Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu ep.5

April 30, 2006 | 37 Comments

This fifth episode of the series should have been given a subtitle The Jealousy of Suzumiya Haruhi. The main focus of this episode, apart from Mikuru's revelation is the obvious jealousy that Haruhi has towards the other girls who get to spend private time with Kyon. This story, however, makes me wonder why they screened the baseball episode first because this one actually shows Haruhi's jealousy in a much subtler manner than the previous episode. The only explanation I can come up with is that last week's episode was used to speed up the pace a little bit. With that in mind, this episode continues right off from where that episode left off. I have to say that I like the use of white text on black screen shown in this episode. It reminds me of some scenes from Evangelion. Well, screenshots are updated. Try and see if you can spot a Mikuru easter egg in one of them. Hint: Mikuru doesn't want others to see her while she changes into her costume.

The episode continues from where episode 3 left off with Yuki giving explanation to Kyon about Integrated Data Sentient Entity. This is an entity that exists in the vast space of information sea. Since the entity posesses no corporeal body, it only exists in the form of highly evolved data. As the universe expands, however, the entity also expands and becomes larger in volume. Despite this, it is impossible to detect them even with the most advanced optical device. At first, the entity didn't pay that much attention to the organism living on Earth. However, the planet soon became the place where bipedal organic lifeforms evolve. While the emergence of self-awareness amongst organic lifeform is a normal phenomenon, humans seem to have the ability to evolve to a higher intelligence level. Because of this, Integrated Data Sentient Entity decides to continue their observation of people living on Earth.

3 years ago, the entities found out an unusual data explosion appearing on Earth and at the centre of it is Suzumiya Haruhi. A number of enquiries have been made to investigate her background, however, nothing much is known about her. Because Integrated Data Sentient Entity believes that she is the key to their evolution, they decided to observe Haruhi. However, since the entities possess no corporeal body, they can't communicate directly with organic lifeforms like humans. On the other hand, humans can't communicate through other means apart from language. In order to bridge the gap, the entities decided to create a humanoid interfaces such as Yuki so they can communicate with humans. The entities believe that Haruhi has the ability to control and manipulate data around her and this is why both Yuki and Kyon are here. Kyon finds it hard to believe this. Moreover, he wonders why Yuki reveals her identity to him.

Yuki tells him that the reason is because he has been specifically chosen by Haruhi for a purpose. Haruhi may not be aware of it but the Entities believe that there is a reason as to why Kyon was selected by her. Kyon tells Yuki that if she tells all of these to Haruhi, Haruhi will be happy. Yuki, however, tells Kyon that the Entities believe that if Haruhi becomes aware of her power, it may produces unknown risks. Because of this, it's in their best interest to simply observe Haruhi at the moment. Kyon wonders what if he tells Haruhi everything that Yuki had just told him. Yuki tells him that the likelihood is that Haruhi won't believe him. Yuki then tells Kyon that she's not the only humanoid interface placed on Earth. In addition to this, a section of the Data Sentient Entities wants to initiate a proactive attempt and observes the flactuating data. Since Kyon is the key to Suzumiya Haruhi, if there is a crisis, he maybe the first one to experience it.

The next day Haruhi exclaims excitedly to Kyon that a mysterious transfer student is here. Kyon wonders how Haruhi can tell without even seeing the person so Haruhi reminds him that according to statistic, any student who transfer halfway through a year is considered mysterious to her. Kyon wonders what kind of statistic was used to determine that but Haruhi is not listening to him and ends up running out of the class to take a look at this new student. When Kyon comes to the club room, he finds out that Mikuru returns to the place. Mikuru admits that she was hesitant but in the end, she's worried about the situation. Kyon doesn't understand what Mikuru means by this but Mikuru tells him that it's nothing. She, however, clearly becomes nervous when Yuki suddenly sits in front of her. Before anything else happens, however, Haruhi already barges in through the door and drags the new transfer student.

The student introduces himself as Koizumi Itsuki. Itsuki doesn't seem to mind joining the club but first, he wants to know what's the purpose of the club. Because of this Haruhi loudly exclaims that SOS-Dan's purpose is to find alien, time-traveler, and ESP users and then have fun with them. Kyon makes a sarcastic remark that he feels the world grind to a halt all of a sudden while Yuki and Mikuru simply look surprised. Itsuki, on the other hand, simply smiles and praises Haruhi's idea, much to Kyon's annoyance. In the end, Itsuki decides to join the club. The next day, Kyon comes to the club room again but this time he finds Haruhi in the middle of force-stripping Mikuru down to her underwear while the other girl cries in embarassment. Kyon immediately runs out of the room while apologising profusely. It turns out Haruhi wants to dress Mikuru in Maid outfit because she believes that every school life story has one.

Kyon is annoyed to hear this and wonders what kind of school life story Haruhi read. But Haruhi simply ignores him and decides to take Mikuru's photos despite the other girl's objection. She then orders Kyon to take control of the camera so she can unbutton Mikuru's costume and force the other girl to look sexier. As if that's not bad enough, she then takes Yuki's glasses and puts it on Mikuru. She also orders Mikuru to wear the Maid dress every time she's inside the club room. As Haruhi says this, she begins to molest Mikuru so Kyon tries to stop her. All of a sudden, Itsuki arrives and wonders what is going on. Because of this Haruhi invites him to have fun with Mikuru but Itsuki refuses. He, however, tells them to ignore him and continue with whatever what they're doing. Thankfully for Mikuru, Kyon manages to stop Haruhi from molesting her. And since all members of the club present, Haruhi decides to start the 1st SOS-Dan meeting.

Haruhi is basically not happy that they haven't received a single email or getting someone reporting a mysterious case to them. Because of this, she tells the team that they need to start looking for mysteries. As a result, Kyon and the others end up having an out-of-school excursion together that Saturday. Haruhi decides to draw lottery using toothpick to seperate the members into two groups. She, however, becomes sorely disappointed when she finds out that Kyon gets to be paired up with Mikuru. On the other hand, Kyon is quite pleased with the result, thinking that he may get to date Mikuru. All of a sudden, however, Haruhi reminds him that they're not here to have a date. She even threatens to kill Kyon if he's not serious about this. While Haruhi and her group go to the West side of the station, she and Mikuru are ordered to go to the East side. Kyon, however, decides to take Mikuru out into a nice park instead.

Mikuru admits that this is the first time she goes out alone with a boy like this. Kyon is surprised to hear this and wonders if Mikuru never goes out with someone else before. Mikuru tells him that unfortunately she's not allowed to get involved with anyone at the moment. Mikuru suddenly looks determined and tells Kyon that she has something to tell him. She then drops the bombshell and tells Kyon that she does not belong to this time period. Mikuru reveals that she actually comes from the future but she can't tell from which period and there are limited information that she can give out. She then explains how time travel is similar to animation, it consists of large breaks which almost looks non-existent but the truth is, time does not flow continously. And because of this, one can jump from one timeline to another. 3 years ago, a large time explosion was detected by people in the future. Because of this, they decided to travel to the past to investigate the matter.

The group, however, were shocked when they found out that they can't go beyond the year where the explosion happened. Because of this, the future people concluded that a fault in the timeline has occured and believe that the reason has to do with Suzumiya Haruhi. The rest of the information are classified but Mikuru and the others believe that it was Haruhi who sealed the path to the past. Haruhi, however, is not aware that she has caused this problem and therefore Mikuru was sent to observe her in case new time variations appear near Haruhi. Mikuru also informs Kyon that Yuki and Itsuki have similar interest in Haruhi but she never expected Haruhi to assemble them like this. However, when Kyon decides to ask for more info about Yuki, Itsuki, Haruhi, and the future, Mikuru tells him that those are classified information. Mikuru apologies for not giving more information and realises that Kyon may find it hard to believe but she simply wants to let him know.

Kyon thinks that they should put it aside for now but there is one thing that he really wants to know and that is Mikuru's real age. Mikuru, however, simply flirts with him and tells him that it's a classified information. The two then rejoin with the other group and find out that Haruhi is not happy that they didn't obtain any new information. Kyon, however, points out that Haruhi hasn't got any information either. Because of this, she decides to draw a second lottery to divide the members into two group again. Haruhi, however, becomes aggravated when this time around Kyon and Yuki end up being in one group. Yuki, however, is not exactly a fun person to talk to so they end up going to the library. Kyon then ends up falling asleep and got scolded by Haruhi when he and Yuki failed to return at the specified time. In order to force Yuki to leave the library, Kyon ends up getting her a library card so she can borrow the book she was reading.

At the end of the day they end up with nothing but Mikuru thanks Kyon for listening to her story. Kyon simply grinning like a cheshire cat upon hearing this much to Haruhi's annoyance. When they return to school on Monday, Haruhi's mood turns foul throughout the day. In the meantime, Kyon decides to approach Itsuki to see if there is something the guy wants to tell him. True enough, Itsuki has a lot of things to tell Kyon. Itsuki admits that he has ESP ability and that he didn't plan to transfer to this school but then again, he didn't expect Yuki and Mikuru get involved with Haruhi all of a sudden. Itsuki has something to show Kyon but for now he has to resort to a summary. He then informs Kyon that he belongs to an organisation called Kikan (can be translated as "Organisation" or "Agency" but I decide to keep the original name). This organisation has a number of ESP who gained their ability 3 years ago and they think it has to do with Haruhi.

Kikan also believes that this world is actually someone's dream. And because it's just a dream, the creator can easily alter its reality. That means Haruhi is some kind of a 'God' within this world. Itsuki thinks that the reason he, Mikuru, and Yuki are here now is because Haruhi wished for it. He also believes that the world actually began 3 years ago. At the moment, the organisation thinks they should just observe Haruhi since they believe that it's not a good idea to upset a God who can alter or destroy the world in which they live in. Kyon finds it hard to believe all of these information and asks Itsuki to prove his power by reheating his coffee. Unfortunately, Itsuki's power is limited to certain situation but he believes one day Kyon will get to see it. Itsuki then leaves after informing Kyon that he's done background check on Kyon and finds out that Kyon is just a normal human. The episode then ends with Kyon realising that Haruhi didn't come to the club that day.

Impression:

I have to say that I am really happy to see this episode. Despite knowing the futility, I really enjoyed all of the Kyon and Mikuru scenes. It helps that during their scene together, the cinematography is beautiful and the music is very romantic. I think it's been a while since I've heard such a pleasant collection of soundtrack. The last time around was with Honey and Clover. I also like the soundtrack used during Itsuki's explanation. The jazzy track on this scene really emphasises the mysterious situation that Itsuki was explaining. Speaking of explanation, Itsuki's explanation sounds like a plot from The Thirteenth Floor. If this world turns out to be a dream that turns into a reality, then I wonder how it'll end at the end of the day. It sounds interesting and definitely makes me want to watch the next episode right away.

Preview

Next week episode seems to take the group out of school and into a sea. This should be fun to see.

© memento 2003