The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, both 2006, and 2009, were amazing anime series. It was a nice mix between comedy, good story, and amazing characters. I thoroughly enjoyed both series while not seeing them as anything too special.
Then Disappearance entered my life. I had heard about this movie for a while, but back when it gained its giant wave of popularity, I wasn't really an anime fan. Its absolutely insane to me that this movie is still being talked about in such high regard 9 years later. This movie is such a huge part of the Haruhi story, and is the main reason why I'm going to be picking up the novels very soon. This movie isn't just great, it's one of my favorite movies of all time, and it's certainly the best anime movie I've ever seen.
Story: 10/10
The story of the original series has a special place in my heart for it's cleverness in constantly reminding you that Haruhi could completely destroy the world at any moment, however this movie takes a completely different approach, and pulls it off masterfully.
In this movie, Haruhi is overshadowed largely by Kyon and Nagato, making her a relatively irrelevant character. That really surprised me.
The calm before the storm, or the club activities before Haruhi's disappearance that is, really convinces you that this is just going to be more wacky adventures with the SOS Brigade, but then takes a complete 180 once it happens. The movie adopts a consistant dark tone, something we've never seen for more than an episode in the original show. With Haruhi being gone, nobody remembering her, and Asakura being back, you quickly begin to realize this isn't your typical Haruhi arc.
The large majority leading up to the climax is brilliantly written and I really enjoyed it, but the scenes where this movie really shines are the scenes leading up to and during the climax.
Kyon's Decision is easily one of the best scenes in anime I've ever experienced. Every part of it's breathtaking narrative drew me in and didn't let me go, and I still don't know if Kyon truly made the correct choice. From its overwhelming symbolism to it's incredible fluidity, this scene really resonates with me.
The entire climax was fantastic. Between Asakura almost killing Kyon, multiple versions of each character coming together to stop her, and Nagato being scared for her life during this whole thing really put into perspective the whole series, and it was beautiful.
Also, the scene with Kyon and Nagato on the roof really touched my heart. It was amazing to see how Kyons feelings about Nagato have changed compared to the rest of the series.
For these reasons and many more, the story of this movie is a 10/10 in my book.
Art: 9/10
Is disappearance the most beautiful looking anime I've ever seen? No, not by a long shot. Is it absolutely stunning? Yes, very much so.
The art and fluidity of the animation has largely improved compared to the original series. I was genuinely taken back by how gorgeous some scenes looked, and how they really captured the emotion of how human Nagato, Haruhi, or Kyon were feeling. The scene where Kyon makes his decision on wether or not to restore the world is probably one of my favorite scenes in any anime ever, and a large part of that is thanks to how the "camera" puts things into perspective, the fluid animation of the decorations bursting out, or when Kyon pushes his other self away. Almost every scene in this almost 3 hour movie is beautifully animated. For that reason, it deserves a 9/10.
Sound: 9/10:
I've always enjoyed how the Haruhi series uses silence to it's advantage. Sometimes in anime the sound director sticks in a sappy piano song almost everytime something mildly dramatic happens. In Disappearance however, a lot of the scenes where you expect that are dead silent in the background, allowing you to get lost in Kyons monologues with no distractions. This movie has it's fair share of typical club/classroom tracks that are there for no other reason other than to be there. The Christmassy tracks were a nice change of pace, but I also felt that they were just kinda there to be there. I expect that with most anime though, so with with regards to this review, I'll focus on the other music in the soundtrack.
What I did not expect from this movie was a couple of genuinely chilling tracks. Take Rikishi no Tenkan Ten for example, this is the song that plays during the climax with Asakura, this song genuinely freaked me out and really hyped me up to see what resulted from the scene happening right before my eyes.
What really shines in this soundtrack is the use of Erik Satie's works: Gymnopedies 1-3 and Gnossiennes 1-3. Remember how I said that theres often silence in this series when you expect a piano song? Well the scenes where there actually were piano songs hit me hard. These scenes really help to add importance to Nagato's desire to experience human emotion, as well as her pain of protecting others against Haruhi's seemingly endless stream of manifested dreams. This soundtrack is able to make you remember the things you witnessed while watching this movie.
For these reasons alone, this movies sound design deserves a solid 9/10
Now, voice acting.
The voice actors for Disappearance are the same for the show, as expected. I watched the series, and subsequently the movie, English dubbed. I feel like the English dub really did what the original Japanese couldn’t.
Crispin Freeman captures the essence of Kyon in every sense of the manner. His attitudes and sighs perfectly fit in and sound how you would expect them too. I really have to commend him for his phenomenal voice work.
Michelle Ruff does a great job with Nagato as well, both human and alien versions.
The english cast for Haruhi, Koizumi, Mikuru, Asakura, and others are all very commendable as well, but I won’t go too much into detail here.
Voices: 10/10
This brings the overall score in the sound category, rounded up, to 10/10.
Characters: 10/10
They're the SOS Brigade, how can you not love them? The members of the SOS brigade, especially Kyon and Nagato, really shine in this movie. While I won't go into too much detail on each character (although if you want that, check out my review on the original series), I will stand by the statement that these are some of the most fun and abnormal characters I've ever seen. No one character in this show fits a singular template, and we especially see that here. Nagato's human variant really shines light onto her true feelings and behaviors as a character, and I couldn't get enough of it. The chemistry these characters have is fantastic, the looming feeling of distrust, while also seeing them genuinely caring and feeling for eachother is something that warmed my heart immensely.
These characters will stick with me for my entire life, and I can almost guarantee that. For that reason, I'm awarding the SOS Brigade with a 10/10.
Personal Enioyment: 10/10
God, I loved this movie. Almost every part of it blew me away, and, even with the 3 hour run time, I feel I could watch it again and again. As I mentioned in the beginning, this movie is possibly one of my favorite movies of all time. I really have no words for this section of the review, this movie really left me speechless. Theres no way I could possibly type out every feeling I expressed with this one. 10/10
Overall: 10/10
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is easily the best anime movie I've ever seen, and is a fantastic arc. Its plot captured my very essence, and had twists that genuinely surprised me. This movie is a must watch for all fans of anime.
Thanks for reading, have a nice day :)
