Haruhi Suzumiya (franchise) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

is the general name for a series of light novel

Light novel

A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...

s written by Nagaru Tanigawa

Nagaru Tanigawa

is a Japanese author from Hyōgo Prefecture, in the Kinki region of Japan. He is a graduate of the law school at Kwansei Gakuin University. He is best known for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for which he won the grand prize at eighth annual Sneaker Awards and has been adapted as an anime...

and illustrated by Noizi Ito

Noizi Ito

is a Japanese manga and game artist from Hyōgo, Japan. She is employed by the H-game maker UNiSONSHIFT and is a part of the circle Fujitsubo-Machine...

which were subsequently adapted into other media. The story follows the title character Haruhi Suzumiya, a high school girl who can unconsciously change reality

Reality warping

Reality warping is a superpower in superhero fiction. It is the ability to reshape matter and energy, create or alter life forms, turn a person's thoughts or desires into reality, simulate any and all other powers and abilities, bend time and space, and possibly even rewrite the laws of physics.All...

, and her strange antics with her school club, the SOS Brigade, which she founded to investigate mysterious events. Haruhi forcibly drafts her cynical classmate Kyon

Kyon

is a fictional character, protagonist and narrator of the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series and the anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, voiced by Tomokazu Sugita in the original version of the anime, and Crispin Freeman in the English dubbed edition. The name Kyon is actually a...

, who narrates the series, and similarly recruits three additional members into her club: the silent bibliophile Yuki Nagato

Yuki Nagato

is a fictional character in the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise. She is initially portrayed as an introverted, taciturn bibliophile. She is actually an artificial human created by the Data Integration Thought Entity, and possesses supernatural powers as a result...

, the shy and timid Mikuru Asahina

Mikuru Asahina

is a fictional character from the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series. She is the fourth member to make an appearance, and is also the only character other than Kyon to be brought into the SOS Brigade against her will. She is defined by Kyon to be extremely cute, and often finds herself in...

, and the friendly transfer student Itsuki Koizumi

Itsuki Koizumi

is a fictional character from the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series; in the anime he is voiced by Daisuke Ono in the original version, and Johnny Yong Bosch in the English dubbed edition. Itsuki is the last member to have joined the SOS Brigade, having been recruited by Haruhi as a "mysterious...

. These members soon reveal themselves to Kyon as the extraordinary characters Haruhi is seeking, sent by their various organizations to observe her and hold her reality warping powers in check by maintaining the illusion of a normal life.

The first novel was published in Japan on June 6, 2003 by Kadokawa Shoten

Kadokawa Shoten

is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...

with nine individual novels published and a planned tenth . The light novels have been adapted into four separate manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

series, a television anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

adaptation, two original net animation

Original Net Animation

An original net animation is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animation, a term that has been used in the anime industry for straight-to-video...

s, an animated film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

and several video games. After the anime adaptation aired in 2006, publishing company Kadokawa Shoten

Kadokawa Shoten

is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...

received various offers for licensing both the novels and their various adaptations.

The novels are licensed for English language release in the United States by Little, Brown and Company

Little, Brown and Company

Little, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Book Group USA.-19th century:...

, for young readers by Yen Press

Yen Press

Yen Press is the manga and graphic novel imprint of Hachette Book Group. In addition to their regular book releases, Yen Press produces a monthly anthology called Yen Plus. The company's varied list demonstrates an interest in publishing a wide variety of Japanese manga, Korean manhwa, and other...

and the anime adaptation was licensed for North American distribution by Kadokawa Pictures USA

Kadokawa Shoten

is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...

division which then sublicensed production and distribution to Bandai Entertainment.

Characters

Kyon

, the narrator

Narrator

A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...

and main protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

of the series, is a student who unintentionally runs into Haruhi and is the only normal human in the SOS Brigade. Even though Haruhi is the title character, the story is told through Kyon's viewpoint. Through narration and dialogue he provides his insight, perspective, and opinions on events. Kyon is often annoyed by Haruhi's demands, but also thinks that a world without Haruhi would be uninteresting. Kyon is also "John Smith" from Haruhi's earlier memories, and was the one who painted the hieroglyph in the field. Very early on Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki each, individually, revealed what they are to Kyon. After which, they begin on many journeys throughout time and space.

Haruhi Suzumiya is the title character and leader of the SOS Brigade, whose energetic and eccentric character proves to be the driving force for the series. She has a mind for adventure which often leads her subordinates to be swept into her plans. While being smart, beautiful and energetic Haruhi was eyed as an oddball ever since middle school: she had set all the desks from her classroom out into the hallway, painted stars on the roofs, and even painted a huge hieroglyph out on the school field. Haruhi cannot stand boredom so she comes up with various activities for the SOS Brigade, making them participate whether they like it or not. In the 6th grade Haruhi felt she was no longer special after going to a baseball game and realizing she was one in a sea of people. After that she set out to make her life interesting and unique. What Haruhi does not know is that she has an outstanding power to change the environment around her as she pleases, and by subconsciously using it she gathers Mikuru Asahina, Itsuki Koizumi, and Yuki Nagato into one place, the SOS Brigade. The story is indirect in saying how much Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki know about each other.

Yuki Nagato

Yuki Nagato

is a bibliophile humanoid interface, created by Data Integration Thought Entity, whose responsibilities involve monitoring Haruhi and the investigation of an unexplained "explosion of data" three years prior to the present story. She possesses an ability to manipulate her surrounding environment, or "data" as quoted by her. Yuki is very quiet but can speak at length when it has to do with her mission or a problem that has arisen. While she always seems to be engrossed in her reading, she comments that she is only relatively interested in them. Yuki gives hints and aid to Kyon throughout the series. She almost never shows any emotions, but there are times when she shows interest in certain things, such as programming computer games and playing them, as well as reading (in the light novel The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi it is further revealed that she may have developed an interest in writing). It is revealed in The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi novel and film that she does develop emotions. In her context, developing emotions is like accumulating error data which will cause a bug to trigger anomalous behavior. The unpleasant emotions developed throughout the series (caused by the people around her) makes her wish for a normal world, whereby she finally takes action in the 'Disappearance' episode. Yuki is well-acquainted with time travel and that Mikuru is a time traveler. Mikuru and Itsuki are aware that Yuki can do amazing things, but know far less about it than Kyon does.

Mikuru Asahina

Mikuru Asahina

is a time traveler from the distant future who is assigned to investigate the reason behind the inability to travel to any point in time before three years prior to the present story. Mikuru is a soft-spoken girl who almost always willingly follows Haruhi's demands. She is the lowest in her Time Traveler's Committee. She often tries to explain what is going on, but will heavily censor it by saying "classified information". Haruhi loves dressing up Mikuru in various (sometimes embarrassing) outfits, claiming that she is the "mascot" of the SOS Brigade. Kyon appears to have a bit of a crush on her (this is somewhat more apparent in the novels, as are Mikuru's feelings for Kyon), and for her part Haruhi seems quite jealous of her and Kyon's relationship. In both the anime and the novels Mikuru discourages Kyon from acting upon any feelings that he may have for her, explaining that he is Haruhi's "chosen person," and in The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya light novel

Light novel

she implies that if he is nice to her, bad things will continue to befall her.

Itsuki Koizumi

Itsuki Koizumi

is an esper

Esper

An esper refers to an individual capable of telepathy and other similar paranormal abilities. The term was apparently coined by Alfred Bester in his 1950 short story "Oddy and Id" and is derived from the abbreviation ESP for extrasensory perception....

who, like the other members of "The Agency", suddenly acquired the power to explore the "Closed Space" and combat Celestials three years prior to the present story. He is fairly carefree and can be found always smiling. However, Kyon always seems to be annoyed by him, and in the light novels expresses his urges to want to hit him. Itsuki brings up many points that have multiple sides, and even explains to Kyon that Mikuru, or anyone, could possibly be putting up a fake personality and deceiving everyone. Yuki and Mikuru are somewhat aware of what Itsuki's role and concept is. They have Itsuki convey messages to Kyon when Kyon and Haruhi vanish from this world into a closed space.

Light novels

Written by Nagaru Tanigawa

Nagaru Tanigawa

and illustrated by Noizi Ito

Noizi Ito

is a Japanese manga and game artist from Hyōgo, Japan. She is employed by the H-game maker UNiSONSHIFT and is a part of the circle Fujitsubo-Machine...

, the light novels alternate between full length novels and collections of short stories which initially appeared in The Sneaker

The Sneaker

is a Japanese light novel magazine that was published by Kadokawa Shoten between 1993 and 2011, that was aimed at young adult males. It serialized many popular light novels, including the Haruhi Suzumiya and Trinity Blood series, and the novel adaptations of the Code Geass anime series....

, a seinen

Seinen

is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...

novel magazine published by the Japanese publishing company Kadokawa Shoten

Kadokawa Shoten

is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...

.

The novels are licensed for release in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

and mainland China

Mainland China

Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...

by Kadokawa Media, in South Korea by Daiwon CI, and in the United States by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Yen Press

Yen Press

Manga

Kadokawa Shoten

is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...

published two manga

Manga

adaptations of the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series in Shōnen Ace

Shonen Ace

is a monthly shōnen manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 1994. Unlike the big shōnen weeklies with circulation figures in the millions, Ace is aimed at a less mainstream audience, and has a particular emphasis on anime tie-ins...

. The first one, by Makoto Mizuno, ran from May to December 2004 and was considerably different from the light novels in its one published volume, having little input from the original author. The second series, illustrated by Gaku Tsugano, started in November 2005 and is still in production, having been published in eight volumes, though with a younger target audience than the original novels. On April 17, 2008 Yen Press

Yen Press

announced that they had acquired the license for the North American release of the first four volumes of the second manga series, promising the manga would not be censored.

An official parody four-panel

Yonkoma

thumb|right|150px|Traditional Yonkoma layout, a comic-strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom...

comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

titled The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya by Puyo started serialization in Shōnen Ace

Shonen Ace

on July 26, 2007 and in The Sneaker

The Sneaker

on August 30, 2007. The first bound volume

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

was released on May 26, 2008, the second on December 26, 2008, and the third on July 10, 2009. Yen Press licensed the Haruhi-chan manga series for an English release in North America and released the first volume on October 26, 2010. Another four-panel parody manga, Nyorōn Churuya-san by Eretto (Utsura Uraraka), was originally a dōjinshi

Dojinshi

is the Japanese term for self-published works, usually magazines, manga or novels. Dōjinshi are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry. The term dōjinshi is derived from and . Dōjinshi are part of a wider...

starring a smoked cheese

Smoked Cheese

Smoked cheese is any cheese that has been specially treated by smoke-curing. It typically has a yellowish-brown outer "skin," which is a result of this curing process. The tradition of flavoring cheese by smoke originated in Denmark making the only type of cheese that is solely a Danish...

-loving, super deformed

Super deformed

Super deformed or SD is a specific style of Japanese caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads, to make them resemble small children...

version of Tsuruya, published in three volumes (released on August 2006, February 2007, and October 2007) before beginning serialization in the magazine Comp Ace

Comp Ace

is a Japanese computer game and manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. Comp Ace began as a special edition version of another one of Kadokawa Shoten's magazines, Comptiq. The first issue was released on March 26, 2005, and was published quarterly for the first three volumes which had cover...

in November 2008. Another manga, , also by Puyo, started serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace

Young Ace

is a seinen manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 2009.-Manga artists and series featured in Young Ace:*Akuma no Ikenie by Ayun Tachibana*Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul by Sanami Suzuki...

in July 2009. It is set in the alternate timeline established in the fourth light novel, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, where Yuki Nagato is a shy schoolgirl as opposed to an alien. Yuki chan has also been licensed in North America by Yen Press.

Anime

The anime adaptation of , produced by the Japanese animation studio Kyoto Animation

Kyoto Animation

, abbreviated , is a Japanese animation studio located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1981, became a limited company in 1985 and then became a corporation in 1999. Presided by Hideaki Hatta, the company is affiliated with noted studio Sunrise and is also parent to the studio...

and directed by Tatsuya Ishihara

Tatsuya Ishihara

is a Japanese anime director from Maizuru, Kyoto working for the Japanese animation studio Kyoto Animation.-Series directed:*Air Series Director*Aka-chan to Boku*Clannad *Fushigi Yuugi...

, contained 14 episodes which aired in Japan between April 2 and July 2, 2006. It was originally aired in a nonlinear order

Nonlinear (arts)

Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique, sometimes used in literature, film, hypertext websites and other narratives, wherein events are portrayed out of chronological order...

, with the prologue and first seven chapters of the first novel intermixed with chapters from some of the later novels. The "next episode" previews feature two different episode numberings: one number from Haruhi, who numbers the episodes in chronological order, and one number from Kyon

Kyon

, who numbers them in broadcast order. The DVD releases start with "Episode 00" and are then shown in chronological order. The anime was licensed and distributed by Bandai Entertainment over four DVDs released between May and November 2007. A complete box set was later released on July 29, 2008.

The second season of the anime series was announced in a full-page advertisement of Asahi Shimbun

Asahi Shimbun

The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...

on July 7, 2007 in Japan. Promotional videos included a live action sequence, inspired by the "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" chapter from the third novel The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, depicting Haruhi and Kyon breaking into a school with footage taken from surveillance cameras. On December 18, 2007 the anime's official website, haruhi.tv, was replaced by a fake 404 error with five form-input fields, a reference to the pivotal date in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the fourth volume in the light novel series.

A re-broadcast of the first series began in April 2009. Following a comment by Teletama one of the broadcasting stations, that the 2009 broadcast would be 28 episodes long, there was speculation that the re-broadcast would be followed by the second season, though this was not confirmed by Kadokawa at the time. The first new episode, , was aired on May 21, 2009 as the eighth episode of the re-broadcast. The re-broadcast also aired on 7mate

7mate

7mate is an Australian free-to-air high definition digital television channel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010.The network stated that 7mate would contain sport and regular programs aimed primarily at a male audience, with programming drawn from a combination of new...

in 2011. Unlike the original run the re-broadcast was shown in chronological order, with new episodes intermixed with the old ones. Episodes were later shown on Kadokawa's YouTube channel after the broadcast, and also started showing English-subtitled episodes. Bandai Entertainment licensed the re-broadcast in 2010 and released a complete collection in North America on September 14, 2010. Manga Entertainment

Manga Entertainment

Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...

will release the season in a 4-disc DVD box set, including the Haruhi-chan mini-episodes, in the UK on July 4, 2011.

Spin-offs

Two spin-off original net animation

Original Net Animation

series based on the parody manga by Puyo and by Eretto were announced in the October 2008 issue of the Shōnen Ace

Shonen Ace

magazine. The two series were streamed in Japanese and with English subtitles on YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

's Kadokawa Channel between February 13 and May 15, 2009. All the voice actors

Seiyu

Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...

of the original anime reprised their roles in both series. The first DVD of the series was released in Japan on May 29, 2009 with a release on Blu-ray Disc on August 27, 2010. The series has been licensed by Bandai Entertainment and has been dubbed by Bang Zoom! Entertainment for DVD release. The first volume was released on October 5, 2010.

Film

An animated film by Kyoto Animation titled was adapted from the fourth Haruhi Suzumiya light novel of the same name and was released in Japanese theaters on February 6, 2010. It was announced via a teaser shown at the end of the 2009 re-airing of the anime. This film has also been licensed by Bandai Entertainment and released on September 20, 2011.

Audio dramas

A series of radio drama

Radio drama

Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...

s have also been released. The first volume titled SOS Dan Radio Shibu Bangai Hen CD Vol.1 is based on the anime version of the series and was released on July 5, 2006 by Lantis

Lantis (company)

is a Japanese company that specializes as a music publisher label for Japanese musicians, anime soundtracks and video game soundtracks. It was established on November 26, 1999, and in May 2006, it was bought by, and became a subsidiary of, Bandai Visual...

. The second volume was released on September 21, 2006 while a third was released on December 21, 2006. A drama CD titled Sound Around, based on the anime adaptation, was released on January 24, 2007 by Lantis

Lantis (company)

Video games

Six separate video games have been produced based on the series. Namco Bandai Games

Namco Bandai Games

is an arcade, mobile and home video game developer and publisher based in Japan which is the product of a merger between the video game development divisions of Bandai and Namco. Namco Bandai Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings and specializes in production and sales of...

released an adventure game

Adventure game

An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...

, , for the PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable

The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...

(PSP) on December 20, 2007. Banpresto

Banpresto

is a Japanese toy company, best known in America for game development, headquartered in the Shinagawa Seaside West Building in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It was founded April 1977 as Hoei Sangyo, Co. Ltd. The company was renamed Coreland in 1982, and during the 1980s it worked mainly as a subcontractor for...

released another adventure game available for the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

on January 31, 2008 called . It was the 95th best-selling game in Japan in 2008, selling 139,425 copies. The third game developed by Kadokawa Shoten

Kadokawa Shoten

is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...

for the Wii

Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

, , was released on January 22, 2009.

The fourth game by Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

for the Wii was released on March 26, 2009, with the fifth game also by Sega for the Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

on May 28, 2009. In February 2010 Kadokawa Shoten released The Day of Sagittarius III in Japanese and English in Apple's App Store. Namco Bandai Games released a video game for the PlayStation 3

PlayStation 3

The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

and PSP titled on May 12, 2011. Characters from the Haruhi Suzumiya series will also appear in the upcoming crossover

Fictional crossover

A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...

video game, Nendoroid Generation

Nendoroid

is a brand of small plastic figures, created by the Japanese Good Smile Company. Nendoroid figures are usually replicas of an anime or manga character and are commonly used as collectors items or toys. They are roughly 10 cm in height, depending on the character they were made to look like...

for PSP, which is being produced by Namco Bandai Games, Good Smile Company

Good Smile Company

Good Smile Company is a Japanese manufacturer of hobby products, such as scale figures and the Nendoroid and figma product lines. In addition to manufacturing, its business includes figure design and marketing...

and Banpresto

Banpresto

Music

The 2006 anime has two opening themes: , performed by Yuko Goto

Yuko Goto

is a Japanese voice actress who works for Production Baobab. In direct contrast to her cute-and-vulnerable moé typecasting, Yūko in real life is a devotee of biker culture who dresses and acts as such when not working, right down to her motorcycle...

and used as the opening of episode one (sometimes called episode zero), and performed by Aya Hirano

Aya Hirano

from Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, is a Japanese voice actress and J-pop singer who has had roles in several anime, visual novels, and TV commercials in Japan. She was contracted to Space Craft Produce, a branch of the Space Craft Group, for her voice acting career, and for her singing career,...

and used in episodes two through fourteen. The main ending theme of the series was performed by Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara

Minori Chihara

is a Japanese voice actress who has had roles in several anime series, and a J-pop singer. As a seiyū, she works under the agency Avex Planning & Development, while in her musical career, she has been signed under King Records and is currently with Lantis...

and Yuko Goto which spanned the first thirteen episodes, with the fourteenth episode ending with an extended version of "It's an Adventure, Right? Right?". For the new episodes of the 2009 re-airing, the opening theme is "Super Driver" by Hirano, and the ending theme is performed by Hirano, Chihara and Goto. The single for the ending theme was released on August 26, 2009. "It's an Adventure, Right? Right?" was used as the opening theme of the film The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Among the insert songs used were "God Knows..." and "Lost My Music" performed by Aya Hirano in episode twelve. Segments of Symphony No. 4 in F Minor

Symphony No. 4 (Tchaikovsky)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, was written between 1877 and 1878. The symphony's first performance was at a Russian Musical Society concert in Saint Petersburg on February 10 /February 22 1878, with Nikolai Rubinstein as conductor.- Form :The symphony is in four...

composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...

, Symphony No. 7 in C Major, "Leningrad"

Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich)

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 dedicated to the city of Leningrad was completed on 27 December 1941. In its time, the symphony was extremely popular in both Russia and the West as a symbol of resistance and defiance to Nazi totalitarianism and militarism...

composed by Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....

, and Daphnis et Chloé

Daphnis et Chloé

Daphnis et Chloé is a ballet with music by Maurice Ravel. Ravel described it as a "symphonie choréographique" . The scenario was adapted by Michel Fokine from an eponymous romance by the Greek writer Longus thought to date from around the 2nd century AD...

composed by Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel

Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

were used in episode eleven, while Symphony No. 8 in Eb Major, "Symphony of a thousand"

Symphony No. 8 (Mahler)

The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand", although the work is often performed with fewer than a...

, composed by Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

, was used in episode fourteen.

was a live concert event held at Omiya Sonic City on March 18, 2007 that featured songs from the anime sung by the voice actors. The DVD of the concert was released on July 27, 2007. On April 29, 2009 was held in Tokyo with music by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

The claims to be the oldest classical orchestra in Japan, having been founded in Nagoya in 1911. It moved to Tokyo in 1938 and has some 166 members as of 2005....

and Philip Chu as conductor. The event featured songs and background music from the anime arranged with a classic twist. A CD of the concert was released on June 24, 2009.

The main theme song for the spin-off ONA series, "The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya" is while the ending theme is , both performed by Hirano, Chihara, Goto, Tomokazu Sugita

Tomokazu Sugita

is a Japanese voice actor employed by Atomic Monkey. Best known for his role as Gintoki in Gintama, he also voices Kyon in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. He is also one of the three hosts on the radio show Bururaji promoting the videogame Blazblue which is produced and released on Nico Nico...

and Daisuke Ono

Daisuke Ono

is a Japanese voice actor who works for Mausu Promotion. He was born in Kōchi Prefecture. He won the 4th Seiyū Awards for best voice actor for his role as Sebastian Michaelis in Kuroshitsuji.-Anime:2002*Full Metal Panic!...

. A single of the two songs was released on April 20, 2009. Three singles accompanying the other spin-off ONA series, Nyoro-n Churuya-san, were also released, featuring songs sung by Yuki Matsuoka

Yuki Matsuoka

is a voice actress from the Hirano-ku ward of Osaka. She graduated from Otemae Women's University in Nishinomiya. She is affiliated with Production Baobab.- 2001 :*Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi *Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san...

Reception

The first novel of the series, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was awarded the Grand Prize in the eighth annual Sneaker Awards—only the third Grand Prize given out in the Award's history. The series has become a huge success for light novels in Japan, selling over 4,300,000 copies in September 2007 and will surpass 8,000,000 copies when the tenth and eleventh volumes are released in May 2011 after the limited editions set a record 513,000 first pressing for light novels. The total sales for all versions of the light novels and manga volumes internationally has reached 16.5 million copies printed.

In December 2006 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime adaptation was the most popular anime series in Japan at that time according to Newtype USA magazine. The first two volumes had sold 70,000 and 90,000 units respectively as of August 2006. It was also fifth in IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

's "Top Ten Anime of 2007" feature. A 2006 online poll of Japan's top 100 favorite animated television series of all time, conducted by TV Asahi

TV Asahi

, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....

, placed the series in fourth place. By the end of 2007 the seventh installment of the series sold 45,000 units. The anime adaptation won the Animation Kobe Award for TV Feature in 2006. At the Sixth Annual Tokyo Anime Awards, the series won the category "Best TV Anime Series" and Aya Hirano won the "Voice Acting Award." Its spin-offs, The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya and Nyorōn Churuya-san, won the Network award at the 14th Animation Kobe

Animation Kobe

The is an event created by Kobe city in 1996, to promote anime and other visual media. In the event, the are awarded annually by Kobe and the Organizing Committee of the event, to creators and creations.-Event:...

Awards.

Cultural impact

The anime series became somewhat of an Internet phenomenon in Japan, Asia, and English-speaking countries. Over 2000 clips of the series and user-created parodies and homages were posted to video sharing

Video sharing

Video hosting services refers to websites or software where users can distribute their video clips. Other sites such as file hosting services image hosting services and social network services might support video sharing as an enhancement to their primary mission, but in general, they are not...

websites such as YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

and Nico Nico Douga

Nico Nico Douga

is a popular video sharing website in Japan managed by Niwango, a subsidiary of Dwango. Its nickname is "Niconico" or "Nico-dō", where "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling. Nico Nico Douga is the thirteenth most visited website in Japan...

. The popularity of these clips (and those of other popular Japanese series) led the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) to request that YouTube remove clips claimed to be under the copyright of their members.

Haruhi, Yuki and Mikuru (voiced by Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, and Yūko Gotō), along with Japanese drama actor Toma Ikuta

Toma Ikuta

is a Japanese talent artist part of Johnny's Jr. under the supervision of Johnny & Associates.-Career :Ikuta Toma used to be in a variety show for kids called Tensai Terebi kun. Being a member of a then all-children band called Strawberry Parfait, he was popular with the audience...

, made their first Japanese ad appearance in promoting Lotte Acuo Gum in March 2010. Lotte also featured profiles for the three characters on the Acuo official website.

ASOS Brigade

In December 2006, Bandai Entertainment registered the website asosbrigade.com. On December 22, 2006, the website opened with a live action

Live action

In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...

presentation video resembling a fan-made production featuring Haruka Inoue and Akiyo Yamamoto in the roles of Mikuru Asahina and Yuki Nagato, with Haruhi Suzumiya being played by Patricia Ja Lee. The video (in Japanese) confirmed the specifics of the licensing arrangement. After a few days a subtitled version of the video replaced the original on the site, translating the Japanese licensing announcement into English. The website also linked to a blog on the popular social networking website MySpace

MySpace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

, which entered the list of the top 50 most viewed MySpace pages within 24 hours.

On May 30, 2007 the SOS Brigade Invasion Tour was announced for Anime Expo 2007

Anime Expo

Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation . With rare exceptions, the convention is traditionally held on the July 4th weekend and lasts for four days...

on June 30. Aya Hirano

Aya Hirano

, Yuko Goto

Yuko Goto

, and Minori Chihara

Minori Chihara

were part of this event "being flown in directly from Japan". Anime Expo attendees were able to participate in the ASOS Dance Contest held on Friday and the winner would have the chance to dance on stage with the guests of honor. Ever since the event was announced, advance ticket sales for pre-registered attendees have caused AX officials to cut down on the amount of tickets sold due to the overwhelming amount of advanced tickets sold (despite the event being free of charge to attend).

In 2010 a new set of videos were introduced to announce the second season of English dubbed episodes. These featured Cristina Valenzuela

Cristina Valenzuela

Cristina Valenzuela is an American voice actress known for her work in anime, video games, and her YouTube channel. She is mostly known as Cristina Vee....

("Cristina Vee") in the role of Haruhi, Karrie Shirou in the role of Mikuru, and Gina Lee (episode 1) / Alice in the role of Yuki.

External links

Official Kadokawa Shoten 'Haruhi Suzumiya website
Sosbrigade.com
Official The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime website
Official Kyoto Animation The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime website
Asosbrigade.com Official North American The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime website
Official North American manga and novels website
Official SOS Brigade Australian Division website

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