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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is, as of the time of me writing this, my favorite anime series of all time. Maybe I'm a little biased in saying this, since this show means a lot to me on a personal level, so I'm going to try to write this without any of those personal biases in the way.

Now for some people, the appeal of Haruhi may not be very clear, and I wouldn't blame somebody for not liking the show. What the series does is it plays around with tropes. It doesn't deconstruct or subverse them, it just embraces anime cliches and parodies them simply ... by doing that.

The characters, on a surface level, seem cliche to the fullest. The big breasted moe character (Mikuru Asahina), the Rei Ayanami cash-in (Yuki Nagato), and the nice guy (Itsuki Koizumi). However, the characters are more than just those cliches, with Mikuru being a time traveler, Yuki being an alein, and Itsuki being an esper, coincidentally enough, all being what the character the series is named after, Haruhi Suzumiya, is interested in. The protagonist is Kyon, whose role is simply the straight man, and is also extremely snarky, sometimes narrating the events going on and adding some self-awareness to some moments that seem really stupid and cliche, which makes it funny for me.

The animation has that Kyoto Animation touch to it, where the character movement looks pretty real. Sure, its not Akira level or anything like that, but still looks pretty damn fine. There is also some nice detail added to the background settings, making the world feel alive.

The art-style is nothing new, it looks like what you think of when you hear the word "anime", but I think that adds more to how the series plays with tropes. The directing is great, there are some angles that are unlike anything I've seen. One scene in particular stands out to me, where there isn't any actual animation (Or so I assume), but rather something actually being filmed with a filter added to it, which I think is pretty neat.

Overall, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a truly unique series, and its unlike anything I've ever seen with what it does. I rewatched this fearing it wouldn't be as good as I remember, but those fears have been expelled after I finished watching it. I don't think the series is for everybody, especially if you aren't a fan of slice of life anime or just aren't too familiar with anime, but if you enjoy the slice of life genre, or if you just want something unique, this is the show for you. Now I can only pray to Haruhi that we'll get a third season of this show.