Yen Press, creators of the popular startup manga magazine Yen+, provided a panel much in the same vein as Del Rey's panel a day before. The beginning of the panel consisted of Rich Johnson bantering with Japanator reader Chris (a.k.a. KuronoK), a pastime which would become central to the panel. As is the case with Del Rey, bloggers like me LOVE Yen Press. Their informal, exciting, and funny panel started with a quick recap of the status of the Haruhi Suzumiya manga, which releases in three weeks. The light novels will release in April, and a sneak preview of them is in the back of the manga. Of course, there were a few (some might call it a giant box of) copies of the manga that Rich had happened to bring with him, so we would be winning them as prizes for answering questions.

Soon after that, Rich and his cohorts Kurt, Juon, Tania, and Abby went right into Yen's list of new titles. I've listed them below:

• Hero Tales, written by Huang Jin Zhou and drawn by Hiromu Arakawa (FMA) - October 2009
• Spice and Wolf light novels by Isuna Hasekura - December 2009
• 13th Boy by SangUen Lee - June 2009
• Welcome to Wakaba-Soh by Chako Abeno (Sola) - June 2009
• Sugarholic by GooGoo Gong - June 2009

After that, the entire panel was composed of Rich asking questions, and giving copies of the Haruhi manga to those who got them right (or to random people who made a comment he liked). Chris had to wait more than half the panel for a copy from Rich, who took a sick (and hilarious) pleasure in depriving the boy. Eventually nearly everyone in the room who wanted one - including Chris - was given a copy, and Brad Rice even got the box that held them! Overall, the panel was a lot of fun, and the news was given in a refreshingly concise style, making it easy on bloggers like me.

If you've been hungrily searching for more Haruhi Suzumiya in the past two years since its first season aired (who hasn't?), you've likely stumbled across one or two of the parody comics featuring the likenesses of Haruhi or the green-haired Tsuruya. According to Kyoto Animation, YouTube will soon be host to two short animations based on artist Puyo's The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya-chan and artist Eretto's Nyoro~n Churuya-san.

If you're interested in checking out the original comics, the Churuya-san 4koma strips are available through SOS-Dan. As far as I know, the Haruhi-chan comics are not available online, but feel free to correct me if you manage to find them.

We don't know yet if KyoAni will be animating this or just shelling it out to another studio. What we do know is that this is the only thing that can keep us happy when season two is inevitably delayed... Nyoro~n.

[via Anime News Network, Japanator]

At roughly ten o'clock on Monday in Japan, the official Haruhi site went down. It was replaced with a 404 error and pictures of the North High school grounds used last year at haruhiism.com with a scrolling message. The importance of the date (7/7/08) is based upon Tanabata, a Japanese holiday which has special importance in The Disapperance of Haruhi Suzumiya. The site returned on Tuesday, but if you wish to see the July 7th version, it is avaliable on Google's cache.

[via haruhi.tv]

Done wetting your pants little kiddies? According to a post on anime blog Canned Dogs, an announcement in Newtype (the Japanese one) says that new information about the second season of Haruhi Suzumiya will be released in the July issue of the same magazine.

Also, as reported by an SOS-Dan forums poster, the official Haruhi fan club has confirmation that the new season will be based on The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the fourth novel in the series. News will be released as it comes.

EDIT 1: Early scans of the Newtype July issue have been released on 2chan. They can be found here. The magazine will be on sale June 10th in Japan, so we can expect the article to be translated that week.

[via SOS-Dan]

A new independent game called Audiosurf was released this afternoon. It can be classified as a casual game similar to Guitar Hero, where a highway is made using the tempo of the song playing, and colored blocks must be collected to form 3 groups or more. The hook of the game is that is can take any song (or actually audio file) and the game will analyze it, then make the highway. There is more than one type of way to play, and it's interesting to say the least. I may review it later, but for now I will just post two songs as example.

God Knows (the famous Haruhi Suzumiya concert song by Aya Hirano to Pointman Pro mode):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2ZFG4brYwb8

Through the Fire and Flames (the insanely hard Dragonforce song, to Double Vision Pro mode):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yrMWXZ53IiM

For anyone who is interested, the game and demo are avaliable on Steam now. The game is ten USD, demo is obviously free.

AniGamers has just officially entered an exciting partnership with our friends at the AnimeLeague Reviewer's Scheme, a group of forum members who write reviews for the British anime forum AnimeLeague.

As of today, our two reviewing groups have started a review-sharing partnership in which I negotiate the trading of "guest reviews" with Arya, leader of the Reviewer's Scheme. It is only for anime right now, but will soon expand to video games. The first reviews to be shared are The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, shared from AniGamers to AnimeLeague, and Lucky Star, shared from AnimeLeague to AniGamers. This review-sharing agreement should be a great boon to both of our web sites, allowing us to simultaneously increase content and drive visitors to our sites, all while forging friendships with writers from other sites.

(Credit for the Haruhi and Lucky Star reviews go to Vampt Vo and MewElf respectively)

Media: Manga/TV Anime
Genre(s): Humor, Parody, School Life, Science Fiction, Slice-of-life
Directors: Hiroshi Yamamoto/Tatsuya Ishihara
Studio: Kyoto Animation
Number of Episodes: 14
Licensed? Yes (Bandai)

Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu, better known as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, is one of the most popular anime in the past few years. Adapted from the hit Japanese light novel series by Nagaru Tanigawa, Kyoto Animation's anime series features an adaptation of the first few novels, with character designs by Noizi Ito (of Shakugan no Shana). It follows the story of a typical Japanese high schooler nick-named Kyon. (You never find out what his real name is) He used to believe in aliens, time travelers, psychics, superheroes, and evil corporations, but he recently grew out of these childish thoughts. When Kyon comes to school, he meets a beautiful girl named Haruhi Suzumiya. However, in her introduction to the class she makes it clear that she is not interested in socializing with anyone who is not an alien, time traveler, or psychic.

From there, Kyon eventually befriends the strange girl and accidentally encourages her to form her own club. The "Save our World By Overloading It With Fun Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade," or S.O.S. Brigade is formed to "solve mysteries and unusual problems for people." Haruhi, an energetic, bossy, and often mean personality, gathers together members to solve these mysteries. These include the quiet, eclectic Yuki Nagato, the incredibly cute Mikuru Asahina, and the ever-optimistic Itsuki Koizumi. As you might have guessed, the show is a subtle parody of anime in general. Throughout the show, the twistings of the plot end up gently satirizing everything from school life to space operas to romance to existential science fiction. (The overlong name for Haruhi's club can be seen as a parody on the long names given to anime series, organizations, and episode names) In the background of the whole show, Kyon gives his sarcastic commentary on the unfolding events.

First off, do not be put off by the unprofessionalism and lack of plot in the first episode. It is a student made video created by the SOS Brigade for a school fair. If you watch it as a random comedic moment, the video is the most hilarious part of the entire series. (Especially after having seen the series and knowing the characters) The plot in Haruhi is...interesting... Please note that my review of it will be limited in detail so as not to spoil the plot details. The show begins with a very lighthearted, school-life comedy feel. You're expecting Azumanga Daioh mixed with a moe (a kind of cute, intentionally likeable young character) harem theme. Instead, around halfway through the show, you are treated to lots of sci-fi and fantasy elements, and the school life comedy becomes more of a sci-fi comedy. Haruhi has an important secret, and this is what the show ends up revolving around. you discover more and more about said secret, and watch the Brigade go through some crazy adventures. Suddenly, you reach a climax that has a lot of emotion, (and high production values of course) but feels rushed and tacked on. In the end, you can appreciate Haruhi for its comedy, but when it tries to be more serious, it can lose a viewer's interest due to its intentional lack of originality. While it tries to parody many different anime genres, this makes it feel random and hard to follow. Finally, the episodes are chronologically out-of-order, (for example, the first one is actually episode 12 or so) which both confuses the viewer and lends itself to TMoHS's unique and mysterious style.

In the end, though, Haruhi Suzumiya is driven almost solely by the characters. They combine a kind of moe appeal with very funny and over-the-top personalities. Kyon keeps the series from getting too serious by giving his sarcastic commentary on even the most dire events. Haruhi is so energetic that she drives the story all by herself. She busts into rooms with a scarily huge smile, blackmails people, and forces her club to participate in events. Yuki is fairly popular right now, for reasons I can't explain without giving away the plot. Let me just say that she gets some pulls off some very cool stuff, which is all accentuated by her quiet, nerdy personality. She's always reading books, and seems to have an answer for every problem the SOS Brigade comes across. Mikuru...hm, how to say this. She's primarily existant for fanservice. Big-breasted, clumsy, and innocent, she is engineered to be an otaku's dream. She can be funny, but mostly serves as a vessel for fanservice and a parody of fanservice. On that note, this series does have fanservice, but it is rare and restricted to the upper body. (nothing is really shown) Finally, Koizumi is cool and collected. He helps Kyon cope with the strange events happening around him, but always seems far too laid back and happy. He's interesting, but lacks a really fun personality.

Kyoto Animation worked an absolute miracle on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, animating the show with amazing brightness, clarity, and quality. The incredibly clean art and lively character designs are clear proof of the ability of animation to greatly enrich a series. You aften forget errors in the story because the characters move so realistically and express themselves so vividly. Hirano Aya, J-pop singer and voice actress for Haruhi Suzumiya's character in the show, sings all of the show's songs. She sings with a lot of emotion and has some ealy good range. Of course, Aya sounding exactly like Haruhi really connects these songs with the show as well. Plus, the music is just so catchy!

The voice acting is surprisingly good not only across the board, but across the languages. Fans of the Japanese performances (which were great) will be pleased to find very skilled American voice actors lending their voices to the characters. Crispin Freeman pins down the deadbeat Kyon nearly perfectly, Wendee Lee works wonders with the energetic part of Haruhi, while Johnny Yong Bosch, Michelle Ruff, and Kari Wahlgren also deserve mentions for their performances as Koizumi, Yuki, and Tsuruya respectively. Each of these actors and actresses was cast extremely well, and the credit for that goes to Bang Zoom! Entertainment, who have worked on a huge number of dubbed series, among them such classics as Rurouni Kenshin, Mahoromatic, and Eureka Seven. The only problem in the voice acting is the same problem seen in the characters. Mikuru is voiced in both versions by annoying high-pitched women. While they capture her character well, they end up being jarring and unrealistic.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is quite simply an otaku's dream. The plot is quick, exciting, and funny, and the characters are some of the most unforgettable in recent years. While the show can get off-track and a little too weird and serious for its own good sometimes, it still rings true as a modern anime classic. Even for those who have seen the fansubbed versions, (come on, you know you have) the dub is worth watching for its new (and refreshingly well-produced) take on the series. TMoHS is a thrilling adventure as much as a heartfelt romance, a powerful sci-fi as much as it is a hilarious comedy. It is my belief that Haruhi is destined to become a fan classic in the years to come, and it surely deserves the honor.

Animation:		4.0		Average: (3.5 stars)
Plot:		3.0
Voice Acting:		3.5
Sound:		3.5
Overall:		3.5

In the midst of the E3 buzz, I still managed to pull up some anime news. A July 11 update on the official Haruhi Suzumiya anime site (Japanese text) officially confirms the existence of a second anime season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. No other details were given, but are sure to follow in the coming weeks.
[via AnimeNation]

Anime News Network is holding a contest in which 10 lucky winners will receive a free copy of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Character Soundtrack 2: Yuki Nagato before it hits stores. All you will need to do is write an entry describing how big of a Haruhist (or fan of TMoHS) you are. The winners will be chosen at random, but ANN will weed out those who are not big enough Haruhists.
[via Anime News Network]