Summary:

It’s July 7th, which means that it’s Tanabata, and Haruhi wants to commemorate the event by having everyone write their wishes for 16 years and 25 years down the line. Her reasoning for those lengths is because the two stars/gods that grant the wishes are that many light years away from Earth, so wishes will take that long to reach them. She even turns this into a competition to see whose wishes will come true in 16 years, and her own two wishes are for the world to revolve around her and for the world to rotate in reverse. Kyon hears Haruhi mutter wistfully to herself afterward that 16 years is a long time, and she spends the rest of the afternoon staring out the window. During that time, Mikuru passes Kyon a note asking him to stay late, and he gets another one from Yuki as well as she leaves. He only gets to briefly glance at the latter though before Mikuru reveals that she wants him to go with her back in time to three years ago. Weak to Mikuru, especially when she looks like she’s about to cry, Kyon agrees without knowing why they’re going.

Mikuru sits Kyon down, and the next thing he knows, he’s in the park three years ago with his head on her lap. She had to knock him out because she couldn’t let him see how they time travel, but Mikuru herself then falls asleep. This is because adult Mikuru is also here in this time period, and she can’t let her younger self see her. Adult Mikuru directs Kyon to a nearby school and asks him to help someone at the gate, and she herself walks off into the distance after making him promise to keep her a secret from her younger self. When Kyon reaches the junior high school, he finds a younger Haruhi trying to climb over the gate. She immediately recruits him into helping her, and fortunately for Kyon, it’s nighttime, so Haruhi can’t see his face very well. Haruhi has prepared some chalk, and she makes Kyon draw on the field with it exactly as she directs, in the process making him realize that the strange message that Taniguchi once told him about would be written by himself.

Afterward, young Haruhi asks him if he thinks there are aliens, people from the future, espers, and sliders. Kyon says yes to all except for the final one, and he goes on to tell Haruhi that his name is John Smith and that Mikuru is his narcoleptic sister. He also surprises her by guessing that the message she had him write is for Orihime and Hikoboshi since it’s Tanabata, and Haruhi becomes interested in his high school after he mentions that he’s familiar with someone who does something similar. Haruhi then leaves, and Kyon goes to wake Mikuru up. Mikuru panics when she realizes that she’s lost a time machine-like device called a TPDD, and Kyon suspects adult Mikuru is responsible. Staring at the message that Haruhi had him write, Kyon suddenly remembers the note that Yuki had given him, and since the two match, he decides to pay a visit to Yuki’s apartment building. She lets him in after he mentions knowing Haruhi, and he and Mikuru explain everything to her and show her the note. Revealing that she’s synchronized with her future self, Yuki mentions that she’s on standby for three more years, and she notes that there is more than one way to travel through time.

Inside one of the rooms in her apartment, Yuki prepares two beds for Kyon and Mikuru and gets them to sleep. Kyon barely closes his eyes before Yuki turns the light on again, and Mikuru realizes via her watch that they’re already back in their own time period. It turns out that Yuki was able to stop time inside that room for three years, meaning that the first time Kyon came here, he and Mikuru were already in the next room. Yuki also gives Kyon the now-frayed note and explains that it’s a message saying, “I am here.” She doesn’t, however, inform him if it’s an alien language or not. Afterward, Mikuru apologizes to Kyon and tells him that she’s only following orders of her superiors, making him wonder if her superior is her older self. Kyon goes to school the following day like normal and finds Haruhi reminiscing about Tanabatas past. Later, he talks to Itsuki and Yuki about timeline continuity, and Itsuki ends things by wondering if Kyon prefers something happening instead of things remaining peaceful.

ED Sequence

ED: 「止マレ」 (Tomare) by 平野綾, 茅原実里, 後藤邑子 (Hirano Aya, Chihara Minori, Gotou Yuuko)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Show Spoiler ▼

There’s no OP this week, but there was an ED. I found it to be a decent song and pretty good animation sequence, but I don’t think this is going to launch thousands of fan videos like the original Haruhi dance ED did.

It’s been three years and tons of rumors since the first series, but the time has finally come for new episodes of Suzumiya Haruhi. I don’t see why they had to keep everything so under-wraps like they did, but it certainly generated a ton of hype and speculation. Anyway, this first new episode brought back a lot of memories of what was great about the first series. I especially enjoyed seeing Kyon’s attitude again in the face of all the things that Haruhi comes up with. The story was fun as well, though a little overwhelming thanks to all the time travel. It also reminded me of the viral video that was released two years ago, and now everything in that video makes sense (at least for me who has tried to keep myself from being spoiled). And as for the animation quality, it’s about what I thought it’d be in terms of Kyoto Animation works, though certain shots of Kyon looked odd, and the broadcast quality definitely wasn’t the best.

Unfortunately, assuming they keep airing the series chronologically (a pretty same assumption at this point), the next new episodes won’t be for another four weeks. The Mysterique Sign and the Lone Island Syndrome episodes from the original series come next, and after that should be a whole slew of new episodes starting June 18th. It should be an interesting summer…

91 Comments

  1. I need to QUENCH MY HARUHI THIRST!!!

    … actually, not really. Kadokawa just screwed with us for 3 years, they lost many viewers to K-ON….

    thankfully, I’m not in any boat (given that I will watch Haruhi when I want to, not now, and that K-ON fever has not taken root in me yet).

    MaimeDaifuku
  2. wow folks did a quick work with the subs! i did like this story. it’s been awhile since i read the translations for the novels, i had a curious suspicion they might have left out some of kyon’s inner dialogue. low and behold they did =D

    Show Spoiler ▼

    my speculation is the next arc they’re gonna do is disappearance, well i guess everyone who checked out their site two years ago would assume that.

    dammit two years and they still haven’t announced volume 10 of the light novels!

    RickyMack
  3. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYNNGGGGNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO……….

    Well it’s here. After 3 years…. Worth the wait? I don’t know…

    megalith
  4. Re: RickMack

    unfortunatley not. According to the leaked schedule, Disappearance does not come around until much much later:

    Apr 02 ep01 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 1
    Apr 09 ep02 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2
    Apr 16 ep03 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 3
    Apr 23 ep04 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 4
    Apr 30 ep05 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 5
    May 07 ep06 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 6
    May 14 ep07 The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
    May 21 ep08 Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody (New)
    May 28 ep09 Mysterique Sign
    Jun 04 ep10 Remote Island Syndrome Part1
    Jun 11 ep11 Remote Island Syndrome Part2
    Jun 18 ep12 Endless Eight (New)
    Jun 25 ep13 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 1 (New)
    Jul 02 ep14 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 (New)
    Jul 09 ep15 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 3 (New)
    Jul 16 ep16 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 4 (New)
    Jul 23 ep17 The Adventures of Asahina Mikuru Episode 00
    Jul 30 ep18 Live A Live
    Aug 07 ep19 The Day of Sagittarius
    Aug 14 ep20 Someday in the rain
    Aug 21 ep21 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 1 (New)
    Aug 28 ep22 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 (New)
    Sep 03 ep23 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 3 (New)
    Sep 10 ep24 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 4 (New)
    Sep 17 ep25 The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya 5 (New)
    Sep 24 ep26 Charmed at First Sight Lover (New)
    Oct 1 ep27 Snow Mountain Syndrome Pt 1 (New)
    Oct 8 ep28 Snow Mountain Syndrome Pt 2 (New)

    bigfire
  5. Man after rewatching episode one you will be amazed at how much sense it makes. Like every couple of minutes there is a reference back to the original episode. There is some very good content in this episode that touches on the source material.

    Samurai Pumpkin
  6. @bigfire

    nice find even though that schedule is still questionable

    still it irks me to know that kadokawa pissed off millions thanks to the rerun announcement then slaps a new ep suddenly making a majority go back to them on their knees, crying words of praise

    baka~
  7. Well, it’s finally out there. I knew this re-constructured series have 28 episodes so it wasn’t really much of a surprise to me.
    The episode was quite a fun. Kyon’s remarks really make me feel Haruhi show is now back indeed. However, the new ED seems just quite decent, certainly not as good as K-ON’s OP or ED.
    As for the schedule ahead, it’s all speculation and assumption by fans, but it seems KyoAni will very likely do it that way.

    calde
  8. Great episode! It went by so fast, almost, too fast, considering a three-year wait. Gonna have to get used to the slight change in character art-design/style. *waits for the flood of loli-Haruhi doujinshi*

    Meery
  9. I wonder if the’ll skip ‘sighs’ and go straight into ‘dissaperance’ after they finish ‘boredom’ cuz you really dont get allllllllllll the jokes in epsisode 00 until youve read (or pssibley watched) ‘sighs’…like shamisen the talking cat….or the mikiru beam R…..

    Chris
  10. WTF KyoAni? You make us think that there’s not gonna be another season and then you randomly air a new episode. In chronological order to boot? D:

    All I have to say is that this better be worth the 3 year wait. :/

    lialiakicks
  11. Ah, Haruhi has returned, to my great annoyance. As it turns out, just within the last month I’ve read most of the Haruhi novels (translated by Baka-Tsuki; I won’t include the link, because I have a tendency of getting flagged as spam by the comment filter on this site).

    Would have much appreciated season two last season 😛

  12. Kyoani just put us in the same shoes as Kyon and Asahina with the 3 years sleep. We’ve just been waked up by Yuki now that Haruhi(season 2) is back. =)

    Isn’t it just a coincidence? Or Kyoani really wait for 3 years just to release season 2 in order to synchronize to the story. LOL

    Kev
  13. I just bought the first light novel at Amazon, but, from what I’m hearing, there are 10 volumes? Dang! I should have checked out baka suki first. I don’t like reading novels on a computer, but its better than waiting for all the volumes to be translated… Oh yeah, and I got the manga too. Are they basicly the same thing? this is my first manga or light novel, so I’m just getting the feel still.

    geneva
  14. This is the broadcast order that a fellow Gametrailers members posted:

    Apr 02 ep01 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 1
    Apr 09 ep02 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2
    Apr 16 ep03 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 3
    Apr 23 ep04 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 4
    Apr 30 ep05 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 5
    May 07 ep06 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 6
    May 14 ep07 The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
    May 21 ep08 Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody (NEW)
    May 28 ep09 Mysterique Sign
    Jun 04 ep10 Remote Island Syndrome Part1
    Jun 11 ep11 Remote Island Syndrome Part2
    Jun 18 ep12 Endless Eight (NEW)
    Jun 25 ep13 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 1 (NEW)
    Jul 02 ep14 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 (NEW)
    Jul 09 ep15 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 3 (NEW)
    Jul 16 ep16 The Adventures of Asahina Mikuru Episode 00
    Jul 23 ep17 Live A Live
    Jul 30 ep18 The Day of Sagittarius
    Aug 07 ep19 Someday in the rain
    Aug 14 ep20 The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya 1 (NEW)
    Aug 21 ep21 The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 (NEW)
    Aug 28 ep22 The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya 3 (NEW)
    Sep 03 ep23 The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya 4 (NEW)
    Sep 10 ep24 Charmed at First Sight Lover (NEW)
    Sep 17 ep25 Snow Mountain Syndrome Part1 (NEW)
    Sep 24 ep26 Snow Mountain Syndrome Part2 (NEW)
    Oct 01 ep27 Where Did the Cat Go? (NEW)
    Oct 08 ep28 Disappearance Epilogue (NEW)

    It looks pretty much like what I expected. I think this is believable enough, even if she/he didn’t post a source.

    BK-110
  15. This episode reminded of how much I miss Haruhi’s energy, Kyon’s sarcasm, Yuki’s silence, Itsuki’s senseless rambling, and Mikuru’s….well I don’t really care about her :P.

    After rewatching the previous series it just occurred to me that back in Ep.2 (Or Ep.1 in the chronological order) Haruhi asked Kyon if they met before. Turns out they did. What a small world.

    fragbet
  16. This event is mentioned in Season One…in fact next week’s “rerun” will mention it specifically, though most people wouldn’t have noticed it the first time around. The other part (the drawing of the message) of course has been mentioned before.

    “Second Season” material will take place during Season One events until they run out of Season One events, then everything is new territory (should get there in August). In the meantime, enjoy the Full Series of Suzumiya Haruhi (2009).

    ithekro
  17. YES YES YES! Need the sub ASAP!

    Darn marketing techniques! Keeping the fans guessing just which episode is a rerun and which one is a new episode! They must have deep confidence in their fans’ loyalty to dare to pull off this tease!

    DukeTheGold
  18. “Hey do you know what is the true reason we had to wait for 3 years?”
    “No clue”
    “Our male lead and one of the main characters have slept for 3 years. That’s why”

    calde
  19. They have got the upper hand, I am addicted, all kyoani has kept me on my hands and knees. We cant trust them, but what choice do we have??
    I wonder if the difference in art will have an effect as the new episodes are being intergrated into the old ones. ooh well.
    K-on, has nothing on haruhi. Like I love it, Mio moe and Mugi is awesome. Its funny as. But Haruhi has deep roots within my Anime heart.

    Saku
  20. I definitely think, that Haruhi is a good anime. However I think this show is too hyped for what it is. Also I prefer reading the novel which, what is clear of course, offers me the full spectrum of the story.

  21. I was wonder if this is related to real life time….it did say “three years ago” & we waited to 3 years XD…wonder if that got anything related to each other…..I Dun mind rewatching this! XD

    B.K.
  22. Wow, it’s freaky just how much in this episode is talked about in the episode 2 of the first season. Talking about how she became famous from the markings in jr high and other references made off hand hold a totally different context now. Man this is gonna get confusing because the second season commentary is already playing mind games with first season content. LOL

    Gimpi
  23. OMGOMGMGOMOGMOGMOGMOGMGOMGOMGOGMOGMOGM its back YAAAAA im happy but i have a feeling i saw this ep before some how lol but still its such a good story line hopefully they finish teh series with sumthing awesome

    berryzgamers
  24. Waiting three years is ridiculous, but, sometimes anime gets old after watching it continuously over a long time, but still, 3 years! And plus it was only 14 episodes long. Even so, the first episode had like a nostalgic feeling in my opinion.

    geneva
  25. Nice ending. Hare Hare Yukai was cute and fun at first but, honestly, the whole dancing thing was getting quite tiring especially with all of the cosplayers replicating the dance. It seems as if they just squeezed the fun factor out of it, kinda like Caramell dansen, although that dance wasn’t catchy at all in the first place.

    But nice to see the Haruhi series getting back up on it’s feet again. A series to keep me entertained this summer.

    Xiomay
  26. Is anybody else getting annoyed at the repeating of the episodes instead of getting on with it? Maybe it’s just me because I’m waiting each week for the new episodes coming out instead of watching them in the order they’re aired.. But I’m a little sick of the whole Deja Vu thing repeating itself. I wish they’d get on with the story >.>

    Rina

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