The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is the name of the 2006 television anime about a girl who, unknown to her, possesses the power to change reality. The story is based on the series of novels, the first of the same name. The anime adaptation, directed by Tatsuya Ishihara and produced by Kyoto Animation, shares the first novel's plotline, contained in six self-contained episodes. Intermingled between them were seven episodes based on chapters from the second, third, fifth, and sixth novels. The ninth episode, "Someday in the Rain", was a new totally story written for the anime by Nagaru Tanigawa, the author of the novels. The fourteen episode series premiered in Japan on April 2, 2006 and aired until July 2, 2006. Notably, these episodes were not originally broadcast in chronological order.
Soon after the show aired, Kadokawa Shoten received offers from companies in regards to licensing the anime, manga, and novels. On December 22, 2006, the website asosbrigade.com revealed that the anime version of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was licensed for North American distribution by Kadokawa Pictures USA, who sublicensed production and distribution to Bandai Entertainment. The first and second DVDs were released on May 29, 2007 and July 3, 2007, respectively, with the third and fourth on September 25, 2007 and November 6, 2007.
The series was extremely popular and has become a cult television series with a large and dedicated fanbase. As of December 2006, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is the most popular anime in Japan according to Newtype magazine. Similar to Star Trek's fans as Trekkies, fans of the series call themselves "Haruhiists", and the collective fandom is known as Haruhiism.
