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The Mike Toole Show - Whatever Happened to Haruhi Suzumiya?


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gedata



Joined: 04 May 2013
Posts: 615
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 12:47 pm Reply with quote
Is it just me, or does moe era Bones look less moe then pre moe era Bones?
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Durga



Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Posts: 103
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 12:47 pm Reply with quote
I got into anime a little after Haruhi exploded over here, and I didn't even attempt watching the show until a couple years ago. I thought it was... okay? Certainly has great production values, but it was hard for me to understand the hype behind it given that to me it's just another high school sitcom, albeit with some sci-fi tropes. And that Disappearance of Haruhi movie nearly put me to sleep. It's a neat idea that's dragged out waaaaaaay too long to remain interesting, and I was begging for Kyon to stop talking and get on with it. Still, considering how highly rated that film is (take a look at its ranking on the ANN Encyclopedia or other similar anime ranking sites), the Haruhi fandom doesn't seem to have left completely.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2201
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 12:49 pm Reply with quote
the pre-moe, moe comparison are hilarious; it perfectly illustrates the selective memories people have. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
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deathfromabove1993



Joined: 23 May 2009
Posts: 120
Location: Chicago, IL
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 12:52 pm Reply with quote
I also got into anime when Haruhi exploded. So I guess moe started for me when I saw a bit of Kanon in 2008. Having that said, I'm really sad that no one has rescued all of the Haruhi anime. I would really love a Blu-ray set of the TV series and the shorts and a Blu-ray of the movie in BD sized case please.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 14 Dec 2012
Posts: 1380
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:04 pm Reply with quote
Back in my first year of high school I joined the school's short-lived anime club, and the first thing we watched there was episode 0 of Haruhi. I liked it a lot and ended up borrowing the DVDs from a friend to marathon the series over a weekend. But it's been years since then and I wonder if it'll hold up on rewatch.
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bj_waters



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:07 pm Reply with quote
POPEYE! All the way!

To be honest, I never really got "down" with all of the Haruhi hype. I remember a friend of a friend trying to sell me on the series as the "GREATEST THING EVAR!", but the way he was describing it made me think it was pretty random and all over the place ("It's got time-travelers and espers and aliens and everything!"). I asked how it compared to the other major, all-over-the-place anime, FLCL, and he insisted that it was just like that, but better.

So when I finally sat down to watch it (thanks to my local library picking up Bandai's DVDs), I was kind of let down as I was expected something far zanier than what I got. However, as I settled in with the show, I quickly realized how much it reminded me of a sitcom, with a status quo that Haruhi would throw off and the other characters would run around trying to put it back. In the end, it was fun, but I didn't really bother with anything else about the series, other than make this silly little image.

While I heard that Oriemo was pretty fun, I haven't watched it yet. Someday, I'll get back into watching anime like a madman again.

However, I want to talk a little about the two comparison charts you made (I thought it was interesting that you had Gurren Lagann on both charts for being moe and non-moe, but I suppose it was trying to be the best of both worlds). While there certainly is a fair argument that moe hasn't "ruined everything" (and studios were doing the "cute stuff" before 2000), I do feel the kind of shows that were constantly made in the 80s and 90s have become quite few and far between in the following years, making it hard for an old-school fan like me to feel relevant in the modern anime world. And it's not like I don't enjoy the occasional cute-girls-doing-or-not-doing-x show (I was stoked to get Hyakko from Lucky Penny), but I just feel like the anime industry is now making stuff for a different generation of fan and I've been left in the dust. Seriously, how many more high schools do we need to animate before the industry moves on, because I'm pretty sick of them. I mean, isn't it a little creepy that Americans can know the ins and outs of the Japanese school system, but know next to nothing about their politics, economy, working conditions, or non-school social life?

In any case, it's pretty obvious to see Haruhi as an apex of a movement started by shows like Love Hina and Azumanga Daioh. I imagine there are fans who would want to see more Haruhi anime, and I can't begrudge them of that. It can be hard to see something you love fade into the past. Just don't expect me to line up with the rest of you should there be something more. (I'd rather see a conclusion for Full Metal Panic, as the Second Raid left some plot threads dangling. Or a second season of Guin Saga. Yeah, that'd be awesome.)
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2093
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:11 pm Reply with quote
I see what you did there with Manglobe. Smile

As for the dawn of moe? Well, Hiroki Azuma would probably place it at some point in the 1990s. Possibly Evangelion, you could maybe make an argument for as far back as Nadia... but I think I'll somewhat arbitrarily go with Di Gi Charat.
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Flared



Joined: 08 Sep 2013
Posts: 3
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:13 pm Reply with quote
Haruhi was at her height when I first started watching anime, so nostalgia plays a large role in my opinion of her, but I do still find the series entertaining to this day (I re-watched it only a month or so ago).

Haruhi "disappeared" and her fandom died down for 3 reasons in my opinion:

1. All those who watched it initially just because it was popular and many people were raving about it probably didn't return for the second series or the film if they didn't like it enough.

2. The "Endless-Eight/Kyon-kun denwa" controversy was enraging so many fans it was a joke (I'll never forget some of the message boards of that time) and so embarassing for KyoAni at the time that it put a major dent in the faith many had in the Haruhi brand. (However, the film made up for that fiasco to many).

3. In 2011, Haruhi's voice actress Aya Hirano was involved in a sex scandal which caused both her music and voice-acting companies to drop her pretty swiftly, and I can't imagine it pleased KyoAni much either. I doubt they want to be associated with her again just in case she does something like that again.

So yeah, I don't think Haruhi disappeared just because the fandom dipped slightly in recent years (I am confident that there are enough Haruhi fans to make another series profitable), but the Endless-Eight stuff certainly didn't help as it alienated a lot of fans and left KyoAni red-faced. That controversy, mixed with Hirano's antics have left Kyoto hesitant in green-lighting another Haruhi production in my opinion.

As for the "dawn of moe", I think Haruhi brought it to the forefront but it had been around for several years before.


Last edited by Flared on Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
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mgosdin



Joined: 17 Jul 2011
Posts: 1302
Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:16 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
... Who would win in a fight, Kyon or Kyousuke? Kirino or Haruhi? Popeye or Goku? ...


Kyon & Kyousuke fight? Nah, they'd just sit and trade stories about dealing with those crazy girls of theirs.

Kirino & Haruhi, no no fight here. They would be too busy fooling around with costumes, they both like to dress up after all.

Popeye & Goku, oh Mike you are a geek aren't you. Me, I think they would trade spinach & senzu beans and take turns pounding the bejeesus out of Bluto and Freeza.

Mark Gosdin
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Cyclone1993



Joined: 05 Jul 2011
Posts: 947
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:22 pm Reply with quote
Haruhi was the anime that actually got me into the anime world, so I have a very special place in my heart for it. I remember the days of rushing home from high school hoping no one was home so I could watch the series online.

To this day, its probably still in my top 10 favorite anime series, and not purely for nostalgia. It's actually a very good series, I could relate to both Haruhi and Kyon in ways that I normally couldn't with characters in other mediums, and it really opened my eyes to all of the other anime out there, and opened the door to my addiction.

I have all the novels that are currently in English, and 5 of the manga volumes, plus when I found out Bandai was going out of business I rushed to buy the first season of the anime, and the movie, and to this day, I'm glad that I did. (Judging by the prices now!) So I would love to see another season of Haruhi Suzumiya! Heck, give me two or three! I'd love for the entire novel series to be shown in anime form, is there a chance of that happening? Sure. Will it happen? Most likely not.

I do hope Tanigawa writes more of the novels soon, so that the series can have a proper conclusion, and then maybe let it finish in anime form.
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pachy_boy



Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 1323
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:28 pm Reply with quote
Since I have the entire Haruhi series, including the anime, novel, and graphic novel spin-off series (Haruhi-Chan and The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan), I never thought of the anime still being out of print. Maybe the passion for it died after the boom phenomenon, but I still think it's a great show with its own distinct elements, intriguing ideas and funny moments. And I LOVE the beautiful movie as is. It's easy enough for people to complain and say it could've easily been an hour-and-a-half, but my response is always, "How?" I could never imagine it being shorter without losing the atmospheric, emotional impact it had. Plus, even though I'm following the novels, the movie was quite possibly the perfect ending for the anime series for itself. Having said that, it's a title that deserves to be license-rescued.

Oreimo, on the other hand, I had loved prior due to its clever otaku-centered humor and character dynamics. But I gotta admit--the ending really let me down. spoiler[Kyousuke breaks so many girls' hearts, even ruins the lives of a couple in doing it (I felt truly bad for Manami and seeing how she went), so he can be romantic with his sister, and at the very end it goes nowhere, leaving me screaming, "What then was the goddamn point?!"] Maybe I should've seen this coming, but I could never watch the show or even just the first season anymore without thinking of the direction it goes, even though everything else beforehand was so good.


Last edited by pachy_boy on Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Spotlesseden



Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: earth
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:29 pm Reply with quote
Haruhi LN is still huge in Japan in term of sales. But the is no new vol for a long time. The The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya was very popular too.
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giseki



Joined: 19 Nov 2010
Posts: 54
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:30 pm Reply with quote
well i totally want to see more haruhi...only recently i rewatched the subbed cultural festival episode...(admittedly inspired by a rewatch of linda linda linda)...awesome episode in so many ways...but it has to have all the original cast including aya hirano... sex scandal or not...what's the big deal with having sex with a few people? she could have had sex with all of them at once for all i care...she could have filmed it and posted it online and i would have watched and i still wouldn't care...

...if this is really a big deal in anime japan with all it's incest and loli and shota anime japan sex...that's double standards in my book anime japan...i thought anime japan was a sexually liberated place...i was totally considering travelling to anime japan at some point...still am...somewhat...
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law240



Joined: 06 Jan 2007
Posts: 77
Location: El Paso, TX
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:30 pm Reply with quote
For me the "Moe Era" didn't really hit for me until Haruhi Suzumiya got reversed engineered into Luck Star and that's when a lot of other studios jumped on the bandwagon formula of cute girls in clubs and referential Otaku humor sold like hot cakes Haruhi was the rock and Lucky Star was the wave and K-On and the like was period of moe Inundation.

Last edited by law240 on Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:34 pm; edited 2 times in total
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skafreak51



Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 211
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:32 pm Reply with quote
AiddonValentine wrote:
the pre-moe, moe comparison are hilarious; it perfectly illustrates the selective memories people have. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.


I think the problem is that there used to be a huge amount of "non-moe" adult themed anime with a vast amount of different styles.

Nowadays, when a friend tries to get me into a new, good anime, his explanation always ends with "AND OH, all the characters just HAPPEN to be 12 year old girls with huge tits and cookie cutter personalities."

I miss the days where I didn't know what to expect from an anime- nowadays I have a checklist of things that I pray aren't in a show but know they are going to be.
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