The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Thread

[Bri]

Mazui for first viewing, they are the fastest group (average quality though). Then AFK and Yuki for rewatching and keeping till the DVDs/Blu-rays.

[Lakan]

^ I am also following AFK but as you said it they're not that fast. I'll probably see mazui while waiting for AFK to upload theirs.

[Beltane70]

All I can say is that I was totally right! I told my friends that

the homework was the key

, but they all dismissed it.

[sdf2501]

Where do you think the masters came from?

Actually, Bandai Entertainment had to make their own DVD masters for the broadcast order DVDs from the materials they had gotten from the chronological order as masters for the broadcast order did not exist (as evidenced by the fact that even Japan doesn't have DVD versions of the broadcast order themselves, or at least they didn't at the time). So any authoring problems present on the limited edition broadcast order DVDs were solely Bandai's Entertainment's fault (although I don't notice anything wrong with them myself).

I'd offer a link but that was a long time ago. Closest thing I could find was the blog of that Japanese guy who followed any ASOS announcements religiously and posted them on his blog (he was eventually interviewed by Patricia Lee as a special feature on the NA release). The quote he took it from was from the old AnimeOnDVD.com forums before it was taken over by mania.com:

http://www.geocities.jp/kazami_akira/anime/asos_log.html

Disclaimer: I only make videos and am not part of the group that are Decisionmakers or upper management.

The Special Editions were the only way TV Broadcast Order could be released in North America as an "extra". It was pretty tough to get that approved as even Japan doesn't have TV Broadcast Order on DVDs.

So that is why you're seeing Broadcast Order on the special editions instead of regular, because it is an obligation (not a choice) to put Japanese DVD order on regular version.

Jon will be back on Monday, just wanted to explain why some things are the way they are

Keep posting comments to this thread, I assure you people read them and are interested in what you think!

I think someone (Iyadomi? Or maybe Lord Richard?) said explicitly that they had to make their own masters for those particular DVDs, but I can't find the quote. My memory could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain the broadcast order DVDs were completely created from scratch by Bandai Entertainment. So I think that implied that they had to take what they had, remove the Yuki next episode previews, and manually splice in the Haruhi/Kyon previews from the bonus material, then paste in the next episode, etc. and make a new DVD master that way.

Edited August 12, 2009 by sdf2501

[Keith]

I stadn by my statement, the DVD's look pretty freakin' good upscaled. As does Gurren lagann.

[wolfx]

Oh kyo-ani....

[Vifam7]

Oh kyo-ani....

I don't think they're the girls from K-ON. Uniform is slightly different. The girl on the left needs browner hair to be Ritsu or Yui.

[Keith]

I don't think they're the girls from K-ON. Uniform is slightly different. The girl on the left needs browner hair to be Ritsu or Yui.

I think he's referring to the shot looking a bit like Kyon giving a free show...

[Keith]

Just watched Sighs Part I, we needed this episode 5 weeks ago, now I'm happy!!

[VFTF1]

I also watched Sighs I, and I have mixed feelings about it. It felt like something that, if this was a movie, would be a prime candidate to be cut from the final film. It's kind of like all the mundane and drawn out stuff that we don't need to see in a story before getting to the stuff that we do need to see.

Nagato "agreeing" to use literature club funds for the film project felt like the scene was saying "QUE NAGATO SLOW, MECHANICAL RESPONSE TO UNDERSCORE HER ALIEN/DATA ENTITY INTERFACE NATURE". Asahina worried about whether she could do well as an actress... is there ANYTHING Asahina doesn't worry about? And... the utterly worse exchange between Kyon and Haruhi in a long long time.

The entire beginning - with the drawn out walk to the club room where the characters feined their sterotypes was just so boring and full of pathos. Haruhi was "being her usual self"... but why? In what way? What was the context (as Kyon would ask) - it just seemed like they were relying too much on facial expressions and not enough on anything actually going on... and it took them like forever to get to the club room...and it was so pointless.

Maybe it's a bit ridiculous to call a small fragment of an episode "pointless" after Endless Eight, but at least Endless Eight was beautiful, and the episode itself could never become gratting as much as the simple process of repetition was grating...

And then going to the mall and Haruhi "negotiating" for all that stuff...

I dunno - to me - this episode kind of kills the wonder of The Adventures of Asahina Mikuru, because it's just ...it's like if Shakespeare went and wrote "Hamlet, Part II" where we got to see Hamlet discuss the weather with one of his guards, and then Hamlet eating fried Chicken over an open fire one night, and then Hamlet discussing ghosts and the occult with a Priest, and then Hamlet taking a stroll in the woods and marveling at the sunset...

It's like...ok...that's nice if you're a Hamlet fan and you get off on just seeing your favorite character in ANY context because you always wanted to know "what would it look like IF Hamlet did X, Y and Z" ... but from the point of view of the plot...it's like...so...what did this contribute?

In previous episodes, there was enough novelty in each out-of-sequence episode that even if you were watching the "prelude" to something you'd already seen, and therefore the prelude seemed "moot" - it wasn't - because something would happen in that prelude which itself would be a prelude to a future episode OR a resolution of a situation that WE would see in the future (sequentially) but which happened in the PAST relative to the episode at hand.

But... what nuggets did we find in sigh?

Oh.

We find that it's really aptly titled.

SIGH.

Pete

Edited August 15, 2009 by VFTF1

[JB0]

They've gone ahead and moved into Sighs?

Of course they would...

Edited August 16, 2009 by JB0

[Keith]

They've gone ahead and moved into Sighs?

Of course they would...

Did they skip something again?

[Keith]

I also watched Sighs I, and I have mixed feelings about it. It felt like something that, if this was a movie, would be a prime candidate to be cut from the final film. It's kind of like all the mundane and drawn out stuff that we don't need to see in a story before getting to the stuff that we do need to see.

Nagato "agreeing" to use literature club funds for the film project felt like the scene was saying "QUE NAGATO SLOW, MECHANICAL RESPONSE TO UNDERSCORE HER ALIEN/DATA ENTITY INTERFACE NATURE". Asahina worried about whether she could do well as an actress... is there ANYTHING Asahina doesn't worry about? And... the utterly worse exchange between Kyon and Haruhi in a long long time.

The entire beginning - with the drawn out walk to the club room where the characters feined their sterotypes was just so boring and full of pathos. Haruhi was "being her usual self"... but why? In what way? What was the context (as Kyon would ask) - it just seemed like they were relying too much on facial expressions and not enough on anything actually going on... and it took them like forever to get to the club room...and it was so pointless.

Maybe it's a bit ridiculous to call a small fragment of an episode "pointless" after Endless Eight, but at least Endless Eight was beautiful, and the episode itself could never become gratting as much as the simple process of repetition was grating...

And then going to the mall and Haruhi "negotiating" for all that stuff...

I dunno - to me - this episode kind of kills the wonder of The Adventures of Asahina Mikuru, because it's just ...it's like if Shakespeare went and wrote "Hamlet, Part II" where we got to see Hamlet discuss the weather with one of his guards, and then Hamlet eating fried Chicken over an open fire one night, and then Hamlet discussing ghosts and the occult with a Priest, and then Hamlet taking a stroll in the woods and marveling at the sunset...

It's like...ok...that's nice if you're a Hamlet fan and you get off on just seeing your favorite character in ANY context because you always wanted to know "what would it look like IF Hamlet did X, Y and Z" ... but from the point of view of the plot...it's like...so...what did this contribute?

In previous episodes, there was enough novelty in each out-of-sequence episode that even if you were watching the "prelude" to something you'd already seen, and therefore the prelude seemed "moot" - it wasn't - because something would happen in that prelude which itself would be a prelude to a future episode OR a resolution of a situation that WE would see in the future (sequentially) but which happened in the PAST relative to the episode at hand.

But... what nuggets did we find in sigh?

Oh.

We find that it's really aptly titled.

SIGH.

Pete

I don't know what you're talking about, Hamlet 2 was freakin' awesome!

[VFTF1]

I stand corrected.

I need to see that movie; it looks like it's pretty much a good copy of my life...

Pete

[JB0]

Did they skip something again?

Naw. I thought they did, then realized they didn't.

I'd just already written it off as not happening because there's no way they can do Sighs AND Disappearance right. Unless they decide to skip the rest of the reruns.

[Keith]

Oh they damn well better skip the rest of the re-runs, at this point their own families would lynch them if they dared to show any more season 1 re-runs mixed with the current season.

[Keith]

MI-MI-MI-MIKURU BEAM!

[VFTF1]

I will be watching Sighs 2 and 3 tonight; which I am very much looking forward to! I also need to find a new girlfriend since it looks like me and my Misa broke up AGAIN!! Arrgh This time it was all because I told her my mom had a severe case of the flu, so she goes into panic mode and proclaims that she won't see me for a month because I might have the flu too and I got mad and reminded her that when SHE had the flu AND had her apartment painted and it smelled of chemicals and had particles in the air from some kind of rennovation and she called me begging to bring her medicine and take care of her, I drank two liter of orange juice, ignored my allergies and came over and took care of her and SHE won't even see me even though I'm healthy but have been in the danged vicinity of someone with a flu... and it all went downhill from there. She wouldn't talk to me yesterday and today she's talking to me - in order to turn down all my "dinner?" "movie?" "fitness club?" invitations...

Grumble grumble... so I guess I get "stuck" watching Haruhi Suzumiya tonight. Dzendzen Baka!

Pete

[Bri]

Rewatched sigh I and II. Great fun, and awesome music.

[VFTF1]

I finished watching Sighs II and III yesterday, and also watched "Episode 18," which I guess I missed along the way. Impressions:

1. Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the reality of the Mikuru Beam was not just a result of Haruhi wanting Mikuru to be able to fire lasers, but rather, also the result of Haruhi wanting someone (possibly also Mikuru?) to fire a laser at Kyon, who only recently was pretty rough on her, chided her, pulled her off of Mikuru, and basically told her she was an idiot? I got the feeling that this would be the perfect revenge: having Mikuru fire a laser at Kyon, thereby hopefully turning Kyon against her (at least in the crazy world of Haruhi's mind?).

2. The more Yuki there is, the more I find myself head over heels in love with the girl. She is truly the perfect woman. She's beautiful. She's quiet. She's faithful. Obedient. Sensitive to others' needs. She's very protective. She never gets in the way of your desires and hopes. Asahina is great, as is Haruhi (and that one wild girl as well, come to think of it), but if I had to choose, I think I'd be inclined to settle down with Yuki.

3. Episode 18 was indeed a welcome relief, but to my mind it hasn't solved the problem yet, just brought it out into the open. I like how it did so by playing with our confusion with the phenomena of deja vu. In fact, this is one thing I really enjoy about Haruhi Suzumiya; namely the story's ucanny ability of taking every day, common "strange" occurances that each of us has likely experienced and making them integral parts of a far deeper mystery.

4. Sighs is kind of "the making of" the Adventures of Asahina Mikuru, and in that it's fun. It's also a wonderful commentary to the entire series, since it is basically Haruhi's fictional vision of a world that she has already subconsciously created and inhabited (albeit unknowingly). What is truly interesting about The Adventures of Asahina Mikuru, though, is the fact that while Haruhi does place the Esper boy, the alien magician and the time traveler in it...there is no Haruhi figure - or, rather - the Haruhi figure is the director, which I guess corresponds to her "role" in "reality" (the reality of the series). And Kyon? Well... meager underling, off camera grunt...I guess that sort of corresponds to his role as well... But there are some differences which are key; namely in the film, the director is (for the most part) invisible to us - we see Haruhi's vision, but not her involvement (except when she goes to chide Yuki for pouncing on Asahina). Kyon is totally invisible...unless it's as the narrator...which...I guess he does in "real life" as well...

5. Speaking of Kyon the narrator. Can someone please explain to me how it is that Haruhi can read Kyon's mind? I understand Koyzumi being able to do it, since he's an Esper, and possibly Yuki too, since she's all powerful, but Haruhi? How? And is Haruhi really that jealous of Kyon's fondness for Mikuru? Does Haruhi really like Kyon that much?

hm...

I think that's it for now.

This series is turning into my favorite anime ...calm anime...hm...I dunno. I still think Gurren Lagann is the best thing in the universe, but you really can't compare them because that is a super robot epic and this is more like a good mystery story with lots of religious and philosophical elements thrown in for good measure.

Super Driver!

Pete

[Keith]

Kyon as the camera man is the "observer" in both the fiction & reality of it. And Gurren Lagann actually is "the best thing in the universe."

[VFTF1]

Are there two episodes called Bamboo Leaf Rapsody (sic) ?

And what is the Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya? Is that the manga or are these other episodes I haven't seen?

EDIT: O-o-o..ok.... I.... take back the latter question...I...know ...now...and... I ... need to...um...go get some...opium... or... something...

Edit 2: O...ok...I.. I have always wondered what was behind the talking cat in the Adventures of Asahina Mikuru... Is... is that cat an artificial life form that started as a ballon?

Pete

Edited August 30, 2009 by VFTF1

[Bri]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the reality of the Mikuru Beam was not just a result of Haruhi wanting Mikuru to be able to fire lasers, but rather, also the result of Haruhi wanting someone (possibly also Mikuru?) to fire a laser at Kyon, who only recently was pretty rough on her, chided her, pulled her off of Mikuru, and basically told her she was an idiot?

No, I feel that Haruhi cares way to much for Kyon to wish him to be harmed, Mikuru is usually the subject of tension that both Haruhi and Kyon use for their dance. Whether Kyon and Haruhi are fully aware of the game they play with eachother is a different question.

The more Yuki there is, the more I find myself head over heels in love with the girl. She is truly the perfect woman. She's beautiful. She's quiet. She's faithful. Obedient. Sensitive to others' needs. She's very protective. She never gets in the way of your desires and hopes. Asahina is great, as is Haruhi (and that one wild girl as well, come to think of it), but if I had to choose, I think I'd be inclined to settle down with Yuki.

It's a sign of great characters in the show, all three girls have their fans. Personally I like Haruhi best, love the energy and total disregard for convention.

Speaking of Kyon the narrator. Can someone please explain to me how it is that Haruhi can read Kyon's mind? I understand Koyzumi being able to do it, since he's an Esper, and possibly Yuki too, since she's all powerful, but Haruhi? How? And is Haruhi really that jealous of Kyon's fondness for Mikuru? Does Haruhi really like Kyon that much?

Consider that she was about to recreate the world and the only person she wanted to keep was Kyon. That counts for something.

This series is turning into my favorite anime ...calm anime...hm...I dunno. I still think Gurren Lagann is the best thing in the universe, but you really can't compare them because that is a super robot epic and this is more like a good mystery story with lots of religious and philosophical elements thrown in for good measure.

I can see some resemblance between the shows, except that Haruhi is so hotblooded she doesn't need a Super Robot (assuming Yuki isn't one).

[VFTF1]

Yeah... I wasn't suggesting that Haruhi wanted actual physical harm to come to Kyon. I'm sure that when she was about to destroy the universe before Kyon kissed her, she also didn't want actual physical harm to come to people either...and on the deserted island, she didn't reall want anyone to be murdered.

The problem is - she is unconscious of the effects of her power. Her wanting to "get back" at Kyon for berating her over Mikuru-chan could have unintentionally become a deadly shot by a laser, just like there WAS a shadowy, murderous presence on the island...and it is still there.

As for Haruhi-chan... my favorite is naturally the crucifixion of Mikuru-chan and the creation of God using a pumpkin, some bats, candles and pickled whatever that was. A great homage to Evangelion if there ever was one, not to mention a delightful scene

Pete

[Bri]

Ah yes, your right, her powers can have negative side effects. It just seems to that f Haruhi wanted to get back at Kyon she'd do it directly. For a girl she is a very masculine character, direct and upfront. It was a very powerfull scene, the way she backed off when Kyon put her in line whout blowing a fuse was very well done.

[VFTF1]

Yeah, well. That's because she backed off because she is NOT a masculine character. She is actually uber-feminine - which means she acts manly until a man puts her in line.

Remember in Sighs Koizumi remarks that he would never dare to question Haruhi's "orders" for fear of reprisal. And in another episode, namely Day of Sagatorus (or whatever that game was called), Koizumi notes that Kyon's strength is that he believes Haruhi will NOT destroy the world (probably because Kyon can't fully bring himself to believe that Haruhi has that kind of power).

See - the others all treat Haruhi as an all powerful capricious deity and fear her. Kyon treats her like a pesky beautiful girl, which is why he is fearless in his dealings with her.

Thus that scene where he put Haruhi in line.

Of course, there are times when Kyon's treatment of Haruhi backfires and becomes dangerous - and that's when Nagato steps in.

Because she's in love with Kyon

Or because Kyon has no "understudy" to replace him if something happened to him? ....

Pete

[Keith]

In true Ayanami fashion, I'd say Yuki has some feeling for Kyon, hence her ceasing to wear glasses.

[VFTF1]

That's actually one of my favorite scenes - when Kyon and Asahina get stuck in the past and go to Yuki's place for help, and upon interfacing with her future self, Yuki takes off her glasses to demonstrate to Kyon that she has "sped up" and become the Yuki from the present (future) - the one who heard Kyon say she looks better without glasses and that he's never been a glasses man.

A very touching scene.

Pete

[VFTF1]

Sorry for the double post, but I'm been totally mesmerized by Haruhi-chan...

So, I just got back from the store where, inspired by Yuki and AAA+, I got some potatoes and curry (no carrots though - didn't have enough cash on hand for those). Also got rice. And, inspired by the Suzumiya cooking show, I got some healthy instant noodles (curry flavor).

I just peeled the potatos and started cooking them as well as the rice in a seperate pot. The noodles will go with the final meal.

I didn't get any "healthy looking stuff" to throw into the mix - but maybe I'll find something in the fridge...

Pete

[Keith]

Stupid bandai for not picking up those Haruhi shorts...!

[VFTF1]

Ok, I hope people enjoy this. As mentioned above, my inspiration was Haruhi-chan's cooking show and Yuki and AAA+'s trip the grocery store... And the fact tht I was getting hungry.... So - I decided to put the SOS brigade's culinary advice to the test! Now, Yuki did buy potatos and carrots. I got the potatos, but opted out of the carrots. Here's Yuki boiling the potatos and cooking the rice:

Meanwhile, Haruhi is busy commanding me to open the instant noodles...

Of course, you have to keep in mind that the SOS brigade has a special method for opening instant noodles. Sadly, I don't have any Koizmumi figures, so the Agency wasn't able to get me a Katana. Now that I think of it, I DO have an old Polish military saber in the den, but hindsight is always 20/20 as they say. Still, I hope Master Haruhi-Sama is not displeased with the results of my work. I opened the noodles per her very precise instructions - immediately quartering them...

Now, the next step, as Haruhi-chan-Sama (can I say that?) points out - is to activate the thermal di-hydrogen oxide compressor chamber, which will heat the water inside to temperatures equaling that of a small star...

Meanwhile, as the thermal di-hydrogen oxide compressor chamber does its' work, Haruhi-the-Wise has already sellected a large bowl in which, per her commands, I have thrown in all of the quartered up noodles.

To Be Continued in the Next Post...

Pete

[VFTF1]

We're back with "Cooking with Haruhi-Chan"... although really part of the inspiration here also comes from Yuki Nagato and AAA+'s forray to a grocery store.

Speaking of Yuki, while Haruhi was giving orders regarding the noodles, Yuki has managed to finish cooking one kilogram of rice, which, to her amazement, turned out to be a far larger portion that she anticipated. Rice is so deceptive - it looks small, and then under the influence of heat, it expands to cover up more space. Humans unwittingly boil this rice, not aware of the fact that, if they heated up enough rice, the rice would expand and consume the entire Earth with its' weight, ripping our planet out of orbit, sending us hurling through space and time. Fortunately, people eat rice, thereby dimminishing the probability that this occurence would take place.

Moving along...

In the episode of Haruhi-chan that served as my inspiration, Yuki makes curry using carrots. I don't know how to do that, and Yuki refused to tell me the secret, sounding very much like Mikuru-chan, with her "secret" statement. However, she was nice enough to just conjure up some instant curry - good enough!

Meanwhile, the Di-Hydrogen Oxie Thermal Super Commression Unit has finished its' work, and per Haruhi-Sama's demands, I risked life and limb to pour the super-heated plasma substance into the bowl of noodles...

Next, Haruhi insisted on setting up a defensive grid. Given that the super heated plasma needed one trillion light years of time to enter into a symbiotic relationship with the noodles, thereby producing super-nutrient food that would catapult humanity into the next stage of evolution, it was only natural that demons, aliens, and particularly evil giant robots might try to steal the bowl of noodles. Haruhi wisely surmised that this was a job for the galaxy's most famous Combat Waitress from the Future, who humbly agreed to guard the noodles for eternity - or at least until I was ready to eat.

To Be Continued in the next post...

Pete

[VFTF1]

We're back with Cooking with Haruhi-chan, with inspiration from Yuki and AAA+'s trip to a grocery store...

So - Yuki had prepared the rice, and the potatos were just about ready as well. The curry flavored powder substance was on standby. There only the remained one task: finding a containment field that could hold all of these divergent substances in one place without threatening the fabric of space and time itself. Yuki settled upon this very heavy metal pot:

Using her powers (this is why I like cooking with Yuki - unlike Haruhi, who keeps bossing me around, Yuki just waves her fingers and it is done), Yuki compressed the divergent nutrient substances into the oval containment field. At this stage, I admit the sight does not look very appetizing...

Thankfully - Yuk is always prepared for every possible eventuality:

Meanwhile, Mikuru-chan had successfully fended off evil super robots, aliens, demons and dragons trying to steal the noodles, and things looked just about ready!

Then - it suddenly occured to me we were missing one very important ingredient. As keen observers of the Haruhi-chan cooking show know, there is a stage in the recipee where you need to "add some healthy looking stuff." Thankfully, I had a plate of green things in the fridge, and while I couldn't add it to the soup or the curry, I was able to strategically place it to the right side of both dishes to make it look like it was a natural, healthy addition to the meal:

With this, the Circle was finally complete. When Haruhi and I last met, she was the Master and I was just the student. Now, I am the Master, and not just a master of evil, but of Healthy super cheap good cooking SOS Bridage cooking enterprise Noodle Curry Masterpiece Bargain Great You Buy Now Super Food!

Yeah!

Pete

[Akilae]

From a purely culinary standpoint... generally you want to use rice that's been in the fridge overnight and had a chance to dehydrate a bit for any sort of fried rice dish, gives it a more fluffy texture...

[VFTF1]

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep it in mind next time.

Yesterday, I chopped up some chicken, sprinked it with diced bread and fried it up with soya sauce and grape-oil. Then added the remaining curry rice. The result was actually quite tasty.

Next time, though, I need to do as Yuki did and add carrots to those potatos...

Pete