The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya First Series BD-Box review

In 2005, Kadokawa Shoten greenlit an anime adaptation of an increasingly popular novel series that was thought to be nearly unadaptable. While the series was critically acclaimed, there were issues adapting a series that had many short stories and basically had the climax of the series in the first novel. Planners Wada and Udagawa were able to convince Yoko Hatta to sign on and adapt the set of novels into a TV show, inking director Tatsuya Ishihara and series director Yutaka Yamamoto to lead the production with the author Nagaru Tanigawa providing assistance. Tanigawa proposed from the start to adapt it in achronological order, which was combined with Ishihara’s desire to finish with the final portion of Melancholy. Yamamoto made the decision to lead with a student-made film and the hit was born on April 2, 2006 when The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina: Episode 00 started the first series of the Haruhi Suzumiya anime.

2013 was the anniversary marking the tenth year the Haruhi Suzumiya novel series first went into print. Likely, Kadokawa wanted to release two items during that year: a pachinko collaboration with Sankyo that had been in the works since 2009 at minimum, and a re-release of the 14 episodes that aired in 2006 as they were broadcast (which had never been released before in Japan). Due to circumstances that weren’t made public, both of these were pushed back to 2014 and on August 29, 2014, Kadokawa finally gave the 629 Japanese fans what they had been waiting for.

CTFK 2013 KyoAni, Pony Canyon, and Lantis Producers’ Discussion Translated

This is the third in a series of posts translating transcriptions/summaries of the four stage panels at Kyoto Animation/Animation Do’s CTFK 2013 event held November 30, 2013. This post will be about the Producers’ Discussion panel detailing background information about the works featured at the event. The transcriptions/summaries for this panel come from these bloggers. Editing support comes from irrevilent.

The reasoning behind a lack of Haruhi S3 (Updated March 2015)

In April 2006, a reasonably popular light novel franchise by the name of The (blank) of Haruhi Suzumiya began airing its anime adaptation. Little did the producers know that the anime would become one of the top selling series of all time. The franchise became huge and a second season seemed inevitable. However, fate had other ideas in store. This post will detail how the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise has yet to receive a third season after selling nearly 100,000 copies per volume on DVD in 2006 (oricon miscalculations).

Free! and the future of KyoAni productions

On April 26, 2013 Kyoto Animation announced their 17th self-produced animation production entitled FREE!, a series about a group of friends re-uniting in their passion for swimming after going their separate ways following a victory in the elementary school nationals. What really got people in an uproar was the fact that all the main characters in this series were male and a previous advertisement involving these characters was very focused around their appeal towards female viewers. Of course this caused certain fans to be upset, things have been said, etc. I’m not going to focus on that (it’s been covered already). Nor am I going to focus on what mistakes have been made in covering this series (again, already covered). What I want to focus on is the impact FREE! has in future productions by Kyoto Animation that’s been heavily ignored by most fans, production and revenue (and no, not focusing towards a different audience).

Haruhi Suzumiya re-viewing: The day, someday, it ends

Throughout the summer, AT-X has been re-airing the Haruhi Suzumiya anime series. Each week, they would show two episodes at a time. Back in early June, I thought it would be a fun idea to re-watch the series two episodes at a time with them. I asked Yumeka and Goggen if they would join me in this re-watching, and they kindly agreed to not only watch the episodes, but to send me their views upon re-watching the episodes too. Finally, we’ve come to the final week. Today features the last TV episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. As always, each of us writes our thoughts seperately without seeing what the other two people wrote. (Yumeka-Haruhi, Goggen-Mio, ultimatemegax-Koizumi)

Random translation: 2005 Nagaru Tanigawa/Noizi Itou discussion

Here’s another interview I randomly found from December 2005 (in the February 2006 edition of The Sneaker). This was a discussion produced to celebrate Haruhi Suzumiya becoming a TV anime. Without further adu:

In celebration of becoming an anime, Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Itou talk about how Haruhi was born

Haruhi Suzumiya re-viewing: Cultural Festival!

After finishing the 2009 episodes in our re-viewing, Yumeka, Goggen, and I have reached the final stretch! The cable station AT-X aired the 25th and 26th episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya today, and just like the past 12 weeks, we watched the episodes as well. Without further adu, here are our thoughts on the two episodes focusing on the events of the cultural festival! (Both episodes were viewed and all thoughts were written without knowledge of what anyone else wrote. Any coincidences are just that. Yumeka-Haruhi, Goggen-Mio, ultimatemegax-Koizumi)

Haruhi Suzumiya re-viewing: Sigh, it’s over

We’re in week 12 of 14 for our Haruhi Suzumiya TV anime re-viewing! Since AT-X is re-broadcasting the TV anime, Yumeka, Goggen, and I are following along and re-watching the show two episodes at a time to coincide with their showings. This week, we conclude not only the second novel, but the new episodes that were added in the 2009 showings. As always, each of us watch the episodes separately and write our own thoughts with no knowledge of what the others wrote. (Yumeka-Haruhi, Goggen-Mio, ultimatemegax-Koizumi)

Haruhi Suzumiya re-viewing: Seems to

This summer, AT-X, a cable station in Japan that broadcasts primarily anime programming, has been re-airing the Haruhi Suzumiya TV series. Along with them, Yumeka, Goggen, and I have been re-watching the series 2 episodes a week with them. This week, we continue the Endless Eight arc. (Yumeka: Haruhi, Goggen: Mio, ultimatemegax:Koizumi) Any parallel thoughts are coincidence; we each watch and write our thoughts separately.

Haruhi Suzumiya re-viewing: Eight Summer

Once again, it’s time for another week of Haruhi Suzumiya! This week, AT-X broadcast the 13/14 episodes of the television series, and we joined them on our re-watch. We’re halfway done with the series, but can we say the same for our current arc?! Joining me are Yumeka (of Mainichi Anime Yume) and K-On! superfan Goggen. (Yumeka-Haruhi, Goggen-Mio, ultimatemegax-Koizumi) Disclaimer: each of us watch the episodes and write our comments separately. Any overlap in comments is coincidental.