Suzumiya Haruhi no Iku (Ooops! Time for a Cold Shower!)

My, oh my, oh my. It has been with some amusement that I’ve watched the orgasmic reactions to the mere hint of a possibility that another Suzumiya Haruhi series could be in the works, let alone on TV this spring. Indeed, forums burned with excited postings singing of this new series. Male fans found their underwear catapulting across the room, smacking against the opposite wall with a thunderous crash. Blogs that normally make no mention of anime news shouted from the mountaintops the glorious and wondrous news, so much so that the angels who came to announce Christ’s birth were made to look like they’d just whispered quietly into the night. I’m sure that had Suzumiya Haruhi been around back then, they would have been just as excited as many anime fans are.

Or rather, should I say “were.”

At the moment, I imagine that Kadokawa Shoten’s announcement that there is no second series coming out this spring, only a rerun of the original series, has fanboys (are there Haruhi fangirls?) feeling like Kyon in this picture (600+K image!).

So we either have another marketing gimmick on our hands or fans WAY out of control over a simple anime, no matter how good it may or may not be.

I’ve never understood the orgasmic and worshipful attitude people take toward this series (and I’ve already blogged about that here and here). For me, there’s nothing special about scrambling up the episodes in non-chronological order. It was a marketing gimmick that paid off hugely for the Japanese production people. The proof that it was a gimmick is in how the Japanese DVD release had the episodes in chronological order, not TV order. That’s because the serious episodes were from the first novel and the rest of the stuff came mostly from the second novel (where the goal was to entertain Haruhi) and that’s how the story flows naturally.

Still, this kind of over-reaction to an anime (or indeed to any sequel be it TV, movies, books, manga, etc.) can only lead to one place — disappointment-ville, anger-ville (or rage-ville), or some other similar place.

As a story, the Suzumiya Haruhi franchise is indeed interesting and should a second series be created and released, I’m sure I’ll watch it. I am interested to learn more about things here and just who Haruhi is in this story, but even the original author apparently has no idea and has reportedly run into a brick wall called writer’s block. That said, my interest story-wise is no greater than most other interesting anime titles I’ve watched. Scrambling up episodes and inserting a random episode between a 2-part episode doesn’t make it better. But I digress.

Anyway, I said I was amused by all this and I am. However, I’m also saddened because I do feel that all of these anime fans who seem to think that a new Suzumiya Haruhi series will be the best thing since the orgasm was invented are in for some rough times ahead, even if they get their wish for a sequel to be created and aired. If that happens, I won’t gloat…well, not very much at least. 😉