The Backlash of Excitable Fans – episode 9
June 5, 2006 on 7:08 pm | In Suzumiya Haruhi | 12 Comments“Someday in the Rain”
It’s hilarious just how much fan backlash there seems to be surrounding this episode. Almost enough hilarity to make me sick!
Our beloved studio Kyoto Animation outdoes themselves by not having enough script to fill 23 minutes, and thus they literally give three of them away. All air time must go!
Haruhi sends Kyon off to pick up a heater, so that she may perform covert Mikuru harrassment tactics.
So what happens in this episode? We wait twenty two minutes for Haruhi to show that she might just have a modicum of concern for the welfare of our increasingly boring narrator Kyon. The detours along the way include intensely disinteresting long shots of the club room filled with members with absolutely no detail in composition or animation, several blocked Mikuru changing scenes and Itsuki going along with whatever he’s told.
It’s a lot of work for such a little pay off: the sort of TV desgined for people who live in small boxes so that they may watch a girl in a small box turning pages while catchphrases are shouted from another small box across the way. I don’t know how many subscribers to Haruhiism live in boxes, but I have only this to say:
Where’s your Messiah now?
In reality this episode isn’t actually bad, but it’s certainly far from good. It’s a story so light that it pads itself out. If you’re going to be so cynical, KyoAni, expect cynicism in return.
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I conceed that this episode failed my Haruhi x Kyon day-to hopes. In regards to the location of my Messiah I blame KyoAni for making this final ep to be more in line with a conventional run since they wanted an escape hatch should the movement fail, the fact that they wasted air time is a mark of their faithlessness. It also betrays how much funding that parasite Ayu is leeching off Haruhi.
As for carboard box, my line of work equates sleeping quarters equivalent to 1/4 inch nylon padding and a sleeping bag with a water proof sac. Anything with a roof is a blessing.
Comment by Crusader — June 5, 2006 #
Ooh. I suppose such an environment would be conducive to hearing people quote shows you’ve never seen.
Comment by Alex — June 5, 2006 #
So what was the point of this episode again?!
Honestly, I really want to stop watching this show but since I came this far I might as well continue to the very end. That way, my judgement will have more weight when I give this show a very bad review.
I’ll take Fujioka Haruhi over Suzumia Haruhi any day.
Comment by Mohammad — June 5, 2006 #
The point of the episode was allegedly to save money for the extravaganza of the next episode. If that was their attitude, I don’t know why they didn’t just cut down from fourteen episodes to thirteen.
Be careful of giving it a negative review, though: the Haruhi police might hunt you down and beat you!
Comment by Alex — June 5, 2006 #
That’s a very good advice. I have to keep my guard up. You never know!
Comment by Mohammad — June 5, 2006 #
For me, this was the best episode so far. The “three minutes” was excruciatingly funny (and excruciatingly real) in itself, but also served to set up the ending part emotionally. From my point of view, the Island episodes were weakest, in part because they were the most ordinary.
To say that Ouran is superior to SHnY is ridiculous, in my opinion. Ouran is a very good show, but a normal anime. SHnY is unique, and of a higher order esthetically from start to finish. The reshuffling that many people complain about is a key strength of the show, helping to impose on the audience the malleability of time that is part of the premise of the show.
It’s legitimate to be put off by the incredible hype, but you’re losing out if you ignore the show’s strengths because of that. Or maybe it’s just not the show for you, which is cool.
Comment by hashihime — June 6, 2006 #
I can understand if people consider this episode OK but calling it “the best episode so far” makes me wonder whether we’re talking about the same episode in the same universe. IMHO, this was just repetive, the references to other shows were extremely forced by that pointless three minute budget-saver scene and humiliation isn’t funny once it becomes routine.
Comment by Chris — June 6, 2006 #
Aw, well I couldn’t help but thinking this epsidoe was great, even though it wasn’t as lively as many of the other episodes but then again, I think it balanced out nicely when put beside the “murder mystery” episodes. Scenes like Haruhis angry response to Mikuru giving Kyon that scarf on his way out. Jealousy anyone? Well, maybe you agree with or perhaps I’ve just been blinded by too many Haruhigasms… Who cares, really?
Comment by GDM — June 6, 2006 #
I think that we shouldn’t say at Suzumiya Haruhi has been ruined by this one episode alone; I do think, however, that it has proved itself not to be invincible.
One episode cannot make or break a show. Unless of course that episode destroys or boosts the story to extreme degrees.
Comment by Alex — June 7, 2006 #
The whole show is an exercise in messing with your head. That’s the point of the three minutes of nothing.
If you don’t like that, go watch Naruto or something.
Best. Episode. Ever.
(Okay, maybe not. But it was good.)
Comment by Pixy Misa — June 7, 2006 #
I just want to mention that it’s not just episode 9. It took a dive after episode 4 or 5 and 9 was seemingly the anti-climax of this show. Naruto? Watched a single episode of that. I don’t know why people have to try offending others for disagreeing about Suzumiya Haruhi. I believe I’ve watched much deeper anime and non-anime than this but I don’t believe it makes me worse or better than anyone else. If TMOSH is messing with your head, I believe you have neither seen nor experienced much in your life. It’s really not that weird, odd, confusing or whatever. Oh and that was 3 minutes of “nothing”? Hell, then you didn’t understand that scene at all.
Comment by Chris — June 7, 2006 #
9 was seemingly the anti-climax of this show.
It was the final episode by the internal chronology. (Okay, episode 1/0 might come later.) It’s supposed to be anti-climactic.
I believe I’ve watched much deeper anime and non-anime than this but I don’t believe it makes me worse or better than anyone else.
And?
If TMOSH is messing with your head, I believe you have neither seen nor experienced much in your life.
Sigh. I didn’t say Haruhi is messing with my head, I said it’s an exercise in messing with your head.
Comment by Pixy Misa — June 7, 2006 #