Kyon is your ordinary high school freshman who has long given up on his childhood dreams of encountering the fantastic and supernatural...or so he thought. From the very first day of school, his classmate-the beautiful but eccentric Haruhi Suzumiya-makes it very clear that her only desire is to meet aliens, time travelers, and psychics! A chance conversation between the two inspires Haruhi to form the SOS Brigade, a school club created for the sole purpose of gathering together such supernatural beings. The initial members consist of the mute bookworm Yuki Nagato, the timid but voluptuous Miharu Asahina, and the polite and ever-smiling Itsuki Koizumi. By the end of this first volume, Kyon quickly finds out that these seemingly "helpless victims" of Haruhi's are actually members of secret organizations-both futuristic and alien-with the single aim of keeping watch over Haruhi Suzumiya as she is the pinnacle of some major calamity on the horizon...
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About the Author
Nagaru Tanigawa is a graduate of the Kwansei Gakuin University School of Law. In 2003, he won Kadokawa¹s Grand Prize for Literary World for his work on the Haruhi Suzumiya series.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Check the ISBNs Before Ordering!,
This review is from: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
Amazon has mized up the Light Novel hardback, paperback, and manga product listings and reviews. Please double check the ISBN #s before ordering so you know what product page you are on. The ISBNs and matching books are as follows:
The Manga ISBNs are: ISBN-10: 0-7595-2944-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-7595-2944-1 The Light Novel Paperback ISBNs are: ISBN-10: 0-316-03902-0 ISBN-13: 978-0-316-03902-4 The Light Novel Hardback ISBNs are: ISBN-10: 0-316-03901-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-316-03901-7 Also that being said the Light Novels are excellent! The manga... not so much. Disappointing to say the least but that is the topic for another review and sadly Amazon will only let me post one since these product pages are merged.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Manga review,
By teabiscuit (Sydney) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
Awful. Just horribly, horribly, mind-numbingly awful. That's basically how I'd describe volume 1 of the 'Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya' manga adaptation [NB: what everyone else has been saying - the hardcover option here is the light novel, which is amazing].
Basically, I came into Haruhi Suzumiya pretty fresh. I picked up the light novel on a whim, knowing next to nothing about it, and loved it. Afterwards I decided to read the manga as well, intending to watch the anime after that. Let me tell you, the manga nearly killed that idea. Everything about it is terrible. It's like a textbook on how not to make something classified as 'entertainment'. Let's see: the illustrations are awful, and look nothing like Noizi Ito's light novel illustrations, nor the anime (which I eventually decided to watch anyway... thank god, because it's awesome). Not only are the characters way off, especially Kyon, but the panels do not flow at all. Absolutely zero narrative is conveyed pictorially. I had to use my prior knowledge of the storyline to fill in like 80% of the storyline. Picking apart an English translation of a manga is always risky, because obviously a lot is lost in translation. Still, the text we have here is just... basically like somebody auto-summarized the light novel, and picked out random half-sentences that sometimes (... sometimes) correspond with the illustrations. 1% of the individual depth of the characters is communicated. The story you get is a sort of Haruhi-lite edition... as if somebody had recounted the light novel/anime's basic plot to a friend, and that friend told another friend, and then that friend told another friend, and that friend opened up an IM window with you and spewed out a vague semblance of the plot he remembered. So, yeah, in summary. Light novels (I've read the first 3): GREAT. Anime (I've watched the first season): GREAT. Manga (I also read volume two): SPITEFUL. Almost a crime against humanity. I'm only giving it two stars because, as it contains hints of the original storyline, it can't be considered a total, absolute loss. Because I'm a sucker idiot, I went out and purchased the next 4 volumes of the manga. The covers look nice, at least (yes, that's the manga cover on this amazon item page). I'm hoping it might get better. Hmm...
3.0 out of 5 stars
Acceptably Shallow,
By Neko Mode "Cat (Ear) Mode" (So Cal, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
Being neither particularly good nor bad probably the only thing I can say about this manga is that it is merely "acceptable" or "mediocre". The art is decent through not particularly detailed it has its own charm reminiscent of the Japanese "superflat" style of art. The biggest problem with this manga is the pacing which is simply way too fast. It relies on the reader's previous knowledge of the novels or the anime and without it many of the characters may come off as shallow.
The problem with the manga probably has something to do with the medium itself. The novels and anime relied a lot on the main character Kyon's narrations and introspections to develop the supporting cast and narration is hard to do in a manga as a medium I would think because huge blocks to text and internal monologues just don't work well in that format. Though the format has its limitations I believe another major issue is the pacing which is almost frantic throughout the manga again leaving little room for character development. It feels almost like they didn't approach the manga with the intent of making a new manga but rather transcribing all the events of the series into manga format and in doing so it chugs along like a train through plot giving barely a glance to each event before moving on. The pages are packed, the text is heavy, and things move by just way too fast. Maybe I am being too harsh because not only have I seen the anime but read the light novels as well. In the end for a fan of the series I am left somewhat disappointed with the end result of the manga. At the end of the day the manga is a preview of the light novel. The novels are excellent so be sure to check them out if you haven't already. This manga doesn't do them justice, though the anime is a great adaptation! Conclusion: Forgetting all my own previous notions and for someone without previous knowledge of the series this really doesn't stand out. Neither good, nor bad, It ends up with passable, but charming art, somewhat shallow characters, and a really fast paced plot.
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