Given the choice between a nice, calm, every-day-life sort of anime, and one crammed to the brim with meaningless supernatural drivel, I will, of course, choose the former. Any level-headed person will agree, obviously. Haruhi, melancholy, that train-wreck of a title, starts off as the former. I enjoy seeing the regular high-school shenanigans of the gang. They are all well written characters who are simply a joy to watch prance about. The dialogue sounds natural, they are acceptably (If not averagely) drawn, and they're even funny (!) at times, who'd believe that? Then, and you'll start cursing yourself when the show reaches this point, they dive into the trite supernatural shit. God. Anime producers and writers of the world, hear me clear! No one wants to watch this! Thanks for listening. But honestly, I lose any and all interest in Haruhi here. They take their amazing characters and stick them on the back-burner while aliens and..."espers" (Whatever those are) steal all our screen-time. They aren't even integrated into the show well. It's just "Oh shit, aliens, here ya go." And we're supposed to accept that? No sir, that won't fly with me. You may choose to turn a blind eye, but this is bad writing at it's finest. Sure the dialogue still is well written, but the plot? God no. Things happen out of nowhere with little to no explanation, and sometimes there is just too much explanation! Show don't tell, learn it guys. Odd to have two polarizing complaints, but Haruhi finds new ways to be terrible. Speaking of pitfalls, how about that continuity. True, this is a writing problem, and I hate to keep harping on the same thing, but this deserves recognition. From one episode to the very next, things just...change. Inexplicably! It's like I'm watching the episodes out of sequence. (I'm not.) But that dialogue, I'll keep saying, is a saving grace. It interjects the show with little laughs amongst the overriding shit, and greatly brings the enjoyment up. It's stopping me from rewarding the show with a one, even! If you can watch just one episode here and there? Perfect! Never, and I mean never, watch this entire series. That is a recipe for disaster.