The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (anime)

Infobox animanga/Header
name = The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya


caption =
ja_name = 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱
ja_name_trans = Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu
genre = Comedy, Science fiction Infobox animanga/Anime
title = (first season)
director = Tatsuya Ishihara
studio = Kyoto Animation
licensor = flagicon|Japan Kadokawa Entertainment
flagicon|USA Bandai Entertainment
flagicon|Australia Madman Entertainment [citeweb|url=http://www.madman.com.au/htmlmail/newsletters/2007_06_jun/|title=Madman Entertainment licenses The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya|accessdate=2007-06-21]
flagicon|Singapore Odex
flagicon|South Korea Animax [citeweb|url=http://www.animaxtv.co.kr/AniInfo/Program/Default.aspx?proCode=2007122802|title=Animax Korea Program Page for "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya"|accessdate=2007-12-29|language=Korean]
flagicon|Germanyflagicon|Poland Anime Virtual [citeweb|url=http://www.sosbrigade.de/|title="HARUHI LICENSED! Haruhi goes to Anime Virtual."|accessdate=2007-02-09|language=German]
flagicon|United Kingdom Beez Entertainment [citeweb|url=http://www.beez-ent.com/news.php?nId=78|title="The S.O.S. Brigade wants YOU!"|accessdate=2008-03-07]
flagicon|France flagicon|Belgium Kaze [citeweb|url=http://www.manewsexpress.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=963&Itemid=101|title="Exclusive: the fourth impact of Japanese animation has hit! Haruhiism comes to Kaze!"|accessdate=2008-03-07|language=French]
flagicon|Italy Dynit
flagicon|Thailand Rose Media Entertenment
flagicon|Russia Reanimedia
network = flagicon|Japan Chiba TV
network_other = flagicon|Japan SUN-TV, Tokyo MX, TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Kanagawa, Teletama
flagicon|Malaysia ntv7
first = April 2 2006
last = July 2 2006
episodes = 14
episode_list = List of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episodes#Episode listInfobox animanga/Anime
title = (new season)
director = Yasuhiro Takemoto
studio = Kyoto Animation
network =
first =
last =
episodes = Nihongo|"The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya"|涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱|Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu is the name of the 2006 television anime about a girl who, unbeknownst to her, possesses the power to change reality. The story is based on the series of novels, the first of which bears the same name. The anime adaptation, directed by Tatsuya Ishihara and produced by Kyoto Animation, shares the first novel's plotline, interspersed in six self-contained episodes. Intermixed between them were seven episodes based on chapters from the second, third, fifth, and sixth novels. The ninth episode, "Someday in the Rain", was a new story written specifically for the anime by Nagaru Tanigawa, the author of the novels. The fourteen episode series premiered in Japan on April 2 2006 and aired until July 2 2006. Notably, these episodes were not originally broadcast in chronological order.

Soon after the show aired, Kadokawa Shoten received various offers from companies in regards to licensing the anime, manga, and novels.citeweb|title=Otakon 2006 - Kadokawa Shoten|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2006/otakon/8|work=Anime News Network|date=August 5 2006|accessdate=2006-12-23] On December 22 2006, the website asosbrigade.com revealed that the anime version of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" was licensed for North American distribution by Kadokawa Pictures USA, who sublicensed production and distribution to Bandai Entertainment.cite web|url=http://asosbrigade.com|title=ASOS Brigade - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - North America|accessdate=2006-12-23] [citeweb|title=More Haruhi Suzumiya News|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2006-12-24/more-haruhi-suzumiya|work=Anime News Network|date=December 24 2006|accessdate=2007-01-02] The first and second DVDs were released on May 29 2007 and July 3 2007, respectively, with the third and fourth on September 25 2007 and November 6 2007.

Plot and characters

"The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" follows the high school life of Haruhi Suzumiya, a young and very active high school girl, and those who are caught up in her antics. While Haruhi is the central character to the plot, the story is told from the point of view of Kyon, one of Haruhi's classmates.

Kyon is an ordinary freshman high school student who has recently given up his fantasies of espers, time travelers, and aliens as he left middle school. [cite video|people=Kyon|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 2|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=April 9 2006|language=Japanese] When he chooses to speak to Haruhi, he unwittingly sets off a chain of events which drag him into surreal situations; he is drawn further into a world eerily like the fantasies he had just managed to outgrow, with Haruhi at its center.

Searching for a group that interests her, Haruhi joins and quits every club in the school, finding only dissatisfaction. [cite video|people=Haruhi Suzumiya|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 2|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=April 9 2006|language=Japanese] Kyon makes a snide remark about her actions and accidentally provides Haruhi the inspiration to create a club of her own. To help start the club, Haruhi forcefully drafts Kyon, who only stays in the club to protect other helpless victims of Haruhi's "voluntary arrests". As the story progresses, Kyon finds that each of these supposedly "helpless victims" has a specific reason to be there.cite video|people=Mikuru Asahina, Itsuki Koizumi, and Yuki Nagato|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 5|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=April 30 2006|language=Japanese]

The first of these new members is Yuki Nagato, a silent bibliophile who usually wants to simply be left alone to read. Without Haruhi knowing, Yuki is in fact a "humanoid interface," or an artificial human, created by the extraterrestrial Integrated Data Entity. The next member is the shy and timid Mikuru Asahina, who is one year above Haruhi; she is actually a time traveler. The final member of the SOS Brigade is Itsuki Koizumi, who is almost always smiling and more than willing to give in to Haruhi's strange demands. He turns out to be one of many espers in an organization known as the Agency.

Except for Kyon, the members of the club are secret agents of various organizations who are sent to observe Haruhi. They gradually explain that Haruhi has superhuman control over every aspect of the universe—an ability which she is unaware of. Whenever Haruhi becomes bored or otherwise dissatisfied with reality, she subconsciously creates a new universe—one more to her liking—and attempts to switch over, thus leading to the destruction of the current universe. In order to prevent this, the members of Haruhi's club spend their time attempting to keep their god-like leader entertained, hold her powers in check, and maintain the illusion of a normal life.

The series never clarifies whether the club members gathered around Haruhi by their own free will, her subconscious, or were simply created out of thin air for Haruhi's amusement. The question of their origin is a motif seen throughout the series.

etting

The anime is set in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan, which happens to be site of the Kwansei Gakuin University, where Nagaru Tanigawa studied. Names of real train stations and baseball teams were altered in the anime; this includes: the Kitaguchi Station seen in the anime which is actually the Hankyu Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station, the Nihongo|Kōyōen Station|光陽園駅 is named after the real Hankyu Nihongo|Kōyōen Station|甲陽園駅, only the kanji is different; the rival baseball team featured in episode four, Nihongo|Kamigahara Pirates|上ヶ原パイレーツ, has the same name of its real life counterpart, Uegahara Pirates of the Kwansei Gakuin University, only the reading of the first kanji (上) is different. North High School where Kyon, Haruhi, and the rest of the SOS Brigade members attend is the real life location of Nishinomiya Kita High School. [citeweb|url=http://www.hyogo-c.ed.jp/~nishikita-hs/|title=Website of Nishinomiya Kita High School|accessdate=2007-05-29|language=Japanese] In addition, several scenes in the anime include faithful portrayals of the scenery in and around Nishinomiya. [citeweb|url=http://www.rinku.zaq.ne.jp/p_v/haruhi.html|title=Reference pictures to actual places|language=Japanese|accessdate=2007-01-25] [citeweb|url=http://tanasinn.info/wiki/Stalking_Haruhi_Suzumiya|title=Stalking Haruhi Suzumiya|accessdate=2008-03-12]

Production

Episodes

The episodes of the anime were aired in an anachronic order: The prologue; seven chapters of the first novel, "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya"; and epilogue, are arranged into six episodes that were kept in order, but arranged in between these were episodes taken from chapters of some of the later novels. The earliest example of this is that episode two is chronologically the first episode. During the previews for the next episode, the viewers are given two different numbers for the following episode (except for episode number twelve); one number from Haruhi, who numbers the episodes according to where they fit chronologically in the plot, and one number from Kyon, who lists the episode numbers in the order in which they aired. Episode twelve happened to be both the twelfth episode aired and the twelfth episode chronologically; and particularly, Kyon mentions it during its preview. [cite video|people=Kyon|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 12 preview|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=June 18 2006|language=Japanese] The standard edition DVD release uses "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina" as the first episode, but otherwise follows the chronological order. [citeweb|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/the-melancholy-of-haruhi-suzumiya/dvd-1|title=English DVD 1 review|publisher=Anime News Network|date=May 31 2007|accessdate=2007-06-01]

Music

The anime had two opening themes; the first was Nihongo|"The Mikuru Legend of Love"|恋のミクル伝説|Koi no Mikuru Densetsu in episode one [cite video|people=Yuko Goto|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 1|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=April 2 2006|language=Japanese] performed by Yuko Goto, and the second, spanning episode two through thirteen, was Nihongo|"It's an Adventure, Right? Right?"|冒険でしょでしょ?|Bōken Desho Desho? performed by Aya Hirano. The main ending theme of the series was Nihongo|"Sunny Sunny Happiness"|ハレ晴レユカイ|Hare Hare Yukai performed by: Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, and Yuko Goto which spanned the first thirteen episodes. In the last episode, the extended version of "It's an Adventure, Right? Right?" was used as the ending theme. [cite video|people=Aya Hirano|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 14|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=July 2 2006|language=Japanese]

Several songs and musical pieces were included in the anime. Among the insert songs used were "God knows..." and "Lost my music" performed by Aya Hirano in episode twelve. [cite video|people=Aya Hirano|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 12|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=June 18 2006|language=Japanese] A segment of "Symphony No. 4 in F Minor" [cite video|people=Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 11|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=June 11 2006|language=Japanese] originally composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was used in episode eleven, "Symphony No. 7 in C Major, "Leningrad"" [cite video|people=Dmitri Shostakovich|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 13|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=June 25 2006|language=Japanese] originally composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in episode thirteen, and "Symphony No. 8 in Eb Major, "Symphony of a thousand"" [cite video|people=Gustav Mahler|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 14|medium=Anime|publisher=Kyoto Animation|date=July 2 2006|language=Japanese] originally composed by Gustav Mahler used in episode fourteen.

Live concert event

Nihongo|"Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisō"|涼宮ハルヒの激奏|The Extravaganza of Haruhi Suzumiya was a live concert event held at Omiya Sonic City on March 18 2007 that featured songs from the anime sung by the voice actors. The DVD of the concert was released on July 27 2007.

Cultural impact

The series was extremely popular and has become a cult television series with a large and dedicated fanbase. As of December 2006, "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" is the most popular anime in Japan according to Newtype magazine. [cite book|title=Newtype USA issue #50|publisher=Kadokawa Shoten|date=December 2006|accessdate=2007-01-17] Similar to Star Trek's fans as Trekkies, fans of the series call themselves "Haruhiists", and the collective fandom is known as Nihongo|Haruhiism|ハルヒ主義|Haruhi shugi. [cite web|url=http://kurogane.animeblogger.net/2006/04/21/haruhiism/|title=Haruhiism|work=Kurogane's Anime Blog|date=April 21 2006|accessdate=2006-12-24]

Media sales

DVD sales in Japan have been strong with 70,000 and 90,000 units sold of the first two DVDs respectively as of August 2006. [citeweb|title=Haruhi Suzumiya DVD Sales Good|url=http://www.animenewsservice.com/archives/septx.htm|work=Anime News Service|date=August 29 2006|accessdate=2006-12-23] A 2006 online poll of Japan's top 100 favourite animated television series of all time, conducted by TV Asahi, placed the series in fourth place. [citeweb|title=Japan's Favorite TV Anime|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2006-10-13/japan's-favorite-tv-anime|work=Anime News Network|date=October 13 2006|accessdate=2006-12-23] By the end of 2007, the seventh installment of the series sold 45,000 units. [cite web|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com.au/news/2008-01-01/best-selling-anime-of-2007|title=Japanese Animation DVD Ranking: Top 20 DVDs of 2007|date=January 1 2008|publisher=Anime News Network|accessdate=2008-01-05] The series has also become somewhat of an internet phenomenon in both Japan, Asia and English-speaking countries. Over 2000 clips of the series and user-created parodies and homages were posted to video sharing websites such as YouTube. [citeweb|author=Akiko Kashiwagi|title=Japan Too, YouTube?|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/45502|work=Newsweek International|date=September 4 2006|accessdate=2006-12-19] The popularity of these clips (and those of other popular Japanese series) lead the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) to request that YouTube remove clips protected under copyright. [citeweb|title=JASRAC Asks YouTube to Improve Anti-Piracy Measures|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2006-12-12/jasrac-asks-youtube-to-improve-anti-piracy-measures|work=Anime News Network|date=December 12 2006|accessdate=2006-12-23]

Awards

The anime won the Animation Kobe Award for TV Feature in 2006. [citeweb|url=http://www.anime-kobe.jp/archive/index2.htm|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya wins the Animation Kobe Award for TV Feature in 2006|accessdate=2007-08-07|language=Japanese] At the Sixth Annual Tokyo Anime Awards, the series won the category "Best TV Anime Series," along with "Code Geass" and "Death Note". Furthermore, Aya Hirano won the "Voice Acting Award." [citeweb|title=Results of 6th Annual Tokyo Anime Awards Out|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-03-19/results-anime-awards|work=Anime News Network|date=March 19 2007|accessdate=2007-04-18] [citeweb|title=Tokyo Anime Awards Decision; "Haruhi", "Code Geass", etc. (3/16)|url=http://animeanime.jp/news/archives/2007/03/_316.html|date=March 16 2007|accessdate=2007-12-18] She also was among the "Best Actress in a leading role" category from the first Seiyū Awards.

ASOS Brigade

In December 2006, Bandai Entertainment registered the website "asosbrigade.com", which was linked to from high-profile anime sites such as Anime News Network during the week of December 18. [citeweb|title=Haruhi Suzumiya Website|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2006-12-18/haruhi-suzumiya-website|work=Anime News Network|date=December 18 2006|accessdate=2008-01-04] On December 22 2006, the website opened with a live action presentation video resembling a fan-made production featuring Haruka Inoue and Akiyo Yamamoto in the roles of Mikuru Asahina and Yuki Nagato, with Haruhi Suzumiya being played by Patricia Ja Lee. The video confirmed (in Japanese) the specifics of the licensing arrangement. After a few days, a subtitled version of the video replaced the original on the site, translating the Japanese licensing announcement into English. [cite video|people=|year=2006|date=December 27 2006|url=http://revver.com/video/222062/asos-00-full/|title=ASOS 00 Full (formerly The Adventures of the ASOS Brigade - Ep 00 (SUBBED))|format=Revver|publisher=Bandai Entertainment|accessdate=2008-03-14] citeweb|title=More Haruhi Suzumiya Auditions|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2006-12-28/more-haruhi-suzumiya-auditions|work=Anime News Network|date=December 28 2006|accessdate=2006-12-29] The website also linked to a blog on the popular social networking website MySpace, which entered the list of the top 50 most viewed MySpace pages within 24 hours. [citeweb|title=Press Release: Haruhi Myspace Blog Among Top 50|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2006-12-23/haruhi-myspace-blog-among-top-50|work=Anime News Network|date=December 23 2006|accessdate=2006-12-24]

On December 25, the website was updated with a Christmas message and a link to a page (in Japanese) allowing users to listen to and vote for clips of voice actresses performing the part of Mikuru in English. This practice continued as similar audition pages for Yuki, Itsuki, [citeweb|title=Yet Another Hidden Haruhi Suzumiya VA Poll|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2006-12-31/yet-another-hidden-haruhi-suzumiya-va-poll|work=Anime News Network|date=December 31 2006|accessdate=2006-12-31] Kyon and Haruhi were posted in the days that followed. It was not made clear if the audition results would affect the casting choices at all, but the second audition page claimed that " [the] choices will be noted and taken into consideration." The audition pages have since been taken offline.

On May 30 2007 the SOS Brigade Invasion Tour was announced for Anime Expo 2007 on June 30. Aya Hirano, Yuko Goto, and Minori Chihara were part of this event, "being flown in directly from Japan." Anime Expo attendees were able to participate in the ASOS Dance Contest held on Friday and the winner would have the chance to dance on stage with the guests of honor. [citeweb|url=http://www.asosbrigade.com/cms/content/view/34|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071120090927/http://www.asosbrigade.com/cms/content/view/34|archivedate=2007-11-20|title=ASOS Brigade - Japanese Haruhi VAs invade USA|work=Bandai Entertainment|accessdate=2007-05-30] Ever since the event was announced, advance ticket sales for pre-registered attendees have caused AX officials to cut down on the amount of tickets sold due to the overwhelming amount of advanced tickets sold (despite the event being free of charge to attend). [citeweb|url=http://asosbrigade.com/cms/content/view/37/|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071011081502/http://asosbrigade.com/cms/content/view/37/|archivedate=2007-10-11|title=ASOS Brigade - Haruhi AX Concert Update|work=Bandai Entertainment|accessdate=2007-06-08] [citeweb|url=http://asosbrigade.com/cms/content/view/38/|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071011080624/http://asosbrigade.com/cms/content/view/38/|archivedate=2007-10-11|title=ASOS Brigade - Haruhi Concert Clarification v2.0|work=Bandai Entertainment|accessdate=2007-06-10]

New season

The new season of the anime series was first announced in a full-page advertisement of "Asahi Shimbun" on July 7 2007 in Japan. [citation|title=New season announced|newspaper=Asahi Shimbun|date=July 7 2007] Promotional videos for the new season included a live action sequence inspired by the "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" chapter from the third novel which depicts Haruhi and Kyon breaking into school grounds with the footage taken from surveillance cameras. On December 18 2007, the anime's official website, haruhi.tv, was replaced by a fake 404 error with five form input fields.citeweb|url= http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-17/new-haruhi-suzumiya-anime-series-details-revealed|title=New "Haruhi Suzumiya" Anime Series Details Revealed|publisher=Anime News Network|date=December 17 2007|accessdate=2007-12-17] If KNSAK (the initials of the SOS Brigade members' family names, with the exception of Kyon, whose initial is taken from his nickname) was inputted, a fake xterm interface opened with messages by "YUKI.N". [citeweb|url=http://www.haruhi.tv/xterm.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071219153042/http://www.haruhi.tv/xterm.html|archivedate=2007-12-19|title=Fake xterm interface with "YUKI.N" messages|work=Kyoto Animation|accessdate=2007-12-17|language=Japanese] At the end of these messages, the enter key could be pressed, which redirected the viewer to an informational page about the new season. [citeweb|url=http://www.haruhi.tv/yuki_pic.html|title=New season details|publisher=Kyoto Animation|accessdate=2007-12-17|language=Japanese] dead link|date=January 2008 As reported by Anime News Network, "the 'disappearance' of the website on December 18 at 4:00 a.m. (Japan Standard Time) is a reference to the pivotal date in "The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya", the fourth volume in the light novel series and an apparent indication of which novel plot the anime project will adapt."

References

External links

* [http://www.haruhi.tv/ "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" official website] ja icon
* [http://www.kyotoanimation.co.jp/haruhi/ "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" Kyoto Animation website] ja icon
* [http://www.sosbrigade.com/ Sosbrigade.com] ja icon
* [http://www.asosbrigade.com/ Asosbrigade.com] Official North American release website
* [http://www.madman.com.au/sosbrigade/ Official SOS Brigade Australian Division website]
* [http://haruhi.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page The "Haruhi" Wiki]
*ann anime|id=6430|title=The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya