The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Episode 1

The hype in Japan and U.S. on the new anime series, "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," has been ground-breakingly tremendous these past months. It's really unbelievable. They hype alone, unfortuately, has confirmed that this isn't a series I first imagined it to be based only on the title. Despite this, I gave the first episode a shot.

It took an excruciating amount of willpower to stop me from shutting off the TV - I just could not stand it. Even knowing the fact that this first episode is showing an anime within the anime. We've seen this tactic done well before, recall "Genshiken." But unlike "Genshiken," this anime within the anime was horrible and took up the entire 27 or so minutes. The opening song was ridiculous and I simply could not watch the episode in one sitting - I think 7 minutes was my max.

It'll take me a while to recover from this atrocity, and when that time comes, I will make the most effort to watch more, but I can't make any promises whatsoever. This anime may be a show-stopping, a one-for-the-ages series, but the first episode, nay, the first couple of minutes is a colossal turn off.