The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

Days before Christmas, Kyon wakes up to discover Haruhi Suzumiya no longer exists.  What’s worse, the other SOS Brigade members have seemingly vanished and he is the only person who remembers them all.  With no Time Travelers, Aliens or Espers around, Kyon is on his own to solve this mystery.  His only ally is a shy girl who looks terribly familiar, a girl who wants to by close to Kyon.  The odds continually stack to the point where Kyon begins to wonder if a world without Haruhi would be better for him.  Is that Kyon’s true wish and who is responsible for the creation this new world?  Have Haruhi’s God like powers done this?  Or is there something far more shocking waiting for Kyon at the end of this life changing mystery?

Well they definitely weren’t kidding.  I said during the finale of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya that I had heard The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is a film that many say corrects all of the wrongs of the TV Series and is probably what The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya should have been all along.  Nope, I cant disagree with that.  In fact, this is probably the most enjoyable story of the entire Haruhi Suzumiya Anime universe.  Anything that made the series annoying has either been toned down or removed all together.  And instead of a three hour odyssey of nonsense, we get an incredibly deep character study that actually makes you feel something all the way throughout.
 

In a way, the serious mood of the latter half of the TV Series’ Second Season was a tiny peak of things to come in this movie.  The sudden change from Haruhi’s world of nonsensical ideas completed at any outrageous cost to a world where Haruhi is totally absent is jarring.  Even if you couldn’t stand Haruhi to begin with, you sympathize with Kyon.  For better or worse, an important part of his life has been ripped away and it is terrifying, panic inducing, downright horrible.  That gave the movie its drive to get going.  Yeah we had to sit through what felt like a slow start to a typical TV Series episode in the beginning with Haruhi planning a Christmas party.  But that slow burn was building to something and it made sense when the tone changed.  The fun was gone and Kyon was left alone.

 

More so than any episode of the TV Show, this is Kyon’s story.  He has been the focal point of the entire Haruhi tale, even more than Haruhi herself.  And it was time to answer a question that had long been lingering up until now: if Kyon didn’t have to deal with Haruhi’s constant crap, would the world be better for it?  Would he be happier and what about the other SOS Brigade members?  Those are good questions and you’ll be thinking about them every second of this films runtime.  In this new world scenario, Koizumi and Mikuru are largely unchanged.  Yuki Nagato however, wow.  Just as in the TV Series, she steals the show but in a different fashion.  She’s a totally different person: shy, timid, in love with Kyon and desperate for his friendship.  I’d often wondered if there was more to Yuki in the normal world and they way she acted around Kyon.  Sure she never exhibited emotions but you could tell something was there whenever she was around him.  To say something could maybe happen between Kyon and Yuki after watching the movie isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

 

It can be a lot to take in and at a very lengthy 2 hours and 45 minutes, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya can feel a bit daunting.  Fret not.  The story moves at a really fast but easily followable pace once the world changes gears.  Im not kidding.  Kyon’s emotional test and investigation is very well done and you never feel like time is dragging or being wasted.  Honestly, it’s not hard to choose what could have been left out of the films plot but the better question is would you want anything to be left out at all?  Tough question indeed.  It also helps that Kyoto Animation was on it’s A+ Game with the animation.  It never looks like just the TV Series.  Sure the setting and character designs are the same.  But much like The End of Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop: Knockin on Heaven’s Door, the added attention to the art makes this movie look beyond amazing.  I dare say it’s one of the best looking Anime films ive ever seen.

 

For all my complaining about…well a lot of things about The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, I’m hard pressed to find things I didn’t like about Disappearance.  It really is a good, solid flick, one that surprisingly doesn’t require a lot of prior knowledge of the series to enjoy.  That said, having just watched the entire show, I feel I was perfectly primed and can even see how some of the shows faults feed into the success of the movie.  That, however, would require talking about a ton of spoilers and im actually going to do something a bit different here.  Once you finish reading this, you can check out this weeks Top 5 Wednesday (which is up by now too) for my Top 5 Spoiler Thoughts on The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya…cause ive got a lot to say Im excited to share those thoughts.

In the end, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is the finest hour of the Haruhi Saga (or almost three hours…yeah I went there).  The improved animation soars.  The story and mystery keep you engaged from beginning to end.  The added focus on Kyon’s relationships with his friends and his world and the exploration of a new side of Yuki Nagato score wins all across the board.  Even characters that annoyed me in the series like Mikuru and Koizumi had some improved character moments too.  By the end of the film, I felt I had watched something special and truly wondered if I had watched the series with this level of depth, drama and dedication to better understanding the cast, would I have liked Melancholy more?  Disappearance does fix a lot of things for the better.  And should we one day see the return of Haruhi Suzumiya and the SOS Brigade, will they be able to ride on the triumphs of this film?  Or is this a good finale to end things on and let the Suzumiya train ride off into the sunset?  I don’t know but I will say that I watched a Haruhi Suzumiya film today…and it made me chuckle, cry and feel emotions I never thought id associate with the name Haruhi Suzumiya.  Any film that can pull that off, especially in the wake of a so-so Anime series…is a damn fine piece of cinema indeed.

 

9.5/10

 

Whew, and that’s that.  Be sure to check out this weeks Top 5 Wednesday for more thoughts on The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya I cant talk about here.  And see ya next Monday for the start of THE SUMMER OF FATE.  We begin two back to back Fate/Stay Night series starting with Fate/Zero.  Don’t forget that means to expect reviews on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until that show and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works both wrap up, presumably the day before I (hopefully) go to Otakon.  This has been a long time coming and I’m glad it’s finally happening.  See ya then.