Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is based on somewhat pat formula by now of Japanese school drama anime. The formula somewhat goes like this:<br /><br />1. The main protagonist comes from world outside the normal society, and has super powers.<br /><br />2. There's a very beautiful and sexy girl in a supporting role.<br /><br />3. A normal character is in there who shares the main role in the story.<br /><br />4. Unusual things happens in an usual social settings.<br /><br />5. Sometimes the story is about the main protagonist, and the normal character that connects to the existence or destruction of the world.<br /><br />6. Absolutely no effort is spent by anyone to gain all the magical powers. They just have it.<br /><br />7. Usually, people outside of this tight nit group is not aware of their super powers, and goes on with their daily lives.<br /><br />So there you have it. Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi is made along these lines which became the success formula for comics and anime in Japan. Even though it follows a pat formula, the series is superbly crafted and the episodes are always set in an interesting back drop within the normal social settings which always morphs into unusual circumstances surrounding Haruhi Suzumiya. Each player in the story brings some unusual insight into the daily life that usually we are not aware of. The philosophical twist of their insights are what makes this series extra entertaining. The visuals are first rate, and done beautifully. <br /><br />The crazy ideas Haruhi always seem to come up with along with complicated settings of the story may give you headache from time to time. It's further complicated by the fact that the episodes are played out of sequence which further adds to the confusion. When I watched the episodes in the chronological sequence, some of the plots finally made sense. I recommend you do the same. It's much more entertaining to watch the series this way. Google<br /><br />List_of_The_Melancholy_of_Haruhi_Suzumiya_episodes<br /><br />for the correct sequence of all the episodes. And oh, you might notice the headache while you're watching this like I did. Let me know if you had it too.