Everything in Haruhi Suzumiya revolves completely around its titular character, because she is God. There’s one catch: she doesn’t realize it. Haruhi hates the life she currently lives because it’s so boring and only wishes to meet someone that can prove to her that there’s more to the world. An Esper, a time traveler, an alien; just someone. Of course, Haruhi also doesn’t notice that she has willed those exact same archetypes to her side. Everything is at her whim.

This led to the series being aired completely out of order when it was first shown. It was meant as a gag on the viewer. Because Haruhi was in complete control of everything, even the order of events got shifted around. It was a fun gimmick due to how it could create a satisfying narrative structure using a non-linear format. Major plot points that occurred before the aired episode would get hinted at due to naturally coming up in conversation. It felt like it was “foreshadowing” events that had actually occurred, which led to a lot of people doing their own detective work to piece the show together. The second season would continue this and fits into the timeline of the first season.

There are two ways you can watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. You can watch it in the DVD order, which is the chronological order. You could also submit to Haruhi’s whims and follow the messed up broadcast order. There are arguments for both. Frankly, the show is much less confusing if you watch it in its timeline sequence, and it’s not as if you’ll lose out on the main themes of the show. The first two episodes were aired back-to-back anyway, and those are the episodes that set the overall narrative into motion. All episodes afterward are essentially individual stories that could probably happen at any point, so jumping around in the timeline doesn’t really change that much anyway.

However, we really do recommend that, if you don’t mind the hassle, you watch it in the broadcast order. This sequence starts with episode 11, then followed by 1, 2, 7, 3, 9, 8, 10, 14, 4, 13, 12, and finally the two-parter 5 and 6. Pretty much every single order you could follow begins with episode 11 regardless (even the famously rigid DVD release) because it sets the tone for the entire show, mixing the plain, unremarkable amateur film-making of the SOS Brigade with minor hints of the supernatural getting mixed in.

Beyond that, even if they happen early in the timeline, 5 and 6 were clearly written as the emotional climax of the show and shape the way you view Kyon’s and Haruhi’s interactions with each other throughout the show. This revelation would not have the impact it has if you knew about it beforehand, and frankly, doesn’t leave material that’s actually all that interesting for the rest of the show. It’s not that it’s bad, as the characters are still fun and the themes are still insightful. It’s just that there’s no real emotional payoff otherwise. The narrative was written around this strange order.