“Consider this if you will. You have a very unhappy person living in a certain place. Then, he opens his eyes one day and the whole world has completely changed. It’s a beautiful world. Calling it utopia doesn’t even do it justice. It’s that wonderful. And this person will never be unhappy again. Overnight, he was snatched from the jaws of hell and taken straight to heaven. The thing is, this person didn’t do this himself. In fact, he had absolutely no idea who is responsible for changing the world. It was a total mystery. That’s how he stayed, never knowing who it was or why they did it—forever. So I ask you, is this something this person should be happy about?”
If one thinks that The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is just an anime movie similar to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime series and expects that the title character would just stay the way she is with her energetic randomness and go on adventures with her friends, then they are way off from what this movie is.
First and foremost, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya’s plot comes after the first two seasons of the anime. It is not a stand-alone movie.
The entire series, whether one is pertaining to the light novels, the manga, or the anime, revolves around Haruhi Suzumiya a girl with omnipotent capabilities with vague origins and applications although she is not aware of this. Theoretically, whatever she desires would happen; that is how it works. She then creates a club known as the SOS Brigade consisting of, along with her, the esper (a person with ESP) Itsuki Koizumi, the time traveler Mikuru Asahina, the human interface created by a cosmic entity (basically an alien) Yuki Nagato, and the protagonist, narrator, and only ordinary human among the main characters, Kyon. These four companions of Haruhi knew about her god-like abilities but decided to conceal it from her along with the true identities of Itsuki, Mikuru, and Yuki for they are uncertain of what might happen if she finds out about the fantastic world around her. The fist two seasons of the anime is a series of rather eccentric club activities Haruhi plans for the brigade while the other four scramble to fix whatever anomaly her reality-warping powers are causing. It’s a comedic science fiction anime with very little sprinkles of action and implied romance.
The movie, however, watered down the comedic side of the story and added in a huge chunk of drama, a plot element that could be very well exploited considering the concept of the omnipotent powers of Haruhi, the well versed storytelling of the main character’s thoughts, and each one’s character development. The entire plot focused so much of the character developments of two characters: Kyon, the protagonist, and Yuki, the main conflict of the movie.
As the title implies, Haruhi disappeared. Not only did she disappear, the whole world was completely changed. Haruhi and Itsuki no longer go to the school the used to go to three days prior to when the world changed, Mikuru does not recognize Kyon, and Yuki, the very emotionless alien, becomes a normal human. Kyon was the only one in the whole world who remembers the original world and was left with clues on how to restore the world. He will then be conflicted with the choice between two worlds, which pokes on the question of which one would he be happier in. Is he happy in a world with Haruhi and all the exhausting and sometimes life-threatening situations he has to put up with or is he better off in a normal world where he could live an ordinary school life where there are no aliens, time travelers, or espers? His internal turmoil even gets worse when he feels he is depriving Yuki of her humanity if her chooses to restore the timeline.
The first hour of and a half or so of the movie progresses rather slow and maybe even boring for some as it portrays how normal and stale Kyon’s life would be in a world without Haruhi. His internal monologue if filled with panic, confusion, desperation, and longing. Tomokazu Sugita, Kyon’s voice actor, has shifted his tone from the usual sarcastic guy who complains a lot to a more serious and conflicted tone without losing the very captivating storytelling. When Yuki’s counterpart was introduced, so is a new dimension of the voice acting of Minori Chihara, who, through the entire two seasons of the anime, has provided Yuki with a monotonous voice for her lines ranging from one-word sentences up to long explanations filled with jargon. In the altered world in this movie, however, Yuki becomes a shy bookworm capable of showing emotion—an entirely different personality. She even smiled at Kyon at some point, something he never thought he’d live to see. As for Aya Hirano, Yūko Gotō, and Daisuke Ono (voice actors of Haruhi, Mikuru, and Itsuki, respectively), they retained their typical characteristics. Haruhi is still the girl who turns hyperactive when sparked with wild idea but has tsundere tendencies. Mikuru is still a clumsy and shy girl with a more reliable and confident future counterpart. And Itsuki is still the guy with a seemingly perpetual calm demeanor.
Backed up by the complex and flawless storyline, and well casted and in-depth voice acting, the very production of the film is the main element that held everything else together for the movie.
The animation is the strongest asset of the movie. Sure, the anime series did have very fluid animation principally evident in the episode Live A Live where Haruhi and Yuki get to substitute as the vocals and the lead guitarist, respectively, in a band to perform the song God Knows…. But the movie stepped it up a notch higher, even rivaling the more recent animation of Kyoto Animation after it released the said movie on December of 2010. While it didn’t change its art style, the movie had everything detailed. Reflections appear on windows, computer screens, polished floors, and in close-up frames of the characters’ eyes. There was even a scene where Yuki’s reflection is visible in numerous drops of liquid floating in mid-air in slow motion. The hair of the characters flow realistically with respect to whether they are moving around or wind is blowing against them. Since the movie is situated during winter, even the characters’ breaths are well drawn and animated when they speak.
Even characters that are not the center of attention in a scene tend to blink their eyes and mind their own business unlike other animations where background characters just stay still in such scenes. Even random characters, like pedestrians and unnamed schoolmates, have the same quality of appearance compared to main characters. Most of them even have their own lines muffled in the background. Another notable thing is the accurate usage of sound effects whether it be the sound of shoes on the floor or cars in a quiet street. The lighting and shading were also very remarkable, whether it’s sunlight coming through the window at sunset or headlights of cars illuminating people at the streets early in the night. They are spot-on accurate and makes the movie much more appealing and captivating.
Being a movie situated in December and released in December, this was an applicable Christmas gift for the fans of the series that time. Even if some loathe Haruhi’s pushiness or has given up on the Endless Eight arc of the second season, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is a stroke of genius and is a must-watch for any anime enthusiast.
Written by Cis