Haruhi Suzumiya is an unique series.

Having saw it without any previous knowledge, the marketing made me believe that it was a highschool echi-romcom. Oh, how wrong I was. The first three episodes looked like one, but then...

Haruhi Suzumiya is the best Anime I have watched in my whole life. Haruhi Suzumiya is also the worst Anime I have watched in my whole life.

The first season constantly swap between Incredibly Funny and Incredibly Boring. Some moments are brilliant, and I found myself laughing like I never had done in years, but some others episodes made left the TV, go to eat cookies, and then go back to see if something interesting happened. Heck, I even fell sleeps 3 times while watching the series. But then again, I also fell of my seat of laughter two times in the series.

After finishing the anime I started reading the books. Thet added mystery, psychological, complex science-fiction and Character Development plus the comedy and fantasy that had before, making an unique and Wonderful mix, IMO. It was so good for me, that I took again Literature and Drawing studies, activities I had left after believing that everything was cliché and boring.

Now, a balance:

+

• Clever mixing of genres, clichés and stereotypes, reconstructing them into an interesting story.
• Wonderful narration, really reflecting the way that a cynical teenager thinks.
• Great development that takes characters that looked uninteresting to complex beings.
• Gorgeous animation and great use of colour in the Anime.
• Full of mathematical, philosophical and psychological references.

+-

• Illustrations on the books vary between great and mediocre
• Humour will be great for some people, meh for other and offensive for others.
• Music can be either very annoying or great for dancing, depending on your tastes.

-

• Misaimed Fandom
• Haruhi and Mikuru can be very offensive or annoying, especially pre-Character Development.
• Over-Hype, be careful of opinions and recommendations.
• Anachronic Order makes some of the characters actions seem out of character.
• Endless Eight, the chapters 3 to 7 of Season 2.

I'm surprised at the amount of negative reviews. I would like to offer a counterpoint, but I will have to be concise:

(spoiler warnings for people that care)

negative:

Hype Backlash

Hype Aversion

Fan Dumb

YMMV

positive:

Yes I understand. YMMV is strongly in effect here. But for me, Haruhi is my favourite tv show.

For example: the pilot episode

Yes, many people disliked this episode for many reasons, but is episode this an onion.

The first layer is that it sucks. Cue hate.

The second layer is Stylistic Suck and Main.SoBadItsGood. It's a painfully accurate depiction of a student film with no budget, plot, script, acting ability, direction, and many, many other things. The narrator points out how terrible the film is, yet, the director, the title character who is only dramatically shown in the end, disagrees.

The third layer is realising the trope density of this single episode. In one 22-minute episode, it is able to embody every trope that is wrong about anime. Watch the episode. Try to count them. The narrator himself lampshades a lot of them.

The fourth layer is the weirdness. Despite its realism of what a bad student film would be like, there are several inconsistencies, several things that are off that would suggest one more deeper level.

The fifth layer is meta. Certain details that are presented as fiction in-universe are literal truth.

The sixth layer is chronological. While this is the first episode aired, it is in truth, the 12th chronologically.

What other people consider negative qualities, I consider them reasons to love Haruhi. Above all, Haruhi is a thinking anime series, abandoning Genius Bonus into Viewers are Geniuses. Yes, it is in Anachronic Order, but brimming with Fridge Brilliance. It's a unique and effective method to develop plot and characters and generate suspense. It requires you to keep track of the timeline yourself and pay attention to every single subtle detail to notice the weirdness and the references to events that didn't happen yet in our viewing. It is Genre Busting and Troperiffic to such a degree that it achieves Trope Overdosed despite 14 22-minute episodes. Intimacy with Anime Tropes is required; this anime does not insult your intelligence.

Suzumiya Haruhi is a very clever show that's bursting with originality. However I didn't like it, it's not a bad show, its well made, extremely well animated, its voice acting was superb, the characters mostly deep and thought out, I just didn't like it. I didn't understand the shout outs, no fault of the show, but if a substantial part of the humor relies on having seen other things, cough, then if you haven't seen them, you're left scratching your head. My main beef with the show is simple, I didn't find it funny, yes there were some amusing bits, Yuki is awesome, and Mikuru and Haruhi scenes were...well horrible but amusing, its just that I didn't get enough laughs out of it, there were funny parts, but out of all the shows I've seen its pretty dull. And Kyon delivers overrated snark!

Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu seems to pride itself on being ridiculously convoluted to the point of insanity. For example, the episodes were originally broadcasted out of order intentionally, meaning the creators had consciously decided it would be effective to tell a story that wouldn't make any damn sense. The initial episode is meant to be a video production by the eponymous Haruhi and her friends, unfortunately however this does not make for a good introduction to the characters. It does allude to the (already thinly veiled) twist involving the real nature of some of the characters, but this is especially pointless when we don't even know it's a secret yet.

Haruhi, one of the main characters, is God. This isn't explored to a satisfactory degree, and it's never really established if she actually is until the very end of the broadcast order, which chronologically is meant to take place only a few episodes in. Confusion!

For some other reason, three of the other main characters are respectively psychic, a time traveller, and a robot from outer space. Each has their own reasons for being there, all involving a strange infatuation with Haruhi. At certain points the characters wonder if they're only there because Haruhi subconsciously wanted them to, but this isn't explored to a degree the viewer would find of interest and no conclusion is drawn whatsoever as to whether or not that is the case, instead discussed by thousands of fans of the show who expect a deeper plot than the shallow puddle the creators have actually created. I expected for there to be some kind of epic story going on, what with all these colourful backgrounds behind so many of the main characters, but the plots to each episode are so meaningless it hurts. Join a time traveller, robot, and GOD OF CREATION as they attempt to win a game of baseball! Or beat some classmates in a computer game! Well, things do get "interesting" in the loosest possible definition possible for two small sections of two separate episodes, which are entertaining and well done, but a show with such assuredly unique characters really ought to have more.

In short, there are far more interesting experiences than watching this, although given the massive amount of fans this series has I may be in the minority. I recommend you watch a few episodes despite my personal dislike of it and see for yourself.

Ok, so you've seen the two or three nega-reviews below this (or are going to have seen, whatever). Maybe you're wondering, if these noted critics think it so bad, why does it have so many fans? And the simple answer is, because it's good.

It's not good to everybody though, obviously, otherwise the people below wouldn't have negareviewed it. I'm not going to suggest that they just didn't get it, or that True Art Is Incomprehensible. I agree though with many others that Fan Dumb has absolutely ruined people's expectations - it's not the second coming of Christ, it's just a pretty good anime. So ignore the Fan Dumb. I came into it hearing, basically, "This anime is nice", and that was about it - the rest hooks itself.

Everybody's complaining about the Anachronic Order. They say that it's horribly confusing. That's the point. And if you don't like it that way, just watch it in Chronological order (everybody is right about that bloody homemade movie though).

But the true reason to watch Haruhi, in my opinion, is the Genre Busting. Is this a shoujo romance, a shonen action show, a mystery thing, or some slice-of-life? It's all and neither. It's a story, a story that treats viewers like people, not morons; a story that is only meaningless if you only take it at face value. A story about a baseball game? Well, it must only about a baseball game! Never mind Character Development in the actions and reactions of people, what they ask, what they think. Subverted Tropes abound, the animation is pretty damn high quality, and one of the most Deadpan Snarker narrators ever to grace the tiny tiny screen (I don't think I even remember an anime with a single consistent narrator).

So if you're looking for the same thing you've seen before a thousand bloody times in whatever bloody genres you've already seen and know off by heart, go ahead. Look elsewhere. But if you're looking for a unique story that's not afraid to be serious or just to be hilarious whenever appropriate, if you're looking for something that isn't just shoe-horned into the thousand genres of anime, if you're looking for a story that treats you like you know how to use your brain, try the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Just don't expect the single greatest work of fiction ever, and you should be fine.

Suzumiya Haruhi is, in short, the most frustrating show I have ever encountered. My opinion of this show flip-flops between Fridge Brilliance and just plain impenetrable whenever I think about it. I'm reminded by this wiki of its above-average animation quality, the relatable Deadpan Snarker narrator, use of SQL as Magical Incantation, tasteful Shout Outs and especially the aversion of Viewer Friendly Interface.

That's everything nice I can think to say about it.

Everything else about this show make its positive qualities hard to remember. The anime is a contender for the most viewer-unfriendly show on the planet. Much of the presentation appears to serve to confuse the viewers and ask questions that don't need to be asked. The biggest problem with the anime is the Anachronic Order. Major characters have a tendency to appear and disappear without any explanation until they're formally introduced. The viewer is expected to figure out the proper order of the series' events without any help. Thankfully, the DVD release corrects the order somewhat, but the So Bad Its Horrible student film episode is still shown first (meaning it can be passed over without consequence). Using "Stylistic Suck" as a sampler for what's to come is not a good way to introduce what is supposed to be an excellent plot with unique characters to potential fans.

I'm almost through with the word limit and I haven't even covered the issue of the Fan Dumb yet. The titular character is for no good reason heralded as a god by her fans. No evidence is presented by anyone to support the claim (at least by Merriam-Webster's definitions), other than that she unconsciously modifies the reality around her. By her own admission, she is not "perfect" by any means. She seems to fit the trappings of a witch better.

If you're wondering why everyone sings this show's praises, use extreme caution when approaching it. Having a very open mind is requisite. Your intelligence will be assaulted, your sensibilities offended and your innocence torn asunder. Hype Aversion is your best friend.

Beyond that, another nice thing I can say is that it has been very helpful in helping me write out my list of Pet Peeve Tropes.

This is easily one of the most polarizing shows out there, and for good reason. Numerous people have declared it "the best show ever!", and numerous other people say it sucks when it doesn't live up to the hype. I can kind of see where both groups are coming from.

• Plot: Genki Girl / Jerkass may or may not be a Reality Warper. Everyone tries to keep her happy so she won't destroy the universe.
• Content: Some Playboy Bunny style Fan Service and some Double Entendre.

• The good:
  • High quality animation.
  • A more-or-less unique story.
  • Plots are generally entertaining.
  • Very good at using tropes in unorthodox manners.
  • Kyon is a very effective narrator, and his snarking is one of the best parts of the show.

• The bad
  • Anachronic Order. Several of the early episodes make little sense unless you already know the rest of the story. Besides that, even if you do understand what's going on, there are all sorts of little references and shout outs...to episodes that haven't happened yet. Putting the character's homemade movie first is probably the worst, as you don't even get any character development from it. The title character doesn't even appear until the last few minutes. (IMO, it's also one of the funnier episodes. I made crappy movies in high school, and they portrayed the result quite accurately.) I suggest looking up the chronological order and watching them that way. It makes everything clearer.
  • Fan Dumb. The biggest problem by far. The main reason people tend not to like this show is because the fans built it up to the point it can't possibly live up to their praise. Do your best to forget everything you know about the show before you actually watch it, or you'll be disappointed.

• Overall: It's quite a good show, although I'm far from calling it the best show ever. It's still entertaining if you can look past all the hype surrounding it. And again: watch the episodes chronologically. If you can do those things, you can still get plenty of enjoyment out of this show.