Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu

Some people had been wondering why I did not blog about this zOMfG awesome series. In fact, I was too busy reading the first volume of the novel, finishing it only last night (after reading till almost 2am). I also watched episode 3 just an hour ago.

Other than the first episode, which I think is based on a story arc in a later novel, I have read all the things that have happened so far before watching them in the anime. I have to say that the anime is very, very good, but I still prefer the novel.

Based on my brilliant deduction skills and the huge boldface episode 4 title shown at the end of episode 3, I have to conclude that the entire 13 (or 14?) episode series will cover only the first novel in detail and with bits and pieces of substories thrown in from other random volumes. My evidences are as follow:

1. The series is titled “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu“, which is the title of the first novel.
2. The anime is cutting a lot of stuff short and yet it is not moving fast enough. Episode 2 and 3 only managed to cover less than half of the first novel.
3. The first novel has an overall story and contains the central character information that is vital to the entire series.

There is no way for the anime producers to cut the first novel short such that they can continue on to the rest of the novels, because the first novel is just way too important (You’ll see what I mean), i.e. they cannot have ep2-4 = vol.1, ep5-6 = vol.2, ep7-8 = vol.3. Therefore what they are going to do is to cover the first part of volume 1, throw in some random selected events from the other novels in the middle of the series, and then use the ending of volume 1 as the final climax. For example, episode four is titled “Suzumiya Haruhi no Taikutsu”, which is actually the title of the third novel. Clearly they are trying to mix in events from the other books that do not affect the overall story of the first novel.

It’s probably the best way to go about making the anime considering that the producers have to introduce all the characters (many of whom only appear in the later volumes) and concentrate on the events that took place in the first novel. And it will probably work out perfectly fine considering Studio Kyoto is in-charge. But still, I can’t help but want to get the story by reading the novels first and only then watch the anime.

Guess I’m just quirky.

P.S. For those of you who have absolutely no idea what the story is about, I think the end of episode three should prepare you nicely for the surprises that lie ahead…

P.S.S. For those of you who want to improve your listening skills, go get the novels. Almost every single line of dialogue in the anime has been taken from the novels in its entirety thus making the series the ultimate listening comprehension passage.