NOTE: This post is a part of an effort on my end to bring my Reddit content to Lemmy.

Original Posting Date: 29/07/2022

Post:

She’s an insolent, stubborn, selfish piece of shit that won’t stop for anything to get things her way. Cast aside the over arching plot of supernatural stuff, she’s still an asshole. I hate her and the more I go into this series, the more I hate her with a burning passion.

Edit: adding that I’m yet to watch the movie. My opinion could change over time so let’s hope for the best.

Also, some people seem to think that I hate the series. Hell no. I’ve laughed my ass off at Kyon and the gang being annoyed at her whims and fantasies. I also know that that’s the point of her character. But apparently it’s criminal to join the subreddit of an anime to discuss our thoughts unless they’re positive opinions.

Lemme know what your views are.

Edit 2: This comment is really awesome. (Was posted by u/Cerber4444 on Reddit)

Okay, hear me out. I’m a big fan of this show myself. But Haruhi is indeed has not the best character in universe. But its kinda the point of the show. She isn’t badly written character, she’s a character with bad behaviour. She is designed with that in mind.

This whole show is partially a big self aware parody of clichés in anime. You know like in typical anime there is always main girl who is loved by people in anime itself and fans, but in reality she would be annoying and simply toxic friend/girlfriend.

Haruhi is this character but put in realistic setting. That’s why everyone in school avoid Haruhi, despite her being beautiful looking. Because that’s how any real person would react to insane girl who is not considering of their surroundings.

Same with other cast- Koidzumi, Mikuru and Yuki seems to be your regular one dimensional characters. But in reality they are good writen characters with their own motivation, secrets, internal conflicts and overall depth.

Overall this show is about four students who is friends with that annoying and toxic main character, and despite understanding that she is bad for them, they can’t leave this relationship because of existential threat for our world from Haruhi. Well three of them arrived to this time and place specifically because of this threat.

And remember how sometimes this show gets a little bit dark? Koidzumis monologue in taxi and on bridge, for example. He is turning it to a joke, but it doesn’t feel like a joke. That kind of moments make me confident, that all this dark theme between the lines was intentional.

And yeah, like Kyon said- he is a voice of reason for Haruhi, and he is changing her to a better side little by little. And his love to her is becoming obvious in this context. Because it’s isn’t rare, when a person falls in love with someone who is toxic, but displays a redeeming qualities time to time.

I could go on and on about all of this, but I already said a lot. And that is making this anime one of my favourite. It has so much depth, despite appearing as regular one dimensional anime at first glance.

Update: I watched the movie. Here’s my post talking about it.

Oh and one more thing: Nagato is best girl. Fight me, Harusimps.

  • 柊 つかさ@lemmy.worldM
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    1 year ago

    Obviously Haruhi (the character) is a bad person and she is written to be like that. I also find the series good but I share your frustration a little bit. When I asked myself why I was kind of upset at Haruhi when watching it took me a while to come up with a reason. In the end, I think the irritation comes from the lack of consequences for Haruhi. Usually one expects, or hopes, people who structurally hurt others to bite the dust in the end. That one can only temporarily get away with hurting others. But in the Haruhi story, they can’t exactly stop her easily because she might end the world if she grows tired of it. Kyon stops her sometimes but usually he does not have that strong of a backbone (he vows to protect Mikuru from Haruhi but usually has to let it go). Another option is that bad people in fiction usually are expected to have some personal growth if they are not villain (and even if they are, sometimes). Haruhi seems to change and soften up a bit but I guess not as much as many hoped for.

    In the movie, Yuki seems to be more important than Haruhi which some may regard as a positive. In the spin-off Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu (長門 有希 ちゃん の 消失), Haruhi is clearly still “Haruhi” but a much softer version that is more likeable and shows more of the good sides she has.

    • ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I’ve noticed that the series never got around to showing Haruhi growing. There’s a lot to say about why that is. But as I’ve gathered, the sequel Light Novels apparently show her grow.

      The most important reason for why Haruhi’s character seems to not grow in the first 2 seasons at all is probably easily boiled down to the fact that this series was released at a time when weekly show watching on TV was the trend as opposed to the streaming approach that we are now used to in today’s Internet era. I think they planned on a longer run that allowed them to cover all the stories. What ended up happening was that after the fire in KyoAni, they decided to just do one movie. This made it a sudden jump for many characters’ arcs.

      For example, as I’ve mentioned before, Haruhi’s character is much more “mature” in the movie, meaning she’s not an asshole. She cares about Kyon and she shows it.

      This is a stark contrast to the pace they had in the show. Plus, IMHO, the Endless Eight arc could’ve been 2 repeated episodes and one montage episode. Instead of wasting a good 8 episodes on this crap.

      That would’ve also allowed us to add another smaller story before the Endless Eight arc (EE from now onwards), and having EE end the season would’ve made it a seamless transition into the movie.

      As far as I remember, they also released the show our of order (for whatever reason), and that, to me, would’ve helped them solve the EE situation further…

      Anyway, on to the more important aspect of your comment…

      In the movie, Yuki seems to be more important than Haruhi which some may regard as a positive.

      There’s nothing that would sell me this movie more than an extended focus on Yuki and just ignoring Haruhi. 😂

      • 柊 つかさ@lemmy.worldM
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        1 year ago

        I like the endless eight arc. It’s daring, bold and shows artistic expression over just pleasing the crowd. I like the focus on Yuki in the movie, the rooftop scene was quite touching. I have to admit, Haruhi and Kyon were very cute in the hospital scene. Until she starts making demands again haha.

        • ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          I appreciate the effort that went into EE and the amount of time it probably took to set it all up. But I feel like even a 3rd day would’ve been fine to hammer home how suffocating that moment must feel. And followed by the 5th one with that compilation of all the various endings.

          Ikr. That last scene is beautiful. Plus, it’s snowing, and her name is Yuki (literally snow in Japanese). Truly beautiful.

          Agreed. That scene was the real Tsundere Haruhi (Tsunderuhi lol).

  • baltakatei
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    1 year ago

    Young people are flawed because they are young; they havenʼt had much time to get feedback on what types of behaviors are appropriate. Well-written high school students must all have obvious flaws. Many stories exist in which the flaws are superfluous or irrelevant to real life; worlds centered around wish fulfillment (e.g. isekai, harem, hentai) do not let characters grow or they grow in ways incompatible with real life; they should be treated like the fantasies they are: a goal state you cannot access.

    That said, life without goals is boring. Goals, by definition, are future events and a future is defined by the fact a narrative between it and the present is not yet defined. Haruhi sets unreachable goals. Haruhi breaks social norms and taboos to achieve her goals. Haruhi is a criminal (trespassing, sexual assault, larceny). Haruhi is not a good person (does not listen, does not communicate well, does not respect boundaries). At the end of the light novel series, Haruhi is still an immature impulsive young person.

    Yet, that impulsiveness can be appealing to watch since you miss every shot you donʼt take. I’m reminded of the Gary Larson comic of a spider telling another about why theyʼve built a web across the end of a playground slide: “If we pull this off, weʼll eat like kings.”.

    • What if defacing a schoolyard allowed you to talk to aliens? You could, in theory, ask the school principal for permission to use school equipment to draw your pattern. Youʼd probably be denied and recommended for a psychiatric evaluation. Instead, you could just deface the schoolyard. A real alien might actually answer you.
    • What if your classmate enjoyed you stripping their clothes off? You could, in theory, ask them and risk being avoided as being seen as a pervert. The conservative strategy would be to take time to get to know them and, when theyʼre feeling particularly open, to ask if theyʼd be okay with your sexually charged request. Instead, you could just start stripping their clothes off and see what happens. Your classmate might actually have been waiting for you to make a move.
    • What if you won a film festival award for a story you dreamed up one night? What if that ridiculous fantasy you heard as a child was actually true? Film festivals are basically social clubs formed by wealthy patrons who take turns giving awards to film makers of baseline competence with superior lobbying skills, so a high schooler would be very unlikely to succeed unless their parents were already wealthy members of such a club. Instead, you could just start filming and see what happens. Your film might actually get noticed and recognized.

    So, Haruhi is flawed like a DNA-mutating free radical in your body is flawed: destructive most of the time, but also a key requirement any change (i.e. natural selection-powered evolution) to take place.

    • ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Holy moly that’s a huge response.

      So, this paragraph

      Haruhi sets unreachable goals. Haruhi breaks social norms and taboos to achieve her goals. Haruhi is a criminal (trespassing, sexual assault, larceny). Haruhi is not a good person (does not listen, does not communicate well, does not respect boundaries). At the end of the light novel series, Haruhi is still an immature impulsive young person.

      …kind of covers my grievances.

      And this…

      Yet, that impulsiveness can be appealing to watch…

      Covers why I continued to watch.

      The fact that her every action infuriates me, and that I’m rooting for everyone else, kept me going.

      Also, there’s quite a few things I’m genuinely afraid of… But finding out that God is an angsty teenager who’s yet to hit puberty is a fear I never knew I had… Goddamn.

  • LagrangePoint@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You walked right into a Haruhi community and created a post called “I hate Haruhi” but it’s well-written, is clearly not a ragebait piece, and you gave us all a light challenge at the end by calling everyone Harusimps lol. Nice job.

    Your sentiment toward Haruhi doesn’t seem unusual. Time and time again I see this feeling of “but I hate Haruhi” echoed in message board threads from confused people trying to find the appeal in the show.

    But apparently it’s criminal to join the subreddit of an anime to discuss our thoughts unless they’re positive opinions.

    I miss what Reddit used to be. I know now that we’re never going to get that back. Hopefully we can have a better start over here.

    • ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      You walked right into a Haruhi community and created a post called “I hate Haruhi”

      Hehehehehe.

      but it’s well-written,

      Thank You so much 😭❤️. I wrote this while having a fever and I swear it’s one of those “I can’t believe I wrote this” moments 😂.

      is clearly not a ragebait piece,

      Ironically, my post was removed from r/anime because they said it was 🤣.

      trying to find the appeal in the show.

      I know right?! It is astonishing to me, how much effort it took me to get through the goddamn Endless Eight. As insanely interesting it is as a concept, and the amount of effort that went into it to animate, voice and edit those episodes again and again slightly different from the previous… I still could not find out why they tortured the real-time watchers this way 🤣. Poor souls had to watch the same fkn episode eight times in a row every week… That too out of order.

      Hopefully we can have a better start over here.

      Exactly why I posted this here. 1) one of my best posts about any media I’ve watched and 2) the need for good posts to have conversations.

    • ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      The movie is, IMO, the best of the animations. Oh man it’s awesome ❤️. Definitely go check it out. It’s called The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.

      Also yes Nagato is best.

      hehe boiiiii