Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu

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Meet Haruhi — a cute, determined girl, starting high school in a city where nothing exciting happens and absolutely no one understands her. Meet Kyon — the sarcastic guy who sits in front of Haruhi in homeroom and the only boy Haruhi has ever opened up to. His fate is now tied to hers. Meet the SOS Brigade — an after-school club organized by Haruhi with a mission to seek out the extraordinary. Oh, and their second mission? Keeping Haruhi happy…because even through she doesn’t know it, Haruhi has the power to destroy our universe…

v1 – The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi / 第一巻: 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱
v2 – The Sigh of Suzumiya Haruhi / 第二巻: 涼宮ハルヒの溜息
v3 – The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi / 第三巻: 涼宮ハルヒの退屈
v4 – The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi / 第四巻: 涼宮ハルヒの消失
v5 – The Rampage of Suzumiya Haruhi / 第五巻: 涼宮ハルヒの暴走
v6 – The Wavering of Suzumiya Haruhi / 第六巻: 涼宮ハルヒの動揺
v7 – The Intrigues of Suzumiya Haruhi / 第七巻: 涼宮ハルヒの陰謀
v8 – The Indignation of Suzumiya Haruhi / 第八巻: 涼宮ハルヒの憤慨
v9 – The Dissociation of Suzumiya Haruhi / 第九巻: 涼宮ハルヒの分裂
v10 – The Surprise of Suzumiya Haruhi (First Part) / 涼宮ハルヒの驚愕 (前)
v11 – The Surprise of Suzumiya Haruhi (Final Part) / 涼宮ハルヒの驚愕 (後)

Associated Names
One entry per line
凉宫春日的忧郁
涼宮ハルヒ
涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱
Related Series
Seven Wonders Overtime (Side Story)
The Tempo Loss Bishop Exchange of Haruhi Suzumiya (Side Story)
Recommendations
Boku no Bungeibu ni Bitch ga Irunante Arienai (1)
Jaku-chara Tomozaki-kun (1)
Ordinary I and Extraordinary Them (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. School Life
  2. The best I have read
  3. running from iskiai?
  4. Absolute Literature
  5. Yomimasu

Latest Release

v.10-11 by ultimatemegax (08-03-2011)
v.9 c.3 by Baka-Tsuki (10-31-2007)
v.9 c.1 by Baka-Tsuki (01-25-2008)
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2 Reviews sorted by


Pixeldrum
Pixeldrum rated it
July 25, 2021
Status: v12
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu is an oldie for sure, but is it as good as all the hype surrounding it in the many years that it has been out for? It's hard to say. For one, it really reminds me of the zaregoto series, both released in similar times in the 2002-2003 period. Not to say that these series copied off each other, but both have similar elements, executing them to various degrees of success. In essence, both Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu and Zaregoto feature characters with supernatural powers, to... more>> the point of absurdity sometimes, acting on whimsical desires. These desires and random actions create a series of supernatural events and mysteries in which the seemingly powerless protagonist is dragged into the thick of it and forced to deal with the events, one way or the other. Both feature a lot of monologuing and cryptic dialogue at times, and the feeling that a lot of things are outside the main character's control because they're powerless to a degree.

Now, I'd like to point out the way both series handle continuous plot. While Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu does feature serious events a lot the time, it understands that the series is more of a supernatural comedy and for the most part, does not have juxtaposing events in which a cast of characters meant for a supernatural comedy is thrusted into a culminating plot line. Every volume has various levels of seriousness and comedy, and thus, quality also varies quite a bit. It's a series with not much direction, and while there are serious plot threads in the volumes, these plot threads are usually focused on the elaborating backstories of the characters themselves, or are resolved within the volume. I do like that aspect of the story. While there are appearances of enemies and foes, at the same time, their intents are not 100% malicious, and the story is more about figuring out their intentions rather than the SOS brigade having an all out battle with them, which was a really smart move. Sometimes, this does come at the cost of plot armor or just weird solutions to seemingly desperate situations, like how the brigade conveniently is presented with a not too hard, but not too simple math problem to escape a bad situation perpetrated cosmic powers beyond their abilities.

Zaregoto, on the other hand, has completely random plots and more wild action and characters than its counterpart, but it also develops into a more serious, culminating plotline with varying levels of success. The wild randomness that enraptured me in the beginning devolved into a "serious" plot that tries to make sense of the slapdash storylines of the previous volumes. Overall, I am glad at how this series has managed to keep the plot going, with not too much direction, but also not completely aimless.

I have to say, for something that has been released for such a long time, the plot still seems fresh to me, and the setting that the story is put into place is very interesting and there are so many possibilities and directions that the novel can explore. To a degree, the novel does do a lot of exploration. There's a lot of different tones, settings, and scenarios in each novel, each with its own twists and turns. Yet, at the same time, it's a bit stale at the same time? I think it just has to do with the fact that certain volumes have a lot more creativity and charm compared to other ones, and I never really find myself thinking that the author truly is thinking outside the box.

The charm point of the series is clearly Haruhi. It's quite clear that her god-like powers and energetic, arrogant, and boisterous personality makes for a lot of different scenarios to come into play. Yet, a lot of the time, she's put in the sidelines, and the volumes put her on the back burner for a lot of the story. Rather than the story coming along with Haruhi's whims, it seems that half the time or more, the Haruhi is strung up along with the story's whims (ie, other characters' actions and intents). While this does allow for other characters to come into the spotlight, it always seems a bit forced and weird when a character is both powerless and powerful at the same time. Plus, and this comes into the lack of creativity sometimes, the plot is almost never out of control and it always seems like there's structure. Obviously, a random story with no structure is terrible, but for series like this, I definitely was hoping for some more chaos in the volumes rather than a concise plotline. While Nagato, Asahina, Koizumi, and Kyon are constantly impacting the plot and focuses on them, the plot always seems a bit too serious or straightforward. They're never in a strange scenario, and always play the same roles. Asahina is always the cute klutz, Koizumi is always the "smiling, smart. Cool" male character, and Nagato the kuudere is the pool of knowledge and guardian of the brigade. Essentially, each character has their own predictable set of actions and behaviors, and that never really changes by each volume. Yet, for all my complaints, there certainly are some good volumes. Namely, I really liked volume 1 and volume 12, while volume 10-11 are pretty good as well. The characters definitely come to life, and I felt invested into the story at hand rather than the more formulaic arcs in the other volumes.

Monologuing by Kyon is for the most part, standard fare. I wouldn't call it compelling like I from Zaregoto, but there are some good nuggets hidden within its mediocrity, and I think that the monologuing not being that good definitely hurts the story. For how much Kyon monologues, the details that he presents are mundane and lack any depth and as such, they sometimes just go in one ear and out the other. Fanservice also comes into play here. There just happens to be three attractive girls with varying levels of interest in Kyon, and as such, there's always some s*xual references here and there spread throughout his monologuing. While not overbearing, it's nothing more than fanservice and gets quite old.
Sometimes, the story focuses on the most mundane things, and it truly is mundane and boring to read, and other times, the story is mundane but interesting to read. While some dialogue just drag on and monologue dry, certain dialogue spark a sense of engrossing interest. Sometimes, the story focuses on the supernatural, but it's certainly not that good from start to inevitable boring resolution, but other times, the supernatural events naturally come together into something more than the sum of its parts. Overall, it's an erratic read, and much like Haruhi herself, the volumes are inconsistent and unpredictable.

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Master10K
Master10K rated it
June 13, 2020
Status: v9c3
A bit too wordy and esoteric at times, but out of all the media I've read or watched, this one portrays time travel the best. All whilst doing the usual highschool slice of life hijinks, within its short stories. With an overarching plot I may never see the end of.
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