Suzumiya Haruhi Series

Here it is, the true story of what started it all. Haruhism has taken the anime world by storm and it is all because of this light novel series. But, how did such a marvelous movement branch from this you ask? To tell you the truth, that is what I would like to know.

Now I know my statement above would lead any person to believe that I am disappointed with the origins of Haruhi, and in a sense I am, but nowhere near as harsh as I first let on. What I merely mean is that, the anime took a morsel of the story and made a full course meal out of it. The morsel being the only sweet part of the series.

The anime consists of parts of this light novel series; the first novel which is the core of the anime and six short stories that are taken from three different novels. That is a minuscule number compared to the total number of content
(nine novels so far). So what was left behind, well, to put it simply, the main character in my opinion. Yes, I know you are confused as to what I mean but
give me time to elaborate. The main character of a story is the main focus of said story, which one would assume would be Haruhi Suzumiya, but as I read through the various musings of Kyon (the narrator) the story seemed to switch its concern. Haruhi seemed to be missing during most of the scenes and when she did show up it was just Kyon berating her character.

So who filled the void of the missing main character, well none other than the most uninteresting character of the series. The parody of an otaku's true love, Mikuru Asahina. Yes, the constant praise of her beauty and the angst that it created for Kyon filled page after page in this novel series. Every now and then Yuki Nagato and Itsuki Koizumi show up and make stories interesting but not nearly enough to save some of the stories.

And therein lies the missing two points that would of belonged to the score. Asahina, who I hate so well, has the stage and she comes through with constant idiocy, which is great for those who are into that sort of thing. But, I just do not find her entertaining, especially when it is written, at least fan service keeps me attentive. While Yuki is practically a demi-god (though she seemed to be the Deus Ex Machina in most of the stories) and Kozumi has an intriguingly mysterious aura and agency backing him, the author chooses a ditsy time traveler and her older self to focus on. I shouldn't even have to mention the fact that the character the title comes from doesn't even seem to be mentioned in many parts of the stories.

I wanted to love this series, I truly did. That is why it pains me to write of it so. It still holds the unique charm of the anime and when the great characters are included, it shines. But, I found myself wanting to skip over entire chapters (which as an avid reader is against my nature) that were just boring me with repetition. It was filled with great initial concepts, that just fell hard by the time the conclusion was revealed.

It isn't a bad read. The writing is not complex but it is solid and there are many humorous jokes. Kyon maintains his sarcastic charm and all the other characters maintain the reason why we love this franchise in the first place. But, I just could not get into it. It seems as though the author wanted to scrap all of his good ideas and keep the story as simple as he could mid way through each story. I guess Mikuru fans would be pleased with this work, but for all the others I leave you with this one question, WHERE IS HARUHI?

"I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time travelers, sliders or espers here, come join me. That is all."

(Note: This review is based on the first book "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", not considering the following novels such as "The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya" nor "The Boredom of Haruhi-" and so on and so forth.)

Most everyone knows the tale of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyon, and the SOS Brigade: They search out the world for the extraordinary. Little does Kyon know that all the extraordinary is Haruhi herself.
The story of Haruhi Suzumiya is so completely wonderful. When I finished the light novel of Haruhi, I watched the first episode of the anime, and was completely dumbfounded on how similar the anime is to the novel. Its absolutely a perfect replica. Like the anime, the novel is narrated by our own Kyon, who's sarcasm and wise-cracks honestly never get old. The story from his eyes had a certain element of charm that only added to the already wonderful plot line. I can honestly say I enjoyed every moment.

What makes the book, though, is the characters themselves. I could rant about Haruhi-- her energetic, selfish, odd, enthusiastic, impatient, colorful and utterly hilarious personality-- but honestly, the character that I really loved was no other than Kyon. From the beginning of the book to the end, we lived through Kyon's eyes while he struggled with questions such as "I AM a normal highschool boy, right?" to "Why did Haruhi choose me?" to "What IS Haruhi to me?" The character growth in Kyon is outstanding, though I have to say that I liked him in the beginning... and I LOVED him at the end. I'll take my own Kyon, please.

Did you know that light novels have PICTURES? I was a little bit too delighted when I figured that out. I was spastically waving the book in front of each of my family members, saying, "LOOK!! ITS BEAUTIFUL!"
Okay. I'm going to end this art section before I embarrass myself. Anyways. The art is beautiful. It captures the scenes perfectly.

My enjoyment? A 10, without a doubt. I had a friend ask me if she could borrow the book when I had finished it. I replied, "No. I'm reading it again." Because, I have no interest in ordinary novels. If there are any novels here that has the wit, charm, humor and enjoyment that Haruhi Suzumiya had, come join me. That is all.

~I have read volume 1 and volume two at the point of writing this~
If you really want to experience The Haruhi Suzumiya Phenomenon then this [the light novels that started it all] Is a defiant must.

Kyon is a normal High School Student.He comes to his first day of high school to experience a normal high school experience.But when his turn to introduce himself is finished,and the teacher goes on to the next one,Kyon-and the rest of the class,are speechless.

"If there are any aliens,time travelers,or espers here,come join me.That is all"

wouldn't you be speechless too?

The anime adaption of these novels only takes some of the story,and even when the huge parts are there,that doesn't mean your getting all of it. For example,Tsuruya-San.She isn't introduced until The Sigh,and doesn't play a huge role, but she is still a character in the story and has a role.I am a fan of her,but am dissapointed at the fact she's been pushed aside in the anime.Some of the chapters where she shines aren't even in the anime,and that makes me angry.

The art,of course,I love.Drawn be Itoh Noizi,Four colour inserts in every volume,and pretty black and white illustrations every now and then,it really makes my day.The characters are great,each is different and i feel like with any of them missing from the story,I wouldn't like it as much.I enjoy reading the two volumes i own (The Melancholy and The Sigh) over and over again,and every chapter is a ride.I'd recommend it to anyone,but this is the type of series that if you like it,you like it, and if you don't,you don't.

This series of novels is very compelling. I must say I was very captivated by how the plot works. It's very confusing if you don't know anything about it though; I recommend watching the anime first before trying to decipher the light novel.

Plot: Not too many loopholes. If you're a fan of the "What's Going to Happen Next" genre then I suggest you read this. The cliffhangers, although leaving you unsatisfied, will feed your desire to read about the next.

Art: Hah, the art totally rocks. The cover and front flaps basically sums the story up. The in-book art are black-and-white manga-like drawings that are high quality, but I can't argue with that. I'd rather have a novel with a few pics than none at all.

Character Development: This is where you get to know the story better. I think I'll start with Kyon.

Kyon: Your average bored high school student. Although he sounds very bored at first, as the story goes on he has matured into what we all know as the SOS's conscience. I am very compelled to give out spoilers here; but for the sake of those who haven't read I won't. All I can say is that he is the impromptu leader of the group, and the unofficial savior of the world. You'll get to know why.

Haruhi: Ah. Here's the happy-go-lucky leader of the SOS Dan. As we all know, she formed the group just by dragging everyone in. But as time goes by, the Sealed Realities decrease one by one, and she begins to feel that everyone is a friend, even Mikuru. Little by little she realizes her love for Kyon, as too many hints are dropped here and there.

Yuki: This silent humanoid interface alien is slowly begging to be human. I won't say anything further, but she is the character who (in my opinion) is the one who developed the most. She is beginning to realize the word "Friend", and for those of you who want to know more about her, listen to her character song, "Yuki, Muon, Madobe Nite". That'll explain a lot.

Itsuki: He hasn't changed much really, maybe just the fact that he is beginning to work side by side with the other groups covering Haruhi. Though he always talks a lot, he now has sense in him, and doesn't do much bootlicking either (maybe that's the reason why Kyon doesn't blame him often nowadays).

Mikuru: Aside from the physical features we all know too much about, she also changes in the emotional department. She is braver now; she is now willing to take risks even though she doesn't know the consequences (pretty ironic for a time traveler). At first she was an outsider compared to Koizumi and Nagato, but because of her changes she is now willing to work with them (even though at first she refuses to work with Yuki).

All in all, very nice novel series. I suggest recommending it to your friends as well.

The first volume seemed very interesting to me but the second one became very boring and I left it, the narrator becomes obnoxious and heavy after a while it would have been better than the author several points of view in the narration, I know that the narrator It is the reflection, and fantasy of the author: a boring and nondescript guy who is dragged by a pretty and cheerful girl to a fantastic world, but he becomes selfless pretending to prefer his boring daily life instead of the girl and the wonderful adventure world that she offers, and why? Well, because of cowardice

Read Vol. 1 - 9

Haruhi Suzumiya is a collection of Sci-fi, Comedy themed Light Novels (10 in fact) that fans of the popular anime series would read to get more depth to the story. So there’s really no need to go into detail of the story and overall premise of the Novels. As you may already know the story revolves around an omnipotent high school girl Haruhi Suzumiya, with powers (unknown to her) but told from the point of view of high school boy Kyon (real name unknown).

The anime series only scratches the surface, as it only tells one of the 4 known main stories “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”. The other 3 being: “Disappearance…”, “Intrigues…”, and “Dissociation…”. Whereas the 1st only focuses on introducing and revealing the main characters and concepts of the story, the other stories tend to go all out in bringing forth complex stories involving time-travel, dimensional rifts and other sci-fi concepts. To help supplement these stories the remaining Light Novels contain episodic mini-events that only loosely follow the main stories. The main problem is the jumbled up nature of these stories and it does require some thinking into knowing the order of events. At least the seasons make it easier to overcome this issue.

The characters are what make these Light Novels worth reading and each of the main characters seem to have purpose into making this an enjoyable read.
- Kyon the guy that the story follows and it’s his witty comments and cynical attitude that will make him an instant fave.
- Haruhi is an eccentric and emotionally unstable girl that causes many problems for Kyon and the rest of the world.
- Mikuru is a clumsy, well-endowed girl that is there for fanservice and a means of time travel.
- Yuki is a cute, emotionless alien whose there to rely on whenever something happens.
- Koizumi is an esper that doesn’t play much of an active role except when it comes to his long explanations and annoying Kyon.
The best thing is when you see how each of these characters subtly develops, after a while but still remain a bit of a mystery. What’s also interesting is how the side characters tend to play a major role in the story and at times even become the source of speculation (e.g. Tsuruya).

Overall this is a Light Novel that any of the thousands of die hard Haruhiist would enjoy. There’s enough content to keep anyone busy with for a while and for those who like to use that thing called a brain would definitely enjoy it, with all the complex mathematical, physics and sci-fi concept involved. There are quite a bit of dull moments to be found, with excessive explanations and it can be difficult to tell what’s being thought and what’s being said out loud however these issues don’t take away the overall feel of the story.

^_^

I might be a bit careless in relation to spoilers.
Before reading novel series I had watched anime, two times. Basically, first volumes brought me almost nothing new. By the way, if somehow you haven't yet watched anime, I'd recommend you to start off with it first. Kyoani made an excellent job on it.

The story opens with a main character's monologue. Thoughts of Kyon which will guide you through all the chaotic mess awaiting you. So, one perfect day Kyon happened to think about talking to a certain girl... From this and now on, his life would never be the same. All the supernatural stuff he'd long time ago gave up on appear to be real.
It is done in such an engaging way. Supernatural stuff with a slice of life flavor. Or vice versa. What I really find great, it has a touch of sci-fi in it. Almost everything bizarre that happens doesn't remain unexplained. What's even more cool, there are several theories upon what is happening and it's up to reader to choose what to believe. The author is very good at leaving here and there tiny hints, which may provoke in you a huge line of thought or may not. Honestly, you may just leave it be and regard the whole series as a comedy.

You may refer to Kyon as being a link between SOS Brigade and readers. Story is told from his perspective. Basically, he's a narrator. I like this part. Slowly, you grow to understand and even befriend him. I mean, how couldn't you, if you're always inside his head. Sometimes even thinking about what he's thinking. If I were to describe him, first thing popping up in mind - nice guy, considerably smart. Still, it's a poor description, because there's something more to him. Or I just imagine things. Generally, I'm okay with the way Kyon is. I believe there's only one cliche problem with him. He doesn't get girls' hints. Well, otherwise there wouldn't be such an intrigue the whole series.

The series is built upon various interactions between characters. Every character is cool in his/her own way. Even though there're some cliche characters... they are cliche only on the first glance. Or not. Or cliche partially. However, I adore all of them. I won't be pretty much wrong calling Haruhi almost literally the Sun. Well, everything reloves around her in the series. And Haruhi is the type of character which will force you to like her or hate her. You can't possibly remain indifferent. As for me, I loved her. She's so damn simple and in the same way hard to follow. She always has some reasons for her actions. She's a weirdo but a smart one.
I think it'd be possible to create a separate story with every character of SOS Brigade on their own. Haruhi series went further than that, deciding to create a spicy mix. Mikuru, Yuki, Koizumi - all of them offer various perspective and feel to the story. New characters pop up rarely in the story. I grew so attached to SOS Brigade, that I even felt sceptic upon their appearance. Magically, they were another bunch of non-less cool characters. So, the chance of getting annoyed or bored with characters is low. Don't forget to check out 'Rainy Day' once you've finished series.

The setting is done in such a way that almost anything could happen. I can't help myself to praise time-traveling aspect of the story. It is not present in the story just for for sake of being present. It is a thick and good elaborated part. It simply beats roughly half of all time-traveling stories. Or even more. I can't say that for sure, it's just the feeling I got.

Can't say much about art, I mean illustrations. They are few. With every volume the quality of illustrations was better.

I really miss the series. Afterword of the last volume doesn't bring lots of hope. I just really hope Nagaru Tanigawa will get a grip of himself and will eventually resume writing. There's a lot more to tell.
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya brought me a lot thoughts, sincere joy and many other emotions. It is extremely unboring and enjoyful. I could talk and talk more about it, but what's the point? Go just read it.

Please, Nagaru Tanigawa make a comeback. We are waiting.