Figurines and cosplayers at Wonder Fest (Image from Dengeki, Akibablog and Akibana)

You can view more pictures at Akibana, Akiba-Ch, Akibablog, Heisei and Dengeki. Mind that some of the pics are not safe for work.

The anime adaptation is directed by Tatsuya Ishihara; the main original Japanese voice actors/actresses (seiyū) include Aya Hirano, Tomokazu Sugita, Minori Chihara, Yuko Goto and Daisuke Ono etc.

Buy the anime series – Volume 1 l Volume 2 l Volume 3

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

The Story Plot

Haruhi is a high school girl who joins and quits every club in the school. Her strange behaviour has made her a hard-to-approach girl in the class. Kyon, who happens to sit in front of her, is the only one that managed to chat a bit with her, and somehow inspired her into starting her own club… the “S.O.S. Brigade”.

Kyon is dragged to become the first member of the club followed by a few others… bibliophile (book lover) Yuki Nagato, timid and cute Mikuru Asahina and a transfer student Itsuki Koizumi. The members of the club aren’t normal people though, as Kyon gradually discovers that they have agenda of their own…

Yuki is a humanoid with supernatural powers created by the Integrated Data Entity; Mikuru is a girl from future; and Itsuki is an esper (with telepathy capability) from a secret agency. All the 3 characters work for different organization, but with a common goal… to observe Haruhi and to prevent disaster from happening.

Truth is, Haruhi has superhuman control over every aspect of the universe, which she is unaware of. She can make things happen, and whenever she becomes bored or discontent with reality, she will unconsciously create a new world to her liking, and that could lead to the destruction of the current universe.

In order to prevent this, the members of Haruhi’s club, including Kyon who discovered the truth, try all their best to keep Haruhi entertained.

Buy the anime series – Volume 1 l Volume 2 l Volume 3

The first season of the anime consist of 14 episodes, and was originally broadcast in an oddly manner, with the episodes not showing in chronological order… oddity seems to fit well with the theme of the anime though.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya turn out to be a true gem that has appeal to lots of anime fans. The characters from the anime has become a favourite among cosplay lovers; and there are some hardcore fans of the series calling themselves ‘Haruhiists’ that are really attached to the ‘philosophy’ of the anime.

Multiple singles and albums have been released relating to Haruhi Suzumiya. The most popular song is probably “Hare Hare Yukai” (literally means ‘Sunny Sunny Happiness’; ハレ晴レユカイ), the ending themed song sang by Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara and Yuko Goto, the respective voices of Haruhi Suzumiya, Yuki Nagato and Mikuru Asahina from the series.

The para-para style dancing (often referred as ‘Hare Hare Yukai Dance’) along with the ending theme song has create craze among Haruhiists and anime fans, with hundreds and thousands of pranks videos being created and uploaded to popular sites like Youtube.

The production of season 2 for the anime series has been announced at the time of writing; the exact date of its release is unsure yet.

Related Websites

Official Website ll Kyoto Animation Website (both sites in Japanese)

“The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” is arguably the most popular anime series in 2006/2007. The Haruhi-dance at the end of each episodes has become a phenomenon itself; lots of people are imitating it and uploaded their videos online.

Maggie’s version happens to be one of the more unique Haruhi dance videos imo. Brava!