So, Tuesday night was time to watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, episode 11. After a slump through episodes 6-9, the last two have definately been on target again with the insanity, Kyon’s sarcasm, and the totally unpredictable madness of Haruhi.
Even though it was predictable that the Computer Society would cheat and that Yuki would hack their cheat codes, it was just a riot to watch.
Kyoto Animation went over the top with the CG stuff, constantly showing the SOS Brigade and Computer Society members as if they were on the bridges of their starships in the game–
–except when suddenly switching to “earth normal” was funnier.
You could cut yourself on those eyebrows!
For once, Haruhi was not abusing Asahina through the whole show, which allowed her lovable meglomania to shine through. Isn’t she just the cutest maniac you ever saw? Doesn’t that look inspire you to run in terror, preferably into another dimension?
I’m beginning to understand why they arranged the episodes the way that they did; this way the weaker ones end up in the middle and the series will both start and finish strong. Next week, the 12th episode is actually the 12th episode (what’s up with that?) and it will be the one in which the green haired girl is introduced (again). She’s been dubbed FANG-TAN or LOL-TAN or even LOL-FANG-TAN because of her pointy teeth (it seems to be a Japanese cultural thing indicating sexiness), and always upbeat mood — if not actually laughing, such as when she’s supposed to be playing a zombie in the SOS movie. A zombie with a funnybone? She may be the most normal girl in the series, since the class monitor turned out to be slightly homicidal. Not to mention an alien.
Once again, we also see that while Haruhi is “god” and Itsuki is theoretically the second in command of the Brigade, it’s really Kyon that steers the situation. He is the one that forbids cheating by using alien data manipulation, time travel, or psychic powers, and all the rest follow his command. When Yuki hacks the game using only the computer and super-speed typing, it’s his permission she waits on before executing the rewritten code.
And in the end, when the Computer Society invites Yuki to join them informally, it’s Kyon that quashes Haruhi’s demands for compensation, so that Yuki can go spend time doing something she might actually enjoy. I can see why she’s got her own fan club. It’s rather amusing to see the totally emotionless Yuki practicing keystrokes on the pages of her book, as if she were playing a piano.
But I have to close with one piece of advice…. if Haruhi’s plan to start franchises of the SOS Brigade everywhere works out, make absolutely sure that you don’t utter the word “contest” anywhere near one of their clubs….
… unless you’re wearing a helmet and body armor.
Addendum: Lots more pics here.
Addendum 2: Upon re-watching the show and reading the translation, I am convinced the fansubbers altered that scene — the club president isn’t yelling “Contest! A Contest!” He’s yelling “Showdown! A showdown!” in badly accented English. Which makes Haruhi’s flying drop-kick even funnier to me: he was just asking for it!
