Haruhi Suzumiya is a series that I had a very shaky past with, initially I had an indifference towards the first season and look at disgust to the second season. But the movie enamored me with such surprise and approval that I gave the other two seasons another try and it turned out my taste simply evolved and what I initially disliked about the franchise suddenly became one of my most beloved and after my 3rd rewatch for a Christmas groupwatch with my friends I wonder. How did that come to be?
Enter, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Disclaimer: Obviously there will be heavy spoilers about the movie as well as both seasons in this review you've been warned!
The movie begins in usual Haruhi fashion on December 16th with the whole SOS Brigade preparing for their Christmas party for the 24th. We are given scenes of Kyon meeting the cast for this movie, Taniguchi, Itsuki Koizumi, Tsuruya and Mikuru Asahina and finally Yuki Nagato followed by Haruhi Suzumiya. He is walking up the stairs on a snowy morning to enter the clubroom, remember that. After the SOS Brigade united for their meeting Haruhi Suzumiya spreads her charisma as she lists all her Christmas plans for the party, to Kyon's discontent. Whilst the girls are changing Kyon and Koizumi have their talk about Haruhi's growth and how despite all her power she is changing for the better along with the ones around her including them, this is a callback to the previous two seasons and will come back later in this movie. We continue onto December 17th with Taniguchi bragging about his upcoming date and Kyon starting the Christmas preparations whilst breaking the forth wall about prologues. Then we come to December 18th where the movie actually starts, Kyon wakes up strangely similar to Endless Eight and he goes to school where he bumps into Taniguchi. Kyon talked to him about his upcoming date but he has no idea what he was talking about, this starts of chain of events where Kyon asks around about the events of the past 3 days until he comes to the grueling conclusion. He ended up at a world where there is no supernatural shenanigans going on and no one in the school knows who Haruhi Suzumiya is and by extension due to the absence of Haruhi, his connections with everyone else baring Nagato Yuki and Taniguchi have been dissolved!
The movie began the usual with the unordinary element being introduced but the way the segments were handled along with the pacing within this 2 hour and 42 minute movie was spectacular.We gently tip toed to the reveal that Nagato was the one who created this faux universe instead of Haruhi and Kyon is given the choice of what reality he prefers to which he ultimately rejected Nagato's projection for the original reality with Haruhi's bizarre antiques. The meta-inducing execution was stellar leading all the way to the most unique and original ending in pure Kyon fashion. Screwing his past self over just because he wanted some hot pot.
The movie did an excellent job of bring the spotlight to otherwise forgotten characters like Taniguchi, Kunikida, Tsuruya and Ryouko Asakura. It was fun seeing more about the side characters and their interactions with the main cast, but it was also an interesting change to see Asakura not acting like a death machine unlike her original iteration. On the flip side, we are given new sides to the existing main cast and it was interesting to see how despite the alternate reality, some characters still acted in a way where we could still easily identify them. Kyon acted the same initially but he grew to acknowledge and admit that he doesn't mind all the daily nonsense Haruhi brings him through and in fact, he enjoys them deep down. Haruhi despite not being literal god this time, still acted as hyperactive as her original self and acting more tsundere than ever. Her roasting Kyon's name over his supposed alias John Smith was entertaining and her attire featuring long hair was something I didn't think I wanted so much in life. Asakura and Koizumi acted more or less the same despite not being as close to Kyon, but the biggest difference was Nagato who suddenly became this precious cinnamon roll we had to protect. Throughout the story Kyon learns more and more of her despair over her simply existing in this universe and how her expressions died down so much over the adventures the SOS Brigade shared, especially over the events of the Endless Eight because she experienced every single loop and remembered them, I would also lose a piece of me if I had to go through that. But Kyon ultimately persuaded and saved her and she finally returns to normal. And despite returning she shows new traits like being more showing of expression like for example her secretly bringing out a smile seeing the kids in front of her in the post credit buying a library card reminding her of her first interactions with Kyon.
The art, both visually and animated were a huge upgrade compared to the original two seasons and despite being a 2010 movie it still compares to the animation and art of now. Kyoto Animation really stepped up their game for this movie and you could tell through the fluidity of the animation and the extensive usage of detail and backgrounds to really bring some scenes to life. The movie had this "glossy filter" I would call that made the art present in the movie feel that much more unique even compared to other Kyoani works. Of course the action scenes were simply average at best but that wasn't that important for the movie and in return we got much better scenery for the idle talk that happens all the time in this movie which felt more vivid and alive than ever.
The music of Haruhi was always a strength of the series even during the time I didn't like the series that much and Disappearance, like everything else in this movie, brought it back with a bigger bang than ever. Sadly we didn't get any new vocal inserts like how we got some in the original seasons with God Knows and Lost My Music but instead we get remasters of OST used in the original series along with some welcome new additions that fit their role perfectly. Track 19 AKA Nagato Yuuki no Kokoro ni Aru mono was a perfect piece for the scene it wanted to enhance. The track further enhances Nagato's pleas to Kyon to make the scene much more emotional and the eventual rejection powerful thanks to the assistance of the piece. Track 20 AKA Jiko Ishiki no Kakunin was an all new neverbefore scene tone for Haruhi OST and a damn good one at that. With the steady and suspenseful buildup to accompany Kyon rushing to finally confront Yuki and persuade her to not let go of herself and grow to love herself and the adventures they held together like how he came to accept the company of Haruhi and the obscure supernatural events that surrounded him thanks to her. The piece finally diverges into this super sinister tone all of the sudden......... AND THEN COMES TRACK 21 Rikishi no Tenkan Ten. HOLY SHIT. The piece starts with the most instant start ever starting the sudden arrival of a knife stabbing through Kyon's chest and who do we see? Asakura back to being a killing machine. This piece escalates the suspense to a jaw dropping degree and then the piece eventually dwindles down just in time for the future Kyon rescue scene. Overall the returning pieces being remastered were a pleasure for nostalgia whilst the new pieces all did their jobs perfectly
Initially my enjoyment was weird to describe as I wasn't big on Haruhi back then but I remember liking the movie more and more as it progressed and nowadays, I thoroughly enjoy this film the more I rewatch it. Constantly finding more references and callbacks to the previous iterations of the series and even other medias. The fact that we're doing quantum theory in a HARUHI MOVIE of all things is hilarious and this was such a fun watch with my friends. Even my first watcher friends adored this movie as that is the magic of this movie, a joyful ride to send off the Haruhi series ~~or until we ever get the other arcs adapted~~.
This movie is my single favorite thing to ever happen in anime for me and I cannot recommend this movie enough. Even if you didn't enjoy the initial seasons and heck, even if you didn't watch anything Haruhi related to begin with, this is a movie that everyone will enjoy and alas I grant this movie a 10/10 and if I could I would give it an 100/10, I doubt anything anime will ever blow my mind as much as this movie. And with that I wish you guys all a Merry Belated Christmas and a Happy New Year and don't forget to join the religion of Haruhism.
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