The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya gives you a blend of different genres and is not just an average mystery anime. There are a number of different arcs, and each arc introduces us to a new genre. Pretty Interesting, right? Many things are going on in this anime, and judging it by its cover will be very unfair.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is quite popular amongst the masses. It’s a name we’ve heard for years and years. However, personally, we feel like this anime series is over-hyped. We’ll talk about the reason in detail in our review of the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya down below, so read on!

Kyon is the main character of the series who studies at Nishinomiya High School. Haruhi Suzumiya is an eccentric student in Kyon’s class who is obsessed with supernatural phenomena and aliens. She’s also interested in the concept of time traveling. Despite Kyon’s resistance, Haruhi created a club named “SOS.”

This club was formed solely to investigate strange things happening around them. Now, SOS stands for “Spreading Excitement All Over the World With Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade.” Haruhi adds three more members to the club. The three of them are, in fact, supernatural beings that Haruhi had always been looking for.

Haruhi has a secret power; she can warp reality. The three members of the club are there to observe Haruhi as their organizations give them this task. Haruhi is unaware that she possesses such a supernatural ability and the three of them are there to stop Haruhi from unleashing her powers.

The three of them, along with Kyon, must stop Haruhi from realizing that she has supernatural powers or else she’ll use them, and there would be destruction everywhere. They must keep Haruhi entertained so she never gets bored and thinks of another imaginary world, keeping her and themselves safe.

The first complaint that we have about this anime series is that the episodes are not released in chronological order. There are a total of 14 episodes in the first season. Eight of them are filler episodes, and the rest of them actually let us know about the story. Both the categories are mixed, so it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The redeeming quality is that the episodes are not linked on a deeper level, so it’s okay to watch it in a non-chronological order. It’s just a bunch of high school students playing around and trying to entertain the audience, nothing more.

The overall concept of the story is pretty original, so we have to appreciate the creators for this. Haruhi is like a “god” who has gathered some weird people around her, and those people are precisely the ones she’s looking for, supernatural beings. How ironic! The story is also unique and gives us many possibilities to look at certain things differently. That’s what we like about The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The story would’ve been told in a much better way if the episodes were in chronological order. Other than that, everything about the story of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is perfect!

Despite its plot, the weakest aspect of the anime is its characters. We see 0 development with their personalities, and they all seem flat after a while. They take away the enjoyment and the fun in the story because of their one-dimensional personalities. We can predict what will happen next because the characters just give it away and are extremely simple.

Haruhi is obnoxious. She wants everyone to know how perfect she is. That’s exactly where the viewers tune out. Her character isn’t likable. Kyon looks like a good character at first with his sarcastic personality. However, he doesn’t take any action throughout the series.

We have Yuki, who just sits there, reading a book all the time and doing nothing. Her character is exceptionally flat. Koizumi is one such character that was created for female fans. However, we soon forget about his existence as he doesn’t get enough screen time. Mikuru is extremely cute, and she was just created for fanservice.

So, yeah. These were all the significant characters explained briefly!

Art and animation are pretty good for this anime. The colors are bright and clear, the background is clear, the movements are smooth. Everything regarding the animation is basically top-notch, and we love that! There isn’t much to complain about in the animation department.

Just like the animation, thankfully, the sound and music department also did not disappoint us. The opening and ending soundtracks are pretty catchy, and you will find yourself humming them randomly. We’re speaking from experience here!

The voice actors also did a pretty good job voicing the characters and becoming like them. There was definitely a lot of struggle involved, but they managed to do it.

We tried to enjoy the series, but we couldn't, at least not entirely. There was this major problem with the chronological order, and it got so confusing. The characters were also not very likable for us to keep coming back for more and more. For these reasons, we feel it is safe to say that The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is overhyped.