The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱

by Nagaru Tanigawa, Makoto Mizuno

Kyon is an ordinary freshman high school student who, self-admittedly, has given up his fantasies of espers, time travelers, and aliens as he left middle school. However, sitting behind him is the beautiful, intelligent, and eccentric girl Haruhi Suzumiya, who in her class introduction blatantly states her singular desire in meeting aliens, time travelers, sliders, or espers. Interested, Kyon starts trying to make small talk with her before class, eventually leading to normal conversations with Haruhi. One day, after making a comment about Haruhi's displeasure with the available school clubs, he finds himself dragged into membership of the newly formed Spreading Excitement All Over the World with the Haruhi Suzumiya (or SOS) Brigade. This is the first of two manga adaptations of the light novel series. Both manga adaptations were published in Shōnen Ace, but the earlier one (this one) was canceled after the first volume. The reasons for this stem from the fact that the manga was considerably different from the novel and had little input from the original author. (Source: Wikipedia)