The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (2010)

Strictly average movie

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

First of all, this review comes from a person who hasn't seen the televised Haruhi series. I've read the light novels but I never got around to watching any of the anime for whatever reason. I recently purchased The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya from a used DVD store for a couple bucks which is probably the only reason I'll have ever watched this film.One word to summarize my experience with Disappearance is "daunting". At 164 minutes, nearly three hours, this is the longest anime film I've ever sat through. Typically a movie that long, for me, requires two sittings unless I'm really into it. I watched Disappearance in one night, in one sitting, and I don't want to completely attest it to me being engaged because there were a lot of parts that I found boring.The story is that one day series protagonist Kyon wakes up and everyone he knows is different. The stoic alien Nagato is now a shy, emotive girl. Time traveling Asahina Mikuru is the same but doesn't recognize him. And most of all, Haruhi Suzumiya isn't at Kyon's school any longer and attends a private academy. Why is the world this way and can Kyon return to his own reality? The story section is where the runtime becomes a problem. If I were to speed-read the light novel this is based on, I'd probably come out of the novel a half hour sooner than I would the film. The biggest problem with Disappearance is how much fluff I felt was attached. I had the distinct impression I was watching an uncut version of the film, one where an editor or the director didn't take the time to remove the extraneous scenes. It takes nearly a half an hour just to get to the actual story, the majority of the beginning of the movie is spent with slice-of-life and comedy bits that are good for introducing the characters to a new audience and giving a sense of comradeship, but nothing more really. Given the fact that the Christmas celebration isn't the focus of the finale and hardly plays into the story other than some minor motivation for Kyon, it's strange that the movie focuses so much on the minutiae of it all. Half the introductory scenes could have been cut.The middle of the film drags as well though. There are quite a few scenes of nothing happening that are well directed and animated, sure, and also sometimes gives a glimpse into the character and his/her thoughts but I can't help but feel that much of it was pointless. While I was engaged in the mystery of what was happening and I do love the characters I was pulling my hair out at points wondering why in God's name certain scenes were drug out or even included in the final product.The ending is abrupt. Like, really abrupt. It comes out of nowhere and doesn't feel satisfactory for the two plus hours you've had to trudge through to get to that point. And it leads to twenty-ish minutes of a conclusion that, again, is extended way beyond what it should have been.This movie could have been two hours easily.The animation and sound design are fantastic though. I love Kyo-Ani's animation and they're at the top of their game here. Everyone looks like human/bug hybrids but how can you not love those smug faces and want to protect those glowing smiles? The lack of music in certain scenes is a nice touch, it feels like the director understood using music for drama and not to fill dead air.I feel that descriptions and analysis of Haruhi characters have been done to death so I'll slide by this. I love Haruhi as a character and I love the cast. I've spent years reading the light novels and some of the manga, they've been part of my anime conscience for nearly a decade. I don't feel that this movie had a lot of good development though alternate reality Nagato is amazing and I'm sad they bastardized her with that abomination of a spin-off. Nonetheless, memorable characters. Maybe not so much if you're just taking the film on its own, but definitely in the grand scheme of the franchise.Disappearance isn't a bad movie in the least and has a lot of great merits. Everything about it screams quality but the amount of fluff and padding really weighs down what would otherwise have been an extremely worthwhile adventure. As it stands, I'd still recommend it but with the caveat that it may be best enjoyed in portions.

As Christmas approaches life for Kyon is going on as usual… in other words Haruhi has decided what they are all doing and telling the others what their roles will be. Then one day as he walks to school he starts to notice something strange is going on; half the school seems to have a cold and he is told it has been like that for a week. Then he learns something even stranger; Haruhi isn't there, what's more nobody seems to know her; there is no SOS club and its other members have no memory of it or of any of their antics in the club. Kyon starts to think he is going crazy but then he finds a clue that will lead him to this world's Haruhi and to a point where he will have to decide whether he wants to remain in a normal world or go back to how it was with aliens, time travellers, ESPes and most importantly Haruhi.Having enjoyed 'The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumya', even the infamous 'endless eight' I looked forward to seeing this but was unsure about whether a two and a half hour movie would work… it did. It felt much shorter as the story is constantly interesting and I really wanted to know why the world changed and just as importantly how. There may be less laughs than the series but there is a greater sense of drama. This drama also includes a greater sense of danger which culminates in a surprisingly bloody scene; it isn't strong compared to many series but was much stronger than I expected in 'Haruhi Suzumiya'. I'm sure fans of the series will love this.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

I love a good bit of Japanses film and Anime. This one has great animation, direction and style which looks excellent and reminds us of why animation should not be overlooked as a medium for film. I really enjoyed the setup of the story and the direction. Using angles not normally associated with animation it created a nice contemporary feel that appealed to a more mature audience. However around the 1.30 point of a 2.40 hour movie I had to turn off, my interest and care for the characters had waned at an alarming gradient, I unfortunately found the clichés and a slowly developing and rather unexciting plot not enough to keep watching, a rarity for me.I couldn't recommend it as a stand alone Anime movie it could quite put you off the genre. This is really one for the fans of the series (which I have never seen).

Having liked the original series of Haruhi, but hated the second (thanks to the truly dreadful 'Endless Eight' storyline) I came to the movie not knowing what to expect.The storyline, what little of it there is, is basically summed up in the movie's title. Haruhi disappears, and it's up to Kyon to figure out what has happened. It feels like an episode of the TV series but stretched. Very stretched. The movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes long, surely some sort of anime record, and it's incredibly slow from start to finish. It would have been trivial to have cut a good hour out and lost nothing from the story.Cutting out an hour however, would have removed so much of the beautiful animation. Perhaps the absurd amount of frame and background re-use Kyoto Animation got away with in Haruhi Series 2 gave them cash to burn, as this is a wonderful looking production. Animation is great throughout, and while many of the backgrounds are very obviously re- touched photos, they still often look very nice.Bizarrely for a movie about Haruhi Suzumiya, she's hardly in it, as the story revolves entirely around Kyon. Nagato shows up though, and is as dull and boring as ever. Quite how such a tedious character could ever been green lit continues to amaze me. Once it was all over I left still unsure about the whole Haruhi thing. This movie must have cost a fortune but had a weak storyline told at a snail's pace, but it had it's moments all the same.