The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tatsuya Ishihara Yasuhiro Takemoto
Produced by	Atsushi Itō Hideaki Hatta
Screenplay by	Fumihiko Shimo
Based on	The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa
Starring	Aya Hirano Tomokazu Sugita Minori Chihara Yūko Gotō Daisuke Ono Natsuko Kuwatani Yuki Matsuoka Minoru Shiraishi Megumi Matsumoto Sayaka Aoki
Music by	Satoru Kōsaki
Cinematography	Ryūta Nakagami
Edited by	Kengo Shigemura
Production company	Kyoto Animation
Distributed by	Kadokawa Shoten KlockWorx
Release dates	February 6, 2010 (2010-02-06)
Running time	162 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	¥830 million (Japan)[1]

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの消失, Suzumiya Haruhi no Shōshitsu) is a 2010 Japanese animated film based on the fourth Haruhi Suzumiya light novel of the same name written by Nagaru Tanigawa. It is produced by Kyoto Animation, written by Fumihiko Shimo and directed by Tatsuya Ishihara and Yasuhiro Takemoto. It was released in Japanese theaters on February 6, 2010 and on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on December 18, 2010. The film has been licensed by Bandai Entertainment in North America and Manga Entertainment in the UK. With a length of 162 minutes, the film is the second-longest animated film ever made (only surpassed by Final Yamato).^[2]

Plot

Following on from the events of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime series, the story takes place from December 18 until December 24, a month after the cultural festival. The SOS Brigade, led by Haruhi Suzumiya (Aya Hirano), makes plans to have a nabe party for Christmas. However, on the morning of December 18, Kyon (Tomokazu Sugita) arrives at school and finds that the very nature of his reality has changed; Haruhi and Itsuki Koizumi (Daisuke Ono) are missing, Ryoko Asakura (Natsuko Kuwatani) has mysteriously returned, Mikuru Asahina (Yūko Gotō) does not recognize him and Yuki Nagato (Minori Chihara) is an ordinary human. Only Kyon is aware that everything is different and no one else remembers anything about Haruhi or the SOS Brigade. The only clue Kyon manages to find is a bookmark left by the alien version of Yuki before everything was changed, telling him to gather "keys" to run a program. While wondering about this clue, he gets to know the new Yuki, who appears to be quite fond of him. As December 20 comes, Kyon learns from Taniguchi (Minoru Shiraishi) that Haruhi was at another high school the whole time, along with Itsuki and others formerly from his school. By revealing his identity to her as 'John Smith', an alias he had used when he travelled back in time to assist a young Haruhi, Kyon manages to convince Haruhi to believe his story. With her assistance they gather the SOS Brigade together in the club room, thus bringing the keys necessary for a program built by alien Yuki.

Wanting to go back to his interesting life, Kyon activates the program and goes back in time to the Tanabata of three years ago. After meeting up with the future Mikuru, he obtains an uninstall program from the past's Yuki, which needs to be shot at the culprit right after the change in the early hours of December 18. Returning to the present, they find the culprit, Yuki, who had borrowed Haruhi's power to change everyone's memories except Kyon's, giving him the choice of which world he would rather live in. Kyon questions himself about his choice and thinks to himself that a normal world without the SOS Brigade and Haruhi Suzumiya would be calm and peaceful and thinks Yuki was tired of everything she had to do like monitoring Haruhi's behavior and protecting Kyon, but finally decides that his original world was more interesting and fun. Kyon tries to install the program into Yuki but is stabbed by Ryoko, who had retained her psychotic behavior. Before Ryoko can finish him off, he is rescued by future counterparts of Yuki, Mikuru and himself. He wakes up a few days later in a hospital, where the world is back to normal, but almost everyone believes Kyon had been in a coma since December 18 after falling down the stairs. When Yuki mentions to Kyon how the Data Integration Thought Entity would punish her for her actions, Kyon tells her to let them know that if they ever try such a thing, he can tell Haruhi about him being John Smith and have her alter reality so the organization would cease to exist. As December 24 comes and his everyday life returns, Kyon decides there is still time before he has to go back in time to save himself and decides to join in on the Christmas party.

Cast

Japanese

• Tomokazu Sugita as Kyon
• Aya Hirano as Haruhi Suzumiya
• Yuko Goto as Mikuru Asahina
• Minori Chihara as Yuki Nagato
• Daisuke Ono as Itsuki Koizumi
• Natsuko Kuwatani as Ryoko Asakura
• Yuki Matsuoka as Tsuruya
• Megumi Matsumoto as Kunikida
• Minoru Shiraishi as Taniguchi

English

• Crispin Freeman as Kyon
• Wendee Lee as Haruhi Suzumiya
• Stephanie Sheh as Mikuru Asahina
• Michelle Ruff as Yuki Nagato
• Johnny Yong Bosch as Itsuki Koizumi
• Bridget Hoffman as Ryoko Asakura
• Kari Wahlgren as Tsuruya
• Brianne Siddall as Kunikida
• Sam Riegel as Taniguchi

Production and release

On December 18, 2007, the official website of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime series, haruhi.tv, was replaced by a fake 404 error with five form input fields, a reference to the pivotal date in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the fourth volume in the light novel series.^[3] The story of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya did not appear in the 2009 re-airing of the anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which included previously un-aired episodes adapted from the second, third and fifth novels. However, at the close of the 2009 season on October 8, 2009, a 30-second teaser trailer showing Yuki Nagato was aired, revealing that The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya would actually be a film,^[4] set for a February 6, 2010 release.^[5] A one-minute promotional video was released in December 2009.^[6] The film was released on BD/DVD, in regular and limited editions on December 18, 2010 in Japan.^[7][8]

The film was licensed for North America distribution by Bandai Entertainment. English-subtitled screenings began running in San Francisco's Viz Theater from May 21, 2010, and were followed by a screening at the Laemmle's Sunset theater in Hollywood on June 24, 2010^[9] and a theatrical run in Hawaii in June 2010 through Consolidated Theatres and Artisan Gateway as part of their Spotlight Asia Films program.^[10] An English-language version has been co-produced by Bang Zoom! Entertainment and was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America on September 20, 2011.^[11][12][13] Manga Entertainment released it in the UK on DVD on November 7, 2011,^[14][15][16] though a planned 2012 Blu-ray release has been cancelled.^[17] Madman Entertainment released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia and New Zealand on November 16, 2011.^[18][19] The film had its European premiere on October 17, 2010 at the Scotland Loves Anime event in Edinburgh.^[20] Animax Asia has aired the film.^[21]

Music

The film's theme song is "Yasashii Bōkyaku" (優しい忘却, "Tender Oblivion") by Minori Chihara, the single of which was released on February 24, 2010.^[22] The opening theme is "Bōken Desho Desho?" by Aya Hirano. The film's original soundtrack was released on January 27, 2010. The soundtrack also contains Erik Satie's Gymnopédies, Gnossiennes and his composition "Je te veux", which were used in the film.^[23] The soundtrack is performed by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra and was produced by Satoru Kōsaki.

Related media

A spin-off manga titled The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan (長門有希ちゃんの消失, Nagato Yuki-chan no Shōshitsu) is illustrated by Puyo and started serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace in July 2009. An anime adaptation by Satelight began airing in April 2015.^[24] A visual novel video game titled The Reminiscence of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの追想, Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsuisō) was released on May 12, 2011 by Bandai Namco Games for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. The game's story takes place shortly after the events of the film.

Reception

With the film's release on February 6, 2010 on 24 screens in Japan, it placed in the top 10 for Japanese box office sales in its first weekend,^[25] and earned an estimated 200 million yen in its first week.^[26] The film won the Best Theatrical Film award at the 2010 Animation Kobe Awards.^[27] The BD version sold over 77,000 copies in its first week, topping the Oricon charts, while placing fourth in the DVD charts with 19,667 copies sold.^[28] Minori Chihara won the Best Singing Award at the fifth annual Seiyu Awards held in 2011 in Tokyo for her performance of the "Yasashii Bōkyaku" ending theme song.^[29]

In Thailand, the film was forced by the nationwide floods to be screened only at the Lido Theatre, Siam Square, Bangkok, and only for one day, November 6, 2011. However, it is reported that the tickets were immediately sold out on the first day of booking. After the showing, Rose Media & Entertainment, the Thai Haruhi Suzumiya franchisee, also held an auction of the Haruhi goods, including limited BDs and DVDs, and donated all the earnings to the flood relief efforts.^[30][31]

References

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya at the Internet Movie Database