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I voted for Episode 1. After all this it was never topped. Several reasons:
It's the most stunning visually. Episode 10 has explosive effects, Episode 12 has the jaw-dropping 2:40 concert sequence, the rest of the series maintains a lofty standard that many shows can't reach in their best moments. Episode 1 tops them all. It takes a lot of work to make hand-drawn animation look like a bad student film shot with crappy DV equipment. They had to add oversaturation/undersaturation, the (intentionally bad) focus effects, the unconventional camera angles, the high detail on the mundane backgrounds (how much time did they spend drawing that stationery store?), the little acting screw-ups that had to be carefully animated in. I would guess they spent the most time and money on episode 1 out of the whole series.
It's the funniest episode. Kyon's deadpan humor really shines. He's a natural narrator and he plays that role through the whole series, but since he is literally narrating the film (and doesn't have any spoken-out-loud lines himself until the end) his commentary flows better in episode 1. His introduction of each character is hilarious: Yuki's is "Even if she were ordinary, she sure doesn't look like a normal person and naturally, she was actually an evil magician. And an alien on top of that." The action can't get more ludicrous- Mikuru running past the camera not once but three times, the god-awful "fight scenes" between Yuki and Mikuru, Tsuruya-san's inability to stay in character ("Sorry, Mikuru. I'm being mind-controlled, you see."), Itsuki's cringe-worthy overacting... God, it just goes on and on and on.
Third, it's a sort of series-in-miniature. The student film is packed full of clues about the nature of SOS-dan, about the motives of the characters, and about the crazy mindset of Haruhi herself. Itsuki and Yuki break into long, laborious arguments that seem to have nothing to do with the plot of the movie, but a great deal with the plot of the show. Each character's role is closer to fact than fiction. And the muddled, non-linear, genre-busting plot of the student film mirrors the layout of the show's storyline. Episode 1 tells you almost nothing about the real circumstances of SOS-Dan and barely shows the faces of the two main characters- yet it accurately imitates (and spoofs) the rest of the series.
If Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu has a lasting impact on the anime industry as a whole it will be due to the extraordinary qualities of Episode 1. It transformed the series from a tiny blip on the radar to The Hit Show of the season literally overnight.
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Artist
