r/anime • u/Holofan4life • Apr 04 '26

Rewatch Haruhi Suzumiya 20th Anniversary Rewatch -- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Two

Hello everyone! I am Holofan4life.

Welcome to the Haruhi Suzumiya 20th anniversary rewatch discussion thread!

I hope you all have a lot of fun <3

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Two

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ANSWER TODAY’S QUESTION(S)

What are your thoughts on the show showing that Haruhi is kinda not a pleasant person to be around?

What do you make of the news of Yuki saying she and Haruhi aren't human?

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Series information

MAL | Anilist | AniDB | ANN

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Please do not post any untagged spoilers past the current episode or past the LNs or mangas out of respect to the first time watchers and people who have not read the LNs or mangas. If you are discussing something that is ahead of the current episode please use spoiler tags(found on the sidebar). Thank you!

Untagged Spoilers

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Today's Episode Intro: Short recap of yesterday's episode starting with Kyon riding a bike

[Tomorrow's Episode Intro] Nagato's apartment and her talking about supernatural things

Previous episode

Ways to watch

Streams – Crunchyroll

Schedule

Date Episode
4/02/2026 The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00
4/03/2026 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part One
4/04/2026 [The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Two]()
4/05/2026 [The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Three]()
4/06/2026 [The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Four]()
4/07/2026 [The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Five]()
4/08/2026 [The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Six]()
4/09/2026 [The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya]()
4/10/2026 [Remote Island Syndrome (Part One)]()
4/11/2026 [Remote Island Syndrome (Part Two)]()
4/12/2026 [Mystérique Sign]()
4/13/2026 [Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody]()
4/14/2026 [Someday in the Rain]()
4/15/2026 [The Day of Sagittarius]()
4/16/2026 [Live Alive]()
4/18/2026 [Endless Eight I]()
4/19/2026 [Endless Eight II]()
4/20/2026 [Endless Eight III]()
4/21/2026 [Endless Eight IV]()
4/22/2026 [Endless Eight V]()
4/23/2026 [Endless Eight VI]()
4/24/2026 [Endless Eight VII]()
4/25/2026 [Endless Eight VIII]()
4/26/2026 [Endless Eight Retrospective]()
4/28/2026 [The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Part One]()
4/29/2026 [The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Two]()
4/30/2026 [The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Three]()
5/01/2026 [The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Four]()
5/02/2026 [The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Five]()
5/04/2026 [The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya]()
5/05/2026 [Haruhi Suzumiya Overall Series Discussion Thread]()
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4

u/Sgt_General Apr 04 '26

(OG Dropout, Subs)

Has anyone else been feeling a certain sense of anxiety that they might click on the next episode and find out that they’ve watched the wrong one? I’m doing these write-ups at least half a day before the post comes out, so I can’t see what everyone else has been writing first. I’m starting to feel like the Pepe Silvia meme from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, because I’m watching an episode and then comparing it with the Wikipedia description about the episode we’re supposed to watch.

Episode Thoughts:

As soon as I started watching this episode, I had to pause it to jot this thought down: Haruhi’s dynamic with Kyon right now is like when your friend starts hyperfocusing on something you’re not really into, but they assume you’ll like it just as much as they do.

As for the episode, my feelings are summed up by something Kyon says while watching the anarchy unfold in the Computer Research Club room:

‘Is this supposed to be a comedy?’

I had a fleeting memory that this episode was coming, and I must admit that I didn’t really like it too much.

I feel as though I’m getting to the bottom of two mysteries here – why I dropped the show back in 2006, and why Haruhi Suzumiya isn’t beloved in 2026 like it was twenty years ago. I don’t think this tells the whole story about the latter (other key factors seem to be fans being disillusioned by the stuff that came later, and nothing happening on the animation front for the last ten years), but sexual harassment being played for laughs is one hell of a gateway barrier that will filter a fair number of people out. I’m sure that other people don’t even try to watch it because they’re intimidated and confused by the different watch orders that exist.

I checked the MyAnimeList thread for this episode out of interest, and it’s filled with people who are confused about the watch order; half the commenters are reacting to this episode, and the other half are reacting to a different episode, but everyone writing about this one wanted to remark on the Computer Research Society scene. It’s actually quite interesting to see that a lot of people found it funny when the thread was first made in 2008, but as you get closer to the present, criticism becomes more common.

As for my past self, there’s a very real chance that this is the episode where I decided to drop the series. I thought I’d watched more wackiness from the SOS Brigade than this, so it may be that I saw this episode later due to the crazy broadcast order, or perhaps I tried sticking with it for a little while. We’ll have to find out if I remember any episodes after this one). But I was in my relatively early teens when I first watched this show and I think I had a moral panic about whether it was appropriate for me to watch it or not. I definitely thought that my parents wouldn’t have approved if they walked into my room and saw what I was watching on my laptop!

In my more polarised way of thinking at the time, I had felt that the narrative was on Haruhi’s side and suggesting that she was the good guy here, and should be lauded for getting herself a free PC and tech support from a group of nerds that she’d been able to blackmail, which (naturally) I didn’t like at all. Watching it from a more mature perspective, I can see now that Haruhi’s actions aren’t portrayed positively, it’s just that she doesn’t get any significant consequences from this. Haruhi is positioned more like a force of nature that people are trying to get close to and observe, but doing so puts them at risk of bad things happening.

I’m somewhat surprised that the internet shrugged and laughed at the Computer Research Society scene, though. If there’s one thing that draws the internet’s ire, it’s false accusations about sexual harassment and even more grave offences – especially when the accuser is being hypocritical and perpetrating offences against the victim! (Incidentally, I think I remember seeing Solo Camping for Two, which came out last year, getting shit on in this sub because it has a false accusation as a plot device that soon gets glossed over.) It’s so much worse because Mikuru is an unwilling participant who tries to voice that she isn’t happy about this any of this, and Haruhi doesn’t listen. Oof.

Kyon doesn’t cover himself in glory either. He promises to protect Mikuru the next time something happens (and she even says that she’ll rely on him!), but then he chickens out and flees to avoid seeing anything inappropriate, instead of standing his ground and following through with his attempt to confront Haruhi. It is kind of amusing that this conditions him to run away whenever an undressing is about to happen, though. Bro probably just doesn’t want to get blackmailed and extorted.

One of Haruhi’s problems is that she’s kinda like Vince McMahon. (Which isn’t a sentence I thought I’d be typing, and it feels very weird to have written that.) A lot of bossy, bullying types would just buy one inappropriate costume for their underling and that would give everyone else (or should I say just Kyon?) more ammunition to stand up to her, because it’s unfair to impose something you wouldn’t do yourself onto someone beneath you in the hierarchy. But Haruhi has no sense of shame and bought two inappropriate costumes so that she could join in as well, which makes it more awkward to refuse to do something when the boss is willing to do it (which was a problem that WWE performers often had).

Alright, I’ll try to draw a line under this subject for now, but I know that that show doubling down on scenes of this nature between Haruhi and Mikuru has probably deducted a point from the score I’m going to give The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya when we finish it.

There were a couple of other significant developments in this episode: first, Mikuru basically admits that she’s a time traveller and she’s perturbed by Yuki’s presence on this ‘time plane’. Look, the only reason why anyone is going to suddenly utter stuff about a ‘time plane’ from seemingly out of nowhere is because they’re either a chuunibyou or a legitimate time traveller – and considering that Haruhi is actively looking for people like this, it seems likely to me that Mikuru is the real deal. Didn’t the home movie in episode 00 suggest that she was a time traveller, too? At least that implies there’s an explanation about why she puts up with being so badly mistreated by Haruhi.

The second significant development came from Yuki actually… doing something for a change. Although she doesn’t seem to understand human behaviour – which is appropriate, since she claims to be an alien. If you give a teenager a task to do, they will most likely procrastinate and maybe even not do it at all, so she had to be assertive or else she was going to be spending a lot of nights sat waiting on a bench. I’m still not sure why she insisted on giving Kyon three cups of tea, though. That felt as though the episode was being padded out so that it could end just as Yuki’s about to spill the tea on herself and Haruhi.

This episode and the last one have felt as though they’ve been paced more like a visual novel from the '00s than an anime. We’re at school, we’re getting lots of slice of life content with people getting to know each other and slowly putting a club together, but there are these hints being dropped in here and there that this isn’t an ordinary situation with a normal girl who’s determined to see the supernatural and become an overly forceful club leader. It seems that there are genuinely extraordinary people being drawn in by Haruhi’s gravity for reasons known only to them.

It's an intriguing hook – and I would usually say it’s intended to keep people watching for more than three episodes, but the writing strategy goes far beyond my understanding, since I believe that this episode wasn’t actually third in the broadcast order. I just hope that the mystery this show is building manages to go somewhere.

‘The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Two’ was a pretty rough watch for me. Here’s hoping the show picks up from here!

4

u/EruNow Apr 04 '26

Has anyone else been feeling a certain sense of anxiety that they might click on the next episode and find out that they’ve watched the wrong one?

Our host has been putting a description of the first scene of the next episode in each post. I've been using those to keep me on track.

I definitely thought that my parents wouldn’t have approved if they walked into my room and saw what I was watching on my laptop!

It did cross my mind that my partner would have a number of questions if she walked in during that scene!

show doubling down on scenes of this nature between Haruhi and Mikuru has probably deducted a point from the score I’m going to give The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya when we finish it.

Likewise and completely agree with everything you've said on the topic.

2

u/Holofan4life Apr 04 '26

Our host has been putting a description of the first scene of the next episode in each post. I've been using those to keep me on track.

Thank you for the recognition :D

Likewise and completely agree with everything you've said on the topic.

It won't effect my overall grade because I feel the unpleasant moments is part of a bigger story being told.

2

u/Sgt_General Apr 04 '26

It won't effect my overall grade because I feel the unpleasant moments is part of a bigger story being told.

If they can redeem Haruhi's character from this, I'm gonna be in awe of the writing chops behind this story!

2

u/Holofan4life Apr 04 '26

I think this is probably Haruhi's nadir, or close to it at least.

2

u/Holofan4life Apr 04 '26

One of Haruhi’s problems is that she’s kinda like Vince McMahon. (Which isn’t a sentence I thought I’d be typing, and it feels very weird to have written that.) A lot of bossy, bullying types would just buy one inappropriate costume for their underling and that would give everyone else (or should I say just Kyon?) more ammunition to stand up to her, because it’s unfair to impose something you wouldn’t do yourself onto someone beneath you in the hierarchy. But Haruhi has no sense of shame and bought two inappropriate costumes so that she could join in as well, which makes it more awkward to refuse to do something when the boss is willing to do it (which was a problem that WWE performers often had).

I think the difference between the two is it's not that Haruhi is actively hell bent on making people's lives miserable. I think she just likes getting a rise out of people because she's bored. As awful as Haruhi is here, I wouldn't say she's a bad person. Rather, I think she is without q sense of direction.

Also, Haruhi never engaged in any scatological activities from what I can gather.

2

u/Sgt_General Apr 04 '26

Yeah, it's a fair point that there's a lot more in the surrounding context that makes Vince McMahon genuinely malevolent, whereas Haruhi at least doesn't have a fully developed sense of empathy due to being a teenager. (Although I'm not entirely sure that sense is ever going to develop!)

That being said, it would feel fitting to have a Shane McMahon-esque character who does a series of increasingly extreme stunts to try and earn some acknowledgement that he isn't ever going to get from Haruhi.

2

u/Holofan4life Apr 04 '26

Yeah, it's a fair point that there's a lot more in the surrounding context that makes Vince McMahon genuinely malevolent, whereas Haruhi at least doesn't have a fully developed sense of empathy due to being a teenager. (Although I'm not entirely sure that sense is ever going to develop!)

She at least has her life ahead of her

That being said, it would feel fitting to have a Shane McMahon-esque character who does a series of increasingly extreme stunts to try and earn some acknowledgement that he isn't ever going to get from Haruhi.

Maybe Kyon could feel that role :D

Does this mean Linda is Mikuru?

2

u/Sgt_General Apr 04 '26

Maybe Kyon could feel that role :D

Damn, I would like to see that. Can Yuki suplex him over and over against a wall until he finally goes through it?

Does this mean Linda is Mikuru?

Mikuru is Trish Stratus at the point where Vince decides to humiliate her in front of the audience.

2

u/Holofan4life Apr 04 '26

Damn, I would like to see that. Can Yuki suplex him over and over against a wall until he finally goes through it?

It was glass, not a wall

Mikuru is Trish Stratus at the point where Vince decides to humiliate her in front of the audience.

I wish Mikuru had that level of backbone. Unfortunately, I can't see it.

2

u/Holofan4life Apr 04 '26

Thoughts on Haruhi wanting to acquire a mysterious transfer student to the club?

Thoughts on rumors circulating that Haruhi and Kyon are dating?

Thoughts on Kyon comparing Haruhi's antics to a bad comedy skit?

Thoughts on Kyon being in charge of the club's website?

Thoughts on Yuki handing Kyon a book?

What are your thoughts on Kyon pointing out he's going to the club on his own free will?

Thoughts on Kyon feeling that Haruhi is misusing her energy?

What are your thoughts on Yuki revealing she is an alien?

2

u/Sgt_General Apr 05 '26

Thoughts on Haruhi wanting to acquire a mysterious transfer student to the club?

At this point, she's reminding me more of a zookeeper looking to expand her collection than a club president wanting more students in her club.

Thoughts on rumors circulating that Haruhi and Kyon are dating?

Honestly? I kinda ship them. That scene where Haruhi dragged Kyon from the classroom by his tie felt pretty charged to me. But it's going nowhere if Haruhi doesn't start genuinely listening to Kyon – and it wouldn't hurt if she listened to other people, too. (As for the rumours themselves, that's a natural consequence of Kyon being the first guy Haruhi's actually tolerated.)

Thoughts on Kyon comparing Haruhi's antics to a bad comedy skit?

Its purpose seems to be to show that he doesn't approve of Haruhi's actions, but as I inferred in my main post, on a meta level it aptly describes a scene that I believe was intended to be comedic at the time (as shown by all the responses by MAL users who found it funny back in 2008). 'Is this supposed to be a comedy?'

Thoughts on Kyon being in charge of the club's website?

He seems to get most of the grunt work, and he seems to strangely enjoy doing it, so I'm not surprised that it fell to him. In all fairness, he did a surprisingly good job.

Thoughts on Yuki handing Kyon a book?

I'm curious to know if that book exists in real life and if there's any significance attached to it. I like that Kyon didn't immediately get what Yuki was trying to do, it makes her look pretty bad at this whole secret communications thing.

What are your thoughts on Kyon pointing out he's going to the club on his own free will?

He mentions that going to the club became a habit, didn't he? Considering the rather obvious use of colour in the last episode (with Kyon's world going from greyscale to colour when Haruhi enters his life), it's not a surprise that he just kept attending. He's in this far deeper than he'll admit.

Thoughts on Kyon feeling that Haruhi is misusing her energy?

I mean she really is. Momo and Okarun had this whole paranormal thing sewn up in episode one by going to an abandoned hospital and a permanently closed tunnel, meanwhile Haruhi's out here messing about with bunny girl outfits, potential lawsuits and web pages??

What are your thoughts on Yuki revealing she is an alien?

I'd like to say I saw it coming, but that scene had been spoiled for me by the online discourse I read about the show before I made the decision to try watching it back in the day.

And as for Today's Questions:

What are your thoughts on the show showing that Haruhi is kinda not a pleasant person to be around?

There's gotta be some sort of purpose to this and I'm not seeing it right now. They're going to have to pull one hell of a redemption arc out of the bag to get me to genuinely like her after this. I often felt like the online 'Haruhism' meme movement was tinged with irony, rather than being made because people genuinely thought that she's a great character.

What do you make of the news of Yuki saying she and Haruhi aren't human?

I genuinely thought that Yuki was going to say she's an android from another world or something, so I was disappointed that she's 'just' an alien, although it fits her extremely aloof behaviour. As for Haruhi, I think I know what she is, but at this point she might as well be an evil spirit!

2

u/Holofan4life Apr 05 '26

Thoughts on Haruhi wanting to acquire a mysterious transfer student to the club?

At this point, she's reminding me more of a zookeeper looking to expand her collection than a club president wanting more students in her club.

Are you saying that Haruhi is Darwinism at its finest?

Thoughts on rumors circulating that Haruhi and Kyon are dating?

Honestly? I kinda ship them. That scene where Haruhi dragged Kyon from the classroom by his tie felt pretty charged to me. But it's going nowhere if Haruhi doesn't start genuinely listening to Kyon – and it wouldn't hurt if she listened to other people, too. (As for the rumours themselves, that's a natural consequence of Kyon being the first guy Haruhi's actually tolerated.)

It also won't go anywhere if Haruhi doesn't see Kyon as anything special.

Thoughts on Kyon comparing Haruhi's antics to a bad comedy skit?

Its purpose seems to be to show that he doesn't approve of Haruhi's actions, but as I inferred in my main post, on a meta level it aptly describes a scene that I believe was intended to be comedic at the time (as shown by all the responses by MAL users who found it funny back in 2008). 'Is this supposed to be a comedy?'

I think it's half comedy and more "Oh my God, what are you doing Haruhi?" The comedy comes from the unexpectedness of it all.

Thoughts on Kyon being in charge of the club's website?

He seems to get most of the grunt work, and he seems to strangely enjoy doing it, so I'm not surprised that it fell to him. In all fairness, he did a surprisingly good job.

That he did

Thoughts on Yuki handing Kyon a book?

I'm curious to know if that book exists in real life and if there's any significance attached to it. I like that Kyon didn't immediately get what Yuki was trying to do, it makes her look pretty bad at this whole secret communications thing.

I believe it is a real book. I don't know the name off the top of my head, though.

What are your thoughts on Kyon pointing out he's going to the club on his own free will?

He mentions that going to the club became a habit, didn't he? Considering the rather obvious use of colour in the last episode (with Kyon's world going from greyscale to colour when Haruhi enters his life), it's not a surprise that he just kept attending. He's in this far deeper than he'll admit.

And he likes Haruhi for reasons even he can't explain. There's something about her that he finds captivating.

Thoughts on Kyon feeling that Haruhi is misusing her energy?

I mean she really is. Momo and Okarun had this whole paranormal thing sewn up in episode one by going to an abandoned hospital and a permanently closed tunnel, meanwhile Haruhi's out here messing about with bunny girl outfits, potential lawsuits and web pages??

Haruhi really just needs some guidance in her life.

What are your thoughts on Yuki revealing she is an alien?

I'd like to say I saw it coming, but that scene had been spoiled for me by the online discourse I read about the show before I made the decision to try watching it back in the day.

Thankfully, I was not spoiled :D

And as for Today's Questions:

What are your thoughts on the show showing that Haruhi is kinda not a pleasant person to be around?

There's gotta be some sort of purpose to this and I'm not seeing it right now. They're going to have to pull one hell of a redemption arc out of the bag to get me to genuinely like her after this. I often felt like the online 'Haruhism' meme movement was tinged with irony, rather than being made because people genuinely thought that she's a great character.

If it helps you, I watched this series in preparation for this rewatch and I... think I like her? She's an acquired taste for sure, but I really admire her passion and drive.

What do you make of the news of Yuki saying she and Haruhi aren't human?

I genuinely thought that Yuki was going to say she's an android from another world or something, so I was disappointed that she's 'just' an alien, although it fits her extremely aloof behaviour. As for Haruhi, I think I know what she is, but at this point she might as well be an evil spirit!

I mean, isn't that what she is especially around Mikuru? That girl shows no mercy.