Suzumiya Haruhi Series

As the students of Class 1-5 introduce themselves at the beginning of their high school careers, the cynical but otherwise fairly ordinary boy known as Kyon sits down, having just finished his piece. However, when the girl sitting behind him stands up to give her speech, the words she utters dumbfound the entire class. Proclaiming that she has no interest in ordinary humans and is in search of the supernatural, Haruhi Suzumiya makes her unforgettable debut.

Doubting Haruhi's sincerity, Kyon lets his curiosity get the better of him and attempts to befriend her in spite of his classmates' warnings. Unfortunately, as the eccentric girl slowly opens up to him, Kyon realizes she is dead serious. Moreover, a conversation between the two sparks a dangerous idea in Haruhi's mind: since she is bored with the mundanity of the school's clubs, she should just create her own. With this, the SOS Brigade is born, and Kyon is quickly dragged into a life of absurdity.

Taking over the Literary Club's room, Haruhi soon enlists three new members into her organization: the stoic Yuki Nagato, the timid Mikuru Asahina, and the supposedly mysterious transfer student Itsuki Koizumi. Having thrown together this group of students, Haruhi drags the squad around on adventures in search of the exciting and supernatural, much to Kyon's chagrin. However, he soon discovers that there is more to the new recruits than meets the eye, and that which Haruhi wishes for may be much closer than she realizes.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Suzumiya Haruhi Series ranked first in the 2005 Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! for the Light Novels division. As of 2017, the series has sold over 20 million copies.

The series has been published in English by Little, Brown and Company and Yen Press since April 1, 2009. Yen Press has rereleased the volumes under the Yen On imprint since September 4, 2012. It has also been released in Spanish by Editorial Ivrea since April 2010.

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Suzumiya, Haruhi

Main

Kyon

Main

Nagato, Yuki

Main

Asahina, Mikuru

Main

Koizumi, Itsuki

Main

Tsuruya

Supporting

Asakura, Ryouko

Supporting

Shamisen

Supporting

Kyon's Sister

Supporting

Sasaki

Supporting

Reviews

Jan 23, 2025

pekosikos

Recommended

Preliminary (47/? eps)

Suzumiya Haruhi is about a lot of things.

Haruhi is about youth; it is about growing up, about finding a place in the world.

Haruhi is about the fact that truth is almost never straightforward. Seeking an objective truth is often fruitless. The only thing there is to be found is the perspective of each individual, permeated with their beliefs and agenda.

Haruhi is about love; it is about caring for someone, so deeply and so fully, that one is willing to change the whole world for their sake and, maybe even more difficult than that, seeing one's self being changed by that love.

Haruhi is, perhaps, less about ...

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Jun 21, 2024

MyAngelRecia

Recommended

Preliminary (4/? eps)

Melancholy of haruhi Suzumiya is a masterpiece from the early 2000s.

Well written science fiction with an emphasis of slice of life story of a high school boy with no willingness to explore the joy in the world as he is coping with the reality, and a girl who is willing to take an action on every opportunity for fun things like aliens, time-travelers or espers.

Only thing people may not enjoy is the overabundance of monologues, where every thoughts of the main character is being described.
Many of the characters' emotion are being described with unconventional similes and metaphors or detailed gestures, which may slow pacing down. ...

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Feb 6, 2025

vaskoosama

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (59/? eps)

Suggested reading: watch the anime in chronological order first, it's a phenomenal adaptation and extremely faithful to the source material. If you really liked it and would like to see more of the story, start from book #5. Then don't rush and take breaks between books.

This series does a lot of different things. Not sticking to a single genre can be a good thing sometimes, but in this case it's a mixed bag. At times it feels like you have to trudge through whole chapters of fluff just to get to the good part. And don't get me wrong, the good parts are *really* good, ... but not everyone can enjoy action, mystery, comedy, slice of life, romance and deep philosophical discussions all at the same time.

The good: The best aspects of the Haruhi light novels are their overarching plot and the feeling of mystery they carry. The reader is often left in suspense that's sooner or later resolved by a satisfying conclusion, yet there are always unanswered questions left to hook you into the next volume. The author often employs subtle foreshadowing which may take half of the series to come into effect, yet it works masterfully even despite (and occasionally thanks to) the non-linear narrative.
The plot isn't easily predictable and some concepts are pretty unique. You can tell by the numerous references that the work is heavily inspired by some of the greatest mystery and sci-fi works.

The okay: The characters are well-written. While not always believable, their actions reflect their personalities and the cast overall is varied enough to keep you entertained. Though they do lack a bit of depth, as most are either entirely one-dimensional or so sophisticated that they don't make any sense. They develop over time, but not as much as you'd think for a 13 volumes (or 12, depending how you count).
The structure of the novels is all over the place. Some arcs are contained in a short few pages of a chapter while others span multiple books. It's a nice change of pace. What doesn't help is that the story is out of order - much like the anime. Haruhi doesn't quite manage to make that type of storytelling interesting as it often feels unnecessary, and sometimes even spoils future books which is never ideal.

The bad: You have to be a Japanese speaker and know about Japanese culture to fully enjoy the comedy and rarely even some minor plot points in this series. Having to use Wikipedia to get half of the jokes makes them, as you might imagine, not very joke-y. The translation often leaves a lot to be desired too. And of course that's not an issue with the original work. But when that's pretty much the only way to experience it, you're bound to have a worse time because of it.
As already mentioned, the novels touch on a lot of different topics and span quite a few genres. Reading could feel like a chore if you're not a fan or not in the mood for a 5-page philosophical monologue or an entire laid-back slice of life arc. Hence my recommendation to take breaks between different volumes. Don't rush and the story won't feel samey.

In short, this story is a jack of all trades and master of some. With some high highs, unique ideas and unfortunate flaws, the source material is best left to the dedicated Haruhi fans... and Japanese natives. (Don't tell Her I said that.)

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Poll: Suzumiya Haruhi Series Volume 2 Discussion GiantQAACSleier - Jul 20, 2019	1 replies	by MysteriousFriend »» Jan 20, 4:39 PM
New Haruhi novel announced Pitto_ - Sep 24, 2023	16 replies	by infamousHeroic »» May 3, 2024 9:51 AM
Intuition Thoughts/Opinions Sosbrigade_123 - Jun 24, 2021	6 replies	by anizawa89 »» Jan 21, 2024 11:25 AM
Can I mark this series complete after Intuition? ProsjektAero - Jun 2, 2023	5 replies	by abystoma2 »» Sep 2, 2023 11:51 AM
Poll: Best light novel in the series? EnduringInsanity - Apr 24, 2013	11 replies	by removed-user »» Mar 14, 2023 5:04 PM

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