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?