Michelle Smith reviews volume one of the novel series here.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (the manga), Volumes 1-3

Written by Nagaru Tanigawa, Characters Designed by Noizi Ito
Art by Gaku Tsugano
Published by Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen

The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya

Written by Nagaru Tanigawa, Illustrated by Noizi Ito
Little, Brown and Company, 208 pp.

If you’ve only read the Haruhi Suzumiya manga, you’re not going to “get it.” That is to say, you won’t be able to understand the appeal of this hit media franchise. Only the novels and the related anime series will give you the unfiltered Haruhi experience. The manga series Yen Press is releasing (one of two manga adaptations in Japan) is a watered-down lackluster retelling of the core story with weak artwork (by Gaku Tsugano, who also does the art for the CMX manga adaptation of The Girl Who Runs Through Time).

Haruhi first debuted in Japan in 2003. Nagaru Tanigawa says in his afterword to The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya that he never intended Haruhi to become a series. The Melancholy of won Grand Prize at the Sneaker Awards and went on to sell 4.5 million copies, which was motivating enough for Tanigawa to make it into an ongoing franchise. It’s currently being serialized in Sneaker magazine, a light novel anthology magazine.

The anime series debuted in Japan in 2006, and curiously aired the episodes of the series out of order. The subsequent DVD release allowed viewers to watch the episodes chronologically or in the “as aired” order. I really enjoyed the scattered chronology of the as-aired episode order. The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, the second prose novel in the series, covers the making of the video project that opens the series (as aired). The first two volumes of Yen’s manga series cover events from The Melancholy book. Volume three of the manga covers storylines that will be in the third novel, The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya.

When I went to Winter Comiket in 2006, the Haruhi craze in Japan was at its peak. Haruhi was everywhere, and had been inserted into seemingly unrelated doujinshi to sell more books. Everyone knew the “Hare Hare Yukai” dance from the anime series end credits. I even tried to learn the dance myself. Since then, Akihabara has moved on. It became a fad to learn the Lucky Star dance, as Lucky Star contains many homages to Haruhi. This year’s trend might be buying real musical instruments, inspired by the sweet moe comedy K-On!.

An American unfortunate enough to stumble upon the Haruhi manga in a bookstore in 2009 is the uncool equivalent of your mom starting to watch the Naruto anime from episode one starting next week, and trying to grok the mass market appeal. The first season of the Naruto anime and the first volume of the manga are really boring.

I will attempt to explain Haruhi’s appeal so you can catch up on what you’re missing.

Appeal number one is the high quality of animation is the anime series. In a school festival scene that’s ripped almost directly from the live action film Linda Linda Linda (available from Viz Films) Haruhi and her band of Merry Pranksters perform a rock concert that’s animated on the twos, if not on the ones—it’s too technical to go into here, but for a few minutes, the TV series reaches the technical quality of a Disney feature film. The animation quality of the series overall is quite high.

Second, the general premise is appealing. Haruhi Suzumiya stands up on the first day of class and declares by way of introduction that she is not interested in ordinary humans. “If there are any aliens, time travelers, sliders or espers here come join me.” With the help of our protagonist, nicknamed Kyon, Haruhi starts a dubious new school club named the “Save the World by Overloading it with Fun Haruhi Suzumiya (or SOS) Brigade.” Unbeknownst to Haruhi, among the students who join the club are a time traveler, an alien made of computer data, and an esper. They keep their abilities and origins a secret from Haruhi, but reveal their secret missions to Kyon.

Haruhi is a bit like Fox Mulder of the X-Files. Haruhi wants to believe. Unfortunately, she’s the opposite of Fox in many ways—an immature, self-centered tsundere with violent mood swings. She acts like Kyon’s “frenemy,” bossing him to the point of implausible bitchiness (and I hate the word bitch). She’s the worst high school best friend anyone could ever have… and she’s omnipotent.

The worst part of the franchise is Haruhi’s constant abuse of Mikuru. Haruhi’s motivations are difficult to fathom, as she forces Mikuru to change into a parade of sexy outfits, from maid costumes to Playboy bunny. Mikuru is a weakling and a crybaby, which Kyon finds sexy. I think the you the reader are also supposed to enjoy Mikuru’s torment as both funny and titillating. Personally I find it disturbing and annoying. The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya is a rough read for the first 100 pages, due to frequent Mikuru abuse as Haruhi forces her to star in a short film as a sexy magical waitress defending earth from aliens.

Kyon keeps up a constant stream of gratingly sarcastic narration throughout the Sigh of Haruhi. In the first novel, Kyon does not reach the same level of silent sarcasm and his narration is absent from the manga and the anime, even though the spoken dialog is kept mostly intact. After the first 100 pages I grew used the choppy text, the sarcasm, and Mikuru’s sexual harassment and settled into enjoying the serial novel. By the time I put the book down, I hoped to pick up the next installment to read about the SOS Brigade’s further adventures. I can’t say the same for the manga. Reading the manga is like rewatching the TV series in an un-fun inferior permutation.

Reading the Haruhi light novels in addition to the Faust short story anthology has really opened my eyes to possibilities of the light novel as a concept. These short genre-oriented books read as quickly as Young Adult novels. I think Haruhi is being marketed as YA novel in the U.S., which seems appropriate. Part of the appeal for me is the unintimidating prose—it’s so easy and fun that I kind of feel like I could probably write a light novel myself. I don’t feel that way when I read fine literature. Otsuichi makes me think “Hey, I could try that!” in a way that Umberto Eco does not.

Volumes 1-3 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (the manga) and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (the light novel) are available now. The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya (volume two of the light novel series) will be available in October 2009.