Anime Reviews: The Melancholy of Gunbuster 009-1
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya V.1 In 2006, Kyoto Animation Studios created an anime based on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya manga. Not since Keanu taught the world that there was no spoon and the architect spouted his difficult to understand drivel that there has been a story so fantastical that it somehow actually makes sense. Imagine a world where a seemingly ordinary high school girl has contained within her ADD self, the power to change or even destroy the known universe. Well in this case she would really have to be a more than ordinary high school girl if she really had the power to destroy the universe. But instead of wearing Versace and super cool sunglasses our heroine will do it by spreading excitement all over the world and tying her hair with a really cute yellow ribbon. Um... yeah I know, but give me a moment to explain here.
The plotline of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is one of the most preposterous and yet strangely absorbing I have heard in some time. So the premise is that Haruhi Suzumiya is a first-year high school student and she somehow has the power to change the universe at will to suit her whims. Those out there reading this right now that has experience dealing with 14 year olds know how frightening of a concept this could be. Haruhi on the outside seems to be the model student. With her athleticism, great grades and strikingly good looks, she could be the "it" girl of her high school. Too bad she appears to be a total nut case.
The first day of school she stands up and introduces herself to everyone by telling everyone her name, previous junior high, and the fact that she isn't interested in normal humans and she only wants to meet time travelers, aliens, or espers (people with psychic abilities). Most of the class chuckles at what they think was supposed to be a poor attempt at a joke, but everyone soon finds out that Haruhi doesn't kid around. She intentionally ostracizes herself from the rest of her classmates, often sitting alone even when there is room to sit with everyone else, ignoring people when they talk to her and quitting every club and sports team at school after joining only for a day.
As time marches on a boy who sits in front of her called by his nickname Kyon somehow manages to get Haruhi to open up. This is where the S.O.S. Brigade is formed, and I'll leave explaining what the S.O.S. stands for up to Kyon. Thanks to Kyon and his big mouth, Haruhi gets the bright idea to form her own club because all of the others are so boring. And Kyon gets to be the first member. In fact pretty much all of the members of the S.O.S. Brigade appear to have been coerced by Haruhi into joining. Only they may not be there just out of coincidence. Turns out that the members of the S.O.S Brigade that Haruhi kidnapped, I mean handpicked, appear to be espers, aliens and time travelers. These are the very people she has been looking for to make her life more interesting but she has no clue as to what they really are. It would seem that the whole universe knows of Haruhi and her power to change the universe just by thinking about it. Representatives are then sent to keep an eye on her before she has destroys everything and they become the members of the S.O.S. Brigade.
(2007) OVA series. Director: Yutaka Yamamoto. V.1: four episodes/54 minutes. DVD Japanese language with English subtitles. Standard $29.98, Spec Edition $64.98. Distributor: Bandai.
It is such an interesting concept to take a particular genre of anime that usually deals with struggles of acceptance and young love, and make it the anti-young teenage anime of sorts. The dialogue is very well written and the story telling style used is more akin to a fantasy tale with its heavy use of narration by Kyon. Actually, I feel that some of the best stuff in this series comes from the comments Kyon makes during his narrative commentary. In fact, the narration is so well written and witty that I actually continue to laugh to myself afterwards when I think back to the shows.
The story pacing is not typical either with wide swings between frenetic action and periods of total stillness. In a bit of an odd choice the very first episode is a movie that was produced by the S.O.S. Brigade. When I started watching initially I was a little confused until I caught on to what I was seeing. Man it takes a lot of talent to intentionally make something look that bad. In hind site by starting the series with that little movie the audience is given a quick glimpse into all the major players and even some the major plot twists are hidden in the dialogue. Expect a lot of lowbrow adolescent booby squeezing humor and sitcom style preposterous situations.
The look and feel of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is great. Just looking at the animations in the title sequences shows how impressive the motion studies are. There is a para para like dance that the characters do in the ending credits that must have been rotoscoped, because the characters move so well. The, how shall I say this -- sexy physics of the ladies' breasts is turned up to 11, and is rather funny in a sophomoric overly bouncy sort of way. Character models are all beautiful and the viewer is saturated with tons of eye candy. There is plenty fan fare for all tastes in each episode, and the best part is that the creators are completely upfront with the exploitive nature of showing the girls in bunny suits and French maid outfits. That's the beauty of this show's humor. The humor is upfront and unabashedly honest. That is the sort of frankness that catches people off guard and keeps the ideas fresh.
The Japanese voice acting is perfect with tons of emoting and excellent matching. My hat is off to Bandai and the folks at Bang Zoom for their efforts with the English dub. Many of the voice actors are very well known and, sometimes in the past, some of the work hasn't quite stood up to the original Japanese voices. But I have to say that everyone has done an outstanding job with one exception. The voice of Mikuru Asahina is a tad on the irritating side. I understand that her character is supposed to sound bubbly and squeaky, but the job that the Japanese voice actress does isn't nearly as grating on the ears as the English version is. There is a lot of great music throughout each episode setting mood and accenting punch lines. Music styles range from J-pop, jazz, classical and a little bit of everything else to create a fair amount of variety.
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