a few more minor thought stragglers for Melancholy of Haruhi

[timepiececlock]

1. I was totally right about Haruhi being the antagonist of the series. As much as there is a villain, she's it, even if she's not aware of the fact. Actually, the title says it best: it is Haruhi's boredom, her melancholy, her mood swings, that are the force of negative events and conflict.



2. There are a few scenes in the opening that I don't remmber ever seeing in the actual episodes: Haruhi at the piano, Haruhi behind Kyon on the bicycle. I'm sure there's others as well.

3. The natural movement and visual "feel" of the animation really took this series to another level. I don't know if I'd've loved it nearly as much if it didn't look and move so well. The facial expressions and gestures are more detailed and expressive than most anime series havea budget for.

4. I got a laugh out of the homoerotic vibe with every scene between Itsuko and Kyon; Kyon also noticed and his minor freakouts whenever it became awkward (which lessened over time, haha) amused me, as did Itsuko's blase reaction.

Comments

[herongale]

If you ever want to lose a million years finding out what happens next, read the Light Novels (conveniently translated here.

The animation for that series is truly stunning. When I was watching it I realized that although I value high production values in an action series, you can really see the importance in a comic, character-driven series such as that... the timing and facial expressions need to be perfect and fluid, and Melancholy Etc really nails it.

And I think I am totally in love with Kyon.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Spot on about the fluidity. "fluid" is the perfect description for why the animation looks so great.

Thanks for the link, I might check them out later.


I'm not in love with Kyon, but I understand why Haruhi is. :D

[seangaffney.livejournal.com]

The piano seems to be just random OP stuff. The bit with the bike, though, is from the short story 'Endless Eight', which the anime didn't use. Haruhi and Yuki doing stretches is from that as well.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I liked the idea of her playing the piano, though.

Do you know if those stories are available in official translations?

[seangaffney.livejournal.com]

The novels are licensed by Little Brown, but likely won't start till Spring 2009. In the meantime, though, there's always unofficial translations...

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

Eeee, you watched it! You watched it in (mostly) chronological order. O_O Having seen it with all the episodes scrambled in every which way, I can't really imagine watching it in order, it's too crazy; luckily, it's a really simple story.

1. Haruhi is God, basically. Ironic that the fate of the universe as they know it lies in the hands of the most unpredictable, least sane, possibly dangerous type of person. It always amuses me to imagine the state of the world if Haruhi and Kyon ever became a serious couple beyond high school. Pregnant Haruhi...

2. For a while, I hoped that they were novel-material that would eventually show up in the second season, or some such. It took a while for me to realize that they were too short for that.

3. Every second of that series screamed 'expensive' to me; those must've been some amazing production values. The crew also paid close attention to the motion/movement of the characters, which I think is key to great animation (i.e., the works of Studio Ghibli)

4. This isn't actually relevant to this bullet, but the creators of the series recently released a lot of merchandise with the characters genderbended... there's a Ranma joke here, somewhere.

Eee, you watched it! I'll comment to your longer response post and it'll probably be - you guessed it - really, really long.

I welcome long discussion!

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

1. A.Ironic that the fate of the universe as they know it lies in the hands of the most unpredictable, least sane, possibly dangerous type of person.

What I liked about the meta of the show is that it says the universe reflects its maker: only an insane, unpredictable god would create this illogical world of theirs in the first place, so it's stuck with her and her with it. Haruhi is the perfect god for their world, simply by her being, and vice versa.


1. B. It always amuses me to imagine the state of the world if Haruhi and Kyon ever became a serious couple

I just had an idea bout this! I posted at rashaka_fiction, with the idea that if Kyon ever got serious about his feelings for Haruhi, that the situation would have to change because they couldn't have a real relationship the way things are right now: the oblivious deity and her keeper.

4. Links?

Re: I welcome long discussion!

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

The links to official genderbender art are all over Youtube, but you can find a nice compact slideshow here. Just search Youtube for "Melancholy Genderbender", "Kyonko Genderbender" (Kyon's AU is the most popular one), or some variation of the title with "genderbender" and you'll be bombarded with results.

Beware of the AU versions of the ED and OP, though. They're just the original voices pitched either lower or higher.

And there are some nice detailed ones here! There are also figurines, but I really don't remember the blog I found them at.

Re: I welcome long discussion!

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

It's weird that male!Haruhi looks like Kyon with a headband. Ah, the drawbacks of anime design!

Re: I welcome long discussion!

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

Seriously! Also, it's hilarious how touchy Itsuki suddenly gets around Kyon the instant they become girls. Much easier to disguise/get away with the homoeroticism then. XD

SPOILERS, SPOILERS

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

SPOILERS -->



I just remembered that they mentioned everything began three years ago, on the day that's usually associated with Haruhi gazing at a shooting star in the OP. I never quite understood whether the entire world and all of Kyon's memories began on that day, or whether it was remade to incorporate Haruhi's additions on that day, or whether Haruhi became the new god that day and changed the Brigade members' lives as she remade the world for the first time. Personally, I leaned toward the last conclusion, since Yuki implied that the new influx of incoherent data appeared for the first time three years ago and that it settled in Haruhi. I think it's up to interpretation, though, just as the slippery half of meta usually is.

Re: SPOILERS, SPOILERS

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I would wonder about the books for that. I haven't read them, so I can't say. I plan to read translations at some point.


From the anime, I would suspect a combination. The way I figured it, Haruhi always had the potential, but it wasn't until she realized her place in the world as insignificant that she "awakened" and began to alter the world around her to fit the perceived lack. The world was already there, and so was Kyon, and possibly so were the others (though Mikuru might have only been alive in the future timeline). And what Haruhi did was either make them special or draw their attention or create them as new people in the universe. Of course, once they're there, they come with a pre-existing history as part of their presence.