The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Just a quick note, there probably won’t be many reviews this time around. I haven’t been feeling motivated enough to watch a whole lot of shows… That said, anime ho!
To kick off this season, we have a movie I’ve been waiting for over a year to see.
Disappearance was announced at the conclusion of the second season of Haruhi. That was October 2009. It is now January 2011. Fifteen months of (im)patient waiting made my excitement all the more giddy. And so I was worried that the film would be a huge disappointment after all the waiting inflated my expectations to unreasonable levels.
Such fears were totally unfounded.
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is now one of my top 10 favorite animes. Pity I didn’t watch it last week…
December 16th. Christmas is one week away, and Haruhi decides to throw a Christmas party. She’s going to bring home-cooked food.
December 18th. Haruhi has apparently vanished from the face of the Earth. Kyon is the only person who retains any knowledge of her existence.
Kyon actually impressed me a lot in Disappearance. After the series, where he was a mostly reactionary character, here he’s actually the main guy who drives the plot forward. And what a plot it is. I’m not sure how much I can talk about that without spoiling something important. I will say there are a couple interesting twists you need to watch out for, though. And the final climax? PURE. EPIC.
Some people have complained that the movie was too long. At 2 hours and 40 minutes, it is the length of half a whole season of Haruhi. But I feel that that time was put to good use.
You might want to re-watch the series before watching Disappearance, though. I, who watched the series twice (including Endless Eight, making Endless Sixteen,) was able to follow the story along nicely. But someone who has forgotten a lot of the series, or has not seen the series at all, will have a hard time following what’s going on. (Endless Eight is optional.)
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Trailer
You know what? I think I’m going to make it a point to watch this movie every year around Christmastime. Maybe right after It’s A Wonderful Life… Yep, it’s perfect.