Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu ep.2

April 9, 2006 | 28 Comments

Opening Theme: 「冒険でしょでしょ？」(Bouken desho, desho?) by 「平野綾] (Hirano Aya) - PSP format (16.5MB)

This is such an awesome series. I've always liked it from the start but the second episode simply seals the deal. I like the fact that the animation is so crips and clean. The opening theme, Bouken Desho Desho also happens to be a rather catchy tune which is pleasant to listen to. It's not as good as the ending theme but is still good nevertheless. This show also turns out to be one unusual series as far as the premise is concerned. While the plot does sounds kind of silly on a glance, when you actually watch the episode itself, you'll realise that it is actually an interesting and funny series. If you like high-school comedy like Genshiken, then I think the chances are high that you'll like this series as well. With its unique storyline, I think this series has the chance of becoming one of the better series that came out this season.

The episode begins with Kyon telling himself that he never believed in Santa Claus. He thinks that even during a kindergarten Christmas event, he doubted the existence of Santa because the old man only works during Christmas. Ever since then he realised that alien, future traveller, ghost, and super power only exists in anime or manga and not in the real world. But the truth is, deep down he wishes that they do exist. He, however, already forgotten this childish dream when he graduated from junior high. That is until he met Suzumiya Haruhi on the first day of high school. During the introduction that she made in front of her classmates, Haruhi mentioned out loud that she has no interest in talking to normal people. However, if anyone in the class is either an alien, someone from future or someone with ESP power, she is keen to see them. Because Kyon is curious, he decides to ask Haruhi which part of her introduction was serious.

In return Haruhi asks him if he's an alien and when she finds out that Kyon is not, she told him not to speak to her because he's wasting her time. Later on, one of Kyon's classmate, Tachibana warns him that if he's thinking about Haruhi, he better stop right away. Apparently Tachibana has been in the same class with Haruhi since junior high so he knows a lot about her. He thinks that Haruhi is what people normally called "a weirdo". Haruhi was particularly famous for her involvement in the 'Schoolyard scribble incident'. This incident basically involves Haruhi drawing a large picture of symbol on a schoolyard. There's another incident where students came for morning class only to find that all of the tables were placed out in the corridor and the one where Haruhi painted the ceiling with the picture of stars. While Tachibana tells this, Kyon notices that Haruhi is throwing a ball into a dome-shaped building.

Having said that, Tachibana admits that Haruhi is popular and talented. She is good at anything that she does including sports. Despite this, Tachibana still warns Kyon from getting too involved with Haruhi. During PE class, Tachibana points out that there are other, equally interesting girls like a girl called Asakura Ryouko, who's apparently one of the 3 best students. Despite the recommendation, Kyon can't help but being curious about Haruhi. He notices, for example, that her hairstyle changes everyday. This makes him wonders about her hairstyle on Sunday. Haruhi also lacking in inhibition as evidenced when she openly changes her clothes in front of both male and female classmates. As a result, her female classmates have to kick out the male classmates out of the classroom while Haruhi changes her clothes. Kyon thinks that maybe to Haruhi males just look like a bunch of potatoes so she's not too concerned about them.

In addition to this, Haruhi doesn't seem to care about seriously joining any club despite temporarily signing up for many of them. One day, or precisely, on Wednesday, because Kyon can tell what day it is based on Haruhi's hair style, Kyon sarcastically asks Haruhi if her ever-changing hairdo is a countermeasure against the aliens. This, for some reason, intrigues Haruhi and she asks Kyon when did he notice this so Kyon tells her not too long ago. All of a sudden, Haruhi starts to explain how she changes her hair to reflect the day of the week. For example, on Tuesday, she uses red (probably because the kanji for Tuesday is the same kanji for fire), and on Wednesday she uses blue (again, most likely because the kanji for Wednesday is the same kanji that represents water). Upon hearing this Kyon wonders if numbers represent the days, will zero represents Monday and six represents Sunday for her. Haruhi seems to agree with this statement.

Kyon, however, continues to push his luck and tells her that to him Monday is represented by number one. Upon hearing this Haruhi becomes cold again and tells him that no one asks for his opinion. After a rather long starring session, Haruhi suddenly asks Kyon if they've met each other before. A few days later, Kyon realises that Haruhi has now cut her hair and now is sporting a gold ribbon. Ever since then, she seems to be more open towards Kyon even when he asks her some rather personal question such as if she rejects every guy who's interested in her. Despite being annoyed with the question, she tells Kyon that is probably true. When he asks why this is the case, she tells him because everyone is stupid and they are neither alien or from the future or have super power. Upon hearing this, Kyon becomes a bit annoyed and asks Haruhi if her ideal man is an alien. Haruhi answers that is true and the reason is because they are more interesting.

At least Kyon actually gets to talk to Haruhi because others can't even do the same thing. Because of this, Tachibana asks him what kind of magic Kyon used to make Haruhi talks to him. Poor Kyon, unfortunately doesn't know the answer either and he ends up being mercilessly teased by his friend who claims that Kyon always tend to like strange girls. To make things worse, Asakura Ryouko then approaches him asking him to become the mediator between Haruhi and the class. At first Kyon refuses to become Haruhi's spokesman but he's pressured by the class through various means, including moving him and Haruhi to seats near the window so they have more chance to talk to one another. Kyon then tries to persuade Haruhi to be more social with the other student and join one of the clubs. Haruhi, however, refuses to do this since there is no club that interest her. One day, however, Haruhi gets an idea that they should just start their own club.

Because of this, Haruhi drags Kyon all the way to a new clubroom that she has obtained. It appears that she has also recruited two other members. The first one is Nagato Yuki, a quiet girl who likes to do nothing but reading in the room. Haruhi then brings the second one, a beautiful but seemingly fearful girl called Asahina Mikuru. Mikuru seems to be terribly confused as to why she is in this place to begin with. Haruhi claims that the reason she chose Mikuru is because Mikuru is Moe and has very talented bazoomas. Haruhi even encourages Kyon to give it a grope!! Mikuru at first is reluctant to join the club until she notices Yuki's presence near the window. Suddenly she claims that she now understands the situation. The episode then ends with Haruhi declaring that their new club is called S.O.S, an abbreviation of Sekai wo Ooini moriageruiame no Suzumiya haruhi no dan (The Suzumiya Haruhi's club to make the world a much livelier place).

Impression:

I am quite surprised to see Kyon's interest in Haruhi. From the previous episode, I got the impression that Kyon is interested in Asahina Mikuru but now I'm not sure anymore now. To begin with, he actually went out of his way to get to know Haruhi better and actually asked some rather personal question to her. And of all the students in the class, Haruhi seems to be most responsive to Kyon. Anyway, because this is mostly a setup episode, I feel that there are so many information that has yet to be revealed. Haruhi is the biggest mystery of them all. At the moment she sounds like a weirdo who does all of these strange things that other students don't do. I am also interested if she and Kyon actually had some kind of a past together. She seemed to believe that she's actually met Kyon prior to their meeting at school. Yuki's and Mikuru's identity, is another mystery that is yet to be uncovered. As suggested in one of the scenes, Mikuru seems to know about Yuki.

I am also interested to know more about Itsuki, who has not make his appearance in this episode. He doesn't seem to be in the same class as Kyon, so it'll be interesting to see how he got suckered into joining the group. He seems to be a rather laidback character though and judging from the ending sequence, he seems to be enjoying his involvement in the club. There is also Asakura Ryouko, who seems to have a strange interest in Haruhi. It'll be interesting to see why she wants to get to know Haruhi so much. Comedy-wise, there were some gold moments here. I love the fact that Kyon uses a rather sarcastic tone in some of his conversation. The part where Haruhi changes her clothes in front of the boys was also hilarious. The solidarity amongst the girls in her class is amusing and commendable. And I love the way poor Miruku gets dragged into the club by Haruhi. The poor girl seems so afraid and almost burst into tears when Haruhi groped her and asks Kyon to do the same as well. Thankfully for her, Kyon is not a pervert who'll gladly take up the offer.

Ending Sequence

Ending Theme: 「ハレ晴レユカイ」(Hare Hare Yukai) by 「平野綾] (Hirano Aya),「茅原実里」(Chihara Minori),「後藤邑子」(Gouto Yuuko) - PSP format (9.41MB) or AVI format (33.7MB) | AVI Mirror

Yeah, I went a bit overboard with the ED sequence screencaps but I really love the Ending theme and for some reason I have the sudden desire to film a bunch of cosplayer doing the Hare Hare Yukai dance just like the 5 main characters. And oh, like you probably already notice, the ED theme has now been enlarged. I guess Kyoto Animation has heard that it caused an excitement in the fandom. :D

© memento 2003