The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya: Official Guidebook Translation

Announced after the airing of Someday in the Rain in 2009, the movie The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya was a big hit in 2010. It was released on February 6th in 24 theatres and eventually went to 170 theatres worldwide in one year. As with many (if not all) anime releases, Kadokawa release a guidebook on February 25, 2010. Since the fanbook for the novels was translated earlier this year (I still hate time travel), it would be logical to progress to the anime edition. And so, the translation has begun! Obvious SPOILER WARNING! Do not read if you’ve not seen the movie.

The Observation of Haruhi Suzumiya: Official Fanbook

Released on June 15th, 2011 (the same day as the common editions of The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (First/Final)) The Observation of Haruhi Suzumiya: Official Fanbook is just like it says, an official fanbook for the novels.

(That poor quality is why I didn’t scan the covers for Surprise)

This book was being worked on during the production of The Astonishment of Haruhi Suzumiya (First/Final) on sale 2011/5/25 (First Press Limited Edition) and 6/15 (Common Edition).
For readers new to the Haruhi Suzumiya series, we have started this book with Chapter 1’s Character Introduction. In addition, Chapter 2 (Each Volume Explained) provides a good introduction to the story’s world. Also included, for readers who have been with us from the start are three chapters to enjoy. Chapter 3 is a Question and Answer Session with Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Itou; Chapter 4 is a Reprinted Manuscript written by Nagaru Tanigawa that is an inquiry entitled A Study in August originally published in The Sneaker magazine; and Chapter 5 is a Roundtable Discussion featuring Tanigawa, Itou, and two editors.
We hope that this book brings a small, but new enjoyment to those who love the Haruhi Suzumiya series.

Table of Contents:

Timeline
Chapter 1: Character Introductions/Profiles
Chapter 2: Story Outlines
Chapter 3: Q&A
(50 Questions/50 Answers each from Nagaru Tanigawa/Noizi Itou)
Chpater 4: Reprinted Manuscript (A Study in August)
(A scientific inquiry into Endless Eight written by Tanigawa himself.)
Chapter 5: Roundtable Discussion
(With Tanigawa, Itou, two editors from The Sneaker and a moderator)
Chapter 6: Supplementary Information
Descriptions, dates, and basic information for other Haruhi-related media.

Here is the finished product:
PDF/DOCX/EPUB

Since putting the images for the character profiles would increase the file size dramatically, I had to design the profiles to be text rather than images. I’ve included all but the three pictures beside “history” for a few characters since I couldn’t fit that in. For those who would like to see the profiles as they were originally designed, I have left them below with no alterations.
Character profiles:

	Other Characters

I hope you all enjoy the fanbook. It was a pleasure to translate and something I’m proud to say was 100% ultimatemegax translation. Big thanks goes to Lloydwaver for helping edit and TMSIDR for formatting help. (I cannot express how much I hate that timeline. That timeline took up a good 1/4 of this duration) Please enjoy! It’s not clear whether Yen Press/Hatchette Book Group/Little, Brown Inc. have the rights to this, but if asked, I will take this down.

Mystery Solved: Someday in the Rain

In 2006, Kyoto Animation adapted the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series as an anime. They used stories from the first, third, fifth, and sixth novels to fill 13 out of 14 episodes. Instead of using another story from the remaining ones in every novel but the first, the production committee asked Nagaru Tanigawa to contribute a script for an original episode. It was the ninth episode to be aired in 2006, but it was the final episode chronologically. For the first time translated into English, here is the original script for Someday in the Rain!

Someday in the Rain script:
Writer: Nagaru Tanigawa
Translator: ultimatemegax
Editor: Kaisos Erranon
Source: The Sneaker August 2006 edition (Released June 30, 2006)
PDF/DOCX/DOC/EPUB

A mid-winter stance

Life’s been pretty busy lately with labwork, schoolwork, translations, and reviews, so I’m taking it easy and simply posting my midway impressions now that I’ve finished half of the current season for everything I’m watching. Each show has finished at least 6/12-13 or 18/24-26 episodes, so I feel confident commenting on them.

Shakugan no Shana Final BD Volume 2 review

Coming 4 years after the previous season, Shana III-Final- got off to a bit of a slow start with (re)introductions to our characters and the current situation. The final scene from volume 1 ended with Shana and Yuji facing off against one another. Their fight starts off volume 2! BD Info/Bonus Disc/Photobucket album

Hanasaku Iroha Volume 7: Blooming love

Last year, P.A. Works broadcast their tenth anniversary work [i]Hanasaku Iroha[/i] beginning in April. The show looked to be amazing throughout the first half, but some episodes near the middle of the series began to show faults. Volume 7 picks up from an amazing focus episode on Nako and starts the final arc of the show! BDInfo/Photobucket album

Shakugan no Shana Final BD volume 1 review

As one of the more popular light novel series in the mid-2000s, it was no surprise when Shakugan no Shana was made into an anime in Fall 2005. After good sales on DVD, the series got a sequel, Shakugan no Shana Second, and an OVA series Shakugan no Shana S in 2007/2009-2010 respectively. As the light novel series came to an end last September, the anime too is coming to an end this season. As it was a show I had on the “to watch” list, I finally got to marathon the previous two seasons and OVA series during the past couple of months. I thought the previous seasons ranged from good-decent, but nothing that made me want to import anything. That all changed once I got into Shakugan no Shana -Final-. This is BD volume 1 of 8. BDInfo/Screencaptures

Another ultimate year comes to a close

2011 will soon end, and as I am a blogger, I feel somewhat contractually obligated to mention things that happened this year in a list-like fashion that is designed to get views. So here are my thoughts on the year.

Top moments:
5. Moving to my own blog. I owe a great amount of gratitude towards Toonleap and his blog for allowing me to get my feet wet in anime blogging, but it’s been good to get on my own and be able to not worry about post schedules and such. I’ve been back in school this semester and so blogging has taken a big hit due to the increase of time needed to study.
4. The journey of Hanasaku Iroha. After seeing PV 4 last fall, I was entranced and looking forward to the show. Though the middle portion left me wanting, the beginning and end cour segments were some of my favorite this year.
3. Journeying to Anime Expo 2011. Being able to see the technological marvel that is Miku Hatsune, seeing the premiere of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya‘s English dub, and just seeing cosplay in general was a fantastic trip. It also allowed me to discover that I have a love of Japanese curry (as those who’ve followed my Twitter ramblings know).
2. Translating The Observation of Haruhi Suzumiya. After working on the number one item on this list, this was my first real release by myself. The design and translation were all me with help by Lloyd and Kaisos on editing and TMSIDR for helping solve a PDF problem. It’s something I’m proud to say “I did that (mostly by) myself.”
1. Tracking, finding spoilers, and eventually leading a group translation effort for The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (officially translated as The Astonishment of Haruhi Suzumiya. Since Baka-Tsuki couldn’t translate the latest Haruhi novels, Yumeka and I had our own Haruhi moment where it was just “why don’t we do it ourselves?” That led into some fun fun times. I still haven’t properly read the story in chronological order, so I hope my editing did alright. It was so fun.

Honorable mentions: Toradora‘s BD-Box and new episode, the Madoka MS3K-style viewing with Skorp, and all of the conversations I’ve had on Twitter with other anime fans. It’s been a great year to find other fans IMO.

Male Character of the Year: Rintarou Okabe. No other male comes close to this guy this year. Mamoru Miyano was able to convey humor, despair, anger, and nearly every single emotion known to man in this one role and do it all perfectly. His story is done so well and so touching.

Female Character of the Year: Ohana Matsumae. The whole story of Hanasaku Iroha was to get her to find a purpose in life. A really well fleshed out character who shows what a strong female lead should be: not perfect, not horrible, and not always gushing over a male lead. It was a pleasure to see her grow.

Top OPs:
3. Kamisama no Memochou OP – Kawaru Mirai – When I was trying to catch up on the show, I watched this OP and said “I’m good.” That delayed me from catching up for about a month.
2. Hanasaku Iroha OP2 – Omokege Warp – A better song than the first one and it ties in nicely with the theme of the second half of the show.
1. Steins Gate OP – Hacking to the Gate – Very good animation design and the song is so addicting.

Honorable mentions: Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai II – A Whole New World God Only Knows, Shakugan no Shana III – Final – Light my Fire

Top EDs:
3. Hanasaku Iroha – ED1 – Hazy – A lovely song with calming animation. It made the shift to Hanasaku Iroha that much worse when P.A. Works changed the ED.
2. Nichijou – ED1 – Zzz – KyoAni strikes again! A very picture-bookish ED animation combined with such a sweet and calming song. Worth it every week.
1. Gosick ED1 – Resuscitated Hope – Such an incredible song with such a lovely ED animation. The highlight of every single week during winter 2011.

Honorable mentions: Shakugan no Shana III – Final – I’ll Believe, Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai – Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~ (10 years after Ver.)

Top single episodes:
3. Hanasaku Iroha 1 – An amazing start to the series. Confessions, runaway trips, slaps, and “die.” all in one episode. It alone made me pre-order all 9 BDs of the series. Such a great way to start the show.
2. Steins Gate 22 – THE episode to watch for hopeful voice actors/actresses. 95% of the episode is taken by Okabe and Kurisu and yet they carry it to have such an emotional and dramatic effect on the viewer just by themselves. The sheer despair in Okabe’s voice when he returns is amazing. I nearly imported the show for this episode alone.
1. Puella Magi Madoka Magica 10 – I don’t like the characters. I don’t like the character designs. The art style is not to my liking. The story is fine, but tiring. Skorp and I were able to make fun of every single episode of Madoka but this one. We remained silent the entire way though this episode. Such a great twist on the story and it almost made me feel sympathy towards Homura.

Honorable mention: Shakugan no Shana III- Final 4 – Out of all the episodes, this delivers on the final scene from the S OVAs and puts things in motion for the rest of the cour.

Top 5 shows of the year (IMO):

5. Baka to Test Ni – A fun continuation that gives a lot of focus on our main characters. I enjoyed following this show every week.
4. Moshidora – An interesting take on baseball and management. Wish it was better animated though.
3. Steins;Gate – After a very slow start, the show turned amazing, but really climaxed two episodes early.
2. Shakugan no Shana III – Final (First half only) – A recent addition, but only the fact that it’s not ended prevents it from being number 1. I am enjoying this show immensely and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the second half. A very possible import at this late stage.
1. Hanasaku Iroha – A very emotional journey that brought a few amazing characters into our lives this year. Gorgeous artwork and an outstanding OST helped bring the inn to life.

Honorable mentions: Nichijou, Dantalian no Shouten, Chihayafuru (first half only)

2011 was really hit-or-miss for me. There were some shows like Working’!! and Mirai Nikki that would have outstanding moments, but would follow up with poor episodes that reminded me why they weren’t on the list. Conversely, you had shows like Nichijou and Steins;Gate, which started poorly, but became amazing in the second half. Most of my top 5 (with the exception of #3) remained consistent somehow throughout its airing. While Shana III packs enough punch (literally and figuratively) to make it onto the list, I feel Chihayafuru needs more time to finish its story before allowing it to be graded. It’s still my surprise of the year, barely beating out Shana III.

Looking forward to Winter (which I hope I can continue to watch all of these), I shall be continuing Shana III, Chihayafuru, and Mirai Nikki. Joining them will be Amagami SS+, Nisemonogatari, Another, and Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou. It’ll be challenging to continue all of these during another busy semester, but I’ll try to continue watching them. And in spring we have the spinoff of Saki, Saki: Side A, which I am really looking forward to seeing animated.

So what did you enjoy this year and what are you looking forward to seeing next year?

The Haruhi anime history and future speculation (December 2011 edition)

With the recent reports that a Kadokawa representative said they have no plans to broadcast a third Haruhi season, and Kyoto Animation’s new announced works of Hyouka and Chuuni-byou Demo Koi Shitai! the western fans of the Haruhi anime franchise have been upset. Call it stupidity, call it ignorance, call it whatever you want, but I have faith we’ll be hearing about something. So in order to predict the future, we use examples from the past. Let’s first review what has happened with the Haruhi anime franchise.

In 2005, it was first announced in the October 2005 edition (released in August 2005) of The Sneaker that the light novel Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu would be made into an anime. It began airing in April 2006 until July2006, when it was first featured in the anime magazine Newtype. The airing of the anime combined with the beginning popularity of video sites such as YouTube and the ease of viewing anime through the internet made the series into a phenomenon known around the world. As soon as it finished airing, fans were wanting another season. Their prayers would be answered one year later on July 7th, 2007.

July 7th is an important day in the Haruhi franchise. As it is the holiday Tanabata, Haruhi decides to celebrate it with the SOS Brigade. That afternoon, Mikuru takes Kyon back in time three years. It’s presumed that this occurs in 2007 due to a line in the light novels, but that is not confirmed. On July 7th, 2007, Kadokawa Shoten takes out a full page advertisment in a big Japanese newspaper that says “Haruhi 2nd season Decided!” and is also on the official and Newtype webpages as well. At 21:00 that evening, a “security camera” captures footage of two individuals drawing on the grounds of a middle school, a reference to the short story that occurs on that day.

Nothing of note occurs until December 18th, 2007. On that day, the official Haruhi webpage disappears and an image appears saying “Haruhi 2nd season cancelled. NEW Haruhi animation project started!” with a copyright of 2007, 2008, and 2009. In the roundtable with Tanigawa, Ishihara, and Shimo (which is in the process of translation), they admit that Disappearance was supposed to be part of a new TV season as of June 2007. The decision to make it a movie took place during the time period of July 7th and December 18th, 2007 as admitted in the Directors Roundtable. Sakemoto is announced to be the supervisor, replacing Ishihara and Yamamoto who worked on the 2006 edition.

In the June 2008 edition of The Sneaker, a new image of Nagato taking off her glasses is published. They state “stay tuned for more information about the “new animation.” About two weeks later in the next edition of Newtype, the same image is used with another teaser as well as a silhouette of Haruhi in the “next issue” portion. Kyon’s line “I finally….found you” is also used. The July 2007 edition of Newtype uses an image of Haruhi as she is in the new Disappearance world to promote the “New Animation.” Additional character designs and a roundtable are also published in that edition. The staff listing remains the same as the image on December 18th. On July 7th, 2008, tanzakus are shown at 15:00 and at 21:00 images from the surveillance video are played amongst lines from both the Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and Disappearance stories.

In September 2008, the edition of Shounen Ace announces that The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan and Nyoron Churuya-san will be made into an anime with Sakemoto supervising. The October 2008 edition of Newtype announces Nishiya as the character designer. The January 2009 edition of Shounen Ace gives both anime the copyright of Nagaru Tanigawa/Noizi Itou/ESOS Brigade instead of the 2006 or 2007/2008/2009 ones signalling that it is different. They begin broadcasting in January 2009 on YouTube. Around this time, the storyboards for the Disappearance movie are completed (Directors’ Roundtable).

Also in January 2009, the February 2009 edition of Newtype announces that the next issue will have news about the Haruhi anime. That turns out to be an announcement that it will be “re-aired” starting in April 2009. The March edition also gives the story the 2006 copyright and an image from the 2006 series drawn by Ikeda. The story begins airing in chronological order for the first time. Upon reaching the eighth episode, one station has a description stating that it is the Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody episode and announces that the “re-airing” is 28 episodes, twice the length of the 2006 airing. It is indeed a new episode and is followed by the three other episodes from the third novel.

Then we arrive at Endless Eight, the next story that was not aired in 2006. To fans’ dismay, this arc takes up 8 episodes of time and is followed by 5 episodes of the second novel to use all 14 new episodes on three stories. Unknown to the fans, the characters designs and location scouting for the movie were finished during this time period (August 2009). In October 2009, the final episode of the “re-airing” finished and an announcement for The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie aired with a 2009 copyright. Production continued on the movie until it was released on February 2010. The movie was shown in theatres until October 2010 and released on DVD/BD on December 18th, 2010, 3 years after the “New Animation” was announced.

So now that we’re caught up on what happened since the initial announcement in 2005, we can begin to hypothesize a few things. The first is that any new announcement will take place in a magazine or newspaper ad. The recent shows announced by KyoAni on their own website is very weird in that both instances were firsts for them. The second is that the studio can be working on multiple projects at the same time. Around Fall 2008, they were airing Clannad ~After Story~, while working on the Haruhi “re-airing” and movie, K-On!, Haruhi-chan, Nyoron Churuya-san, and Mundo TV (aired from January-March 2009). Of these, only K-On! was a new project from scratch, so they can be working on a sequel and not mention anything.

KyoAni animates projects from three sources: Kadokawa (Full Metal Panic!!, Haruhi, Lucky Star, Nichiyou, Hyouka), TBS/Pony Canyon (AIR, Kanon, Clannad, and K-On!), and themselves (Mundo OVAs/TV/movie and Chuuni-byou Demo Koi Shitai!). We do not know of the next TBS franchise, nor do we know a date for Chuuni-byou. Hyouka is likely to air in the spring of 2012 as they have staff announced and a key visual released. The past two years have seen KyoAni release a movie and a 26 episode series (Kadokawa movie/TBS series and TBS movie/Kadokawa series) but that is not a given for next year.

The Haruhi BD-Box still remains the top selling TV series BD-Box. It took two incredible series (Bakemonogatari in sales/Toradora in amount earned) to get over half of what Haruhi earned. The movie earned over 800 million yen, which is incredible for a late night anime (again, topped by the usual suspects of Eva, Macross, and K-On!) and sold over 130,000 copies tabulated by Oricon this year. Unofficially, 200,000 copies were produced and the Limited Editions are sold out on Amazon already. The latest novels had a record first pressing and nearly doubled the previous record for first week sales of a light novel. The series is still selling great in Japan, which begs the question: “Why hasn’t there been an announcement yet?”

My guess: it’s in the background and we may not see it until certain dates are met. We’re just now in the timeframe of the story following Disappearance with big dates occurring on December 30th. January 2nd and the beginning of February are also important days that might see an announcement. People expecting an announcement on December 18th were somewhat foolish: why would that occur for a story that’s already been animated?

The other pressing issue: Is this a third season, or should we consider it a “second season”? I’ve checked the past Haruhi websites, announcements, publications, interviews, and there is only one instance where it’s even hinted that 2009 was a second season. Every instance used the phrase “新アニメーション” (New Animation) or “改めて放送” (Re-airing) except the novel fanbook saying the 2006 and 2009 editions. Prior to December 18th, 2007, it was  said to be “第二期” (Second Season). Might their statement be correct and our assumption incorrect? Only time will tell.

So to bring everything to a conclusion, the announcements of Hyouka and Chuuni-byou are disappointing, but as you can tell, it takes time to produce a season of a show. It’s very possible that these projects were already in the works and Haruhi‘s being worked on in the background. With sales like Haruhi has done compared to everything else Kadokawa released in 2011, they should go back to the well at some time. Let’s just hope it’s not too late like Ascii and Shana or else sales will drop.

Amagami SS: What else is there to do on Christmas?

Yes, yes, I have reviews, translations, and a year-end post being written, but I felt lazy and decided to marathon a Christmas-themed show on Christmas Eve. Amagami SS originally aired from July-December 2010 and is an adaption of the Playstation 2 game Amagami. The series composers decided to highlight the fact that there’s not a “true” route by dividing the 26 episodes into 6 main character arcs of four episodes and 2 “bonus” episodes (one aired, and one only available on the final BD/DVD). Due to that, I feel the need to review each arc separately plot-wise.

Hanasaku Iroha Volume 6: A movie blooms near

Begining in April 2011, Hanasaku Iroha appeared to be one of the bigger shows this year. Through the first 15 episodes, the show had many ups and downs, but ended on a strong note. After the obligatory swimsuit arc which provided much-needed development to Yuina, the series started to focus on characters rather than an overall plot. This continues into Volume 6, released this past Wednesday in Japan. BDInfo/Photobucket screencaptures album

Bandai’s Spinoff releases of Haruhi!

Originally announced in August 2008, the premiere of The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya was more notable for pulling a “nice boat” and putting up a fake video before the real video was shown the following day (February 14th, 2009). These shorts were updated with two episodes a week until May 15th when the final episode was uploaded by itself. Each set was accompanied by another short, Nyoron~Churuya-san, for a total of 13 weeks. Bandai announced their license of the series on May 19th, 2010 and released the show on two half-season sets on October 5th, 2010 (BE Online store)/March 22nd, 2011 (Regular Release) and February 8th, 2011(BE Online store)/August 2nd, 2011 (Regular Release). Photobucket Album (The screencaptures are in the 720×480 format used to store video on a DVD)