- Mangaka : Nagaru Tanigawa
- Publisher : Yen Press
- Genre : Sci-fi, Supernatural, Adventure
- Published : February 2021
The adventures of the SOS Brigade continue as Kyon finds himself in a peculiar situation. The Haruhi Suzumiya series has piqued the interest of people worldwide. Intriguingly, the story revolves around the titular character without really focusing on her. She often just catalyzes a big ruckus without being aware of doing so, and the whole brigade is hot on her trail trying to make sure the world will not come to an abrupt end. That’s where all the fun and excitement actually lie. After all, you can’t go wrong with having an alien-made humanoid, a time traveler, and an esper on the team.
Contains Spoilers
Discussion Time
It’s almost Christmas, but Kyon doesn’t really care much. Normally, everybody’s already hyped up a week before Christmas Eve. People are piling in stores and buying presents, but Kyon just doesn’t want to do anything. Well, fate doesn’t want this to be just another Christmas time for him. He discovers exactly a week before Christmas that Haruhi has disappeared. No, it’s not like she just wants to play hide and seek with the brigade. She literally just vanished along with her entire class. Surprisingly, Kyon’s schoolmates don’t even have any idea who Haruhi.
1. Haruhi Isn’t the Big Character
The title pretty much gives away Haruhi’s role in this book. Her disappearance almost resulted in Kyon losing his mind. He’s sure about his memories, but everybody else has no memory of Haruhi. Not only that, with the other members of the brigade being normal humans, he’s literally on his own. Well, the original brigade members turn out to still have his back… sort of. Nagato leaves him a bookmark as a clue, telling him to gather the keys. That may not be much, but that ensures Kyon that he’s not merely losing his sanity.
2. Nerve-Wracking Mystery
Haruhi’s disappearance arouses a lot of questions. With her power, just what danger is the world currently facing. Actually, what sort of divine power can alter a said God’s existence? For Kyon, however, he can’t care less about such stuff. All he knows is that this reality isn’t his, and he wants to have his old life back. Following the clues he received, we get to see Kyon try to unravel the mystery bit by bit. Just like any good mystery story, we also get to try our hand in solving the case of the missing Haruhi Suzumiya.
1. A Tad Confusing in Terms Of Timeline
We feel obligated to tell this. We are about to drop some major spoilers. To solve Haruhi’s case, Kyon will be sent back and forth in the timeline. He’ll even see himself lying asleep on Mikuru’s lap, which continues the narrative that’s been left in The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya. However, that’s not the only time leap he’s done. Just when he has supposedly finished his task, they suddenly lose their way of going back to their original time. That’s when he consults the only other person who has helped him solve his previous problem concerning time. But instead of having a direct way of sending him back into the future, he gets further sent back in time.
Final Thoughts
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya feels like a long continuation of the Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody arc from The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, which is a bit of a cool and confusing thing. In order to fully enjoy this book, we always have to keep in mind what has happened during Kyon’s previous time leap. Good thing the series does a good job recapping that without simply repeating itself. But with another time leap happening, it gets a bit confusing keeping tabs on everything.
Author: Christian Markle