Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu ep.4

April 24, 2006 | 26 Comments

This episode basically moves forward a couple episodes after the previous one. It's a bit jarring at first because all of a sudden all of the SOS-Dan members present and they start to get to know Tsuruya-san and other students. And then halfway through the episode, the story starts to show flashback of what happened in between last week's episode and this week's episode. The reason for this is because this week's story is actually taken from volume 3 of the novel while last week's episode was taken from the first novel. That's quite a big jump of timeline. Because of this, some of the scenes that we will see in the future are technically past events since this baseball game has been presented first prior to any events that happened beforehand. Next week, however, seems to be a return to the time after Yuki's explanation to Kyon. Anyway, I must have gone mad obsessed because I've just changed the screenshots to a higher resolution ones just now.

The episode begins with Mikuru giving tea to Kyon and becomes happy when he tells her that it tastes good. Mikuru then proceeds to give tea to Itsuki, who's already joins the club at this point in the story, and Yuki. Kyon then narrates the story, explaining how SOS-Dan was established back in May but now it's already June. In between these 2 months, Kyon was involved in an incident that caused problem on the world but he wants to leave it aside since right now he has something else to talk about. But before he can say anything else, Haruhi already barges in through the door telling everyone that she wants everyone to participate in baseball game. Kyon becomes depressed upon hearing this and continues to narrate that ever since that day nothing strange ever happened and he thought he can spend his days in peace. Unfortunately for Kyon, the peaceful time is now over because he knows that when Haruhi is smiling widely, he's going to be exhausted.

Kyon has perfectly good reason to worry because Haruhi wants them to participate in an amateur baseball competition. Because of this he asks her if she knows baseball's rules. Much to Kyon's surprise, Haruhi knows about it since she once joined a baseball club but left it because she thought it was boring. She, however, is willing to bear this competition because it is a chance to make SOS-Dan known to the others. She then jumps on Mikuru and molests the other girl while telling her that she hates losing. Itsuki doesn't seem to mind the idea so Kyon asks him not to agree to everything for once. He, however, points out to Kyon that this will be far more productive than looking for alien beings, which Kyon agrees. Since they're lacking team members, Kyon decides to take his friends, Taniguchi and Kunikida, while grumbling about the fact that Haruhi refer to her classmates as if they're objects. But even with them, they still need 2 more people.

Because of this Mikuru suggests that she takes her friend. Kyon is surprised to hear this but when she looks at Mikuru, Mikuru tells him not to worry because this friend is from this time, or rather, it's her classmate here. Itsuki offers someone from his organisation but Kyon immediately refuses the offer and promises to bring an additional person to fill that last position in the team. Haruhi then tells her team that they're going to practice on a nearby field. Because of this, she orders the team that is currently playing there to leave so they can use the place. When she fails to do this, she uses Mikuru's charm to make them agree to her demands. Unfortunately, the practice is not going well. No one seems to be able to catch the ball that Haruhi hits except Yuki. And that only happens when the ball is going to hit her. Poor Mikuru, on the other hand, ends up getting hit by multiple balls that Haruhi sends towards her.

When Kyon sees Mikuru cries in pain, Kyon's protective nature appears and he decides to help Mikuru. Mikuru, however, warns Kyon not to do it because if he's too nice to her, something will happen again. Haruhi immediately becomes angry to see Kyon ushering Mikuru away from the field, demanding the two to return to the field. Kyon, however, angrily tells Haruhi that Mikuru is retiring due to injury. Haruhi has no choice but to accept the reason but she decides to vent her frustration on the baseball club by asking them to play with her. Haruhi then continues to practice hitting the ball and according to Itsuki, she has hit up to 1000 balls. Kyon suddenly gets an idea and asks Yuki if she can make it raining on the day they're going to play the game. Yuki says that she can but she wouldn't recommend it because it'll have adverse effect on the ecosystem in between next few centuries to ten millenia. Upon finding out about this, Kyon has no choice but to abort the idea.

On the tournament day, Mikuru's classmate, Tsuruya-san, introduces herself to Kyon. She claims that she's heard a lot about Kyon from Mikuru. Before Kyon can say anything, however, Taniguchi and Kunikida appear and use the opportunity to introduce themselves. Haruhi, on the other hand, is not pleased to know that one of the players is a little girl. Kyon is not happy either to hear Haruhi calls the little girl 'that thing' and lets her know that the girl is his younger sister. As it turns out, Kyon brings his sister because he knows that Haruhi will somehow win the game and creates suspicion. However, if his sister is in it, he hopes that people will not take the result seriously. Haruhi eventually agrees to include Kyon's sister as their handicap because she'd feel bad if they win so easily over the other team. Haruhi then decides to use the Japanese lottery system to decide the kind of roles that everyone in the team will take.

Since Haruhi decides to be pitcher, Mikuru takes the right position, and Yuki the center one. Kyon will be second, his sister takes the left position, while Koizumi will be the catcher. Kunikida will take first while Tsuruya and Taniguchi will take the third and short position. Unfortunately for team SOS, their first opponent is college team, Kamihagara Pirates, the leading candidate to win the tournament. Much to everyone's surprise, however, Haruhi manages to hit the first ball quite easily. Mikuru, however, doesn't deal with the fast ball that well. This angers Kyon, who can't believe that a guy will throw a fast one on Mikuru. He immediately threatens bodily harm on the other team should Mikuru is injured. Before Mikuru can hit the ball or get hit by it, however, her time is over. Yuki doesn't fare well either since she doesn't even try to swing her bat. Kyon tries to do his best but even he can't seem to hit the ball that the other team throws at him.

The two teams then switch role so Team SOS is now on the offence. At first, Haruhi throws the ball quite well, making it impossible for the batter to hit it. Soon, however, the other team realises that Haruhi only throws the ball in a straight line. Because of this, it doesn't take long before they can figure out a way to hit the ball. Soon, the score becomes 0-2, 0-5 for SOS Dan. The 0, of course, belongs to SOS-Dan. In order to distract the opponent, Haruhi decides to dress herself and Mikuru up in cheerleading outfit. Haruhi thinks that Mikuru will probably look good in ponytail but when she realises that Kyon is very enchanted with Mikuru, she becomes jealous and decides not to do anything to Mikuru's hair. The opponent team is momentarily distracted due to the outfit but unfortunately, Mikuru still can't hit the ball. Because of this Haruhi shows the kind of strategy Mikuru should use using her hands. Mikuru, however, simply gets confused by Haruhi's action.

In the end, Mikuru can't score a hit and this angers Haruhi who proceeds to bully the other girl. Kyon tries to defend Mikuru by telling Haruhi that it's her fault for giving signs that don't make any sense. Haruhi becomes upset because of this and all of a sudden, Itsuki, Mikuru, and Yuki receive notification from their leaders. Itsuki tells Kyon that an unusually large sealed dimension have appeared and it seems to be expanding at an alarming rate. As long as Haruhi continues to be upset, the dimension will continue to expand and The blue giant/Shinjin will continue to create destruction. Kyon is annoyed that Haruhi is upset just because they are losing a game but Itsuki tells Kyon that Haruhi's main disappointment lies with him. Because of this, he suggests that they do anything in their power to ensure that they win the game or else the world will end. Unfortunately, Team SOS only has two runs to win the game so their chance is rather slim.

After Kyon plays his turn, Itsuki decides to ask him how he managed to turn things right when he and Haruhi were in the other world the last time around. Kyon, however, refuses to answer the question and even more so when Itsuki suggests that they use the same technique again. Since Kyon refuses to do this, Itsuki decides to ask Yuki's help to enchant the bat that they use. Upon finding out about this, Kyon is reminded of the time when he and Yuki were facing an adversary and Yuki was forced to use incantation as well. Due to Yuki's enchanted bat, the bat is now capable of homing in the position of the ball. As a result, team SOS manages to get 11 winning streak. Kyon, however, is afraid that the other team will be suspicious so he tells Yuki that this is enough. Besides, if they can keep this up, they will win the game anyway. Moreover, Kyon is not comfortable with the fact that they're winning the game but Itsuki tells him that they have no choice.

Because they need to win at all cost, Itsuki tells Kyon a way they can achieve victory without the bat. This means they'll make Yuki to be the Catcher so she can enchant the ball that Kyon, who now takes Haruhi's place as Pitcher, throws. As a result, the other team finds it impossible to hit the ball. Unfortunately, the last ball misses Yuki's hand. So Kyon tells her to catch it and throws it. Yuki, however, uses too much energy to throw the ball and it misses Haruhi's hand. Thankfully Itsuki manages to catch it and Team SOS in the end wins this game. They, however, still have the 2nd game and Itsuki needs to go to help his colleagues dealing with the sealed dimension. Because of this Kyon uses his charm to persuade Haruhi to quit the game while they're ahead because he's tired and Itsuki has to go. Haruhi doesn't mind if that's what Kyon wants and besides she's hungry anyway. So in the end, the team ends up having lunch together. Unfortunately, the next day, Haruhi wants Team SOS to play a new game and she gives them two choices: soccer or american football.

Impression:

Undoubtedly some people are going to be confused with this episode because there are references to events that happened prior to this baseball games. Unfortunately, those who have not read the light novel will not know these events. To begin with, in this episode Kyon knows that Mikuru comes from the future, Itsuki is a person with ESP power, and obviously, thanks to last week's episode, Yuki is an alien. Mikuru's background will be fully dealt with in next week's episode. This episode, however, features some interesting interaction between her, Kyon, and Haruhi. It appears that Kyon actually likes Mikuru and vice versa. This, however, causes jealousy on Haruhi's side. I have to admit that as far as pairing goes, I like the idea of Kyon and Mikuru but I know it won't happen. However, I feel sorry for Mikuru and kind of wish that at least she gets the guy that she likes. But if that happens then I supposed it'll be the end of the world as we know it.

It's obvious here that what Kyon says matters a lot to Haruhi. She became upset because of his criticism and she became happy later on when he smiled at her. At times like this I wish I get my shipping couple right but I always tend to root for the underdog. Oh well, I actually like Haruhi a lot but Mikuru seems to need Kyon more than Haruhi does. Anyway, either way, Haruhi's unhappiness is the reason that Sealed Dimension/Enclosed Space appears in this series. Within this dimension, a creature known as Shinjin/The Blue Giant causes destruction to its surrounding. Regardless of her power, this highlight the fact that Haruhi is quite dangerous when she's unhappy and this is why the team bend over backwards to ensure that they win the game. In order to ensure their win, Itsuki asked Kyon to do the same thing that he did when he and Haruhi ended up in another world. Kyon, however, became embarassed and refused to do it again.

This is actually the same incident that Kyon mentioned at the start of the episode and it's actually a rather important one. I think the anime will show this incident either halfway through the series or towards the end of the series. Either way, Kyon's refusal forced Itsuki to ask for Yuki's help. As can be seen in this episode even though Itsuki, Yuki, and Mikuru work for different groups of people, they often end up collaborating together to ensure that Haruhi's mood swing is in check. Because of this, Yuki decided to enchant the baseball bat, causing Kyon to remember the last time Yuki used incantation. Back then there was confrontation between Yuki and a female student whose identity will also be revealed either halfway through the series or towards the end of the series. Suffice to say, it's fun times ahead for this series now that all of the parties are present within SOS-Dan and about to reveal their intention.

Preview:

Next week is a Mikuru fanservice time from the look of it. Judging from her smile, however, I'll guess that Kyon probably praises her look in that maid outfit.

© memento 2003