By Nagaru Tanigawa and Puyo. Released in Japan as “Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuutsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

Generally speaking, when a company licenses a series they’re hoping it sells to as broad a market as possible. A series like, say, your average Shonen Jump fighting series is likely to sell more copies in North America than one about a guy whose female classmates all have dirty minds. Likewise, it’s gonna be hard to sell a manga here, even an award-winning manga, based around a traditional Japanese card game.

The exception to this, of course, is a series that is part of a larger media franchise. Haruhi Suzumiya is a franchise that will tend to have a certain number of sales no matter what. Thus it’s easier to release something like this, which in many ways has so many things going against it. Volume 2 is a) based on Haruhi Suzumiya, which is itself a polarizing series with a large amount of hype backlash; b) a 4-koma series, something that is not as easily translatable to North America as you would expect, and has earned the ire of many online reviewers; and c) requires a love of the “boke and tsukkomi” (dumb guy/straight man) routine so essential to Japanese comedy, as it forms the basis for over half the punchlines here.

As an example, one of the first jokes in Volume 2 has a parody of the typical datesim game, with all the females of Haruhi presented as “10 possible options” to the player. Of course, there aren’t that many Haruhi females, so Itsuki notes in an astonished voice, “Could I be one of the two remaining heroines?” Kyon, always the tsukkomi, responds, “Nobody cares!!!” This type of punchline can be seen a lot in broad comedy manga such as Gintama (when it’s Shinpachi delivering it) or Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (where Beauty delivers it). However, without seeing this sort of thing constantly for years, it’s possible the reader may see it as someone shouting randomly at the end of each unfunny gag.

So, you have a series with many obvious weak points. However, if you do like Haruhi, 4-koma, and boke/tsukkomi, as I do, then you will have tremendous fun with this. It continues to develop the silly characterizations from Volume 1, with Yuki now writing her own games, Tsuruya and Mori-san (the maid) developing a fierce martial arts rivalry, and Asahina (big) beating the crap out of her past self. And there is of course, Achakura, who continues to be a comic highlight, especially since she now gets her own tsukkomi in the balloon dog Kimidori-san, and thus can be boke and tsukkomi when needed.

We’re starting to see some stories here that weren’t animated for the Haruhi-chan Youtube project 2 years ago, though some still do work better on screen (particularly Achakura and Kimidori-san defusing the bomb). Overall, though, this is pure comedy. It’s even lampshaded at the end, where the preview implies a serious plot for Ryoko in the third volume, then this turns out to be a dream Yuki had, who says outright that Haruhi-chan is a gag manga. I can certainly see how any one of a number of factors would irritate the potential reader. This is a manga with a very narrow market focus. But for that market, it’s great.

By Nagaru Tanigawa and Gaku Tsugano. Released in Japan as “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

It would appear, checking my reviews, that I skipped reviewing Volume 7 of the Haruhi manga, possibly as I had nothing more to say about it. Sometimes when you try to review every volume of an ongoing series, you tend to run out of ways to say the same things. Especially when it’s an adaptation of something where you’ve already read the novel and seen the anime. And I’ve already pointed out the manga’s basic flaws: it’s simply not as good as the other two. I had hoped that adapting Disappearance, the best of the novels which was also made into a fantastic 163 minute movie, that the manga would step up its game and bring out something special.

Sadly, it’s the opposite. If anything, the manga gets worse here, feeling rushed and impatient, and the art is terrible, making me suspect the artist was in danger of blowing his deadline every single volume. At least, I hope it’s simply rushed and sloppy, because there’s really no way to excuse some of these designs and poses. The art has never been great, but it’s never quite repelled as much as this does. Kyon in particular looks off-model half the time, even when he’s not supposed to be freaking out at the situations that he’s in. Even Yuki, who does get the occasional blushy pose that shows off her Disappearance self, has moments where you wonder if the artist even had a source to work with, or was trying to recreate the designs from a 3rd-generation memory.

The manga format also does not do any favors to Kyon’s inner monologue, which is generally one of the main reasons to read the light novels. In fact, the main thrust of this volume, where Kyon debates with himself over which reality he should choose (which was expanded even more in the anime to a full-blown technicolor trippy sequence) is completely eliminated here, with Kyon staring for 2 panels and then that’s about it. I understand that you have to compress a lot due to page constraints, but this is ridiculous, and does not do the story any favors.

There are two side-stories at the end of the volume, even though we still aren’t done adapting Disappearance yet. They’re both short alternate universe tales, appropriately enough. One, featuring Nagato as an idol singer, is merely dull. But the other… oh man, sometimes an idea is so bad it becomes glorious, and whoever came up with Asahina Mikuru, prizewinning boxer should get some sort of award. Just the mere SIGHT of Mikuru battling Nagato in the ring should be enough, but the artist also tries to tie this in with the actual Haruhi world, as our Mikuru is dreaming of being a boxer but keeps waking up. The ending attempts to be heartwarming, which it might have achieved if it weren’t so short, and if the artist knew how to draw. If this idea actually was thought up by Tanigawa (something I am suspicious of), perhaps it can be fleshed out in a future short story.

Sometimes when you have adaptations, and adaptation of adaptations, and spinoffs of spinoffs, you don’t get much of a choice. You have to license the whole shebang. And really, when it comes to manga adaptations of the Haruhi-verse, this one falls at the bottom, under the cute 4-koma Haruhi-chan (which is incredibly slight, but has lots of wonderful 4-koma humor, and gave the world Achakura) and the Nagato Yuki spinoff (which tries to hit the moe adorable buttons hard, and succeeds a good 45% of the time, which is actually very good for a manipulative adaptation of an adaptation). Sales appear to be OK, mostly I suspect due to franchise buyers (like myself… cough), but honestly, if you’;re going to buy this, get it for Mikuru the boxer, as nothing else will hold your attention.

By Nagaru Tanigawa and Puyo. Released in Japan as “Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuutsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

The Haruhi franchise has always had one big problem, which is that the light novel and anime releases are generally (Endless Eight aside) fantastic, whereas the manga is merely a serviceable adaptation. The few places the manga has generally had time to shine is where the author is allowed to do his own occasional side-story original chapter.

That’s why I was so pleased to see Yen license this. It’s a 4-koma gag manga, based off of the original series, which runs in Shonen Ace alternately with the regular Haruhi manga. And being a gag manga, it’s not restricted in any way, either by characterization (Yuki wouldn’t do this!) or by plot. The result is pure fanservice in many ways, being essentially the artist reaching out and pushing as many fan buttons as he can, but given this is Haruhi Suzumiya, he has a lot to work with.

I won’t lie, this isn’t fantastic. The art is just as average as the regular Haruhi manga, but in a different way. And as with all 4-koma mangas, some gags simply don’t work. But it’s funny. Gleefully taking apart its source, this is a manga willing to have Haruhi accidentally roll down a flight of stairs, or have Ryoko come back as a miniature super-deformed version of herself. The essential thrust of the characterization is still there… Haruhi makes unreasonable demands, Kyon makes a sarcastic retort, Mikuru twitches and is tortured, and Koizumi smiles enigmatically.

Well, there is one glorious exception. Yuki Nagato is still her deadpan self, mostly. But then the artist does a gag comic which shows her playing an Ero Game instead of reading, and you can see the lightbulb go off over his head. Suddenly the idea of Yuki the otaku is born, and it leads to wonderful places. This is then combined with her interaction at her apartment with the tiny Asakura, where Yuki not only gets a well-deserved chance to be the boke in a tsukkomi routine, but actually has to control her laughter at some points. Mostly as seeing Asakura frustrated is just too adorable.

(Yuki, by the way, is also the star of a second spinoff manga, The Disappearance of Yuki Nagato, which runs in Kadokawa’s seinen Young Ace. This one takes her 4th movie characterization and spins it into a light romantic comedy. I suspect Yen will license it as well once it has enough volumes.)

It’s hard, as with many subjective 4-koma, to describe why I enjoyed this so much. And it’s possible that the humor may not win over others. And yes, just as with its parent manga, the anime is even better, although there isn’t the same major drop-off, just a minor one. But really, it’s Haruhi with tons and tons of gags, super-deformed madness, and fun. Pandering of the best sort, the type that doesn’t also offend the sensibilities. Heck, the light novel author in the afterward says he wishes his own series was more like this. Even if you’ve avoided the original manga, you should check this out.