I'm obsessed with boke (bokeh) these days. It turns out, older Kyoto Animation productions also make use of boke to some degree. It's not all that well applied in Munto (original), but AIR does it basically correctly. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu definitely surpasses all the previous productions, however.
In this volume, all five members of SOS-dan are gathered and the basic premise is fully explained, to an extreme degree in some sense. We can also see that Kyon does indeed mean something to Haruhi, although details are yet to be explained.
And of course, simply amazing animation quality continues in this volume.
Note that CD (KABA-1503-CD) is listed separately.
Oh, and I got sticker set #7 with this one.
Update: I've pointed out a few sloppy object handling cases in AIR TV animation where static objects (bag, cake box) disappear between scenes. Frame by frame, Kyoto Animation produces excellent quality animation, but occasionally, pretty serious mishandling of screen objects occur in their animation. In this example, Haruhi manages to move through monitor cables! This problem could've been avoided by having Haruhi move behind Kyon. See the last image for details.
Note blurred Yuki reading a book in the background. Also note that boke is gradual.
Now she's looking this way. They animated her properly even though she is not to be focused on! What dedication! Also note that the focal point is now slightly closer because the main subject (Kyon's hand) is closer than before.
Consistency blunder. (2) Kyon takes the monitor to the left. (3) Monitor cables should be blocking Haruhi's path. (4) Apparently not! (5) One of the cables is now visible. (6) Banzai!
