Guillotine

So, without much fanfare April 1st came and went along with the US release of The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya. For those of us who downloaded the fan translations the book won’t hold many surprises (other than the extremely odd cover for the paperback edition). The main difference being that they did kind of dumb it down a bit by replacing some of the Japanese cultural references with more westernized terms.

Overall the story was fairly well translated, and quite readable. Personally though I think between this and the fan translation I’ve read the story 4 times now, so I’m much more interested in the future releases at this point as I’ve only read those once. And onto that point… For those waiting on the edge of their seats… The Sigh Of Haruhi Suzumiya is set to release here on October 7th 2009. Six months may seem like an eternity for the second book, but honestly I’m kind of thankful as I was suspecting a worst case scenario in which the books would be released in a yearly time frame.

Now… For those that have scoured their local bookstore, and come away distraught… That red book with the lightning bolt logo really is the correct book. I haven’t been able to locate the hard cover in any store, so you may possibly have to order that one online if you must have the proper cover. For me I was just happy enough to finally get my hands on it in print to worry too much about the cover. And from a marketing standpoint I kind of understand… That blood red color definitely stands out in the book aisle, and is more likely to catch the attention of people who might not be familiar with the series a bit more than the original cover. I just hope it sells well enough to ensure we get the rest of the books over here.