Dear god, smiling Nagato’s effect is much more destructive animated than in words.

So after four years since the initial Haruhi series, the movie is finally out animating one of the most interesting novels of the series, Disappearance.

First of all, the production quality of the movie is amazing as fuck and brings me back to 2006 when Suzumiya Haruhi was first aired and bowled everyone over with the sheer detail and quality we’ve all come to expect from Kyoto Animation since then. Even if you’re not a fan of the series, you can still appreciate and admire the sheer quality of the movie’s art direction, lighting and background detail. It’s been so long since I’ve been touched by animation quality and Disappearance manages to do just that in it’s 160 minutes of non-stop fluid animation.

In contrary to the original series and the sequel, the atmosphere in Disappearance gets extremely subdued after the initial prologue chapter, to fit in the winter season in the movie as well as Kyon’s despair later on when he finds out his world has totally changed overnight. The effect is well achieved by the animation itself using subdued colors and backgrounds as well as the slow (or lack thereof) music employed in the movie after Kyon wakes up on Dec. 18.

Of course, Disappearance isn’t all just about Kyon’s despair and it also isn’t called the best novel of the series for nothing. Fans of the original series are going to love all the great aspects of the show being brought back in to the movie. Top of my list? Adult Asahina returns as a key character of the crisis!

Dear god, I seriously could feel and share in Kyon’s happiness when he found Asahina (big) and she immediately recognised him. And to top that off, the heart-to-heart talk between them with Asahina sharing in how she loved her high school time and that unofficial confession to him pretty much makes the whole movie worth it for me just to watch that. If only the damn Blu-Rays weren’t 10k yen each….

Oh yes, not forgetting St. Asahina as well :D

Asakura fans, no matter how little there are, also will be happy to see she makes her appearance in the movie prominently. First, by replacing Haruhi’s seat in class in the alternate world, and then…

Asakura-san sugoi yandere yo Asakura-san. Non-novel readers will now probably understand why there’s a big niche in Yuki x Asakura, ahaha.

Even Tsuruya-san also looks fashionable like fuck in her rather limited appearances.

As for Haruhi herself, well…

Ponytailed Haruhi instantly increased her charms by 36%, and add on another +25 to it for long hair as well.

While her “real” version scored a few “d’awwww” points for camping beside Kyon’s hospital bed for three straight days to make sure he didn’t awake alone.

One of the few things I didn’t like about the movie was probably how aggressive Kyon was when he started finding out that his world had been changed. It’s not surprising he felt quite a bit stressed out, but the way he aggressively handled Taniguchi when he mentioned about knowing Haruhi still felt a bit too much given my own impression of Kyon as a normally passive person. But I do agree, to some degree, that it portrayed his desperation towards his current situation very well.

Of course, as much as Kyon tries to portray himself as an passive bystander unwittingly pulled in to events beyond his control, Disappearance also marks an important change to his own attitude about the SOS Brigade and involvement with Haruhi in general from something he claims beyond his own control, to a choice that he makes consciously on his own. It also reveals the extent of how his involvement with the Brigade has changed and shaped his life to… something much more interesting than just a normal school life with no extraordinary happenings.

Moving on, I’ve touched on the musical aspect a bit earlier, but watching the movie now, the soundtrack is really quite awesome fitting in to the series. The original Haruhi series already had an awesomely great OST (which was never collected properly in to one CD sadly), and a lot of the tracks in the movie are the same recognizable ones, albeit given a full orchestral treatment, which will surely delight fans of the music. The movie even begins with the oh-so-clichéd-now Bouken Deshou Deshou for good measure. At least the movie didn’t include a dance sequence!

Right, I think I’ve went on quite a bit with this post now, approaching nearly 800 word count and probably going over it with this ending paragraph. In short, Disappearance movie doesn’t disappoint and even manages to exceed much of my expectations for it in it’s well-utilized 161 minutes of run time and definitely brings the sparkle back to the Suzumiya Haruhi series after the lackluster second season last year. Certainly, four fucking years too late, but a wait that was well worth it. Good job, KyoAni.

Now, where’s the next Suzumiya Haruhi novel, Tanigawa? It’s been four years since the last one, yo.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Part 2 as promised. Happy New Year everyone!

Favourite Theme Songs in 2009:

Kimi ga Shiranai Monogatari (Bakemonogatari ED): Meaningful lyrics are nice.
The fine every day (Tayutama OP): Still on my playlist even though the anime was shit.
Silky Heart (Toradora 2nd OP): Hocchan should do more “serious” songs.
Ring my Bell (Sora no Otoshimono OP): Very catchy, surprisingly.
ALTERNATIVE (Asura Cryin’ 2 OP): Epic song that makes you feel better about the show than it actually is.
Osaki ni sil vous plait (GA: Geijutsuka Art Design OP): Hitotsu~ hitotsu~ hitotsu~ hitotsu~ hitotsu~
Shin’ai (WHITE ALBUM OP): Song that shows the prowess of Nana’s vocal cords.
Tsukiakari no Michishirube (Darker than Black 2 OP): Generic catchy pop song that just works. Admittedly the full version I don’t like so much.
mind as judgement (CANAAN OP): The countdown is awesome.
only my railgun (To Aru Kagaku no Railgun OP): I swear it’s the blatant Engrish that makes me love it!
Miracle Upper WL (Ontama OP): Great combination of May’N and Masami Okui!
again (Fullmetal Alchemist (2009) 1st OP): A very nice thematic song.

Female Character of the Year:

Senjougahara Hitagi (Bakemonogatari)

Who else? Pretty much a damn solid choice for this year, even if she is a bit whacked in the head sometimes.

Runner-ups: Beatrice (Umineko no Naku Koro ni VN), Ami~n (Toradora), Felli (Chrome-Shelled Regios)

Male Character of the Year:

Shidou Mariya (Maria+Holic)

Okay, this choice might be a bit cheating… but seriously, it just shows how this year is in terms of male characters!

Runner-ups: Takizawa Akira (Eden of the East), Sakurai Tomoki (Sora no Otoshimono)

Dumbass of the Year:

Senou Natsuru (Kampfer)

Ought to fucking die a horrible death. CAN’T YOU SEE IT’S REALLY A DATE, DUMBASS?!!

Most Wasted Character of the Year:

Felli Loss (Chrome-Shelled Regios)

She really stole the whole show with her tsundere attitude and deadly shin-kicks. Plus it’s Nakahara Mai. It’s just a fucking shame the show was pure shit apart from her.

Runner-up: Sango Shizuku (Kampfer)

Lesbian of the Year:

Shirai Kuroko (To Aru Kagaku no Railgun)

I admit, I thoroughly enjoy the lesbian antics of Kuroko in Railgun way more than the show’s story itself. Plus the way Satomi Arai voices her with a combination of haughtiness and naughtiness really makes her stand out.

Runner-up: Nishida Haruka (Kanamemo)

Best new series I picked up this year:

Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

The Visual Novel of course. The only good thing that ever came from the anime.

Troll of the Year:

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu

キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。キョンくん、電話。

Runner-up: World’s Most Influential Person.

Disappointing Series of the Year:

Asura Cryin’

It had a nice potpourri of awesome elements from mecha to magic and a bunch of hawt speciments of the female gender. Just too bad they decided to hinge the whole story on a contrived plot device and gave it a generic “life goes on” happy ending. Did I mention how QUALITY the production was in the later episodes? Adult Nia is still extremely HAWT though.

Runner-ups: Kampfer, CANAAN, K-ON!

Ballsiest Idea for an Eroge this Year:

Osananajimi ha Daitouryou (My Girlfriend is the President)

Your girlfriend is “Omaha” and she rules Japan in her White House. Putina is the President of the USSR. Throw in a loli alien that doesn’t give a fuck about fixing her own mistakes and very moe-moe spaceship and you have a really weird eroge on your hands.

Weirdest Cameo of the Year:

Yaranaika in Kiddy Girl-and

Absolutely unexpected and totally hilarious. I can only hope they really ARE dicking around with the fans for this first half of the show. I don’t think it can be saved otherwise.

Gintama Arc of the Year:

The Popularity Poll arc.

Nothing is sacred in the eyes of Gintama’s production team. I can’t believe they managed to even make a whole arc on the premise of the characters killing each other to improve their ranks. Add that to them killing the original mangaka as well….

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Dear KyoAni,

FOUR FUCKING YEARS TOO LATE.

Love,
Kuro.

P.S. Please don’t start the movie with キョンくん,　でんわ.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Kyon-kun, nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da! Nigecha dame da!

Uuuuuuuuuuu…. your sacrifices shall be remembered, Mikuru-chan! ;_;

Mikuru’s troubles continue in this episode, with her getting thrown in to a lake, then unknowingly made drunk and almost losing her first kiss to Itsuki (unless she’s been hiding something).

Also I kinda half-wish that Kyon DID slap that bitch in this episode. She was really asking for that. Seriously. Even if that slap would’ve ended the world as we knew it, but it would still feels good, man.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Really, this arc is all about abusing poor Mikuru. :3

What’s worse is that I’m actually enjoying it! orz

Deadly Mikuru beam is deadly.

Oh shi… it’s smoked cheese Tsuruya-san!

And I’m beginning to wonder when will KyoAni move to HD broadcasts. This week’s video quality is so horrible!

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

… is probably a more appropriate title for this episode. Poor thing had to go through so many embarrassing moments in the episode ;_;. Even worse was how much I enjoyed it, ヽ( >∀< )ﾉ AHAHA AHAHA AHAHAHAHA...... (;´Д｀)(;´Д｀)(;´Д｀)(;´Д｀)

Well, seeing Mikuru in her waitress outfit was all ｷﾀ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━ !!!!! for me. Feels good, man.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Phew! Endless Eight finally ends at exactly eight episodes. I have got to say, that was rather a big collective sigh expressed throughout the world, from the cast itself to all the fans and including me.

I really didn’t sit through it all, mostly skimming past the last 4-5 episodes and even this final loop had me in my bed around the 10 minute mark for a short nap before I could finish it, and finish it I did. Good riddance there, KyoAni. But I’ll still salute you guys for having the biggest gall ever to pull this shit off us all. Now they’d better do Disappearance before the collective pent-up wrath of the fan base engulfs them. I seriously wouldn’t mind seeing shy, dere-dere Nagato animated.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Poor Kyon-kun.

In the meantime, キョンくん、電話。

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Despite my inability to actually watch the episodes anymore, I have to admit they are the only ones with the gall to do this to their viewers. So… 5 episodes down, another three more to go I guess.

Quite matches what I heard earlier that Aya Hirano or one of the seiyuus mentioning about how they just finished recording for the Endless Eight arc, ROFL.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Oh god, DaiCon’s only 1 day away. So many stuff left to do! So many tasks to complete! So many things to buy!

And to cap it off, my phone f##$@#g decided to die on me yesterday, OMG OMG OMG ! And Kyo Ani are still trolling us with Endless Eight OMG OMG OMG!

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.