Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend - Light Novel

 Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend (青春ブタ野郎はディアフレンドの夢を見ない) is the fifteenth volume of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novels written by Kamoshida Hajime featuring artwork by Mizogushi Keji.  The fifteenth and final volume was originally release in 2024 and in English in 2026. 

     The following synopsis may spoil some aspects of the first fourteen novels in the Rascal Does Not Dream series, if you do not want to ruin those stories stop reading until you have.  

Book Fourteen: Rascal Does Not Dream of His Girlfriend here! 

    Sakuta does the only thing he can think of to cure Mai from thinking she's Kirishma Touko...have Miori Mito take her place during the debut concert in Yokohama.  Even though she believes in her heart she is Kirishima, Mai agrees to the plan and Miori takes her place on stage, singing the final song that Touko ever penned.  But this time instead of allowing it to fade off after the well known lyrics, the song continues and reverses course, giving a new, hopeful meaning to the lyrics.  With this new material unleashed on the world, the spell if broken and Mai realizes that she is truly just herself.  But Sakuta can't breathe a sigh of relief just yet.  Mai appears to be the only one back to normal.  Ikumi from the other world contacts him and has him meet with a strange person dressing in a large bunny costume...hm from the other world.  They warn him that everything is his fault, that Miori's adolescent syndrome was something different.  He, Sakuta, is the reason everyone around him appears to be having his idealized versions of their lives, including both versions of Kaede.  He is the observer, causing these oddities to linger and exist.  He needs to change his perspective in order to correct the world and return those misplaced to their right realities.

    The following day, his twentieth birthday, he and Mai travel to school together.  As the head towards their classes he spots Miori...all by herself.  This strikes him as off, given how quickly her identity was revealed from the footage of her performing as Kirishia Touka the previous night.  As he approaches her, his fears are confirmed when she expresses gratitude over being seen.  She is suffering from the same thing Mai did when he first met her.  Mai doesn't see Miori and bluntly tells Sakuta that he needs to solve his issues because she wants them to both be able to see the same thing.  She wants him to grown up and leave adolescent syndrome behind.  Desperate to keep Mai and the world he knows he struggles with how to undo the damage he has done.  He understands he is no longer a child and needs to leave childish things behind but the idea that much of what he's experienced in the past three of four years, even going as far back as middle school, not being real....scares him.   He knows he needs to face the reality of an adult and move beyond adolescent syndrome but he doesn't want to lose the people he has and the memories he's built with them to evaporate in the process.  As he is officially an adult now he needs to face the adult world and take the mistakes and regrets with him if he is ever to find peace.

    I wasn't sure how this final chapter in Sakuta's story would resolve or what road it would take.  The story does kind of end on a quiet not though, which is a bit of a let down, given how intense some moments in the story have been.  But it isn't bad, just maybe not what I was hoping for.  But I also am not sure what I expected.  I really enjoyed the extensive afterwards that showed the life Sakuta was living about a month after resolving everything.  I feel if that was absent the story might have been disappointing.  Instead it helped frame the entire series into a nice package.  Sakuta, and those around him, those he touched, will go on living their lives to the best they can, leaving behind the world of the child and embracing adulthood.  There is contentment in knowing that everyone will continue their lives, even if they may grow apart as the years roll by.  Whats important is that Sakuta himself found the truths he needed to find to move on with his life and truly enjoy himself.

    I am sad to see it end, but not disappointed.  I can't wait to see the anime adaptation coming later this year in Japan and there is the side story that's pending English release as well!  Farewell friends.
 

Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus - anime

 Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus (青春ブタ野郎はサンタクロースの夢を見ない) is a 13 episode continuation of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novel series by .  The series covers light novels volume 9 through 13 and aired during the Summer of 2025.

    Azusagawa Sakuta has begun his perfect college life with his older girlfriend Sakurajima Mai, one of Japans most beloved actors.  As they enter into adulthood they struggle to escape the complicated world of adolescence.   Right away strange things begin to occur around him, evidence of people he meets suffering from adolescent syndrome, a supernatural manifestation of internal stresses around growing up.  Unlike the issues he dealt with in high school, the new problems he works to solve seem to be centering around a strange woman dressed in a mini skirt Santa outfit calling herself Kirishima Touko.  In the past year, Kirishima has been uploading haunting songs on the internet that have been gaining traction.  Sakuta is the only one who can see the mini skirt Santa, a form of adolescent syndrome he suspects is similar to what Mai went through when they first met.  She tells him that she is handing out presents to everyone around him, various forms of adolescence syndrome, that deeply concern the compassionate Sakuta.

    As Sakuta works through the new cases of stress and uncertainty around the new people he comes into contact with, elements from his past return to warn him of a threat to the most important thing in his life, Mai.   A version of him from a more idyllic reality, warns him that unless he is able to stop Kirishima, Mai is in danger.  As he helps resolve each related adolescent syndrome he digs deeper into the psyche of the mysterious woman who threatens his love and happiness.  Could the unidentifiable songstress have a strong enough jealousy over Mai that she is able to super charge the stresses of those she comes into contact with?  An internet phenomenon around prophetic dreams begins to reveal to extent of the threat to Mai and other around him as he tries to get Kirishima to open up to him about her motivations.

    The 'long awaited' continuation of the Rascal Doesn't Dream franchise does not disappoint.  With the exception of one thing...the bungled release in North America.  The original 12 episode series was followed by three theatrical releases, all of which cover the first eight light novels.  The story is progressive and interconnected and the second and third movies were not available legally for English speaking audiences until a few episodes into the broadcast of the second series.  This means that most audiences, who missed the opportunity over a two day period over a year earlier to see those movies in the theater, were missing vital contextual information.  Events specifically in the third movie directly relate to a lot of the central plot of the Santa Claus series, particularly the existence and Sakuta's interaction with the other version of his world.  Fortunately, those movies were eventually made available for streaming, so people who had not seen them before nor read the light novels, could catch up with what was going on.

     The mistake and issues for English speaking audiences aside, this series does exactly what we should expect.   With out a change to the aesthetics or delivery it flawlessly continues the story of Sakuta and his efforts to help those around him overcome their misgiving and hesitations.  The story does a good job of translating what appears in the light novels, as it has done in the previous adaptations.  The only real complaint is...were not done.  There are still two light novels that needs to be animated and Santa Claus ends in a bit of a cliff hanger.  As we have seen in the past, it will probably be a while for those to more than likely be turned into at least one movie...and then become available for English speaking audiences.  The only resolution is for everyone to at least jump into the light novel series for those last two parts of the story.  Though...its a great idea for fans of the anime to read all of the light novels as there are aspects of the story that are interesting that they had to omit from the anime, for understandable reasons.  For more details on that, check out the series of review on the Rascal Doesn't Dream light novels.  Either way, I am very pleased with the results so far and eagerly await the finale of this story being animated!

The series is available on Crunchyroll. 

Rascal Does Not Dream Of His Girlfriend - light novel

      Rascal Does Not Dream Of His Girlfriend (青春ブタ野郎はガールフレンドの夢を見ない) is the fourteenth volume of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novels written by Kamoshida Hajime featuring artwork by Mizogushi Keeji.  The fourteenth volume was originally release in 2024 and in English in 2025. 

     The following synopsis may spoil some aspects of the first thirteen novels in the Rascal Does Not Dream series, if you do not want to ruin those stories stop reading until you have.  

Book Thirteen: Rascal Does Not Dream Of Santa Claus here!

    Sakuta finds himself in the throng of people heading to the concert in Yokohama that, according to the Dreaming Hashtag, Mai will reveal that she is Kirishima Touko.  While heading to the venue he notices the knapsack version of Mai flitting through the crows and chases after, failing to catch up with her.  Giving up, he heads to the venue, diverting his course to the backstage area where a chance encounter with Mai's manager allows him access to her trailer.  He does his best to ensure that Mai won't do what everyone is expecting her to do.  She assures him its not going to happen and ushers him out so she can finish preparing.  Once out of the backstage area he reconnects with Akagi and they join the massive crown for the performance.  Everything plays out as he dreamed and the bottom falls out from his stomach when Mai takes the stage and performs the Kirishima song.  Against his wishes, Mai goes along with the script and tells the audience that she is the mysterious YouTube singer, completing the Dreaming Hashtag and sending Sakuta into a spiral of confusion and betrayal.

    After the concert he again approaches Mai in her trailer to find out whats going on.  She tells him that everything was a secret from her agency and she is sorry she couldn't tell him sooner.  He leaves, stunned, unwilling to believe it, understanding it to be a lie.  He was unable to stop it from happening and according to the message from the other reality, he fears the worse for his girlfriend.  Returning home, numb, he encounters something even more confusing when the Kaede that greets him is the Kaede from her period of memory loss.  He calls his parents house and when the real Kaede answers real confusion set in for Sakuta.  Both versions of his sister currently exist.

    In the morning, after trying to clear his head, he rushes off to his parents to see for himself is Kaede is there.  On his way to the train station he runs into Nodok and Uzuki who are frustrated by Mai's announcement undercutting their group set to perform at the Budokan.  He doesn't argue too much with this drastic change in their fortunes and heads off.  Once he does, he uses the excuse of having to cover a shift to leave again and heads back to his neighborhood.   At work a conversation with Koga confirms that every aspect of his life has been altered as she talks about going to his college instead of the all girls school she was recommended for.  He knew he needed to track down the real Kirishima Touko before things got too far out of hand.  As if he willed into existence a friend from the past makes a sudden appearance, Shouko, wearing the same high school uniform he first saw her in years earlier.  This was the real Shouko, who is about to begin her high school life.  But she was supposed to be in Okinawa?  

    She informs him that she is healthy enough to move back, as she really wanted to attend the same high school he did.  But she came for a more important matter...she wants to take him to meet Kirishima Touko.  Much to his disappointment, he has to spoil his first trip driving on Shouko instead of Mai as they head on a trip to Touko's home.  After a while Shouko felt compelled to find and connect with the family of the person who's heart was inside of her.  Much to her surprise that person was the Kirishima Touko, meaning that the woman Sakuta has been chasing after this entire time has been dead.  The visit with her mother is tense and somber.  But in the course of looking at her preserved bedroom Sakuta learns a very important clue to understanding what is going on...Touko's best friend has been the one uploading all of her songs online and is closer to him than either of them could ever imagine, now its a matter of confronting them and putting a stop to all of the madness before his future slips away from him.

     The second to last entry into the Rascal Does Not Dream series starts to pull everything together, at least in regards to the college arc and everything revolving around Kirishima Touko.  I keep repeating myself with each volume...but it just gets better with each new one.  SO in theory, the final volume should be the best of the series.  Thats a hell of a task to accomplish.  Anyways, this volume is significant and impactful, echoing across all of the story that has preceded it.  I read this about halfway through the broadcast of the second TV series, Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus.  The series covers light novels 9 through 13 and the story took on a very different tone when with the information learned in volume 14.  In reality not a lot occurs in this volume when it comes to a complex story.  This is all set up for the final show down in the next volume and we get a lot of details out of the way, very important details.  In reality only three things happen.  Mai's announcement, Shokou's confrontation with the Kirishima family and Sakuta's confrontation with the person upholding Touko's memory.

    Volume fifteen has a hige task ahead of its self and I am eager to read it.  I wonder if the story will dive back into unresolved things from the high school arc as it wraps up the college arc.  What sort of release can we expect?  How does the essence of Kirishima Touko play into widespread adolescent syndrome?  The obvious conclusion is the disjointed reality that Sakuta encounters in this volume will become resolved when he tackles the problem at the root, but what will that mean to his world as it comes to its narrative conclusion?  I really love this series, it has grown into a passion of mine and has supplanted some legacy titles for me in importance.  It is what got me to finally dive into light novels and has made me rethink the quality of my beloved Haruhi series.  The emotions have been intense over its course and I may be setting myself up for disappointment if the conclusion does not blow me away.  But...a few months from this writing, I will have my answer.

Rascal Does Not Dream Of Santa Claus - light novel

     Rascal Does Not Dream Of Santa Claus (青春ブタ野郎はサンタクロースの夢を見ない) is the thirteenth volume of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novels written by Kamoshida Hajime featuring artwork by Mizogushi Keeji.  The thirteenth volume was originally release in 2024 and in English in 2024. 

     The following synopsis may spoil some aspects of the first twelve novels in the Rascal Does Not Dream series, if you do not want to ruin those stories stop reading until you have.  

Book Twelve: Rascal Does Not Dream of His Student here!

 

    Sakuta finds himself at a concert, the crowd swelling with anticipation after a surprise appearance by Mai.  She announces to the gathered throng that she is the mysterious Kirishima Touko and she and the band kick into one of Touko's songs.  The entire event spirals Sakuta into a state of confusion and he flees the venue, reaching for a cell phone to call Akagi Ikumi.  After asking her to meet him in Yokohama did her realize he was in the middle of a very realistic dream.  He wakes up to find himself still in the hot spring inn he and Mai are visiting during Christmas.  Sakuta tells her all of the details of his dream, concerned for what it may mean.  He is keeping Touko's warning about imminent danger to Mai in the foreground while he combs over the details.  It is only after Mai gets a call from her manager about making an appearance at the same festival he dreamed about that he begins to think about the dreaming hashtag and how this may be prophetic.

    Sakuta soon finds out he was not the only one that dreamed about being at the concert and Mail claiming to be the elusive internet songstress.  There is so much buzz around other people having it and the dreaming hash tag that the news even covers the subject, bringing a lot of public scrutiny on Mai and the possibility of her being Touko.  Sakuta meets with Akagi to talk about his dream, seeing he called her in it.  To his partial surprise what she dreamed that night was her side of the events, further causing him to question if this was really seeing into the future or not.  Much to her displeasure, she is now involved in his investigation.  First step, talk with the real Kirishima Touko.

    In early January he his junior and coworker, Koga, pulled him aside to talk abot the dreaming hashtag and everything surrounding Mai.  She didn't experience the concert event, instead she told him about how Mai was badly injured at an event earlier in the year where she was made police chief for the day.  The accident lead to her being in a coma for a prolonged period of time.  Even more concerned about Mai's safety, with a potentially understood event that put her in danger, he redoubled his effort to reconnect with Touko...but how does one go about looking for a woman who nobody can see and doesn't exactly like being seen when she doesn't want to be?  She came looking for him.  After classes resumed at his college she pulled him out of one of his lectures to ask him to accompany her on a date.  He decides its in his best interest as he can the time of having her attention to pressure her about her real identity and what the dreaming hashtag has to do with the danger to Mai. 

    The date ends up being a shopping trip as she seems to randomly wander through the area using him as her personal assistant.  He and Akagi have been doing some investigating and have learned that prior to Mai attending college, the woman who claims to be Touko was an aspiring model who maintained a healthy internet presence.  The conclusion they draw is her self esteem was obliterated by the arrival of a the most loved young woman in her vicinity.  Sakuta believes the danger to his girlfriend is related to Touko wishing to regain the spotlight and restore herself to visible status.  During the date Sakuta learns that someone close to him knew her very well prior to their life as college students.  Armed with this knowledge he bets on that person to be the key to unlock her 'adolescent syndrome' and keep Mai safe at the same time.

    Unlike the high school arc of the story, the college arc has kept Kirishima Touko as the primary focus for all of the problems surrounding Sakuta.  This volume dives deep into the antagonist herself and see's Sakuta tapping into resources he hasn't leaned on before.  While we are still dealing with a version of 'adolescent syndrome' we have dealt with in two prior occasions, the scope and gravity around Touko's invisibility does not feel like retread territory.  There is even a brief return to Koga's problems year ago with her ability to dream up simulations of the future.  Everything is starting to coalesce around the central threat that is the mysterious Touko and the problems that generate around her, causing Sakuta various levels of mental anguish.  We are edging closer to the conclusion of this fantastic series and all of the cows are coming home to roost and with two more volumes until the conclusion, the story is growing stronger.  The hardest part now is waiting for the next volume to come out...at least we have the return of the series to TV in 2025!  I may have said this with the past few novels, but this one may have been the best so far.  With each addition the story grows in quality and enjoyment.

Rascal Does Not Dream Of His Student - light novel

    Rascal Does Not Dream Of His Student  (青春ブタ野郎はマイスチューデントの夢を見ない) is the twelfth volume of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novels written by Kamoshida Hajime featuring artwork by Mizogushi Keeji.  The twelfth volume was originally release in 2022 and in English in 2023. 

     The following synopsis may spoil some aspects of the first eleven novels in the Rascal Does Not Dream series, if you do not want to ruin those stories stop reading until you have.  

Book Eleven: Rascal Does Not Dream Of A Nightingale review here!

      The strange warning Sakuta received from the alternate world he had been lost in around the time Mai graduated from high school bothered him.  His middle school classmate, Akagi, had delivered a warning from the other world that Mai's life was in danger and that he needed to find the singer Kirishima Touka.  He had already found her though, dressed as a mini-skirt clad Santa.  The problem may be that only he can truly see her, not unlike Mai's adolescent syndrome.  Kirishima had told him before that she was able to impart 'adolescent syndrome' on others and had done so countless times already.  Somehow her ability was connected to a strange urban myth related to hashtags on internet posts and prescient dreams.  Sakuta experienced that himself in the form of the day he gained a new student at his tutoring job.  The events of the tutoring session played out as they had in his dream.  He needed to talk with Kirishima more to understand what was going on and how much of a treat she was to Mai.

    After calling her number for days on end, she finally responded to his messages.  She offered to meet with him on December 2nd, when he was done with his classes, and they would meet and talk.  he hesitated to agree, preferring to do it another day.  When he tried to get out of it, explaining that was Mai's birthday and they had plans, the other woman insisted that this would be his only chance to talk with her.  reluctantly he told Mai that they would have to change their plans.  Much to his surprise she doesn't put up much of a fuss, understanding the complexity of the problem he is trying to solve and that its about her safety first and foremost.  Instead, she adjusts their day a bit and forces him to buy her some jewelry for her birthday, exposing him to a world that celebrities deal with while in public.

   With Mai partially satisfied, Sakuta finishs off his day at school and calls the enigmatic Kirishima to finalize their meeting.  She meets him at the entrance to his college and leads him into a quiet neighborhood where she forces him to buy her tea and cake.  He obliges, understanding he needs to grease the wheel a bit if he intends to get anything out of her...and that no one else really see's her.  During their confirmation he suspects the way she may be imparting 'adolescent syndrome' on others is through the music she uploads to YouTube.  He tests her out to see how much a threat she poses on Mai, but feels the warning is not directed related to actions she may take.  Instead he is concerned with her planning to release a new song on Christmas Eve and what it may trigger if his suspicions are correct.  He rushed home to spend as much time with Mai for hr birthday as possible, only to find four girls singing to a new Kirishima Touka song, dread filled him at the prospect of what this new song meant and its lonely lyrics. When everyone else left he updated Mai on the events earlier.  Mai made him promise to be free to spend time with her on Christmas eve and day, how could he refuse?

     That night he had a vivid and concerning dream about spending Christmas Eve with his new cram school student, Himeji Sara.  His fears of the dream being related to the hashtag are all but confirmed when he encounters Sara and she tells him about having the same exact dream.  In the dream she asks him to promise not to cure her 'adolescent syndrome' which leads to him prying from her that she does in deed suffer from it.  As in the dream, she thinks her syndrome is favorable to her and does not wish to be rid of it.  He isn't so sure and concerned it may be linked to the unknown threat to Mai, he presses her to understand what is going on.  Her condition appears to be stemming from the realization that the boy she grew up with and thought she would spend her life with does not feel for her that way, instead is focused currently on Futaba, who is instructing him at the cram school.  The further he digs the less likely it appears he will be able to keep his promise to spend Christmas with Mai, but he is more concerned with understanding why she is in danger and what, if anything, this growing hashtag tread has to do with it.

    Returning to the Rascal Does Not Dream series after many months and reading all of the Suzumiya Haruhi novels really underlined how good the Rascal books and story over all is.  I have been a long time fan of Haruhi but Rascal is really a superior product.  This may be the best book in the college arc so far and makes me with the release schedule for the next volume would speed up.  The plot was consistent, well paced and gave a new version of 'adolescent syndrome' to experience and work through.  Everything since the resolution of Shouko's 'adolescent syndrome' has been building to what will be unveiled in the thirteenth and more than likely fourteenth and final volume in the series.  While awaiting the English version of the next volume to publish we can twitch over getting English versions of the second and third movies...until then...it's just a waiting game.  Maybe I need to reread this great series even though its not completed.

The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya - light novel

   The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの直観) is the twelfth volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This twelfth volume was originally released in Japan and in English in 2020.

Click here to read the synopsis of the eleventh volume, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya, part 2. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow. 

    After a break of nine years between this and the last volume of the series to come out we return to the world of the SOS Brigade with a series of stories.  The first one takes place just after the return from the ill fated winter mountain mystery retreat.  On the way back home from the retreat Haruhi decided that all five members of the Brigade would hit as many shrines as they could to ring in the New Year.  The first shrine they stop at to pray leads to a minor inconvenience as the strap on one of Haruhi's shows breaks, causing her to rely solely on Kyon to get out of the shrines grounds and meet up with the rest of the Brigade, nothing more than a bit of personal time between the two main figures.

     Next the story jumps to late May of the second year of high school.  A messenger from the schools mystery research club arrives with a stack of research material for Haruhi based on a passing glib remark earlier in the day.  Haruhi had asked the girl, also a recent transfer and classmate of she and Kyon, if there were any legends or mysteries related to North High.  Kyon and Koizumi count the timing of the delivery as in their favor given that Haruhi is not yet in the club room.  Instead of hiding the mountain of material freshly delivered from the overly perceptive leader, they decide to head off her ambition and come up with seven mysteries for her.  The four of them debate and conspire about different strange occurrences that could take place in the school, be explainable by skeptical means and be interesting enough to entertain Haruhi.  All in the name of preventing her imagination wrecking havoc across the campus out of her sudden urges to be mystified with localized legends.

    The third, final and by far longest story in this volume involves the members of the SOS Brigade and a guest, the aforementioned member of the mystery research club with the bizarre nickname 'T', partaking in an investigation instigated by Tsuruya.  Prior to Haruhi arriving to the literature club room, T and Koizumi are having a spirited discussion about mystery novels and the various methodologies of deconstructing their narratives.  Surprisingly, Nagato is also offering limited interactions in the conversation while Kyon sits by, bewildered by the level of nerdom the two transfer students are engaged in.  Their conversation comes to a natural conclusion with the arrival of the Brigade chief who immediately receives an email to the SOS Brigade website...something that has never really happened before.  The email is a request from Tsuruya to help her solve a mystery.  In a series of emails she provides anecdotes around her life as trophy daughter of a powerful business family, being dragged around to important social events for meet and great duties.  In each of the examples the Brigade begins to deconstruct any obvious clues to determine what the mystery may be, digging closer into the same principles of methodology that T and Koizumi had previously debated while getting an insight into the real life of their weirdly optimistic upperclassman.

    I wasn't sure what to expect with this volume for a few things.  The biggest was it being released nine years after the prior novel.  The other concern was how solidly the last novel wrapped up a really nice ending point for the franchise as a whole.  Sure, there are a few things that have been mentioned in passing that would elicit stories of their own, particularly around the pending cherry blossom viewing party at the Tsuruya residence and the mystery of the object unearth on her family mountain.  Yet neither of these things were expanded upon much in this volume.  Instead something I feared would happen, a series of potentially unrelated stories, a format I have come to dislike in Tanigawa's writing.  But my fears were unfounded.  This was a really enjoyable volume and the Tsuruya mystery portion was well done.  As it started to unfold I was concerned that some aspects of the mystery were going to be unfathomable by non-Japanese readers given a particular reliance on kanji readings that would not be apparent in another language.  As that part unfolded those fears were eliminated and the manner it was handled was quite enjoyable.

    The future of further stories in the franchise isn't entirely certain.  A thirteenth light novel volume is planned to come out in the near future, with two previously published stories and two new ones.  Beyond that though it's hard to tell.  I am not sure what resource there is to see what other stories have been published in magazines that could be compiled into future volumes beyond these next two.  Either way, this volume did not disappoint, especially given the almost complete lack of super natural elements to it.  I will wait to see what else may transpire, forever hoping for a return of an animated adaptation.

    Speaking of the anime, there is a final afterward in the twelfth volume in which Tanigawa reflects on the tragic and horrific loss of so many lives in the terrorist attack on the Kyoto Animation Studio 1 in 2019.  He speaks about brief memories of some of those staff members he spent time with during the course of the TV and movie adaptation process, unable to really express his grief for the senseless loss of life.    His words are worth reading and reflecting on.

The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya part 2 - light novel

   The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya, part 2 (涼宮ハルヒの驚愕 (後)) is the eleventh volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This eleventh volume was originally released in Japan in 2011 and in English in 2013.

Click here to read the synopsis of the tenth volume, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya, part 1. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow.

 

     We pick up seamlessly from Part 1 and the crisis facing Kyon and the rest of the SOS Brigade.  In one reality a strange new girl named, Watahashi Yasumi, has joined the club.  In the other reality Nagato is stricken with an attack coming from the rival alien entity being referred to as the Heavenly Canopy Domain.  In the reality with Watahashi, Kyon lazily goes about his days, relishing in the rest he's been able to get, in spite of the crazed exam Haruhi concocted for all of the applicants for the Brigade.  Something about the diminutive Watahashi doesn't sit right with him, but everyone with a know about the supernatural assures him she isn't someone to be worried about.  She is a whirlwind of enthusiasm and dedication to Haruhi's ambiguous plans for the future, the perfect accomplice in her madness.  But in the back of his head something is nagging on him about the lack of interaction with from Sasaki and the rival group.

    The rival group was the other Kyon's problem.  Haruhi continued to neglect club duties in favor of she and Asahina fruitlessly nursing Nagato back to health.  Frustrated with the lack of progress, the rival time traveler Fujiwara, forces his hand and gives Kyon an ultimatum.  He along with the rival ESPer Tachibana bring him to his own school in the evening, trapping him in Sasaki's version of closed space.  There he will have to choose the future of the world, who will control the powers of a god.  His level headed but reluctant friend from middle school of the whirlwind of absurdity that is the girl who sits behind him in class.  Factions outside of his control are trying to force him to bend to their will through making a choice between A or B.  He is resolved with his decision and can't understand how they can force the transfer of abilities between the two candidates but is at a loss for how to prevent any of it.  All he want's to be able to do is restore Nagato to her fully functioning self again and let her defeat the dangers posed by the rival alien interface.  Yet, he is alone with two of his three enemies...convinced the most dangerous one will appear at the worst possible time.  He will have to rely on his own stabilizes...of which he surely has none, at least not on the level of the strange beings hes spent a year with.  Backed in to a corner is he really able to do what he knows must be done?

    This third part of the story arc went by really fast and had an interesting resolution to it's climax.  Through hints and down right blatant signs, the nature of Watahashi was always known, but there was a bit of a twist in her background as well that was fun.  The story did wrap up quite satisfactory as well and leads one to wonder if there was a need for any further volumes.  Though, the next volume took about 9 years to come out and was released in 2020.  The concern then is how will the quality hold up for this grand 'conclusion' to the SOS Brigade?  Reading these last three volumes made me yearn for a return of the fantastic anime at the hands of Kyoto Animation.  I would love to see this story line play out in a two part theatrical release.  The prior volumes can be jammed into a single cour of of TV anime.  But this entire arc, of the rival factions trying to force Haruhi to give up her abilities needs to be on the big screen, with higher animation.

    In the end of the day this entire franchise is a absurdist romance store.  It all comes down to Haruhi having emotional attachment to Kyon and her being really hard at being honest to him and perhaps herself.  Its hard to tell given the entire story is told from Kyons point of view, and he has been quite ignorant of her emotions.  In this third part of the anti-Brigade arc he starts to admit some things to himself, about her and himself.  He is also given a teasing glimpse of a potential future but even then feigns ignorance in its implications.  At the center of everything, Kyon has to ensure that he likes Haruhi as more than a school compatriot and that he will be faithful to her.  But, as this is a story about crazed super natural happenings, that decision is literally weighed against life, death and the fate of reality its self.  Yet, he still tries to downplay the reality of her feelings for him and why she lashes out and behaves the way she does.  Yet, he also comes back to her really just being a normal high school girl, even if she isn;t interested in living the idealized version of that.  He knows, particularly after he experienced a world with out her, that he wouldn't want it to be any way.  Now he just needs to be honest with her...but what sort of world shaking effect could that have and would she even be willing to be honest if he was?

Next up, volume twelve, The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya part 1 - light novel

  The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya, part 1 (涼宮ハルヒの驚愕 (前)) is the tenth volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This tenth volume was originally released in Japan in 2011 and in English in 2013.

Click here to read the synopsis of the ninth volume, The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow. 

    Unknown to him, Kyon and everyone else is existing in two parallel worlds.  In one of them Kyon's best friend from middle school, Sasaki, has her own ESPer, time traveler and alien representative.  The have joined up with the strange girl to attempt to transfer the godlike powers Haruhi possess to her, to ensure a safer future under a more reasonable deity.   Sasaki isn't so sure she is the right person to carry that burden or even wants it in the first place.  Everything hinges on Kyon, much to his bewilderment.  He and Sasaki are both resistant to the request and force the hand of the anti-SOS Brigade.  The attack comes in the form of causing Nagato to succumb to flu like conditions.  Haruhi jumps into action and takes it upon herself to nurse the alien back to health, wrangling Asahina into the task.  Meanwhile she tasks the two male members of the group to hold down the fort at the club room, in anticipation of any new members from the current freshmen.  Kyon knows that no amount of will power or home remedies via Haruhi will  bring Nagato back to her normal operational mode  Instead he recognizes this being an attack, most likely from the rival alien interface and confronts Sasaki's group about the attack.  But what leverage does he really have to convince three people of extraordinary abilities to listen to him?  Aren't they just tying to back him into a corner until he will relent to agree to their wild demands?

    At the same time, in the other reality, the Brigade is fielding a dozen or so potential candidates for new members.  Kyon is astonished at the level of interest their strange illegal club has drawn.  He is also leery of what strange rites of passage Haruhi has in store for the unprepared applicants.   Sasaki and her weird clique have stayed away and don't seem to be preparing for any sort of return.  Yet he is still uneasy, for an unknown reason.  One of the girls who is part of the applicants clicks something inside of him, a sense of familiarity.  He is quite sure he does not know her and has never met her, but that doesn't stop the tickle at the back of his mind.  Just to be safe he checks with the other members to see if there is anything unusual about her but to his relief none of the applicants are presenting as anything more than normal high school students.  All he has to content with is the absurdities that the fearless Brigade Chief will unleash in her random selection processes.  A process he suspects will result in everyone being rejects and the club going back to its standard five member status while the wile away the time before the next hiccup to her personality fires off.

    This, the second part of a potentially three part arc, followed the pacing of the last volume and burned slow and thought out.  It was really quite enjoyable over all and brings a new level of satisfaction to the world as a whole.  The two story lines, which switch off with each chapter, present a view point of how things could be different if given a change of behavior revolving around one point in time.  Where we saw the entirely different world in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, where Kyon was the only one how remembered the other world, this time we see both worlds independent of each other.  There are occasional hints that thinks may not be as they seem, particularly with some off side comments when Kyon and Koizumi converse.  Little hints that the world in which the Brigade is fielding a dozen new prospective members might not be real...more like a Matrix situation.  :Perhaps they are in a simulation.

    it will be very interesting how everything plays out in the second part.  These past two volumes have also been the strongest writing/story telling this series has seen in quite a while.  Tanigawa-san seems to have finally hit his stride with a cohesive and long range narrative, instead of going through various random story styles he fancies testing out.  I don't think this narrative will continue into volume twelve so this may be the last hurrah of the series from a really enjoyable perspective.  I'll have to enjoy the next volume for what it represents, possibly the last solid writing for the series for now.  I can't guarantee that the final volume will be as enjoyable as these past two were and the next one will probably be.  But, there is always hope for the apparent thirteenth volume?

Next up, the continuation of the Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya part 2 and possibly the resolution of this story line.

The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya - light novel

 The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの分裂) is the ninth volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This ninth volume was originally released in Japan in 2011 and in English in 2013.

Click here to read the synopsis of the eighth volume, The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow. 

    The new year has begun and Kyon is settling into being a second year student.  Not much has changed for his environment and circumstances though.  He is still in the same class as Haruhi and the SOS Brigade is carrying on as if nothing changed.  The group can't officially recruit new members from the incoming first years, but that isn't stopping Haruhi from doing just that, under the guise of recruiting for the literary club.  While the brigade chief is distracted, Koizumi informs Kyon that his people are again dealing with Haruhi's unstable emotions in the form of closed space.  He can't understand what has changed in the unruly girl to lead to the reversal of the past years calming events, even after its spelled out to him, he refuses to admit it.  The root of her current internal imbalance is jealousy.  Jealousy over a girl that accompanied Kyon as he met up with the others for a club outing on the final day of Spring break.  The girl, Sasaki, was a close friend of his during middle school and one that Haruhi views as a potential rival for Kyon's attention.

    Though Haruhi's reaction isn't wrong, it's just not for the correct reason.  On the morning of another planned SOS Brigade outing, Kyon wakes up early, hoping to finally beat her to the meet up.  He succeeds, but he wishes he would have slept in.  Instead of finding their normal stop devoid of other Brigade members he finds three girls, two he knows, one of which he has severe animosity towards.  In front of him, as if they were anticipating his arrival, are Sasaki, the rival ESPer that had kidnapped Asahina and a strange girl.  He quickly deduces that the mystery girl may be another artificial human interface, similar to Nagato, but likley from a rival faction of alien beings.  He is very uneasy about this as the enemies seem to bee gathering for something and are using his old friend.  The ESPer is introduced as Kyoko Tachibana and the strange girl is Kuyou Suou.  Kyon suspects that the rival time traveler he has higher levels for disdain for is nearby.  He learns that they have approached Sasaki and are on friendly terms with her.  Before he can learn any further details the other members of the SOS Brigade arrive...staring down their understood rivals.  Sasaki breaks the stale mate by ushering her group towards the train, giving Kyon and his group some space to calm down...but that may take more than just leaving for the time being.  After the days outing Kyon struggles with how to proceed.  But he wouldn't have to worry about that too much, given his reality is about to break off into two parallel versions of it's self.  Concurrently he would meet up with Sasaki's group in secret or not.  The Brigade would be awash with new members or it wouldn't and Haruhi would be coming up with a test for future prospects.  What could be going on and was this formed alliance of rival factions be the cause of the duality of events?

    This was a fun volume even if it was all set up for the next two volumes.  The past few stories have been building to the arrival of rival factions to work against the Brigade.  We know have the culmination and the basic understanding of their intentions.  They have rallied together under the concept that Sasaki is the one who should be in charge of modifying reality, not Haruhi.  They recognize Haruhi's ability and want to see it transferred to Sasaki, who is, in their opinion, far less likely to drastically change everything around them.  It is a self preservation situation for them, along with a conflicting ideology of godhood.  At the basic level it is a conflict of who's prophet is more deserving of their god like status...but with the caveat of one god not yet being of equal standing.  They have decided to approach Kyon, given his connection with Haruhi and his general unaffiliated status with any agency.  Yet can they overcome his devotion to his strange club mates?  Kyon, particularly after the incident before Christmas, has stated his intentions to maintain the status quo for as long as possible and is vocally resistant to their attempts to change his mind.  Yet he doesn't understand why they believe he has the ability to get Haruhi's abilities to transfer to Sasaki.

    Readers may get annoyed with the back and forth telling of the same time period in concurrent chapters in the second half of the book, but I was amused and entertained by it.  It broke up the monotony of linear story telling, bringing a new dimension to the series that it seems to have lost for a while.  This volume really makes me yearn for a return of the anime adaptation to see how Kyoto Animation would handle this, 'cus lets be honest, you cant have a Haruhi anime without KyoAni.  And given that Haruhi's voice actor, Hirano Ayo, has returned to acting following some pretty intense attacks by her 'fans'.  Plus given the live concert event that is taking place in early 2024, with Hirano in attendance....maybe this is a tease for a renewed series?  More than likely that is purely wishful thinking on my end, but I can dream can't I?  In any case, this volume returned the series to something that was fun and fresh, putting different twists on the way it tells the story.  Something that seems to have been lacking for quite a few volumes now.  Again though this volume was nothing but set up for the next two volumes, which will hopefully be entertaining.

Next up, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya part 1.

The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya - light novel

  The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの憤慨) is the eighth volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This eighth volume was originally released in Japan in 2006 and in English in 2012.

Click here to read the synopsis of the seventh volume, The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow. 

   Kyon settles in for what he hopes will be an event free end of the year as everyone prepares for finals and spring break before the new school year begins.  Unfortunately his desires amount to little...and a new threat to the existence of the SOS Brigade makes it's self known.  But it's not from some unfathomable source that could only exist in the depths of Haruhi's imagination.  The threat is from the recently elected student council president and a declaration to defund and close the literature club due to Nagato being it's only member.  If the literature club loses it's status as a club it will lose its room this depriving the SOS Brigade of it's hijacked meeting space.  The Brigade still exists in a status of unofficial and I recognized limbo that the student council has tried to ignore.  But the new president feels a need to flex his authority and target the unlawful Brigade in an indirect manner that could officially spell it's end 

    Nagato is given an ultimatum related to the continued status of her club as the new year looms.  It hasn't don't anything in the past year that would be considered club activity, therefore forfeiting it's status, coupled with the reality of their only being a solitary member.  The student council had approached Nagato as a way to avoid confronting Haruhi, understanding her brazen attitude.  The attempt failed when Haruhi, sniffing something amiss, bursts into the student council room to confront the president as he was delivering the ultimatum.  She rightfully recognized the immediate threat the ultimatum presented to the continued existence of the illegal student association known as the SOS Brigade and challenged the president to allow the literature club to continue existing if it was able to churn out a story collection, as the club had done in prior years.  The president relented to the demands, expecting them to fail.  With victory in hand, Haruhi set the task into motion, assigning the Brigade members with specific stories to compose.  Unknown to her, the entire incident is a charade put in place by the Agency which Koizumi is a member of.  The president, whether an ESPer or not, is part of the plan and was installed in his position at least partially to give this distraction to Haruhi with the potential for more in the future.

    Knowing the reality behind the ultimatum, Kyon finds it hard to invest himself in his own task of writing a romance for the anthology.  He isn't the only one struggling though, as the others find it hard to meet the critical demands of the self appointed editor-in-chief Haruhi.  She thrust writing assignments onto the others in the club, in a manner she felt fit their personalities.  But her task as final arbiter of the writings becomes the greatest threat to the publications completion, particularly with her continued critique of the works Asahina submits.  She understands that the core of the Brigade won't be able to produce a sufficient amount of material for the publication so she also forces other peripheral members to participate, including Tsuruya and the computer club.  As Kyon struggles to put pen to paper and come up with a romance story that would fit Haruhi's stringent requirements he wonders if the entire thing is even worth anyones time since Haruhi herself has been more calm than when he met her almost one year earlier.  Koizumi feels otherwise and will do what he deems necessary to stop closed space from appearing anymore.

    The final think the SOS Brigade tackles in the first year of its existence is a second client request for help exploring a super natural mystery.  The first one was at the hands of a gild names Kimidori, who also happens to currently be the student council treasurer...and in Kyon's eyes, connected with Nagato.  At that time she had contracted them to investigate the disappearance on her boyfriend, the head of the computer club.  The resolution of the incident left more questions than answers and Kyon was quite surprised and suspicious of a second request from the student body.  This new request for help was coming from one of Kyons own classmates, a semi-forgettable girl named Sakanaka.  She wants the Brigade to investigate a strange occurrence in her neighborhood that is affecting peoples dogs.  In the past few days all of the dogs that are taken for walks do everything in their power to avoid an area of town, an area that Sakanaka had previously been walking her pure bred dog until it started to actively resist going into.  Rumors began to appear among the neighbors about there being some disturbance of a supernatural nature, potentially a ghost.  She isn't sure if she believes it being a case of a haunting, but is desperate to have the Brigade look into it and find a solution, remembering flyers passed out in the beginning of the year offering such services.  Haruhi eagerly agrees but remains skeptical about it being a haunting and mobilizes the other members to begin the investigation right away.

    The Brigade is stunned when they go to their new clients home, her parents are quite well off and the modern splendor draws a sharp contrast to the traditional wealth and luxury they have experienced at Tsuruya's estate.  Sakanaka readies her dog for his evening walk and everyone heads out to begin the investigation, with Haruhi and Asahnia focusing more on the dog than anything else.  Once the reach a certain point on the usual route, the dog abruptly refuses to go any further and whimpers with worry.  Instead of turning back or forcing it onward, they go around the neighborhood finding other points the dog stops in it's tracks.  Through roughly pinpointing the different locations on a map they can speculate that there is a roughly central location and a circular area around it that the dog refuses to approach.  But that doesn't answer the question or why?  The center point appears to be located near the river that the Brigade is all too familiar with.  It seems to be close by the point that Kyon was supposed to toss the unlucky turtle into earlier in the year.  With not much more to go on the group ends the investigation for the day and heads home.  Things go from strange to bad when Sakanaka's dog becomes unexplainably ill, refusing to eat, drink or move very much.  The Brigade has to re-double their efforts and quickly before its too late to save the little dog they have fallen in love with.  But what is really behind this zone of avoidance and the inexplicable illness that has not only struck Sakanaka's dog but at least one more in her neighborhood.  Is this a new threat or an attack from a rival faction or another plot cooked up to keep Haruhi occupied?

    It took me quite a while to get through this volume.  The first half detailing the plight of the Brigade's meeting space and their attempt at putting together a literary anthology was rather...disappointing.  It was peppered with excerpts from the other members attempts at story writing but seemed more like the authors only way of playing with different ideas for plot lines and oddity in a way that didn't require much commitment.  The only saving grace was the introduction of an actual antagonist in the student council president and the return of Kimidori and increased background on her place in the story.  The introduction of these two can lead to more interesting narrations in future volumes but only time will tell if it amounts to anything.  The second part, the 'ghost' hunt was more interesting an easier to read as it had a plot trajectory.  Unfortunately it didn't stray too far from the basic concepts of the first SOS Brigade investigation into the disappearance of the computer club president.  Though they didn't face off against an ancient manifestation of a virus in this version...well, sort of.  Anyways, even though the second part was way easier to read through out of interest, this volume was pretty disappointing.  I only hope my assumption about the student council president will come to fruition.

    Next up; volume nine, The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya - light novel

 The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの陰謀) is the seventh volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This seventh volume was originally released in Japan in 2005 and in English in 2012.

Click here to read the synopsis of the sixth volume, The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow. 

    Kyon finally goes back to December 18th with Nagato and Asahina to save himself from Asakura as she tries to stop him from resetting the world to 'normal' mode.  With everything he is aware of now in its place he is looking forward to some less exciting days as the school year comes to a close.  Something troubles him though with Haruhi's attitude.  She seems off somehow, distracted, perhaps a little depressed and has been that way since the beginning of February.  But, if nothing strange takes place, Kyon isn't going to worry about it too much, trying to enjoy her being a little subdued for once.  Just when he thinks his life will be calmer he finds himself hiding in the club rooms utility closet with Asahina from eight days in the future.  She has come back in time, at future Kyon's request, for reasons unknown.  With no help for why there are now two versions of Asahina in the present, Kyon suddenly finds himself as the cause of his problems.  First thing first, he has to hide her from the version of her that should exist in this timeline and while picking her brain for clues to the reason behind her appearance.

    From what he can gather, everything seems to be tied between  an SOS Brigade outing over an extended holiday weekend, where they fruitlessly tear up Tsuruya's family mountain in search of hidden treasure and a failed attempt at searching the city for abnormalities.  The future Asahina was instructed to travel eight days in the past at the conclusion of a shady fundraising event Haruhi puts on, dressing Asahina as a shrine maiden.  As they struggle to keep her hidden and to try to understand why she would be sent back, Kyon receives instructions from the adult version of Asahina, instructing him to do certain things for unspecified reasons.  One such activity, during the Brigade outing leads eight days in the future Asahina and Kyon to encounter a boy who appears to be from a rival time traveling faction.  The first antagonist to their world since the eradication of Asakura.

     Shaken by the sudden appearance of an enemy, Kyon vows to do whatever it takes to protect what he and his brigade members have.  He vows to protect Asahina's future to the best of his abilities, confident that Nagato and even Koizumi will be reliable allies in the coming struggles.  Before he can deal with those unknowns he still has more tasks to complete for future Asahina.  The foreknowledge that their treasure hunting mission was a failure makes the task of digging randomly in the dead of winter even more miserable.  Yet, despite the lack of success, Haruhi does not seem bothered and instead remains optimistic.  After two days of failure they shift course and revive the town patrols they did on their first outing as a group.  This is the segment of time where Kyon has to complete a few tasks and stresses himself over the details and the ability to keep future Asahnia hidden as well as not arousing any suspicion from Haruhi.

    Things seem to go smoothly as they near the second day of patrols when a van speeds up beside he and future Asahina and snatch her off of the street before Kyon can register what is happening.  In a moment of panic he calls Haruhi to tell her Asahina was just abducted...but Haruhi doesn't fall for his prank as Asahina is right next to here....this times Asahina.  Kyon backs out of the mistake and hangs up, to then receive a covert call from Koizumi.  Koizumi tells him that his people are already in motion and he will be getting into a taxi to join the rescue operation.  he taxi pulls up and Kyon with the butler and maid from the two previous murder mystery games chase after the offenders.  The chase leads them into the hills near where they were digging for treasure and with an assist by the brothers from the murder games the culprits are trapped.

    Kyon now gets a moment to appreciate the situation and the real threat they are all in as a small group of people exit the van, along with an unconscious Asahina.  Kyons allies are willing to let them go if they agree to never interfer with the Haruhi group again.  The agree and leave the mountain on foot, abandoning their van.  The last person to leave the vehicle is the same boy from the previous day.  Their conversation confirms Kyons suspicion that this guy is a rival time traveler.  With Asahnia from 8 days in the future secure Kyon returns to the group, unable to tell Haruhi about the excitement he was involved in.  The following day they get together again to visit Tsuruya's mountain.  Haruhi instructs them to dig in the same spot they had before.  Not expecting anything, given they had dug it up earlier and replaced the dirt, they are shocked to discover a carefully burying container with handmade Valentines Day chocolates from the three girls.  Everything clicks into place as to Haruhi's behavior and Kyon is glad that the fate of the world is still secure.  Now he just has to make sure that this time lines Asahani succeeds in going back to the past 8 days to set everything into motion.

    Not since the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya have we had one complete story for a volume.  This  was a great return to form from the disjointed tales of the past few volumes.  The actual plot of this story though is less than relevant, whats important is the sudden appearance of rival factions that have before only been hinted at or hidden players in events.  Now Kyon has seen them face to face and the sense of threat is stronger than ever.  This volume really dealt a lot with solidifying Kyon's resolve to take on the roll that was thrust onto him since Haruhi took an interest in him.  His role as the lighthouse in Haruhi's skewed worldview.  Even if its more to protect the world of Asahina and Nagato, he has finally resolved to do everything he can to make sure things stay the course hes been informed if the correct path.  Things are beginning to click into place for him related to the future Asahina and why she is doing things the way she does.  His next concern is how much he can trust Koizumi's association of espers.  So far they have only been helpful and considerate, but his suspicion of Koizumi clouds his opinion of those associated with him.

     Its hard to see an end point for the story that has been evolving nicely over its course.  I keep wondering if we will ever see the characters outside of high school and how much time will actually transpire during the last remaining volumes of the story.  How much are we going to lean into Haruhi's feelings for Kyon?  To me the short stories seem to be the weakest, Nagaru really needs a long form narration to tell a compelling story.  Hopefully more of the later volumes will stick with one contained story that further expands the world and its secrets.  At the writing of this review the newest volume of the light novel is already out and activities to celebrate the anime are also pending in Japan.  I keep hoping this sudden live for this franchise could mean a third season of the anime.  There's obviously plenty of story to be told that only exists in the light novels.  But I dream too much some times...sometimes.

Next up, the Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya - light novel

The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの動揺) is the sixth volume in the Haruhi light novel series.  It was written by Tanigawa Nagaru with illustrations by Ito Noizi.  This sixth volume was originally released in Japan in 2005 and in English in 2011.

Click here to read the synopsis of the fifth volume, The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya. This series is 20 years old at this point, but spoilers follow.

     We find the members of the SOS Brigade enjoying the fruits of their Cultural Festival labors...or on Kyon's case, avoiding the terrible movie they made as much as possible.  His first stop is the yakisoba restaurant done by Mikuru's class, to enjoy the food graced by their heavenly beauty.  Afterwards he hides himself in one of the performance halls, only to be blindsided when Haruhi and Nagato appear on stage with instruments.  The two Brigade members are accompanying two older girls and they play a small set of original tunes that causes a stir all through out the school.  Once the performance is done Haruhi explains that she and Nagato decided to step in to help the band as their singer and lead guitarist was unable to perform due to an illness.  Given that Haruhi only had a few hours to learn the material her latent musical and performance skills we quite astounding.  How much of it was raw ability and how much was due to her mysterious abilities to bend reality.  Nagato on the other hand, can be perfect at anything her overlord allows her to excel at.  Either way, Kyon and the rest of the school was quite impressed with the showing and Haruhi adds another feather to her hat of notiety.

     The second part is the actual film the Brigade made, going through the ill paced and terribly wandering story of the Crime Fighting Time Traveling Maid  Asahina,

 

    Next we see the Brigade experience a little bit of strangeness in the short time between Kyon's fall down the stairs and their trip to the mountains.  A classmate of Kyon's from middle school suddenly calls him, professing his undying love for Nagato.  He convinces Kyon to act as his messenger and deliver a detailed and uncomfortable confession letter to the resident alien.  The following day he delivers the message and to his surprise she is actually interested in meeting the crazed boy, even if she can not agree with the terms of his love letter.  In a moment of thoughtlessness, the rest of the Brigade is soon aware of whats going on.  After relying the reply to the boy, the Brigade finds themselves standing in the cold late December winter watching two private high schools play each other in a game of American football.  Things become dire when the boy is carted off the field on an ambulance, potentially due to supernatural interference on the part of Nagato.  What is the reality of her response to this boys confession and is there something more sinister going on, as hinted at by Koizumi.

    The fourth story returns back to the snowy mountain mystery game being held at Tsuruya's familly cabin.  Once everyone is safe after the strange events in the abandoned lodge, they settle in for part 2 of the muder mystery they did during the Summer.  This time around, to prevent too much trouble, everyone is aware it is a game and nothing terrible is really happening.  Kizumi acts as the game matser, laying out the rules, introducing the parts of the performers and overseeing the group as they try to solve a locked room murder again, this time with out all the drama of it being staged like a real murder.

 

    The final story finds Kyon going on a date with Asahina, in secret, to buy new tea for the club room.  His dreams are soon crushed by reality as he notices that Asahina is hiding the reality of their day around town from him.  Asahina is merely following unexplained requests from her superiors causing her stress and lack of self confidence.  Through their wanderings the idea that alternate organizations, with motives counter to those he has been dealing with since the Spring, are out there as potential threats to his and everyone else's' safety.  Kyon is beginning to doubt who he can trust and what is really going around everything that is centered on Haruhi and how the world changed three years earlier, during Tanabata.

   We finally see the last of the story lines produced in the anime and are completely into territory that only exists in light novels with the conclusion of this book.  Again, the locked room mystery was incredibly boring to me, more so than what I thought was going to be the only story line from the mountain winter retreat in the last book.  But the depth that is starting to surface with the events of the date and love interest stories start to show future narratives that could be quite entertaining.  I have never liked the episode of the anime that showed the movie and it was even harder to get through in text form.  I have been struggling with the light novels for Haruhi.  I find I enjoy the anime far more than the novels.  I was wondering if it was because of the amazing work KyoAni did or how much I've watched the series over the years.  The light novels were pretty much translated verbatim for the anime scripts.  But there is something about this world that feels better animated.  I keep comparing it to literally the only other light novel series I have yet to read, a series that I also compare to Haruhi, The Rascal Doesn't Dream series.  I read all available Rascal novels as quickly as I watched the anime.   was immediately drawn into the world and find the novels to be far superior to the anime.  I have so much love for Haruhi but am not driven to burn through the books the way I was with Rascal.  What does that say about me or the source material?  Regardless, on to the great unknown for the last 5 volumes that are currently available, hopefully I re-find the joy I have in this series.

    Next up, book 7!