涼宮ハルヒの暴走

Haruhi Suzumiya #5

by Nagaru Tanigawa, いとうのいぢ (Illustrator), 谷川流

夏休みに山ほど遊びイベントを設定しようとも、宿敵コンピ研が持ちかけてきた無理無茶無謀な対決に挑もうとも、ハルヒはそれが自身の暴走ゆえとはこれっぽっちも思っていないことは明白だが、いくらなんでもSOS団全員が雪山で遭難している状況を暴走と言わずしてなんと言おう。こんなときに頼りになる長門が熱で倒れちまって、SOS団発足以来、最大の危機なんじゃないのか、これ!?　非日常系学園ストーリー、絶好調の第５巻！

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Manga, Japan

301 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2004

About the author

Nagaru Tanigawa ( 谷川流 Tanigawa Nagaru)

Nagaru Tanigawa is a graduate of the Kwansei Gakuin University School of Law. In 2003, he won Kadokawa's Grand Prize for Literary World for his work on the Haruhi Suzumiya series.

Reviews

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another collection of short stories, including the notorious "Endless Eight." To be fair, in writing it’s much easier to digest as it’s not so boring as in the anime. Mostly because it’s a lot shorter. The other two short stories on the other hand feel like they could have easily been expanded a little more.

[Nicholas Woode-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some familiar stories that fans of the anime will recognise, but also possesses the story that takes place after Disappearance and has not been put in the anime.

Snowy Mountain Syndrome, the story in question, is excellent. It puts the crew in real danger, presenting a cosmic threat that actually had me genuinely anxious. It also presents some wonderful character development, setting up all the main characters and even minor characters as increasingly more complex characters.

A must read!

[Mina Starliart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta novela se me ha hecho bastante pesada.
Me gusta que el pasaje del verano infinito es super liviano (totalmente contrario al anime) pero la historia sobre el juego de ordenador se me hizo suuuuuuper larga.
Y aunque la tercera historia me ha gustado era un poco larga y realmente no sentía que avanzase mucho la trama.
Se supone que la siguiente va a avanzar cosas así que a ver que tal. También sé que Haruhi está contada de manera desordenada así que supongo que se están guardando muchas incognitas para numeros posteriores

[Deadwish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reseña completa en mi blog:
http://drdeadwish.blogspot.com.ar/201...

Tres historias interesantes, de diferente estilo, todas con cierta tendencia a tener a Nagato en el centro de la atención (aunque no siempre de la solución). Más allá de si aportan algo o no a la historia en general, sí lo hacen en cuanto a conocer a los personajes. Para ser historias inconexas, su nivel es bastante parejo. Bien por el autor.
Me divertí mucho leyendo este libro, pero el hecho de que sean historias cortas y no una verdadera novela no hace que sea lo mejor de la saga.

[Dave B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The three short stories were all pretty good. The last story in the volume, Snowy Mountain Syndrome, was especially good, a very engaging page turner. However, much like Endless Eight (the first story in the book), it felt like the solution came rather quickly and really abruptly. There was some fantastic buildup, and the questions raised really help to advance the series, but the short-term situation resolved quite easily, making the ending of it kind of a letdown. But still, it was a good volume in the series, and I look forward to more!

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I usually don't enjoy short fiction as much as novel length, this collection of short stories and a novella were excellent. My two favorite stories from this book "The Day of Sagittarius" and "Snow Mountain Syndrome" both feature my favorite character from the series Nagato Yuki, in Sagittarius, Yuki prevents the computer club from cheating the SOS in a computer game. In Snow Mountain Yuki uses the Euler's formula, A.I. and math what's not to love.

[Irene Lázaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Los fans de Suzumiya Haruhi nos dividimos en partidarios y detractores del agosto infinito. Yo soy de los primeros. Esta es la novela en la que se cuenta el controvertido episodio pero solo pasa una vez (y no 8 como en el anime) por eso cualquiera podría disfrutarlo. La montaña nevada es el primero de los capitulos no adaptados al anime y me ha encantado leer algo que no supiera de antemano cómo iba a terminar.

[Sean O'Hara · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I finished The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, I found myself with a problem. I was excited to find out what happens next: How does Yuki deal with her actions? What happens when Kyon goes back in time to save himself? How do the other Brigade members react to Kyon's experience. But the English translation of the fifth book wouldn't be out for another week -- and then it'd be another six months for the volume after that. Meanwhile, books 10 and 11 just came out in Japan last month, but at the current pace the American versions won't be out until 2013 and '14.

Luckily, there are dedicated otaku in Japan who like to improve their English skills by translating stuff for American fans. So after a little Googling, I have the first nine books on my Kindle and the next two should follow in short order.

Yes, I know I'm a bad person. For what it's worth, my copy of book 5 should arrive in the mail this week, I already have 6 on pre-order, and I plan on buying the rest as they come out. I'd actually recommend that anyone who enjoys the series read both translations as they complement each other quite well. The difference is rather like that between anime dubs, where the goal is to make the story accessible to the widest audience, and subtitles that try to adhere as closely to the original dialogue as possible. This is most obvious in the use of honorifics -- Kyon-kun, Tsuruya-chan, Okabe-sensei -- which the official version drops almost entirely, but there are also a number of Japanese cultural terms that the bootleggers retain as well -- a quick search of the Disappearance bootleg turns up numerous instances of "senpai" in the text, while the official version uses "upperclassmen," which is technically accurate but kinda loses the flavor. Conversely, the official translator has a much better grasp of English idiom and slang, which makes the text flow smoother. For example, here's a passage that really stood out to me in Disappearance:

The second visit actually came before the first one chronologically, so I obviously got skills.

Whereas the fan translation renders this as:

The second visit happened earlier on the timeline than the first, which is some accomplishment to me.

I suspect the second more accurately reflects Tanigawa's words, but the first does a much better job of capturing smart-ass Kyon's tone.

Anyway, after that long preamble, on to the book itself, which turns out to be another short story collection. First up is:

Endless Eight: The summer vacation that began in "Remote Island Syndrome" is winding down. Kyon returns from visiting family and wants nothing more than to spend the last two weeks of August resting and slowly chipping away at the large pile of homework he's been avoiding all summer. But Haruhi has other plans. She orders the SOS Brigade to convene for a final fortnight of highly regimented fun.

As they work their way through Haruhi's itinerary -- day at the swimming pool, check; day at the Obon festival, check; night watching fireworks, check -- Kyon starts to feel deja vu. Nor is he the only one -- Mikuru and Koizumi feel it as well. When they ask Nagato about it, she confirms that they're stuck in a Groundhog Day loop. These last two weeks of August have in fact lasted almost six hundred years. Haruhi wants summer to last forever, and so she's subconsciously been resetting the timeline on the last day of vacation and wiping everyone's memory, including her own. But the process isn't 100% effective, and with every iteration the Brigade members have an easier time realizing something's up. That might sound good until you consider that, according to Nagato, they've been consistently figuring things out for the past 8000 cycles. That's 300 years and they haven't come up with a way to defuse Haruhi.

(Nagato herself has been aware of what's going on since the beginning, thanks to her link to the Data Overmind, but because she's on Earth to observe Haruhi, she only explains the situation when someone asks her.)

I understand the anime adaptation of this story is highly controversial since the producers decided to stretch the story across eight episodes -- more than half a season -- replaying the same scenes, reanimated but with only slight variations, for three hours. Tanigawa wisely limits the short story to just the final iteration and keeps it under fifty pages.

Day of Sagittarius III: The Computer Society wants back the computer that Haruhi extorted from them in the first book, so they challenge the SOS Brigade to a LAN battle using a computer game they designed. To sweeten the pot, the Computer Society offers four brand new laptops if the Brigade can beat them. Seeing as the stakes aren't that significant and Haruhi isn't so invested in the game that she'll destroy the universe if she loses, Kyon suggests that the Brigade play this fair with no cheating.

The game turns out to be a space-based RTS. Haruhi naturally wants to command the flagship, which means that if she gets herself killed, the whole team loses. The problem here is that Haruhi's knowledge of military strategy seems to be derived from reading about the Little Big Horn, Balaclava, and Nagoshino and then emulating the losers. Koizumi and Kyon have to put as much effort into protecting Haruhi as fighting the enemy, while Mikuru ... well, Mikuru's from a post-Singularity future, so for her mastering the game is like learning to drive a chariot or weave on a pre-Jacquard loom. Which leaves Nagato to win the game while staying within Kyon's no-cheating stricture.

Snow Mountain Syndrome: The story begins a week after the events of Disappearance with the Brigade visiting Tsuruya-chan's family ski chalet. On the first day, Tsuruya-chan offers to look after Kyon's little sister while the others go skiing, but after a few hours on the slope an unexpected blizzard blows in. The Brigade tries to make it back to the chalet but they become hopelessly lost, with even Nagato's sense of direction failing.

They finally stumble upon a mansion. But though the lights are on, no one answers their knocks. When Haruhi tries the door, she finds it's unlocked. She instructs the others to get warm while she and Kyon go searching for the inhabitants. But after exploring each floor, they can't find anyone at home. Returning to the entrance hall, they find Mikuru freaking out and even Koizumi is worried -- although Kyon doesn't think he was gone more than thirty minutes, three hours passed for the rest of the Brigade. Nagato and Koizumi performed an experiment and determined that there are temporal variances within the mansion, causing time to flow at different rates. Nagato claims the mansion has properties similar to Closed Space, but it is not caused by Haruhi -- and worse still, whatever is responsible has blocked her connection to the Data Overmind.

When I saw this was another collection of short stories, my heart sank, especially when I realized the first story is set before Book 2. After the awesomeness of Disappearance, I wanted the plot to move forward, not backtrack four months. After reading the book, I have to say my misgivings were misplaced. Two-thirds of the stories (accounting for three-quarters of the text) shed new light on the previous book.

"Endless Eight" provides insight into what Yuki's problem was in Disappearance -- even for an alien AI, 600 years of repeating the same events has to take a toll, yet Yuki is unable to express her frustration. Kyon even references this story in Disappearance when discussing how much Yuki's changed since May.

At about a hundred pages, "Snow Mountain Syndrome" is the most substantial story in this collection, over half the length of Disappearance and with far more plot development than Sigh. With a little connective material, this story could easily be combined with "Charmed at First Sight" and "Where Did the Cat Go" from the next volume to make a full-on novel.

The story marks a major turning point in the series. Up until this point, the SOS Brigade hasn't faced any external threats -- Koizumi and Nagato have dropped hints about rival factions who aren't so sanguine about Haruhi's existence, but none of them have appeared on stage (unless you count Asakura's freak out). But here the Brigade is attacked by a new and as yet unknown force -- a force powerful enough to incapacitate Yuki.

And in addition to that new development, we also get a follow-up on Disappearance. As of the start of this story, Kyon and Nagato haven't told anyone about the alternate timeline, not even Mikuru who's going to have to help them close it off. But despite their silence, it's obvious that something's happened between them. Haruhi is the first to ask Kyon about it, though she of course jumps to the wrong conclusion and Kyon has to spin a tale to satisfy her. He later confesses the situation to Koizumi in a rather touching scene.

And speaking of touching scenes, one of the funniest bits in the story is when the Brigade tries to sleep in the house and each is visited by the apparition of another member. Kyon, of course, is visited by a ghostly Mikuru who tries to seduce him, while Haruhi sees Kyon. After that it gets interesting. Koizumi, in a line sure to launch a thousand slash fics, admits that he too was visited by a Kyon: "You appeared in my room as well. The appearance might have been you, but the behavior was just terrifying... anyways, you did things that you wouldn't do." Mikuru meanwhile found a specter of Haruhi in her bed, and when asked, Nagato simply looks at Kyon and says, "You."

Only "Day of Sagittarius III" doesn't add much insight into the events of Disappearance, but that's mainly an issue of placement. The story ends with the President of the Computer Society asking Nagato to join. Yuki clearly wants to take up the offer, but Haruhi objects until Kyon and Koizumi both rebel. If this took place after winter break, this would be a major development for post-Disappearance Nagato, but instead it takes place just after the Cultural Festival, which makes it hard to see how it connects to Yuki's progression from "Endless Eight" to Disappearance.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth installment of the Haruhi Suzumiya universe light novel series is an anthology of three short stories, each preceded by a short preface. Once again told in the perspective of our lazy, high school boy with a streak of snarkiness, the narration is enjoyable and snort-worthy at times.

But I have to say that after the fourth book, I feel like Kyon’s lost a bit of his snark and has actually grown quite soft towards Haruhi. I don’t know whether to take that as a good sign or a bad one, but we also note that he’s grown quite an attachment to all of his brigade members. He’s always worshipped Asahina, and there’s a silent, reluctant companionship between him and Koizumi.

But now he seems to have developed more of an understanding of Haruhi. And on top of that, he seems to have picked up a big brotherly concern for Nagato and how she has to constantly deal with all the big messes left in the wake of Haruhi’s irrational demands and behaviors, whether or not Haruhi meant for things to happen and whether or not she was even responsible for strange occurrences.



1. Endless Eight
In the first short story in The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyon details a strange summer vacation during their first year of high school. Everything seemed like a typical Haruhi Suzumiya motivated “good ol’ time” wherein the Brigade Chief calls everyone out for a meeting so that they can make the most of the rest of their summer.

Of course, once again, Kyon can’t keep up with Haruhi’s enthusiasm nor her logic (or lack thereof). But you have to admit that it’s nice to have someone pulling all the strings to get some activity going when you’re young and you seem to have all the time in the world.

The latter half of August, right before the beginning of the next term, Haruhi has listed activities from going to the pool, to watching fireworks, attending a festival, and star-gazing. It pretty much sounds like a neverending time of fun-filled activity.

Until Kyon’s random flashes of strong deja vu proves that this is indeed a neverending duration of time. The rest of the brigade members call him out to explain that his sense of deja vu is actually significant. And according to our Mastermind of an Alien Being, Nagato (whose job is only to observe, by the way), the group has gone through the same two weeks of August over ten thousand times, in several thousand variations of activities and directions, and are somehow caught in an endless time loop, caused by noneother than Haruhi Suzumiya herself. Of course, she doesn’t know this is happening.

This is further confirmed by our Time Traveler, Asahina, who cannot make contact with the future, because, naturally, when you’re stuck in an endless time loop, there is no future. Naturally…

Their only conclusion is that Haruhi must have created this closed-space like time loop because there is something she still isn’t satisfied with about her summer vacation. And so, in order to satisfy this unknown factor, she has unknowingly fixated on the summer vacation never ending.

So it is our hero’s job to determine what it is that must be done to break the time loop, and save the day. As per usual. With all his snark and lazy high school boy attitude present.


I recall watching the second season of the anime series for Haruhi Suzumiya and finding myself increasingly confused about the several episodes adapted to tell the Endless Eight story. While it was part curiosity that had me viewing the episodes (there were eight of them) with the same plots over and over again with slight variations, I have to admit that it DID manage to start get annoyingly boring. In contrast, the way the story is written in the light novel is a little easier to stomach--we only have to go through the time loop once with explanations abound!

Of course, this wasn’t one of my favorite Haruhi Universe short stories. But it does still reflect a lot of the typical Haruhi Suzumiya elements that I love.


2. The Day of Sagitarrius
This short story takes place during the autumn sometime after the school’s cultural festival (not that that’s important). The SOS Brigade is challenged to an outer space duel… or something like that. Basically, if we recall from the first Haruhi Suzumiya book, when Haruhi created her own personal club, she did it in a rather imperialistic fashion: barging in and commandeering the Literary Club’s club room, dragging unsuspecting members into the room and locking them in, and finally procuring a computer through extortion from the Computer Society next door.

Well, now the Computer Society is back with a plan for vengeance. As computer clubs are wont to do, the Computer Society has created their own space invasion type game, much like an MMO of sorts, but in 2D called The Day of Sagittarius 3. Each side gets five fleets of ships and they do battle in unmapped territory in space until one team or the other is defeated. The game sounds simple enough, and as per Haruhi Suzumiya standards, of course, outrageous stakes are at hand.

Mainly, Kyon surmises that they really have nothing to lose and he feels like they’re going to lose anyway. The Computer Society gets to take back their computer if they win, the SOS Brigade gets four new laptops if they win.

The odds, of course, are a bit uneven.


This short story puts my personal favorite character of the Haruhi Suzumiya world on a pedestal, really. And I’m thinking that it had been this particular story I had seen as an episode of the anime that really cemented my love for Nagato. Because as little emotion as this alien being presents, it is one of few times you get to see her become passionate about something. As Kyon notes:

True, she was able to avoid showing any emotion on her face, but I had come to realize that she still had feelings.

[...]

Nagato had been the most passionate one in our [game] battle with the computer society [...] She looked more enthusiastic when she was punching away at the keyboard [...] it looked to me like she was somehow having fun [...]

The simple fact that, despite being a higher intelligence alien being, she voluntarily restricted her actions to human capabilities at Kyon’s request and still managed to silently win the game in an outstanding display of uber computer skills was pretty amazing. And in the end, despite everyone knowing that she was the mastermind behind the SOS Brigade’s victory, she still quietly sits there and reads her books without any fanfare.


3. Snowy Mountain Syndrome
The last short story in this Rampage anthology was probably the longest short story, but it was also surprisingly the most intriguing one. I can’t recall if I had seen an anime adaptation based off of Snowy Mountain Syndrome, but it’s likely. And so, fortunate, I don’t remember it if I’ve seen it.


A la the summer vacation on a remote island--Remote Island Syndrome from The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, Volume Four of this light novel series--our SOS Brigade heads out on another fun vacation adventure, this time, on the titular snowy mountain. Unlike the last time, however, Koizumi has already confided that he has planned another “Murder Mystery” game much like the one that had taken place on the remote island.

And so amidst the wintery fun, skiing, and such, the group is ready to spend the end of the year playing along with another of Haruhi’s fun and games demands. At least this time, Kyon doesn’t expect anything supernatural to happen since Haruhi seems pretty content just to ski and participate in a pre-arranged “Snowy Mountain Mansion Murder Mystery Game”.

Of course, no Haruhi Suzumiya story is complete without some strange phenomena occurring; before the gang knows it, they are trapped in some strange eternal blizzard and find their way to an isolated mansion in the middle of nowhere. Stranger still, there are no phones or radios, no means of communication, but plenty of comfort in food, hot baths, and warm beds. To top things off, something doesn’t feel right about the situation, but our ever-powerful Nagato has been incapacitated.

And so it is up to Kyon with the help of Koizumi to figure out what is going on and how to fix it, or forever remain a prisoner of this strange time-space distorted reality.


It wasn’t like this was the most exciting story in the Haruhi Suzumiya world, but after getting to the halfway point, I just kept right on turning the pages and kept right on reading. There was definitely a sense of mystery and an urgency to solve said mystery; although the resolution felt a bit lukewarm, the overall story was quite enjoyable anyway.


Overall Thoughts:
Really, the only thing I have to say about this anthology was that it was entertaining in the same way the rest of the Haruhi Suzumiya books have been entertaining. While the concept and the world continues to intrigue me and draw me in, I’m still not at the point that I’d fangirl the heck out of this series.

Sure, the ideals are clever and the humor is evident; also, reading about a bunch of high school students who learn about more subjects that are vastly more complicated than I remember learning in high school makes me feel a bit inferior.

Heck, Leonhard Euler’s polyhedron theorem? An offhand reference to the Mary Celeste as a comparison to the abandoned mansion our SOS Brigade comes across? Even a lot of the computer and tech jargon and terminology spouted during The Day of Sagitarrius was enough to make my head spin.

Anyway….

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like Boredom, two books ago, The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya is more of a compilation of short fiction than a unified novel. Unlike Boredom, Rampage manages to be more upfront with its nature as a short story collection, with each story featuring a preface highlighting the season of the year in which its respective story takes place, as well as references to key events in the overall narrative of the series, in order to give the audience an idea of when everything occurs, considering the confusion that may be caused by Tanigawa's chronology for his work.

"Endless Eight" takes place in the summer, wedged between the events of Boredom and Sigh, as mentioned in the preface. In this story, Haruhi subconsciously wishes that summer will never end, and so the last two weeks of summer vacation (August 17-31) are repeated over 15,000 times. The "Eight" in the title, for those who (like me) didn't quite "get" it, refers to the Japanese name for August, "8-gatsu" (literally, 8-month), providing an alliterative alternative to the name "Endless August." Somewhat luckily for the reader, the characters realize their predicament and resolve the situation within the same loop, rather than drag the reader through several incomplete descriptions of past loops, as might be seen in Kyoto Animation's anime adaptation of this story, taking up about a third of the entire series's runtime (a pun being created by stretching the "Endless Eight[-gatsu]" into "Endless Eight [Episodes]"). The solution to break free of the time loop is that Kyon decides to host a get-together in his house, where the SOS Brigade might rush to complete their summer homework, with Haruhi never having considered such an event, having completed her homework sometime during Boredom. The resolution, thus, is kind of oversimplified. The most important thing is the mild character development for Nagato, with the stress of the many loops subconsciously breaking her down to a point where she would be inclined to kickstart the events of Disappearance. In this way, "Endless Eight" does a decent job of adding to the largely-Nagato-centric storyline of the inappropriately titled "Haruhi Suzumiya" series.

"The Day of Sagittarius" is set in the fall, just after the end of the cultural festival during which Sigh took place. The story brings the focus once more to the kinda-sorta rivals that are the computer club. In a vain attempt to win their computer back from Haruhi, the computer club's president challenges the SOS Brigade to a contest to see who can win in a computer game designed by the computer club themselves. The game is a real-time space-warfare simulation, and the story's prose thus reads like a banal and autistically distant reduction of a Legend of the Galactic Heroes battle scene. The highlight, once again, is Nagato's development - she shows a great excitement (with little change in facial expression) in playing the computer game, and is granted invitation to hang out with the computer club on occasion. With the exception of Nagato's inhuman typing speed, there is nothing really supernatural about this story, and the absence of a real threat by Haruhi's delusions makes this story seem like obvious filler, as "okay" as it may be.

"Snow Mountain Syndrome" takes place immediately after Disappearance, with the first chronological event being the hot pot celebration mentioned at the end of that novel. Of course, the actual text of the novel begins in medias res, much like its predecessor, "Remote Island Syndrome." It's quite funny the initial premise of this story is that Koizumi's planned yet another murder mystery, this time with all participants aware of the set-up beforehand (unlike the surprise "twist" of "Remote Island"). Tanigawa twists the story further by having the conflict rooted around an alternate dimension, theorized to have been the work of the counter-faction to which Asakura belonged, contrary to Nagato's own allegiance to the Data Overmind. The real drama is that Kyon didn't want to put Nagato through too much stress after the events of Disappearance, and certainly not within a week after that story's conclusion, only Nagato gets overwhelmed by the existence of a new fabric of reality which cuts her off from contact with the Data Overmind. She is forced to use the extent of her now-limited powers to provide a convoluted hint for Kyon and friends to escape this new pocket dimension, realizing itself as a rather interesting math problem based around Euler's theories. Like "Remote Island" before it, this story drags on a bit too much, not really deserving of its novella-size length. The lack of a clear antagonist is an interesting new choice, after having had Haruhi and Nagato pose as makeshift-antagonists in earlier books. Like Disappearance before it, this story probably foreshadows a bit too much of a grandiose conflict centered around Nagato, betraying the original "feel" of the series - but, then again, if future novels don't live up to these hints, it might comes across as equally underwhelming.

[Hed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay... This really wasn't bad.

The comedy here is decently managed and pairs well with the slice of life that really amplifies Kiyon's irony and his thoughts on the industry's corny script. It works well as a parody, although the summer chapter was a hell of a read, and no, this wasn't a joke.
.
The metaphors also help a lot in this whole comic context, this time not seeming like some kind of "jojo syndrome" that wants to treat itself as something cheesy and bizarre making jokes about what happened, when in fact it's just self-derision camouflaged in pride flawed. No, here the author allows us to see small spikes in quality and some pretty complacent theories. In conjunction with this, the narrative becomes more fixed on a main objective, consequently decreasing the frequency of ellipses by the author not knowing where he wants to go, like a lost driver who doesn't realize he's been going around in circles for 30 minutes...... Driving isn't just for cars, boys, after all we have certain literary industries that prove it to us.


Well, this follows a similar formula to the disconnect and ALMOST independent stories from volume 3, but it works a little better, so I'll set up the rest of the review as a comparison to volume 3.

I think I got a little too heavy with the infinite August, but I don't really believe it was good, even putting my fun aside..... It was definitely more interesting to read than that shitty baseball chapter, but the problem of predictability persists as an unnecessary metaphor and without any hidden meaning (as said, it's disconnect)
I mean, why would it need to be so obvious on purpose when its meaning is empty or less fun? If only there was some mystery good enough to make its empty contents interesting as some sort of alcoholic beverage, I might have taken advantage of it
Well.... I liked the comedy a little bit and the ending was simply parodic which took me by surprise that I really expected a serious and cliché resolution
Anyway, it was just mediocre, or a little worse than that.

Sagittarius day was fun and Koizumi became a more interesting character than I thought, even if still disappointing... This gave me some hope for development, like Nagato in volume 3 for volume 5.
In fact, the comedy was good and the writing matched it well... A simple and fun script, with a little space for some slightly interesting conspiracy mysteries
Anyway, it was a good chapter.

I was a little hopeful in this syndrome frozen by the blizzard, after all "the desert island" as boring as it was, still had a slight build and was something decent
But, this was disappointing! All the construction here is empty and my effort to understand any mystery was irrelevant since at least for this chapter, any thought about the problem at hand just won't make you reap the rewards.... The reason for this? Because virtually nothing that is questionable comes back as some kind of creative or well-thought-out plot twist.
Or rather... The ending was creative, but lacking in any construction, and please don't use arguments like "you're just an ignorant" or "spoiled child who doesn't know how to accept losing to a mystery". Seriously, it doesn't take a lot of brain mass to realize how ironic this type of argument is.
Well.... It was something mediocre, because honestly it was more fun to read than expected



So, to sum it up... As much as I have to praise a few connections here and there, Suzumiya loves to fill her script with empty content, and believe me, the reaction of this isn't something fun like an air balloon or the surprise of this ball bursting. It is simply something used to inflate, nothing more and nothing less, without any use, be it fun, comic, depth or faithfully linked to the story itself.

I'm willing to accept that this happens in every book, but specifically, Suzumiya is like a balloon-blowing machine, a boredom so deadly that with every breath it feels like the propane pervades and spreads like a brain epidemic that corrupts all my little ones cells that remained.

[Shamsia · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este libro, Haruhi tiene planeadas las actividades de las vacaciones de verano, un verano que parece no terminar nunca, entran en batalla con el club de informática videojuego mediante, y terminan en una casa nevada en el medio de la nada. Y, por supuesto, Haruhi no nota que todo lo que pasa a su alrededor no es resultado de algo normal.

El verano, en efecto, no termina nunca porque Haruhi así lo quiere. Los del club de informática son bastante mejores en videojuegos, planificación y estrategia que Haruhi, y la montaña nevada parece ser demasiado ideal para su situación. Es hora que la Brigada SOS salve el día, sin que ella se entere y que todo regrese a la estabilidad universal.

De hecho, cuando se adaptó la primera historia, se usaron ocho capítulos, casi un tercio de la serie, para ilustrar lo que pasaba. Ocho capítulos casi iguales. Hay mejores formas de hacerlo, gente. Este fue uno de los temas que más se discutieron, durante años y hasta hoy, en círculos de Anime y similares.

El resto de las historias plantea diversos problemas: Nagato observa pero no interviene, hasta que la intervienen a ella, Arashina hace lo que puede, Koizumi demuestra entereza al no entrar en pánico y hasta parece disfrutar de toda la situación... y Kyon tiene que arreglárselas como puede para que todo no se vaya al traste.

Pese a que han pasado años desde que comencé la serie, la calidad de las historias es algo constante. Hay algunas que pueden gustarte más o menos, pero Tanigawa sabe lo que hace y juega dentro del mundo que ha creado. Si bien ya no me atrae como antes, la consistencia es algo que puedo apreciar. Y las ilustraciones, si bien simples y en blanco y negro y gris, son un toque favorable, además de las a todo color en las páginas iniciales y a doble cara.

[Beci · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Suzumiya novel having a short story that was never adapted into anime, but let's talk about all three of them.

++ENDLESS EIGHT++
Since I read this blind, I was afraid that this arc was like in the anime. Thankfully, it wasn't. It is the shortest of the stories in this book, and overall a fun one, even if the adaptation made this one infamous.

After reading it, I researched why in the anime was like this (the short story is basically only the last episode of the anime) and was basically due to the "Disappearance" being made into a movie (initially that should've been into the S2 of the anime)

Regarding the story, I appreciated that Yuki is always an evolving character, despite appearances, and here we find her feeling boredom.

++THE DAY OF THE SAGITTARIOUS++
Also this was a fun one to read, that gave me a lot of RTS vibes. I grew up with that kind of games so I felt pretty captivated by this story.

Also in this story we go a bit into depth into Nagato's character, since she really is captivated by the game.

++SNOW MOUNTAIN SYNDROME++
This is a five-star story, really a beautiful one and the one never adapted (sadly). Really mysterious one and is nothing similar to the "Lonely Island Syndrome", giving us something completely new.

Again, in this arc, we have a bit of introspection on Nagato's character, but also on Kyon and Haruhi.
But in general, this entire novel is making Nagato my fav character of the series

[n1cklz · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10
very fun short stories once again with some of my favourite arcs like endless 8 which altough the anime did dirty, the novel story is actually very interestring since it captures the beauty and story value of what endless 8 was without dragging it out into one short 50 page that gave all the cast a moment to shine and depth
also its a crime how Snow Mountain Syndrome-which actually made it to my top 3 SS arcs-didnt get an anime adapation although the other two SS did along with some of the next volume. It had such fun interactions and a mystery concept like Remote Island Syndrome which was less interesting imo than this arc. Also subtle hints of the characters feeling like haruhi and yuki both seeing kyon in their dream was a very cute detail-and obviously kyon saw asahina lol-, and koizumi along with haruhi explaining the math problem that was actually based in real life was very interesting as well. Also the whole time aspect of the mansion in different rooms as well as the finale was very well done
sadly however The Day of Sagittarius in its novel form was not that enjoyable since the visuals of the anime played a big role in my enjoyment of it initially. overall its a good arc tho but it dragged on for no reason at certain points and enjoyed it, but not as much as the others

[haruhimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sin duda me gusto mucho mas que las anteriores. Aunque sigo sin entender bien qué paso al principio. Y digo qué, pq tengo la sensación de deja vú como la de Kyon.. PORQUE ESTO YA LO LEÍ. Y no encontre en cual de las novelas lo que lo hace mas misterioso indeed. Y no, no lo vi en el anime porque recuerdo MUY bien leerlo y que ya sabia lo que iba a pasar cuando vi la adaptación de este arc de 8(¡!) capítulos. Asi que really no entiendo. Y no, tampoco es que lo leyera en digital ASI QUE NO ENTIENDO NADA. Lo que si entiendo es que me dejo con ganas de mas pero lo complicado de lo cronológico me esta enloqueciendo(? así que decidí dejar la “siguiente” para mas adelante y conseguirme las restantes porque me va a agarrar un paro cardíaco.

PS: Podría haberle puesto menos por lo del principio pero lo ultimo estuvo TAN bueno y me dejo tan enganchada que me sentí mal poniéndole 4. A lo sumo le bajo 0,25(?

[Vishanth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Short story collection volume which Is perfect right after the climatic and dramatic Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.

I really enjoyed the Boredom Of Haruhi Suzumiya and was looking forward to another short story collection and I'm glad to say The Rampage Of Haruhi Suzumiya is even better

Endless Eight is an INFAMOUS set of episodes from the Anime. Because of exactly that. For a short story clocking in at around 50 pages you'd expect just 1 episode to be enough for an adaptation. However Kyotoani in a historic creative decision made 8 episodes dedicated to this one story. It makes more sense when you know the short is about an endless time loop where summer never ends. It's a really great concept since this entire franchise is a parody on supernatural stories it makes sense for them to tackle the timeloop trope. It also works really well as a deep dive into Haruhi as a person. She's someone who when having fun never wants it to end. However her being Haruhi can't see the consequences of endless fun and how you need to have the melancholies to balance it. This is also the first time I'm ok with the stories being out of order. If this came in chronological order we'd read this before disappearance and not really pay much attention to the Nagato foreshadowing that occurs in this story and day of sagittarius. However with the context of disappearance in mind we notice Nagato far more and her actions begin to make so much more sense. This is out of order done right in my opinion. Unlike Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya which desperately needed the live alive story as its finale. However my issue with this short is that it's simply about the final loop. We get moments of de ja vu and foreshadowing however to really understand the consequences of this loop we needed to experience multiple variations of it. I respect Kyotoani decision to show multiple variations so when Kyon eventually does break it it feels so much more satisfying. However 8 episodes (although I get it, it is called endless 8) is maybe a tad too much. And this short story only showing 1 loop is a tad too little. There's a nice middle ground between the original short story and the Anime adaptation where endless eight is perfectly right.

Day of Sagittarius is such an underrated story and one that stands out when you realise it's the first real story where Haruhis antics and supernatural aura is not the crux of the conflict. Makes even more sense when you realise canonically so far the last time she's the cause of such events is during Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya and after the fallouts, chaos and eventual resolution of those events she came out a much better and understanding individual who is able to have fun in her own right. Day of Sagittarius is filler but the good kind. The club must participate in a gaming competition with the Computer club for the fate of their computer and so we get a hilarious space opera battle simulation where the gaming is written as if the characters are within the game. The prose here is at it's strongest and funniest. I'd say both the Anime adaptation and the original story are just as good as each other. And man whenever Nagato aks for Kyons permission to activate the program always gives me chills.

The final story is the first story to not have been adapted to Kyotoani that I've read (aside from the manga adaptation however it's been so long I've forgotten most of everything) Taking place right after dissappearance, this story surprised me the most. It's a sort of spiritual successor to Remote island syndrome except its winter themed and so it's gonna follow more teenage horror cabin tropes rather than summer island detective mystery of the previous. I was cautious because I found Remote island syndrome to be rather dissapointing, cool ideas but muddy execution that was done better in the Anime. However Snowy Mountain Syndrome is AWESOME! Genuinely one of the best short stories we have gotten so far and I'm so upset we never saw a Kyotoani adaptation. Essentially The sos brigade Inc Tsurya and Kyons little sister are headed to go skiing on Tsuryas family's snowy cabin. What starts of as a wholesome winter trip eventually turns awry when a snow storm hit. When the sos brigade gets separated and reach that mansion is when things get trippy which I love. The rooms having a different flow of time and the random impersonators of the crew sneaking into the others room was so creepy and atmospheric. The way this all coalesces into a puzzle that can unlock the door to freedom whilst integrating Polyhedron Theorem in this mix is just the kind of insanity I expect from Tanigawa. It's right up this series alley to introduce real life philosophical and in this case mathematical conundrums in a story whilst not feeling like a lecture. The way the impersonator incident related to solving this equation was so clever and I fully understood everything. I also like how this story is somewhat of an epilogue to dissappearance. We see Kyon more aware of Nagato and concerned about her well being. We see him acknowledging how he still has unresolved business on that matter and how this whole mansion alternate dimension setup is a metaphor of him prolonging this eventual task. It's also a great way of him confronting his falling grades as mathematics was a key part of the story. What's also notable is the continuation of the threat not being Haruhi it on one hand shows how much she has grown but also how much more sinister it is when the threat is unknown. It's also the first time Haruhi has been directly confronted with the supernatural and how the gang's catch 22 on not letting Haruhi know anything is not always gonna be pretty clean by the end. There will be moments like this story where they slip up. Overall this short was great and gave me so much more than I wanted.

Endless Eight - 7/10
Day of Sagittarius 8/10
Snowy Mountain Syndrome 9/10

[Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historias que permiten conocer a los miembros de la brigada SOS, en especial a Nagato Yuki. Como las entregas anteriores, las historias se dan en perspectiva de Kyon por lo que conocemos a los personajes desde su punto de vista.
Al principio sentía que no me aportaba mucho la lectura y habia ratos largos en que la dejaba, sobre todo en la última historia, pero fue precisamente esa historia la que mas me gusto una vez en que empezaron a desenvolver los sucesos extraños que envuelve a este grupo. Me gusta la forma de escribir del autor y la importancia que le da al explicar ciertos fenómenos físicos, no es de los que simplemente dicen que sucede algo y ya, sino que tambien investiga para darle base a su ficción.

[Anne Swartjes · Rating 4 out of 5]

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Before I start this review and voice my opinion on the fifth book in the series of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, I have to admit that (on the recommendation of quite a dear friend of mine) I had already seen the anime series before I started reading the books. You might wonder why on earth I would feel obliged to say this. Because I had already seen the anime series, I already knew a great part of the book and that's why I am mostly focussing on the writing-style instead of the story itself and that's why I probably won't be fangirling in this review as much as someone else I know would.

So far I have enjoyed all of the Haruhi books, though I kind of wished that I would have first read the books before watching the anime series. Though, isn't that how it usually works? Paper before screen? I do have to say that I particularly liked this book in the series, because, YES FINALLY, a story that was completely unknown to me: The Snowy Mountain Syndrome. Boy, am I ready to fangirl about this part of the story. But first, let me elaborate on the different short stories in the book.

Endless Eight
I really liked this part of the series, and I'm actually quite sad that I watched the anime only after all the episodes were aired, because I would have really wanted to experience this confusion, this frustration, this ever growing feeling of selfdoubt while waiting for each episode to describe the last two weeks of the Summer holidays over and over and over and over (infinite repeat) again. I have to say that I did like the Endless Eight better in the anime series, partly because of the whole concept I just explained and also because the anime elaborated more on the Endless Eight. So, what I'm trying to say here is... if I was supposed to write a review on Endless Eight in the anime series, I would be putting a lot of smiley faces in here and a lot of hearts, but since I'm reviewing the book, I'm just going to say that it was rather enjoyable to read.

Day of the Saggitarus
This is really going to be against my principles, but again I have to admit that I actually enjoyed this part more in the anime than I did in the books. The game contest with the spaceships was really very enjoyable in the anime because all I was focused on was basically Mikuru failing at each possible moment and on the other hand Nagato being the master of masters at this game because of her rather impressive typing skills. I feel like she could've slammed her head on the keyboard and they still would've won because of Nagato. I feel like this chapter was supposed to be visual and that's why I liked it rather much in the anime, and I would say it was okay in the book.

The Snowy Mountain Syndrome
YES, finally a brand new story. Finally the chance to dive into the depths of the unknown and explore the terrifying scenarios Haruhi has planned for her servants friends. So, I might be a bit biased but I actually already kind of perhaps maybe started loving this chapter from the start they went to a ski resort with LOADS of snow. I mean.. heaps of snow, what could go wrong? Then the blizzard started when Mikuru had probably eaten herself a water poisoning amount of snow due to falling basically continuously and Haruhi again excelled at skiing and forced her friends to go to the expert course. Then this huge, warm mansion happened with a stuffed fridge with no human being near. I mean, sounds legit right? I would really not question anything when in the middle of a snow storm I would stumble upon a huge mansion that would obviously have occupants, but no one would be in a radius of a few kilometres while all of the lights were on and the radiator was glowing red. I mean, nothing out of the ordinary right? What could possibly go wrong? Oh right, there was one little thing I forgot telling you, time relativity plays a big role in this part. This element, this darning element made the chapter a whole lot interesting to read. Actually I was so intrigued by the fact that ten minutes for the ones who would go upstairs were actually three hours for the people waiting downstairs for them to return, that I found myself wishing I was in that magnificent mansion and discover the magic entities of the rules of physics within the walls of this house.

What I also liked about this part was that you could actually see the dynamics between the group of friends change. I feel like we saw a softer less annoying side of Haruhi during this part, when she was genuinely concerned about Nagato. What I liked even more about this part is the fact that Kyon also showed his softer side, leaving behind his snarkiness for even a tiny moment when concerning Nagato. Yes, I actually find these two OTP-material. Quite. Indeed. But I'm going to be totally nonchalant about this. There is no doubt about it though.

Lastly, the frooking Euler Theorem! The way of getting out of the mansion was very very very awesome and I think that Tanigawa really explained a rather complex theorem in a very simple and basic way. I found the whole concept and idea very very enjoyable. I am not quite sure yet why exactly the Euler Theorem was chosen to escape this mansion, though I really hope I will find out.

So in conclusion:
Overall, I liked the book. But because of the Snowy Mountain Syndrome I came to love the book and that's why it is 4-stars worthy (in my humble opinion of course).

[Marc Tinent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es una de las novelas con tres historias cortas.

La primera historia corta tiene un buen concepto (un bucle temporal), pero se resuelve un poco demasiado rápido. Es la más interesante.

La segunda historia es un poco rara, se pasan el rato jugando a un videojuego. Pero tiene evolución de Nagato.

La tercera historia es la más larga. Tiene conceptos interesantes (una mansión donde el tiempo avanza distinto en cada habitación), pero los abandona sin más. Tarda en arrancar.

[Yuki Nguyễn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hồi xưa thời còn thích light novel mình hứng lên mua một lần 5 cuốn trong series này . Mua xong thấy hối hận ghê .

[Mylove4book · Rating 5 out of 5]

終於把永無止盡的八月正式結束掉了XD
這本只有雪山症候群完全沒印象。這麼明顯的異常居然還瞞混的過春日...

[Kayleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really love these insert short stories

[Sally L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snowy Mountain Syndrome carries this.

[Mushrooman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If we win, we get to do what we want to the loser.

[Mega · Rating 4 out of 5]

7.5/10

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for the first two stories but only three for the third - this left me a little unclear how to rate this volume since the third story is almost half the volume.

Endless Eight is received a notorious anime adaptation which in my mind was a stroke of genius. In the story the characters experience an endless time loop and live out the same scenario thousands of times. The anime showed the same episode with very minor tweaks (we're talking colour of swimming costumes minor) a whole eight times. It was an interesting artistic experiment and also an interesting social one inasmuch that it tried the patience of fans of one of the most successful - and critically acclaimed -anime shows ever produced at the time. The primarily teen fanbase didn't understand it and just wanted new episodes. I personally thought it was an interesting way of feeling the despair and anguish that the characters - at least Yuki - may have been feeling, and that's important to appreciating the movie/story which follows chronologically, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzamiya. Regardless, the story is actually very tight and humorous and the ending "We did everything we wanted but we didn't get our homework done" a neat little sleight.

The Day of Sagittarius is funny and a little bittersweet. I really do feel sorry for the computer club and they do everything in their power to right the wrongs that Haruhi caused them by blackmailing and stealing their computer equipment in the first volume. It's a triumph of writing that we, as readers, feel kinda glad that despite incompetence and arrogance, Haruhi wins the day and four laptops, and we still feel a little smugly pleased. Perhaps because the characters and scenario are very strong, the detail of the Sagittarius computer game well thought out but never laboured, and Yuki just plain kicks ass when she uncovers the computing society as cheats. I loved this story.

Snow Mountain Syndrome would have been great but it builds up a particularly strong scenario and then refuses to do anything with it. The mystery is never really uncovered, the solution a tedious jumble of geometry and algebra, and we're left wondering why without that sense of really wanting to know. Still, we are blessed withe moment when it looks like two of our main characters have same-sex inclinations and given the tricksy metatextual nature of the series I think it's safe to assume that they do have same-sex desires. The frank and honest raising of that (as frank as a metatext can be...) is pretty cool for what is essentially a work of teen fiction and it also leads the reader to look at conversations and events in earlier books with a slightly different eye.

Overall, then, another essential entry in the Haruhi Suzamiya series. That goes without saying at this point, though.

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The weakest of the series so far. I'm not sure if it's me growing disinterested in the books, the author failing to engage or build on his premise in many meaningful ways, the scenarios just aren't interesting enough, or that Kyon's sharp, cutting wit has seemingly been reduced to a spoon. Whatever it is, the book feels like it is going through the motions. It's not awful by any means, and there's certainly enjoyment to be had, but it's all a bit bland and forgettable.

Endless Eight - 2/5

Imagine writing a time-loop story where the time-loop is solved and broken in the same loop it is introduced. There are a lot of fun ideas to play with in a time-loop where the characters don’t realize they are trapped in a time-loop until it’s practically too late, cursing them into loop after loop without any variation because they don’t realize it themselves. So for that concept to be introduced and a few pages later, they’re easily out of the time-loop, well, that’s a huge wasted opportunity. The show may be a bit overkill, but it definitely captures the frustration, the boredom, and the slow descent into insanity repeating the same series of events would be—especially for Nagato. I’d rather subject myself to all eight episodes again (I’ve already done it twice) than the tiny amount of time it takes to read this disappointment of a chapter again.

The Day of Sagittarius - 2.5/5

Mostly boring, and Tanigawa really struggles to explain video game action in any fun or engaging way. The redeeming factor is the ending, where we are given some insight into Nagato's personality and how she can't hide her enjoyment of the game. It's sweet and made me smile. Overall, I'm mainly committed to continuing this series just for Nagato and to see how her story develops from here. This might be the Haruhi Suzumiya series, but, to me, Nagato is the main character whom everything revolves around.

Snowy Mountain Syndrome - 3/5

Tanigawa's short story format really hits a snag here, with an interesting setting that isn't explored enough. It's fun and all, and I continue to worry for and root for Nagato, but it doesn't amount to much in the end and isn't seemingly tied to anything with Haruhi herself. All three stories feel like side stories that will have little effect on the plot going forward. That's fine, but it does make it all rather forgettable. I've gotten this far on the basis of wanting to see what comes after the anime adaptation. Well, this is the first story that hasn't been adapted--and so far I'm a bit underwhelmed.

[Will E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, Tanigawa still has limitations as a stylist, and definitely has a set way of writing and structuring his stories, but I finally reached a point where I read a story completely new to me, and boy howdy it was a doozy. Consequently there's a chance I'm rating this overall too high, but the truth is I found Snowy Mountain Syndrome thrilling (despite two minor issues not worth getting into here), and I'm very excited to see where the story goes from here - although the next volume also contains stories I will already be familiar with.

In retrospect, it's not surprising to me that the above story never got adapted, and that the anime version of the story ends with Disappearance. There's a sort of nice inherent arc for Kyon, as he goes from reluctant and begrudging participant to someone committed to his inevitable destiny, ready to take action and own up to the consequences of his choices -- i.e., the classic hero's journey. SMS is the first story that directly involves a major expansion of this world beyond the scope of what we've seen so far (despite minor hints), and it would've been very unsatisfying to introduce these threads and then have no resolution. I don't know if this choice was deliberate by Kyoto Animation, but it ended up being a wise choice.

Otherwise, there's another example of KyoAni elevating the material with Endless Eight. I know it was a controversial choice, but I think the story is much more effective when the audience actually gets to live it. It was a great artistic choice, in my opinion - Kyon notes in the story how one would go insane living the endless loop if you could remember it, so for the studio to actually simulate this on a small scale gives us a taste of what that would be like. Sure, it's frustrating, but deliberately so, and frankly, after watching it (all) again (admittedly in two separate chunks), I kept getting more out of the story every episode. It wasn't even a cost saving thing, since each episode, while showing the same story, uses new animation and slight changes to dialogue every time. I'm getting a little off topic here, though. Anyway, I think it was a bold and brilliant choice, and while obviously the credit goes to Tanigawa for writing this Groundhog Day variant, the anime really made it shine.

Still, if only we could've seen an animated version of Snowy Mountain Syndrome...

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fifth volume of the series contains three short stories: "Endless Eight", "The Day of Sagittarius", and "Snowy Mountain Syndrome".

"Endless Eight" covers eight days towards the end of the summer holidays as Haruhi endeavours to have an exciting summer, while Kyon suffers from an increasing sense of déjà vu. It turns out that the SOAS Brigade are trapped in the 15498th iteration of the eight days and the only way to break the loop is for Kyon to do his homework.

"The Day of Sagittarius" covers a computer-game competition between the SOS Brigade and the rivals in the Computer Club. While at first it seems that the SOS Brigade are hopelessly outmatched, the Computer Club are cheating so Yuki Nagato readdresses the balance and thanks to her technological wizardry, the SOS Brigade are able to win.

"Snowy Mountain Syndrome" covers the Christmas Party at Tsuruya's mentioned in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya , in which Itsuki devises a murder-mystery game similar to that in "Remote Island Syndrome". Yet, during a snow storm and subsequent refuge at a bizarrely deserted house, Nagato is stricken by a fever. In Book Nine, this is revealed to be the work of the Sky Canopy Domain, but for now, Kyon and Itsuki must solve a puzzle on the door to gain their freedom and save Nagato.

These three short stories continue the strange and fun adventures of the SOS Brigade and continue building the characters and world which the fans of the series have grown fond of.