The General Discussion of Haruhi Suzumiya

[SpaceDrake]

So far they do a lot of action stuff, yeah. (Their major hits are Ghost in the Shell, Fullmetal Alchemist, things like that.) I could easily see them wanting to expand the range of programming a bit, however, and Haruhi just fits so perfectly into the Adult Swim lineup.

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by SpaceDrake

So far they do a lot of action stuff, yeah. (Their major hits are Ghost in the Shell, Fullmetal Alchemist, things like that.) I could easily see them wanting to expand the range of programming a bit, however, and Haruhi just fits so perfectly into the Adult Swim lineup.

Indeed. [as] has FLCL and Samurai Champloo, which are both almost 50-50 action and comedy. Haruhi's balance is more like 80-20 in comedy's favor. Hopefully [as] sees the potential for greatness and picks it up. Haruhi on TV would freaking win.

[darkchibi07]

And besides, the type of comedy the Melencholy of Haruhi Suzumiya uses is wit and sarcasm with a sprinkle of situational humor which is REALLY prevalent in lots of American comedy sitcoms. Putting Haruhi on cable TV would be very daring, and I would love to see that happen.

Of course, only time will tell.

[velocity7]

Originally Posted by Anime News Service

Following the start of a radio drama entitled SOS Dan Radio Shibu Bangai Hen, released on July 5, 2006 by Lantis, July saw news spread across the Japanese web of an announced 6 episode live action Haruhi Suzumiya television drama to broadcast via BS-i this autumn. Reports were complete with cast lists, and at some points - dueling cast lists - which ultimately led to doubt being cast on the entire story. In one manifest, actress of the moment Yui Aragaki was to play the lead heroine with Death Note's Matsuyama Kenichi taking on the role of Kyon. Mikuru Asahina would be played by Toda Erika, Yuki Nagato by Mei Kurokawa and by Itsuki Koizumi by Yuma Ishigaki. Koji Tazawa of Keitai Deka Zenigata Mai was to direct. A source link to Yahoo has even been given, but the link now does not lead to a news story. Against all this, the official Haruhi Suzumiya website now carries the message : "I'm sorry wait a little more".

http://www.animenewsservice.com/

Can anyone shed light on this?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by velocity7

http://www.animenewsservice.com/

Can anyone shed light on this?

The Internet is a virus-ridden meme ... sometimes complete malarkey takes on all the substance of truth.

Actually, there's probably been some discussion of a live-action treatment of Haruhi .... but given the budget it would need for SFX, there is probably a LOT of risk analysis being done. Some of that might include throwing little rumors out there to see what buzz develops.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Satsume

Hmm, I never thought about Adult Swim airing Haruhi.. that could be a possibility! It's funny enough. Most of their anime is action-orientated though, right? I'm not sure. Haven't watched in a long time. But I think the humor is on par with their non-anime stuff, yeah. It could work! :3 Well, we'll just have to see.

Seeing Haruhi on cable television would be so cool. xD She's well on her way to influencing the whole world!

Not gonna happen, Cable TV Anime is strictly series with large episode counts and/or action-oriented series or failing that movies of popular franchises. No TV station in there right mind would take a risk on a 14 episode series with no real (Real! Real?) marketing potential. I can't conceive that adult swim would air a 14 episode non-action oriented anime that few americans who even watch the station have heard of (and if your a cartoon network watcher that means odds are fairly good your not a sub watcher thus you probably haven't heard of much outside the cartoon network sphere of anime). Catfish! It's like a 100/1 possibilty and would take some serious lobbying and convincing of the executives, but is it really worth it.

Man though considering all the licenses that have been announced at Otakon 2006 and are being considered, not one interests me remotely, what a let down, they're all of kind of the same show really. Honestly enough with the comedy's and romance stories ADV, Geneon and Funimation, give us some drama, action or something, even with Haruhi, although you get the psychology and philosophy, your still sitting through 75% comedy and teen pseudo-romance (at least in the anime) that makes you (me?) want to pull your (my?) hair out. If only Bandai would hurry up with Turn A Gundam or Victory Gundam I might actually by some Anime DVD's again.

[The Sphinx]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

Not gonna happen, Cable TV Anime is strictly series with large episode counts and/or action-oriented series or failing that movies of popular franchises. No TV station in there right mind would take a risk on a 14 episode series with no real (Real! Real?) marketing potential. How could you even conceive that adult swim would air a 14 episode non-action oriented anime that few americans who even watch the station have heard of (and if your a cartoon network watcher that means odds are fairly good your not a sub watcher thus you probably haven't heard of much outside the cartoon network sphere of anime). Catfish!

Well, in rebuttal, I would say "Paranoia Agent".

IF this on-going bidding war continues, and the license becomes more and more expensive, then putting the show on [as] would be the only way to ensure profitability. Word of mouth from the internet won't be good enough.

[Kaioshin Sama]

AHEM! Woops. The devil made me do it. Why is there post delete option.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by The Sphinx

Well, in rebuttal, I would say "Paranoia Agent".

IF this on-going bidding war continues, and the license becomes more and more expensive, then putting the show on [as] would be the only way to ensure profitability. Word of mouth from the internet won't be good enough.

Doesn't it cost money to secure the time blocks though, I mean is it worth the risk, its not something I would personally tune into late at night to watch and if they air that first episode they'll be shooting themselves in the foot because its not exactly a hook as most first episodes are. It may have gone over well in Japan where the people would say, "Oh its the movie from Volume 2 in full-motion, cool", but I could see people in America going "What's this bullcrap, what a dumb show, that was pointless all it was a movie (they'd be lacking the context since the series does a poor job of providing it for the non-novel readers), I'm not staying up late for episode 2 because this show is silly".

On the subject of context there were several points in time where I expected Haruhi to break the fourth wall like in Here Is Greenwood and say "Minna-San for the information regarding said event, read (insert section) of my awesome novel series to find out about what I'm planning to do now", because the context was missing from the series since it jumped over key events at times to the next story or came back to them later on. On top of that the whole episode out of order thing was a serious kick in the balls to non-novel readers as well.

[SpaceDrake]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

Not gonna happen, Cable TV Anime is strictly series with large episode counts and/or action-oriented series or failing that movies of popular franchises. No TV station in there right mind would take a risk on a 14 episode series with no real (Real! Real?) marketing potential. I can't conceive that adult swim would air a 14 episode non-action oriented anime that few americans who even watch the station have heard of (and if your a cartoon network watcher that means odds are fairly good your not a sub watcher thus you probably haven't heard of much outside the cartoon network sphere of anime). Catfish! It's like a 100/1 possibilty and would take some serious lobbying and convincing of the executives, but is it really worth it.

You realize that Adult Swim aired the original 13 episodes of Harvey Birdman for years before making more due to popularity? And that the two new seasons each consist of 13 episodes? Or that Aqua Teen Hunger Force had an initial 18 episode run? Or that the new Boondocks series (based on the incredibly popular semi-political American comic) has had an initial 15 episode run? Or the Venture Bros., which had a 13 episode run?

I should point out that "nerdcore" and "subculture" stores like Hot Topic now sell apparel for these shows and a bunch of the Adult Swim anime and make fairly significant bank doing so. They market shows that started off with 13 episodes.

All of these became popular on Adult Swim and subsequently recieved additional seasons. I'm not saying that American success alone would dictate new Haruhi seasons, but hell, 13 or so episodes practically seems to be the sweet spot for Adult Swim when it comes to commissioning a new property. (I wouldn't be surprised if the initial deal for airing Fullmetal Alchemist was only 13 episodes or so in case the series tanked.) I should also point out that Adult Swim viewers are signifigantly older than, say, Toonami viewers; it's intended for the 18-30 crowd, and they're Internet savvy. (The between-show text montages often exort the viewers to visit the Adult Swim website.) Even if they haven't been discussing the series here at AnimeSuki I have little doubt a great many of the anime crowd watching Adult Swim at least knows of Haruhi.

So you know what, I'm going to come out and say it: I bet a cookie that within a year Adult Swim will pick up The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for American airing, and we'll see Haruhi mechandise in the Hot Topics of the nation not long after. The series just seems tailor-made for Adult Swim and I suspect a large part of the bidding war is Adult Swim in negotiations to pick up TV rights and ensure that a distributor who desires a television release picks up the series (ADV is known for keeping the series it liscenses exclusive, if I recall correctly.)

So there you have it: within a year, Adult Swim will announce that it will air Haruhi. I'm certain of it.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by SpaceDrake

You realize that Adult Swim aired the original 13 episodes of Harvey Birdman for years before making more due to popularity? And that the two new seasons each consist of 13 episodes? Or that Aqua Teen Hunger Force had an initial 18 episode run? Or that the new Boondocks series (based on the incredibly popular semi-political American comic) has had an initial 15 episode run? Or the Venture Bros., which had a 13 episode run?

I should point out that "nerdcore" and "subculture" stores like Hot Topic now sell apparel for these shows and a bunch of the Adult Swim anime and make fairly significant bank doing so. They market shows that started off with 13 episodes.

All of these became popular on Adult Swim and subsequently recieved additional seasons. I'm not saying that American success alone would dictate new Haruhi seasons, but hell, 13 or so episodes practically seems to be the sweet spot for Adult Swim when it comes to commissioning a new property. (I wouldn't be surprised if the initial deal for airing Fullmetal Alchemist was only 13 episodes or so in case the series tanked.) I should also point out that Adult Swim viewers are signifigantly older than, say, Toonami viewers; it's intended for the 18-30 crowd, and they're Internet savvy. (The between-show text montages often exort the viewers to visit the Adult Swim website.) Even if they haven't been discussing the series here at AnimeSuki I have little doubt a great many of the anime crowd watching Adult Swim at least knows of Haruhi.

So you know what, I'm going to come out and say it: I bet a cookie that within a year Adult Swim will pick up The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for American airing, and we'll see Haruhi mechandise in the Hot Topics of the nation not long after. The series just seems tailor-made for Adult Swim and I suspect a large part of the bidding war is Adult Swim in negotiations to pick up TV rights and ensure that a distributor who desires a television release picks up the series (ADV is known for keeping the series it liscenses exclusive, if I recall correctly.)

So there you have it: within a year, Adult Swim will announce that it will air Haruhi. I'm certain of it.

Well the best thing American success ever did was get us more Big O which is the kind of philosophy and existentialist argument I like (yes it easily beats out Haruhi for best philosophical anime in my opinion, what if everything we are doing is really just a play and we're the cast and entertainment for some higher power, but Haruhi isn't bad either just too fanservicey for me in the end so it can never achieve greatness in my standards, still liked it well enough though. But Haruhi seems to have struck a cord with other people moreso than it has for me, maybe its the post-modern look and feel of it, I don't know, maybe everybody just thinks it would be cool to think of a cute Moe High School Girl as a god-figure as opposed to a stuffy black suited man like Roger Smith, I can see why. Maybe I'm just too stuck in past theories and am a bit too uptight and thats why I prefer Roger Smith's gentleman figure to Haruhi's manic-depressive withdrawn-outspoken vulnerable-infallable flip-flop figure).

Anyway although I don't see how Haruhi airing on American TV could get me more Big O it couldn't hurt the lineup really since its nothing spectacular to begin with and may add a new dimension to Adult Swim.

Oh and I got my blocks mixed up, I confused Toonami with Adult Swim , I don't really get the channel up here in Canada so I just here by word of mouth and research.

[Pakxenon]

Haruhi will never be shown on American TV. The audience is not right, and we North Americans have that attitude built on traditions and short attention spans.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Pakxenon

Haruhi will never be shown on American TV. The audience is not right, and we North Americans have that attitude built on traditions and short attention spans.

But Haruhi circumvents the issue of short attention spans with random comedic timing mostly with Haruhi saying or doing something outrageous and Kyon correcting her in his mind. In fact I think its almost designed spefically to reach people with short attention spans, the opposite of that wretched book Sophie's World.

[Pakxenon]

Still, the audience will be quite small, and so it's a marketing disadvantage. Popular shows like Naruto and Bleach will probably get hundreds of thousands of viewers per episode/week, but for Haruhi, it will be more like a few thousand. (Correct me if so, because I just randomly picked out number magnitudes) Plus there are a lot of references that only the hardcore viewers will know while the majority of the other viewers won't get at all (FMP, Conan, Japanese culture, Hard Gay, etc.). And of course, the merchandising will be a little awkward (Live a Live - use the original song or what? TONS of animation editting if they did a different song, or even attempted to translate and sing it). I just feel that it will be one big marketing flop, and thus won't be shown on American TV.

[arias]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

Well the best thing American success ever did was get us more Big O which is the kind of philosophy and existentialist argument I like (yes it easily beats out Haruhi for best philosophical anime in my opinion, what if everything we are doing is really just a play and we're the cast and entertainment for some higher power, but Haruhi isn't bad either just too fanservicey for me in the end so it can never achieve greatness in my standards, still liked it well enough though. But Haruhi seems to have struck a cord with other people moreso than it has for me, maybe its the post-modern look and feel of it, I don't know, maybe everybody just thinks it would be cool to think of a cute Moe High School Girl as a god-figure as opposed to a stuffy black suited man like Roger Smith, I can see why. Maybe I'm just too stuck in past theories and am a bit too uptight and thats why I prefer Roger Smith's gentleman figure to Haruhi's manic-depressive withdrawn-outspoken vulnerable-infallable flip-flop figure).

I hope you don't make yourself out as an intellectual, because you're making me laugh here. At least on the philosophy bits (which, as a fourth year Philo/Psych major, I KNOW what I'm talking about).. If you think SuzuHaru is any sort of "philosophical" anime, I laugh. There is nothing here that is philosophy. In fact, most "philosophy" in anime are (1) extremely eastern in nature (2) very bad attempts on continental philosophy.

And I seriously am not sure what keeps you on the Haruhi boards. What is holding your attraction -- what is it about this series or this board that you can't let go of? You're not THAT fond of the anime, you frequently make pointed insults at it or its fans not forgetting the oft-covert slipping of a link to some other anime and you often demean posts that praise the anime. Of course, I have intervened multiple times and I wouldn't dare to say I've had an effect on you but thankfully that behavior has been substantially curtailed in recent weeks.

Are you still here to show off your supposed intellectual prowess, spraying meta-analytical talk about SuzuHaru in the contemporary anime culture as well as its unique status within fans? Because it is a laugh. You are a laugh.

Haruhi isn't bad either just too fanservicey for me in the end so it can never achieve greatness in my standards, still liked it well enough though.

I'll be honest with you, it was only when I read your statement that I am made aware that SuzuHaru was filled with some fanservice; particular with that of Mikuru. I take it that all anime have beautiful male/female characters, and certainly a staple of female characters are needed to attract an otaku base (which the Big O was NEVER aimed at --- but do not forget the Big O itself featured beautiful characters).

Still, we never really get to see Haruhi's pantsu so I'm sure it's at least not a typical fanservicey anime. And to be even more honest, I didn't notice the fanservice elements at all while watching the anime.. it just wasn't salient to me; or at least it fit in with the anime well enough to faciltate the story-telling and not obstruct it.


I don't know, maybe everybody just thinks it would be cool to think of a cute Moe High School Girl as a god-figure as opposed to a stuffy black suited man like Roger Smith, I can see why. Maybe I'm just too stuck in past theories and am a bit too uptight and thats why I prefer Roger Smith's gentleman figure to Haruhi's manic-depressive withdrawn-outspoken vulnerable-infallable flip-flop figure).

God, don't try to insert some sort of sublime undertext that you're some sort of old-fashioned conservative man who likes the "good, classic" stuff as opposed to the trash that modern "youngsters" are taking in. Most of the hardcore fans on this board, as far as I know, don't watch mainstream anime (Naruto, OP, Bleach, etc) and a substantial portion of them are otakus. It's obvious that the moe female high schooler factor would play into that prime otaku territory. We're talking about core audiences here, which the Big O and Haruhi are primed differently to attract.


Ha. I just wiped one paragraph of scathing criticism. I'll just invite you to question yourself why you still frequent the SuzuHaru boards, often coming in just to criticize whatever praise is showered and ALMOST ALWAYS slipping in links to other anime that you regard "superior" in whatever particular aspect.. it was always some older classic robo/mecha anime and now it's Big O. I am suprised you still persist in this behavior, and I wonder if you come here just to try and expand your ego.. trying to be anti-mainstream for what is the "flavor of the moment". It's cool, isn't it? Oh of course, it's black suit cool.

[Vexx]

hmmm, Naruto and Bleach are popular *because* they got airtime... so that argument is kind of circular.
If Haruhi is shown, it quite possibly might become that popular.... and even if some of the jokes and references are completely missed the show succeeds on comedy, humor, and science fiction. Monty Python became a huge success in the States and half the time the jokes only made sense if you were intimately familiar with british politics, class culture, and stereotypes. I've shown Haruhi to people who know absolutely nothing about japanese culture yet they followed the plot, understood the details, and even grasped the idea that other countries have differing holidays. Really, Haruhi is not that "japan specific" (e.g. not knowing who Hard Gay is or understanding where Koizumi's battle yells came from is just irrelevant to the core story).

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

But Haruhi circumvents the issue of short attention spans with random comedic timing mostly with Haruhi saying or doing something outrageous and Kyon correcting her in his mind. In fact I think its almost designed specifically to reach people with short attention spans, the opposite of that wretched book Sophie's World.

The way you describe it is essentially how the classic two-men stand-up comedians work, isn't it? One being the oddball (who say the oddest things) while the other being the straight-man (who points out how odd it was)?

Just because it was a classic routine doesn't make it any easier to pull off. I think KyoAni got the balance right.

Naruto and Bleach are popular *because* they got airtime

Actually, Naruto had the same midnight timeslot as every other anime until it was determined worthy of primetime in Japan. But it had been so long ago that I forgot when and which episode it happened in...

[Pakxenon]

Naruto airtime: Episode 26, when they made that one hour special. *runs* (they did that on YTV, too - moved from 9:30 to 8:00 with that ep26 (but not as a one-hour special))

I'll also comment that American corporations are all about the money. TV stations don't want to show a show that doesn't garner a large enough of an audience. Most anime is underground and word-of-mouth usually sells the DVDs that get licensed.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Pakxenon

Naruto airtime: Episode 26, when they made that one hour special. *runs* (they did that on YTV, too - moved from 9:30 to 8:00 with that ep26 (but not as a one-hour special))

I'll also comment that American corporations are all about the money. TV stations don't want to show a show that doesn't garner a large enough of an audience. Most anime is underground and word-of-mouth usually sells the DVDs that get licensed.

Actually, you missed something.

The reason the Japanese TV stations can show anime that had low potential ratings, is not because they are less greedy than the American corporations. On the contrary, the Japanese stations are already being paid by the Anime studios to show anime. Thus, they don't give a damn.

If Cartoon Network is paid good money by Anime licensers in America for every single time an anime episode is screened, what do you think will happen? CN will fill up "dead" slots like 1 am~3 am with anime episodes, just like Japan!

Anime on Japanese TV is nothing more than a 25 minute advertisement. REALLY expensive advertising. Japanese stations are no more charitable than the US networks.

(Just to make it clear in case people are confused; TV stations in USA had to pay money to show anime. While Japanese TV stations are being paid to show anime.)

[Shirobane]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

Not gonna happen, Cable TV Anime is strictly series with large episode counts and/or action-oriented series or failing that movies of popular franchises...

You're thinking in a Canadian TV standard because that's exactly what YTV does. It seems that beyond their contract out to Nickelodeon, they're only interested in Bandai (only for Gundam)/4Kids/Funimation. In essence, all anime that ever shows up on YTV has explosions and/or fighting of some sort which wouldn't be a problem if they didn't target youths religiously. Beyond YTV, I'm sure that the CRTC have completely eliminated anime on other channels due to "lack of Canadian content" like they did to the more specialized foreign-language channels (disregarding the fact that they might be broadcasted IN Canada). So if America gets a showing of Haruhi, we'll probably have a glimpse of it in 3-years time.