#tsuruya plus

[megamidevice]

Suigintou, Barasuishou, Kanaria, Suiseiseki, Shinku, Hina Ichigo, Souseiseki (Couch Set ver.) • Rozen Maiden • Wonder Showcase Garage Kit by Tsuruya☆Plus!; sculpted by Mazaki Yuusuke

[recentanimenews]

The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya

By Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Ito. Released in Japan as “Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokkan” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

Been a long time, hasn’t it? In fact, this is my first time reviewing one of the novels, despite my Haruhi Suzumiya tag being filled with manga, 4-koma, and alternate universes. Not that this is a novel either. The first book to come out since 2011 is a collection of three short stories; one short, one medium, and one long. In terms of writing style and narrative voice, it’s a welcome return to form. Kyon sounds exactly like he always does, making arcane references to obscure topics in his metaphors while also professing to be the dumb one in the group. That said, I will note that anyone who is reading this wanting to see what happens after the Sasaki books, i.e. actual plot or character development, is going to find this quite lacking. There is a token mention of those books at the end of the final story, but for the most part that is not what Tanigawa is here to do. What is he here to do, you may ask? Tell us about Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr.

The first short, Random Numbers, features the SOS Brigade visiting shrines, and has the only Kyon/Haruhi ship tease in the book. It’s cute. The second short story, Seven Wonders Overtime, is the weakest. The Mystery Club brings news that the school has no “seven mysteries”, aka Toilet Hanako, piano that plays by itself, etc. The Brigade tries to think of interesting but explainable mysteries before Haruhi can create more dangerous ones. The final story is the longest, taking up over 2/3 of the book. Tsuruya’s Challenge is, as I noted before, a love letter to the early 20th century mystery writers who loved to create mysteries that were essentially puzzle boxes, and Koizumi and T (a new character, member of the mystery club and owner of a very short nickname) spend ages extolling their virtues to the point that readers may grow tired. After this, though, they get a number of emails from Tsuruya which tell anecdotes from her trips with her rich father and also have a secret inside them.

The book works best if you’re a fan of Tsuruya, adding a lot of background to her character while also keeping it essentially the same. (No, we don’t learn her first name.) I was also fond of T, who is a great new character, and her calling Kyon “Kyam” makes me smile. Given the nature of the final story involves both the cast and the reader figuring things out, I will not go into too much detail, except to say that there is a LOT of Koizumi and Haruhi theorizes for pages and pages. One of the two afterwords in the book is a tribute to the Kyoto Animation creators for the Haruhi anime who perished in the fire. I suspect that (plus possibly Endless Eight) has led Tanigawa to write a story that would be very, very difficult to film in a way that a) makes things interesting, and b) does not give away its secrets. Kudos to Andrew Cunningham, by the way – this must have been an absolute bear to translate.

This is a hefty Haruhi book (not counting the 10-11 omnibus, only Book 7 is longer), so readers are getting good value for money. Whether they appreciate that value is another matter. As for me, I’m just happy to see the author writing again. The series is left open, so I hope it is not another nine years before the next in the series.

By: Sean Gaffney

[kuipernebula]

Still torn on who the Slider is for the Haruhi AU

Really it’s between Yasumi or Tsuruya.

Tsuruya is more popular and well-known, with an iconic design and a rapport with the SOS Brigade. She is close with Mikuru - enough that I could feasibly make them GF’s so she’s also a branch of the SOS Polycule, i.e. the focus of the AU - and she’s generally weird already.

The problem is Tsuruya has such a specific weirdness about her, that is based entirely in it being unknown and far greater than anyone would expect from how she acts. For Example: Her family’s unknown occupation (possibly MIB) and the Oopart she and Kyon found and promptly vowed to never speak of again.

Unlike Tsuruya, Yasumi did officially join the SOS Brigade. Her backstory’s clean slate allows me to fill in the blanks for a slider, plus she could also fill a spot as a branch on the Polycule, as Mikuru’s GF. (Thinking about Snow Mountain Syndrome, she easily could stand-in for Mikuru’s implied attraction to Haruhi, without the Dirtiness of how Haruhi treats Mikuru.) And she’s really cute - her iconic Smiley Face Barette is just very good.

But she’s... mostly unknown even by fans, despite having an adorable design. Also her age was a Whole Thing - she was a First Year introduced when the cast was in their Second Year (Mikuru in her Third), and at the end of Surprise told Haruhi she was “actually a Middle Schooler” to explain why she couldn’t actually join. But she also didn’t exist so like, I feel reasonably justified in just making her a first year and being done with it.