The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Review

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya perfectly expresses how I felt about high school when I was a kid. The show speaks to me because I, like Haruhi and Kyon, was so unsatisfied with my mundane life. That's part of the reason I think the show caught on. There's a good deal of lonely nerdy kids who just wish someone like Haruhi would walk into their lives and liven things up. Her wacky schemes and energetic passion to find something exciting out there spoke to a lot of people. Not to mention that in the world of show all these sci-fi elements actually do exist because of her.

And Kyon was essentially how I felt at the time, disillusioned and resigned to the unhappy dullness of everyday routine. Kyon strikes me as the sort who spent a good deal of his childhood reading stories of excitement and adventure, always sort of expecting that to pop up in his life at some point. Now that he is a 'mature' high school student he's felt he's had to let go of some of those dreams. But lo and behold we have Haruhi to kickstart things again. She's so excited, energetic and passionate that it breathes new life into the dull school atmosphere.
That is she spoke to bored aimless kids like me. It was the fantasy of some sort of adventure in our mundane lives coming to life in this show. And it worked because it was in the familiar high school setting, because the show was somewhat self aware and because it deliberately spoke to that desire for excitement and adventure.
So what is the story? As I mentioned earlier Kyon has given up on any sort of excitement in his life until he meets Haruhi an eccentric student in his class who still believes in aliens espers and time travelers. Together they form a club to find the supernatural and get three other club members to join. Mikuru, who is attractive and shy and more often than not the victim of Haruhi's schemes. Yuki Nagato the quiet and calm bookworm. And lastly Itsuki the transfer student. Oh and they each happen to be a time traveler, an alien, and an esper, in that order. And Haruhi is unknowingly the god-like being that caused them each to exist, maybe even the entire world as well. The show revolves around the comedic hijinks the group gets into trying to keep Haruhi from subconsciously destroying the world (often with Kyon's internal dry sarcasm commenting on everything).
All in all it's an enjoyable show that I would highly recommended. The animation is great as are the characters, story, voice acting, and music. The only problem I have with the entire show is the infamous endless eight arc which is entirely skippable. Besides that I would definitely recommend the show to just about anyone.
Rating 9/10