In short – I am dropping this series. It's still not funny. And the plot makes very little sense.

The fate of the universe rests on the uniqueness of Haruhi or something like that said with a thousand words. Do I care? Let me see – no, I don't. I am tired of watching Haruhi bossing around everybody, tired of seeing Mikuru as the ultimate cliche – a shy high schoolgirl, whose charms are used by Haruhi to achieve this or that (we already saw her as a Playboy bunny, maid and cheerleader – talk about fanservice), tired of waiting for something interesting to happen. I wanted to like this series, I really did, if only to enjoy the beautiful animation for a longer time. But now after every one started revealing their secret, I just got even more cynical and waited for some character to say something like "I am Kira Yamato" or "I am actually George Bush in disguise". The baseball game was painfully not funny and I was amazed that no one even bothered to complain that our heroes were cheating. And showing the episodes in some random chronological order seems to me as a lame attempt to show how cool this series is which as far as I am concerned failed miserably. I still fail to see what's so great about Haruhi, any time she grins in that ultra-mega-hyper-giga-confident way of hers, I want to slap her or just stop watching. Which is just what I did in the end. The most important reason for that? Pretty simple, really – today I watched two episodes of Suzumiya Haruhi and laughed once or twice. But I also watched one episode of Ouran High School Host Club and my mouth stil hurts from all the laugter that this activity caused. You can't argue with that. I guess this series is just not for me. So long and thanks for the fish, I mean for reading this rather short rant.  

P.S. No screenshots this time for three reasons – I am too lazy, I am afraid that the beauty of the animation might trick me into continuing to watch this series agaisnt my better judgement and finally I am pretty sure you can very easily find a dozenblogs raving about this series, all of them full of beautiful screenshots.

Those of you who visit anime forums or blogs or just have friends obsessed with anime are probably well aware that The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is the smashing, all conquering hit of the new season. Hence, being the ever dutiful workaholic that I am, I set about forming my own opinion about this series. How? By watching a bit of it, of course and also trying not to get into “it’s hyped so I will bash it” or “it’s hyped by people whose opinions and tastes I value so I am going to rave about it” mode. It was difficult, mind you. Anyway, after many trials and tribulations my humble persona managed to watch the first two episodes. The verdict? Read and find out (or just read the whole title of this article).

That’s probably the worst kept secret in the anime community but I have to say it – the first episode was weird. Odd. Strange. Full of “WTF?” moments. And so on. Apparently it shows an amateur video created by the main character who, not surprisingly is named Haruhi Suzumiya. It was basically a parody of all the crappy anime series full of cliches – the usual stuff – aliens, magic forces and duels, chosen saviour with latent powers, cute loli with unrpoportionately big breasts, an evil magician, etc. So far so good. It had some funny moments. But why all the hype? Full Metal Panic:Fumoffu’s first episode is a thousand times funnier, hell just the first two minutes of this episode are funnier than the first two episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. OK, this film really looked like a film shot by some wacko full of stupid cliched ideas who had no idea how to make a movie but it was neither a really funny parody, nor were we properly introduced to the creators of this amateur film in the first episode which I think is a bit stupid.

Second episode – we finally see “real” world and get to know the actors in that movie. Haruhi is borderline crazy but she is just not funny enough. I laughed more during the second episode of Strawberry Panic than during this one and you might know that SP is not exactly the greatest anime comedy ever. Haruhi wants to meet aliens or espers and the likes because she thinks humans are boring to death. I guess she just wants to meet other wackos and that’s what she sets about to do. She sets up a school club with a crazy sounding name and an unclear purpose. And that’s it. Absolutely nothing interesting or noteworthy apart from the animation and art which are really well done and the comedy element but a comedy which is just not that funny. Oh, and the loli is cute which is a plus. Yes, I know most of my argument is “This is not funny although I am not sure why” but have ever tried to explain why something is not funny? OK, let me give you an example – I suspect the fact that Haruhi changes her hairstyle every day, for instance, was supposed to make me laugh but it totally failed. If it’s about characters who are a bit (or totally) crazy – give me Sousuke (Full Metal Panic) or Excel (Excel Saga) any day, not Haruhi. And talking about the current season, so far Ouran High School Host Club has shown better art, more interesting characters, better music and Tamaki who a weirdo but a funny one. I am probably going to continue watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya but until it gets much better it will be mostly because I have more spare time than it’s good for me.