Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu
The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan

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If you're looking for more Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, this is not for you.

This has a COMPLETELY different feel compared to it's original series. This, at foremost, is a SLICE-OF-LIFE manga. If you're expecting supernatural, then you will be disappointed.

That being said, I am an avid fan of slice-of-life. To be honest, this series is the first series to really want me to read the manga after watching the anime. I COULD NOT GET ENOUGH!

I don't have much a review because I don't really know what subjects to critique, but all I can say is that I absolutely loved it. Would I recommend ... it to an avid Haruhi fan? No, I would not. Unless they were really aware that this series is something else, I would not recommend it to someone who loves Haruhi and *expecting* Haruhi.

And unlike other SOL + romance productions, THIS ACTUALLY GOES SOMEWHERE. I'm sorry if this disappoints some people, but from what I understand, most SOL + romance productions don't go anywhere.

Also, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS SERIES TO ANYONE WHO HAS NOT ATLEAST SEEN THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA ANIME AND DISAPPEARANCE MOVIE. There is A LOT of context that needs to be known prior to enjoying this series. If not that, then there are A LOT of references that are made to the original. You *may* not care about references, (I love Gintama and similar productions) but they totally pay homage to the original. Also, it is important to note that THIS NAGATO YUKI IS NOT THE SAME AS THE ORIGINAL SERIES, NOR THE DISAPPEARANCE CHARACTERS. This main protagonist is a dandere that sees quite the character development. SHE IS NOT THE ALIEN, NOR THE SHY & TIMID GIRL (okay maybe the latter, but she is clearly diferent from her Disappearance char acter).

In conclusion, here is my checklist to see whether this series is for you. Have you *atleast* seen The Melancholy and Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya? Do you like the slice-of-life genre? Do you wish to see more of Nagato Yuki (my best girl of all time) and the rest of the original cast? Do you not mind having much supernatural elements compared to the main series? Do you not mind extreme, K-ON! style moe? If yes to all of these, then this is a good series for you.

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan exists on two levels, which makes it hard to review:

1) As a Haruhi Suzumiya spin-off. On this level, it mostly fails.

2) As a stand-alone, slice-of-life romantic comedy. On this level it mostly succeeds.

Story:
Kyon joins the literature club, along with the shy Nagato and her best friend/surrogate mother Asakura, thereby saving it. Nagato quickly falls for Kyon, and Asakura tries to help her build confidence to confess. Meanwhile they have stereotypical manga/anime antics (Christmas, Valentines, Tanabata, Fireworks festival, Onsen trip, beach trip, etc.) with Haruhi, Mikuru, and others. Nothing you haven't seen before here, if you've ever read ... a high school romance manga.

There is one exception: the plot-arc that gives the manga its name. That plot-arc feels more "Haruhi Suzumiya-ish" than anything else in the manga. It has a more serious, supernatural feel to it, and it doesn't really fit with the rest of the manga. But then it's over, and the manga goes back to being about shy people in a zany club.

Characters:
One of the other reviewers described them as "watered down versions" of the Haruhi characters, and that is basically correct. But again, if you forget that this is a Haruhi spin-off and think about it as its own rom-com, the characters work pretty well.

Art:
Sub-par. It fits the silliness, and it gets the job done in describing the story, but it is never pretty, and sometimes weird looking.

Enjoyment/Overall:
If you saw the Haruhi anime/movie and want more of that universe, then you'll be sorely disappointed.

But, if you allow yourself to think of this as just another high school rom-com, you'll find a nice, sweet story about nice, sweet characters, many of whom get their happy endings.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with a "Meh." for this one. I think it could have been quite interesting to see how the alternate world from The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya may have developed, but this manga definitely fails to deliver. Though the story and art aren't anything to write home about either, the main problem is that every character just feels like a watered down version of the original. Kyon is no longer a knight in sour armor, just some generic nice guy for Nagato to fall in love with. Haruhi seems to have lost her edge and is a lot more empathic ... and less domineering than the original. Nagato herself is an incredibly boring and utterly forgettable "socially awkward shy girl with glasses" type of character you have seen a bazillion times already. I get that a different world would logically lead to divergent personality traits, but the problem is that the manga throws out all the quirks and traits that originally made the characters so memorable and lovable, and adds absolutely nothing to replace them, so you end up with these cardboard cut-outs running around.. The end result is a generic love story featuring generic and boring characters who happen to resemble the main cast from Haruhi Suzumiya. It's just forgettable, boring and uninspired, and I'm surprised they're bothering to turn this into an anime. Nothing to see here.