When Haruhi says dance, you dance!
Younger or newer anime fans might not remember or know this, but once upon a time you could not get away from Haruhi Suzumiya’s Hare Hare Yukai. The song and accompanying dance were everywhere, both online and offline at conventions. For those of you who have absolutely zero clue as to what I’m talking about right now, let’s revisit this nugget of anime history.
What you just watched comes from one of the most popular series of its time, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and really helped to launch the career of a certain voice actress you might have heard of, Aya Hirano, as the title character Haruhi Suzumiya.
Well, Hirano is still acting, though not as much these days due to COVID-19 keeping everyone sheltered in place. With that in mind though, Hirano recently launched the Twitter hashtag #お家で全力ハレ晴レユカイ (Do the “Hare Hare Yukai” With All Your Might at Home) along with a video of her recreating the iconic dance from 2006 like a boss.
https://twitter.com/Hysteric_Barbie/status/1254255212555976704
Soon afterward, her video was followed by fellow Haruhi Suzumiya voice actor, Tomokazu Sugita (who played the lead male character Kyon), with his own version of the dance on YouTube.
While Sugita’s dance isn’t nearly as accurate as Hirano’s, you have to give the guy credit for even making the attempt, considering that it’s probably been around a dozen years since he last had to perform the routine.
As of this writing, only a few people have joined in on the fun from their homes, with a couple of my personal favorites posted below.
https://twitter.com/momochi373/status/1254802443201732608
https://twitter.com/MisaYukito/status/1254788562207178763
In a time when gloominess seems to reign supreme, it’s nice to have little reminders like this that sometimes all you need to do to chase the blues away is to have a good dance with friends (from a safe distance at least).
Source: Anime News Network
