SOS Brigade, join now; god comands it

Garrett Goluszka June 17, 2007

The SOS Brigade, it is no inside joke; just about anybody who watches anime knows what the SOS Brigade is now. It was/still is the big thing of summer 2006. It has taught us god goes by the name of Haruhi. Then it has brought up the ending theme that almost everybody knows by heart, and some who even know the moves, but no one can forget it.

Ok, I’ve set up the anime here, now lets go into it. As I said The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was the huge series of summer 2006. Don’t get me wrong it is a cool series, I do/did enjoy it a lot, the ending is always funny and all of that. Though this was not the end all be all. There are better series, I do believe this series is a bit overrated. Now am I going to talk about how overrated the series is? Nope…well maybe a little.

First things first. Something that I have seen going around is how this series is now being used as comparison to other series. Case in point Lucky Star. Now like or hate Lucky Star, I really don’t care right now; but it still is much different than Haruhi. It isn’t hard to see that that the OP of Lucky Star and ED of Haruhi have some things in common. Yes it is the same studio as well. YES EVEN the same VA for the main characters. After that though, nothing really. All of these ‘reasons’ are not anything to base opinions about. I mean in the end the content for both is different, Lucky Star is more slice of life and humor. Haruhi had more of a plot and some serious moments as well.

Now this isn’t a Lucky Star post, so I’m going to just leave that there. What I do kinda what to go in, is how Haruhi is overrated. Now first I really think you can’t deny this fact, it is still being talked about and with the dub release it is not loosing stem. Now as I did say it is a good series, but it is just that huge thing that everybody still talks about. I think this series did hide some of the other series. Once word gets around about one big thing, thats it, it will be all over in a matter of seconds.

So in the end what I am trying to say is that Haruhi, while being a cool series did bring along its share of problems as well. It is now a tool for comparing and it had/has huge hype making it hard for some of the less popular stuff, that could be just as good to remain hidden.

Then if at all anything, it can be applied to other series as well, I just took the big thing and used that because I like Lucky Star and there were some other great shows that I think were overlooked. So, this thus ends another rant; hope you enjoyed and took something from it, or just went like “hey, right on”.

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Category: Rants & Raves

17 Responses to “SOS Brigade, join now; god comands it”

Onibaku
June 17th, 2007 at 2:05 pm

How can a show be overlooked if it is proven better than the rest? if you say the lesser series remain hidden, due to the fact haruhi is overshadowing them, doesnt that make haruhi the better series to watch? then how can it be overrated, when has been so successful? and Yes we can deny the fact it is overrated, because thats just your personal opinion. It may not be the greatest anime ever, but it does proven to be an anime that can keep peoples attention for a long time.
Popular doesnt mean its overrated, it only means the general mass enjoy it more.
Hype comes before a shown is aired, now that haruhi has been out for more than a year, meaning it is a proven show, then regarding it as hyped seems somewhat improper. In fact, very little is known about haruhi before it has aired, the phenomenal exploded when episode one and two was released. Therefore it is called popular, not hype.

I dont believe a show can be hidden because something more popular is airing at sametime, because a show of different genre cant really provide the same appeal. the lesser shows maybe great, but it doesnt appeal to common viewers, hence it is unpopular. That’s the shows own problem, not due to the fact something else is more popular. Now thats assuming you are talking about series from 2006.

As for lucky star, I don’t see much comparison been made by anybody except for the dance which was intentional, so I honestly dont see where you came up with the conclusion they have been compared by people. Maybe there were expectation before it has been aired, but after first episode theres no comparison, only reference to haruhi as part of comic relief from the same studio.

All in all, not everyone think haruhi is overrated, it is not the best, but it certainly live up to the standard. Shows don’t get overlooked, when they are aired simoulatenosly, a show cannot overshadow another. The anime from this season sure won’t be overshadowed by an old series from over a year ago. And No I seriouslly dont see any series compared to haruhi, becauses nothing right now is similar to what it is.
Mirrinus
June 17th, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Hmm…you state that Haruhi is overrated 3 times, yet what actual flaws have you pointed out? What does calling it overrated tell me? Is the animation quality bad? Is the story bad? Are the characters flat and boring? Is there any objective way to measure “overrated” that makes it any more valid beyond simply your own point of view? The only reason you gave for it being “overrated” was that people still talk about it. So? People still talk about Evangeleon, Cowboy Bebop, Rurouni Kenshin, and Miyazaki films all the time. Your point is? Cowboy Bebop is being compared to Darker than Black. Evangeleon is being compared to Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann and Bokurano. Miyazaki films are being compared to Dennou Coil. Using your logic, shouldn’t we be calling these series “overrated” as well? In fact, how many series can you think of that don’t fall into this trap?

So, why is it a show’s fault if people prefer that one show over others that may be airing? This sounds like a complaint that can be made against pretty much ANY good show you can think of. And for the record, Haruhi isn’t quite as guilty of this as many other shows that recieve hype. Recall that Haruhi was completely unknown before it started to air. It was based off of a series of novels that no one has ever heard about, by a company that had only made 3 other series prior to it. There wasn’t any promotion art or video trailer floating around. Many anime bloggers didn’t even bother including it in their spring previews. Tell me, was Haruhi somehow keeping people from watching any other good shows of the season? Higurashi already had a sizable fanbase devoted to the game, and Ouran was based off an already well-known manga, just to name a few. What “overrated” popularity it has today, it had to obtain by its own merit, not any fan-based or studio-based hype.

I agree that it’s absolutely stupid to compare any anime to Haruhi. But why mark this as a fault against the show? Does the show come with big captions that read “COMPARE ALL OTHER ANIME TO THIS”? Why blame a show for the stupidity of human beings? We all know people do dumb things. I highly doubt you can attribute the foolishness of mankind to a 14-episode TV series. If you feel a series you like is being “overshadowed”, don’t blame other shows for it. That’s just silly and reeks of fanboy-ism. If you feel you must put down another show to enjoy your own show more, then I must feel pity. At the very least, come up with a better way of describing a show as faulty. “Overrated” tells me nothing, except that more people seem to like it than hate it, so probability dictates I’d like this “overrated” show anyway.
Darren Pangan http://anime2manga.com/
June 17th, 2007 at 3:52 pm

Umm.. Shadro.. looks like you got some explaining to do.. lol
psgels http://psgels.blogsome.com
June 17th, 2007 at 6:41 pm

Onibaku, care to explain the following sentence?

“How can a show be overlooked if it is proven better than the rest?”

I wonder how you came to the conclusion that Haruhi is “better” than the rest. I agree with Shadro about how overrated the show is, though he uses the wrong arguments. In my book, an overrated show means that a show is getting more attention than it deserves, and to be honest, Haruhi wasn’t really that good, before I eventually dropped it. From what I’ve seen, it was just a collection of annoying stereotypes and an excuse to show cute girls.
Darren Pangan http://anime2manga.com/
June 17th, 2007 at 8:07 pm

I don’t think I’m in the position to judge Haruhi since I dropped it after the first episode. I’m just going to comment about “overrated”. I don’t think being overrated means the show is bad or there’s something negative about it. It’s about rating something higher than it should.
Shadro http://gandtheonehalf.animeblogger.net
June 18th, 2007 at 12:19 am

@Onibaku - “How can a show be overlooked if it is proven better than the rest?” The problem with that is how can it really be proven. Everybody has different opinions on things, so really it is difficult to judge what really is proven to be better. “if you say the lesser series remain hidden, due to the fact haruhi is overshadowing them, doesnt that make haruhi the better series to watch?” No it really doesn’t make Haruhi the better series to watch. While that show was nothing before it aired, once it did, it became huge. After that it was a whole different story, there was so much going on about it. After that with all the news about, it led people to rather watch that instead of another series that they could have liked more. Then you talk about hype, the way I see it is once it picked up and people started to see it around and how people praised it so, the people would now look into it more, isn’t that somewhat hype. So in my conclusion, with the series being decent in my opinion, my idea is that with all that went around, people went with that show and could have left something that they could have liked more behind. No one can watch every show of the season. With Haruhi getting all the news and buzz, the other series were just left out there with almost no news or anything.

@Mirrinus - What you sate is that overrated is a bad term, but that is not how I wanted to be. Really I meant that Haruhi got more than it should. Then as I said people can always watch so much. Then for the comparing, I don’t blame the series itself I blame all the buzz and news it got that lead to that.

Really I always say take what I say with a grain of salt. This is really my opinon and I do believe Haruhi or more so the news around it to leave some shows that could have gotten more people behind.
Amanda Liu http://
June 18th, 2007 at 2:01 am

While I like Haruhi at the exact same level as you do, I don’t really find this to be a really “justified” rant no offense. First of all, I can guarrantee you Lucky Star is not overlooked. Look at the Anime Nano Popularity Charts, Lucky Star is tied for #1. Lucky Star is a love it or hate it show that had an initial backlash by a few prominent bloggers. Most of the rest of the fansub community did not agree, I can assure you that.

Second, there are lots of other anime that are popular and overhyped. I mean look at Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Full Metal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Rurouni Kenshin, that show that starts with an E that I always forget name of and has that chick with blue hair called Ayanami Rei I think, and etc. They’re all “mainstream” and please “mainstream” viewers leaving many with no desire to dig for “hidden gems”. These shows are also used as a comparison to many other anime. Look at Busou Renkin, most people called it a Bleach and FMA rip-off and dropped it like a intoxicated flies. Haruhi is not the only one. Oh and Haruhi wasn’t really used a comparison to Lucky Star, it was more used to demonstrate Kyoto Animation’s style at doing things.

I can continue on and on but I’ll stop here because I accidently erased my comment twice and I’m beyond pissed at myself. Oh and I need to study for finals. But point in point, while I do find Haruhi overhyped and all that jazz…It’s not the only one that will take away other series popularity. And Lucky Star is not overlooked.
Shadro http://gandtheonehalf.animeblogger.net
June 18th, 2007 at 2:20 am

Look at most of those series you have brought up though, all of them have aired (all actually on Cartoon Network). To me that goes into a different idea about anime on TV and stuff. For people you do subs or whatever, they are more able to dig for not even the hidden gems, but at least something.
Amanda Liu http://
June 18th, 2007 at 2:49 am

Hmmm…While that is true since I listed the first shows that popped out of my head, there are others. Let’s take all the fansubbed shows people are talking about. Hayate the Combat Butler, Claymore, Nanoha, sola, Code Geass, D.Gray-man, and Death Note are all overhyped too. A lot of people are just watching those and not bothering with others. So let’s replace these with what I said and there you go. Point taken, most animes that you’ve heard of whether in fansub community are overhyped Lucky Star included.
Shadro http://gandtheonehalf.animeblogger.net
June 18th, 2007 at 3:00 am

The only thing I say with that is look how many you can list off, when Haruhi did come out, there were not many more like that. Then really this is what I’ve seen with the places I hang out with, with the people I talk too and all of that. So, yeah I see that different people don’t see it the same way I’ve been exposed per say. So, while all of it doesn’t fit for everybody I still think in a small level there is something there that people can see.
Mirrinus
June 18th, 2007 at 3:34 am

I’m still confused how you can say a series “gets more attention than it should.” This implies that: 1) You know exactly how much attention each series deserves, and 2) Many people disagree with you, but you’re still right and they’re still wrong. You’re only digging yourself into a deeper hole if you claim that “you can’t deny this fact.” That’s hardly an easily defendable assertation, and if you don’t even bother pointing out a show’s flaws, you’re not exactly in a reasonable position to dictate to others just how much attention or praise a show deserves. I’m not even going to bother talking about whether or not Haruhi is good or bad, I’m just here to point out fallacies in your logic, as faulty logic is a pet peeve of mine. No offense, K? ^_^
Shadro http://gandtheonehalf.animeblogger.net
June 18th, 2007 at 4:06 am

I’m not trying to say that I’m right your wrong, or if it seems like it I don’t mean too. I just wanted to point out what I have seen. I’m not saying that anybody else is wrong, not everyone is gonna have the same opinion. You people are more right than me most likely. No, I don’t know how much attention a show deserves, I’ll give my opinion about it though. People can disagree with me, I don’t mind that, I will take it. I take no offense with people arguing the point. But I do think if I used any other series as an example there wouldn’t be this many comments, because of how big it became; again my opinon. Then I could go to point out flaws, but that too would just be my opinion, what I could see as a flaw wouldn’t be to someone else.
Alexandra Papillon http://
June 18th, 2007 at 5:46 am

Amanda, I’m glad you think Code Geass, D.Gray Man and Death Note are hyped. I personally didn’t ever bother watching Haruhi, so I can’t say but almost everything is overhyped :).

Hey, on the bright side, this is bringing up a lot of comments.
Milly Schaefer http://
June 18th, 2007 at 9:44 am

Although I would’ve presented my arguments differently, I agree that Haruhi is overrated. I enjoyed Haruhi a lot, but any show that prompts that much attention (as in, millions of internet videos of people doing the dance, floods of entries on the anime blogging community, a ridiculously big deal made over its licensing, pervading obsession with Aya Hirano, religious “conversions” to Haruhi-ism, etc.) is probably going to be overrated, unless it’s the best series ever made. (And of course, “best series ever made” is a completely relative title.) For some people, Haruhi isn’t overrated because they think it’s perfect. But it didn’t make my top 10 of favorite anime, and it certainly didn’t change my world or anything — so I would say it’s overrated.
Amanda Liu http://
June 18th, 2007 at 10:28 am

All of us from the A2M staff should write our own rants/opinions about Haruhi and mush it together in one huge article -_-.
Darren Pangan http://anime2manga.com/
June 18th, 2007 at 10:36 am

Woah! Most controversial post ever!
Alexandra Papillon http://
June 18th, 2007 at 10:37 am

We should, it would bring in more traffic.

I’m just kidding, but we could have a column where someone disses a “great” anime every week.