Time doesn’t flow continuously, it’s like a set of pages

In June 2003, the novel version of “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” was published in Japan. It was a collection of stories that were published in the Kadokawa Sneaker magazine. What most fans don’t realize is that it was not the first Haruhi story to be run. Actually, “The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya” (the baseball story) was the first people saw of Haruhi. This started the whole non-chronological aspect of Haruhi that continued until 2005 when Chapter 1 of Novel 7 set the story down a single path. Tanigawa-san likely did not realize the popularity his stories would have and he probably did not form a full timeline until then.

The fansite Baka-Tsuki has created fan-translations of the novels.  (I do ask that if the novels are available in your country, please support the official works) The kind editors have a timeline available that lists what order the stories go in and what novel they are in. Here is a copy-and-paste of the official Haruhi timeline including stories that have not been animated:

Story Month	Name of Story	Novel story was published	Anime Episode # (2009) airing	DVD Volume (Japan)
April-May	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (1)	1-6	1-3
June	The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya	<<(3)	7	4
	Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody	The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya (3)	8	4*
July	Mysterique Sign	<<(3)	9	4
	Lone Island Syndrome	<<(3)	10-11	5
August	Endless Eight (including prologue)	The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya (5)	12-19	5 1/7- 5 4/7
October – November	The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya	The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya (2)	20-24	5 5/7- 5 7/7
	The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00	The Trembling of Haruhi Suzumiya (6)	25	00
November	Live A Live	<<(6)	26	6
	The Day of Sagitarius	The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya (5)	27	6
	Someday in the Rain	The Sneaker Exclusive	28	7
December	The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya	The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya (4)	Movie	Movie
	Charmed at First Sight LOVER	The Trembling of Haruhi Suzumiya (6)	Not yet animated
	Snow Mountain Syndrome	The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya (5)
	Where Did the Cat Go?	The Trembling of Haruhi Suzumiya (6)
January	The Intrigue of Haruhi Suzumiya – Prologue	The Intrigue of Haruhi Suzumiya (7)
	The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina	The Trembling of Haruhi Suzumiya (6)
February	The Intrigue of Haruhi Suzumiya – main story	The Intrigue of Haruhi Suzumiya (7)
	Editor in Chief ★ Straight Ahead!	The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya (8)
March	Wandering Shadow	<<(8)
April (2nd year)	The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya	The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya (9)
	The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya	The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (10)

*Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody released on a special Volume 4 disc this past August in Japan.

With this, you can see how the stories that were released as episodes in 2009 fit into the overall timeline. If they had animated Charmed at First Sight LOVER or anything after that, there would be references back to Vanishment’s events, so it was easiest to finish animating everything prior to Vanishment for the 2009 project. I believe they had something like this in mind after releasing the DVDs in chronological order (with the exception of 00 being released first). While the stories are great on their own, there is a lot of character development that you don’t realize has happened until after certain events. The most striking is Haruhi changing from this rampaging girl during Sigh into a confident woman who begins to care about others like in Live A Live. We’ve still got a lot to go folks, so enjoy the ride!

Picture from the upcoming Newtype released later this week!

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An Endless Loop of DVDs!

2009 will forever be remembered in the anime community for one simple arc that created polar opposites of the anime fandom: Endless Eight. While the vast majority of people lashed out at the concept of Endless Eight right after the third episode, there are people out there that grew to like the arc. I am one of those people, so I decided to purchase the DVDs. With the release of Haruhi Volume 5.571428 last Friday (Christmas Day) in Japan, the set was completed.

As ToonLeap commented back in September, the first DVD comes with a post card holder and a box for the rest of the volumes seen here:

The rest of the DVDs come with a “Mini Folder” that has art from the trip back from the Lone Island. Each DVD comes with a coaster and a post card set of both the normal and limited edition cover art. If you’re lucky, you can get a special coaster and/or a film bookmark. I was lucky enough to get two (of my favorite character Koizumi) but no special coaster.

12 3 4

The red disc is the normal DVD included in every package while the bottom is a special DVD only in the limited edition. The normal DVD has the episodes, some commericals for the re-airing of the series, a piece where the staff tours the locations that they animate, and some clips of the making of the [Super Driver] PV with Aya Hirano.  On the first DVD, there is the Textless Opening and on the second DVD, there are commercials for the first DVD set.

The second disc contains the BGM for the series split over the discs with stills from that set’s episodes and some information overlaid. Not being able to read Japanese, I cannot provide any translation. Next is a feature where Minoru Shiraishi (Taniguchi’s seiyū) travels around Japan to various places. Finally he also voices over a scrapbook telling of the events that happened in the episode. On the second set, there is a prologue where Tomokazu Sugita (Kyon’s seiyū) narrates the prologue from the 5th novel (where Endless Eight is from) over the 3 images that appear on the clear files.

Overall, the set is quite nice for collectors. If you’re lucky enough to get the film bookmarks, they are an awesome inclusion to the series instead of stickers. I fell in love with the animation on the final two sets because they remind me of the high quality KyoAni put into the 2006 airing. The second set is the weakest I feel just because the other three are so well put together. If I had to only get one set, I’d get the final one not because it has the ending, but because I kept becoming impressed with the animation as well as the hilarious performance the VAs included for the final two episodes. Would I recommend this set if you could afford it; of course, but it’s not for everyone.  I’ve included many more pictures and screencaps from the episodes and special features at a special album located here for your viewing pleasure (and to save ToonLeap some bandwith).

Finally, on the last disc, Minoru Shiraishi discovers something we’d all like to see:

The storyboards for the Vanishment movie!!!

If you have any suggestions for improvements in the review, leave a comment and I’ll work hard to improve this style. I hope to review the Vanishment OST, Theme Song, Sigh DVDs, and maybe the ENOZ album if I have time next year, so your comments will help me improve.

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Sigh…..more DVD covers

Hey guys, Toonleap decided that since I kept bugging him with new news quite often for Haruhi, it would be easier for me to update the blog myself. I’ve got an interesting review planned for later this week, but this is important news.  Not only was the next Haruhi DVD (Sigh I and II) cover released on Saturday, but CD Japan posted the following DVD cover (Sigh III and IV) on the same day!

Most people would expect that since Sigh is the first starring role for Mikuru Asahina, she would be on the cover of the first volume, and she is.  She is however, not in a costume for the first time. Noizi Ito put Mikuru not in her “battle waitress” outfit, but in her normal clothes (which she wanted in Sigh III anyways). Here is the limited edition cover for Volume 5.714285:

In addition, that same day, CD Japan (and their corresponding Japanese company Neowing) posted the art (not the exact cover) for the following limited edition DVD cover featuring a first for the series. It makes sense that after the starring actress you feature the starring actor, so Itsuki Koizumi makes his DVD cover debut for Sigh III and IV. It is the first cover for either male SOS Brigade member. Here is the cover art for Volume 5.857142:

So there is only one more cover left for Sigh; who do you think will make the finale? Kyon? Haruhi? Tsuruya-san? Only time (and Noizi Ito-san) will tell.

Sources: Haruhi’s official fansite and CD Japan.

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Haruhi Endless Eight last DVD sells…No surprise anymore!

The DVD sales ranking for December 21st – 27th. was published recently and Haruhi manages to get a slot in the list…with Endless Eight. There is no surprise here considering that the rest of the Endless Eight sold pretty well.

Here is the weekly DVD sales ranking for December 21st – 27th.

*1, 24,643 24,643 Fireball Winter Package
*2, 17,280 17,280 Hetalia Axis Powers vol.6 Limited Edition
**, 12,907 12,907 (Nana Mizuki Live Diamond x Fever)
**, 12,626 35,164 (Bolt)
*3, 11,965 11,965 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009) Endless Eight VII & VIII Limited Edition
*4, 10,957 10,957 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Special Edition vol.2
**, *9,220 *9,220 (Lucky ☆ Star Live at Budokan)
*5, *9,054 26,179 Pokemon Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Arceus – Choukoku no Jikuu e
**, *7,706 *7,706 (Ice Age 3)
*6, *7,428 *7,428 Prince of Tennis OVA Fan Disc Message in a bottle
*7, *6,909 *6,909 Hidamari Sketch x ☆☆☆ Pilot Fan Disc
*8, *6,608 *6,608 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vol.5

Source: Youtaiju via MAL

Guess fans can now get a rest with the release of the last Endless Eight DVD and look out for “Sighs” DVD and “Disappearance” movie…something that is really worth it…right?

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