Isn't she ridiculously adorable?
After being absent for a very long period of time, J is finally back in the blogging scene. This time I’ll be writing about the Sigh arc of SHnY; but since all the episodes have already aired, I guess I’ll just make a couple of great giant posts, instead of five bite-sized ones. So here we go!
sigh clearly the disappearance arc has disappeared
Summer is finally over (finally), and the second term begins. The first episode starts off with a relay race between the clubs of North High. Yuki literally files across the track, leaving the other runners to bite the dust, spreading Suzumiya Haruhi’s Merry Friends’ reputation as weirdofreaks yet further.
I-is that Azunyan? A-and Ritsu?!
It’s autumn, and everyone in North High is excited about the upcoming Cultural Fest — that is, everyone except a certain Class 1-5. Ever since the “mysterious disappearance” (Kyon speaks as if he has nothing to do with this) of Asakura Ryouko, the class has been left in shambles, without a leader. Haruhi is disgusted by their lack of motivation, and promptly decides to do something much, much more exciting with the SOS Brigade.
In the clubroom, Haruhi and Co. hold a meeting about Haruhi’s new pastime supercool project: the filming of an independent movie. Apparently she figured that any joe could flim a half-baked movie, and that she could do better. She proceeds to declare herself as the producer, the director, and the screenwriter (big surprise there). Kyon’s attempts to dissuade her prove to be futile, (big surprise again !) as his input is completely ignored by the tyrannical Brigade Chief, and the group of jolly pals are dismissed. Kyon admits that he is a bit curious as to what kind of movie would hatch from Haruhi’s eccentric mind.
"Yuki, are you alright with Disappearance being postponed?" "I don't mind." "Okay, cool."
The next day, Kyon enters the clubroom to find that Haruhi has assigned roles for everyone to work on in the movie. Mikuru is appointed the heroine’s part; Yuki as the antagonist; and Itsuki plays the male lead. Much to Kyon’s dismay, he will be getting zero screen time, and as if to ridicule him further, he is in charge of all the menial tasks that may occur during the filming process.
Haruhi brings up the necessity of a camera to begin filming, and so she, Kyon, and Mikuru head down to the shopping district in town.
M-Mio! And Yui, too! Maybe they go to that all-girls' (!!) school at the bottom of the hill (that would explain the uniform!).
Upon arriving at the shopping district, Haruhi takes the two of them to an electronics store. Her conversation and negotiation skills works wonders; she manages to persuade the storekeeper, a kind-looking middle-aged man, to hand over a digital camera free of charge, much to Kyon’s confusion. The three then head over to another part of the shopping district, and acquire a couple of BB guns. Again, Haruhi doesn’t spend a single penny. It soon becomes clear to Kyon what Haruhi was scheming: She’d brought Mikuru along as a means to “convince” the various stores to sponsor her film, in exchange for undefined favors from the heroine.
Clearly, she is displeased by the absence of a Disappearance arc.
Kyon enters the clubroom as a part of his daily routine, and finds a waitress uniform-clad Mikuru, causing him to be at a loss for words. Shortly after Kyon settles down, Yuki enters the room, with a costume of her own. Haruhi misinterprets this as a sign of the humanoid interface’s enthusiasm. This unusual behavior may imply that she is fond of this particular getup.
Haruhi remarks that she is perfect for her role in the movie – an evil alien. Incidentally, Mikuru and Itsuki just happen to be a time traveling combat waitress and a boy ESPer, respectively. This unintentional pinpointing of hidden identities startles both Mikuru and Kyon, with the latter feeling apologetic and responsible for this turn of events. Meanwhile, the other two members (the “ones who can look after themselves”) seem to be completely unfazed.
"...I've been dragged into too many bizarre events. This madness ends here -- give me the Disappearance arc, or die!" - Kyon is rehersing his plot to usurp the Chief's position.
The three female members leave the room, leaving the other two to assemble the model guns to be used in the film. Kyon and Itsuki further discuss the nature of Haruhi’s unnatural powers, and Itsuki’s circumstances as an observer.
N-n-n-no Disappearance arc?! I-I think I'm going to c-c-cry, too!
On Haruhi’s command, the SOS Brigade is deployed to the “filming grounds” the next day, with both Mikuru and Yuki still clad in their filming attire. The crew arrive at the electronics store from two days ago – Oomori Electronics, and the director announces that they will begin the filming of the commercials. Wait, what?
Much to Mikuru’s embarrassment, several onlookers start gathering to ogle at this most curious display of cosplayers. Haruhi decides that a bunny girl costume would be more fitting for a situation like this, and goes on to demands Mikuru to change into such a costume (a costume that she had conveniently brought along with her). Kyon’s awesome skills of deduction reveal that Haruhi most likely received the camera in exchange for an advertisement to be featured in the film.
After they finish filming at Oomori Electronics, the gang moves on to their second destination: the Yamatsuchi Model Shop. A familiar scene ensues (see Episode00), and an exhausted Mikuru returns to the clubroom after the long-winded filming session.
She's despairing over what happened to Disappearance.
During the weekend, our director/producer/screenwriter/brigade chief announces the start of the filming of the “real movie”. The setting of the film is located at a location that Kyon describes to be “a place no one in their right mind would visit”. Shortly before the filming begins, Haruhi cheerfully attaches a colour contact lens to Mikuru’s left eye, leaving the unresisting combat waitress in tears. They start by filming a few scenes of Mikuru running back and forth, and of her shooting BB bullets at Yuki, an act which the silent Evil Alien comfortably accepts.
The megaphone-welding Chief quickly grows bored, and decides to move along. Under the pretense of shooting scenes with doves, everyone heads over to a conveniently located shinto shrine in the neighbourhood. Ignoring the warnings and such placed around, Haruhi tosses breadcrumbs all over to attract a large crowd of grey and black doves. This causes much annoyance to the resident priest, who chases them away (not without taking a few bullets from Haruhi first).
She's still upset! Poor thing. (look what you've done kyoani)
Meanwhile, some people don't seem to mind. (She's actually kinda depressed, but is not letting it show)
The SOS Brigade hide out at a soba parlor before heading towards their next destination: the “no-one-in-their-right-mind-would-visit” park! Haruhi’s demands begin to take a turn for the unreasonable (as opposed to her usual senselessness), as she suddenly orders the two female actors to start performing, without the slightest intention to direct them, or any other form of instruction. Her irrationality continues as she orders Mikuru to shoot beams from her left eye, and starts hitting her when she fails to do so. Kyon, as the only reasonable person present, jumps out to stop her, and pumps common sense into Haruhi’s brains. She shrugs off his comments, and the filming continues.
The situation turns from “unreasonable” to “downright illogical” when Yuki charges towards Kyon at (or above?) the speed of light, blocking the camera lens. During the confusion, the reflecting board held by Koizumi suddenly splits in half, and Yuki flies towards the heterochromatic heroine (at a more physically acceptable speed this time), knocking her down. It appears that in the ensuing chaos, the colour contact was lost – or so Haruhi is told. After the Brigade Chief’s attention is diverted, our favourite humanoid-interface-for-the-Data-Entity explains that the electromagnetic waves emitted from the contacts caused constructive interference with the waves emitted from Asahina Mikuru’s left eye through coherence and consequently became a beam of light, amplified by a constant radiative source (i.e., a laser).
DISAPPEARANCE ARC GETTO DAZE
"I-is it true?! You finally captured it ?!"
"No... this is...!"
"It got away again..."
This news causes a great impact on Kyon: Haruhi’s abilities are capable of harming or possibly killing people, and the laws of physics prove to be unable to stop her. Their discussion is cut short by the return of the reality-warping girl, accompanied by a certain bunny girl.
And so the filming continues.
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