There’s no denying the impact and popularity of the Suzumiya Haruhi franchise, although it has also caused controversy too, such as with the ‘Endless Eight’ episodes of its second anime adaptation. Luckily the “Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu” movie did much to redeem the series and studio Kyoto Animation’s work on the Haruhi franchise.
One of the highlights of the “Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu” movie and its alternate reality timeline is undoubtedly the different incarnation of Yuki Nagato, so shy and bashful she was irresistibly cute.
An anime adaptation of the spin off manga “長門有希ちゃんの消失” by Puyo, which takes place in this alternate reality of the Suzumiya Haruhi universe and centers on this shy version of Yuki Nagato was hence something I simply had to watch.
Initially was apprehensive about this “Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu” anime, considering Pyuo’s more cutesy character design style, and the promotional video showing studio Satelight’s animation would be vastly different from Kyoto Animation’s work.
Admittedly, this different style took some getting used to, especially when watching the first episode as not only is the characters design style different, Yuki’s personality itself is even more different than how she was portrayed in the movie, something also evident when hearing Chihara Minori’s voice work as this version of Yuki.
Nonetheless, am enjoying “Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu” which offers another look into the Suzumiya Haruhi world, and although I do somewhat regret it isn’t Kyoto Animation creating this show, it likely works best as it is now, with this more cutesy style.
