Haruhi Suzumiya 2009 – Episode 8

EVENTS
It’s about time for the Tanabata festival and Haruhi is excited. Haruhi brings a bamboo tree and strips of paper for everyone to write down their wishes and hang them up. Mikuru gives Kyon a strip of paper asking him to stay after everyone is gone. Yuki also gives him a piece of paper with strange writing. It turns out Mikuru has a mission to bring Kyon to the past and they do so accordingly. They are now 3 years into the past and Mikuru falls asleep. Kyon then meets the older Mikuru and she instructs him to walk over in one general direction.

Kyon walks aimlessly carrying the sleeping Mikuru when he meets loli Haruhi. She is breaking into the school and forces Kyon to accompany her. She makes him write the a sign on the field. They both part ways and Mikuru wakes up to find that her time machine had disappeared. Kyon remembers the paper Yuki gave him and so they head over to Yuki’s place. They explain their situation and Yuki helps them return to the future by freezing time in one room for 3 years. Kyon, Koizumi, and Yuki find themselves talking amidst a chess game. Koizumi explained a paradox in which the queen rather than the king is the most important.

THOUGHTS
This episode was crammed full of information that gives light to many of the secrets of Haruhi. It seems that John Smith was none other than Kyon himself. I also particularly liked how they used the chessboard as a paradox in the end. The King (Haruhi) is not the most important because what the King does all depends on the actions of the Queen (Kyon). They also took a good amount of time showing the queen chess piece and Kyon in the same photo. It leads me to wonder what chess pieces would the others be. We also got to see loli Haruhi whom I guiltily found a bit hotter than the older Haruhi. I also enjoyed the different range of facial expressions the characters, especially Mikuru, had. It was also nice to see the reactions Kyon has to Haruhi which made me like season one in the first place. My favorite character Nagato showed off her talents yet again in the series.

Most of the background music was the same as the music they used three years earlier but I don’t mind because it gives the off the same feeling as when I first watched the series. The animation was what anyone would have expected from a KyoAni production. All in all, great episode! Refreshing to watch another episode since I watched season 1 like 7 times? LOL. I read the novel and Mysterique Sign as well as lone island syndrome will be next and that would be about 3 episodes so we will have to wait 3 weeks before we get another new episode. I may or may not be blogging the next three episodes, I guess it depends on my mood.