CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I loved the first volume of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, I was wondering if the sexual content continues at the same level throughout the rest of the series? Mainly, Haruhi grabbing other girls breasts and massaging them? I was kind of surprised when I first checked out the series here no one mentioned that, it was kind of embarrassing with my mom seeing it ^-^;;

Yeah, that alone turned me off completely to Haruhi right from the start. >__> From what I've read on other sites and seen of other reviews that aspect seems to stay within the show between Haruhi and that other chick. Though like you I have only watched the first disc so... XD

CAA has a review of the show here but you can also check out another review here as well. Hope this helps you out!

It's mostly breast/cosplay stuff, and it mostly continues.

Should note, that's about the limit of that sort of thing, too.

The fact that it doesn't get mentioned is probably because it isn't the point of what's happening. In most such anime situations, it's there for the fanservice. Here, it's there because Haruhi is that out-and-out weird a character. Haruhi fans come away feeling sorry for Mikuru, rather than enjoying it.

[Spoiler]It should be understood that Haruhi is not the protagonist in this series. Take this apart in classical plot analysis, you discover that Kyon is the Hero, Mikuru is a distressed damsel (but not love interest), Yuki and Itsuki are sidekicks, and Haruhi is, believe it or not, the Villain. Being a romantic comedy, it isn't unusual for a Villain to not be an actual evil person, but just the cause of all the trouble. It's also not unusual in these cases for Love Interest and Villain to be combined.

That's probably why people forgive her actions where they wouldn't forgive one of the protagonists. The audience understands (even when it's subliminal, like this case) that Villains do Bad Things. If Kyon had been grabbing Mikuru like that (except the standard accidental thing that keeps showing up in Anime) we would not be okay with it.[/Spoiler]

I would argue that Mikuru is the love interest, it's just more complicated than most.

[spoiler]It's a plot analysis issue. The love interest is central to a plot, but Mikuru is more of a sidekick position (kind of like Bond girls are. Only the one he married in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' really analyzes out as a love interest). She's also shown very early to be transient in Kyon's life, while he is figuratively wedded to Haruhi, since he apparently anchors her in reality. In Campbell analysis, Mikuru would actually be considered the 'Temptress', for example.[/spoiler]

Agrees with Mina \o.o/

Groping of Mikuru and cosplay seems to be the extent of.. things ^ ^;

Lol, I could imagine what your mom thinks of anime now XDD

I mean, once you get past the fanservice, the show is pretty good and hillarious.

Although I may say that one should not watch it in mixed company. I usually preview the anime I watch before I let my parents see it, to see if it's worth their time. Because we've seen quite a bit of anime together. DNAngel, DeathNote, and FMA specifically.

Yeah, I find it hard to take it seriously since it's not the main focus of the series. I believe it's also meant to make fun of certain fetishes, but I don't remember if that's true or not.

Hmmm, I don't think Mikuru gets a groping too many times after the first gropping :-? It's been a little while since I've seen the series, so I could be wrong ^__^;

EricTheFred (post: 1270762) wrote:[spoiler]It's a plot analysis issue. The love interest is central to a plot, but Mikuru is more of a sidekick position (kind of like Bond girls are. Only the one he married in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' really analyzes out as a love interest). She's also shown very early to be transient in Kyon's life, while he is figuratively wedded to Haruhi, since he apparently anchors her in reality. In Campbell analysis, Mikuru would actually be considered the 'Temptress', for example.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]For Mikuru to be the Temptress, Haruhi needs to be the protagonist/damsel. The show does not follow the Hero-Villain-Damsel motiff exactly, but if Haruhi is the Villain, and Mikuru is the Damsel, then we also should assume she is Kyon's "True Love" interest. In this senario, if Kyon ends up married to Haruhi, it's out of obligation/fear/success of the Villain's plot instead of love. That Kyon's relationship with Mikuru does not extend past the initial phases is not because they are not true loves, but because moving past that point results in escalation of "villainy" by Haruhi.

I like to think Kyon's relationship with Haruhi is a bit more complex than that, but he never really displayed feelings for Haruhi except to check her enourmous power. Haruhi only gets a break because she is selfish, not villainous, and is apparently unaware of the power at her command.[/spoiler]

[SPOILER]I had no idea the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya played so heavily into traditional roles. Probably because it doesn't.

No matter how you swap the cast around, Haruhi and Kyon are still the crux of the story, both structurally and emotionally. Yuki, Mikuru, and Itsuki are simply drawn to Haruhi to accent this, reducing them to set pieces, a harsh but fitting sentiment considering how much of the time she seems to think of them as things instead of people. All of them exist only to fill a role except Kyon, who fills absolutely no role whatsoever besides being himself, and is incidentally the only character who doesn't always let Haruhi get her way.

A friend of mine, allegedly fluent in Japanese culture, told me that there is no greater insult in Japan than to be purposefully ignored. This says that you don't matter, and that you are of so little importance, that there is no reason to account for you, or even acknowledge you. Haruhi frequently shows off this sort of behavior, such as when she uses Mikuru against her will, or even starts changing in the middle of class even though all the boys are still there. But then there's Kyon, and suddenly she's uncomfortable with this, demanding that he leaves the room.

It's a fairly telling scene.[/SPOILER]

[Spoiler]Just to add to what Fish said, which is put better than I could have, anyway. There is absolutely no conflict in Campbell-style analysis with the love interest being the antagonist. In fact, in the Jason and Medea story, Medea is the Villain and the Love Interest, while the Temptress is Creon's daughter, a girl who is completely innocent of any bad intent.

Mikuru even admits her role at the end of the first book (which is equal to the end of the first season in broadcast order) when she is saying the whole thing is her fault (having tempted him away from Haruhi) and wanting him to keep his distance so they don't cause more trouble. And, he shows all the signs toward the end of caring about Haruhi, rather than simply trying to keep her in check like the others are doing. This is why he is determined to tell her the truth rather than keep it hidden from her.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]It's all up to interpretation. Either way of looking at it neither correct nor incorrect. Classic Hero - Villain yadda yadda may not be the intent and does not encapsulate the entirety of the series and relationships, but it does fit from a certain point of view. It's a valid analysis. They do fit the roles Fred implied, if you want to look at it from that point of view.

In that vein, I believe you are correct Fred. For the purposes of the main story, Mikuru is the Temptress. I was thinking more on the emotional level the players themselves as they were during the Anime and not at the story as a whole as it is presented to the viewers. While Mikuru and Kyon may have feelings for each other that are not pursued out of fear and Kyon may end up with Haruhi more out of resignation than love (even if love follows later), it does not change the fact the that story is about Haruhi and Kyon.
[/spoiler]

Hey! Finally something I can say without a spoiler flag! (Although it only makes sense to those reading the spoiler flagged stuff above. Should I be spoiler-flagging it for that? Oh well...)

Termyt, you are quite correct. It is a question of interpretation, as all such analysis is. There is not right or wrong in Literary Analysis, unless the Literature teacher is very opinionated and you are taking an exam.

Everything I said above is specific to Campbell analysis anyway, which is often a matter of fitting square pegs into round holes, because it is too rigid. I'm pretty sure you could find some other theorist who would fit them into opposite roles.

I really enjoy this series, mostly for Kyon and his sense of humour/general remarks. The fan service also bothered me a bit, since an almost constant level is maintained throughout, but nothing worse than the introduction of Mikuru.

Besides that; the discussion encompassed by spoiler tags is very interesting. I have nothing intelligent to add to it though.

Well there is a H version of Haruhi and it has very very bad content.(Trust me to know that XD)

@ MRD- Well, we're not talking about that version(I really wasn't aware of such a version, but at the same time Im not surprised.). So no worries. And yeah, Id suspect anything that has an H version would have very, very bad content.

ADXC wrote:@ MRD- Well, we're not talking about that version(I really wasn't aware of such a version, but at the same time Im not surprised.). So no worries. And yeah, Id suspect anything that has an H version would have very, very bad content.

Its not a tv series, its just a video game that was made in Japan.

Which I don't understand why it was even brought up in the first place anyway.


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

Oh really? Well see Im ignorant about it so I didn't know.

There is a H version of everything. Everything everything.

Probably the Declaration of Independence, even.

Fish and Chips (post: 1271549) wrote:There is a H version of everything. Everything everything.

Probably the Declaration of Independence, even.

Goes along with a certain rule of the intarwebs, right?

I wasn't aware that there was either. Not really surprised either, but that's not really the issue/topic here ^__^

I would say that Haruhi had a lot of potential to go that way, but did a pretty good job with.. not going there

But, I guess almost all animes have the potential to turn out that way >_>

There is a H version of everything. Everything everything.

Probably the Declaration of Independence, even.

Really? Off the top of my head, the closest I can only think of are 2 H of World War II and one of the Iraq War. =/

Yes. The unfathomably huge volume of Pokemon H material proves that the multiseries is full of very, very bad content.

are we srsly talking about H versions of historic moments, guys?

Wouldn't the signing of the Declaration of Independence count as a yaoi not an H?

Okay that's bad, sorry guys. I couldn't resist.

ADXC (post: 1271676) wrote:Wouldn't the signing of the Declaration of Independence count as a yaoi not an H?

Okay that's bad, sorry guys. I couldn't resist.

LOL! That's funny!

EricTheFred (post: 1271226) wrote:It is a question of interpretation, as all such analysis is. There is not right or wrong in Literary Analysis, unless the Literature teacher is very opinionated and you are taking an exam.

What about intentio auctoris? What if the text had a point that you totally missed, or you made something up and read it in yourself?

Everything I said above is specific to Campbell analysis anyway, which is often a matter of fitting square pegs into round holes, because it is too rigid. I'm pretty sure you could find some other theorist who would fit them into opposite roles.

Campell's analysis is interesting, but has the problem that once you read him, you can't help but see his tropes in every story. EVERY. DANG. ONE.