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The Melancoly of Haruhi Suzumiya Vol.1 [2006]

Director: Hiroshi Yamamoto
Studio: BANDAI
Category: DVD

List Price: ~~Ł20.99~~
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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

1 reviews
Sales Rank: 24408

Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 100
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6

EAN: 3760076638190
ASIN: B00151G0U2

Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: May 26, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: IN STOCK. USUALLY DISPATCHED SAME OR NEXT WORKING DAY (MON - FRI). PLEASE ALLOW 3 - 6 DAYS FOR DELIVERY. BRAND NEW AND FULLY GUARANTEED BY A WELL ESTABLISHED TRUSTED LTD COMPANY. EMAIL DISPATCH CONFIRMATIONS SENT. TRACK PROGRESS 24/7

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Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

A fantastic initiation into the cult of Haruhi Suzumiya June 9, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Originally a series of popular novels, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has earned a cult status as a Japanese anime, and at last, it has reached the UK.

This anime sees a school girl named Haruhi Suzumiya who is the typical stereotype for an anime girl as she is clever, athletic and beautiful. However that is until she introduces herself and reveals that she is completeley obssesed with aliens, time travellers psychics and other worldly things. This is to the extent that she wont even engage in decent conversation with anyone unless they are in some way strange, wierd or different. She has joined every school club on campus, however none of those last very long as she always ends up quitting the clubs as they are too normal; and when it comes to guys, well, shes dated most of them in her school but always ends up dumping them for similar reasons.
However, when Kyon, an average teenage guy manages to speak to her for more than a couple of minutes, his classmates are amazed, but not as amazed as Kyon when he unwittingly gives Haruhi the idea to set up her own extra curricular club: 'The SOS Brigade'. This sets up the main plot for the series as Haruhi Suzumiya forces Kyon and some other people to join her and search for all sorts of extraordinary and wierd things. What ensues is an enjoyable comedy anime, and these first 4 episodes, while setting up the main story and introducing characters it still manages to be hilarious and it makes parodies of the anime genre itself. It takes all the regular stereotypes and over exagerrates them and/or mocks them. There are also certain bits in episode 00 that are reminiscent of traditional Japanese RPGs.

Episode 00 is an episode that is positioned first on the DVD, however it can be watched at any time. Strangely it was originally set at around episode 11. The episode is in a different style to the others since it is a finished project of a movie created by Haruhi and her SOS Brigade. However, odd this is, don't be put off, this stand alone episode is absolutely hilarious as it contain tonnes of well observed humour, plenty of awkward situtions and parodies of sterotypical anime. It is narrated by Kyon, Well I say narrated, yet all he manages to do is critisise it, which is actually really funny. The special thing about this series is that when it comes to comedy it is a breath of fresh air as it does not try too hard to create comedic effect. In alot of animes, comedic effect is slapstick and is created by over the top and exaggerated animation
ie- exaggerated body and facial expressions
-chibi moments
-the oh so familiar sweat drop and pulsing vein.
However this anime contains none of these; in fact the animation is pretty normal. The main source of humour is in the script and the situations as well as the excentricity of Haruhi. This is pretty impressive as this is meant to be a parody of other animes yet it manages to maintain it's own style of humour which is original, not to mention totally priceless at the same time. Unsurprisingly, Haruhi totally steals the show due to her extremely crazy personality, for example dressing up in a bunny outfit to promote her new club or constantly exploiting her shy, naive fellow club member Mikuru.

All this is achieved, while at the same time, looking absoluteley gorgeous. The animation here is simply beautiful. Everything is bright and beautiful and the way that the camera sometimes moves gives it a nice realistic feel. Many people may be familiar with the Hare Hare Yukai dance which is found in the credits at the end of an episode. This is one of the main reasons why this series has gained cult status as this camp dance is blatantly taking he mick out of other animes, yet at the same time it is still extremely catchy and has caused many people to imitate it.(Just type in Haruhi Suzumiya on youtube and you'll see) Most of this music is pretty good in this anime. A lot of it is pretty light hearted and fun which goes well with the feel of the show.
I only watched the english dub of this series and I thought it was pretty good. Haruhi Suzumiya is played by Wendee Lee (Ninja Scroll, Akira, Love Hina) and in my opinion she pulls it off very well, the voice and the look of the character go really well together. Other prolific voice actors in this title are Crispin Freeman, (Ghost in the shell S.A.C. & Innocence, Naruto, Hellsing) Stephanie Sheh (Bleach, Naruto, Tenjho Tenge) and the incredible Johnny Yong Bosch (Akira, Bleach, Eureka Seven)

I was surprised to see so many special features on this disc. These include 2 live action promotional trailers as well as 2 making of featurettes; one lasting 15 minutes and the other lasting 10. Also contained on this disc are 3 live action fan made Haruhi Suzumiya shorts
which are Okay but are a bit cheesy. Then on top of that you have your usual textless opening and closing, TV previews, an trailers of other Beez entertainment releases.
There are 2 editions of each DVD volume being released. Alongside this regular DVD of MoHS volume 1 there is a special edition containing an artwork box, an iron on patch, a replica of Haruhi's hair ribbon, a pencil board, and the 4 track single containg the famous Hare Hare Yukai song. All of that costs from 30 - 40. I think it's a good idea that Beez is making all of the Haruhi Suzumiya releases special, however, it is not really for me since I have never seen the series prior to buying this DVD.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is definetly an outstanding anime that is well deserving of it's fame and status. I recommend mainly to more hardened anime fans as it may just be a bit to wierd for a newcomer to anime to comprehend right away. In my opinion Beez Entertainment could win anime of the year with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
The next volumes look set to be just as enjoyable with the added bonus that one is being released a month, Instead of the one volume every 4 months rubbish that is happening too often over here with anime. So by August, you can expect to own the complete first series of this excellent anime.