The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Movie Confirmed

First of all, that was the worst excuse for a trailer that I've ever seen. It looks like someone took out their camera phone and jiggled it around a poster for a few seconds. Why bother paying someone to cut parts of a movie together for two minutes when Joe Schmo can put it on Youtube for free? I guess it's nice not to have a movie entirely spoiled by the trailer, but considering how long we're still going to have to wait for this crap, it would've been nice for a bone. Ooh, Yuki's wearing glasses again! We all know why, but it's an essentially meaningless picture.

That said, this is still as poor a job of handling a popular series as I've ever seen (the good shows here that get killed by idiot execs dumping them on bad nights usually have poor ratings, and at least Family Guy and Futurama were on from year to year). I was willing to forgive the Endless Eight debacle (it made its point effectively enough, but wasted too much time and cost other real episodes), but now there still hasn't been a real season two.

The Season One Deluxe Edition added all of three new stories, with a full half of the new episodes being repeats. And while the Sighs was at least different episodes, you got the feeling that they didn't do it the first time around because it was largely unnecessary after you watched the movie that was episode 11. Seeing how that terrible movie was made wasn't all that interesting, and that included finding out why Yuki went nuts on Mikuru in that one scene, and also why Shamisen could talk. However, things finally picked up in the final couple of episodes. Kyon wanting to smack the crap out of Haruhi was the result of a surprisingly dark sequence, and the wrench that Itsuki, Yuki, and Mikuru might not be who we think they are threatened to redefine the series. But then it was over, and nothing came of anything for the moment. I guess the theme of these new episodes has been a tease, because that's all it was.

Considering how much the Disappearance was hyped beforehand, it's a huge letdown that they're not going to air it at all now, and that any real second season does not yet exist (and probably not for years now thanks to this anime crap). I guess they finally yielded to American influence, as releasing it as a movie will make them much more money than they would have on TV. This was definitely the sellout way to go. That said, it was probably going to last six episodes anyways, and I wouldn't expect the movie to be any shorter than two hours. And it will no doubt be awesome, but...

After that ridiculous February psych out that turned out to be partially true, and after some two and a half years after the first season ended, the Disappearance has now been pushed back another full year. And now that it's going into theaters instead of onto TV screens, I imagine that it will be a year from this point until a decent version of it with English subs is available (meaning once the inevitable DVD is released). So that Endless Eight mess cost us another year, and then who knows how long after that before a real season is finally aired.

I did think that maybe this might be released in the US, since all of those Miyazaki films are shown here, but if it is, it will no doubt be dubbed. Yes, I realize all animation is, but the Miyazaki films get top talent from a number of today's best actors. Do you think Tina Fey and Matt Damon will reunite as Yuki and Kyon? Or will it be Wendee Lee and her cast of B voice actors. I'm sticking with the latter.

So to sum up, not only are they selling out with this, but they're also wasting another year in the process. Thanks again guys.