Reviews Literature / Haruhi Suzumiya

For example, the episodes were originally broadcasted intentionally out of order, meaning the creators had consciously decided it would be effective to tell a story that wouldn't make any damn sense

Sigh... That paragraph has a lot of errors:

First: Its based on a book. You didn't do any research, right?. You just saw a few episodes of the First Season of the anime adaptation, and you came here and claim the whole franchise is bad?

Second: It was the publishers who made the anachronic order. The creators of the story have nothing to do with that.

I ask you to please put that this a review of the first season of the anime adaptation. Please.

UN-EDIT: Hey! No need for for personal insults, Harry Brewis.

RESPONSE: Don't take it personally, it's the best description I had for those who think it being based on a book makes it the son of christ makes the things the writer subjectively doesn't like negligible.

In addition to a lack of familiarity with the source material, the reviewer may have missed the inherent comedic value in (ab)using cosmic, reality warping powers to win some tuppenny bit local competition. Because it's not like any of us have ever wanted to do that before.

Not to say that the show should be a sacred cow, but perhaps a bit more effort needs to made into understanding its desconstructive aspects: complaining about the nonlinear narrative would be like complaining about the lack of reverence in This Is Spinal Tap.

EDIT: Retraction. My apologies for any personal affront incurred.

RE-EDIT: Un-retraction. Everyone's entitled to an opinion, especially the one that the writer of this review hasn't put in the effort to "get" the show.

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You know, the only reason I watched it is on the recommendation of several people whose opinions I trust. They are well-known for hating anime and make very few exceptions. This show is one of them, and five seconds into Episode 00, I cut the player and began to question them. They convinced me to press on and honestly I can't say for sure if it paid off.

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Well, sure, but I don't suppose you were under the impression that Episode 00 would be representative of the show as a whole.

The wisdom of placing it right at the beginning of the narrative is moot, but I contend that it's much too maligned simply for being somewhat unorthodox in media res. You can't deny its efficacy as a piece of metafiction: it can't be doing too badly if it provokes a similar reaction in you to that of its reluctant participants in the Haruhi-verse.

I don't expect particularly vocal agreement, but I found it to be an excellent introduction. Or would have done if I hadn't watched everything else barring it in broadcast order on well-intended advice, which I now wish I had ignored. Practically every revelation that happens later is foreshadowed, not to mention that it is by itself quite an amusing genre pastiche.

I haven't seen any of the second season though: any consensus of its quality yet?

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That's a good point. It did enrage me (for lack of a better word) and maybe that's the purpose of putting it first. I can appreciate it for doing something different. It's just that I don't appreciate it for doing that. It's like the show greets new viewers with a folding chair to the face and then expects them to not run or call for the authorities as it begins to tell a story about a bunch of dudes who save the world by allowing themselves to become as slaves. And then it's surprised when the viewers start asking questions even though it has given absolutely no explanation as to why anything is happening the way they are by the end. It's just plain insulting, and until everything is resolved, I'll never be able to relax knowing that there are people out there who think that dumping plot points like a jigsaw puzzle with half of the pieces missing in front of the viewers is a good idea.

Maybe this could have been pulled off better. Maybe there is something about the execution that I don't like. I'm sure that if this were any other show, I would be singing its praises. Sadly, I'm a clingy moron who can't let something simple like a little C-Movie promotion for the American release go.

whatistheexcel.com celebrates its 3rd anniversary! thank you!

What C-movie promotion? I don't live in the States, so I don't know anything about that...

Anyway, never mind, it's not important.

Did you dislike it less in chronological sequence?

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The problem is that the books had a clever, season based Anachronic Order (order was 1-3-2-4-6-7-8-9, with 5 being short stories that happen in each season).

However, the anime took that clever order and replaced it by a totally random order, that caused a lot of confusion and people stopping seeing the series at episodes 1 and 4 (movie and baseball).

EDIT: And, Ironically enough, this Anime is one of my Guilty Pleasures.

No, it isn't. The less said about it, the better. Thank you for not making an issue of it.

Very much so. I understood everything in the only proper order. The fact that there are more "filler" episodes (if that's what everyone wants to call them) than main episodes isn't a problem for me at all. I liked them more as supplementary material and not as bottlenecks. I had never heard of "pacing issues" at all from anyone until I started getting comments on my review.

The books may be anachronic, but if what you say is true, at least the pages themselves don't jump around. I can pick up each volume, rearrange them and read them without paying any mind to it. Ripping out each chapter to do the same, however...

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It seems I'm supposed to have put additional effort into "getting" Haruhi. This is what we call "fans who give into the pretentiousness of a work of fiction."

Edit for clarity: I apologise for daring to have an opinion on this anime that I watched before reading the Wikipedia page, visiting the Haruhi-centric Wiki, adding tropes for it, listening to all the albums, cosplaying as the characters, and realising that any complaints I could have can't be mentioned because it's based off a novel series. When I've done all of the above I'll get back to you with my revised opinion.

I swear, he walked onto the knife. In his sleep. From behind. Twelve times.

I don't think anybody is expecting you to do that; it's not Tarkovsky, after all. While it's certainly not suggested that Haruhi is some profound meditation on one's academic appropriation of choice, I just don't think it's as facile as the review makes it out to be.

But as has been mentioned more than once in the comments section of another review of it, it avails no one to sit and trade blows: if you don't like it, you don't like it. Ad hominem arguments (and I'll admit I'm as guilty of making these as anybody else, in the heat of moment) don't really add anything to the discussion.

EDIT: Incorrect usage, as pointed out by someone who clearly knows more about these things than I.

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Deleted double post. Technical issues.

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Harry Brewis: Please, stop insulting persons. It doesn't help, and it makes your review even less credible(because the factual errors that I already pointed in the first paragraph.)

RESPONSE: I'm sorry if you were offended by my comment, wasn't meant to be offensive.

RE-RESPONSE: What!?

What insults where? I don't see them. Also, src9, zero, insults would only make it look less credible if that's all he relied on for his review. Here's an essay on ad hominems you may want to look at before you continue with that train of thought.

I don't particularly like this review because most of it is against the premise and not the actual content, but that's another can of worms.

It's not the review that provoked that particular comment from me. It's:

. Probably a reaction against my hasty remark about the reviewer possibly missing what I opine to be a fundamental aspect of the show, so, ok, I'll present a retraction as a peace offering.

I am aware of what ad hominems are and incorrect invocations thereof, although not a formal logician by any mean and therefore susceptible to error. I am also aware the ad hominems is not a synonym for 'insult'. However, if the position of the speaker is adopted by those of us who quite like the show, and advocating for it constitutes our argument, it is reasonable to interpret calling us out as "...giving into the pretentiousness of a work" as an attack on the speaker as opposed to the argument; the sole purpose appears to be to discredit what little we may have to say on the subject on that basis.

So, okay, I'm not spoiling for a fight. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

It's just entertainment, after all.

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I apologise if I offended any of you. It's not a bad thing to "give in," but you are, is what I'm trying to say. It's like a person who loves Pink Floyd's The Wall so much they listen the the album and look at all the theories about it and watch the movie several times and get angry at people who have opposing theories/think it's not as deep as that. It's not a bad thing. I was stating the obvious, but again, I probably said it wrong. This is a subjective opinion from a person who found certain small parts enjoyable but despised the overarching "deep" plot and pointless gimmicks and really thought he was allowed to have that opinion (about the anime) even if he enjoyed the novels (which I did).

I swear, he walked onto the knife. In his sleep. From behind. Twelve times.

None taken; this is the internet after all. Not a place for those with delicate sensibilities. So we can agree to disagree.

So how many more episodes of the second season (which, I hasten to add, I have yet to see any of) will it take before the inevitable wars begin?

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No idea, but if I watch them I may review those separately.

I swear, he walked onto the knife. In his sleep. From behind. Twelve times.

Actually, I don't even like the show that much! And I agree on the Needlessly Incomprehensible part of the review.

And to think that all this just started because I wanted to correct the errors on the First Paragraph.... Sigh )=

So, what did we learn, kids?: If you are going to speak about the creators of something, Google Them. And Knowing is half...

RESPONSE: I don't see how you pointed out errors. I know there was a series of novels. By "creators," I hoped people would think I meant the creators of the show I was talking about. I do apologise for reacting as though you were a fan, but given how toughly you stressed that it was a novel first and that I didn't know shit despite it being an opinion not a statement of fact I think it was a simple mistake to make. I guess everything seems more obvious to the creator here.

Mr. Lostman: Duly noted (comment struck).

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Whoa, WTF with someone else editing my posts?! Respond to me with a new comment, not in my own comment please!

fans who give into the pretentiousness of a work of fiction." He is pretty much calling all the three persons that answered his review "weak fans" or something like that. That's just reaching for meaning that just isn't there.

No, no, Mr. Lostman, you misunderstand. I struck my own comment, not yours. Read your comment; you'll see that all is in order.

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No, I do not. I see the other dude did it. But that's cool.

Well, on closer inspection, it seems that seems to be quite a lot of unsanctioned editing of posters' comments by other posters. Can we at least agree not to do this? It seems like a breach of etiquette or something, if such a thing should be observed here...

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What a failure of communication are we.

Indeed. Back to school!

Sorry. Thought it was cleaner to respond in the posts themselves. Oh well. I'm not calling you weak fans, just saying you came off as someone who agreed with the pretentiously-designed story in the anime. But as it stands, those errors seem to be corrected. Anything else wrong with the review or that you agree with?

I swear, he walked onto the knife. In his sleep. From behind. Twelve times.

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, that's the part of the charm of the series: extraordinary powers applied to extremely mundane situations. If you don't see what's so funny about that, Suzumiya Haruhi is indeed wasted on you. I admit that Tanagawa could have attempted to address some of the issues he raised, but in the end it's very much a slice of life show with some supernatural elements.

As the meme says,

"Didn't like Haruhi? TOO DEEP"

As-tu rempli ta vie de belles choses ?