The melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Vol. 3

Actors: Tomokazu Sugita, Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, Yuko Goto, Crispin Freeman

As the off-beat comedy adventure The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya continues, life gets weirder for the members of the SOS Brigade. Unhappy with the small number of hits the Brigade's web page has been getting, Haruhi designs a new logo. This seemingly innocuous clump of data sends the president of the computer club into an alternate dimension inhabited by an "info entity" that takes the form of a giant cricket. To keep Haruhi's mind occupied so she's not playing hob with the universe, Itsuke arranges for everyone to visit the island estate of a rich relative. The harmless club retreat turns into an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery--just the sort of diversion soi-disant ace detective Haruhi's been hankering for. The outré mixture of farce and fantasy in Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has made it a fan favorite on both sides of the Pacific. (Rated 13 and older: cartoon violence, risqué humor) --Charles Solomon