Wednesday, April 2, 2008

ENOZ

ENOZ
ENOZ is an all girl student band featured in episode twelve of the anime series. The name ENOZ derives from the last names of the music club members: Enomoto, Nakanishi, Okajima, and Zaizen. However only two "actual" members are ever seen performing in the anime. During the high school festival Enomoto (lead vocals) has tonsillitis and Nakanishi (guitar) suffers a sprained wrist, so Haruhi and Yuki rescue the band and fill in for the missing members during a school festival performance. The fictional band is unique to the anime adaptation. In the original light novel, the name ENOZ is not mentioned nor do the members' names appear at all; what is more, the band consists of only three members.
The impromptu band only performs two songs, "God Knows" and "Lost My Music", which were trimmed down as inserts. The first saves most of the song save for about half of the guitar solos during the beginning and end, and the entire second stanza and chorus removed. The latter song barely finishes the first stanza and chorus, leave the second and third out.
The two songs "God knows" and "Lost my music" were included in the soundtrack EP Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsumeawase (涼宮ハルヒの詰合 ~TVアニメ「涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱」劇中歌集シングル~, Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsumeawase). The sole vocals for ENOZ are sung in real life by Japanese pop singer and seiyū Aya Hirano, who voices the main character of the series, Haruhi Suzumiya. In addition, she also sings the main opening and ending themes for the series. See also a listing of Haruhi Suzumiya albums. Susumu Nishikawa (西川 進) plays the guitar, Takeshi Taneda (種子田 健) the bass and Yutaka Odawara (小田原 豊) the drums.
ENOZ itself is a homage to the real life all girl J-pop band Zone. Its name is simply "Zone" spelled backwards.

Members
Takako Nakanishi (中西 貴子, Nakanishi Takako)
Voiced by: Ryoko Nagata (Japanese), Megan Hollingshead (English)
Plays guitar in the band.
Mai Zaizen (財前 舞, Zaizen Mai)
Voiced by: Sara Nakayama
Plays bass in the band.
Miyuki Enomoto (榎本 美夕紀, Enomoto Miyuki)
Voiced by: Mai Kadowaki
Is the singer in the band.
Mizuki Okajima (岡島 瑞樹, Okajima Mizuki)
Voiced by: Mina Hiroe (Japanese), Patricia Lee (English)
Plays drums in the band.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Characters

Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮 ハルヒ, Suzumiya Haruhi)
The title character and leader of the SOS Brigade. Her energetic and eccentric character proves to be a driving force for the series.

Kyon (キョン, Kyon)
A student with whom Haruhi willingly interacted. Even though Haruhi is the title character, the story is told through his viewpoint. Through narration and dialogue, he provides his insight, perspective, and opinions on the series' events.

Yuki Nagato (長門 有希, Nagato Yuki)
A humanoid interface created by the Data Integration Thought Entity whose responsibility involves the monitoring of Haruhi and the investigation of the events three years prior to the present story. She possesses the ability to manipulate the surrounding environment as she sees fit. Also, she has the capability to access Closed Space.

Mikuru Asahina (朝比奈 みくる, Asahina Mikuru)
A time traveler from the future who is assigned to investigate the reason for the inability to travel to any point in time before three years prior to the present story.

Itsuki Koizumi (古泉 一樹, Koizumi Itsuki)
An esper who suddenly acquired his powers three years prior to the present story. Along with other espers, he uses his power to combat beings of energy within Closed Space

SOS Brigade


The SOS Brigade (SOS団 (エス・オー・エスだん), Esuōesu dan?) is a club that Haruhi started shortly after entering high school. The club name is an acronym of "Sekai wo Ooini Moriagerutame no Suzumiya Haruhi no Dan" (世界を大いに盛り上げるための涼宮ハルヒの団, "Sekai wo Ooini Moriagerutame no Suzumiya Haruhi no Dan"?), which roughly translates into "Haruhi Suzumiya's Brigade to Greatly Enliven the World". To retain the acronym, the official North American adaptation refers to the group as the "Spreading Excitement All Over the World with the Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade", whilst unofficial fan translations generally adopted the title "Save the World by Overloading it with Fun, Haruhi Suzumiya's Brigade".
Haruhi initially conceived the club idea when Kyon lectured her about how meaningful inventions throughout history were created by geniuses: that technological advancements in the world were wrought by a limited number of lucky individuals. Inspired by this speech, Haruhi decides to create a club to address the woeful lack of aliens, time travelers and espers in her life.
The goal of the SOS Brigade is to "Bring More Excitement to the World" through finding aliens, time-travelers and espers and hanging out with them, according to Haruhi. The club's main contribution is a film intended for the High School cultural festival entitled The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina: Episode 00 starring Mikuru, Yuki, and Itsuki as the main characters. It was filmed and narrated by Kyon and directed by Haruhi. Kyon stayed up all night attempting to edit the footage into something coherent, but was only partially successful. The film's plot consists of a number of meta-fictional parodies of anime clichés.
In addition to the movie project, Haruhi involves the club in various activities such as participation in a baseball tournament and a summer trip to a tropical island owned by one of Itsuki's acquaintances.