The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya review

If you're reading an anime blog, chances are you've heard of Haruhi. One of the biggest recent hits from Japan, the series appeals to pretty much everyone, and has been released in fairly awesome LE sets in the US and- for once- the UK. It's big- very big. But is it actually any good?

Short answer: yes. Yes, it is very good. If you haven't seen the series yet then there's a fair chance you won't be particularly bothered, so I guess there's not a whole lot of point in my reviewing it. Regardless, here is what I think.

There won't be any spoilers beyond what you can glean from the back of the DVD cases.


The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was originally just one of a light novel series, which became popular enough in Japan to merit an anime adaptation. Having not read any of the light novels, I don't know any of the story beyond the anime, so for all I know it might make a lot more sense if the "bigger picture" may be seen.

I'll rephrase that; the story does make sense, but feels lacking somewhat. The basic premise is that Haruhi, a high school student, is searching for aliens, time travelers, espers, anything that can alleviate her boredom. To help achieve this end, she sets up a club, naming it the "SOS Brigade", and engaging in all sorts of wacky activities. Little does she know, however, that in the SOS Brigade itself, an alien, a time traveler and an esper have gathered to monitor Haruhi.


It sounds like a lot of fun, but our protagonist, Kyon, finds it anything but. Dragged into the SOS Brigade and all of Haruhi's crazy schemes, at times it seems to him that he's the only "normal" person there- which ironically is actually the case. The truth about the others in the club is revealed to him early on, which I found refreshing- to reveal the major plot twists at the START of the story?! Having gotten the premise quickly established, the series is able to move on to more wacky hijinks and adventures, which it does with great style.


Although there is an overarching plot to the series, it mainly comprises one- and two-episode stories. They're all well done, and despite being stand-alone, frequently reference events from previous stories. With a basic explanation of the characters, you could easily sit someone down to watch Remote Island Syndrome, for example, and they would still be able to enjoy it.

However, this is also where the series falters slightly. Originally, Haruhi was broadcast with the episodes in non-chronological order. By breaking the series into many smaller stories, it would have been much easier to shuffle them up. But this also leads to a slight lack of drive and focus when the series is watched in chronological order. Episode seven was originally the last episode of the jumbled-up series, and so at that point, the awesomeness has happened and the series has reached a natural conclusion. Except you're only halfway through. The rest of the series is fun, and still worth watching, but given that you've already seen the "end" of the series, it's not as compelling as it so obviously could have been.


But you'll keep with it, if only for the fantastic cast of characters. Haruhi is loud, enthusiastic and generally a little irritating, but still a likable and fun to watch character. She finds her antithesis in Kyon, a perfectly normal boy who'd rather be left alone and not have to take part in whatever Haruhi has lined up next. It's through Kyon's eyes that we view the series, and much of the humour comes from his dry observations of the goings-on around him. The other club members- cute and innocent Mikuru; silent and detached Yuki; and the knowledgeable and intelligent Itsuki, are all rather stereotypical types to portray in this kind of show, but are played off well against one another, and rarely do they annoy too greatly. As support characters, they fit the bill perfectly, and although there is the odd situation where you're left wondering why this person didn't do something you know would have made more sense, it's never a problem.


If you're wondering about the art in this series, it's by KyoAni. If you're sitting there thinking "so what?", this means it's very good. Character designs are unique and appealing, whilst the environments are rendered in pleasing detail for a TV show. Sometimes the show breaks out what is obviously CG (I'm sure that computer effects are integrated more subtly throughout the entire show), but fortunately these moments are those that really demand something a little more out-of-the-ordinary, and end up looking spectacular. It's a first rate job, but it's a shame that the transfer on the DVDs I watched was less than perfect.


The sound in this series is also very good, with catchy, if fairly generic opening and closing credits. The ED, of course, is the famous Hare Hare Yukai, and the dance performed by the characters in the credits has become a worldwide internet phenomenon, but the song isn't all that great. Insert songs are generally good, and you'll know what's coming up whenever a certain piece kicks in.


Overall, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has become a huge fan favourite, and it's not hard to see why. Firmly supported by impressive technical achievements, the story is let loose to have fun and is always a pleasure to watch, even if it's not really that compelling. If you haven't checked it out yet, I would definitely recommend it.


For this review, I watched the standard edition UK DVDs released by Beez. Funky packaging immediately sets them apart, with some neat designs on front and back covers. The menus are also well designed, and the range of extras is impressive compared to some modern releases, with promo films, picture galleries, "making of" films and original TV adverts accompanying the obligatory Beez trailers. However, these discs did suffer from a less-than-perfect transfer, with colours looking a little faded at times and a fair amount of detail lost in fast-moving scenes. Despite the box art being nice, there were no physical extras at all. On the one hand, a special edition release was made to cater for that audience, but on the other, it would have been nice to have a leaflet or something in the case. There are 4 volumes, and they retail at £20 each.

Overall rating:
4 - 5 - 4 - 2
15/17 - Fantastic

Special thanks to Max in his White Room, who lent me the DVDs ^_^

ChäoS;HEAd review

A visual novel adaptation with slight harem elements that quickly develops into a low-key psychological thriller, ChäoS;HEAd is one of the more interesting series to air this past season. But despite the ambitious plot and occasional striking visual elements, it falls a little short of what it clearly aims to achieve.

This review will contain some spoilers; if you want to avoid them, please skip straight to the concluding paragraph.


Our protagonist, Nishijou Takumi, is an MMO otaku with a social life to shock even the most hardcore of anime fans. He spends every possible moment holed up in his room- which happens to be a converted shipping container on top of a high-rise block- even to the extent that he has calculated exactly how many lessons he can afford to skip and still graduate. On top of that, he has frequent delusions, the most common of which is that an anime character, Seira-tan, lives with him as his wife.

Pretty soon, however, strange events start happening in Shibuya. Several mysterious deaths have been dubbed the "New Gen" (short for New Generation) events, and most have fairly disturbing details. One evening, Takumi is playing games as usual when an unknown user called Shogun starts talking to him, and tries to send him several image files. Accidentally opening one, Takumi is horrified to see a picture of a man, nailed to a wall by dozens of cross-shaped spikes. He quickly tries to forget about it, but some time later, as he walks down an alley, a strange sound leads him to the very same murder scene he had already seen a picture of. The murderer is there too; a beautiful pink-haired girl, about Takumi's age and covered in her victim's blood.

Again, he flees, but the next day, Takumi is disturbed by the arrival of the pink-haired girl- Rimi- in his class. What's more, everyone seems to know her, and they all insist that she and Takumi have been friends for a long time.

So it continues, and more characters are brought into play. It turns out that most of the girls whom Takumi meets are known as Gigalomaniacs, meaning that they have the power to feed "delusions" into other peoples' minds, and even to make them reality. They often summon swords known as "Di-Swords" into existence, sometimes to fight with but generally for no real reason. We meet an evil organisation, Nozomi, who plan to use a machine known as Noah II to create artificial Gigalomaniacs and take over the world, and learn the terrible truth about Takumi- that he himself was brought into existence through the delusions of the original Takumi- a sickly, wheelchair-bound man who also goes by the name Shogun. Takumi must allow his Gigalomaniac powers to awaken if he can ever hope to defeat Nozomi for good.


It's very ambitious and often confusing, but most questions have been resolved by the end of the show. What started as a really interesting murder mystery with the twist that reality and memory may not actually be real, unfortunately degenerated into a "stop the evil corporation" type of plot. It still entertained, but by pinning all the blame onto one evil figurehead, a lot of the interesting setup from the start of the series was squandered.

The characters that drive the story are a mixed bunch. Takumi is understandably freaked out and wants nothing to do with the Gigalomaniacs or their fight, but it starts to grate a little when he's screaming to be left alone even when his powers and importance have been explained. Granted, most people would react in the same way, but this isn't the kind of anime you watch for realism; you watch it for the mind games and fighting.

Given the show's visual novel roots, you may forgive it for the fabulous array of stereotypes we have in the female leads. We have the old friend (even if Takumi can't remember her); the quiet, bespectacled upperclassman; the mysterious, vengeance-driven girl who gradually opens up to others; the transfer student (who can only speak to people through their minds); the shadowy but attractive girl who moonlights as the singer in a popular band; and the little sister. However, despite the painfully generic setup, they all become genuinely interesting, fairly well-rounded characters by the end of the series, and none feel unnecessary.


The art in this series is pretty average, with the occasional pretty and dodgy scenes balancing out. The character design is well done; all of the girls are easily identifiable without having any particularly outlandish features, save for Rimi's pink hair. I also really like the variety and imagination in the Di-Sword designs, most of which were fantastically impossible but great fun to watch.

As for the sound, again, it's utterly average. The OP and ED are quite catchy the first time you hear them, but by the end of the series I was skipping both. Insert songs are also fairly unmemorable; I can't remember any of them. Compared to two other visual novel adaptations this season, Clannad ~After Story~ and ef - a tale of melodies, the music is fairly lacking.

Despite these flaws, ChäoS;HEAd is still an enjoyable series to watch. I was genuinely looking forward to each new episode, and wanted to find out what would happen to everyone. Although it has several generic elements, it still strives to be original, and this sometimes helps lift it above average.

Overall rating:
4 - 3 - 4 - 1
12/17 - Decent.

Apologies for the lack of decent pictures in this review; I've lost most of the earlier episodes :(

My ratings system for reviews

This is how I will be rating the series I review:

Story / plot / characters - out of 5
Pretty obvious. The originality of the plot, the quality of the writing, how compelling it was, how engaging the characters were... these will be rated from 0-5 (with 5 being the best).

Technical aspects (art, music etc.) - out of 5
Again, it should be obvious. How nice is the art style to watch? Are the characters appealing or freaky? Is CG integrated well? Does the music fit? Is it catchy or memorable? Again, these are rated from 0-5 (with 5 being the best).

Personal enjoyment - out of 5
Even if the technical aspects of a show are fantastic, it doesn't make it an enjoyable show to watch. Poorly-animated shows with naff plots can still be great fun. So my own enjoyment of a show is rated on 0-5 (with 5 being the best).

Should you buy it? - out of 2
There are three categories here. If you need to own this, it will be rated 2. If it's worth a rent or fansubs, it will get 1. And if it's not really worth your time, it gets 0.

The score will be given as a breakdown based on these categories, and as a total out of 17.

e.g. my favourite film, 5 Centimeters Per Second, would score:
5 - 5 - 5 - 2
17/17 - Absolute perfection

Here are the general categories that will be given based on ratings:
17 - Absolute perfection - it doesn't get any better.
14-16 - Fantastic - a very good show with no major flaws.
11-13 - Decent - a good show, but by no means essential.
8-10 - Poor - there are far better ways to spend your time.
5-7 - Dire - not worth stealing. Not even so bad it's good.
<5 - Unmentionable - not worth acknowledging.