The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, watching order?

[Zencao]

With all the hype and stuff going on about this series I decided to give it a try, I watched the first episode (The Video about turning the camera towards the sky :P ) a long time ago, but turned it off a few seconds in thinking it looked like complete rubbish.

Today with the hype still quite alive and a second season announced, I watched it a second time, deciding to see it through to the end.

I thought it was brilliant :P that'll teach me to make snap judgments!

Moving swiftly on from that piece of exposition, it's become apparent that there is a... Unique time line to the episodes. There's the chronological order, the broadcast order, and the DVD order. None of them sync except for a few times, and all are apparently valid ways to watch the series.

At first I thought to watch them in broadcast order, since logically that would be how they were meant to be watched, but considering my last anime experience (Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) was like having a House smashed against my head, leaving me dizzy confused and with a headache, but non-the-less entertained... Wait I'm digressing.

The point is I'm unsure how best to watch them, I'm worried about becoming confused by the series because of it's non-chronological-ness, but at the same time I don't want to ruin the experience by watching them in dummy-mode. And what the hell does the DVD order mean!?

EDIT: Also, I watched the first episode dubbed, and although Mikuru's voice was a little annoying, I found that it was quite good. Is there any strong difference in Dub and Sub quality that would affect my choice or am I o.k to keep rolling it new school?

[Cubey]

Watch them in broadcast order. Definitely. The chronological order is maybe less confusing, but it also removes most of the fun of the series. Especially since the dramatic peak of the series happens in the broadcast end (as it should be), but chronological middle of the series - episodes after that will feel less satisfying.

[Haruki-kun]

Here goes....

The original season was made up of 6 episodes, but they decided to extend it by making more episodes from books later in the series. The episodes from later on were all fit in the middle of the first 6 episodes. Or something like that.

Currently, the series is being re-aired in Japan in chronological order, but adding new episodes where they would fit in, in the correct order.

As for the DVD order, it's just the chronological order except for episode 1.

EDIT:

Also, what he said. ^

[Nerd-o-rama]

On the US DVD release, the episodes are in chronological order, except for the movie episode, which still comes first even though it's about 11th chronologically.

Honestly, the main difference between watching in "chronological" and "broadcast" order is that broadcast order is used to maintain a proper dramatic arc, even though the main plot of the series only lasts six episodes and the eight that come chronologically after it are pretty much one-offs. They also get in some neat foreshadowing and amusing credit gags (subs only) due to the weird structure.

Watching in broadcast order is not 100% necessary to your enjoyment, but if you can keep your head around what number episode is which, it's not terribly confusing either (and at least all of the "main plot" episodes are in order relative to each other).

Oh, and don't forget, the first episode of the second season is out, which comes chronologically between The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part Six and The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya. Enjoy!

As for the dub vs. sub, the dub irrationally annoys me as it goes on, especially Haruhi.

[Drascin]

I agree with the people that posted before me that broadcast order is the best way to enjoy it. The jumbled order was purposefully made to keep the suspense and keep the watcher on his toes, and I think the series loses a lot of its dramatic build if watched chronologically the first time.

And really, it's not really that confusing. Never quite got where people got "confusing" from Haruhi. Except maybe the Yuki-speak, but that's on purpose, and even that's pretty familiar for anyone with an ear for science fiction technobabble :smallwink:.

[darkblade]

I'm actually going to advocate watching the series in chronological order (leaving out the new episodes until they are all released).

While I wouldn't really say broadcast order is confusing, it does kind of spoil the main episodes plot. In broadcast order you have the characters (okay mostly Yuki but Koizumi mentions the organization and Mikuru mentions some time travel stuff) which ruins all sense of drama when you do see the episodes when they admit to what they are to Kyon.

As for the argument that says that broadcast order puts the climax of episode 6 at the very end of the series, I have to say so what? Pretty much episode after 6 Haruhi is still almost destroying the world almost every episode.

Finally Episode 00/11 just doesn't work for me at the start of the series and episode 16 only really seems to belong at the very end of the series.

As for the sub/dub arguments I couldn't careless. The level of visual detail in the series is sometimes missed if you're reading subs but most of the better uses of detail in the series will most likely be missed on your first run through anyways even in the dub.

[Stormthorn]

What you need to do is roll yourself a d20 to see which episode to watch.

I might watch that anime myself one day. I saw the first like two episodes and though they where ok but not good enough to try and bother with while im in school.

[Zencao]

I just finished watching them in broadcast order, except for episode four which got mixed up with episode 10. That was certainly weird.

All in all, the series is no-where near the level of confusion found in GITSAC. And I've gotta say I thought it was brilliant, now to find season 2 :P