Mystérique Sign

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"Mystérique Sign" (ミステリックサイン) is an episode in The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. It is the seventh episode aired in the series. It is the eighth episode in the series timeline. The episode's original airdate is May 14, 2006.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Episode details 3 Differences in the novel 4 Trivia

[edit] Overview

The SOS Brigade investigates the disappearance of the computer club president at the request of his girlfriend. Things end up becoming rather hectic as the group (minus Haruhi) end up in closed space and encounter a cave cricket.

[edit] Episode details

[edit] Differences in the novel

The episode is based on the chapter "Mystérique sign" in the novel The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi. These comparisons are made using the Baka-Tsuki-translation, which may not be 100% accurate.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

• The Warabi-Mochi expired one day ago, not three.
• The cave cricket does not fight back, and it is defeated after Itsuki's first strike.
• Yuki does not get a chance to demonstrate her powers in battle.
• Itsuki does not say "Fumoffu" or "Second raid," and no other Full Metal Panic! references are made.
• Itsuki takes the president's pulse.
• The SOS Brigade's emblem is less than 10 kilobytes large.
• Yuki explains the situation at the president's home, and the conversation that includes Kyon and Itsuki continues there also. The discussion is longer and includes Mikuru.
• The SOS Brigade's web page has almost 3000 visitors.
• Kyon tells Haruhi that the president is back in the club room.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

Edit this trivia

• This is episode 8, chronologically.
• Kyon's initial narration is "After spending Tanabata in a state of melancholy...", and at 5:27 Kyon says "She's (Haruhi) not going to start talking about what happened on Tanabata three years ago, right?" Those are references to the chapter "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" in the novel The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi, which is the previous chapter to "Mystérique Sign." The bamboo leaf itself is also seen in the corner of the room.
• Kyon uses the rhythm of haiku when he says "Annoying Oh so annoying Annoying."
• When Kimidori tells Haruhi that the Computer Society President's parents were abroad, Haruhi suggests Canada as a possible location. The reasons for this random suggestion are revealed in episode ten.
• Kyon says, "You sure use that story a lot," at the president's apartment. This is a reference to episode 13 The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi V.
• In this episode, the computer club president's room has posters of Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, and Yuko Goto - the voice actors of the female leads.
• In this episode Haruhi is depicted in a newspaper article carrying away the mini-tower from the Computer Society's President, where in actual fact it was Kyon who carried the mini-tower away. This might be a reference to the novel where Haruhi is the one who carries the computer.
• In the previous article in the newspaper the Computer Society's President is touching the left breast, not the right one on Mikuru, and Haruhi stands behind and not besides. This is an indication that it's Kyon's memory we're seeing.
• A copy of "Disappearance Diary" by Hideo Azuma (ISBN 4872575334) is found on the President's bookshelf.
• A copy of Dentaku Otoko (parody of Densha Otoko) is also found on his bookshelf.
• "The visualization of an object of fear" is a reference to The Monster from the Id from Forbidden Planet.
• Koizumi states that his strength is one tenth of what it is in closed space. His full strength is seen in episode 13 The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi V.
• Itsuki's attacks, "Fumoffu" and "Second Raid", are the titles of Full Metal Panic! side-story and sequel - Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid - they are also animated by Kyoto Animation. Also, when the giant bug attacks Yuki, she protects herself with a defensive barrier identical to the one generated by the "Lambda Driver" from Full Metal Panic!.

• When the Cammel Cricket is healed during the battle, it follows Mushiking HP-recovery sequence.
• At the end of this episode, the preview for Episode 8 mimics the episode titles from the anime Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. See comparison at right.
• There is a possible plot hole concerning Nagato's PC skill (see Episode 11 The Day of Sagittarius). Unless you consider that Nagato's skills in that episode relied more on data-manipulation than physically-manipulating PCs.
• Mikuru's line "Carrying a weapon is prohibited." is a rhetoric that can only tell that she is nothing more than ordinary citizen. (Note that carrying a weapon is prohibited even today.)
• Evidently, the whole incident of Mystérique Sign was planned by Nagato (except for the revival of subspecies of data life form). Below are the hints.
  • When Haruhi yells "Maybe someone is committing cyber-terrorism against the SOS Brigade! Who is it?", the camera zooms into the suspect.
  • Mikuru looks strangely tense when she introduces Kimidori after meeting Nagato's gaze. Maybe Nagato involved Mikuru in the plot.
  • When Kimidori says "I'm so worried...", she reads in a monotone voice.
  • Nagato fixates her eyes on Kimidori while she is talking.
  • Koizumi glances at Nagato when he says "Perhaps it was judged that this much would suffice?" in the alternative space. This shows he thinks Nagato is taking control of the situation.
  • The computer society president didn't know Kimidori. Possibly Nagato conspired with Kimidori, as Kyon suspected.
  • The article from Megami Magazine August 2006 edition revealed that Kimidori is another humanoid interface. (In the chapter "Editor in Chief★Straight Ahead!" of Volume 8 "The Indignation of Suzumiya Haruhi", Koizumi mentioned that "Kimidori Emiri-san is one of Nagato-san's colleagues")
• Kyon strings together five negatives.
• The Computer Club's President's name is hidden throughout the series. However, when Kimidori says his name, she says "Ya--" (cat meows). (some had mistaken the next word desu, which is actually Japanese for to be as the last part of his name).
• In the episode "The Day of Sagittarius" Nagato goes from hardly knowing how to use a computer quickly into mastery. However, in this episode, which is chronologically before that one, she already has sufficient skills to alter the SOS Brigade homepage.
• During Kimidori's explanation of her "case" and a little bit after that scene, the sound effect of cicadas crying is used. This sound effect is also used the anime Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.
• Also during this scene, after Haruhi asks about who Kimidori's boyfriend is, she says "He sounded like he got along really well with the SOS Brigade." But for some reason, this line is completely omitted from the script in the english adaption.
• In the last scene, Nagato reads "Hadae no Shita", a science fiction by Chohei Kambayasi (Hayakawa Publishing, 2004　ISBN 978-4152085610). The novel's theme is humanoids acquiring personality, and it appears to answer Kyon's question raised to her. Refer http://sto-2.que.jp/ndiary/2006/05/200605151.html for identification of the book.

Current state of the "SOS Brigade" Dan hompage" No links, except for the fan club and etc..; The Profiles of all of the characters have been removed, the main signia is SOS, and only the agenda link is still there. -This is most likely due to season 2 airing very recently. In otherwords certain occurences have yet to taken place in the most recently aired episode of the anime.

Episode Guide	Previous Episode	Next Episode
By airdate:	Remote Island Syndrome (Part I)	Remote Island Syndrome (Part II)
Chronologically:	The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi	Remote Island Syndrome (Part I)