I love anime. Not your normal anime. 99% of what hits the US and 99% of what ends up on US TV is utter crap. The exceptions are “Ghost in the Shell”, and some of the very old stuff from my childhood (Macross). I would say that 80% of what is shown on TV in even Japan is crap. So I become very excited when something great is announces or is comes out. The second season of “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya“ is one of those. It has quite the cult following.
I would not say that this is the best anime in the world, but it does hit all my buttons. There is a well trodden sub-genre in anime, the ’school life/romance’. Every season there are at least 5 shows in this sub-genre. The target audience is usually kids in middle school. The rare show will appeal to both girls and boys, most being part of a main genre like Bishōjo or the ever popular Harem *shiver*. To be honest I dispise these shows. Now imagine if Spider Robinson [wikipedia] were asked to write a show in this sub-genre. What you would get is something very close to “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”.
If you are not familiar with the works of Spider Robinson, it is pulp-sci-fi unlike any other bodies of work. Most sci-fi centers around some technology or piece of science as the main character. Spider puts the people and characters as the center diving into the human aspects. Please take the time to check his work out, especially his “Callahan’s” series of work.
It is very hard to talk about Haruhi without spoilers, so here is the premise: “What if God were a teenage girl, and reality was what she wanted it to be, only she does not realize this.” That’s the best I can do to sum it up, and much better than the plot description on wikipedia. The shows are purposefully shown OUT OF ORDER. This isn’t some Firefly gaf, but done on purpose and adds to the enjoyability. It does not take its self seriously and behind the humor is more intelligent and thought provoking than you realize at first. I recommend first watching the episodes in their broadcast order (which is the official ordering of the episodes) and then if you feel like it watching it again in timeline order.
The style jumps around quite a bit exploring many of the classic and trite plot devices of it’s sub-genre in its own unique way. There is the classic ‘beach’ episode, the ’school festival’ which ALL shows of this genre MUST have at least one episode devoted to (but for once is not painful), and the classic ‘exchange/transfer student’. Seriously, you would think that every year, in every class across japan there is at least one transfer student who arrives mid semester. Almost all school life anime has at least one! Haruhi makes it enjoyable and new; quite the feat. Then there is the ‘rock band’ episode. It is by far the best out there. It is better than the anime shows which are about rock! (but that is for a different rant on K-ON! and BECK.) Seriously, check it out.
My one complaint would be that in one of the episodes the ‘fanservice‘ goes a bit to far. Normally it is only used for humor, and does so well.
The first season is available from netflix, and I do recommend it. Oh and Live-eviL has just released the first episode of season 2, can’t wait to watch it even if the raws are low quality (With luck Ken is not heading up this project…)
I have been thinking about blogging about this show for quite some time, never expecting that a second season would actually arrive. It had been rumored off and on for the past three years. When I saw this come across my RSS reader.. well it made my week.
UPDATE: Season 2 Episode 1 (A.K.A. Episode 
is fantastic, but seeing the first season first is a requirement. Starting with what will be the 8th episode in the end timeline is just par for the course, after all the first episode of the first season was actually a ’special’ post episode 
We kick things off with a little discussion of the theory of relativity, what is ‘normal’ common sense, some fun time travel, and the starts of a discussion on differences between time travel between two continuums and the same continuum (which looks like it will be a key plot device).
The first episode of season one is actually a ‘video’ the characters make in the anime and is ’shown’ to classmates (but not you the viewer) in the last episode. This video is essentially the same story as the main show, but told as if it were produced as your standard magical-school-girl-in-school anime. Daring does not begin to cover it. For the second season its just as if you were dropped back into the shows universe with no 3 year break… it’s good to be home.
I should note that if you are a fan of ‘normal’ anime, this show most likely is not for you.
