In the summer of 2007, I read the Haruhi novels via Baka-Tsuki and posted a detailed chronological timeline of the important events in the series, complete with brief synopses of stories that haven’t yet been animated and bits of interesting trivia. Since we’ve finally had new Haruhi anime episodes in 2009, and it’s now less than a month until “The Disappearance” movie hits theaters, I figured it’s time for me to update my Haruhi timeline…
What’s been added to the new timeline is 1) The episode numbering is now based on the 2009 rebroadcast, 2) More trivia, and 3) Updated or revised story synopses (more detailed ones for stories not yet in the anime). Let me know if you spot any errors. If you would like to duplicate this timeline on another site, please give me credit =)
*Much thanks goes to Baka-Tsuki for their more concise timeline, which I used as a guide
*Credit also goes to the Haruhi pages on ANN’s encyclopedia here and here, which provided me with trivia and episode information
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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Chronological Timeline of Events (2010 edition)
July 7th (three years ago)
- Kyon and Haruhi meet for the fist time. Kyon from the present (July) traveled back in time to trigger this event in “Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody.”
-Kyon from the present (December) was also here during this time trying to restore the world in “The Disappearance.”
April-May
Volume 1, Episode 1
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya I
- Kyon and Haruhi meet for the first time (technically second time)
Trivia: Haruhi asks Kyon in episode 1, “Haven’t we met somewhere before?,” a reference to the fact that they did meet three years ago.
Volume 1, Episode 2
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya II
- The SOS Brigade is formed! Kyon, Yuki, and Mikuru become the first members.
Volume 1, Episode 3
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III
- Itsuki joins the SOS Brigade; Kyon learns the truth about Haruhi and the other Brigade members.
Volume 1, Episode 4
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya IV
- Ryouko Asakura attempts to kill Kyon but is intercepted by Yuki.
Volume 1, Episode 5
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya V
- Haruhi tries to figure out the mystery behind Asakura’s disappearance but to no avail. Itsuki takes Kyon into a Closed Space and he gets his first look at the Celestials.
Volume 1, Episode 6
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya VI
- Haruhi attempts to recreate the world and drags Kyon with her, but he’s able to stop her.
June
Volume 3, Episode 7
The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
- The SOS Brigade participates in a baseball game.
Trivia: This was actually the very first Haruhi story released to the public via The Sneaker, the magazine that the series is serialized in.
July
Volume 3, Episode 8
Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody
- July 7th: On the date of the Tanabata festival, Kyon goes back in time with Mikuru three years ago and meets Haruhi when she was in middle school.
Trivia: It was actually Kyon who drew the alien symbols on the school grounds for Haruhi three years ago. The symbols read “I’m here.”
Volume 3, Episode 9
Mysterique Sign
- The Computer Club president mysteriously disappears and Kyon and the others must battle a giant alien cricket to bring him back.
Volume 3, Episode 10
Lone Island Syndrome (first part)
- In order to keep Haruhi entertained, Itsuki invites the SOS Brigade to an estate on a lone island.
Trivia: In the novel, Kyon’s sister does not come to the island. Perhaps to make her a more prominent character, KyoAni decided to include her in this story.
Trivia: In the novel, there’s a hilarious scene where the SOS Brigade are offered wine and they get totally plastered. Since underage drinking is taboo in Japan, KyoAni decided to skip this part.
Volume 3, Episode 11
Lone Island Syndrome (last part)
- A murder takes place on the island but it ends up being a hoax concocted by Itsuki and his comrades.
Trivia: The scene where Kyon and Haruhi fall off the cliff is only in the anime. In the novel, after briefly going outside, they come back in and the conversation they have in the cave in the anime occurs in Kyon’s room in the novel.
August
Volume 5, Episodes 12 to 19
Endless Eight
- August 17th to 31st: Not wanting summer to end, Haruhi makes these two weeks repeat over 15,000 times. Kyon is finally able to stop the cycle by suggesting the one fulfilling event Haruhi desires – doing summer homework together.
Trivia: Many fans will agree that the anime version of “Endless Eight,” which repeated the same story for eight episodes with only slight variations each time, was one of the most daring and infamous anime marketing schemes in recent years, perhaps of all time.
Trivia: In the novel, the two weeks were repeated 15,498 times while the anime increased it to 15,532 times.
Trivia: In the 2006 broadcast, Mikuru’s frog costume from “Endless Eight” can be seen in the SOS Brigade clubroom.
Trivia: The frog costumes that Kyon and the others wear are the same types of frogs that appear in the final part of the Lucky Star OVA; Kyon to Kagami, Mikuru to Tsukasa, Yuki to Miyuki, and Itsuki to Konata.
Trivia: There’s a quick scene in the Bouken Deshou Deshou? opening that shows Haruhi and Kyon riding on Kyon’s bicycle like they did in “Endless Eight.”
Trivia: In the last “Endless Eight” episode, episode 19, the SOS Brigade are wearing the same swimsuits they wore in “Lone Island Syndrome (first part).”
Trivia: Apparently the official web site says that the series has 15,498 episodes.
Trivia: After “Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody” was released on volume 4 of the DVDs, the DVDs with “Endless Eight” and “The Sigh” episodes were released as volumes 5.142857 through 5.999999 to fit in with the chronology of the 2006 series’ DVDs.
September-November
Volume 2, Episodes 20
The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya I
- Haruhi decides to create an “original” movie starring Mikuru for North High’s culture festival.
Trivia: In the train, Kyon is standing next to two girls who look like Yui and Mio from K-ON!. The girls are wearing uniforms that look suspiciously like Kouyouen Academy uniforms featured in “The Disappearance.”
Volume 2, Episodes 21
The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya II
- Filming of the movie starts with Haruhi coning props and making Mikuru be in promotional videos for the sponsors.
Volume 2, Episodes 22
The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya III
- As the movie is being filmed, it’s revealed that Haruhi is using her powers to blend too much fiction into reality, i.e., giving Mikuru the ability to shoot beams from her eye.
Volume 2, Episodes 23
The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya IV
- Tsuruya-san, Taniguchi, and Kunikida play a brief part in the movie. Later, Kyon and Haruhi have an argument because Haruhi takes her obsession with Mikuru’s acting a little too far. But after Mikuru, Yuki, and Itsuki explain more about their respective thoughts concerning Haruhi and each other, Kyon decides to make up with her.
Trivia: In the novel, Tsuruya puts tequila in Mikuru’s drink. The anime simply calls it alcohol, again reflecting the taboo of underage drinking in Japan.
Volume 2, Episodes 24
The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya V
- Haruhi picks up a stray cat for the movie, whom she names Shamisen, and unknowing gives him the ability to talk. After the movie is complete, Kyon makes Haruhi read a disclaimer about the movie being a work of fiction, thus negating all the strange events she had caused.
Trivia: Shamisen is named after a three-stringed Japanese instrument called a shamisen.
Volume 6, Episode 25
Mikuru Asahina’s Adventure Episode 00
- The results of the movie filmed in “The Sigh.”
Trivia: Originally aired on April 2nd, 2006, this was the very first Haruhi episode to be released.
Volume 6, Episode 26
Live A Live
- Haruhi becomes a substitute band member and performs a successful concert at the culture festival.
Trivia: In a few random scenes in this episode that focus on Kyon, you can see Haruhi, Yuki, and/or the ENOZ band members briefly in the background.
Volume 5, Episode 27
The Day of Sagittarius
- In an attempt to win back the computers Haruhi took from him, the Computer Club president challenges the SOS Brigade to compete in an online computer game.
December
*Not in the novels,* Episode 28
Someday in the Rain
- On an uneventful cold day, Haruhi orders Kyon to pick up a heater for the clubroom that was donated to them by one of their sponsors from the movie.
Trivia: “Someday in the Rain” is the only anime episode that is not based on a story from the Haruhi novel series.
WARNING: THE REST OF THE TIMELINE BELOW CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM STORIES IN THE NOVELS THAT HAVE NOT YET BEEN SHOWN IN THE ANIME. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!
Volume 4, Movie
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
- December 18th: The SOS Brigade are planning a nabe party for Christmas. But when Kyon comes to school the next day, everything is different; Haruhi has disappeared and in her place, sitting in the desk behind Kyon, is a seemingly normal Ryoko Asakura. Itsuki is also nowhere to be found, and Mikuru, Yuki, and Tsuruya do not recognize Kyon or appear to have any memories of Haruhi and the SOS Brigade. The only help Kyon is able to come across is a bookmark left to him by the humanoid interface version of Yuki which offers a clue about what he needs to do in order to restore the world he once knew. He must travel back in time, interact with the past event in “Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody,” find the culprit responsible for changing the world, and of course, find Haruhi.
(Since “The Disappearance” movie is close to coming out, I’ve chosen not to reveal the ending and other key points of the story on the timeline yet.)
Trivia: There’s a scene from “The Disappearance” in the Hare Hare Yukai ending which shows Kyon wearing a reindeer hat and Haruhi, Mikuru, Yuki, and Tsuruya standing around the nabe pot.
- December 21st: After time traveling, Kyon wakes up in the present, in the hospital after being in a coma for three days. He still has to go back one more time in order to complete the entire task of restoring the real world.
Volume 6, *Not yet animated*
Charmed at First Sight Lover
- An old colleague of Kyon’s has fallen madly in love with Yuki because he was given an ability to sense her alien powers (from Haruhi). Yuki eventually erases this power so he’d give up his vain yearning to marry her.
Volume 5, *Not yet animated*
Snow Mountain Syndrome
- While on winter vacation at a ski resort courtesy of Itsuki, the SOS Brigade gets trapped in a mysterious mansion on a snowy mountain during a blizzard. While staying there, strange illusions confront them and Yuki falls ill. They eventually find the way out but the “enemy” who did this to them has yet to be found.
Volume 6, *Not yet animated*
Where Did the Cat Go?
- This is basically the winter version of the “Lone Island Syndrome” murder mystery except this time they know it’s been set up and a clue to the murderer’s identity revolves around Shamisen and a female calico cat.
January
Volume 7, *Not yet animated*
- Kyon finally goes back in time to three years ago and triggers the last event needed in order to totally fix the mess from “The Disappearance.”
Volume 7, *Not yet animated*
The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina
- Mikuru and Kyon spend some time together on a Sunday. Mikuru had been ordered to be at a certain place at a certain time to save a certain little boy that lives near Haruhi from a hit-and-run accident.
February
Volume 7, *Not yet animated*
The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Mikuru from eight days in the future appears in the present, telling Kyon that she was sent here for some reason, though she doesn’t know what it is. After completing a bunch of seemingly random tasks assigned to her (one involving the boy rescued from the hit-and-run-accident) and hiding out at Tsuruya’s house while Kyon tries to figure out what’s going on, her reason for coming to the future becomes clear. The “enemy” of the SOS Brigade makes their appearance and kidnaps Mikuru (the one from eight days in the future) who had been sent as bait so they wouldn’t kidnap the present Mikuru, who was with Haruhi at the time. Two of the enemies, a stuck-up male time traveler and a female esper from rival factions, are behind the kidnapping. Their plans are thwarted with help from Arakawa and Mori (the maid and butler, who have more important functions in the ‘Organization’ too). It becomes apparent that there are rival factions out there who are against what Mikuru, Itsuki, and Yuki are doing concerning Haruhi.
March
Volume 8, *Not yet animated*
Editor in Chief ★ Straight Ahead!
- The student council president, who is actually an acquaintance of Itsuki’s in the ‘Organization,’ threatens the SOS Brigade and Literature Club, saying that the SOS Brigade is an unauthorized club and nothing resembling Literature Club activities has been done. So Haruhi commands Kyon and the others to write their own original stories to be published in the Literature Club journal. Somehow they manage to pull it off and the SOS Brigade is left alone for now.
Trivia: The quick scene in the Bouken Deshou Deshou? opening that shows Yuki with snow falling around her is from the story she wrote in this chapter. Her writing style is very ambiguous but the story seems to be about herself and the origin of her name (“yuki” means “snow” in Japanese).
Volume 8, *Not yet animated*
Wandering Shadow
- Dog-lover Sakanaka consults the SOS Brigade because dogs in her rich neighborhood, including her purebred terrier Rousseau, refuse to walk in certain spots when they’re out with their owners. The SOS Brigade goes to Sakanaka’s house to investigate but find nothing at first. Later it gets more serious as Rousseau and another dog, Micheal, get really sick. The problem turns out to be extraterrestrial data lifeforms that are using the dogs as hosts. While pretending to be performing some sublime ritual, Yuki transfers the data lifeforms from the dogs to Shamisen (so they can keep a close watch on them and they don’t affect Shamisen).
April
Volume 9, *Not yet animated*
The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Kyon meets up with an old female friend from middle school, Sasaki. With her are the female esper who was involved in Mikuru’s kidnapping, Kyouko Tachibana, and an alien from a faction rivaling Yuki’s, the Macrospatial Quantum Cosmic Existence, named Kuyou Suyou. She was also the one responsible for trapping them in the mansion on the snowy mountain and causing Yuki to fall ill. Itsuki tells Kyon that Haruhi has recently been creating a lot of Closed Spaces, from either jealousy or puzzlement at the arrival of Kyon’s old female friend.
- This novel is different from the others because, starting in chapter 2, the story branches off into two different scenarios:
Scenario (α): Kyon gets a phone call from a mysterious girl he can’t identify. After she hangs up on him, he calls Itsuki and asks him about Tachibana and Kuyou. Itsuki only knows that Tachibana is unrelated to the ‘Organization’ but doesn’t seem to have any villainous intent. After lazying around on Sunday, the new school term starts on Monday. After getting some math tutoring from Haruhi, they head off to the clubroom only to find it filled with new students who want to join the SOS Brigade. When she finishes giving them a big speech, Haruhi tells them to come back tomorrow if they’re serious about joining.
Scenario (β): On Saturday, Kyon gets a call from Sasaki who asks him to meet her, Tachibana, Kuyou, and the male time traveler (who was the other one involved in Mikuru’s kidnapping) on Sunday. He later calls Itsuki and Yuki for advice but they can’t offer much. He goes on Sunday and Tachibana reveals their true intent: they don’t believe that Haruhi is the original owner of the power she has – it belonged to Sasaki first and was somehow transferred to Haruhi. Tachibana tries to convince Kyon to help get the power back to Sasaki (though Sasaki is reluctant to receive it). Kyon does not give a definite reply. After leaving it at that, the next Monday the clubroom is pretty boring except for Haruhi making an exam for any new members. But Yuki doesn’t arrive that day and they find out that she’s home sick. Kyon thinks it might be Kuyou’s influence again. Haruhi decides that they end early that day and go visit Yuki.
Images of the new characters:
- Haruhi and Sasaki
- The new rival alien, esper, and time traveler!
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Further reading:
A timeline of Haruhi season 2 trolls – another timeline I made of all the trolls we received from KyoAni/Kadokawa regarding the second season of Haruhi, starting after the 2006 airing and ending on May 21st, 2009 when the first new episode finally aired.
In order to move forward, you must look back… – a great post from Cartoon Leap discussing the progression and reasoning that lead KyoAni to make the Haruhi 2009 broadcast the way it is, i.e., “Endless Eight,” the initial promotion of “The Disappearance,” etc.
I salute to your knowledge of all things Haruhi! Very good job in putting this all together, I especially like the trivia; I’ve watched most episodes multiple times already but can’t believe the things I still missed.
@ kyon
Thanks! I had fun with the trivia and I too learned even more about Haruhi in the process of putting it all together =)
Well the trivia was certainly interesting. Thanks for summing it up
I read in animenewsnetwork.com that the vol 10 of Haruhi Suzumiya ( the astonishment) will be release in april. I hope animeyume will update this story after being translated or released ^_^
@ YeHeyEy
Yeah, I actually read that news item earlier today. It certainly is exciting ^_^ I’ll definitely update the timeline here once I’ve read all of volume 10.
Tnx yumeka. i’m looking forward to it ^_^
haruhi RULZ
It’s actually possible to find out in what year the story takes place.
sos-brigade . de/wordpress/?p=3469
That site tells us that the first meeting between Kyon and Haruhi happened 2007-07-07. Therefore, Kyon went back in time 2010-07-07.
@ creaothceann
Thanks for the link. Even though the site is in another language I can understand the pictures =P I believe that surveillance camera video was an extra on one of the Haruhi DVDs. It does confirm that their first meeting three years ago was 07/07/2007, meaning the main story takes place in 2010.
Wait. 2010? That makes no sense…. If it was 2010, then Kyon was 4 or 5 at the turn of the millenium. Why does he speak so highly of it in book 1?
@ SD9
I don’t recall that exact part in volume 1, but if what you’re saying is true, then maybe the link that creaothceann posted isn’t as credible as it appears to be. But it’s possible that Kyon could have spoken highly of it even if he was really young then.
From the Baka-Tsuki translations (managed to find them, even though they were taken down):
“After junior high, I completely grew out of that fantasy world and became utterly grounded in
reality. Nothing happened in 1999, even though I kept hoping, just a bit, that something would;
mankind hadn’t returned to the moon or gone beyond it.”
The books originally came out around 2003, right? Hell, Book 1 came out on June 3rd, 2003. Going by that year, that would put the “three years ago” right on the year 2000. Which would mean that the series goes from 2000 to 2003-2004. And besides, wasn’t Haruhi “born” in 2000 by the creator?
I have to believe that your time line is in the years 2000, 2003, and 2004.
Thank’s a lot for this post !
I think i’ll catch up the novel^_^
While it’s never explicitly said what year does Haruhi Suzumiya takes place at, I have to say that what SD9 says makes sense. If you nit-pick at some of the miniscule details and pay attention to some of the other stuff, like when it’s first published, among other complex factors to study, then really, it makes more sense to think that the main plot of Haruhi Suzumiya does take place in 2003. Just have to say it.