2009 was truly a different time for anime fans: Crunchyroll was still in its early days, Netflix was making as much money with DVDs as streaming, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was the show everyone was talking about. This light novel adaptation about an ordinary high school boy and the eccentric (and possibly omnipotent) girl who changes his life would end up catapulting Kyoto Animation to the forefront of the industry and changing the world of anime forever.
Installments in the franchise have kept being released periodically over the years, but there's no denying that the fiery popularity of Haruhi has died down to an ember. It's still an amazing show though and there are many reasons as to why it's still worth checking out, either for a nostalgic rewatch or as an anime history lesson.
10 Kyon's Snarkiness Makes Him A Loveable Main Lead
All shows live and die on their main character, and nowhere is that more true than in Haruhi. The male protagonists of romance anime have an unfortunate tendency to be boring, but Kyon flips that on its head: his sarcastic running commentary on the weirdness around him means he gets all the funniest lines, while at the same giving the show the grounding it needs to really work.
He's also a rare example of a male tsundere main character, and it works perfectly: the audience is so close to Kyon, that watching him grow to truly care about Haruhi is even more satisfying.
9 The Characters Feel Archetypal, But Not Contrived
Haruhi was one of the first popular anime to center around a group of quirky characters in a school club, a formula that is by now so cliché that the characters in the series start to seem like stock parodies of themselves: there's the quiet one, the genki one, the rich girl, the list goes on...
This definitely applies to some extent to Haruhi, with Mikuru being almost always the unwitting pawn of Haruhi's schemes and Yuki the emotionless straight (wo)man; but good writing means that these character archetypes not only seem to interact with one another in a realistic way but are in fact subverted later on in the series to great effect.
8 It Perfectly Blends Together Humor And Drama
The series has plenty of comedic scenes and some whole episodes which work like a sitcom, but it also isn't afraid to get serious, whether that's with moving romantic moments or dramatic situations where the whole world (literally) is at stake. Haruhi's difficult personality, in particular, can be played either for laughs or as a serious problem.
Luckily, though, the series never feels tonally inconsistent, which can be a major problem with anime. Good writing means that the characters feel like real high school kids: laughing one moment and feeling like the world's ending the next.
7 The Truly Excellent Dub Still Holds Up
For fans who prefer dubbed anime, checking out older shows can be a slog through bad translations, sub-par voice acting, and low-budget audio production. Luckily, though, Haruhi is an anime classic that has a fantastic dub that means everyone can enjoy it.
Highlights include Crispin Freeman perfectly pulling off Kyon's sarcastic grumbling, Michelle Ruff managing to make the emotionless Yuki charming, and (of course) Wendee Lee's delightfully over-the-top role as Haruhi herself. This is an anime where a lot of the fun comes from listening to the characters banter with each other, so the great dub really does make all the difference.
6 It Has An Ending Theme That's Still One Of The Best
When it comes to anime, opening themes tend to get most of the love. After all, who has time to watch an ending theme when they're busy skipping to the next episode? There are certain exceptions, however, and the viral dance sensation "Hare Hare Yukai" is one of them. Presented as a choreographed dance performed (reluctantly, in Kyon's case) by the SOS Brigade, there was a time when no anime convention was complete without a group of cosplayers giving it a go themselves.
For some older fans, it might be impossible to listen to the theme without an embarrassing memory surfacing. That being said, even they won't be able to help singing along.
5 It Doesn't Take Itself Too Seriously
With its mixture of sci-fi stock characters all thrown together in a high school setting, it's no surprise that Haruhi sometimes feels like a parody of anime itself. However, one of the greatest things about it is that it feels self-aware in the fact that it's taking all those clichés and making something brand new.
After all, in the original broadcast order, it introduces itself with an episode that works brilliantly as a parody. In a "film" directed by Haruhi herself, Mikuru plays a time traveler and Yuki plays an alien... and the result is some ridiculously cheesy silliness.
4 Haruhi Herself Is A Surprisingly Complex Character
One of the show's biggest triumphs is the fact that its central plot and romance work at all, due to the stubborn, forceful, and eccentric personality of its main heroine, Haruhi Suzumiya herself. She was even controversial in 2009, due to the fact that Kyoto Animation's last popular heroine, Nagisa from Clannad, had been sweet and gentle.
Haruhi certainly wasn't every viewer's cup of tea, but it's impossible to deny that she's written with a complexity that signaled just how out-of-touch subservient, one-dimensional female characters were starting to look in anime: Haruhi might act overconfidently, but her acting out masks a deep loneliness and a desire to find her place in the world.
3 It Feels Genuinely Experimental At Times
Haruhi is so iconic now, that it can be easy to forget just how unique and boundary-pushing it is, even today. The fact that it was broadcast out of chronological order makes it feel like a puzzle that the audience has to solve; it becomes a phenomenon itself, just like the ones the club investigates.
This sense of experimentation would ramp up to a whole other level in the Endless Eight arc of Season Two, which simply repeats the same scenes over and over for eight whole episodes. Fans hated it at the time, but it's now remembered as one of the boldest creative decisions in anime, ever.
2 The Excellent Character Designs Are Still Iconic
Haruhi represents an incredible leap forward from Kyoto Animation, from the hyper-moe, droopy-eyed character design style of works like Clannad and Air that they were associated with to the more proportionate and rounded designs that have made their art one of the most loved in the industry.
The individual character designs are also excellent, seeming unique while also being surprisingly realistic for an anime, and with great small details, like Haruhi's yellow hair ribbon and SOS Brigade armband, that have become iconic.
1 The Episode "Someday In The Rain"
Arguably one of the best episodes of this anime (and anime as a whole) is called "Someday in the Rain." It's a quiet, contemplative episode about a rainy day at the club where pretty much nothing happens.
The fact that this episode works so well is a testament to the quality of the writing and characters. This show doesn't need goofy humor or a plot about supernatural abilities to sustain it. It works just as well when it's just the SOS Brigade running errands and killing time. In a way, this ties perfectly into the show's main theme: Haruhi might never realize her own powers, but that's OK. She already has everything she needs.