涼宮ハルヒの退屈

Haruhi Suzumiya #3

by Nagaru Tanigawa, Nagaru Tanigawa, Noizi Ito (イラスト)

ハルヒと出会ってから俺はすっかり忘れた言葉だが、あいつの辞書にはいまだに”退屈”という文字が光り輝いているようだ。その証拠に俺たちSOS団はハルヒの号令のもと、草野球チームを結成し、七夕祭りに一喜一憂、失踪者の捜索に熱中したかと思えば、わざわざ孤島に出向いて殺人事件に巻き込まれてみたりして。まったく、どれだけ暴れればアイツの気が済むのか想像したくもないね…。非日常系学園ストーリー、天下御免の第３巻！！

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Manga, Fiction, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Japanese Literature

308 pages, 文庫

First published December 27, 2003

About the author

Nagaru Tanigawa ( 谷川 流 Tanigawa Nagaru)

Nagaru Tanigawa is a graduate of the Kwansei Gakuin University School of Law. In 2003, he won Kadokawa's Grand Prize for Literary World for his work on the Haruhi Suzumiya series.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This third of the three Haruhi Suzumiya volumes that I own is a collection of short stories. Short stories told at a light novel level of complexity: fluff beyond fluff!

"The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya": Haruhi signs up the SOS Brigade for a local softball tournament on a whim. Kyon's little sister and three of the members' classmates round out the team beyond the SOS members. As luck would have it, their first match is against a college team who has won the last few tournaments.

Kyon is invested in losing, and Haruhi wants to win, and if Haruhi doesn't get what she wants, the universe is in peril. How will this Catch-22 be resolved? A smidgen of deus ex machina powers, and a post-hoc forfeit, ensures that both Haruhi and Kyon are satisfied, and the previous champions can move on in the tournament despite having actually lost their first game. Harmony reigns!

"Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody": I remembered the basic gist of this short story from having watched the anime version years ago. Haruhi celebrates Tanabata by coercing the SOS into sending far-future wishes to the stars, and then Kyon and Mikuru take a time-traveling trip to the Tanabata of three years ago, where Kyon helps a junior high-aged Haruhi send a different kind of message to the aliens she so longs to meet.

Time travel paradoxes are not a favorite trope of mine, to say the least, but here it's handled playfully, and I didn't mind it. Through it Kyon sees a spark of depth in Nagato that he didn't see before, and he realizes late in the story that if not for that trip back in time, he might never have met Haruhi.

"Mysterique Sign": the plot of this story isn't all that, and the central problem is dispatched in maybe a sentence or two. What's most interesting about it to me is its insight into Yuki Nagato, and the idea of the club room itself being a kind of battlefield of conflicting realities in a temporary truce. I have an impression of the author getting more invested into Nagato as we go along, perhaps even at the expense of the simpler and more obviously solipsistic series heroine Haruhi.

"Remote Island Syndrome": the SOS Brigade heads to an isolated island owned by Koizumi's relative for a summer vacation trip. Haruhi hopes for the kind of mystery that happens in a closed room in an isolated setting, but by Kyon's reckoning, she isn't the kind of person who would hope that someone would actually die. A hurricane cuts off access to the mainland, and their host's bloodied body is found in--wouldn't you know it--a locked room! What follows is a rather silly mystery.

Of these stories, the middle two were my favorites. The other two follow the same pattern of disruption and return to stasis that the second novel did, and were rather dry and repetitive reading in comparison.

Thankfully, the male gaze has relaxed quite a bit from the first volume. For example, Kyon hasn't remarked on Asahina's boobs from the second volume forward, which was a great relief to me. He's obviously nursing a crush on her, but he isn't quite as obnoxious about it. But we still have his dreary don't-care attitude to contend with, and the guy really seems to have a hate on for Haruhi at times, which brings the light tone down and fuels my dislike for him.

I looked up the author's age, and he was a little over 30 when this book came out in Japan. He was writing for the teens of the time, the millennial generation that came behind him. If he has a message for his readers, I'm not sure what it might be. Maybe it's as simple as encouraging them to find wonder in everyday life like Haruhi cheerfully (and noisily) does. (while Kyon and the others desperately try to keep consensual reality together in her wake.)

I bought the first three volumes of Haruhi Suzumiya during a time that there were very few shoujo light novels translated. That's no longer the case anymore, and today it's easy to find material that's much more congenial . More than I'll ever have the wherewithal to pursue, come down to it. Haruhi and co.'s adventures were worth coming back to, but I don't think I'll continue with the series in the immediate future, if ever. It was fun to look back at a shonen pop-media era that was much more densely populated with high school-aged goddesses, Rei Ayanami clones, and chuunibyo fantasies.

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a collection of short standalone stories in the Haruhi universe. It’s a fun read but nothing to go out of your way for.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories in this volume are better then others, but my favorite Mysterique Sign. I perfer the novel length over the short story.

rereading June 2017 42.1 % Mysterique Sign

reread 6/14/17

I liked Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody short story quite a lot as well

[Kenchiin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mystery, time-travel, and some action. A wonderful mix for this third volume.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tercera novela, edición española. Contó con una reedición en el año 2015.

[Ecem Yücel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume has 4 stories of Haruhi Suzumiya and her SOS Brigade. I'm familiar with these stories since I watched them as anime episodes (except maybe the one they attend to a baseball tournament). But reading the second story "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" made me think of what I didn't think before, while watching it as an anime episode: Just how lonely a little girl could be, in order to draw huge, weird lines -which are to be interpreted by Nagato as a message that says "I am here" - on the playground of her middle school, in order to reach some extraordinary beings such as aliens, expers and time travellers? How lonely was Haruhi to seek hope from other worlds and/or alternate universes? What caused her to turn her gaze away from the people around her up to the skies?

When I think of these questions and some other things, this world and these characters Nagaru Tanigawa created seem more and more magical and real at the same time. It's like I am shaken by finding similarities between me as a little girl and Haruhi as a little girl. I'm sure many children had/still have lonely childhoods and looked for an escape via fantasies (for example, reading books -especially fantasy ones- and losing myself in other worlds was my escape as a little girl, well, it still is, in a sense), and it feels like Haruhi is a magnified demonstration of our lonely, melancholic times. For that, it feels so very magical and so very real to read/watch/meet a girl, a character like this.

As a big fan of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (I even have a cat named Yuki, after Yuki Nagato), I've watched every anime episode and the movie, and surely learned many things about these characters and their world, but these questions I have in mind have yet to be answered. So I'm hoping, as I read these light novels (I have all 11 of them on my shelf right now) the answers to my current and probably future questions will reveal one by one. Love this world and these characters, and can't wait to read more.

[MC · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya is the third volume in the series, and takes a slightly different approach to relating the further adventures of Kyon's life dealing with Haruhi's annoying reality-warping abilities. Instead of one, unified story, we have four short stories.

These stories are a mix of short works for magazines and just something the author wrote that was too long for being published in a magazine, but too short for a full book. Thus, it was put here.

The stories take place around the same time period, where our characters in the SOS Brigade are preparing to finish their current school term, and go on vacation. It's a time for studying, and hoping you do well on your exams. Then, you get to have fun with friends. Or at least, this is how it OUGHT to be, but it can't be for Kyon and the others in the SOS, because Haruhi won't allow it.

Instead, Kyon, Nagato, and Asahina have to spend their time keeping Haruhi happy and occupied, lest she subconsciously use her reality-warping powers to wreak havoc in the world. Of course, they succeed, and of course, Kyon hates it. Or well, he says he hates it all. I have my doubts.

You see, Kyon is supposed to be not very book smart, and he claims to hate Haruhi. Yet, his narrative betrays a depth of knowledge in a vast range of subjects that is quite impressive. Also, for someone who claims to hate Haruhi so much, he certainly talks about her beauty and her smile a lot, and he seems strangely jealous when others get attention from Haruhi. Kind of tsundere-ish, if you ask me. Of course, he would deny it all, especially the last point, but that is part of the fun of the work.

Kyon fits perfectly the idea of an “unreliable narrator”. We can't tell what thoughts are really his, and what are not, if he is serious, if he isn't, and so forth. Does he hate Haruhi, or is he in love with her and in denial? Is he really intellectually average, or is he a genius who is just lazy? These types of questions come up a lot to a reader in this book.

The only thing I didn't like was that Kyon's narration, though certainly funny and entertaining, could verge on the whiny and slightly annoying at times. It's understandable having to deal with an amoral, selfish brat with god-like powers, who you have to keep entertained to keep the world safe, that one would be annoyed. Still, it is a bit too far with the constant whining at times. If the author can have Kyon get a little less whiny, it would be perfect. Perhaps as Haruhi gets nicer and more moral, as she is starting to do, this will happen in future books. It would be a nice parallel character development.

This is a really fun and cheeky light novel series, and I quite enjoy reading it.

[Mina Starliart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ha sido un cúmulo de historias cortas que han aportado poco o nada. Supongo que esta es también la gracia de Haruhi, que es una historia muy del día a día donde ir conociendo a los personajes poco a poco en situaciones cotidianas.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first read The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, I didn't think much of it other than that it was a pretty fun little read. I'd had no other experience with the series other than having seen the Combat Waitress Mikuru Asahina episode once or twice, in aborted attempts to get into the anime. Obviously, I was pleb-filtered because Kyoto Animation kicked off the anime adaptation with an out-of-context episode covering the film made in the Sigh novel, which itself would not be adapted to the anime version until the second season (of course, it was 2012 when I finally read the first novel, so discrepancy between anime seasons isn't too relevant here).

Anyway, the novel was fine enough, being about what I expected of something in the medium of "light novel," when I was then-currently in the process of awakening my interest in reading into a full-blown love of belles-lettres. Kyon's sarcastic narration was funny, and the character interactions were pretty "comfy." I also liked how the novel set up the existence of aliens, time travelers, and espers in that specific order, before introducing each respective character in the same order.

Why am I re-reviewing the original novel? Because my first impression way back when was that the introduction of the Celestials really took me out of the novel, and when I re-read the book earlier this year it was after having read countless other light novels, so the inclusion of a big fight against a powerful foe seemed so obvious for a light novel that I could only predict all successive installments of the franchise would climax in a similar fashion. I was apparently proven wrong with Sigh, but it seems I did well to postpone my own sigh (of relief).

The initial story in this collection, the titular "The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya," works out in much the same way as I had feared. Haruhi wanted to do some silly activity to Kyon's chagrin, she gets bored with how mundane it is, and her boredom threatens the world via the opening of another "closed space" wherein Koizumi's esper allies must battle Celestials. The thing is, this story is less than 50 pages long, roughly a quarter the length of the Melancholy novel, so it just feels incredibly shitty to have 30 or so pages of mundane slice-of-life goings-on only for them to get pushed aside in favor of raised stakes w/r/t Haruhi's subconscious rampaging. The other thing is, closed space is hardly actually relevant here, and the issue manages to get solved without an actual Celestial counter, side-stepping any potential for another kiss between Haruhi and Kyon, an event Kyon seems to fear after the conclusion of Melancholy. Indeed, this is not stated explicitly, nor was it mentioned so outright in the Sigh novel, but there are enough hints as to cement this story as a direct sequel to Melancholy.

Sigh informs us of a six-month gap between Melancholy and itself, and the four stories in this novel occur over the course of this gap. "Boredom" (the story) is set closely after Melancholy, and this temporal proximity is another reason why the story felt so weak to me. Actually, that's unfair. The story felt weak because it simply felt like exactly what it was, a short story published in a magazine with the express purpose of drumming up hype for the novel series. According to the afterword of the Boredom book as a whole, Tanigawa actually published this story before the Melancholy was itself published, so perhaps it shouldn't be considered too egregious that this novel is such an obvious sequel to the as-of-then-unreleased novel, but the fact is that this story just felt too "sequel-y" as to feel contrived. Moments such as Haruhi aborting an attempt at giving Mikuru a ponytail in front of Kyon would be better in a full-length story, but here they just feel like "hey, do you get it?" moments.

I don't know. My issue with "Boredom" is 90% concerning the pacing. The character interactions within are pretty strong, they just maybe feel a little weird having read Sigh first. "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" and "Mysterique Sign" are a lot better in comparison, having enough temporal distance from the events of "Melancholy" as to act as adequate breathing room. They feel more fleshed out and natural, maybe. "Real," even. As if these are more organic follow-ups to the Melancholy story. And they ignore the basic "Haruhi gets upset and starts ruining the fabric of reality" plot points that may threaten the series's lapse into formula. "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" features a little time-traveling with Kyon and Mikuru, wherein we learn Kyon was the one who helped a middle-schooler Haruhi create the Nazca-esque message mentioned in the Melancholy novel. Kyon is also probably the one who suggested to Haruhi that his high school might have aliens, time travelers, and espers (but no sliders). We also learn that Yuki can more or less exist outside of time, syncing her past and present selves. This story also apparently directly sets up the next novel, Disappearance, but I haven't read that yet, so we'll see.

"Mysterique Sign" does well to call back to the computer club's president as mentioned in Melancholy, while also introducing the concept of a "closed circle" reminiscent of Haruhi's "closed space," as well as near-divine forces other than Yuki's "data overmind" and Haruhi herself. Kyon's narration also teases the possibility that Yuki's been going around "correcting" errors in reality without informing the other SOS Brigade members, that her choice to bring them into this case could be an example of her emotional development, allowing her friends to join in on her activities. We are also made a little more aware that Yuki is the one mostly responsible for fixing Haruhi's fuck-ups, which may or may not be important foreshadowing. According to the afterword, with this story Tanigawa was compelled to change the series's title to Fight On, Nagato, so probably we're about to get some more focus on Yuki Nagato, which can only be fun.

"Remote Island Syndrome" threatens to be a shark-jump, opening in medias res with the SOS Brigade stumbling upon an apparent murder. The idea is that Haruhi's desire to go to a rich man's manor on an otherwise deserted island spawns from her belief that something exciting might occur, such as a murder. (It's somewhat relevant that Haruhi appears to be interested in the mystery genre, retroactively setting up Koizumi's intended solution to the problem at the heart of the Sigh novel) Of course, Kyon and the SOS Brigade fear that Haruhi will subconsciously will a murder to happen on the island, particularly if a hurricane were to occur, thus isolating the island further from society. And indeed a hurricane does come to hit the island. And indeed the manor's owner seems to be victim to a murder. Fortunately, it turns out to be a ruse set up by Koizumi as an elaborate prank, diverting Haruhi from dreaming up an extraordinary scenario by keeping her content with a comparatively mundane situation. I don't read many mysteries, but I kind of feel the idea of such a "gotcha!" ending is to be expected these days. Like, the whole purpose of the mystery genre seems to have looped into subverting every possible cliched ending, and then maybe moving to a subversion of the subversion by having genuine usage of tropes. Basically, having read Nisioisin's second Zaregoto novel kind of led me to suspect mystery light novels to have such non-endings. Whatever.

Lastly, even if I don't care too much for "Boredom" itself, the following three stories do well to deserve a spot in Haruhi-ism canon. "Boredom" might feel a little too contrived as a follow-up to Melancholy, but the rest of the stories follow "Boredom" perfectly, with just the right amount of callbacks to establish the book as something adjacent to a cohesive novel. And even if the reader knows Sigh comes next chronologically, apparently the "Bamboo" story sets up the next novel for release order. So there's that.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit that I was a little bored with the previous volume in the series. It was good but not great & felt just a little well, stale in comparison to how fun the first volume was. This is a big improvement although I have to say that I just didn't get into it as much as I wanted to.

This volume is comprised of several short stories, some of which I loved & some I didn't. I have to admit that I liked the time travel story as well as the one concerning the computer club president. Those really were great & I could see where either of those would have made for a great book all on their own. (Not to mention how cool the murder mystery story was.) The madcap pace of Haruhi works really, really well in short story format.

Unfortunately I just didn't thrill over this book, which I'm more chalking down to personal preference. (Plus there's a few bits of translation that just didn't make sense coming out of a Japanese teenager's mouth, such as the reference to Social Security, but I'm not going to hold that against the translator.)

This is still a great book & I really do recommend it heartily to any Haruhi Suzumiya fan.

[Theresa ♫ · Rating 4 out of 5]

To my fellow review readers:
Please note that this review will be filled with not only my review, but there will DEFINITELY be spoilers, rambling, and babbling about other topics because that's just how random I am.
If you are not ready to endure the awesomeness of the randomness of this review, I advise that you locate away from this page.





Let me state something first before I start this review:

I AM SOOOO EXTREMELY GRATEFUL THAT THERE IS A PARANORMAL STORY IN THIS WORLD WITHOUT VAMPIRES.

Or werewolves. Or angels. Or immortals. Or faeries. Or mermaids. Or wizards. Or dragons, ghosts, and any other common paranormal creature found in today's paranormal romances.

DON'T GET ME WRONG!! I mean . . . I love wizards. (Harry Pottaaah!) And dragons. FO-SHIZZLE, I'd like a pet dragon! As long as it doesn't eat me.


But seriously, come on. THERE ARE SO MANY PARANORMAL ROMANCES, it's hard to go to the library and NOT find one. Heck, THEY HAVE THEIR OWN SHELVES!
And besides, I've never been the hugest fan of paranormal romances.

(Maybe it's my own fault for choosing the ones that aren't especially awesome to my taste.)
-Twilight has vampires.
-The dreaded Evermore series has immortals.
-Wings had faeries.
-Firelight had dragons.

And all of these books? Sure, their descriptions were amazing and everything but the romances? (Make the sound of deflating balloon. Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssss...) q(-_-)


Maybe I just chose the wrong books. (*sigh.)

ANYWAY, I'm not here to rant about those! I'm just stating those because I am SO, SO, SO VERY THANKFUL THAT THIS SERIES IS . . . way, way, way more ORIGINAL.



You guys know the gist of the story, right?

Yuki is an alien. ALIEEEEN! (Dude, how many alien stories are there in this world? This is the first one I've found!)

Mikuru is a time-traveler! (And sure, all this time-traveling, time paradox fop can get a little confusing but when you DO understand it, it's just AMAZING.)

Koizumi is an esper. (Dude, I STILL don't know what an esper is, but I think they're cool.)

There are ALL THREE OF THOSE. And then Haruhi is the strangest of them all, being either a possibility for evolution, a time distortion, or a god.

I have NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER read a story that's anything like this one.


THAT'S the main reason why I love this story. It's so original in every single way, and it'll probably be about a million years before you find something that's anything like it.

I mean, there are so many stories that are JUST LIKE TWILIGHT.
But I don't think it's possible to find another version of this story.



So basically, before I start this review, I just want to say: IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING REALLY ORIGINAL AND TOTALLY DIFFERENT . . .

I'd say you should try this book.

Unless you're not a fan of sci-fi, or you get confused really, really easily up to the point where you don't understand what's going on (like, if you watched Inception and you don't get ANY OF IT, even if you've rewatched it like 3 times).

But yeah. This story is just the best ever. I LOVE YOU NAGARU TANIGAWA!


Anyway yeah. Let's start the review now. :)


So, recently, I've just gotten really obsessed with this series. I'm the kind of fan that spends valuable time researching and watching and rewatching the episodes over and over, and trying to get a hold of all of the books, and memorizing the lyrics to the OSTs...part of my world is Haruhi Suzumiya.
And yes, I'm also doing this because this summer is the kind where I'd spend the days sleeping otherwise.

And after ALL THAT, I was still wondering . . . "WHY ARE ALL THE EPISODES AND CHAPTERS MIXED UP??"
I mean, don't the short stories in THIS BOOK happen before what happened in The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya??


Anyway, I found out, finally! This book is just filled with short stories, like episode fillers. It's like a tiny bit of fun before another huge story starts.

All of these short stories have been turned into anime episodes, and all the stories took up about one episode. (Well, except the Remote Island Syndrome episode. That had 2 parts.)

And there's practically NO DIFFERENCE between the anime and the book. If you've seen the episodes already, then you basically know everything that happens.
There are tiny differences, though, but the anime kind of improved a little--just like what happened in The Sigh.


If you want to see the episodes, here's a reference:


The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya-Season One/Episode 7

Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody-Season Two/Episode 1

Mysterique Sign-Season One/Episode 8

Remote Island Syndrome-Season One/Episodes 9 and 10


So anyway, I guess with this sort of book, every chapter gets its own reflection:



1. The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya

The romance in this series is really, really interesting. It's the kind of romance that's supposed to be IMPLIED. It's not very clear but if you can tell how the characters act and WHY, you'd get more of it.
It's kind of weak to be able to tell in the novels, but the anime presents it pretty clearly.

In this story, it's basically about a baseball game that Haruhi forced her brigade and a few other people to play, and if they lose that game, it's like the end of the world.
And other than Haruhi, they're all pretty bad at baseball.


I think this chapter was really pretty interesting, probably because of how they cheated to win the baseball game. (The anime made it pretty funny.)
But it's also because of the relationship between Kyon and Haruhi.
Kyon is technically the practical one who complains a lot about what Haruhi wants them all to do. But even if he complains THAT MUCH, Haruhi still pretty much trusts him and I THINK THAT'S CUUUTE!

I mean if I wanted to do something fun and there was that one potato butt that complained about EVERYTHING, I'd kick him right on his astronaut and say, "YOU BIG JERK! DO WHAT I SAY OR GET OUT!"
Well I'm not naturally that mean, but you know . . .

Anyway, it's because Kyon isn't participating the way Haruhi trusts him to that the world was starting to get closer to ending.
Kyon doesn't really seem to notice how much Haruhi trusts him. Or, well, he might, but he doesn't say much about it.
It makes the whole romance story between them pretty frustrating and slow-paced, but at the same time, it makes me REALLY, REALLY EXCITED to know what happens next.


2. BAMBOO LEAF RHAPSODY

I LOVED this story, partially because it made you THINK (but it got me REALLY CONFUSED at first), and partially because it explained a lot of what happens to them in the present, and partially because it's a fairly important factor in the 4th book, which I'll bring up in my next Haruhi Suzumiya review.

FIRST, if you got confused while reading or watching this, here's my explanation for you:

Mikuru and Kyon went back in time, right? (July 7th, 3 years back.) THEN Mikuru fell asleep, and the adult Mikuru appeared.
The reason why she put the younger Mikuru to sleep was because when SHE was in the younger Mikuru's place, she didn't remember meeting the older Mikuru. If the older Mikuru let the younger Mikuru see her, it'd conflict with her memories, and then there'd be this huge time paradox. (Huh. That IS pretty confusing.)

The adult Mikuru told Kyon to go to a certain place to meet a certain someone, and then she just WALKED AWAY and disappeared into the darkness.

So Kyon went to where he was told, and he met the younger Haruhi.

And she basically forced him to help her with what she was going to do.

So she made him draw the weird symbols all over their school quad. Kyon had stated that he KNEW about Haruhi drawing those weird symbols all over the place, but he never thought that he was the one that drew them. I thought that was really, really interesting!
So if he had seen that article in the paper of the weird symbols, he'd probably look at it and go, "Jeez, who did that strange girl get to do that? Poor guy."
But it was really him. Like he was looking at his destiny!

Anyway, after he was done with what Haruhi wanted him to do, he had told Haruhi that his name was John Smith, which ALSO means a lot in the story.
And he had given her the idea to go to North High. So through the story, he was complaining so much about what he was stuck with, but he was the one who had given her the idea for coming to North High and making the brigade.

When Mikuru woke up, her TPDD time traveling device was missing and that if they didn't find a solution . . . they'll be stuck in that time plane. FOREEEEEEEEEVEEEEER.
So then Kyon realized, "Okay, so if she's missing her TPDD, that must mean that the adult Mikuru took it so that they'd use some OTHER way to get back to their time instead . . ."
And THAT'S how he got the idea to go to Yuki Nagato.

Okay, this next part kind of confused me, too, but I understand it, so here it goes.
First of all, when they arrive to her place, she's wearing her uniform, even though it's going to be 3 years before she even enrolls. I was like, "Are you already a student there???"
Nope. She's just on stand-by and she has to wait for 3 years.
And another thing is that she doesn't look any younger. She looks EXACTLY THE SAME.
So let's say that they all become 80-year-olds in this story, all old and wrinkly.
And Yuki will be the only one with a young, wrinkle-less body!! Ah, the benefits of her species . . .

So anyway, when she's talking to Kyon, she says, "The me you know 3 years from now and the me in this time are the same person."
Well obviously. But that's not what she meant.
She meant that she had the same memories, so she knows her own future. Jeez, I wish I could do that.
She did that by "syncronizing" memories with her future self. I guess that's a benefit of transcending space and time. I'm JEALOUS!!

So, all that time, through everything that Kyon has gone through, Yuki has already known what's going to happen and how it's going to happen, but she doesn't tell ANYBODY.


So THEN, Yuki basically tells them to sleep in a room together, and I don't see why Kyon and Mikuru would freak out. I mean, there were two separate futons. It's not like they were told to sleep on the same futon.
Yuki was like, "Sleep. Go to sleep, and ONLY sleep."
See? They were totally reassured.
But I guess if I was in that situation, I'd freak out, too. Oh well.

So here's how the anime went:
The lights went off. Yuki closed the door. Kyon closed his eyes. ONE SECOND LATER, the lights went back on, and they both sat back up.
They were like, "Okay, why'd you just turn off the lights and then turn them back on so fast??"
But then Mikuru realized that they were back in their own time.
THAT totally confused me. I was like, "Whaaat? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN??"
Basically, Yuki stopped the time in that room and kept it that way for the next three years. When the certain day came, she started the time again.

So the whole entire time, when Kyon visited Yuki for the first time, his future self and Mikuru were sleeping in the next room.
I watched the episode where Kyon and Yuki were both first talking and Yuki was explaining that she was an alien. I was like, "Oh Kyon. Don't you know that your future self is sleeping right in the next room???"


3. Mysterique Sign

Okay, Emiri Kimidori was probably the most confusing character in this story. She only appeared in like . . . one episode, but at the end of the episode, it was stated that she was created by Yuki as . . . another interface. I think.

Anyway, Emiri Kimidori plays a bigger part in the future of the series, believe me. (But she doesn't really appear again for another long while . . .)

This episode is basically about a sign that Haruhi created. Apparently, when people look at it through the computer, they get sucked into another dimension. Why, I never really figured out. (Still a little confused . . .)
So, Kyon, Koizumi, Yuki, and Mikuru go into a different dimension to find the Computer Club President, who saw the sign and got sucked into the dimension.
The gigantic camel cricket was something very, very random. I mean, why a gigantic cricket? Why not a gigantic PANDA BEAR???

And Koizumi used his powers to destroy the gigantic cricket, but his powers only make me CONTINUE to wonder what on earth an esper is.


Anyway, apparently, that picture contained 436 terabytes of data. DUDE, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY GIGABYTES THAT IS?!?!
That's . . . 1024 Gigs times 436.

I'd love to have a 436 terabyte I-phone. My phone is only 8 gigs and it's going to run out of space any day now.



4. Remote Island Syndrome

Out of all the stories, THIS STORY was probably the story that differed most from it's anime episode.
FIRST OF ALL, it's basically a mystery story. And trust me, it's way more exciting in the anime. The book sort of made it a little bland and a little less detailed, but the story is still pretty much there.

Basically, the brigade goes on a trip to this remote island, and Haruhi is all, "OH MY GOD! It's a remote island! I hope something WEIRD happens because usually weird things happen on remote islands!"
And something did indeed happen.
The host of the trip had gotten murdered . . . by his BROTHER!!!
(I've seen soap operas like that. The most popular line I've heard would probably be, "(GASP)OH MY GOD, HOW COULD YOU?! And with your BROTHER!!!!!!")

Anyway, they spent the story trying to figure out how the murder was caused.

At the end, it turns out that Koizumi had planned out the whole murder. It was all just good acting.
They wanted to plan something fun for Haruhi. Because MAAAYBE, if the trip was just a normal trip . . . THE WORLD MIGHT END! NOOOOOOOOOOO!
Oh, and apparently, all the hosts turned out to be espers, too. The ending just throws a bunch of factors into your face.





Anyway, in conclusion . . . THIS BOOK WAS WAY BETTER THAN THE LAST! There were a lot more words, but it was more descriptive and more opinionated and . . . way better than The Sigh.


All these short stories will have a deeper meaning in the future of these series. I mean, they might seem like just short stories now, but in the future, a lot of the major events reference on these short stories.

I think there are more short stories in the 5th volume, right?




Anyway, this book was pretty good!
But I can HARDLY WAIT for the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. I LOOOOOVE THAT STORY!!!











Whoa. This review was really long.

[Vishanth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always loved the episodic adventures in the original anime so I was glad to finally read a volume that was nothing but fun little short stories.

I'm already familiar with all these stories from the Anime but I'll talk about them regardless

The Boredom Of Haruhi Suzumiya is such a fun hilarious concept. The SOS brigade must win a baseball match otherwise the world might end due to Haruhis tantrum. So funny and so clever. I love how this story is relatively unchanged in the Anime. We see all the fun side cast from Taniguchi, Kunikida, Tsuruya and Kyons Sister. And Nagato creating a cheat code bat always makes me chuckle. As inventive and funny as I remember it being.

The next story Bamboo leaf rhapsody is one I was excited and worried to read. It's no exaggeration to say that Bamboo Leaf rhapsody is the most important story within this franchise since it's basically the origin point of everything. It was personally my favourite episode of the Anime and I'm glad to say it is once again a one on one adaptation. The original story really was that amazing and I'm so happy I got to read it. A time travel adventure where Kyon inadvertently helps Haruhi aquire her powers. What I love is how much is left to interpretation. We do know that this point is significant however it gets us to question if this is where Haruhi acquired her powers, if it was because of the message she wrote, was Nagato waiting for her for years or did she just arrive there? Kyon was also present could it be that he is actually God? Man I LOVE theorising about this moment. But most of all what I actually love is that despite being very important the story is so well written and it is purely down to the dialogue. The exchange between Kyon and Young Haruhi is so funny and quick witted. Kyons nonchalant sarcasm, the narcolepsy line and John Smith gag is still so funny. The dialogue is so fricking amazing.

The next one is a lowkey underrated one. Mysterique sign often gets forgotten but it's quite an important story especially for foreshadowing events involving Nagato. Haruhi makes a logo that ends up waking up a dormant super intelligent entity living within the confines of the world wide Web. I just love how insane and unapologetic this series gets. It throws the craziest concepts and excepts Kyon to just deal with it. This is why Kyon is the greatest character ever. The giant cricket fight is always a favourite.

The final story and the largest one is also the one I want to talk about the most due to the fact that its the only one notably different from the adaptation. I got to say Remote Island syndrome was done far better in the Anime however there are some stuff in the original story I quite liked. First off I believe Kyotoani added extra scenes and changes because the story was too long to be a single episode but not long enough to fill 2 whole episodes so they need to find balance. I much prefer Kyons Sister actually coming on the trip it was a cute thing and added some fun moments. Although the bag gag was still present and just as gold. Haruhi and Kyon falling off the cliff and recuperating in the cave is such a great scene and I was upset to see that be an anime original and I also believe the sequence leading to the reveal was handled better in the Anime. Both Haruhi and Kyon figuring it out and involving everyone even Kyons sister in solving the mystery was far more intriguing and fun to experience. It also gave Haruhi her detective moment she wanted. Overall the Anime adaptation made a fairly decent but mediocre story into something great. However there is one moment that is actually pretty good that didn't make it into the Anime. The Brigade trying alcohol. On one hand I understand why Kyoto ani wouldn't want to show minros drinking however with a show that has very explicit scenes of sexual harassment I'm surprised this is where they draw the line. In the Disappearance movie Haruhi has a throwaway line stating that she'll never touch alcohol. It doesn't make sense for the Anime. She's more than OK to spike Mikuru but the fun adventure loving free spirit Haruhi won't even try alcohol out of curiosity? Doesn't add up and makes her seem even more cruel for spiking Mikuru without consulting on her own thoughts on alcohol. Now a Haruhi that has tried alcohol, wilded out and made the decision to never try it again, now that throwaway line from Disappearance would make far more sense. So yes I believe KyotoAni should've kept the scene and it's the one this the book has over the Anime. However as it goes the Anime did it better haha.

Rankings for these stories goes

1: Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody 10/10
2: Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya 8/10
3: Mysterique sign 7.5/10
4: Remote Island syndrome 6/10

[Hed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay okay, this is getting more irritating than I thought.... Seriously, I'm fine with listening to theoretical repetitions or ellipses, as long as they make some narrative sense or don't take up much of the writing, let alone the exacerbated amount of metaphors and very shallow comparisons that often don't even make sense, unfortunately, not in a comical way
This unbridled repetition of parts that don't fit just shows the lack of polish, or rather, a basic care coming from its manufacturer.


So, this is a volume of extra stories that don't connect, an annoying narrative indeed, but that doesn't mean your stories have to be too, which is exactly why I'll talk about each one separately.

To kick off this literary disaster, we have a boring little baseball game, this one added to somehow connect chronologically with its predecessor. There's not much to talk about here, it's like a little adventure that you know from start to finish what will happen, a script so simple that it seems to laugh ironically at all the complexity of the conspiracy theory. In fact, the script here is so empty that the author has to explain again and again his writing full of unwanted ellipses without any hidden or deep meaning, a simple, direct and simple writing.

Time travel? Well, this one was interesting, if not necessarily good.... Repetition and more repetition without any logical explanation, but not absurd enough to create holes in the script. The narrative here temporarily connects with the past and thus creates some plot twists. The problem here is the construction of a mystery, which seems to lack subtle hints or the absence of them, but.... I'll leave this to explain in another part of the narrative.

A.... Mysterious symbol? Okay, this one was really fun!!! The script seems to revert to its parody-style comic origins """"satirical"""", taking its ridiculousness as something fun to deal with and laughing at how absurd the world is, much like Kiyon's irony or Koizumi's sneer. . The good thing is that because its own plot twists aren't taken seriously here, I was also able to do the same while being guided by the comic, so it was unexpectedly enjoyable.
Damn, we even had an incitement of a character deepening based on certain wordplays that intertwined with the past, even more so than Asahina and her time travels.... Well, actually overcoming this clumsy is not very difficult , so it was a bad comparison to praise the script hehe

And, to close with a bitter taste of defeat provided by my overestimation of a very good ending, we have the "isolated island"...... Suzumiya seems to have a problem that when she tries to give tips and build mysteries, it makes everything very obvious or incongruous, however, in their absence, the plot twist's creativity doesn't seem to be able to deflect the gaffe left by friction with its poor writing.
So, we arrived at this narrative that introduces new characters in an irritating and unconventional way, however, even if the tips show its predictability, the plot twist still has a good formula and manages to follow the tips well. Strangely, predictability wasn't an issue here, as the mystery formula was already satisfying, even if still, weighing like an anchor on a boat almost breaking in the middle of the storm, after all it's Suzumiya's writing we're talking about.



Anyway, this is a mediocre volume with few links, but at the same time they do a decent job when they are posted. This volume does not function as a domain encyclopedia of basic information that links to the postulate of a theory, but seems more like several tales with singular stories that do not fit together.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The four stories are pretty hit-or-miss, but the overall package is a success, even though each story is completely standalone and doesn't add up to be greater than the sum of its parts. It's a borderline 3 star book, but there's still something special about the book that the show can be missing at times. I took long breaks between each story, so this review may be reaching quite a bit when it comes to my thoughts on them.

The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya: Just sheer fun. There's nothing deep or thoughtful about it, but it's just as hilarious and ridiculous as it is in the show. Plus we get a little time with Kyon's amazing and unbearable little sister (...just realized she doesn't have a name).

Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody: A story of a lonely girl who had no recourse against her boring and disappointing life than to draw signs for aliens in the hope that her life could get better. It's sad really. This is probably the highlight of the book, and the interactions with Kyon and Mikuru, and Kyon and older Mikuru are all fantastic. Nagato's character is given more attention, and the groundwork is laid for her rather tragic and sad character arc.

Mysterique Sign: Another fascinating read that acts as a great add-on for the show. We're introduced to the idea of the closed circle, and more foreshadowing is given for Nagato's emotional development that will reach its fruition soon.

Remote Island Syndrome: The story that almost pulls the book down a star. The pacing is horrible and it's overlong. While the twist is still satisfying, and an interesting quandary is opened up if Haruhi's wish for an exciting life could lead to people being killed, the story is far more effectively and concisely told in the anime. This one really soured the experience of the book for me, and was a slog to read through.

My takeaway from this collection is that Tanigawa needs to seriously work on his pacing. He also lacks consistency, and it often feels like he's barely shy of reaching something thought-provoking or meaningful.

Kyon is a perfect example of an unsignaled unreliable narrator. Most authors signal that you shouldn't trust the narrator, but Tanigawa never does that. Kyon speaks, and you take his word for it. He hates Haruhi. But his actions don't match up. He goes along with Haruhi, he helps her when he doesn't have to. I can't stand Haruhi because he can't, Koizumi infuriates me because he infuriates Kyon, Kyon loves Mikuru so I love Mikuru. And I don't question it. He never tells his real name and even his sister doesn't get a name, and I hardly think twice about it. But there's so much under the surface that he hides behind his nonplussed and uncaring persona. One day, I hope we get to see that facade fall apart.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the anime when I first watched it years ago, and I remember liking the first light novel well enough, getting through it in around a week as I recall. I also consider the movie to be one of the best series tie-in movies ever. Then on the flip side it took me a full year to finish the second book. This third one took around 2 weeks, and I'm really making a push to try and finish the series, because I'm tired of them sitting unread on my shelf.

I have really *really* come to hate Kyon's narration. I don't know to what degree this might be the fault of the translation, but he's just exhausting. The constant whining that would make Holden Caulfield go "Hey man, you're bringing the mood down." There's also this tendency to explain the most mundane things in either an r/IAmVerySmart way, or use completely nonsensical metaphors. It reminds me of the level of bad writing in the 13 Reasons Why novel, which I found so bad I had to double check my copy to make sure I hadn't been pranked. Also, I'm used to some pretty lecherous and shameless behavior in anime and manga, but something about Kyon and his presentation as "a completely typical run of the mill guy" just makes it feel so much skeevier just makes his relentless thoughts about Asahina feel really gross.

I'm really hoping the writing improves, because I do like the ideas in this series, but I'm wishing now more than ever that the anime had continued, because this is not my jam.

[Quinlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya is the third novel in the series, and unlike the previous two is a collection of 4 short stories rather than chapters. This makes the reading experience a bit different but nonetheless entertaining. I will be reviewing the four stories individually and doing a bit of comparison between them.

The first story is the titular The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya and details the exploits of the SOS Brigade as they enter a city baseball tournament. I found this story the most entertaining of the four. As has come to be expected at this point, supernatural forces come in to play to comedic result.

The second story is Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and while it starts off ordinary, Kyon ends up travelling three years back in time and meeting a younger Haruhi. What follows provides highly interesting and potentially paradoxical insight on Haruhi's past. I found this story less entertaining than the first but definitely the most interesting.

The third story is Mysterique Sign and follows the disappearance of the computer club president from the first novel. If you've seen the anime adaptation, this story happens much earlier there. This story was not as interesting as the others but rather is somewhat suspenseful and is the first time the SOS Brigade receives and investigates paranormal activity.

The fourth story is Remote Island Syndrome and follows the SOS Brigade as they spend time during summer break at a mansion on a remote island, as per Haruhi's wishes. This story I personally found a bit slow and not very exciting, but I believe this is because I have seen the anime adaptation already and know the ending.

[LeitoLibrito · Rating 4 out of 5]

El aburrimiento de Haruhi Suzumiya - ★★☆☆☆

Recuerdo leer esta historia de chiquito y cagarme de aburrimiento y ahora releyéndolo de grande me pasa exactamente igual XD

Rapsodia de la hoja de bambú - ★★★★★

Esta me ENCANTA. Me parece una historia súper chill y es re comfort read. Tiene un mínimo momento de tensión que se resuelve de la forma más chill posible sjsjd

Mysterique Sign - ★★★★☆

Ni me acordaba de esta historia cuando me puse a leerla así que fue como si la estuviera conociendo por primera vez. No me vuela la cabeza pero me gustaron mucho las interacciones entre los diferentes miembros del cast, y eso hace que tenga buena nota.

Síndrome de la isla remota - ★★★★★

Siendo sincero, no es la mejor historia de este libro, pero no me importa, no puedo ser imparcial con esta. Esta fue mi historia favorita cuando leí el manga a los 8 años y ví la adaptación al anime de esta historia un MONTÓN de veces. No sé por qué me gustaba tanto, supongo que las historias de misterio me podían de pequeño.
Ahora, de grande, habiéndo leído y conocido más historias de misterio y detectives puedo decir objetivamente que esta historia hace un muy buen trabajo. En resumen, me sigue gustando igual que cuando tenía 8 años 🤷🏻‍♂️ qcyo

[Will E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one down. This is the first volume of short stories, so no overarching theme here. There's a nice diversity to the plots, and it's a nice reminder that Tanigawa has a wealth of ways to deal with the premise that doesn't always revolve around Haruhi's inadvertent powers, which makes me look forward to later stories that I haven't read yet. But since I'm already familiar with these stories through the show, there's obviously less surprise and discovery. Tanigawa's strengths are his clear understandings of his characters (well-defined and vibrant, if somewhat stereotyped) and his plots, which are inventive and often quite clever (although rewatching Remote Island Syndrome, the anime version is more streamlined and twisty and overall better written). He's just not that great a writer, and he really struggles with endings, which are often too pat, sudden, and anti-climatic (again, see Remote Island Syndrome, which the anime rectifies). On the plus side, it led me to watch a really cool video about Russell's paradox which was fascinating and easy for a non-math person like me to understand, so there's that.

[Beci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this kind of Haruhi Suzumiya novels, when they are a collection of short stories.
Let's see them in details.

*THE BOREDOM OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA*
This is the less interesting one, fun in some ways but mediocre in others. The typical Baseball episodes with some Suzumiya eccentricity in it. Nothing too impressive.

*BAMBOO LEAF RHAPSODY*
This is a really cool sci-fi time-travel story, as good as the anime episode (which I remember as one of the best), with a bit of Haruhi's past put in it. Very good story.

*MYSTERIQUE SIGN*
This is an okay story, not too boring since it's a short one, but has a underwhelming climax. The sci-fi motivations are still really cool, given us by Nagato.

*LONELY ISLAND SYNDROME*
This detective novella is good, it would've been better if I went blind (but I remembered well the anime episodes, which were really good). The climax was underwhelming also in this case, but overall an enjoyable read.


And now I go with the Disappearence of Haruhi Suzumiya, I hope it's as good as the movie (and judging by the rating and the reviews, I have my hopes up)

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good comeback from the endless rambling of Koizumi in The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya. This time, we get just the right amount of rambling. In addition, we get three fun stories.

First off the baseball tournament. Short and sweet. It goes pretty much as one would expect, but it's a fun lighthearted story that was a nice hook for the volume.

Then we have Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody. This is a moment from the anime that I remember really liking, even though after ten years or so, my memories of watching it is a bit faded. As with many of Haruhi's shenanigans, we learn even moreso how she's been inspired by Kyon. For better or worse.

The final portion of the volume, is the extended murder mystery. I'll admit, I could not recall the ending of it until late in the story. Even though to the most casual observer, it'd be quite obvious.

All in all, a good step up from volume two. Looking forward to the next.

[Jacob Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit different from the previous two volumes in that this is a collection of short stories, rather than a single, novel-length one, but I found the shorter format really worked well for Haruhi.

After the second volume felt like it was dragging a little at times, this one never does because each of the varied stories are compact and enjoyable from top to bottom. Stories like the bizarre baseball game work particularly well as snippets of silly, little slice-of-life sketches and it keeps it very funny throughout it's brief page count. Seeing a younger Haruhi and learning more about Yuki and Mikuru in other stories keeps it interesting and varied too and not entirely about the comedy alone (although it definitely is a very funny volume throughout!). It's nice how each member of the SOS Brigade gets to share the spotlight throughout, as well with the larger story at the end giving us a bit more focus on Koizumi.

All in all, it's just a fun read!

[Justin Paramanandan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me longer to actually finish this book. Truth be told, the most likely reason for the delay was because I have watched the series back in 2006.

The first three arcs (The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and Mysterique Sign) were a very interesting read and a good reminiscence from the series.

However, Remote Island Syndrome was the one that prolonged the completion of this book. As the author mentioned in his afterword, this is the arc that took the most pages. There's too much emphasition on the travel to the remote island rather than the actual event itself.

For a first timer, you can appreciate this volume. However, as a person who has watched the series, it is a drag...

[Aakif · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better than the last one but still not 3 star on account of how bad the first story is.

The Book consists of 4 short Stories hinted in volume 2 taking place bt May and Nov ie vol 1 and 2 in book time.

The first one is called Boredom of Haruhi and is a disaster. It is about a baseball game, and feels very stupid as no one questions the absurdities happening in it.

The second one is about the incident 3 years ago. While the story is relatively interesting, the actions of Asahina in during it made me think that Koizumi's theory on her personality may actually be true. Her personality has been purposefully created to control Kyon.

Third is quite a forgetful one about an data alien while the 4th one is the longest and perhaps the best one it in.

[David Doel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entry is better than its predecessor (The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya) because it has better stories. However, I'm about to scream the next time that I read that Asahina is cute, that Koizumi is always smiling, or that Nagato is expressionless! We got it!! You don't need to keep repeating the same descriptions!

My guess is that Kyon (the narrator) is always sneering. If he would just tell the stories and trust us to remember the personalities of the principal characters, the stories would be more enjoyable. Better yet, consider adding some nuance to their personalities.

The last story is a locked-room murder mystery and the solution is clever; hence the fourth star.

[Калоян Захариев]

Та така, третата част на лайт новелата за Харухи Сузумия. Анимето значи много за мен и няма как да съм напълно обективен.Обожавам тези дребни допълнения, които авторите на анимето просто не са успели да вмъкнат и са оставили на читателите на лайт новелата. Във всяка част откривам нещо ново. Това ме кара да си припомня навремето колко много харесвах Кьон, Харухи и другите членове на SOS бригадата и колко много радост ми носеха те. Всеки епизод от анимето ме очароваше, както никой филм или сериал дотогава.
Лайт новелата... ами тя е много близо до анимето и поне в третата част няма кой знае колко съществени разлики. И все пак всяка страница ми носи огромна радост. Имам чувството, че пак се връщам в онези дни, с които за пръв път срещнах Харухи и Кьон. Прекрасно е.

[Basil Roselló]

¡Tercera novela de la saga! Una serie de historias cortas situadas entre el primer y segundo libro. La calidad de estas vuelve a ser tan alta como la de La Melancolia y ofrece cosas para todos los gustos. Una historia más tranquila, una llena de lore importante y dos misterios muy diferentes entre sí y enfocados en distintos personajes.

He disfrutado mucho de ella, no hay más que decir. Ahora, solo me queda una más para haber leído todas las novelas con solo contenido del anime. Y menuda va a ser.

[Marc Tinent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro con cuatro historias cortas que funcionan mucho mejor que la novela anterior porque no tienes la sensación de que están alargando el chicle.

Las historias son entretenidas, aunque los diálogos siguen siendo bastante malos y las comparaciones son terribles.

El narrador poco a poco va sonando más como un adolescente y menos como un adulto intentando sonar como un adolescente (aunque no sé hasta qué punto eso es culpa del autor o de la traducción).

[Andersen Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short shories, that are very interesting.
My personal favourite is "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", which is very clear when you read further in the series.
Again, the characters are the biggest selling point, and they deliver again.
If you were disappointed by "The Sigh", then this book is a bit better. Still not a good as the first volume though.

[kordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is a fast-paced book. I don't know how to feel about it besides the fact that I don't have to ponder over anything. The story flows freely and I could grasp the intention of the author easily. At this point, slow character development can be seen and that's a good thing. Somehow, this irks me to read the next volume.

[Gregory Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading it, especially the short story Mysteric Sign.

Also, now I'm wondering if there's some sort of Comic Code for anime, because they completely cut out the part where the SOS Brigade got drunk from the Summer Trip arc in Season 2 of the show.