First Impressions / Suzumiya Haruhi

Summary:

The day after they procured all their equipment, Kyon is surprised to see that Haruhi has dressed Mikuru up in a waitress outfit. This is Mikuru’s costume for the movie, and Haruhi doesn’t care that Mikuru is completely embarrassed to be wearing it. Haruhi also loves Yuki in the mage costume that she’s using for her class’s fortune-telling activity. She’s already decided on the characters that everyone is going to play, and Kyon is shocked to find that’s she’s managed to assign each of them to roles which mirror real-life: Mikuru as a battle waitress from the future, Itsuki as an esper, and Yuki as an evil alien. Itsuki laughs it off and doesn’t think much of it because it’s only a movie, and he doubts that Haruhi really thinks that he’s an esper. He does warn Kyon though to be watch himself more carefully since, unlike Itsuki and Yuki who have others like them, Kyon has no understudy.

The next day, Haruhi leads the group back to the electronics store to do their shooting, but she’s starting with the commercials. As Kyon quickly figures out, this is what Haruhi had promised to the store owner in exchange for the camera. Haruhi even decides that Mikuru should be doing the commercial in the bunny-girl costume instead of the waitress one, and it’s not for just the electronics store; it’s for the model shop too. Mikuru is completely embarrassed after an afternoon of shooting, but Haruhi doesn’t seem to care and is now ready to shoot the actual movie. When Kyon asks to see the script though, Haruhi explains that it’s all in her head. They continue shooting the following day at a park, and when Mikuru tries to offer Kyon a drink that she had already drank part of, Haruhi takes the bottle away. As part of Mikuru’s costume today, Haruhi is having her wear a blue contact lens in her left eye, and Haruhi doesn’t tell Kyon the secret meaning behind it. Regardless, the scenes they end up shooting include Mikuru running and her fighting with Yuki. When Kyon protests about the story, Haruhi asserts that they’ll put it all together during the editing stage and that they don’t have to think deeply about it now.

Thoughts:

This was a decent episode, and I laughed when Haruhi was giving Mikuru directions on how to do the commercial, but on the whole there’s not much special about it. It showed that Mikuru is as helpless as ever against Haruhi (which admittedly is quite cute), and even if he wanted to protect her, Kyon couldn’t do much except protest. It was amusing though to see how annoyed Haruhi looked when Mikuru tried to offer her bottle to Kyon. If Kyon ever wanted to get Haruhi pissed off, he just needs to get visibly closer to Mikuru. Also, the beginning of the episode also felt a little weird because they picked up at the exact random spot that last episode ended on (it wasn’t even anything important), and I would guess that next week will pick up from exactly where this one ends. That’s fine if you’re marathoning the episodes from the DVD or something, but a little bit confusing if you’re watching it weekly and don’t remember the exact details.

48 Comments

  10. Heterochromia huh. I have grey eyes, but if I close my eyes for about 10-20 seconds & open them slowly individualy, my left eye would look blue-ish and the right greenish. Then they would slowly change back to grey. I freaked alot of folks out when I was young 😛

    I thought this episode was a bit weird when it started so I had to go back to the end of the last just to make sure I wasn’t going nuts. They probably animated ‘sighs’ altogether & just broke it up into 20 min segments. Nothing is wrong with that, as long as it keeps rolling, if you know what I mean.

    Megas
    Reply

  11. There’s still at least 2 or 3 episodes left for this. Forget Disappearance.. I just read it last weekend, man that was good, and I can understand the disappointment now…

    Regarding the rest of sigh.. It does get much more interesting…
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Ecchigo
    Reply

  20. this anime has gotten boring, I loved light novels the first, BUT this second season satring with Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody has just down right sucked first epiosode was meh and EE8 killed an anime that was on a downward spiral. as the guy above said the magic is gone.

    erica
    Reply

  21. Wow! Talk about one heck of a jealous girl! Man Haruhi really is infatuated with Kyon to an obsessive level lol! I mean she even observed the indirect kiss and stopped it! Wow, no wonder the future Asahina wants to but really cant be close to Kyon, after all who knows what Haruhi will do.

    X
    Reply

  22. I’m in agreement with erica. The quality of the art has obviously gone down and it seems that the only reasons why I’m watching this series is 1.) I loved the first season and 2.) I’m hoping that the anime version will part from the novel – Have Kyon grow some freaking balls and b!tch/pimp slap Haruhi a few times across the face for being so obstinate and selfish. Of course, the latter would be impossible, because we all know from watching anime that most Japanese boys are castrated at birth.

    I’m quickly losing interests in this series. I hope they get to Yuki’s arc and the fantasy RPG arc soon.

    Remy
    Reply

  27. Despite of what some ppl are saying, i`m as interested of this anime as ever, though E8 tried to scare me away. Have anyone else noticed that Mikuru has got some height since 2006, she was clearly shorter than Haruhi then, but in this “season” she`s at least as tall as Haruhi. Animation style now has some similarity with K-on, but Haruhi girls has much longer legs.

    Savofenno
    Reply

  28. I think I laughed the most when Haruhi simply just up and sang the Can-Can Dance! 😀 Also, that line about Kyon being the sort of guy who’s follow someone knowing that they’re headed toward a cliff.

    starss
    Reply

  29. Having stuck through E8 and continued to watch I think it’s finally dawning on me what’s rubbing me wrong here. Haruhi was magic because she was surly… there was this sharp-tongued angst – a ‘the world sucks and it needs to be more interesting’ – with the somewhat disastrous results we’re all familiar with. But for the last what, 10 episodes, she’s just too freaking happy. I mean giddy – the whole time – and I for one am sick of it. It just doesnt fit – and the result is a style collision that isnt working.

    quint
    Reply

  30. Haruhi is only really surly in the Melancholy arc… by Sighs, she’s much more cheerful, mostly because she’s enjoying herself.

    This isn’t the anime’s doing… she’s like this in the books, too.

    Kaisos
    Reply

  33. Not much Yuki so I’m sad. =(

    This was still an enjoyable episode however. And am I the only person to rewatched that scene where Haruhi was going jyang jyang to the tune of a song that I can’t quite remember right now more that 20 times in a row o.O?

    DuskL
    Reply

  34. Erica, how can you say Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody sucked? Endless Eight was a bit much, and last week’s episode was kind of bad, but Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody was right up there with Season 1 quality, especially the way it screws with your mind when Kyon remembers his earlier conversation with Yuki. Plus, it makes a lot of the comments in the first chronological episode make sense. Haruhi feels she has met Kyon somewhere before, and people talk about how Haruhi supposedly drew symbols on the school grounds.

    A
    Reply

  35. @Duskl

    I watched the bit I think you’re talking about twice. You mean when they’re walking to the train depot and Haruhi is singing happily while everyone is miserable? The way she sang it was so cute and it summed up Haruhi perfectly. Mikuru and Kyon are embarassed and Haruhi obliviously marches forward. I think if I ever have to sum up the character for anyone, that will be the scene I use.

    If it’s the scene I’m thinking of, the tune is Galop Infernal by Jacques Offenbach from Orpheus in the Underworld. The name even seems to fit Haruhi in a way.

    To be honest, this may be one of my new favorite moments in both seasons, even though it lasts for just a second or two. I love the “camera” angles as well, especially on the button press.

    A
    Reply

  38. It was still an interesting and fun episode but…

    What I’m looking forward to the most right now is when Haruhi actually made Kyon angry…No, not like the usual, I mean really “royally gonna snap “pissed. That ought to be an interesting scene for those who haven’t read the novels yet.

    Apathy
    Reply

  42. Can’t wait for Season 3, aka, Yuki’s season (1st was Haruhi’s, 2nd is Mikuru’s).

    BTW, did anyone else know that someone made a spinoff manga from Vanishment if Kyon chose to keep the alternate reality? It’s on Mangafox. Just search for “Yuki-chan”.

    magnumslinger
    Reply

  44. Heterochromia UUUUUUUNNNGHHHH!!
    Single half-open eye = bonus points.
    Er…maybe i should turn those around….

    those were some weak-ass airsoft guns. nice for people who don’t like pain, though 😀

    Kairuu
    Reply

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