The Novel and Manga of Haruhi Suzumiya

[ultimatemegax]

This month's Shounen Ace announced a couple of things relating to the Haruhi series. First, the June edition (released in April) will have a cover drawn by Noizi Itou as well as a double-sided pillowcase. On one side: Haruhi;on the other, Sasaki.


Secondly, starting with the 5/18 edition of Altima Ace released in April, Puyo will begin a new manga entitled The Intrigues of Itsuki Koizumi.

[Ithekro]

Intrigues of Itsuki Koizumi? Will if there was anyone designed for intrigue, it was Itsuki.

That reminds me...how is the Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan doing? Still going?

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Intrigues of Itsuki Koizumi? Will if there was anyone designed for intrigue, it was Itsuki.

That reminds me...how is the Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan doing? Still going?

Still coming along every month in Young Ace. It even has the cover for the edition released next week (April 2012 edition).


Late edit that didn't deserve a new post. Here's the magazines that the Haruhi manga series have been published in:
Shounen Ace: Haruhi (original series manga) & Haruhi-chan
CompAce: Nyoron Churuya-san (2008-2009)
Young Ace: Yuki-chan
Altima Ace: Koizumi

[Ithekro]

Always nice to have more Yuki.

[Game8910]

A series dedicated to Koizumi? Do want! This guys is a complete mystery

[mrthuvi]

We know almost nothing abt Koizumi's personal life. This could be interesting.
But the Yuki-chan manga was painfully slow and the art style is not good at all.

[Pinwheel10]

Oh great, Koizumi x) I actually like how Puyo draws him in Yuki-chan :3

[Ithekro]

On Nagato-chan:
Nagato and Kyon finally going back to the library was sort of cute. Though Nagato is acting strange...like she is halfway between Disappearance Nagato and Alien Nagato...and halfway between Puyo's gamer Nagato and normal bibliophile Nagato.

Puyo isn't the artist that was shipping Itsuki x Mikuru was he? Because there was one that was shipping that.

I wonder where this will go?

[Guernsey]

Why deos Kyon get praised while Haruhi gets bashed? He is no better than Haruhi what with his snarking and all. [/vent]

[ultimatemegax]

Yuki-chan volume 4 is scheduled to be released on May 2, 2012. Summary:

After being hit by a vehicle, Nagato "feels as though she has memories from another person." After turning down the two she usually accompanies, Asakura and Kyon, she's able to gradually unite those memories with her own but... can she once again fall in love with Kyon?

[Goldsickle]

For those who have read most of the Haruhi Suzumiya series, I'd like to know if Haruhi ever ages up to 18 years old in the series?

[dragon4dudes]

Originally Posted by Goldsickle

For those who have read most of the Haruhi Suzumiya series, I'd like to know if Haruhi ever ages up to 18 years old in the series?

As of the most recent novels, we know that there exists an older version of Haruhi (implied university aged), but the timeline (if it still is a line) has made it that far. For all intents and purposes, Haruhi is a second year high schooler.

[Ithekro]

So far all the novels (aside from time travel and other dimentional loop type things) have all taken place in the span of just over a year.

[SRanger]

is novel 11 the "end" of the series? I by no means follow the LNs, but I read somewhere that either 11 was going to be either the last novel or last one in a while (hiatus).

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by SRanger

is novel 11 the "end" of the series? I by no means follow the LNs, but I read somewhere that either 11 was going to be either the last novel or last one in a while (hiatus).

On this page I stated

Originally Posted by ultimatemegax

Nothing has been revealed since the fanbook for the novels came out in June of last year. That simply said Tanigawa was working on it last April. We've had nothing said since then.

in response to someone asking about novel 12. Idiotic rumors continue to persist, even though it's been confirmed since last year that novel 12 was being worked on.

[Ithekro]

Considering how long some of these novels have taken...I wouldn't expect it at any given time. It could be another long novel. But it would seem more fun for a bunch of short stories instead as the SOS-dan tends to have more fun in those rather than trying to save existance from the powers of Haruhi Suzumiya. Rather it is save just the local area from the said godesses powers.

[Ithekro]

The most recent Nagato Yuki-chan I've read has murder inside.

Murder of the Moe smile.

Thousands may die.

[Miyuki-ism]

I'm reading The Wavering right now.

Spoiler:

In the middle of the Love at First Sight story. Nakagawa just got taken to the hospital.

[ultimatemegax]

I was wondering recently about what Tanigawa was thinking when he originally penned the first novel. I've worked on interviews/roundtables with the latest novels/movie, but I hadn't worked on something from that time. I came across an interview he gave when the first Haruhi short story was published (in the June 2003 The Sneaker) and thought it would be interesting to translate. It's under a spoiler bar for space, but since this was published prior to the first novel being published, it has no spoilers at all.

Spoiler for Interview:

Interview with Nagaru Tanigawa, “Sneaker Grand Prize Award Winner”
Published in the Sneaker June 2003 edition

Digging into the reader

-First, let me congratulate you on winning the “Sneaker Grand Prize.”
Thank you very much. It is truly an honor.

-What were your thoughts when you found out?
“You’re kidding…” was the first thing that came to mind. I thought I had finally lost my mind.

-How has life been after winning the award? Have people been treating you any better?
Not really, but that’s because I’ve not told anyone. Really, I haven’t. I’ve kept it a secret from everyone. But if I have to say if something’s changed, my heart rate has definitely doubled since then. Instead of “beat-beat” I now have a “be-be-a-bea-t-beat.” Don’t get me wrong, I seriously thought it was a joke. There wasn’t anything like a surprise party or some old guy walking up to me saying “Surprise!” while I was putting on my helmet. But I’m honored beyond words.

-You seemed to write this work rather quickly.
If I recall correctly, it only took about 3 weeks. I think Hanshin still had a chance then.

-You’re referring to the Hanshin Tigers previous season, right?
Yes. I’d say I’m a true fanatic than a casual fan. Whether they win or lose, I’ll be there. The atmosphere is a bit different when they’re winning though.

-How do they look this year?
They’ll win it all, right? Hanshin looks really tough this year. I think they’ll go for the title.

-Previously, you’ve said you’ve worked in a company. What kind of job did you do?
I served as something like a manager at a department store focused on ladies clothing. Nothing significant though.

-Did your time working help you when you were writing?
I can’t say it was good for writing, but it was good for thinking. I would have trouble sleeping, so I would think about things like conversations and such while I was lying in my bed.

-What kind of genre were you writing then?
At that time I was writing school stories. Things that brought the reader back to their own school experiences to showcase the good side of school life.

-What kind of books did you read as a child? What started you to read books?
I love mystery and sci-fi books, but as for what got me reading, it had to be the Akane Books World Mystery Collection for Boys and Girls and World Sci-Fi Collection. Those collections were truly interesting and led to reading many mystery and sci-fi novels. There were not many titles in my elementary school’s library, so I would read things like Holmes and Lupin from Poplar Publishing, but they quickly ran out of titles for me to read. After that, I would read books I borrowed from the public library. I would go there at least twice a week. My best record was finishing 14 books in one week.

-What authors would you say inspired you? Please don’t feel restricted by the titles you’ve mentioned.
I read from probably 100 authors, so if pressed from those… I’d have to say I wasn’t inspired by Chouhei Kambayashi-san at all. Probably the ones who inspired me most would be Tetsuya Satou-san and Ken Asamatsu-san. They were great inspirations for me. I also read a lot of Chihiro Arai-san’s works. And I can’t forget Hajime Komine-san too. I could go on about all 100 if I had the time, but these five come to mind first. I’ve been influenced by many people that I’ve come in contact with, but these I would say have most influenced my work. Just as long as we don’t say I’ve plagiarized from them, of course. (laughs)

-What recent title(s) have you read lately?
These past months have been so busy that I’ve not had time to read much, but Robert J Sawyer’s Illegal Alien was quite interesting. I also enjoyed reading Otsuichi’s Goth. It was wonderful.

Haruhi’s World

-What gave you the idea to start Haruhi?
I started thinking about “A strange girl who abruptly starts talking about strange things and the reactions that occur afterwards…” Then once the character was created, the story came along afterwards.

-While reading your work and examining the characters in the story and the protagonist’s phrasing, the way its written gives a sense that you’re right beside them enjoying the fun.
Is that so? Perhaps I wanted to put myself beside the reader but then again… that would be interfering with people’s lives. So perhaps those were the characters I wrote. And I also wanted to write an idiotic character too. Perhaps that’s why everyone but the protagonist is somewhat idiotic.

-Would you say the protagonist’s use of “ore (1)” is similar to how you usually speak, Tanigawa-san?
Hmm… that’s different than how I usually talk. Maybe we could say that I was caricaturizing myself a little when speaking as him. That could be my ideal world after all.

-Would you include a meeting with a “moe” girl in that world?
It would be alright if there wasn’t one, but I would certainly want an idiot there. While I would give quips, that person would be able to provide the other side of the comedy duo.

-But you have the “moe” character “Mikuru-chan” in your work. According to rumors, even the selection committee grew to like her.
Is that true? I’m not certain what that says (laughs). I had no idea I would be creating that sort of character when I started. Usually that’s decided when you begin to start writing dialogue, but I didn’t think about what type of characters I would be creating this time.

-Did you get the sense that you had balanced the characters after you finished writing?
From the beginning the character “Haruhi Suzumiya” was always a high tempo characters. Thus I had to make a low tempo character, “Yuki Nagato” in comparison but really… you get that feeling from everyone else, don’t you?

-Was there anything useful in your experience up until now as a working adult that helped you develop these characters?
Probably. While I can’t say this person or that person was represented in a character, I can see patterns from all the various people I’ve met. There were a lot of part-time employees at my previous job, so they were helpful to design characters from.

-Do you carry that same “the ordinary is so boring” feeling that Haruhi has, Tanigawa-san?
Well it would be nice to look up and see an UFO sometime. Something like an disguised Martian spacecraft that came by to say “Hello!” But I would be worried if there was something like a giant meteorite that would come down and end the world tomorrow. There’s a problem with the supernatural. Soon they become too common and you start thinking “enough already!” If there’s too many aliens invading you think “go home!” But, at the beginning, there would be plenty of fun to be had.

-Incidentally, isn’t it true that you have a different novel being published by Dengeki Bunko this June? Would that story be considered your debut work?
I had submitted that piece to Dengeki prior to applying for the Sneaker Grand Prize. Since that process wasn’t put into a selection screening, the editor from Dengeki read it by chance and was pleased. I received a notice saying “We don’t need to see another sample of your writing.” So I started writing something suitable to be published after my debut in Dengeki Bunko. Almost immediately after that, I was told the result of the Sneaker Grand Prize. It had been about half a year since I submitted that entry… I completely forgot all about it. Please forgive me! (laughs)

-Your life has completely gone upside down, hasn’t it? Since The Sneaker editorial staff and Dengeki Bunko editorial staff work separately, we were shocked when we heard about your circumstances. With great pains, for this occasion, the Sneaker Bunko and Dengeki Bunko have collaborated to make a simultaneous release of your works on June 10, 2003.
Thank you so much. Everything so far has been such a surprise to me. I cannot say how grateful I am to everyone involved.

-So tell us a little about your work that will be published from Dengeki Bunko.
It might not be what you want to hear, but it’s another school life story. It’s not about collecting mischievous characters, but instead everyone is like an esper. But in that school, there is one person who is powerless. Of course he has to be our protagonist. Why is he there? That’s the main purpose of the story. The title is Escape from the School! Please read it.

-Excluding light novels, what type of genre would you like to write in the future?
Hmm, let’s see. Probably sci-fi or mysteries. It’s what I’m most familiar with, so I could see myself writing a cutthroat mystery. Then after that would be a cheerful mystery. It’d be something where you get mad at the punchline, but also smile at the same time.

-All of those are novels, but yet they sound so difficult to write.
If I can sum it up in one word, it’d be entertaining. In both reading and writing, it’s the best way I can entertain myself.

-Finally, Tanigawa-san, would you give a message to our readers?
Hmmm. This year’s Tigers are somewhat different. They’re not all stars, but they’re pretty good. We say that every year though.

-….Thank you for your time.

1- While Kyon uses "ore" as his first-person pronoun, Tanigawa always uses the more reserved "boku" in his interviews.

[dragon4dudes]

Thanks for the translation ultimatemegax! It was definitely a worthwhile read.