Find The Boredom Of Haruhi Suzumiya (Haruhi Suzumiya, #3) Scripted By Nagaru Tanigawa Document
a collection of short standalone stories in the Haruhi universe, Its a fun read but nothing to go out of your way for, A good comeback from the endless rambling of Koizumi in The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, This time, we get just the right amount of rambling, In addition, we get three fun stories,
First off the baseball tournament, Short and sweet. It goes pretty much as one would expect, but it's a fun lighthearted story that was a nice hook for the volume,
Then we have Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, This is a moment from the anime that I remember really liking, even though after ten years or so, my memories of watching it is a bit faded.
As with many of Haruhi's shenanigans, we learn even moreso how she's been inspired by Kyon, For better or worse.
The final portion of the volume, is the extended murder mystery, I'll admit, I could not recall the ending of it until late in the story, Even though to the most casual observer, it'd be quite obvious,
All in all, a good step up from volume two, Looking forward to the next, Another one down. This is the first volume of short stories, so no overarching theme here, There's a nice diversity to the plots, and it's a nice reminder that Tanigawa has a wealth of ways to deal with the premise that doesn't always revolve around Haruhi's inadvertent powers, which makes me look forward to later stories that I haven't read yet.
But since I'm already familiar with these stories through the show, there's obviously less surprise and discovery, Tanigawa's strengths are his clear understandings of his characters welldefined and vibrant, if somewhat stereotyped and his plots, which are inventive and often quite clever although rewatching Remote Island Syndrome, the anime version is more streamlined and twisty and overall better written.
He's just not that great a writer, and he really struggles with endings, which are often too pat, sudden, and anticlimatic again, see Remote Island Syndrome, which the anime rectifies.
On the plus side, it led me to watch a really cool video about Russell's paradox which was fascinating and easy for a nonmath person like me to understand, so there's that.
I'll admit that I was a little bored with the previous volume in the series, It was good but not great amp felt just a little well, stale in comparison to how fun the first volume was, This is a big improvement although I have to say that I just didn't get into it as much as I wanted to,
This volume is comprised of several short stories, some of which I loved amp some I didn't, I have to admit that I liked the time travel story as well as the one concerning the computer club president, Those really were great amp I could see where either of those would have made for a great book all on their own, Not to mention how cool the murder mystery story was, The madcap pace of Haruhi works really, really well in short story format,
Unfortunately I just didn't thrill over this book, which I'm more chalking down to personal preference, Plus there's a few bits of translation that just didn't make sense coming out of a Japanese teenager's mouth, such as the reference to Social Security, but I'm not going to hold that against the translator.
This is still a great book amp I really do recommend it heartily to any Haruhi Suzumiya fan, Mystery, timetravel, and some action, A wonderful mix for this third volume, The third volume of the Haruhi Suzumiya series turns out to be a collection of short stories set between the first two novels, This is a bit confusing as the events of some of these stories were referenced in sitelinkSigh, so really you should read this first except that Kyon is telling these tales retrospectively sometime after the Cultural Festival, and makes reference to the events of Sigh.
So, yeah, anachronic order is a bitch,
Anyway, the stories:
The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya: Haruhi decides to enroll the SOS Brigade in a local baseball tournament.
There are, of course, two problems here, First, no one in the Brigade has any real experience at baseball except Haruhi, who, if you'll recall from the first book, is a master of all sports but finds sports teams as boring as any other school club.
Secondly, the Brigade only has five members, That last obstacle is solved by recruiting outside the club Mikuru gets her friend Tsuruya who is, unbelievably, an even bigger Genki Girl than Haruhi to join, while Kyon drafts his friends Taniguchi and Kunikida, and his little sister.
Why would he ask his little sister to participate in a tournament against adult baseball players Well, he really wants the SOS Brigade to get elliminated in the first round.
He sees the whole tournament as a huge chore, and the sooner they get out of it the better,
Unfortunately Haruhi doesn't share his perspective, and once their team starts losing she goes into a funk and when Haruhi's in a funk, the whole world trembles.
Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody: Mikuru takes Kyon back in time three years where he helps a younger Suzumiya perform a certain act of vandalism that was mentioned at the start of the first book.
There are a few complications, but really, that's all there is to the story, Why Mikuru does this is never fully explained, though it's clear that in doing so she creates a big timeywimey ball in which Kyon's actions are what start the whole series in motion.
The Mysterique Sign: The SOS Brigade finally gets a client, A girl named Kimidori comes to the literary room to ask the Brigade to find her missing boyfriend who just happens to be the President of the Computer Society.
Haruhi delights at the chance to play at ScoobyDoo but quickly grows annoyed when there's no obvious solution, Which is ironic, because it turns out something supernatural is going on, But then, the last thing the other Brigade members want is for Haruhi to find out that the supernatural exists, so they're more than happy when she leaves in frustration and they can solve the mystery without her.
Remote Island Syndrome: Summer vacation is here, and Koizumi invites the Brigade to visit his uncle's villa on a remote island.
Haruhi's read enough books to recognize the setting of a cozy mystery and leaps at the offer, And sure enough, the day after arriving, an unexpected typhoon hits the island, and then Koizumi's uncle turns up dead, . .
The stories in this volume are entertaining, but they have a certain filler quality about them, There's certainly some good character development, particularly for Nagato in the middle two stories and Koizumi in the last, but by the end of the book it's starting to feel like The Famous Five Go out for Icecream.
The only story here that feels consequential is "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody," which does in fact turn out to be integral to the plot of the next book and that book is so awesome that you absolutely have to read this one, flaws and all.
The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya is the third novel in the series, and unlike the previous two is a collection ofshort stories rather than chapters.
This makes the reading experience a bit different but nonetheless entertaining, I will be reviewing the four stories individually and doing a bit of comparison between them,
The first story is the titular The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya and details the exploits of the SOS Brigade as they enter a city baseball tournament.
I found this story the most entertaining of the four, As has come to be expected at this point, supernatural forces come in to play to comedic result,
The second story is Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and while it starts off ordinary, Kyon ends up travelling three years back in time and meeting a younger Haruhi.
What follows provides highly interesting and potentially paradoxical insight on Haruhi's past, I found this story less entertaining than the first but definitely the most interesting,
The third story is Mysterique Sign and follows the disappearance of the computer club president from the first novel, If you've seen the anime adaptation, this story happens much earlier there, This story was not as interesting as the others but rather is somewhat suspenseful and is the first time the SOS Brigade receives and investigates paranormal activity.
The fourth story is Remote Island Syndrome and follows the SOS Brigade as they spend time during summer break at a mansion on a remote island, as per Haruhi's wishes.
This story I personally found a bit slow and not very exciting, but I believe this is because I have seen the anime adaptation already and know the ending.
The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya is the third volume in the series, and takes a slightly different approach to relating the further adventures of Kyon's life dealing with Haruhi's annoying realitywarping abilities.
Instead of one, unified story, we have four short stories,
These stories are a mix of short works for magazines and just something the author wrote that was too long for being published in a magazine, but too short for a full book.
Thus, it was put here,
The stories take place around the same time period, where our characters in the SOS Brigade are preparing to finish their current school term, and go on vacation.
It's a time for studying, and hoping you do well on your exams, Then, you get to have fun with friends, Or at least, this is how it OUGHT to be, but it can't be for Kyon and the others in the SOS, because Haruhi won't allow it.
Instead, Kyon, Nagato, and Asahina have to spend their time keeping Haruhi happy and occupied, lest she subconsciously use her realitywarping powers to wreak havoc in the world.
Of course, they succeed, and of course, Kyon hates it, Or well, he says he hates it all, I have my doubts.
You see, Kyon is supposed to be not very book smart, and he claims to hate Haruhi, Yet, his narrative betrays a depth of knowledge in a vast range of subjects that is quite impressive, Also, for someone who claims to hate Haruhi so much, he certainly talks about her beauty and her smile a lot, and he seems strangely jealous when others get attention from Haruhi.
Kind of tsundereish, if you ask me, Of course, he would deny it all, especially the last point, but that is part of the fun of the work,
Kyon fits perfectly the idea of an “unreliable narrator”, We can't tell what thoughts are really his, and what are not, if he is serious, if he isn't, and so forth, Does he hate Haruhi, or is he in love with her and in denial Is he really intellectually average, or is he a genius who is just lazy These types of questions come up a lot to a reader in this book.
The only thing I didn't like was that Kyon's narration, though certainly funny and entertaining, could verge on the whiny and slightly annoying at times.
It's understandable having to deal with an amoral, selfish brat with godlike powers, who you have to keep entertained to keep the world safe, that one would be annoyed.
Still, it is a bit too far with the constant whining at times, If the author can have Kyon get a little less whiny, it would be perfect, Perhaps as Haruhi gets nicer and more moral, as she is starting to do, this will happen in future books, It would be a nice parallel character development,
This is a really fun and cheeky light novel series, and I quite enjoy reading it, The third entry in the Haruhi Suzumiya series is a mixed bag quite literally, it is the first novel by Tanigawa that is composed of short stories stitched together for the purpose of publishing.
Each story has it's own values and reasosn for existing, the first one for example is a simple narrative about the SOS Brigade getting involved in a baseball tournament, and whilst there is some further observances into the main conflict of the series, that is, Haruhi's effect on the world, it exists soley as a way to further develop these characters and have them interact with each other in some notsocritical situations.
I can't say I totally approve of the way this is done, in most novels that kind of characterization is spread out in small scenes between the main events, this is a different way of doing it, but I don't think it pays off, reading page after page about the characters playing baseball is ironically boring.
Luckily the rest of the stories more than make up for the weak beginning, the 'Bamboo Leaf Rhaspody' is the first storyline in the Suzumiya series where Kyon really affects the flow of events in a serious way, because I like to write spoilerfree reviews I won't say what happens, but I will say that it's storylines like this that make Haruhi stand out in the genre of light novels.
Funnily enough I didn't really enjoy 'Remote Island Syndrome' on this read through, I remember absolutely loving it the first time I read the series, but this time it just felt overdrawn.
I think the problem with it is that it has no substance, when you're reading it the first time you think that the events are really substantial and are going to change things, but that isn't true, and once you know it isn't true you realize how disposable this story really is.
Rereading Bamboo was enjoyable because it did have substance, and I felt like I was rediscovering the intrigue of those events, That being said, the Island storyline is great fun for new readers, it has a genuinely satisfying twist, and it feels fresh and new, it definitely stands out substantially from the rest of the Haruhi series, even now.
There was also a short story the name escapes me right now about the SOS Brigade's logo, It sounds boring, but throw in some 'data manipulation' and 'alien immaterial lifeforms' and it's actually really interesting, And besides, any focus on Yuki Nagato is fine by me, now onto Disappearance, . . To my fellow review readers:
Please note that this review will be filled with not only my review, but there will DEFINITELY be spoilers, rambling, and babbling about other topics because that's just how random I am.
If you are not ready to endure the awesomeness of the randomness of this review, I advise that you locate away from this page.
Let me state something first before I start this review:
I AM SOOOO EXTREMELY GRATEFUL THAT THERE IS A PARANORMAL STORY IN THIS WORLD WITHOUT VAMPIRES.
Or werewolves, Or angels. Or immortals. Or faeries. Or mermaids. Or wizards. Or dragons, ghosts, and any other common paranormal creature found in today's paranormal romances,
DON'T GET ME WRONG!! I mean, . . I love wizards. Harry Pottaaah! And dragons. FOSHIZZLE, I'd like a pet dragon! As long as it doesn't eat me,
But seriously, come on, THERE ARE SO MANY PARANORMAL ROMANCES, it's hard to go to the library and NOT find one, Heck, THEY HAVE THEIR OWN SHELVES!
And besides, I've never been the hugest fan of paranormal romances,
Maybe it's my own fault for choosing the ones that aren't especially awesome to my taste,
Twilight has vampires.
The dreaded Evermore series has immortals,
Wings had faeries.
Firelight had dragons.
And all of these books Sure, their descriptions were amazing and everything but the romances Make the sound of deflating balloon, Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssss q
Maybe I just chose the wrong books, sigh.
ANYWAY, I'm not here to rant about those! I'm just stating those because I am SO, SO, SO VERY THANKFUL THAT THIS SERIES IS.
. . way, way, way more ORIGINAL,
You guys know the gist of the story, right
Yuki is an alien, ALIEEEEN! Dude, how many alien stories are there in this world This is the first one I've found!
Mikuru is a timetraveler! And sure, all this timetraveling, time paradox fop can get a little confusing but when you DO understand it, it's just AMAZING.
Koizumi is an esper, Dude, I STILL don't know what an esper is, but I think they're cool,
There are ALL THREE OF THOSE, And then Haruhi is the strangest of them all, being either a possibility for evolution, a time distortion, or a god,
I have NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER read a story that's anything like this one,
THAT'S the main reason why I love this story, It's so original in every single way, and it'll probably be about a million years before you find something that's anything like it,
I mean, there are so many stories that are JUST LIKE TWILIGHT,
But I don't think it's possible to find another version of this story,
So basically, before I start this review, I just want to say: IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING REALLY ORIGINAL AND TOTALLY DIFFERENT.
. .
I'd say you should try this book,
Unless you're not a fan of scifi, or you get confused really, really easily up to the point where you don't understand what's going on like, if you watched Inception and you don't get ANY OF IT, even if you've rewatched it liketimes.
But yeah. This story is just the best ever, I LOVE YOU NAGARU TANIGAWA!
Anyway yeah, Let's start the review now, :
So, recently, I've just gotten really obsessed with this series, I'm the kind of fan that spends valuable time researching and watching and rewatching the episodes over and over, and trying to get a hold of all of the books, and memorizing the lyrics to the OSTs.
. . part of my world is Haruhi Suzumiya,
And yes, I'm also doing this because this summer is the kind where I'd spend the days sleeping otherwise,
And after ALL THAT, I was still wondering, . . "WHY ARE ALL THE EPISODES AND CHAPTERS MIXED UP"
I mean, don't the short stories in THIS BOOK happen before what happened in The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya
Anyway, I found out, finally! This book is just filled with short stories, like episode fillers.
It's like a tiny bit of fun before another huge story starts,
All of these short stories have been turned into anime episodes, and all the stories took up about one episode, Well, except the Remote Island Syndrome episode, That hadparts.
And there's practically NO DIFFERENCE between the anime and the book, If you've seen the episodes already, then you basically know everything that happens,
There are tiny differences, though, but the anime kind of improved a littlejust like what happened in The Sigh,
If you want to see the episodes, here's a reference:
The Boredom of Haruhi SuzumiyaSeason One/Episode
Bamboo Leaf RhapsodySeason Two/Episode
Mysterique SignSeason One/Episode
Remote Island SyndromeSeason One/Episodesand
So anyway, I guess with this sort of book, every chapter gets its own reflection:
.
The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
The romance in this series is really, really interesting, It's the kind of romance that's supposed to be IMPLIED, It's not very clear but if you can tell how the characters act and WHY, you'd get more of it,
It's kind of weak to be able to tell in the novels, but the anime presents it pretty clearly,
In this story, it's basically about a baseball game that Haruhi forced her brigade and a few other people to play, and if they lose that game, it's like the end of the world.
And other than Haruhi, they're all pretty bad at baseball,
I think this chapter was really pretty interesting, probably because of how they cheated to win the baseball game, The anime made it pretty funny,
But it's also because of the relationship between Kyon and Haruhi,
Kyon is technically the practical one who complains a lot about what Haruhi wants them all to do, But even if he complains THAT MUCH, Haruhi still pretty much trusts him and I THINK THAT'S CUUUTE!
I mean if I wanted to do something fun and there was that one potato butt that complained about EVERYTHING, I'd kick him right on his astronaut and say, "YOU BIG JERK! DO WHAT I SAY OR GET OUT!"
Well I'm not naturally that mean, but you know.
. .
Anyway, it's because Kyon isn't participating the way Haruhi trusts him to that the world was starting to get closer to ending,
Kyon doesn't really seem to notice how much Haruhi trusts him, Or, well, he might, but he doesn't say much about it,
It makes the whole romance story between them pretty frustrating and slowpaced, but at the same time, it makes me REALLY, REALLY EXCITED to know what happens next.
. BAMBOO LEAF RHAPSODY
I LOVED this story, partially because it made you THINK but it got me REALLY CONFUSED at first, and partially because it explained a lot of what happens to them in the present, and partially because it's a fairly important factor in theth book, which I'll bring up in my next Haruhi Suzumiya review.
FIRST, if you got confused while reading or watching this, here's my explanation for you:
Mikuru and Kyon went back in time, right Julyth,years back.
THEN Mikuru fell asleep, and the adult Mikuru appeared,
The reason why she put the younger Mikuru to sleep was because when SHE was in the younger Mikuru's place, she didn't remember meeting the older Mikuru.
If the older Mikuru let the younger Mikuru see her, it'd conflict with her memories, and then there'd be this huge time paradox, Huh. That IS pretty confusing.
The adult Mikuru told Kyon to go to a certain place to meet a certain someone, and then she just WALKED AWAY and disappeared into the darkness.
So Kyon went to where he was told, and he met the younger Haruhi,
And she basically forced him to help her with what she was going to do,
So she made him draw the weird symbols all over their school quad, Kyon had stated that he KNEW about Haruhi drawing those weird symbols all over the place, but he never thought
that he was the one that drew them.
I thought that was really, really interesting!
So if he had seen that article in the paper of the weird symbols, he'd probably look at it and go, "Jeez, who did that strange girl get to do that Poor guy.
"
But it was really him, Like he was looking at his destiny!
Anyway, after he was done with what Haruhi wanted him to do, he had told Haruhi that his name was John Smith, which ALSO means a lot in the story.
And he had given her the idea to go to North High, So through the story, he was complaining so much about what he was stuck with, but he was the one who had given her the idea for coming to North High and making the brigade.
When Mikuru woke up, her TPDD time traveling device was missing and that if they didn't find a solution, . . they'll be stuck in that time plane, FOREEEEEEEEEVEEEEER.
So then Kyon realized, "Okay, so if she's missing her TPDD, that must mean that the adult Mikuru took it so that they'd use some OTHER way to get back to their time instead.
. . "
And THAT'S how he got the idea to go to Yuki Nagato,
Okay, this next part kind of confused me, too, but I understand it, so here it goes,
First of all, when they arrive to her place, she's wearing her uniform, even though it's going to beyears before she even enrolls.
I was like, "Are you already a student there"
Nope, She's just on standby and she has to wait foryears,
And another thing is that she doesn't look any younger, She looks EXACTLY THE SAME,
So let's say that they all becomeyearolds in this story, all old and wrinkly,
And Yuki will be the only one with a young, wrinkleless body!! Ah, the benefits of her species, . .
So anyway, when she's talking to Kyon, she says, "The me you knowyears from now and the me in this time are the same person.
"
Well obviously. But that's not what she meant,
She meant that she had the same memories, so she knows her own future, Jeez, I wish I could do that,
She did that by "syncronizing" memories with her future self, I guess that's a benefit of transcending space and time, I'm JEALOUS!!
So, all that time, through everything that Kyon has gone through, Yuki has already known what's going to happen and how it's going to happen, but she doesn't tell ANYBODY.
So THEN, Yuki basically tells them to sleep in a room together, and I don't see why Kyon and Mikuru would freak out.
I mean, there were two separate futons, It's not like they were told to sleep on the same futon,
Yuki was like, "Sleep, Go to sleep, and ONLY sleep, "
See They were totally reassured,
But I guess if I was in that situation, I'd freak out, too, Oh well.
So here's how the anime went:
The lights went off, Yuki closed the door. Kyon closed his eyes. ONE SECOND LATER, the lights went back on, and they both sat back up,
They were like, "Okay, why'd you just turn off the lights and then turn them back on so fast"
But then Mikuru realized that they were back in their own time.
THAT totally confused me, I was like, "Whaaat HOW DID THAT HAPPEN"
Basically, Yuki stopped the time in that room and kept it that way for the next three years.
When the certain day came, she started the time again,
So the whole entire time, when Kyon visited Yuki for the first time, his future self and Mikuru were sleeping in the next room.
I watched the episode where Kyon and Yuki were both first talking and Yuki was explaining that she was an alien, I was like, "Oh Kyon, Don't you know that your future self is sleeping right in the next room"
, Mysterique Sign
Okay, Emiri Kimidori was probably the most confusing character in this story, She only appeared in like, . . one episode, but at the end of the episode, it was stated that she was created by Yuki as, . . another interface. I think.
Anyway, Emiri Kimidori plays a bigger part in the future of the series, believe me, But she doesn't really appear again for another long while, . .
This episode is basically about a sign that Haruhi created, Apparently, when people look at it through the computer, they get sucked into another dimension, Why, I never really figured out, Still a little confused
So, Kyon, Koizumi, Yuki, and Mikuru go into a different dimension to find the Computer Club President, who saw the sign and got sucked into the dimension.
The gigantic camel cricket was something very, very random, I mean, why a gigantic cricket Why not a gigantic PANDA BEAR
And Koizumi used his powers to destroy the gigantic cricket, but his powers only make me CONTINUE to wonder what on earth an esper is.
Anyway, apparently, that picture containedterabytes of data, DUDE, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY GIGABYTES THAT IS!!
That's, . .Gigs times.
I'd love to have aterabyte Iphone, My phone is onlygigs and it's going to run out of space any day now,
, Remote Island Syndrome
Out of all the stories, THIS STORY was probably the story that differed most from it's anime episode,
FIRST OF ALL, it's basically a mystery story, And trust me, it's way more exciting in the anime, The book sort of made it a little bland and a little less detailed, but the story is still pretty much there,
Basically, the brigade goes on a trip to this remote island, and Haruhi is all, "OH MY GOD! It's a remote island! I hope something WEIRD happens because usually weird things happen on remote islands!"
And something did indeed happen.
The host of the trip had gotten murdered, . . by his BROTHER!!!
I've seen soap operas like that, The most popular line I've heard would probably be, "GASPOH MY GOD, HOW COULD YOU! And with your BROTHER!!!!!!"
Anyway, they spent the story trying to figure out how the murder was caused.
Anyway, in conclusion, . . THIS BOOK WAS WAY BETTER THAN THE LAST! There were a lot more words, but it was more descriptive and more opinionated and, . . way better than The Sigh,
All these short stories will have a deeper meaning in the future of these series, I mean, they might seem like just short stories now, but in the future, a lot of the major events reference on these short stories.
I think there are more short stories in theth volume, right
Anyway, this book was pretty good!
But I can HARDLY WAIT for the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
I LOOOOOVE THAT STORY!!!
Whoa, This review was really long, .