Rivals for control of time and space? Whatever shall we do?
Creative Staff
Story: Nagaru Tanigawa
Art: Gaku Tsugano
Character Design: Noizi Ito
Translation/Adaptation: Paul Starr
What They Say
One weekend, when Kyon reaches the usual SOS Brigade rendezvous spot, he is met not by his fellow club members, but instead by Sasaki, an old friend from middle school. Haruhi isn’t thrilled to find Kyon already waiting when she arrives (Who’s going to buy drinks?!) and is even less thrilled by his attractive female friend!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
When you run out of school festivals and the other stock plots of teenage dramas, and you exhaust the large majority of the time travel and alien plots that make up the rest of the story fodder, you have to start digging deeper. While this volume doesn’t quite reach mirror universe levels, it’s probably as close to the evil twin plot that Haruhi will get.
It began with the appearance of Kyon’s middle school friend, a strange girl named Sasaki. She is a mix of Kyon’s no-nonsense practicality and Haruhi’s nonchalance in the face of weird. She has a bit of a detective streak in her, able to deduce things and accept answers that any sane person would dismiss. In short, she’s probably the most interesting side character in the story to date.
Acting like an evil mastermind, she reintroduced Kyon to some returning characters that he really does not want to see. These are the people who have caused the largest of his problems recently, and I wouldn’t exactly call them friendly by any stretch of the imagination. At least one of them seems to think Sasaki is the rightful heir to the powers that Haruhi possess. Like most villains, they believe that they are the heroes. Their numbers and roles also happen to line up perfectly with Kyon’s group.
And then there is the matter of the freshmen prospects for the SOS Brigade, and the one girl among them who might have the right stuff to make the grade. For a b-plot it’s more of a c-plot, there’s simply not enough time devoted to it. I have a feeling that it’s more important than it appears, but as of right now it’s an activity that’s strangely lost in the ongoing action.
There’s something strange going on with timeline in this story arc, denoted by the alpha and beta’s followed by a number before certain scenes. I’m not sure if we’re dealing with two separate moments in time or two different timelines. The book does not clarify, and it leads to some abrupt and disconnected scene changes that are just irregular enough to make me take notice but without enough information to solve the puzzle. Or maybe it’s just that I don’t care enough to try and work it out.
While the art in this series has never been top notch, the artist appears to have put in more effort for this volume compared to the last. Especially with the appearance of a few new characters to the mix. It’s still not going to win any awards though.
This volume ends on a cliffhanger, with a hostage situation and a tense confrontation, and the story itself spans more than one set of chapter titles. It’s nice to see Kyon flustered once again, even if the one’s threatening are overly familiar.
In Summary
Finally, some real tension enters the plot once again. The reveal of a rival group of students with matching roles to Kyon’s group holds promise of some great evil twin like escapades. Especially since Nagato is taken out of the picture quite quickly, and the other ability bearers seem to have their hands tied. However, this being Haruhi, I expect the whole situation to fizzle out in a burst of ennui before the series slides back into philosophical technobabble. As far as Haruhi volumes go, this one’s not bad. It’s just unfortunate that the lead up to it was so mediocre.
Content Grade: B –
Art Grade: C
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: December 17th, 2013
MSRP: $13.00