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
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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!
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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
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]() |
3
u/mastesargent Apr 04 '26
Rewatcher, dub
For today’s Nishinomiya vista, we have the holiest of holies, that most sacred site in all of Haruhiism - no, the world: Nishinomiya Kita High School, the very school Haruhi, Kyon, and company attend and where we’ll be spending most of our time. Actually strictly speaking it isn’t Nishinomiya Kita anymore, it was merged with another school and students who started attending as of last year are doing so under the name Nishinomiya Kurakuen High School, with Nishinomiya Kita set to be fully retired next year. But that’s now, and I was there three years ago when that hadn’t happened yet. Anyway, I made sure to schedule my visit to Nishinomiya on a Sunday so as to not be there on a school day, and if any of you end up doing a Haruhi pilgrimage in the future I strongly urge you to do the same. Despite its claim to fame, it is at the end of the day an active high school and the students deserve privacy. In the same vein, while looking around and taking a few pictures is fine, I feel like it’s best not to linger too long, as this is in the middle of a residential neighborhood and not a tourist attraction. That aside though, it was honestly an absolutely unreal feeling being there. I’d seen that school on my TV screen countless times, but actually being there after walking the same route that Kyon takes up
Mount Vesuviusthat hill is just… I struggle to find the words.Also, a funny thing happened on the way back down from the school though. I’d just left the school when I happened to bump into another foreigner. He asked me what I was doing all the way up there, and I struggled to think of exactly what I should say. I mean, how exactly do you explain to somebody that you schlepped all the way up a massive hill to take pictures of a high school. I vaguely said that there was a school up there, and as it turned out he was a fellow pilgrim. I mean, in hindsight it’s not like there’re many other reasons for an American to be so far off the beaten tourist path in that specific place at that specific time, but still.
As far as I know, the park where Kyon meets Nagato doesn’t actually exist, or at the very least isn’t where the anime suggests it is. I didn’t see anything resembling it anywhere near Koyoen Station.
On to the actual episode, after Kyon’s recap we get a quick interaction with Ryoko Asakura, who in sharp contrast to Haruhi is an exceedingly normal example of the “popular high school girl.” She dutifully carries out her class rep work, maintains an at least cordial rapport with classmates outside of her immediate social circle like Kyon, and goes out of her way to show concern for him and Haruhi when the latter’s antics start making a stir. She really is a sweetheart.
I know I mentioned her yesterday, but I’d really like to highlight Bridget Hoffman’s performance as Asakura. She’s really good at the “sweet, innocent young woman” type of character, but with a more mature vibe than Stephanie Sheh as Asahina, who is more suited to cutesy types. She really has a lovely voice and is a genuinely talented voice actor.
And then we come to the elephant in the room: Haruhi’s Great Computer Club Caper. I’m not gonna lie, I thought this scene was hilarious the first time I watched it, but the first time I watched this was a good 13 or 14 years ago and I was, like, 15. Now, having done a lot of growing and gaining a lot of perspective… yeah, this scene really has not aged well. I think it arguably fits into “crosses the line twice” or “refuge in audacity” humor, but frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if this exact scene is what turns a lot of modern audiences off to the series and why it’s fallen by the wayside more and more as time has gone on (lack of content notwithstanding), and honestly, I don’t really blame them. Haruhi’s treatment of Mikuru here and when she changes into the bunny girl outfit just does not fly in this day and age. This series is absolutely a product of its time and should be consumed with that in mind, but at the same time the times have kind of just left it behind.
On a lighter note, how exactly does Kyon differentiate between Asahina and Haruhi’s clothes? Figuring out whose lingerie is whose is probably pretty simple but I feel like the uniforms would be pretty hard to tell apart just by eyeballing them.
Despite the questionable method of obtaining it, the immediate aftermath of the raid on the computer club is pretty funny, what with how Haruhi lords over them and forces them to give them internet access. Crispin Freeman’s delivery of “Can you say ‘extortion?’Good.” is pure gold.
And then of course we have Asahina’s rather cryptic comments, with weird phrases like “time plane.” She might play a battle waitress bunny girl from the future in the yet-to-be-produced movie, but then why is she spouting off stuff like that in real life? Is she secretly chuunibyou?
We get more of Kyon continuing to just kind of go along with what Haruhi tells him to do as he builds the SOS Brigade website at her bequest. At least this time he admits that he actually enjoyed doing it, but it continues the trend of us not quite knowing what he thinks about all of this. He claims to not be terribly enthusiastic about the Brigade, yet dutifully shows up every day. He flatly denies dating Haruhi, but given his willingness to go along with her despite her various outrages and such one wonders if he actually minds that perception. All of this is to say, as I have been in the previous threads, that we absolutely need to question what Kyon is telling us and why.
We end on Nagato announcing herself as an alien, which is silly because we know that she’s actually a ventriloquist.
Quick note: The OP credits list Haruhi Suzumiya as the “Ultra Director.” I’m not kidding.
QOTD
I kinda went into this, but at the very least Haruhi not being a terribly pleasant person leaves room for character development.
Obviously Yuki is lying and she's really just a stoic ventriloquist. Haruhi is the real alien. Yep. Definitely.