December 16th. Christmas is one week away, and Haruhi decides to throw a Christmas party. She’s going to bring home-cooked food.
December 18th. Haruhi has apparently vanished from the face of the Earth. Kyon is the only person who retains any knowledge of her existence.
Kyon actually impressed me a lot in Disappearance. After the series, where he was a mostly reactionary character, here he’s actually the main guy who drives the plot forward. And what a plot it is. I’m not sure how much I can talk about that without spoiling something important. I will say there are a couple interesting twists you need to watch out for, though. And the final climax? PURE. EPIC.
Some people have complained that the movie was too long at 2 hours and 40 minutes. But I feel that that time was put to good use.
You might want to re-watch the series before watching Disappearance, though. I, who watched the series twice (including Endless Eight, making Endless Sixteen,) was able to follow the story along nicely. But someone who has forgotten a lot of the series, or has not seen the series at all, will have a hard time following what’s going on. (Endless Eight is optional.)
After this movie came out last year, I decided that I’m going to make it a point to watch “The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya” every year around Christmastime. Right after “It’s A Wonderful Life”… Yep, it’s perfect.
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