02.06
Yes, everybody else blogged about the movie months ago. Yes, this probably won’t change whether or not you’ll go and watch it. Yes, none of us except for DaemonCorps or Desensitized like Haruhi that much to give anything resembling an informative review. But in the end, does it matter?
Well, yeah. But alas, fuck it. Let’s get to the review.
It’s Christmas time for the SOS Brigade, and what a better way to celebrate the holidays than to loosely enact the It’s a Wonderful Life trope? Our dear narrator Kyon wakes up in a world where Haruhi and Itsuki don’t attend his school, Yuki is still a bespectacled bookworm, Ryoko still exists with no signs of the murderous entity we saw in the past, and Mikuru is exactly the same. Having actually grown rather accustomed to this schoolgirl of a god, he tries to seek her out in order to set things right. However, this glitch in time and space will prove harder to solve for Kyon than he could possibly imagine.
So after the backlash against Endless Eight and its sheer amount of “Kyon-kun, denwa”, KyoAni decided to throw its fans a bone by adapting what is apparently considered the best that the books have to offer. And is it able to satisfy fans that have been waiting for at least four years to see this?
Yes, but don’t expect to enjoy it as well if you’ve been out of the loop. One roadblock in this movie is that you’ll need to have seen the previous forms of the series in order to understand it. I originally thought having watched the first season a few years ago and a few snippets of the second would have sufficed enough, only to be utterly confused by a plot twist involving a previous adventure with Kyon time-traveling to the past under the identity of John Smith (Does that make Yuki the tin dog of the group?). While I wouldn’t consider this a major flaw by any sort, and actually rather refreshing in comparison to how film installments in anime are usually free of continuity, it still makes this film an odd watch for those who haven’t brushed up on their Haruhi.
Now, the real problem is that this movie is so long that it makes Ron Jeremy look like an utter chode. At the total length of 163 minutes, or about as long as seven episodes if you cut out the openings and endings, it is not an easy thing to get through all in one sitting. It doesn’t help that the shifts in scenes during the film, up to and including the “search for Haruhi” plot changing into something entirely different involving Future Mikuru, feel more fitting for episodes than that of a fluid movie structure. Just when you think the movie’s reaching its conclusion, there’s another plotline introduced and we get an hour more of things to do. You just start getting fatigue after all this. However, when the plot gets going around half an hour in, the film becomes really good and grabs you by the seat. But alas, when it starts slowing down, it loses that momentum and becomes quite a slog.
If it weren’t for Kyon, Yuki, and maybe Tsuruya, the Haruhi series would suck worse than a whore with jagged molars. And quite thankfully, the movie does its best to give prominence to the former two while putting Haruhi and Funbags into the sidelines. With Kyon, he’s the one out of the whole cast that interests me the most. His place and initial characterization shows him off to be kind of an everyman, but then you peel back the layers and get someone who’s not so different from our title character despite being in insistent denial over it. He also shows a high level of tactlessness, such as earnestly asking Mikuru to take off her top and show him her birthmark as proof that he knows her (context is for the weak), which combined with his narration, create an interesting array of character flaws for him. And for Yuki, I like how the film expands her so she’s more than just yet another emotionless girl. I’d elaborate more on it, but as always, spoilers.
As for the voice acting, while I don’t think he displays the right form of deadpan that Crispin Freeman did back in the dub, Tomokazu Sugita does well as Kyon. Although his tone is monotone throughout, he definitely captures the anxiety in being a fish out of water. I also thought Minori Chihara did a great job in playing the stoic, regular Yuki as well as the simpering, alternate-universe Yuki. Once again, she’s monotone, but it’s in different types of monotone for the two.
And when it comes to the animation, it’s flows rather nicely. The darker shade of everything helps show a more somber tone as well as contrasting the bright colors of the last two seasons. We also see an improvement in the character design, with a return to that of the first season in comparison to how K-On!-ish the designs of the second were.
Now for those who skipped to the bottom, moderate scarceness of the titular character, somber tone, vague resemblance to a bunch of Dr. Who episodes, and character development hit all the right points for me. However, poor, uneven pacing and an inability to stand on its own without over-relying on continuity bog it down. Still, it sets itself as a major improvement from Melancholy by focusing more on Kyon and the sci-fi/mystery element of the series rather than the “keep Haruhi entertained” and “failed attempts at comedy” parts. So overall, KyoAni delivers.
Rating: 8/10
Originally posted on Monday, February 21, 2011.