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Jun. 10th, 2009 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI had actually just finished reading the library copy of the light novel version of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya when I found a $1 copy for sale at the Housing Works Book Fair. Which I bought, because for $1 it is a book I am more than happy to own!
It is hard not to make this a compare/contrast with the anime, just because the anime so closely follows the plot of the first book. I actually can't think of any major plot differences at all. And yet, despite the fact that they were near-identical, I actually think I liked the book a little bit more! These are my reasons:
1. I really like Kyon's narration, and you get more of it in prose! I think my favorite is the part where he is faced with a situation of extreme and immediate peril and is sitting there thinking, "pictures of this need to go on our website." Because if I were in the middle of an epic alien battle, my first thought would totally be, "I need to talk about this on LJ!" I feel sure I am not alone in this. In fact, I provide a poll:
[Poll #1413865]
2. The fanservice, while definitely still there and hugely problematic, feels a little less egregious to me because instead of being visual it's centered in Kyon's head. I still don't love the fanservice aspects, but I can cope better with the male gaze when the owner of the gaze is always explicitly a teenaged boy and I-the-viewer am not necessary expected to feel like part of the appreciative audience.
3. Also, Asahina annoys me a lot less in prose, because I can read her dialogue as more competent and I don't have to hear the baby voice.
I am looking forward to the next one when it comes out in translation in - October, I think? Depending on the wait after that, I may cave and start reading online, but we'll see.
IN OTHER NEWS: there is a fire inside me that won't stop burning . . . FOR THIS VID.
It is hard not to make this a compare/contrast with the anime, just because the anime so closely follows the plot of the first book. I actually can't think of any major plot differences at all. And yet, despite the fact that they were near-identical, I actually think I liked the book a little bit more! These are my reasons:
1. I really like Kyon's narration, and you get more of it in prose! I think my favorite is the part where he is faced with a situation of extreme and immediate peril and is sitting there thinking, "pictures of this need to go on our website." Because if I were in the middle of an epic alien battle, my first thought would totally be, "I need to talk about this on LJ!" I feel sure I am not alone in this. In fact, I provide a poll:
[Poll #1413865]
2. The fanservice, while definitely still there and hugely problematic, feels a little less egregious to me because instead of being visual it's centered in Kyon's head. I still don't love the fanservice aspects, but I can cope better with the male gaze when the owner of the gaze is always explicitly a teenaged boy and I-the-viewer am not necessary expected to feel like part of the appreciative audience.
3. Also, Asahina annoys me a lot less in prose, because I can read her dialogue as more competent and I don't have to hear the baby voice.
I am looking forward to the next one when it comes out in translation in - October, I think? Depending on the wait after that, I may cave and start reading online, but we'll see.
IN OTHER NEWS: there is a fire inside me that won't stop burning . . . FOR THIS VID.
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 04:34 pm (UTC)The funny thing is, books 2 and 3 are mostly independent stories, including most of the latter episodes of the first anime season. (The baseball story, the desert island story--no Phoenix Wright references in the book, though--and so on.) There's one story, "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody," which has relevance to what you might call the arc plot of the series, but other than that, the arc plot doesn't return in earnest until book 4, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
"Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" has already been animated and released as part of the "re-airing" of the anime, the one that looks to actually be the first fourteen episodes as well as fourteen new ones...and if rumors and speculation are true, the other new episodes will include the story of book 4.
(I read through about book 4 or 5 online, but then heard the novels were coming out translated, so I decided to wait. Besides, I'm not always sure I like the unofficial translation. And my offer of the manga is still open when I'm back in town.)
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Date: 2009-06-10 05:45 pm (UTC)I saw the "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" episode - that is the back-in-time one, right? And then the next new one is not for a few more weeks? The way they're airing the new episodes is cool in a sort of way, but tricky for those of us who do not have a constant pipeline to what is airing in Japan. If it weren't for your tip I wouldn't have known about "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", either.
(My basic feeling is that I like the official translation so far . . . and in general, I've got enough non-book things to read online without trying to read through actual books as well that I can acquire in hard copy. And I will totally take you up on that offer when you're back!)
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Date: 2009-06-10 05:57 pm (UTC)Yes.
And then the next new one is not for a few more weeks?
Unknown. The "re-airing" has mixed "Bamboo" in with the first-season episodes, but so far no other new episodes have shown up. We'll see.
he way they're airing the new episodes is cool in a sort of way, but tricky for those of us who do not have a constant pipeline to what is airing in Japan.
Yeah, somebody in the system--either Kyoto Animation or Kadokawa or someone else--has been jerking people around for a while, and as I understand it, it's not just limited to the US. (The news that "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" was a new episode was apparently accidentally leaked against someone's wishes. Or that's a plausible-deniability thing.)
If it weren't for your tip I wouldn't have known about "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", either.
That's why I keep an eye out. *grin* Animesuki lists all new fansub torrents, which is a good way to see what's newest...any new Haruhi eps will get fansubbed pretty damn fast. And I keep animenewsnetwork.com in my RSS feeds.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 06:03 pm (UTC)<.<
If you happen to hear about any new ones, I would appreciate if you would tip me off. :D? No obligation of course!
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Date: 2009-06-10 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 06:04 pm (UTC)