Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya DVD 2
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18362 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I would absolutely not trust eBay. Both times I've bought anime that way I've been burned, and the second time was by a guy who supposedly had an extremely high approval rating (but mysteriously disappeared by the time I received my shipment).
Another relatively safe place to check is Amazon. Its secondary sellers are usually reputable and offer some good deals. As a rule, though, I've found deepdiscount.com to be the most reliable on delivery and usually hard to beat on prices. On an unrelated topic, I proved my thorough geekness last week at a convention where I was judging some RPG events. I wore the armband from the vol. 2 boxed set and went around introducing myself as the "Ultra Director" instead of the Game Master. 
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sheep_inabox88
Posts: 2 |
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Just a few of my thoughts on the chronology:
Though the chronology may not apparently make sense, I think that a closer look at the story will show that the lack of chronology is a part of a a central theme. MHS is a story about searching for excitement in an otherwise ordinary life. What Haruhi realizes at the ending (the original out-of-order ending) is that, regardless of not consciously finding aliens and such, spending time doing spontaneous things with her close friends makes living great. This is where the anime's structure serves as an important thematic element. The lack of order symbolizes that the moments of happiness in our memories are timeless in our present state of mind. In the last episode, despite the rain and gloom, the overall mood is warm and happy. It is as if, after all the chaotic episodes, the viewer finally sits back and relaxes and thinks "wow, what a journey." Also, the end in a sense is a "perfect ending" without really ending the story. The viewers do not need to ask "what's next" becacuse they already know that the adventures keep going on. In understanding this, the seemingly melancholy mood of the last episodes (with the rain and all) is actually not so at all. It just goes to show that even on a rainy day, one can be happy in realizing all the great things from the past and expecting more great things to come in the future. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18362 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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A great commentary, sheep_inabox88, and one I tend to agree with, but it also concerns series content beyond the scope of this volume. Anyone being exposed to this series for the first time via DVDs is not going to have seen that episode yet, so these comments might be better-served in the appropriate thread in the Anime forum.
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Reikon
 Posts: 36 |
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Is the video quality on the opening and ending any better for the second DVD? The first one had horrible blocking during motion. I don't know why it's so bad when the episodes themselves are fine.
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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It's because there is so much happening in the opening. Even the R2 DVDs had problems and they blurred it to cut down on the problems. And I wouldn't expect the opening to be any better or worse on the second volume.
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CaptainAvatar
 Posts: 381 Location: Saint Louis, MO |
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Well, this is my second viewing of the series, as I did see it in broadcast order first for a pre-release review I did elsewhere. Things are making a lot more sense now, and things that went right over my head the first time due to the order of episodes are clicking. I personally didn't care much for the mixed up broadcast order, but I am warming up to it more than before. Although the baseball episode made so much more sense following what was the broadcast finale, it does make me wonder what the chronological order finale will feel like. Oh well, I'm buying the LE editions anyway, so I guess I can watch it whatever way I feel like at the time.
As far as the dub, Wendee Lee improved from Volume 1, but I don't think she can ever come close to matching Aya Hirano's fantastic performance. I still think Kari Wahlgren would have made a better Haruhi. In fact, they should have just swapped roles. Oh well, the dub is still pretty decent - Crispin was the star of Volume 2, and Stephanie Sheh is just perfect as Mikuru. Now begins the wait for Volume 3! |
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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The blocking is moderately bad. I find the mosquito noise very bad. There seems to be those black spots all over the place in the OP credits. |
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