Anime review: "Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu"

I have watched "Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu" last Sunday, but this was such a busy week for me that I didn't had to time to review it. Now it's finally Saturday and I have time to do it.

I've been planning to watch this movie since when it came out, early in 2010. But first there were no subs available for long time, and after that I never seemed to find time for this two and a half hour long movie. I liked the first "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu" very much, but liked the sequel "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009)" had some flaws ("The Endless Eight"). Nevertheless, I had good opinion of the franchise. And more, reviews of this movie were always very good - this move is currently rated first on AniDB.

"Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu" (or "The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi") starts with what is a norm for the show - few days before Christmas Kyon is dragged into another Haruhi's crazy plan, without asking whether he agrees or not. But after he wakes one morning, he finds the world not as it was yesterday - there is no Haruhi or Koizumi, and Nagato and Asahina don't seem to know him. He must find what happened and how to reverse it - but before that, he must decide does he even want to leave this, world where he finally has a normal life...

The movie asks for some knowledge of previous series - the knowledge I unfortunately lacked, because I watched them some time ago. But there is not much of such situations, and they get explained in due course, so it didn't spoil much of my enjoyment. But if you have time, rewatch the first two series before watching the movie.

The movie starts a bit slow, but it gets very interesting later. It has a very convoluted plot and it helps if you are familiar with previous series (e.g. I forgot some of the supporting characters). I really didn't expect the culprit, and I liked the ending quite much. As usual, there is a large portion of comedy: lots of embarrassing situations for viewers, e.g. whenever Kyon embarrasses himself by confessing someone that he is from another world. But at the same time this is the most serious and most dramatic part for now.

As expected, the movie is very nice from visual side - not overly impressive, but with nice colors, characters and animation. Sounds are also good, even though it lacks the great music, such as was in the first season.

In case you are a fan of the series, you will really love "Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu" movie. I am, and I really couldn't find any flaw to it. And the fact of its highest rating tells that even other people liked this movie. So, this is definitely a movie to recommend to anybody.