When everything is left unsaid is there anything left worth saying?
Creative Staff
Original Story: Nagaru Tanigawa
Art: Gaku Tsugano
Original character designs: Noizi Ito
Translation/Adaptation: Paul Starr
What They Say
Kyon knew it was only a matter of time before he would have to return to December 18th of the previous year, to the three days when the SOS Brigade and his supernatural friends suddenly disappeared. Back then, Kyon was cruelly stabbed by alien rogue Ryouko Asakura and nearly bled out on the school roof. How will he fare this time around?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I should have no one but myself to blame for not knowing what’s going on at the beginning of volume 12 of the Haruhi manga adaptation. Most readers wouldn’t jump into a novel series twelve books in and complain that they don’t know what happened in book seven. However, manga tends to run long, and it’s not unusual for at least some recapping of a previous event if it’s going to be revisited. So perhaps it’s not entirely my fault at all for being confused by the opening chapter.
Yes, Kyon travels back in time to… do… something I still haven’t figured out. I’m guessing that he needed to be present at that moment in the past in order for him not to die, but there’s implications that they had to set the timeline right. From all of Kyon’s self narrating, it’s supposed to be a huge deal, not to mention a traumatic event that he didn’t wish to revisit. You wouldn’t think that from the way he acts, though. I’ve seen more drama in a line at Dunkin’ Donuts. The whole chapter is confusing, the artwork doesn’t help much (is that a gun?) It all just seems like an excuse for Kyon to admire his female companions and act like a smug weirdo.
Thankfully the second two chapter tell a more interesting tale than tying up a loose end in the timeline. Kyon is asked on a sudden date by a very reticent Asahina. He tries to get to the bottom of what’s bothering her as she leads him on a very businesslike trip around town. It turns out she had a mission to accomplish, a person to save, but she breaks down in a fit of frustration after the little boy is saved. In classic Haruhi fashion, we don’t learn who the little boy is or why he’s so important.
Asahina’s self doubt runs deep, and Kyon can’t figure out a way to comfort her without divulging the facts he knows about her future self. The irony of the fact that Kyon’s putting Asahina in the same situation that she puts him in isn’t lost on Kyon or the audience, and presumably Asahina as well. The frustration is almost palpable.
The last half of the book focuses on a feud between the SOS Brigade and the student council. The Brigade has been operating out of the literature club’s meeting room in a not-so-secret fashion and is finally called out of their using the literature budget for non-club spending. Haruhi is given an ultimatum, put out a literary magazine and give away 200 copies in a week, without advertising it, or be evicted!
Anyone who’s ever tried to put out a literary magazine, or any publication, knows this is a impossible task even without the 200 copy stipulation. However, the threat is just a ruse perpetuated by Koizumi, and the class president is a puppet leader placed to keep Haruhi from seeking power herself. Not that she’ll ever know that. Haruhi blithely marches forward into the next volume with pen in hand, leaving Kyon sighing in the wake of another fictitious crisis.
In Summary
I want to like Haruhi, I really do. However, this manga is doing nothing to foster any sort of good intentions, it’s just riding along on it’s source material’s coattails. The artwork ranges for okay to dreadful in this volume, and it’s one of the few times I’ve seen artwork degrade during a series. As for the stories it tells, it’s still hard to care about any of these characters and their real or imaginary plights. The glimmer of hope I had that some character development was about to occur was dashed, glossed over by circuitous navel gazing by Kyon. Only the most hardcore of Haruhi fans will want to pick this up, and to them I say you should probably stick to the novels.
Content Grade: C –
Art Grade: D +
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: May 29th, 2012
MSRP: $11.99
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