, though at her core she doesn't believe in supernatural things, she secretly hopes they do exist. A very energetic and bright girl, she excels at sports and can be a bitch.
Itsuki Koizumi- An pretty boy esper. He loves to give long winded explanations and is best friends with Kyon later in the series. His powers manifest in what is known as closed space created by Haruhi's bad moods.
Mikuru Asahina- A time traveler from the future, she's super kawaii and has a nice rack. Some people believe she is Kyon's sister, or a descendant of Haruhi's and Kyons. She's not too bright, and Haruhi enjoys dressing her up in cosplay outfits.
Yuki Nagato- an alien that loves reading books. She has super powers and seems to know all. Intially very robotic, she becomes more human as time goes on.
Ryoko Asakura-  Yuki's backup. She attempts to kill Kyon to force a reaction from Haruhi. She decides to move to the land of maple syrups and mooses after.
Kimidori- an alien back up, she is of a different faction than Yuki, but they are generally on the same side.
Taniguichi and Kunikida- Kyon's friends, they make up the numbers when the SOS Brigade needs them. some people believe them to be sliders.
Tsuyura- Mikuru's rich friend. She's very perceptive, nothing that Kyon is the only normal one in the SOS brigade, and often gives Haruhi fun ideas.She loves Smochi, or smoked cheese.
Imouto- Kyon's sister. Denwa ?

To this day there are 10 novels (11 in Japan, Surprise was split in two).

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya-  The first volume, it sets everything up. The SOS Brigade forms, and Haruhi must choose between a new world with Kyon, or returning to the boring original one. Sleeping Beauty. This is basically season one of the anime.
The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya- The filming of a Movie staring Mikuru as a time traveling waitress, Yuki as an evil alien, and Koizumi as an esper! The things Haruhi wants to film for the movie become real, and everyone has their hands full hiding it from her. Kyon get a talking male calico named Shamisen, who loeses the ability to talk at the end of the volume. This is essentially season 2.
The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya- a collection of side stories including Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, a story about Kyon meeting young Haruhi and setting her on the path to North High, and helping her mark up a field to call aliens. Mysterique Sign- Haruhi designs  a logo for the SOS brigade site, and it's up to the rest of the crew to fix it. Remote Island Syndrome- The SOS brigade solve a murder on a private island. Bamboo Leaf is adapted in season two, the other two stories are in season one.
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya- my favorite novel! Kyon awakes in a world without Suzimiya and the SOS brigade! He has to assemble the SOS brigade and bring the world back on the right path. Luckily if he can't do it, John Smith can! This was obviously adapted in the movie.
 The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya- Endless Eight- The SOS Brigade repeats summer over 15,000 time til Kyon finally does his homework. The day of the Sagittarius- The SOS is challenged by the computer club with the wager being laptops for the brigade,and the computer Haruhi stole their prize for winning. Snowy Mountain Syndrome- a the gang is trapped in a snow storm while on vacation, and Yuki gets sick. Endless eight is adapted as a form of torture in season two, and and the Day of the Sagittarius was adapted in season one.
The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya- Live a Live- Haruhi and Yuki stand in as members of a band who's lead is sick.  Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00- the story of the movie Haruhi filmed back in book one. Love at first sight- an old friend of Kyon's falls for Yuki.Where did the cat go ? - A made up murder mystery from when the gang  vacation at the snow resort, takes place directly after Snowy Mountain Syndrome. The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina- Mikuru asks Kyon to go shopping with her. Yep. Live a Live and Episode 00 were adapted as part of season one.
The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya- This is probably my least favorite book in the series, due to it's length and being kind of dull. Mikuru from eight days in the future appear, and Kyon must keep her hidden and complete tasks assigned to them by the future Mikuru. This novels covers Valentine's day.
 The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya- Two stories included,  Editor-in-chief, Straight Ahead! The SOS Brigade is forced to write a newsletter or disband, as they are technically stealing the literary club's budget. The second half of the novel involves a classmates dog being infected by an alien virus.
 The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya- This novel begins with a new semester at school, and splits into tow time lines-a and b. A line involves Haruhi recruiting new members of the SOS Brigade. Kyon notices one girl is  a stand out. The B line is much more interesting, involving Sasaki, a classmate of Kyon's from middle school. She has the potential to control Haruhi's powers, and to create closed space. She is joined by sort of an anti-SOS brigade composed of a time traveler, an  esper, and an alien, all have nothing on the originals. The time traveler, Fujiwara wants to use Kyon to transfer Haruhi's powers to Sasaki, as he belives she is more stable. Complicating things is the alien Kuyou Suou has infected Yuki with a disease. Both lines are continued into the next novel.
The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya- The A line continues with a new member of the SOS Brigade joining, and is eventually revealed to be created by Haruhi's subconscious. The B line is much more fun, with Kuyou fighting A revived Ryoko Asakura, and Kimidori, and it's revealed she dated Taniguichi. Eventually Kyon, Fujiwara,  the anti- esper and Saski decide to finish things and head to North High, where the SOS brigade is located. They enter the clubroom, and the timelines merge.

    The combined timeline involves Fujiwara saying in his timeline Mikuru is his older sister who dies, and he wants to prevent that. Kuyou pulls an uncosious Haruhi into closed space to kill her, but she is saved by Kyon( who jumps out a window to save her) while Itsuki and future Mikuru battle the anti-SOS Brigade. Kyon and Haruhi are caught by a celestial (an inhabit of closed space). Kyon is transported to the future and sees a college aged Haruhi, before being sent one month in the future from his starting timeline, landing in Haruhi's bed (she doesn't get angry or anything, my OTP!) Luckily the rest of the SOS brigade is outside, and it's the one year anniversary of the forming! So they play it off as a suprise! They send Kyon back to his original timeline after.

  Well there you have it, the longest blog I've ever written! I'm so proud. Now it's time to hold my Haruhi Daikamura and cry because we will never get another season. Supposedly the creator, Nagaru Tanigawa has lost all motivation to finish the series, but I've also heard rumors he's unhappy that he didn't get much money from the anime and it's resulting merchandise. It does seem more likely than the guy just being lazy. I'm going to write a letter to him offering to ghost write the series, and run it through Google translator. Hopefully it doesn't come out as a death threat.