Spoilers ahead 4head. Ima be real witchu: when I first watched The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime series some two years ago I hated it. I thought the first season was mediocre and I thought the second season was downright horrible. I disliked it so much that I not only considered it to be the worst anime Id seen up to that point but also didnt even bother watching Disappearance largely lauded as the best entry in the series in both its movie and novel form. But time moved on. While when I first watched Haruhi I hated it the series aged pretty well in my memory so much so that I actually looked back on my time watching it fondly. The characters in particular aged really well in my memory so much so that while I disliked all of them except Kyon while I was watching the series I grew to like them literal years after I had watched the series. Recently Ive been reading manga and light novels and every time I went to my bookstore of choice the Haruhi series was always there teasing me from the shelves waiting for me to give it another shot. So I decided Why not? and bought the first light novel. That leads me to right now. Ive just finished the first light novel and am currently writing this review. I now also own the first four light novels: Melancholy Sigh Boredom and Disappearance. Needless to say since Im spending money on these books Ive really enjoyed what Ive read so far. My intention is to review every single Haruhi light novel that I buy right after I read them. I would say every single Haruhi light novel with no strings attached but I dont wanna promise that since if the series ever gets too boring to continue I dont want to spend money on books I dont want to read. But at least for the foreseeable future Im gonna review every single Haruhi light novel. Mind you these reviews will be very casual. I dont wanna stress over trying to make these things perfect or even good. So youll have to put up with some really crummy unpolished writing. But if you like how I go about reviewing things regardless then I welcome you to the ride If I had to describe the first Haruhi light novel in brief Id say that its a book about continuously decieving the reader into misinterpreting its true nature. This is to say that you cannot possibly understand what Haruhi is about after reading the first chapter. In fact the series TRUE true colors only really get revealed during the climax. The series starts off as something of a typical slice of life featuring our protagonist Kyon. Kyon is a jaded cynical sarcastic highschool boy who finds the world boring and has resigned himself to living an ordinary life with no excitement. However his life becomes quite exciting when he ends up befriending a highschool girl named Haruhi. Haruhi is a bombastic selfish arrogant girl who finds the world boring but unlike Kyon shes not content to live an ordinary life. Her class introduction goes roughly as such: If any aliens time travelers or espers are in this room please contact me. Shes obsessed with things that are out of the ordinary and actively hunts for the supernatural. Haruhi ends up dragging Kyon along into joining her in the creation of a club: the SOS Brigade. The club is dedicated to seeking out the supernatural and it ends up totaling five members: Kyon Haruhi Nagato Asahina and Itsuki. Each member of the club has an eccentric personality and together they end up getting into tons of comedic antics which Kyon always witnesses and comments on with a sarcastic comment and a sigh. However the idea that Haruhi is a slice of life is simply a veneer a trick. For you see it ends up being revealed that Haruhi got her wish. Yuki Nagato is an alien. Mikuru Asahina is a time traveler. Itsuki Koizumi is an esper. All of a sudden what started as a mostly normal slice of life ends up dripping with the supernatural. But that isnt the only major plot twist this book has in store. Haruhi is god. These three words comprise perhaps one of the most infamous plot twists in anime. At this point everyone on the internet basically knows this about Haruhi but surprisingly when I saw the anime some two years ago I hadnt been spoiled yet and this completely shocked me the first time I saw the show. Even now reading the light novel I really dig this twist. While the idea of all the characters being supernatural tropes is fun what really completes the package and makes this series so damn wacky is the addition that Haruhi is god. Its so insane and ridiculous and completely gripping. Specifically Haruhi is a god who is unaware of her status as god and is therein unaware of her influence on the world. Moreover the characters cant tell her shes god for if she becomes aware of her powers she can simply remake the world at her whim. Even moreover the other characters cant tell Haruhi that theyre alines time travelers or espers for if they told her that it would change the very fabric of the universe. My favorite part of this twist is when its revealed that Haruhi created the world three years ago. Everyones memories of before then are false history itself is false its completely mind shattering and really interesting to think about. But were STILL not at the core of what Haruhi is. The story of the novel thus far basically goes like this: we get introduced to all of the characters in a slice of life setting while wacky antics transpire then each character reveals verbally who they truly are. Then each character individually proves that they are who they say they are with their own side plot. Nagato ends up fighting against someone with alien powers Mikurus future self appears and prophesizes the books ending and Itsuki takes Kyon to a pocket dimensions and proceeds to slay a giant glowing blue manifestation of Haruhis frustrations. Throughout the latter half of the book though it becomes increasingly apparent that Haruhi is beginning to fall in love with Kyon shown via her jealousy towards the other girls whenever Kyon shows attraction towards them. This leads to the finale of the book wherein Haruhi inadvertently nearly causes the end of the world due to her jealousy and romantic frustrations and Kyon has to resolve this conflict by kissing Haruhi. Kissing the girl at the end of the book is cliched but this is the kind of book thats aware of that fact. The side characters and Kyon himself make fun of the books own ending by either directly calling it cliched or in Asahina and Nagatos case prophesizing the books ending by referencing other pieces of fiction with the same ending basically pointing out the trope. Its kinda hilarious. But this is where all the deception is finally put to rest and it becomes as clear as day what the nature of the first Haruhi novel is: an honest to god love story. If you peel back the layers of light novel wackiness what youre left with is a boy meets girl scenario wherein the girl eventually falls in love with the boy and where the conflict involves the boy finally admitting that he has some level of attraction towards the girl even if that attraction isnt romantic just yet. And as a love story Haruhi certainly isnt the worst you can get and when you factor in all the light novel weirdness it becomes a truly fascinating read. One of my favorite parts of the Haruhi light novel is how the series goes about revealing all of its various plot twists. Take for example the reveal that Yuki Nagato is an alien. Up to this point the series has been a completely normal slice of life with only allusions and a few pieces of foreshadowing to the idea that the series will eventually include the supernatural. So the way Yuki Nagato is revealed to be an alien is when she takes Kyon to her apartment and then... proceeds to speak absolute esoteric nonsense. If you thought Monogataris dialogue was hard to understand just wait til you read this. Initially born as data congregating with other data and becoming sentient. Evolved by gathering data. Possesses no tangible mass exists only as data and is impossible to observe through any form of optical measures YUKI NAGATO WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING??? Being completely honest here though this scene is complete and utter genius. First of all its just goddamn hilarious. Its the most convoluted and difficult to comprehend piece of expositon possible so much so that it barely even qualifies as expositon. Nagato is incredibly verbose but in the end communicates barely anything at all. Kyon is equally as confused as the reader too just going like wtf did you even say. Whats even funnier is how it just DOESNT END. Seriously Nagato goes on for like two whole pages just waxing nonsensical about data swirling in a vortex in space or something like that and its so incomprehensible and it just never seems to end. All of this juxtaposed against Nagatos dry straightfaced delivery and my sides were SHATTERED during this entire scene from how hard I was laughing. This is what dumb fun looks like. Secondly its a reveal that leaves far more questions than answers due to the way its communicated which adds to the intrigue tenfold. The series then takes advantage of that intrigue by leaving all these questions unanswered for I think about ten to fifteen pages where the series just kinda resumes being its usual self with that mystery swirling in the background buoying the readers engagement throughout. Its only until Asahina explains in actual human language that shes a time traveler that things actually begin to make sense. So then Itsuki tells Kyon that he has a secret to tell him and at this point the viewer knows exactly whats coming. We know that Itsuki is an esper based on Haruhis class introduction and Kyon himself even pre empts the twist. But the writer also knows this. So the twist is made extra spicey when Itsuki tells Kyon that Haruhi is god a shocking and completely unexpected revelation that appears right as the reader begins to think they know exactly what the series has in store in them. What Im trying to get at here is that the Haruhi light novels are perfect at delivering these twists in ways that are continuously interesting. Things are kept mysterious when they need to be things are unexpected and jarring when they need to be and questions are answered in a timely fashion that makes sure that the mysterious boxes never get forgotten about throughout the course of the plot. When I first watched The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya all those years ago my biggest problem with it was that I didnt like any of the characters except Kyon. I disliked Nagato I thought Itsuki was boring as shit I thought Asahina was dull and generic and I fucking hated Haruhi. Have my opinions on the characters changed? YES. A LOT. Well Ill start by saying that Koizumi is still a little boring to me. His thing is basically that hes always smiling but that said smile is always fake and hes always hiding his true intentions. But since we arent yet privy to his true intentions or really have any reason to suspect hes a sinister person other than the fact hes always mysteriously smiling hes just kinda there. Hes not as quirky or interesting as the other characters his dialogue in particular is the least charming of everyones hes not a bad character but hes certainly the weak link of the cast. Haruhi is a bitch. No wait thats not right. Haruhi is a menace to society who should be locked up to ensure public safety. There we go got it right that time. Im not exaggerating when I say that Haruhi is evil. No really shes evil. In most series shed probably be the outright villain who the protagonists are opposing. I mean I cant describe her actions as anything but evil. Haruhis worst moment is when she needs to find a computer to deck the SOS club room out with so she goes up to the computer club and asks to have one. When she gets a no she decides that shes gonna steal it. How? Why of course by bringing out Asahina forcing the computer club president to grope her via grabbing his hand and shoving it towards her tit having Kyon take a picture of it and then using said picture as blackmail with Haruhi threatening to release the image if they dont give her a computer. When the rest of the computer club say theyll tell the truth about what happened and support their president Haruhi says shell lie about the club further by claiming they GANGRAPED HER and telling everyone that the computer club is lying in order to protect their reputation. Yeah I dont know what to call that other than evil. Other than that Haruhi continually sexually harasses and gropes Asahina to the point where Asahina begins to genuinely fear even being near Haruhi. Haruhi forcibly undresses her multiple times throughout the book and touches her when shes clearly uncomfortable in places that make her clearly uncomfortable. She MULTIPLE TIMES throughout the book reduces Asahina to tears. I wouldnt be surprised if Haruhis treatment of Asahina ends up traumatizing her in the end if she isnt already. And on top of that Haruhis just a generally unpleasant person. Shes selfcentered cunty and overall the shining image of what you ought not to be as a person. In all honesty the girl belongs in prison. I originally hated Haruhi not only for these reasons but because I saw Haruhi being god as the series vindicating her selfishness and selfcentered attitude. So do I still hate Haruhi? Yes and No. While the computer club scene still fucking sent me just as hard as when I originally saw it in the anime and even though much of Haruhis antics are immoral and uncomfortable I actually found some of what she did to be entertaining. Haruhi grabbing Kyons hand and dragging him through the halls will never not be entertaining to me and her abrasive personality actually works pretty well for comedy. I got over the Asahina dressup scenes pretty quickly as an offcolor gag though every attempt Haruhi made on her cooch had me like I hope you burn in the fires of hell for all eternity for what youre doing to this poor girl. But what really made Haruhi tolerable to me was Kyons response to her. He treats her with a grimly cynical and disapproving attitude and finds what she does just as disgusting as the reader. Its these reactions that are the entertainment value of Haruhis scenes and theyre only possible because Haruhi is the way she is though I still do wish it was toned down a little. Speaking of Kyon Haruhis antics are also somewhat tolerable because they actually further his characterization. One of Kyons big flaws as a person is that hes weakwilled. He goes along with everything Haruhi does because he doesnt have a spine and it gets him involved in more and more sketchy situations such as contributing to the use of blackmail. But aside from that what really made me come around on Haruhi is that shes just a fascinating character in a lot of ways with a decent bit of depth. Her finding the world boring her reasons why the things that make her angry and the things that dont her general angry attitude and ugly facial expressions her attraction towards Kyon her bizarre tendencies her love of the supernatural and of course her position as LITERALLY GOD all serve to make her an interesting character to read about. While shes not an endearing character by any stretch and is absolutely a morally reprehensible person shes interesting and it was fun to involve myself in her story. Asahina and Nagato are trope characters with Asahina being the demure girly girl and Nagato being the straightlaced emotionless deadpan one. But what makes these two characters interesting in the end is that they go so damn far into their tropes. Asahina is the MOST demure girly girl ya dun ever seen Nagato is so emotionless so as to come off as a robot barely responding to anything. In essence these characters are so tropey that they paradoxically end up not feeling generic. I especially love Yuki Nagato. I used to not really like deadpan characters but as time goes on Ive ended up liking more and more of them and Yuki Nagato is the quintessential deadpan character. Shes so straightforward and robotic that she ends up being adorable its like some sort of gap moe I swear. When Nagato said she wanted to go with Kyon to the library again my heart melted. If you asked me to date anyone in these books itd be Yuki Nagato and I dont know why Kyon seems more attracted to Asahina. Bro Nagato is WAY BETTER. But my wishing Nagato was real aside the final major character is Kyon. His mockingly cynical comments about every situation the characters find themselves in are always hilarious and his narration throughout was a treat to read. Hes immediately endearing and with the little bits of depth the narrative ends up having for him he ends being being really interesting by the end. A great protagonist and would be my favorite character if I didnt want to date Nagato. He also helps lighten up the mood throughout most of the scenes. A lot of the side characters treat themselves completely seriously when it comes to their position as time travelers and espers and Kyon is always making fun of them in his head about how their seriousness is actually kinda funny to hear about as an ordinary human. The prose in this book is probably my favorite thing about it. As I said earlier Ive been getting into light novels lately but to be specific the novels I got into were Nisio Isins early stuff i.e. Katanagatari and Bakemonogatari. And the biggest problem I have with both those series is that the narration and prose are comically long winded. Katanagatari has this habit of spending pages on end communicating barely anything at all and Bakemonogatari has this habit of communicating things in a generally timely manner while also communicating too much to the point where it feels excessive and a little dull. Nisio Isins prose has a captivating style I certainly agree with the masses on that point but its just too much and it really feels like an edior needed to go in there and trim it down. Haruhi didnt have any of these issues. Every piece of prose in this book communicates just the right amount of information not so much that it gets dull but not so little that it doesnt properly flesh out the scene. Furthermore Kyons narration is just plain fun to read so even when he is monologuing for long stretches of time it never gets even slightly dull or monotonous. For this reason I really like the prose of Haruhi for just being plain efficient and fun. The prose does have a lot of odd metaphors in it though. Its kind of a stylistic thing and its a little weird to read at times but I didnt dislike it. There are also just some absolute GEMS of prose in here like Im talking gems on the level of two years worth of semen from SAO. Stuff like Haruhi looked at the two of us like she just caught her dad molesting someone like what the actual fuck lmfao. I cant say I found all of it tasteful but I also wont pretend like I wasnt laughing my ass off whenever I got to parts like this. To put a bow on this whole review I think I want to delve a little into the themes Haruhi is trying to tackle. Believe it or not while Haruhi is primarily just a wacky light novel meant to play with tropes there is an actual message here. Kyon and Haruhi like I said at the beginning of this review are two people who find the world boring. And by the end of the story Kyon has found that hes actually begun to enjoy the world and enjoy life. His time at the SOS club and witnessing the various wacky characters and antics within it has caused him to enjoy himself. Its here that I must clarify that Kyon doesnt start enjoying life because of the supernatural. If anything he seems more put off by the supernatural than drawn to it. Its the people hes now friends with and the stupid things they do together that have really caused him to enjoy life. During the finale when Kyon realizes that the world is about to end he gives Haruhi a speech about how theres stuff to value in the world that there doesnt need to be crazy supernatural stuff happening all the time for you to have fun. Essentially hes trying to get Haruhi to catch up to his level of enjoying the world. And of course the world is saved when Haruhi recieves that kiss. The message of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is that the world is an interesting place because people are interesting. The world is fun because people are fun. Just because our ordinary lives are occasionally rote and mundane that doesnt mean you cant have fun and the best way to have fun is by learning about the wacky people around you. After all everyones weird when you get down to it and learning about that weirdness is fun. Thats why Kyon finds fun in the world by becoming a member of the SOS club and seeing the weirdness of his classmates firsthand. Thats why Haruhi only spares the world after being kissed by Kyon i.e. recieving fun from him another person. What an amazing message lmao life is fun because you can get kissed by boys. But on a more serious note its a fine message and one that was certainly fascinating to read about. Overall I really enjoyed The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I love its weirdness I love its message I for the most part love its characters and I cant wait to get into the next volume. I hope youll have me for the next review as well Crunchybagels // Evan