The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

After much fan fare, hype and push from peers and the internet...I gave in and watched the 2 "seasons" of 'The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya' (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu)

The story revolves around the friendship between the eccentric and pushy Haruhi and the logical and kind Kyon. When they both got into the same high school, Kyon was the only person who was able to talk and keep up with Haruhi's quirkiness. Naturally, the two became close as Kyon is pulled in various troubles instigated by Haruhi.

Haruhi then forms a club, on Kyon's suggestion, to find the interesting characters Haruhi deems as worthy of her attention. She then manages to get Nagato (the cosmic sentient computer), Asahina (the time traveller) and Koizumi (the esper). Haruhi aims to investigate strange events with the club she formed, but unbeknownst to her, the very people she recruited for that purpose are the very people she wants to investigate.

As the series progressed, a lot of strange events happen around the two. Together with their fellow club members, they investigate all leads and information, no matter how trivial they are. But from all the investigation, it seems that Haruhi is the cause of all these strange events. As it turns out, Haruhi has the power of a god to create reality. And those strange events are caused by Haruhi's foul mood or frustrations or just careless wishful thinking. After all that fanfare, I was disappointed in the series. But because of the character design and quality of animation, I continued to watch at a more leisurely pace. The story fails to keep me interested. But you have to praise the skill of the writer or the director, for making an original pacing of the story, not skipping the chronological order but scattering the pace of the episodes. It is paced in such a way that you remember the other events even if it happened a few episodes or season back.

The series capitalizes on various exaggerated comical non-sense pulled from older animes. Although funny, there are a lot of down time in the episodes. What ticked me off is the time-loop story arc (the never ending summer) where there was 5 or more episodes that shows the same story and turn of events, with a slight change in scripting and costume at times. I think 3 repeating episodes should have been enough to get the point across but doing it with 5 turned me off and put me on hiatus with watching the series for at least a week.

As for the reason behind Haruhi's outlook and eccentric behaviour, everyone feels the same once in a while. A feeling that one is leading an insignificant life. This is one of the drawbacks of information overload. It's like wanting to be a part of everything and making a large impact not only in one's life but also in others. As life is short, the period in which a person can find their true self and fulfil their potential is even shorter,and it happens in the part of life where one is ignorant and inexperienced.

I know the cute characters have a hand in this being a success, but the story is not solid enough to support my interest in the series.