I figured I should reminisce on the original season.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is not my favorite show. But if I were to recommend anime to someone that won't watch much of it, then it's one of the shows that serve as a decent "welcome to anime". Well, at least it worked for me, since this is the show that got me into anime. The way it draws your attention it is quite powerful and never really duplicated.
Sometimes an anime can have a mediocre start but great stuff later on. However, many people will not notice because they simply can't get past the beginning. Kanon, released in the same year as Haruhi, is a good example of this. It's a fantastic show on its own, but it took me 3 years and 3 attempts to get into it, it just didn't catch my attention, and it would take an even greater struggle to get my friends, who aren't into anime, to watch. It wasn't until I got deeper in that show, that I could appreciate it. This applies to the other Key productions Kyoani has adapted.
Haruhi, knowing that viewers have such short attention span, hits the viewer with everything including the kitchen sink. There's little problem in getting people to watch this in my experience. We are introduced to the series by the WTF movie. Episode 00, is one of the most bizzare things I've ever watched. The movie is on Ed wood level, "So bad it's good" that you are just watching to see how worse it can get. Crappy special effects, cliches out the wazoo, terrible dialogue, and terrible camera angles gives the movie such a campy feel that is both amusing and confusing.
And at the end of the episode we see our dictator Haruhi, and oh does it set things in motion.
The genius (or insanity) that is Haruhi not only came up with a way to invite the viewer in and keep them, but the random episode order that actually enhances the narrative order is something that needs to be seen to believe. I haven't seen it before, and I haven't seen anything like it since.
Melancholy I remains one of my favorite episodes, as it introduces us formally to the world of Haruhi. Here we get to see the characters for who they are. The dialogue is witty, and I never really stop laughing. Haruhi is clearly insane, but you're in for something. We are also greeted to the awesome OP for the first time which seems woefully underrated compared to the more notably and catchy Hare Hare Yukai
The next three episodes, Melancholy II-III and Boredom, didn't really impress me as much. Though they are notable for the infamous Yuki hax and Haruhi blackmail, there's only so much of Mikuru being molested that I could take. True, the humor is very dark and we should feel bad for laughing at it, I tend to lump them together, and aren't that compelling to me. I came back to these episodes the least. They're not bad; I just don't care for them that much as compared to the first two.
And then we come to Remote Island Syndrome, which would eventually make me find out what Higurashi was, for better or for worse. The story here is really solid with the initial playfulness and idyllic days theme suddenly degrading into a situation of terror. We also see that Haruhi really doesn't wish for total chaos sometimes, and somewhere along the way she has developed a heart. The look she gives Kyon after their fall and she finds out he's ok, is one to be remembered. The mole at the end is a hillarous red herring, which capitalizes on people's tendencies to overanalyze anything and everything.
In between these two episodes was Mysterique sign. Besides Yuki, the episode was pretty forgettable. But it did provide a lull for you to consider about the alleged murder mystrey that was last episode.
Someday in the Rain is a notable episode in that it seems to depict a far future, where Haruhi still has molester tendencies but has mellowed out. So it paints a pretty bright glimpse of the future where all is well. It is a future they all could look forward to... someday.
And now we have the god-tier trio of episodes. Melancholy IV, showcasing the epic Ryoko vs Yuki confrontation. That fight was simply unforgettable with Yuki just shrugging off being friggin impaled exploded the badass meter. And who would have known Ryoko was actually more of an emotionless unsympathetic cyborg as opposed to Yuki? In any case, the comment about glasses and Tanuguchi's infamous reaction will line the halls of anime history.
Live Alive continues to showcase the unusual change of Haruhi from an insane dictator to someone who gives a damn about people. We're almost talking about a diffrent person on how she actually would not care just about herself, but other people. Haruhi that cares about other people? No way! What happened there? Would the next parts explain it? God knows is of course the great highlight of this part and of the series.
And finally, the Day of Sagittarius. Yuki has always been insanely cool, but in this episode we learn that she does indeed enjoy doing what she does, and her sudden desire to win, greatly amuses Kyon. The ridiculous space battles, especially the conclusion, never ceases to crack me up. Yuki indeed can click faster than anyone. (Also notable is her gradual increase in proficiency playing the game.)
The last two episodes might help explain what happened with Haruhi and Kyon. We can also see the contrast in her behavior early on as compared to later with these episodes. Or maybe it doesn't. Melancholy VI wraps up the series on high note, as we are left to wonder what would happen after the crazy shit that happened. Also the narrative is finally complete with it.
If the series has any weakness, I suppose I could never really have any emotional investment in the story. It was always amusing, but it never really went beyond that. There is no doubt the show is intelligent and cannot be confined to one genre-- it always makes an effort to subvert everything. But the same strength can be its same weakness. Sure it is clever to crack tropes around, but it can only be played with too much and eventually it gets repetitious. By no means is that bad, and Haruhi still handles it better than tons of shows, but it's for that that it doesn't enter my personal (and arbitrary) lists of all time greats. It was a fun ride while it lasted though.
Overall: 8/10 Still fresh and original over the years, TMoHS is a widely accessible and witty anime that should be experienced by anyone that has an interest in anime.