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Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane So: Haruhi Suzumiya. She's made quite the name for herself in the last couple of years, starting (in North America) with the anime based on the original novel The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (plus a smattering of chapters from subsequent books). I know people who've loved it, people who've been annoyed by it, and people who've refused to watch it. I don't know very many anime fans who haven't heard of it. Me, I really enjoyed the anime, and I'm looking forward to the rumored second season, so I was excited when Yen Press announced that they'd licensed both the original light novel series and the manga adaptation. Plot-wise, the first volume of the manga is very close to what I remember from the anime, although it's presented in chronological order (and missing the SOS Brigade's attempt at movie-making). Our viewpoint character is the long-suffering Kyon, whose resignation about the monotony of everyday life is shattered when he enters high school and meets Haruhi Suzumiya, who is about as far from normal as you can get--in more ways than meet the eye. Not long into the school year, Kyon finds himself unceremoniously drafted into Haruhi's "SOS Brigade", the club Haruhi creates when all of the existing ones fail to entertain her. As Kyon and a growing group of other members are dragged along on Haruhi's quest to find "aliens, time travelers, sliders, or ESPers" in order to alleviate her boredom, he discovers that he's caught up in something much bigger than he'd imagined. This is a very high-energy series--Haruhi is constantly in motion, and doesn't take "no" for an answer about anything. Other than Kyon, the supporting cast are all suspiciously willing to go along with her (for reasons which are explained early on), because no matter what her current interest is, Haruhi Suzumiya doing anything is better than Haruhi Suzumiya being bored. For readers (or viewers), she's also often the deciding factor about whether to follow the story; some people can't get past her self-centered behavior and treatment of the other characters. The manga is visually a bit different from the anime; the character designs are similar but not identical, and Kyon and Koizumi are a bit difficult to distinguish at first glance, except in the color pages at the beginning. My initial impression is that this series benefits greatly from being in motion, so for the moment my loyalty is still with the anime version, but I greatly enjoyed getting this first look at the manga. This volume includes a page of translation notes and a 12-page preview of the original The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya novel, available in spring 2009. The reviewer would like to thank the publisher for taking pity on her obvious desolation at not being able to acquire a copy of this book by answering trivia questions at New York Anime Festival. (Advance copy provided by Yen Press. See also: NYAF con report.) Think you could have written a better review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya v1 ? Write us and we'll probably let you give it a shot! --EiC PC |
3 February 2010
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