Suzumiya Haruhi Season 2 episode 2: More fun with Haruhi

I’m running late on catching up to Haruhi’s review but then again, I was very choosy with the available fansubs. I’m sure that Haruhi Season 2 had finished running on Japan’s TVs and I’m caught up with the late fansubs; that I’m putting them to blame nor should I be complaining to get my hands on illegal download copies of most of my anime collection (I do have some original purchase, okay?). Now, where was I on Haruhi this time? Oh yeah! Summer break. And that means Haruhi is hitting that vacation mode. The show is getting better, perhaps? More after the jump.

Synopsis: It’s the summer break and Kyon is the holiday depression — he has all the time to do everything yet he is doing nothing. Then he gets a call from Haruhi and all of that will change for the better. Kyon meets up with Haruhi and the rest of the club members where they later head to the public pool for some soaking under the sun. I guess nothing beats a fun in the water during a hot summer. This gives Kyon a thought that this idea of fun from Haruhi is a change for the better. Later the group hangs out in a cafe where Haruhi reveals her summer activity proposal to the club members. The list is long but they all agreed to tag along anyway. In exception for Yuki who has been quiet most of the time. Their busy summer schedule begins the next day and first on the agenda is the Hanabi festival. Before the festivity, it was shopping time for the girls as Haruhi leads them into getting themselves brand new yukatas. Later that night, they try their hands on almost everything at the local Hanabi festival. To live up to the festivity, they decided to play fireworks away from the festival site. In the midst of the festivity fun, it occurs to Kyon that they’re having too much fun bearing in mind of their unfinished summer homeworks. However, it turns out that Haruhi herself had finished hers already, saying that she can’t have fun if there are still some works to do. Well, Haruhi’s words are true after all. Next on the list is insect catching. Cicadas, to be exact. And summer time is the best timing for it. Haruhi decided to make it a competition among them; contending a one-day captain position for them. They all gave their best shot but ultimately, the very-hyped Haruhi cauught the most cicadas and retains that captain position anyway. In good spirit, she released all the cicadas she caught that day.

The next day, it was a part-time job at a local supermarket. It turns out that Haruhi is the only one not doing anything to earn their wages and their wages, as agreed by Haruhi and the owner, are their costumes they were wearing for the job. As how I see it, a part-time job is something to pass the time on and the reward doesn’t to be money because the experience matters. Somehow, this shows how definitive Haruhi is. Later, they try out stargazing where Haruhi begins to question on the existence of aliens. Next on the list, they show their batting skills at the batting centre. That night, they join the masses for a real hanabi display. The list continues with fishing followed by a night walk into a cemetery for a test of courage. Then, it was a late night movie, a beach picnic during jellyfish season (of all the times), bowling until everyone gets a strike, and finally a karaoke marathon. All of these within the final 2 weeks before the holiday ends. Haruhi goes through the list again and wonders if there is anything else left to be done. But the whole fun was too much for them and agrees that they can call it a day. However it was not over for Kyon who has not done his homework. But procrastination ensues and in the end, he got nothing done at the end of the day.

Thoughts: I was a little unforgiving when I did my first episode review of Haruhi season 2 and I must admit that I was too judgmental on the technical aspect. Answering to my question before the jump, I do find this episode more pleasurable to watch. Now, unlike most of Haruhi’s antics we have seen before, this episode somewhat shows how normal of a teenage girl she can be. She is actually having fun with the capabilities of most normal teenagers do. I mean, she is not conspiring on anything nor that she revealing an unexplainable workpiece, i.e., crop circles or propaganda webpage. Well, she might be going overboard at it; doing all the fun activities she could think of within 2 weeks but it was worth the experience anyway. But then again, that is what SOS Brigade is all about. If you ask me, I would love to jump aboard on that ship. And I must say, Kyon seconds that. In comparison to season 1, maybe things are going for the better after all. But we have to keep in mind that the episode sequence is jumbled in a similar manner as season 1 and that means this episode could be towards the end of the season, chronologically. If it does follow the same sequence as season 1 (or better known as Haruhi order as opposed to the broadcast order known as Kyon order), this would make this episode as the first episode in the chronological order; which I truly see fitting as it is. That would also mean that the previous episode, episode 1, is actually episode 11 in that order. The next episode, episode 3, will continue from this episode as episode 2. So will the fun continues by then?