A Look into Kyoto Animation

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            When watching forms of entertainment such as anime or live action television shows, something which a viewer tends not to focus on is the company which chose to produce the program. This is most likely because knowing the name of a company does not affect how much a viewer is likely to enjoy a program. However, in looking at the works and philosophies of a production company a person can gain a better perspective of what kinds of tactics and practices a company goes through with in order to gain profit.  This essay hopes to examine the philosophies, works, and tactics of the company Kyoto Animation to show how the company’s patterns of production and attention to detail in creation have made them a successful business.

Before going into detail as to how Kyoto Animation has used successful tactics as a production company, some basic information about the company should first be given. Kyoto Animation, often abbreviated as Kyoani, is the name of an anime production company located in Uji of the Kyoto prefecture of Japan (Kyoto Animation Website). The company was founded in 1981 by Hatta Yoko and her husband Hatta Hideaki both of which already had a history with anime production (Cavallaro,11). Tezuka Osamu, the creator of the popular anime series Astro Boy, handed the company over to the duo when he was done working in 1969 (Mushi Pro TV Tropes). The two were in charge of the company until it went bankrupt, only to bring it back a few years later. Then in 1981 the two moved on to start up Kyoto Animation (Mushi Pro TV Tropes). Hatta Yoko is currently in charge of which anime are produced by the company, and her husband is currently the president of the company( Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). Since the company was created it has produced a total of 21 full length anime series, six movie adaptions of these anime, two original video animations, and five original animation series. In addition to their own productions Kyoani has also assisted with the production of anime outside of their company such as Inuyasha and Tenchi Universe.(Cavallaro, 3). The company is affiliated with the Sunrise company which creates Mecha anime such as the Gundam series (Cavallaro, 3). It is also the owner of the animation company Animation Do (Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). The company has also produced a few light novels and has made the opening and closing animations for the video game Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū (Kyoto Animation Wikipedia).

However, the company did not begin in 1981 as a full company to start with. When it first started up, Kyoani was a limited company(Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). This means that people who have invested in the company do not have to pay for any financial problems that the company would go through (Limited Company Investipedia). In order to move from a limited company to an actual corporation as it did in 1999, the company had to build their company up with successful programs.

            One way in which the company built itself up was by following through with its four philosophies as to how the company should run. These rules which were posted on the company’s website are listed as embracing challenges, doing one’s best, creating animations that people need, and being a human company (Cavallaro 4).

Of all of the philosophies Kyoani describes as important to being successful as a company, the one which they most obviously seem to follow is that of being a human company. An example of how Kyoani focuses on the needs of people rather than on making money is the way that they handle the animation process. Instead of just having an animation team working on the projects themselves, Kyoto Animation offers animation lessons to nonprofessional students who are interested in working at an animation company (Cavallaro 5). By providing this service to students, Kyoto Animation is not only providing actual animation practice to students who are interested in the job, but they are also building up a group of people who will potentially be skilled with animation in the future when many of the current animators have retired or moved on to different professions.

In terms of following the philosophy of doing one’s best, one of the ways in which Kyoani works to provide the best work possible is the amount of detail they put into making sure that their animation is unique and detailed. One of the ways in which Kyoani personalizes their work is through the use of real world locations as inspirations for their backgrounds. Instead of just drawing a generic building as the backgrounds for their animations, Kyoani actually finds locations from real life and replicates them for the backgrounds of their shows (Cavallaro 136). This attention to detail makes the work seem more personalized than a generic background and it also shows that Kyoani is not just trying to mass produce their work quickly so that they are able to make products faster in an attempt to gain more money from less work.

In a similar manner to the way that they put a large amount of detail into the artwork that they create, Kyoani is also “creating animation that people need” by making sure that they pick projects that they are invested in 100 percent. This is shown both through the amount of content Kyoani has created as well as the competitions Kyoani has made to create new content. As it has previously been stated, Kyoani as a corporation was started in 1981. However, in the 33 years that the company has existed they have only made 21 full length anime series which is a rather small number when compared to other anime companies such as Studio Deen who in the years of 2000-2010 produced 52 titles and has produced a total of 100 works since the company’s foundation in 1975 (Studio Deen Wikipedia). By creating only a few titles in the 33 years of their company, it has been able not only to create works with more attention to detail, the company has also been able to be selective in picking projects that the members of the company are truly passionate about. Another way in which Kyoto Animation has shown to be a human company and create the works that people need, is through a story contest which they created in 2009 (Cavallaro 9). By asking writers and artists to come up with story ideas that the company could potentially animate, Kyoani is not only giving writers the ability to have their works animated or exposed to a larger audience, they are also making sure as a company that they are making anime with what they think is of best quality both in the actual animation and the story. Since the creation of the contest, only one entry’s work was converted into anime (Cavallaro 9). Other works which the company liked from the competition were given smaller animations which were posted online (Cavallaro 9).

            Besides the four philosophies that Kyoto Animation uses to produce their work, they also seem to use formulas in the work they produce. In looking over the anime Kyoani has produced there seem to be three main types of anime that they make. These stories are romance stories based off of visual novels, slice of life comedies based off of manga, and school based stories based upon light novels.

            Four of the anime which Kyoani has produced have been adaptations of visual novels. These series are Air, Kanon, Clannad, and Clannad After Story (Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). A visual novel is a type of video game popular in Japan which is similar to an adventure novel. The player is lead through a text based story with pictures and makes choices which effect how the story ends. All of the visual novels which Kyoani has adapted into anime have been from the video game company named Key. All four of these stories focus on a boy and his relationships with a number of different girls. Excluding Clannad, all of these series when they were originally in the game featured erotic moments, however this is not the case for any of the anime adaptations which were made. Due to the fact that these novels were based upon the male protagonist’s relationships with the female characters, it is safe to say that the main demographic for these anime would be straight males. However, due to the fact that these adaptations focus less on the sexual content of the novels and more on the relationships of the characters, it is likely that the stories would be appealing to people outside of their main demographic. Another aspect as to why it would be advantageous of Kyoani to produce adaptations based on visual novels, is because in the format of visual novels, the player of the game is usually placed in the position of the protagonist and they are likely to get attached to the characters. By playing in to the game players previous attachments to the characters, it is likely that Kyoani would be able to get regular viewers for these series.

            The second type of series Kyoani seems to have produced is slice of life anime based upon the lives of female protagonists which are often based upon manga. Series which fall into this category are Lucky Star, K-on!, Nichijou, and Tamako Market (Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). With the exception of Tamako Market which was an original story concept made Kyoani, all of the series under this category are adaptations of manga from monthly manga magazines (Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). One aspect of these series which might make them appealing to a male demographic is the fact that virtually all of the main characters in these series are female. Much like the visual novel anime were appealing to a male audience because they focused on a male protagonist’s relationship with multiple women, these slice of life anime may also appeal to males because it allows the viewer a detailed look into the lives of the female characters. However, at the same time, the large amount of developed female characters in these series would also be appealing to a female audience, due to the fact that there are not too many anime with a female heavy cast. Another aspect of these series which make them appealing to all demographics is that they often contain humorous scenes and do not have any of the characters getting caught up in romance.

            One particular innovation to sell products which was done by Kyoani was using the character of Konata from Lucky Star to sell products. Konata is a self-proclaimed otaku who spends most of her time on the computer or watching anime. Kyoani has used this character trait to their advantage by allowing her to reference other anime that the company has produced as well as anime which Kyoani is affiliated with. A particular interest of Konata is the anime series, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which was also produced by Kyoani. What makes this interest so important however, is the fact that the characters of Konata and Haruhi are voiced by the same voice actress. Kyoani uses this to their advantage and has Konata cosplay as Haruhi so that they can use the voice actress to reference their other products. While plugging other anime through Lucky Star may seem like a cheap attempt at selling their other products, it can also be appealing to an audience of anime fans who would want to see if they understand all of the references made in the show.

            The final type of show that Kyoani makes are anime which are adapted from different forms of novels. Some series which would fall under this category are The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Hyōka, Free!, Beyond the Boundary, and Chūnibyō demo Koi ga Shitai (Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). All of these stories are based upon school life and either have members who are part of a club or are in the process of creating a club. Two distinctive traits which differentiate these series from the other two types Kyoani seems to create are the inclusion of well-rounded male characters and the elements of the supernatural in a normal setting.  Compared to the stories based on visual novels where the male characters do not have much of a personality, and in the slice of life series in which they are virtually non-existent, the male characters in these series have a significant role to play and are allowed to develop as the story progresses. However, this does not prevent the female characters in these stories from developing either as they are usually just as important as the male protagonists. While this is not the case for every series under this category, the anime in this section usually feature supernatural elements such as yomu, espers, and aliens which allows the stories to have action elements even though they are in a school setting and it also allows the characters to bond over shared experiences. Even though all of the types of anime that Kyoani produces could be appealing to anyone, this particular type would most likely draw in the biggest crowd because it not only deals with stories which are usually gender neutral, it also has a good inclusion of male and female characters.

            Overall, Kyoto Animation has been able to successfully market their products to audience members for the last 33 years due to their attention to detail and their ability to pick series that will not only be appealing to audience members, but will also be a project that members of the company will be passionate about as well. By helping writers and future animators to gain practice and publicity for themselves, Kyoani shows that they are not just concerned with profit, they are also concerned with the future of animation. In following their four guiding principles and creating patterns of content that viewer enjoy, Kyoto Animation is doing its best to entertain its audience with their highest quality entertainment.

Works Cited

Blöndal, Rósa. "Anime as an Adaptation." (2014). Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://skemman.is/stream/get/1946/17144/40007/1/Anime_as_an_adaptation.pdf>.

Cavallaro, Dani. "Kyoto Animation in Context." Kyoto Animation a Critical Study and Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland &,, 2012. Print.

"Kyoto Animation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Animation>.

"京都アニメーションホームページ." 京都アニメーションホームページ. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.kyotoanimation.co.jp/>.

"Limited Company (LC) Definition | Investopedia." Investopedia. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/limited_company.asp>.

"Studio Deen." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Deen>.

"∇troperville." RSS. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/MushiProductions>.

My Relationship with Anime

      

Lucky☆Star

 When looking back on the role that anime has played in my life, it is difficult to define my interaction with anime as one specific relationship. I have been anime watching from when I was five years old up through my present time in college, so I have found that it has played many different roles for me throughout my life. Starting from the beginning of my history with anime, I would assume that it is not that different from many other people in the United States who are the same age as me and like anime. After coming home from Kindergarten each day I would turn on the television, eat a cookie and watch Pokémon and Sailor Moon. 

 

Sailor Moon

While almost everyone I know who is the same age as me was a fan of Pokémon when they were in Kindergarten, the series which I really think contributed into my getting into anime was Sailor Moon. I remember in second grade running around with my friend on the playground pretending to be the different sailor scouts. I think the aspects that really drew the show to me as a child were the magical transformations and the art style which was different from American style cartoons. Due to the similar art style I also found myself watching Cardcaptor Sakura when I was younger. During this time period, I would go to the bookstore with my parents every weekend and one day my mother pointed out to me that there was a book version of the Cardcaptor series. However, as I was only in second grade the right to left nature of the manga was confusing to me, so I didn’t really give it that much attention.  During this time period I didn’t know that this art style was something which fit under the genre of anime but this changed in third grade when I saw a girl in my class looking at a Sailor Moon book. She introduced me to a manga called Tokyo Mew Mew which is another mahou shoujo series similar to Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. It was at this point when I discovered that these comics and cartoons were of Japanese origin and that there were many other shows like these that had more detailed art and a continuous story. As someone who didn’t really watch any shows that weren’t cartoons when I was younger, stories with more detailed and continuous plot were an improvement when all of the other cartoons on were mostly comedies that didn’t really follow an ongoing story.

Tokyo Mew Mew

 The discovery of anime and manga also brought a social aspect with it. My friends and I created a Tokyo Mew Mew club amongst ourselves in 5^th grade and traded the comic around. Around this time period the main focus of my friends and I seemed to be manga rather than anime because we could bring it to school to exchange with each other. It was also a lot easier to find manga at this time period when anime DVDs were expensive and companies had not yet realized that putting anime up online legally with good quality was a good endeavor. Nevertheless, I mostly remember watching anime series which were based off of the manga I read with my friends, at my friend’s birthday parties with series such as Fruits Basket, D.N.Angel, and Full Moon o Sagashite. 

(There was an anime version of Tokyo Mew Mew released on U.S. television as Mew Mew Power; however, many content changes were made which did not exactly fit into how I thought the series should be.) 

Lovely Complex

In middle school, I spent a large amount of time online and reading forums with recommendations of anime to watch, and I found two of my favorite series, Lucky☆Star and Lovely Complex. As someone who is pretty shy I didn’t really talk about my interests in anime and manga to other people in my class except for my friends so I didn’t get looked at strangely, however my friends who liked to draw in an anime style and talk about it in class were talked about by some of my classmates in a negative way. I distinctly remember a kid in one of my classes talking about my friends who were in another class at the time saying “All they talk about is Bleach, Bleach, Bleach. They are so crazy, they must drink bleach.”  My friends were looked down upon for simply liking and talking about anime during the school day, which in retrospect was quite tame compared to some underclassmen at my High school who came to school for picture day wearing cosplay wigs and tails. My family on the other hand was quite supportive of my interest in manga and anime, buying and suggesting to my grandparents to buy me these things for birthdays and holidays. 

My mildly excessive collection of manga

 It was probably in high school when my interest in anime was at its highest. Anime was on Cartoon Network dubbed with a loyal translation every Friday night after midnight. I remember straining to keep myself awake through each episode of Fullmetal Alchemist after a week of schoolwork and little sleep. In 10^th grade I would invite my friends over to watch the shows with me. One thing we used to do, which is a bit embarrassing looking back on it, was film ourselves acting out what was happening on shows where we didn’t know what was going on and then laugh about how badly we were able to act out the scenes as they happened. I watched the series Code Geass and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in High school with my friends when they came over to visit as well. In looking up the voice actor for the series Code Geass, my friends and I discovered that there was an anime convention which was only a half hour away from where we lived. We went to the convention without buying tickets ahead of time and were lucky enough to get the final four tickets that didn’t break the fire code for the building. While at this convention we mostly spent our time in the dealer’s room looking at products to buy. We went a second year as well and spent most of that year watching panels on different subjects. However, we did not spend really any time talking to our fellow fans at the convention. 

Code Geass

My senior year of high school was quite busy and I did not get to spend a large amount of time on anime, however, my interest in anime helped me to make friends in my first week of college. I do not have time to go to bookstores as much as I did in high school so I do not really read any new manga these days, however whenever I am on break from school I usually watch a 12 episode long anime. Looking back on the series of anime that I tend to watch, I have found that the anime I watch by myself tend to fall under the shoujo genre, however the series that I watch with my friends tend to have more action or fall under the shonen genre.  I think this is because I really like the character development which occurs in the shoujo genre and can pay attention to it when I am by myself. When watching other genres with my friends I don’t have to pay much attention and have time to joke around. I don’t know if it would be accurate to call myself an otaku because I have many other interests as well. Anime and manga do not completely control my life, although they have played a big role in it. In addition, my friend just recently told me that she wants to watch the entirety of Naruto with her, so it seems that whether I want it to or not, anime will continue to play a role in my life for a long while.

First anime review: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu

Image Source:http://www.thesouthbankreview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/the-melancholy-of-haruhi-suzumiya-dual-screen-multi4-3.jpg

             Of all of the anime I could have chosen to write about for this first journal entry, I decided upon Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu or The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya because it is a series that I have consistently been enjoying since the time that I first saw it in middle school.  My reason for starting to watch this series was basically a spur of the moment decision I made while hanging out with friends. In middle school before the internet was basically dominated by a few main social media websites, I used to visit various random websites which had information on subjects which I enjoyed, mainly anime and manga. Around this time period many anime related websites were talking about the Suzumiya Haruhi series, but that was basically all I knew. One day while I was hanging out with two of my friends, who were also fans of anime, we all agreed that we did not know anything about the show but we had seen various things about it online so we decided to watch it because we had time. After watching the first episode, my friends and I were both amused and confused, and after being pulled in by the first episode, the rest is basically history.

            In a brief summary, The Melancholy of Haurhi Suzumiya is a series about an average high school boy, referred to the audience only as Kyon, whose life drastically changes when he meets an eccentric and extremely bored girl named Suzumiya Haruhi. He then gets dragged into joining her club in search of extraterrestrials and supernatural beings. Although Haruhi does not end up with a more interesting life as a result of the club, Kyon’s life gets turned upside down when the beings that Suzumiya is searching for end up becoming a growing problem in Kyon's life.

 Although the name Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu is the title of the first anime series which was released in 2006, the anime series is actually based on a series of light novels written by the Japanese novelist Tanigawa Nagaru. The first novel, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu which shares the same title as the 2006 anime series, was written in 2003, and the series is currently still ongoing with 11 novels, although the last novel was released in 2011. The 2006 anime, which I will be focusing on, is based around parts of the first, third, fifth and sixth novels of the series. For his work on these novels, Tanigawa Nagaru won an award from the magazine in which the series was initially serialized. The anime based upon this popular novel series was created by Kyoto Animation and was directed by Ishihara Tatsuya. After the release of the 2006 anime series, the franchise grew even bigger and more adaptations of the series were made. In 2009, a second series of the anime was made which covered some of the other volumes of the novels. In addition to these two anime series, a movie version of the forth Haurhi novel was released in theaters in Japan in 2011. According to wikipeia page of the series, other adaptions of  the series involve six separate manga series, a series of video games, and various anime based off of spin-off or  parody manga that are still being created. 

Image Source:http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/kyon-the-melancholy-of-haruhi-suzumiya/answers/show/419792/think-series-will-become-boring-without-kyon

A large reason why I believe the series to be successful as a whole is due to the strength of the characters in the series. The 2006 anime adaption of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu revolves around five main characters: Kyon, Suzumiya Haruhi, Nagato Yuki, Asahina Mikuru, and Koizumi Itsuki. The series is told from the perspective of Kyon,  a sarcastic and ordinary high school student who ends up getting dragged into the eccentricities of Suzumiya when he ends up sitting in front of her in class. After talking to her about her strange interests, Suzumiya ends up forcing him to create a club with her based upon extraterrestrial beings. As the story progresses, Kyon ends up living the life that Suzumiya has always dreamed of, full of strange characters and danger, although he is not allowed to tell her of his adventures. The entire story is shown from the sarcastic perspective of Kyon, who narrates his adventures as if he were speaking to an audience. At some points it is indistinguishable whether the commentary being spoken by Kyon is simply narration or being spoken allowed by him as a character. 

Image Source: http://s26.postimg.org/b7x0azi15/Harem_36.jpg

Suzumiya Haruhi is the name of the eccentric high school girl which the whole series is based around. Suzumiya is a highly intelligent woman who seems to excel at any sport or activity that she tries. At a young age, Suzumiya comes to the realization that human beings all lead disturbingly similar lives and vows to make her life as different and interesting as possible. Due to this wish, Suzumiya is extremely interested in searching for things others have never seen before such as aliens, time travelers, and espers and she creates a club called the SOS brigade, in which the goal is to find creatures like these and “hang out with them”. Although Suzumiya is bored by how ordinary the world seems to be, she is actually far from an average human. In addition to being seemingly able to excel at anything she tries, Suzumiya also has the ability to alter aspects of reality to her will, although she is not consciously aware of her dangerous powers. Due to these strange powers, Suzumiya’s boredom can often cause problems for both the people around her and the universe. As a result, Kyon and the other members of the SOS brigade have to work in secret to make sure that Suzumiya is happy enough to not accidentally destroy the universe. 

Image Source:http://theotakuspot.animeblogger.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/She-indeed-never-goes-to-class.png

Nagato Yuki, is the name of the first member of the SOS brigade besides Kyon and Suzumiya. Nagato is an extremely quiet girl who is always seen sitting in the club room reading a book. She was originally the only member of the literature club before Suzumiya usurped the clubroom for the SOS brigade and made her an unofficial member. Nagato is depicted as quiet and emotionless almost as if she were a robot. As the story goes on, she begins to speak to Kyon a little bit, however, she is not really shown speaking to anyone else. Nagato confesses to Kyon that she is not an ordinary human being and that she is actually a representative of the “Data Overmind” from outer space that was sent to the earth to observe Suzumiya. Throughout the series Kyon depends on her alien powers to get through many of the situations that Suzumiya unknowingly places the club into. 

Image Source: http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_super/0/2488/526077-mikuru_ashina_11.jpg

Asahina Mikuru is the name of the upperclassman Suzumiya basically kidnaps and forces to join the SOS brigade. Suzumiya decides that because Asahina is so adorable she should be the mascot of the brigade and forces her to wear strange costumes during the meetings for the club. Asahina is a very shy and timid character and gives into Suzumiya’s whims although it seems as if she is often embarrassed by the things that Suzumiya makes her do. As the series is told from the perspective of Kyon, it is clear that he has a crush on her because he often describes her in an endearing manner and spends a good portion of the story staring at her and feeling sorry for her. Later in the series Asahina, like Nagato, also reveals that she is not what she seems and tells Kyon that she is a time traveler from the future who has been sent to watch over Suzumiya. 
 

Image Source:http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s315/MeetMeWithTheGods/The%20Melancholy%20of%20Haruhi%20Suzumiya/Itsuki%20Koizumi/Itsuki.jpg

The final member of the SOS brigade is a young man named Koizumi Itsuki who is asked to join the SOS brigade after Suzumiya decides that he should be in the club because he is a "mysterious transfer student". Koizumi is shown to be extremely polite and seems to be constantly smiling; however, Kyon seems to be suspicious of him and thinks that he is faking his happiness. As the series goes on, Koizumi, like Asahina and Nagato, reveals himself to be a person with strange super powers.  He claims that he was turned into an esper by Suzumiya and that he now has the power to destroy dangrous beings called Celestials which are created by Suzumiya unknowingly when she is angry. Like the other two powerful members of the SOS brigade, Koizumi was sent by the organization of espers to watch over Suzumiya.

In terms of the series as an anime, I personally found the plot and the characters to be quite well developed, and I think this is due to the fact that the series is already based upon a novel.  My personal favorite element of this series is the characters, because every single one has a distinct and different personality type, and all five members of the club seem to have an equal importance to the story. A particular strength of the story, is that because Suzumiya gets bored quite easily by things, the story covers a variety of different topics. For example, in one episode Kyon almost gets killed by an alien who is going against the orders of the data overmind, and in another episode the club simply plays a game of baseball. However, something which could cause confusion for the viewer is the order in which the episodes occur. When the series was initially aired on television in Japan, the episodes were shown in a manner which does not follow the story in a chronological manner. The very first episode which is typically shown in “chronological order” deals shows a movie the SOS brigade has made in which the characters are acting and none of the characters are formally introduced for who they actually are. For a first time viewer, this can be quite confusing. Another issue involved with having the episodes out of sequence is the fact that the anime series has its climatic ending in the middle part of the series and in the actual last episode which is shown, not much happens in terms of story or plot. An aspect of the series which makes it strong, however, is that because Kyon is so normal compared to the other characters, it is quite easy to sympathize and place yourself in the position of the character, regardless of gender.

            That being said the series is listed on Wikipedia as being a part of the Shonen genre and this is quite obvious when it comes to how the female characters are looked at in certain situations. For example, because Asahina often dresses in costumes there is often a lot of focus on her body. Another aspect of the story which was a tad unrealistic in terms of women is the fact that one of Suzumiya’s quirks is that she had no qualms changing her clothes in front of the entire class when it was time to get ready for gym class. Besides the fanservice which is directed towards the male demographic, I think the rest of the story is applicable to many different people because there are many different types of episodes.  

            Personally, I believe that people should watch this show not only because it is funny and covers many different episode types, but also because it can also be seen as an anti-pessimistic outlook on life. When the story begins Kyon does not really believe in anything and has basically given up on miracles and has a super realistic outlook on how the world works. However as the story progresses, Kyon is introduced to impossible events and is forced to have a more open minded outlook on the world. In a way, the story kind of takes the viewer back to the mindset that a child has when they are younger and still believe in miracles. Another reason why it is worth watching is because of the way the characters slowly begin to change for the better as they begin to interact with each other as a group. Overall, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu has interesting characters and many different types of episodes which provide something for everyone. Although the series may be confusing at first due to the disordered sequence of the episodes, I encourage viewers to watch at least two episodes before making any judgments about the series.

            Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu used to be available legally to watch on Crunchyroll.com, however it seems to have been taken down for some reason. However I did find a fan-made trailer which seems to do a good job of showing some of the scenes from the anime. The original series is 14 episodes long.