I don't get the title; Haruhi is right there.
"The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" is the finale to "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" anime series. The "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" light novels would continue though. "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" released in 2010, animated by Kyoto Animation.
Warning: The following has spoilers for "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," if you haven't seen nor read "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," I recommend doing so or reading my review, whichever one works best for you.
Christmas Party Preparations (Gone Wrong)
One week, Kyon and the SOS Brigade are preparing for a Christmas Party under Haruhi Suzumiya's command. However, during that week, Kyon wakes up one morning to find things have changed. Just minor stuff though, like how there's a cold going around, Taniguchi is sick, Ryouko Asakura is back-
WAIT?! ASAKURA HAS A RED COAT?!
In fact, even weirder, Haruhi and Itsuki Koizumi are nowhere to be seen, no one even knows them. Mikuru Asahina doesn't recognize Kyon, and Yuki is now a shy, normal girl instead of an alien A.I..
These changes should hurt me, but normal girl Yuki is so adorable!
The plot perfectly nails how jarring and how much of a fish out of water Kyon is to... Whatever happened. The way he finds out, the way he reacts, and the genuine pain he feels sells the weight of these reveals. It's painful seeing Kyon find someone like Mikuru or Yuki, since as the audience, we already know they don't recognize him.
The pacing this time around is slow, which lets these moments sink in appropriately and effectively. "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" is the longest theatrical animated movie for a good reason, the slow pacing adds so much to the plot.
It goes back to the roots of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" arc by providing an intriguing premise with stellar execution. I was invested as soon as I heard Asakura's voice off-screen and saw Kyon's reaction. I knew this was going places, not only because Asakura is my favourite character, but because Kyon's reaction felt so real.
Whenever Kyon felt defeated, I felt sad for him. When no one remembered Haruhi, it was painful to watch. Whenever Kyon made progress, I was genuinely happy. Despite not caring for Kyon as a character, I was invested in his journey to conquer this challenge.
The mystery is so interesting too. At first, you think the answer might be that Haruhi caused this, but as the movie goes on, you become more unsure that's the case. To the point where the answer behind everything took me off guard hard.
Kyoto Animation Does It Again
What happens when you take an anime that already had fantastic visuals and animation, but give the studio behind it a bigger budget? Even better visuals and animations that keeps the spirit of the original anime.
[Credit: IMDb; Animation Studio: Kyoto Animation]
The visuals honestly speak for themselves, they look gorgeous. Some of the backgrounds look so detailed and realistic, as if you're looking at a souvenir photo, it's that good.
Another improvement is the soundtrack, which packs a greater punch to help elevate scenes. Tracks for me are more memorable and I find myself listening to a few tracks in my spare time, such as "Suzumiya Haruhi no Tegakari."
My opinion on the English voice acting is the same too, it's just as great as before. Like the anime, the visuals and audio are a S rank alone.
The Reincorporation
Now it's major spoilers time, as the reincorporation plays a huge role in the story of "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya." "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" has been building up to this, with multiple signs in the anime, which enhances the plot.
The most obvious is with Yuki, as Yuki experiences the same corruption Asakura goes through in the anime. Ryouko Asakura even says Kyon will one day face another alien A.I. seeking radical change, and she wasn't wrong.
[Credit: Funimation; Animation Studio: Kyoto Animation]
Best girl is so good that she predicted the movie's plot. Like Asakura, Yuki got sick of being on the sidelines, seeing the same things repeatedly, of Haruhi being a peepee poopoo. Okay, maybe that last part is exclusive to Yuki. Yuki Nagato, like Asakura, wanted change and forced it to break the monotony.
However, unlike Asakura, Yuki didn't force change through violence. Instead, she altered the world and everyone's memories so she could be a normal girl, so Haruhi would disappear to a new school, and so the SOS Brigade wouldn't exist.
Fortunately, because she trusted Kyon, since Kyon looked out for Yuki when no one else did, she let Kyon choose to reverse her actions. Without this, Yuki's world would've gone uncontested.
Despite Yuki's corruption, her trust towards Kyon could never go away. That's what separates her from Asakura, as Asakura couldn't feel empathy, nor did she ever care for Kyon or Haruhi.
However, how did Yuki come to become corrupt and desire change? Simple, the Endless Eight arc. She saw the same events for over 500 years. A.I. or not, no one would be the same after that.
Keep in mind, most people like myself can barely stand watching the same events unfold for up to eight episodes. That's only a miniscule fraction in comparison to what Yuki went through. I see why the anime extended Endless Eight. By enduring the eight-episode arc, we feel and better understand Yuki's pain.
Now, am I saying Endless Eight is good? Absolutely not, it's a masterpiece after all, but I see what Kyoto Animation was going for. This revelation makes Endless Eight worth enduring... Kind of...
The reincorporation helps to make other reveals amazing. My favourite example is the detail that Taniguchi knew Haruhi back at his old school. It's a small detail from the anime I honestly forgot about since it was minor. Here, it becomes the most important clue for Kyon to find Haruhi.
Or how Yuki puts her clue in the book she let Kyon borrow at the beginning of the anime. Or also how the episode where Kyon helps younger Haruhi draw hieroglyphs on the school grounds, and how that experience is what convinces Haruhi that Kyon knows her.
Not only does it give significance to multiple arcs, but it also gives a phenomenal payoff to these plot elements and arcs from the original anime. It makes the revelations more natural as everything by this point has been set up for Kyon and the audience, it's just a matter of piecing everything together.
The Faults in Our Haruhi- Lack of Haruhi Suzumiya
Unfortunately, "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" isn't perfect despite what most cults say. My main gripe is Kyon's narration. I already minded how much he narrated needlessly in the anime, but here it becomes downright unbearable.
He narrates so much, way too much. While I think it works in some cases, like when he's making his decision between a world with or without the SOS Brigade, most of the time, it's just distractingly aggravating. Having to endure it for over two hours makes Endless- The Sigh of- Point is: it drives me crazy.
On a related note, about his choice between both worlds, I think while this scene is well-executed, it does irk me that Kyon doesn't focus on Yuki that much. Not in the sense of choosing a world between Haruhi and Yuki, but more so choosing between both Yuki's, since regardless of his choice, a Yuki is going to cease to exist.
[Credit: IMDb; Animation Studio: Kyoto Animation]
This is personal, but in my opinion, Alien Yuki and the Yuki in the world without the SOS Brigade are two different individuals with their own souls. They have their own memories, personalities, and more. I think it's weird that the plot glosses over it.
I also think the cold makes no sense story-wise. From a writing perspective, it's there so Taniguchi is sick. That way when he comes back, he can drop the "I know Haruhi" bomb. I thought the cold would play a bigger role, but it didn't even act as a clue. It makes me question why Yuki added it into the altered world in the first place.
Finally, like with the anime, I find the cast boring. My opinions on the characters haven't changed much. Like before, I only like Yuki and Asakura, with only my opinion on Yuki changing slightly. Even then, I still don't feel too strongly towards Yuki. However, I will admit that I root for normal girl Yuki's crush on Kyon, it's so adorable.
While this didn't hurt most moments, the impact was softened at times for me. For example, when Kyon finally finds Haruhi, it should be this huge reveal. However, I don't care about Haruhi, and I find her annoying, so this moment didn't work as well for me.
Overall (A)
I see "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" as an extended episode from the anime with higher production value. Which is a good thing, since it gave me the same vibe and quality as "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" arc in the anime.
The journey the characters go through is intriguing, the mystery is excellent, the pacing is incredible, the presentation is top notch, and the payoff is excellent. It's a shame the cast and Kyon's narration are still major problems I have, but this is still great.
While I prefer "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" arc more since I find it more intriguing and entertaining, "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" is critically better than the entire anime.
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