This show is basically a high school AU of a series that was already set in high school. It's also a giant middle finger to everyone who wanted a 3rd "real" season of Haruhi.
[POSSIBLE MILD SPOILERS FOR THE HARUHI SERIES, BUT NOT THIS SHOW (though I can't imagine why you'd even be here if you haven't seen the original)]
Where to begin? Let's star with our main charater, Yuki Nagato. I'll do my best to refrain from making this whole review just a comparison to the original, but the stark contrast in characterization between this show and the original in the character of Yuki Nagato is
...
just astounding. Originally, Yuki was a direct homage/shout-out to Neon Genesis Evangelion's Rei Ayanami, being a very quiet, passive bookworm emotionless-girl character. She did occasionally display hints of emotion however (much like Rei), which is what made her interesting. However, the main character of this show (whom I'll be referring to as Yuki-chan) is a completely different character. Yuki-chan is some kind of hopeless romantic who has barely any depth and doesn't even read books (preferring video games instead). Let me repeat that, SHE DOESN'T EVEN READ BOOKS.
Let me back up a bit. Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu (or NYcnS) is loosely based on an alternate universe which was a major plot point in the Disappearance arc of Haruhi canon. In it, everyone is "normal." A notable feature of it is that Yuki is no longer "emotionless" but rather acts more like a human being should, and the rest of her personality (being an extremely quiet and reclusive bookworm) is left in tact. She still reads books! NYcnS more or less uses this universe as its setting, with the main difference being that the main character Kyon doesn't realize anything is wrong (and is also no longer the main character... more on him later).
But the thing is, NYcnS's version of Yuki doesn't even use the canon Disappearance-arc AU Yuki. As I said, she doesn't even read books. Instead, she's more of just a generic moé blob who has an obvious crush on a classmate, and happens to share Yuki's general appearance. All subtlety and depth to her character are gone. Her defining character traits are gone. Actually, why was she even in the literature club in the first place? I don't recall the show ever explaining this.
But enough about Yuki-chan, there's plenty more wrong with this show.
I won't pretend that the original series was perfect, or that its characters were especially well developed, but NYcnS somehow makes them all even more bland and forgettable than before. This is reflected rather well in the equally generic and bland art style. Art-wise, ex-main character Kyon might be the biggest victim, looking almost nothing like he did and instead looking like a bland anime boy (more so than normal). Where before, Kyon was the viewpoint-character of the series, whose deadpan-snarker personality and inner-monologue quips added a lot of humor to the show and made him a fun audience surrogate character that stands out from most. But now, with him being merely a supporting character, whose thoughts we can't hear, he's become pretty pointless, generic, and bland. Kyon's only function in the story now is to be the object of Yuki-chan's desires. I know I've been using words like "bland" and "generic" a lot, but those words pretty much sum up this whole show.
Throughout the show, there are numerous references and shout-outs to the original series, but the problem is that they all just make me wish I was watching that instead. The most egregious example is when someone says something like "someone I know threw a murder-mystery event last year as a joke." (referencing a mini-arc from the original) Wow, that sounds fun! Much more fun than whatever we're doing right now. Gee, I wish we could be watching that instead.
Another big glaring problem with this show is how much it relies on bad anime tropes and cliches. The original at least had the "well, Haruhi wishes it to be that way" justification hand-wave, but this show has no excuse. I know I've been comparing it to the original a lot, but I would like to stress that I do not think this show works on its own either. The comedy is weak and the story is so forgettable I barely even remember there being one.
The thing is, I really don't have a problem with this *type* of show, in that a light-hearted rom-com set in high school can be, and sometimes is, a lot of fun, even without much depth. The problem is that there just isn't anything interesting here. Really, what's the point of this show existing? Who sat down and said "lets make a more boring version of Haruhi" ? There are plenty more canon Haruhi light novels that haven't been adapted, why did they instead go with this? Imagine if there was an X-Files spinoff, where Mulder and Scully weren't FBI agents and nothing supernatural ever happened, and also Scully had a vastly different personality and Mulder didn't care about supernatural stuff at all. You'd say "but wait, why are the characters even called Mulder and Skully? There's nothing X-Files about this." That's basically this show.
All in all, not worth you time, whether you're a fan of the Haruhi series or not. I've seen worse, but there are so many better shows in this genre. I just hope that if we ever see Haruhi again, she'll be the leader of the SOS Brigade once more.
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Aug 27, 2017
Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu
(Anime)
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This show is basically a high school AU of a series that was already set in high school. It's also a giant middle finger to everyone who wanted a 3rd "real" season of Haruhi.
[POSSIBLE MILD SPOILERS FOR THE HARUHI SERIES, BUT NOT THIS SHOW (though I can't imagine why you'd even be here if you haven't seen the original)] Where to begin? Let's star with our main charater, Yuki Nagato. I'll do my best to refrain from making this whole review just a comparison to the original, but the stark contrast in characterization between this show and the original in the character of Yuki Nagato is ... |
