With moved hosting, comes again the image upload (since I can actually set memory limit)

After watching this, I sure reminded of how good it was. At least before the wave of trolls executed by KyoAni and inflicted mental(?) damage(s) to some of its fans.

I believe you’ve watched this since this was released days ago. I watched this just now since I was… …busy… with… …stuff. Or you can also read as me being lazy. Thanks to Mazui for providing fast and quality release (oh and I’m not in the “it must be self-encoded from BDMV or it automagically sucks!” camp). Of course, if you haven’t watched it (but have watched first and second season), go watch them now. You may or may not want to skip the epic troll called Endless Eight though.

So, apparently this movie is set post final episode of first season. In the beginning, it’s just usual business. Christmas is nearing, and Haruhi being Haruhi, obviously she won’t skip the opportunity to hold something – a party in this case. Everything went normally until December 18, where Haruhi disappeared from the class, Ryoko back to the class, Asahina (and Tsuruya) and Yuki doesn’t remember who Kyon is, and an entire class (1-9) where Koizumi is is also disappeared. Etc.

I felt rather annoyed though on how Kyon initially handled the whole situation. It’s not the smartest possible way. Though it eventually became the key for solving the mystery.

Poor Yuki, meeting our local rapist - Kyon ;_; Also the scene which the film strip was sold few hundred thousands yen in an Auction

The normal (alt)-Yuki is moe. Different kind of moe she usually is but still good. And refreshing at that. The rest of team bears usual trait though. Including Haruhi herself.

...usual(?) Yuki

The whole time travel itself is rather simple. Especially if you’ve watched other movie(s) with mindfuck-inducing time travel (eg. Primer). It created a kind of paradox though: the message Kyon shouted to (loli-)Haruhi was from Haruhi herself which she heard from Kyon himself: who created the message?

The story is good, with most focus on Nagato Yuki and John Smith Kyon. The whole reset-because-of-error-which-actually-is-emotion is not really unique (at least also happens in Sora no Otoshimono Forte) – heck, it goes as far as in Star Wars: there’s a rule to do memory wipe on droids on regular basis or else it’ll develop funny logic (er, emotion) – but it’s executed quite nicely. With Nagato Yuki being close to omnipotent and able to alter entire timeline – the result was quite devastating (this entire movie, hurr). We also get more in-depth understanding on Yuki and hard proof(?) that she’s not purely emotionless. Just like every other Ayanami-class character, I guess. It’s also exciting, and does great job reliving the experience of Haruhi 1st season. The usual antics did by “new” Haruhi is especially refreshing. It’s like the saying “everything old is new again”.

The animation is really good. It has been a long time since I watched a good generic moeblob-class anime (design-wise) with great animation. The smoothness of movement is really good (to the point I can recognize it), camera panning also nicely animated. It’s much higher quality than the usual KyoAni animation, I’d say.

Overall, it’s a great movie. I’d happily rank it above UBW (with its rushed storyline) but still below Nanoha The Movie 1st (BECAUSE IT’S NANOHA. GET IT?). Oh and I guess Nanoha movie review or something is in order. Maybe tomorrow.

Also, Happy New Year. The day where we celebrate nothing apart of the fact that it’s arbitrarily decided that a year is 12 months and January is the first month. Heck, the “start” of the year (January 1) is also meaningless in the end after few corrections.