Back when I first started this blog, one of the most popular anime series around was The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Fans were amazed by the story of a girl who was unknowingly capable of controlling the world around her while being monitored by her classmates. The strange phenomena Haruhi Suzumiya was searching for were hiding right in front of her. Of course, no one could tell her the truth because they were afraid of what might happen if Haruhi discovered the power she possessed.
One of the members of Haruhi’s club, the SOS Brigade, was the introvert Yuki Nagato. This quiet girl could easily have been mistaken for a Rei Ayanami clone. She frequently had her nose in a book and rarely interacted with the other members of the group. It was almost as if she wasn’t human… and, as it turns out, she wasn’t! That said, Yuki was not officially a catgirl, but much like Ayanami, she was frequently portrayed as one by fans.
The art above continues the tradition of drawing Yuki as a catgirl. The original anime aired 20 years ago, in 2006, and the last blog post I wrote about Yuki was way back on November 19, 2011. I am happy to see that people still remember this anime two decades later. At the time, it seemed like Haruhi Suzumiya was going to become an instant classic, and I still think the first season deserves that reputation.
I know the second season, particularly the Endless Eight, fumbled some of the goodwill the series had built up, but the first season was mind-blowing when it originally aired. If you get a chance, give it a watch. I think it still holds up and deserves to be remembered as an anime staple.
So what do you think?