is a 2010 Japanese

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film based on the fourth ''

Haruhi Suzumiya is a Japanese light novel series written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito. It was first published in 2003 by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan with the novel ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'', and has since been followed b ...

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English langua ...

of the same name written by

Nagaru Tanigawa is a Japanese author. He is a graduate of the law school at Kwansei Gakuin University. He is best known as the creator of the '' Haruhi Suzumiya'' series for which he won the grand prize at the eighth annual Sneaker Awards and has been adapted i ...

. It was produced by

Kyoto Animation , often abbreviated , is a Japanese animation studio and light novel publisher located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture. Founded in 1985 by Yoko and Hideaki Hatta, it has produced anime works including ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'' (2006), ''Cl ...

, written by

Fumihiko Shimo Fumihiko (written: or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese academic and engineer *, Japanese architect *, Japanese basketball player *, Japanese lexicographer, linguist, and historian *, Japanese ...

and directed by

Tatsuya Ishihara is a Japanese animator, television and film director. Working for Kyoto Animation, he directed ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'', ''Clannad'', ''Nichijou'', '' Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions'' and '' Sound! Euphonium''. Early life and educ ...

and

Yasuhiro Takemoto was a Japanese animator and television and film director. He worked at Kyoto Animation for almost his entire animation career after joining the company in 1996 until his death in 2019. Career After graduating, he entered at the prestigious Yoyo ...

. It was released in Japanese theaters on February 6, 2010 and on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and Blu-ray Disc on December 18, 2010. The film has been licensed by

Bandai Entertainment was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and f ...

in North America and

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...

in the UK. With a length of 162 minutes, the film was the second-longest animated film at the time of its release (only surpassed by ''

Final Yamato is a 1983 Japanese anime epic science fiction film and the fifth film (fourth theatrical) of the ''Space Battleship Yamato'' saga (known as ''Star Blazers'' in the United States). Its extended 70mm cut was the longest animated film in the world ...

'', with its 70mm print release being only one minute longer).

Plot

Following on from the events of ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'' television series, the story takes place in December. The SOS Brigade, led by

, makes plans to have a nabe party for

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

. However, on the morning of December 18,

Kyon This is a list of the characters featured in the ''Haruhi Suzumiya'' franchise, written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito, which contains a multitude of other secondary, and minor characters who are introduced throughout the cours ...

arrives at school and finds that the nature of his reality has changed; Haruhi and Itsuki Koizumi are missing, Ryoko Asakura has mysteriously returned,

Mikuru Asahina This is a list of the characters featured in the '' Haruhi Suzumiya'' franchise, written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito, which contains a multitude of other secondary, and minor characters who are introduced throughout the cour ...

does not recognize him and

Yuki Nagato This is a list of the characters featured in the ''Haruhi Suzumiya'' franchise, written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito, which contains a multitude of other secondary, and minor characters who are introduced throughout the course ...

is an ordinary human. Only Kyon is aware that everything is different, and no one else remembers Haruhi or the SOS Brigade. Searching the SOS Brigade clubroom, Kyon finds a bookmark left by Yuki before everything was changed, telling him to gather "keys" to run a program. Not knowing what the message means, he accepts a dinner invitation from the new Yuki, who reveals a fondness for him owing to the fact that, in this reality, he once helped her get a library card. Asakura prepares dinner for them, and warns Kyon to be mindful of Yuki's feelings. On December 20, Kyon learns from Taniguchi that Haruhi still exists, and simply went to a different high school; Taniguchi knows of her because they went to the same middle school. By revealing his identity to her as 'John Smith', an alias he used when he traveled back in time to assist a young Haruhi, Kyon convinces Haruhi of his story. Excited by the concept of the SOS Brigade, Haruhi assembles the club's members and brings them to the club room. These prove to be the required "keys" for Yuki's program. Kyon activates the program, which sends him back in time to the

Tanabata , also known as the Star Festival ( 星祭り, ''Hoshimatsuri''), is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair r ...

of three years ago. The adult Mikuru meets with him and takes him to the past Yuki, who says that in the early hours of December 18 Yuki stole Haruhi's powers from her and used them to alter the world such that no paranormal beings or powers exist. She attributes her actions to an accumulation of errors, which Kyon interprets as weariness from having to monitor Haruhi's behavior and protect Kyon. Why Kyon's memories were unaffected by the change is left for the viewer to speculate. Yuki gives Kyon an uninstall program which needs to be shot at her right after the change. Traveling to December 18, they find Yuki. Kyon reflects on his choice to undo the change, reaching the epiphany that he enjoys being with Haruhi Suzumiya and the SOS Brigade and thinks the world is more interesting and fun with paranormal beings in it. He tries to install the program into Yuki but is stabbed by Ryoko, who Yuki altered to be her personal bodyguard and perceives Kyon as a threat to her. He is rescued by future counterparts of Yuki, Mikuru and himself, and wakes up on December 21 in a hospital. The world is back to normal, but Kyon has been in a coma since falling down the stairs on December 18. Yuki mentions to Kyon that the Data Integration Thought Entity is considering decommissioning her, since continued accumulation of errors is inevitable and will likely lead to further destructive behavior. Kyon tells her to let them know that if they ever try such a thing, he can tell Haruhi about him being John Smith and have her alter reality so aliens would cease to exist. As December 24 comes, Kyon postpones going back in time to save himself from Asakura and joins in on the Christmas party.

Voice cast

Production

''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'', the fourth volume in ''

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a Japanese light novel series written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito. It was first published in 2003 by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan with the novel ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'', and has since been followed ...

'' light novel series, was first planned to be adapted as part of the second season of the anime show. The studio,

, started production of the new season in June 2007. The production team decided not to worry about the runtime of ''Disappearance'' until the script was finished and the

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in th ...

s were at an advanced stage, in order to give ample time to all the necessary scenes; they ended up with seven manuscripts for a provisional total of seven episodes. At an unknown point in time, the plans changed to adapt ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'' as a film instead. This led to the film being 162 minutes long, the second-longest animated film at the time. Director

expressed that he wished the film had been a bit longer to adapt even more scenes from the novel, but ultimately was satisfied with the number of scenes they were able to leave in. Directors Tatsuya Ishihara and

decided to employ little camera movement to emphasize the atmosphere of the scenes and Kyon's loneliness. Noriko Takao joined the directors in drawing the storyboards at her own request. Both directors expressed that it was helpful to have a woman's point of view during the creation process, which was particularly different in regard to the character Yuki Nagato. The storyboards ended up divided into six parts, A-F, with Ishihara and Takemoto splitting the beginning and end, and Takao doing the C and D parts. They discussed the dialogue extensively to make it sound as true to the characters as possible. Ishihara, Takemoto and Takao said that they spent the most time discussing the depiction of the characters Ryoko Asakura and Itsuki Koizumi. They considered these characters, in the narrative of the film, as people who "hadn't been chosen." In particular, Takemoto asked Koizumi's voice actor,

Daisuke Ono is a Japanese voice actor and singer who won the 4th and 9th Seiyu Awards for best lead actor for his role as Sebastian Michaelis in ''Black Butler'', Jotaro Kujo in ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' and Shukuro Tsukishima in ''Bleach'', as well a ...

, to express the sadness of a sad clown. Takao was the main responsible for illustrating the "people not chosen" aspect in the storyboards. Contrarily, they wanted

's few scenes to create a "sparkling" feeling. The studio employed techniques like

3DCG 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

and

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed i ...

to increase the level of detail in the layouts when the camera panned out far enough that doing it with traditional drawing methods from scratch would be too difficult. Each of the A-F parts of the film had a different animation director that would check the work, which would then go to the director, then to chief animation director Futoshi Nishiya, and lastly to super chief animation director Shoko Ikeda. Nishiya put the most care into addressing the posing, gestures, and facial expressions, while Ikeda's role was to ensure the characters matched their design. For a better result, Ikeda gathered the animation directors at the beginning of the film's production to explain the details of each character design, what to bring out, and what to avoid. She also gave advice on how to avoid an excessive level of realistic detail to allow for more flexibility in the characters' expressions and body postures during the dramatic scenes. Nishiya found it the toughest to work on Kyon due to the wide range of emotions he goes through in the film, whereas Ikeda found it more difficult to work on Nagato Yuki due to the unusually high number of gestures for the character and the delicacy in her emotions. To better convey the emotional development of the protagonist Kyon throughout the film, instead of recording the

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

for the scenes where all characters are together first, which is the usual method, ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'' was recorded in the order the story develops. Sound director Youta Tsuruoka was highly pleased with the result, praising Kyon's voice actor

Tomokazu Sugita is a Japanese voice actor and author. He mainly plays young men and is characterized by his "deep bass voice," and he often performs ad-libs and imitations. He is best known for his roles as Gintoki Sakata in ''Gintama'', Tadaomi Karasuma in ' ...

for his performance. As for himself, Tsuruoka said that it was a challenge to pack the entire length of the film with the right sounds. The writer of the novel series,

, gave feedback during the scriptwriting process. Tanigawa also conceived the epilogue exclusive to the film and wrote the lyrics of the ending song. Producer Atsushi Itō suggested that the ending song be

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without Musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differ ...

Release

On December 18, 2007, the official website of ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'' anime series, haruhi.tv, was replaced by a fake 404 error with five form input fields, a reference to the pivotal date in ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'', the fourth volume in the light novel series. The story of ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'' did not appear in the 2009 re-airing of the anime series ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'', which included previously un-aired episodes adapted from the second, third and fifth novels. However, at the close of the 2009 season on October 8, 2009, a 30-second teaser trailer showing Yuki Nagato was aired, revealing that ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'' would actually be a film, set for a February 6, 2010 release. A one-minute promotional video was released in December 2009. The film was released on BD/DVD, in regular and limited editions on December 18, 2010 in Japan. The film was licensed for North America distribution by

. English-subtitled screenings began running in San Francisco's Viz Theater from May 21, 2010, and were followed by a screening at the Laemmle's Sunset theater in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

on June 24, 2010 and a theatrical run in Hawaii in June 2010 through Consolidated Theatres and Artisan Gateway as part of their Spotlight Asia Films program. An English-language version has been co-produced by

Bang Zoom! Entertainment Bang Zoom! Entertainment is an audio post-production studio with its headquarters in Burbank, California, in Greater Los Angeles. It has worked on anime, video games, television series, feature films, and original animation projects. Their work ...

and was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America on September 20, 2011.

released it in the UK on DVD on November 7, 2011, though a planned 2012 Blu-ray release has been cancelled.

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatri ...

released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia and New Zealand on November 16, 2011. The film had its European premiere on October 17, 2010 at the Scotland Loves Anime event in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Animax Asia Animax is the pay television channel in Asia owned by KC Global Media Asia which broadcasts Japanese language anime and Simulcast anime, anime programming through English-language feeds in Southeast Asia (formerly including Brunei), South Asia (e ...

has aired the film.

Music

The film's theme song is by

Minori Chihara is a Japanese voice actress and former singer who has had roles in several anime series.Doi, Hitoshi"Chihara Minori" ''Seiyuu Database''. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011. She is well known for her voice role as Yuki Nagato in ''The ...

, the

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

of which was released on February 24, 2010. The opening theme is " Bōken Desho Desho?" by

Aya Hirano is a Japanese actress and singer associated with the voice acting agency Grick. Beginning in the entertainment industry as a child actor in television commercials, she appeared in her first voice acting role in the anime television series '' A ...

. The film's original soundtrack was released on January 27, 2010. The soundtrack also contains music from French composer

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

, including ''

Gymnopédies The ''Gymnopédies'' (), or ''Trois Gymnopédies'', are three piano compositions written by French composer and pianist Erik Satie. He completed the whole set by 2 April 1888, but they were at first published individually: the first and the thir ...

'', '' Gnossiennes'' and his composition "

Je te veux "Je te veux" ("I Want You") is a song composed by Erik Satie to a text by Henry Pacory. A sentimental waltz with erotic lyrics, it was written for , whose accompanist Satie had been for a period of time. The text consists of two verses and a repe ...

", which were used in the film. The soundtrack is performed by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra and was produced by

Satoru Kōsaki is a Japanese music composer and arranger. He is best known for his work on anime, including '' Lucky Star'', ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'', ''Monogatari'' and ''Beastars''. He worked at Namco, where he primarily composed soundtracks for ...

Related media

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work * Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

titled is illustrated by Puyo and started serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's ''

Young Ace is a monthly ''Seinen manga, seinen'' manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 2009. A spin-off web manga magazine titled ''Young Ace UP'' began publication in December 2015. Series ''Young Ace'' *''Akuma no Ikenie'' ('' ...

'' in July 2009. An anime adaptation by

Satelight is a Japanese animation studio. Aside from several stand-alone projects, the studio is well known for producing the '' Aquarion'' and '' Symphogear'' franchises, as well as later installments of the ''Macross'' franchise. The company's Represen ...

began airing in April 2015. A

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

video game titled was released on May 12, 2011 by

Bandai Namco Games is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California an ...

for the PlayStation 3 and

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

. The game's story takes place shortly after the events of the film.

Reception

With the film's release on February 6, 2010 on 24 screens in Japan, it placed in the top 10 for Japanese box office sales in its first weekend, and earned an estimated 200 million

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

in its first week. The film won the Best Theatrical Film award at the 2010

Animation Kobe The was an event established by Kobe in 1996 to promote anime and other visual media. The were given annually until 2015 by Kobe and the Organising Committee to creators and creations. Event Animation Kobe has been held annually in Kobe since 1 ...

Awards. The BD version sold over 77,000 copies in its first week, topping the Oricon charts, while placing fourth in the DVD charts with 19,667 copies sold.

won the Best Singing Award at the fifth annual

Seiyu Awards The are award ceremonies for the recognition of voice acting talent for outstanding performance in anime and other media in Japan. The first Seiyu Awards were held on March 3, 2007 at the 3D Theatre of the Tokyo Anime Center in Akihabara. Awar ...

held in 2011 in Tokyo for her performance of the "Yasashii Bōkyaku" ending theme song. In

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, the film was forced by the nationwide floods to be screened only at the Lido Theatre,

Siam Square Siam Square ( th, สยามสแควร์, ) is a shopping and entertainment area in the Siam area of Bangkok, Thailand. The square is located at the corner of Phayathai Road and Rama I Road and is owned by Chulalongkorn University, mana ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populatio ...

, and only for one day, November 6, 2011. However, it is reported that the tickets were immediately sold out on the first day of booking. After the showing, Rose Media & Entertainment, the Thai ''Haruhi Suzumiya'' franchisee, also held an

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

of the ''Haruhi'' goods, including limited BDs and DVDs, and donated all the earnings to the flood relief efforts.

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Disappearance Of Haruhi Suzumiya 2010 anime films 2010s mystery drama films 2010s fantasy drama films 2010s science fiction films Animated drama films Anime films based on light novels Bandai Entertainment anime titles Drama anime and manga Fantasy adventure films Funimation

Japanese animated fantasy films Japanese animated science fiction films Japanese Christmas films Japanese mystery drama films 2010s Japanese-language films Kyoto Animation Lantis (company) Media containing Gymnopedies Mystery anime and manga 2010 drama films 2010 films