With this review, I’ll have covered basically all of the Haruhi anime + spinoffs. Maybe there’s still an OVA or something like this, but this is it. No more Haruhi after this review.
My first Haruhi post was published on April 16, 2019.
Making this almost an entire year of Haruhi related posts.
Pretty crazy.
So often I look back on this blog and can’t believe how long it’s been!
And here’s another case of that.
It’s a Spin-off
A spin-off of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu (The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki) follows the alternate world introduced to us in the movie The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. Only the Kyon of this world also has no knowledge of the supernatural, making it a total alternate world.
And so what this anime does is it gives us the Haruhi universe once again, only supernatural free, in a slice of life + comedy format. All the same characters and whatnot, just packaged in an alternate timeline with an alternate art style.
It’s No Melancholy
One of the biggest changes to grow accustomed to is the fact that this is not The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It’s a slice of life + comedy that uses the same characters and a similar world, but it completely lacks that supernatural element. Coming from Melancholy, it can probably seem boring by comparison.
Both series are slice of life with comedic elements, but Melancholy has that X factor – Haruhi and her powers. Meaning that Melancholy could create all sorts of ridiculous situations that would force the members of the SOS Brigade to scramble trying to fix or cover up for Haruhi. Nagato Yuki-chan doesn’t have that at all.
So instead what we have is a fairly standard school slice of life featuring the cast of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, in a literature club, just doing whatever. Just like pretty much any other school slice of life, because that X factor is gone.
Good, bad, it’s whatever you’d like to make of it, but Nagato Yuki-chan is nothing like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
It’s Cutesy
Nagato Yuki-chan switches up the art style on us, adopting a much more cutesy style that I personally think fits the more relaxed tone of the anime perfectly. You can expect more chibi segments, exaggerated looks, and a softer feel overall from previous Haruhi titles.
Of all the things Nagato Yuki-chan does, this is probably my favourite. I really liked the art style. It feels odd at first to jump into an anime featuring the exact same characters but in a different art style, but once you get used to it, I think it’s great. It helps give this season it’s own feel.
It’s Fairly Standard
The final point I’ll make here is just that Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu is a fairly standard school slice of life anime. You could watch this not having seen any of the other Haruhi anime with no problems. You could also watch any other average school slice of life and probably get about the same level of enjoyment.
This anime doesn’t break any boundaries, or do anything particularly amazing. It’s a decent school slice of life anime, similar to something like GJ-bu, which I consider to be the baseline for what constitutes a school slice of life (especially if a club is involved).
I’d actually say that Nagato Yuki-chan isn’t as cutesy or relaxed as GJ-bu, but it makes up for that a bit with a great cast of characters that we know and love from the Haruhi anime.
Rating
Hopefully I’ve driven this point home by now.
Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu is a good anime, but nothing too special.
I’m giving it a 7 / 10.
One of those anime that you could watch to pass the time, but you could just as easily pass on it and I’d understand that completely.
And that’s it.
Almost an entire year of Haruhi has reached it’s completion.
I don’t think I ever expected the Haruhi watch-through to ever take this long, but here we are, and there we go!
Goodbye Haruhi.
Until next time,
Thanks for reading.
Umai Yomu Anime Blog 
Well at least you didn’t hate it. Most people really dislike this show and I don’t understand why. However, I do disagree with the statement that it’s NOTHING like the series it comes from. There are several episodes that feel like they could be in the original show, sans the art style change. I also like the fact that it clearly refers to the continuity of the events we’ve seen from everything else. There’s a lot more going on than just a “regular’ SoL kind of show and so that’s why I can rate it so highly I think.
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Well the context when I say that it’s nothing like Melancholy is that it completely lacks the supernatural element. Melancholy is all about protecting the world / Haruhi from herself. Even if the tone might feel similar at times, this season lacks that element, closest it gets is when Nagato has a bit of a personality mixup, which is a far cry from Melancholy.
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