Kara Dennison
September 1, 2020 
Everyone’s hyped for the big news: our favorite godlike high-schooler is coming back for another light novel! With The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya on track for simultaneous digital release in English and Japanese, we’re feeling nostalgic for the earlier light novels. So, while we wait, here are a few of Haruhi Suzumiya’s other misadventures that never made it to anime. Don’t worry, we won’t give away anything big: just enough to get you curious.
The One with Mikuru’s “Twin Sister”
It’s not uncommon for Mikuru Asahina to be “beside herself,” as it were. The adorable time traveler has flagrantly ignored the Blinovitch Limitation Effect in more than one scenario, but generally it’s her much older self looking in. In one case, though, the two Mikurus on hand were only eight days separate from each other.
The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya is a full stand-alone novel, devoted entirely to Mikuru’s week-ish step back in time. Mikuru (the future one) claims it was Kyon’s future self’s idea. The pair then progress through the week, receiving notes sending them on bizarre errands. Meanwhile, present Mikuru can’t see her future self… so she’s taken to stay with Tsuruya as “Michiru,” Mikuru’s long-lost twin sister. What their various errands were for, and who started all this, are (of course) revealed in the book itself.
The One Where Yuki Gets a Love Letter
Yuki is in no way an unpopular character. Heck, she’s gotten her own spinoffs based on her alternate self in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. So it’s no surprise that someone in-universe would eventually take notice.
The anthology The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya features the short story “Love at First Sight,” in which an old school friend of Kyon’s develops a crush on Yuki. More than a crush: he’s got himself a ten-year plan, culminating with a marriage proposal to Yuki. Yuki, of course, isn’t interested in waiting ten years for anyone, for a variety of reasons. And speaking of a variety of reasons, it isn’t just her cuteness or her sparkling personality(?) that’s turned Nakagawa’s head.
The One with a New S.O.S. Brigade Member
Despite Haruhi’s enthusiasm for growing her Brigade, it seems unlikely that anyone could measure up to her demands. And yet, for a brief time, someone managed it.
The trio of books The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya and The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya I and II are unique in that they progress along two alternate timelines simultaneously. The story splits during a phone call. In one timeline, the call is from Kyon’s middle school friend Sasaki, which kicks off a story that’s been bubbling under the surface for several books. In the other, it’s from someone new: Yasumi Watahashi.
The happy-face-barretted Yasumi turns up again when the S.O.S. Brigade is screening new members, and she’s the only one out of the dozen present who can live up to Haruhi’s demands. She seems perfect in just about every way. But of course, in these books, nothing is as it seems. Yasumi is hiding a few secrets, some bigger than others.
What adventures will the next book hold? We’ll find out in November! In the meantime, it’s a great time to go back over what’s out so far and verse yourself in the Brigade’s many exploits, onscreen and off.
Related Posts
