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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV).


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PantsGoblin
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:10 am Reply with quote
SOS Brigade Invasion Tour at AX 2007:


I was there about an hour before seating was scheduled... Even though it didn't matter since there was assigned seatings. Eh, I was in the front of the line nonetheless. Concert started about 2 hours late, I think. I honestly didn't pay attention to the time before the concert started but noticed I got out at about 7:30, and it was supposed to be 5:30. Well, wasn't as bad as the SKIN concert (which was 3 hours late). Gotta love AX. Honestly, I hate the staff there, but that's a different story... I saw some people dancing to Lucky Star's Opening Theme while in line, which was pretty amusing. Definitely some hard core Hirano fans in here.

While in the seating, they played GoAnime TV... The Haruhi episode one. I honestly don't know why they even did this. 90% of the audience were hard core sub fans, many of which hate dubs. Eh, I don't hate Haruhi's dub, but I wish the whole concert would have focused more on the original cast, who everybody was there for (other than the songs, they mainly focused on the dub cast). I will admit, some of the "bloopers" they had at the beginning were pretty funny though. I had pretty good seats as well. Right in the middle on floor level, 10th row. I had a great view, and was in the middle of action with all the hard core fans. I had the unfortunate luck of sitting next to some guy who should have reserved two chairs. He was huge. He was a really nice guy though (and really got into the music at some points), so I guess it wasn't that bad... just cramped.

The whole thing was hosted by Patricia Lee. She was a good host so I'm not complaining. Translator is a different story, who imo wasn't that great. She was just out of it, she didn't know what tsundere was and pronounced it wrong as well. She also said a few things in Japanese to the audience and didn't translate some things that were said.

Anyway, first song that was performed was "Koi no Mikuru Densetsu" by Yuko Goto. She purposely sung in that horrible voice as well. I think some people were kind of confused by it though. As I didn't see that many people into the music (although I'm not even sure you can get into this music...). After that, they had Stephanie Sheh come out, and they, uh... did Mikuru beams together. Both Yuko Goto and Stephanie Sheh. Was pretty amusing.

And then Aya Hirano comes out and the crowd goes wild. She starts singing "Bouken Desho Desho?". I don't know who's "genius" idea it was to include romaji subtitles on the screen Aya was looking at, but it seriously messed her up. I could tell she was looking at them while she was singing, and the subtitles were slightly off, resulting in Aya's singing being slightly off as well. Eh, it could have been a better performance... After that Wendee Lee came up to do some voice acting with Ms. Hirano.

Now it was Minori Chihara's turn to come up. She performed both her character CD songs "Yuki, Muon, Madobe nite" and "SELECT?". Personally, I really enjoyed her performance of "Yuki, Muon, Madobe nite". But the crowd, while somewhat entertained, still didn't seem completely into the music. After this, they had Johnny Yong Bosch do some voice acting with her. Uh, he apparently had to fill in for Kyon (Crispin Freeman). Ya, he was pretty confused too. He only had to gasp and make noise though. Everybody cheered for him, it was pretty funny actually. Also, apparently, Ms. Chihara ate watermelon and orange bread for breakfast. And she apparently likes to eat chocolate for breakfast in Japan (I don't know if this was just a bad translation though, since the translator honestly wasn't that great though, as well as being hard to understand).

By this time, it didn't seem like the concert was going anywhere good. As well as none of the music really getting the audience into the mood. They also had quite a bit of technical problems with the screen throughout the show. But... now it was time for Aya to come back on stage... Performing "God Knows...". Honestly, this must have been the highlight of the concert, Aya pulled off an excellent performance of both "God Knows..." and "Lost My Music". It was simply amazing, everybody got into the music at this point (at least that I could see, but I was pretty up close, and I was so into the music the didn't bother looking behind me. I was too busy waving my arms, yelling, and looking at Aya). And I'm not kidding, I really think Aya Hirano pulled off a great job on both these pieces. I was really able to feel the "magic" when she was singing these.

Finally, It was time for everyone's favorite "Hare Hare Yukai". Everybody got back on stage for this including Aya Hirano, Yuko Goto, Minori Chihara, the contest winners for the dance off, Wendee Lee, Stephanie Sheh, Johnny Yong Bosch, Patricia Lee and rest of the ASOS brigade. They also encouraged the audience to dance along as well... Which didn't really happen due to the space... Uh, there was like no room to dance. Regardless, everybody seemed to enjoy this last piece. Particularly I loved Johnny's dance (he didn't know the dance at all but was dragged on stage. He did random dance moves that had to do with nothing. It was really funny actually). We cheered them on for an "encore", so we got to see them perform "Hare Hare Yukai" again as well.

Overall, the concert didn't really start off on a good note with all the problems, but ended up great. I'm really glad I went, I had a great time and it was worth it. Aya Hirano's closing lines were "I'll be back". So you can take that as you will.
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frentymon
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:56 am Reply with quote
Ugh, I'm so jealous... Crying or Very sad

I'm currently in a state of "really want, yet really don't want to hear about it". Any other non-AX attendees feel the same way?
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selenta
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:12 am Reply with quote
Actually, I'm not too impressed from pants's post. I would have loved to go to AX myself, but that would have been more for other reasons aside from Haruhi (aside from the fact that I'm as much, or close to, as much of a fan as everyone else here). I would have loved to introduce myself to any other ANN members and/or the real ANN staff to say hello. Apparently, I was not supposed to have access to the staff events forum, as they kicked me off of it as soon as I made my first post in it, but it still sounded fun to me. Either way, nothing bothers me more than a terribly amateur event (I'm pretty forgiving for the actors involved most of the time, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch).
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frentymon
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:21 am Reply with quote
I wasn't really impressed either reading the description of the event, but "God Knows" + "Lost My Music" + "extremely good" already does enough to make me wish I was the hell out of Hong Kong (bootleg haven...ugh) and somewhere closer to home instead...

I'm a huge Aya fan too (not even just Haruhi, just Aya in general) so I especially would've liked to go. Oh well, life goes on.

On topic, I recently finished watching the series again for the 5th time. Watched it broadcast order again this time (alternating every time), and it makes me want to make a huge long post on why broadcast order is so brilliant, but I've already done that, so I guess that won't happen.

Episode 7 (broadcast) struck me as kind of odd this time around. spoiler[It clearly happens after the main storyline events, but through Kyon's words and actions, save about one comment or so, it felt as if it belonged somewhere between Episode 5 and 13 chronologically, as he really surprised at the whole thing even though he's been through a lot of it already. That, and other miniscule details that can't help but make me think that Kyon is in denial at this point.]
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darkchibi07



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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:23 am Reply with quote
frentymon wrote:
Ugh, I'm so jealous... Crying or Very sad

I'm currently in a state of "really want, yet really don't want to hear about it". Any other non-AX attendees feel the same way?


I'm actually half and half. Those problems that were presented seem rather significant that may affect my enjoyment. It's a good thing it did get much better in the end.
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fighterholic



Joined: 28 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:53 pm Reply with quote
I'm not impressed with how things have been going this year, I'm not surprised that it started late. My friend went to it and was updating me on the situation. I would have gone if I wasn't tied up with another panel. Were they handing out free tickets like the SKIN concert or no?
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LuckySleven



Joined: 13 Mar 2007
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:54 am Reply with quote
I wish I could've went but due to geographical reasons I wasn't able to. All I have is Anime North Confused
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Kaioshin_Sama



Joined: 05 Feb 2005
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 1:20 am Reply with quote
I've never really been inclined to go to one of these things. I'm not a merchandising guy, not a big fan of hearing license announcements, except maybe Bandai's, and they never really have anyone as a guest that I really want to see. The last guests I know of that sounded interesting at a convention were Seki Tomokazu, Hikaru Midorikawa and I think, but am not sure, Takehito Koyasu at Anime North way back when my friend went and I couldn't go. I'm not the type to take an interest in idols either really, I wouldn't know what to talk to them about and I'm not sure what exactly they would have to say that I would find interesting.

Having both Haruhi casts on the stage at the same time seems like a fun idea, but it sounded like it was a small stage. What if they had had to host a rock act their like Abingdon Boy's School or L'Arc En Ciel instead of a strictly singing and para para dance based one, I can only imagine. Shocked
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Porcupine



Joined: 21 Jul 2004
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:31 pm Reply with quote
Hey who is that in LuckySleven's current avatar? It looks nice, can't tell if it is a guy or a girl though.
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DKL



Joined: 08 May 2005
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 5:55 pm Reply with quote
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episodes... uhh... disc 2

PLEASE, NO SPOILERS FOR CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER WATCHERS

WOW... episode 6 was REALLY good (or, whichever the 3rd episode on disc is); it made the series for me, that’s for sure.

Also, it kinda confirmed my theory that:

spoiler[Haruhi was harboring some kinda EPIC (there’s that word again) secret crush on Kyon (which I found pretty cute, when considering the actual character… in fact, seeing her kinda vulnerable wasn’t that bad of a change either… little things like grabbing onto Kyon’s uniform was nice). Though, more interesting is WHY she chose him in the first place; it seems like she was under the impression that Kyon had found himself in the same dilemma of immense personal insignificance and boredom that Haruhi happened to find herself in (which is why he could sort of understand Haruhi during that moment where she expanded on it).

I mean, it sort of wasn’t obvious, but Kyon was pretty drawn to the life (as evidenced by his opening monologue, from what I can remember), hence why he would go along with most of Haruhi’s BS (and why Haruhi would think the above in that he’s actually interested). But, Kyon sort of confirms that it’s better to be looking for this stuff in the real world, as opposed to creating an idealized world (where it’s only her and Kyon that exist), just because you gave up on the real world.

(which, all things considering, does have the stuff she’s looking for… she should just keep looking… though, it’s funny that it’s all right under her nose and everyone has to play coy to “keep the balance” since, otherwise, it would then occur to Haruhi that the stuff she was looking for was common crap after all and we’d be back to being screwed)

Saw the Snow White reference and what it meant incoming, but that doesn’t hide the fact that it was totally sweet and had this huge climax when it happened; I approve.

Also, I like the irritation buildup going there; one moment that caught my eye was when she asked Kyon to leave the room before changing into her bunny suit (as opposed to regularly taking her stuff off without a moment’s notice); seems like she doesn’t see Kyon simply as some “thing” anymore, which was pretty neat.

That said… if I looked at this really critically… damn, Haruhi is one hell of a prima donna; when things don’t go her way, she just HAS to throw this huge fit that, when you think about it, will screw up the entire world as we know it.

But, it appeals, so I find myself in vast approval of her character, regardless; it’s entertaining.

Talking about that, I REALLY liked the baseball episode; I thought it was funny that the fate of the world suddenly had to hinge on the outcome of a baseball game (which Kyon was initially trying to throw away [by bringing his little sister onto the team] due to the fact that having to workout on a Sunday was kinda lame and tiring).

I also like how it felt like Kyon was vaguely having to contemplate between screwing up the ecological environment 10,000 years into future and having Yuki make it rain to have the game called; awesome stuff.

Also, I liked the little scene where Haruhi changes her mind about having Mikuru don a pony tail given that it’s “what Kyon likes;” again, the little things.

With that said, it seems like the main conflict will now be a romantic struggle between all the characters in which… uhh… falling in love will f*** the world up (since it seems like Yuki and Mikuru are sort of building on their relationship with Kyon); if that’s not the most amusing thing, then I don’t know what is.

But then, maybe they’re only trying to get me to think this way; I won’t know for sure unless I see the rest of the show given that some other random stuff might be thrown in (such as that talking cat from episode 00… and no, don’t tell me about it since I wanna be surprised).

Also, they’re probably gonna go into the specifics of the “3 years ago” thing sooner or later, so I’ll be watching for that (unless they already have, and I completely missed it… it isn’t Haruhi’s realization, is it? *don’t tell me since I wanna find out for myself… yeah, I’m having a hard time pinning it down since I don’t know how many years there are in middle school*).

That said, I think I can now sort of see the appeal of screwing around with the arrangement of the episodes…

Like, for example, if you placed that episode where Kyon and Haruhi investigate Asahina’s disappearance, you would have no idea that Yuki and Kyon were actually involved in the thing since Kyon barely makes reference to it in said episode.

Then, when you actually do see the episode with her wielding a damn knife around, you get colored surprised and go “OH! So that’s why she disappeared… she didn’t move to Canada… Haruhi was right [about the mysterious circumstances]!”

I dunno… it probably works out to something like that… but, I’m still pretty satisfied with just watching it like this since the show is still really entertaining even if there aren’t vague attempts to challenge the viewer (outside of long drawn-out dialogue about… science stuff… that could just be summarized as “we’re screwed if we displease her” and/or “we’re hoping her powers can be utilized to do stuff”).]


That said, interpretation subject to change if I was to either see more or go back and watch and notice more things…

Which I’m going to be doing today, actually… all 8 episodes, in fact.

Man, this show is so beast; I’ll probably be around during the alleged 2nd season.

END OF PART 1

...

Well, I'm going to Costco, and I'm not really done talking about this yet, so I'll be back later.
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Porcupine



Joined: 21 Jul 2004
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:10 pm Reply with quote
Darn, I want to see this too. I saw it in the Suncoast store last week, but they didn't know the sale pricing on the Special Edition yet (it was listed at $60 retail) so I didn't buy it. Paying for all the Special Editions is painful!
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Nom_Anor



Joined: 09 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:23 pm Reply with quote
Tomorrow I shall be going to Best Buy first thing in order to get the disk two limited edition. If they don't have it, I will be sad. Then I'm going online to preorder disk three while Rightstuff still has their 20% off sale.
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Dorcas_Aurelia



Joined: 23 Jul 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:32 pm Reply with quote
DKL wrote:
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episodes... uhh... disc 2

PLEASE, NO SPOILERS FOR CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER WATCHERS

WOW... episode 6 was REALLY good (or, whichever the 3rd episode on disc is); it made the series for me, that’s for sure.

Also, it kinda confirmed my theory that:

spoiler[Also, they’re probably gonna go into the specifics of the “3 years ago” thing sooner or later, so I’ll be watching for that (unless they already have, and I completely missed it… it isn’t Haruhi’s realization, is it? *don’t tell me since I wanna find out for myself… yeah, I’m having a hard time pinning it down since I don’t know how many years there are in middle school*).]

Later. Like, if they ever make that sequel we're all hoping they make. It's explained in the novels, though, if you wanna go find them.

DKL wrote:
spoiler[That said, I think I can now sort of see the appeal of screwing around with the arrangement of the episodes…

Like, for example, if you placed that episode where Kyon and Haruhi investigate Asahina’s disappearance, you would have no idea that Yuki and Kyon were actually involved in the thing since Kyon barely makes reference to it in said episode.

Then, when you actually do see the episode with her wielding a damn knife around, you get colored surprised and go “OH! So that’s why she disappeared… she didn’t move to Canada… Haruhi was right [about the mysterious circumstances]!”]

Asakura, not Asahina. And yeah, that had left me wondering what happened since it was aired like second or third to last broadcast order.

Porcupine, Lucky Sleven's avatar is Nia from Gurren Lagann after her haircut.


Oh yeah, so that friend that I introduced to anime, well, my other friend got back from his vacation to Peru, and he still has fansubs of the series, so last week we got together and watched some more. The baseball episode, Lone Island Syndrome 1, and Mysterique Sign. It complete confused her, being all out of order.
For anyone tracking character popularity, she likes Yuki, and she would like to hit Haruhi.
And then, to show her that not all anime is as random as this, we watched the first two episodes of Scrapped Princess and Last Exile.
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Mylene



Joined: 07 Feb 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:47 pm Reply with quote
Nom_Anor wrote:
Tomorrow I shall be going to Best Buy first thing in order to get the disk two limited edition. If they don't have it, I will be sad. Then I'm going online to preorder disk three while Rightstuff still has their 20% off sale.


It's 20% off in stock items, so you won't be receiving 20% off of it.

My SE 2 should be arriving in a few days. I received my shipping notice for it and my Nagato character CD on the 30th. I think I'll wait until I have the entire series in hand before I start my rewatch.
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DKL



Joined: 08 May 2005
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Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:52 pm Reply with quote
Dorcas_Aurelia wrote:

Asakura, not Asahina. And yeah, that had left me wondering what happened since it was aired like second or third to last broadcast order.



Oh, so that was her name?

Okay...

Truth be told, I was initially contemplating giving her the name "Eye brows girl" in my post given that I couldn't remember what it was.
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