So how about I review a more popular show today? If you've ever seen anything about anime, you must have at least heard of "The Life and Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". 'Long-ass title, I know, but that's only scratching the surface of oddities that make this series unique. The only thing typical about this anime is the modern high-school setting, (and really I could always do without that.)
The story is told from Kyon's perspective- a nonchalant, pessimistic type of guy who bumps into the strangest girl he would ever meet: Haruhi Suzumiya. Obviously, with her name in the title and all, she is the main character, therefore making the show second-person. I was really convinced after Sherlock Holmes that no one would ever try something like that again, but did they ever prove me wrong. In fact, they pulled it off so well, I didn't even notice until I sat down and thought about Kyon's role later.
As for another example of the various oddities, this show was originally aired out of order. That's right, they jumbled it up on purpose. For what purpose, I don't know. It gets somewhat confusing, especially if you don't know they're out of order at first, but if you watch it in chronological order then the climax is in the middle somewhere. That's not entirely bad though; all the filler episodes take place after the main story, so basically you could stop in the middle and you might miss a little bit of comedy but nothing too fulfilling.
So hey, what the hell's this hubbub all about anyway? Well Suzumiya is practically a god and she's unaware. Combine that with too much imagination, a rash personality and a short temper, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Her friends include an alien, a time-traveler and an esper, all hiding their true identities behind those of normal students. Without spoiling anything, I think it's safe to tell you that they're not all together by some cheesy coincidence as you might expect from typical anime.
After all that though, the animation is just okay. Not terrific, just normal ... 'looks like it averages at 12 frames per second, but I could be wrong. I do have to give them credit on choreographing and animating the dance for the ending credits though. Also, considering the interesting style of art they used, it still has plenty of visual appeal to spare.
Now WATCH THEM DANCE, you know you want to.
Wanna know one more interesting thing before I call it a night? This show had a fan-base comparable to that of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and I could be wrong but I thought I remembered someone telling me that it also caused a similar uproar event in Japan. That might make for a whole different blog post, but for now I'll leave that statement to the people who know what I'm talking about.
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