The alternate world of a shy, reserved human Yuki Nagato, her ever-helpful friend Ryouko Asakura, and Yuki’s boyfriend Kyon (real name still never revealed) gives us one final look as we see Ryouko face a big decision.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: PUYO (manga story and art), Nagaru Tanigawa (Original Story), Noizi Ito (Character design)
Translation: Paul Starr
Lettering: Erin Hickman
What They Say:
At last it’s the final year of high school! As Yuki and Kyon’s relationship deepens, Asakura reminisces about her own friendship with Yuki. She’s been the mama bird to her shy bespectacled friend for years, but now Asakura might just have to let her precious Yuki take flight! As the literature club stands on the cusp of adulthood, what future awaits them in this grand finale of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
If the world of Haruhi Suzmiya is big and brash, like a thunderous symphony or perhaps rock music, then The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan has been a slow and stately waltz. And as such, the series ends on a quiet note, not with a final bang of any sort.
In fact, Yuki herself doesn’t really have all that much to do for the final 8 chapters of the story (I omit the Episode 1 Epilogue at the very end for the moment), as the focus is mainly on Ryouko Asakura. These chapters are even titled “The Disappearance of Ryouko Asakura.” In them, we see Ryouko face a big decision in her life: to this point, she’s been hovering over Yuki since elementary school, but now that high school is over there are changes on the horizon. Furthermore, Yuki is no longer as entirely dependent on Asakura as she once was, as she has someone new to take care of her (Kyon) and Asakura is more a third wheel. For Ryouko herself, there is the chance to join her parents in Canada.
At this crossroads, Ryouko begins to reminisce about the past, her first meeting with Yuki, and we see that originally it was Asakura who was the timid one, while Yuki was a bold elementary schooler. Over time, somehow, the positions got reversed. In the end, Asakura makes her decision and they all graduate high school. For those wanting some closure on the Haruhi front, don’t worry, she makes some appearances here too, as the North High Literature Club decides to close things down, with no attempt to find new members to keep it going.
There is a one chapter epilogue set a couple years later, showing us a peek into the longer future.
Series Retrospective:
The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan has never been a blockbuster. It is a very quiet, shy, introspective series much like the title character herself. This might explain why the anime adaptation a couple years ago was so desperate to inject more Haruhi into it, both the character and the vibe of the noisier, much more boisterous original universe. It was something of a mistake there, since it neither captured what the manga series is about (coming off more as Haruhi-lite than Yuki-chan), nor worked to reproduce the subtle charm of the manga. This is not and never has been a tale of aliens, ESPers, time travelers, or any other kind of weird and outlandish stuff. It’s a quiet, slice of life, high school romcom.
One might ask, reasonably, “Why should I bother with a slice of life, high school romcom when those things are a dime a dozen? Is a Haruhi-themed one any better than the hundreds of ‘original’ ones out there?” I can only respond that this works if you enjoyed the alternate world of the main continuity story The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, which set up this world that branches off. As a slice of life romcom, this one is pretty average overall. The fun lies in seeing the Haruhi universe characters acting like the typical denizens of a world that is not filled with the weirdness of the main story world. That’s the basic appeal.
Though at least this is a story that has a beginning, a middle, and now, an end, unlike the main continuity which currently is just hanging there, unfinished. We laugh a bit. Maybe a tear or two is shed along the way. And now finally we wave Yuki, Kyon, Ryouko, Haruhi, Itsuki, and everyone else goodbye again as they go on to live rather normal lives.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation: B+
Age Rating: Older Teen–LV
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: October 31st, 2017
MSRP: $13.00
