Nagato Juki-čan no šóšicu

I expected a lot and so I felt very let down. I knew that this show would be incredibly controversial among fans and would piss many people off, however, I thought it was based on quite a good idea. Unfortunately, it turns out that the world of Haruhi Suzumiya, minus all the aliens, time travelers, and espers, is just incredibly boring. What we have ended up with is a sort of mediocre slice-of-life anime series that tries to entice you with some familiar characters and nostalgia. Unfortunately, even those characters are not quite what they used to be. Kyon was a shadow of the amazing personality I got to know without his constant inner monologues and pithy remarks. Yuki and her intense shyness were somewhat endearing, although mostly rather irritating, and so I was one minute right behind her and the next cursing at her. I could have done without Asakura pretty easily, and Haruhi, Mikuru, and Itsuki did not get as much screen time as I thought they deserved and therefore did not have much of a chance to at least be somewhat entertaining. So compared to my expectations, this show is a flop; however, looking at it as a stand-alone show, it is not a complete tragedy. I think it is a poor average deserving something like 4.5/10. Even though I did not get why they poured the money into this anime series, a certain romantic part of me still naively thinks that every girl, even if she is just an animated character, should have the right to her own love story. So, I am going to award this show three stars in the end. (18.04.2015)