Summary:

Leaving off from episode 10, Haruhi and Kyon head off to check out the residence where Ryoko was staying at before she “transferred.” It turns out that she stayed at the same complex as Yuki, which makes sense since Ryoko was Yuki’s assistant for her alien organization. Haruhi and Kyon get to the apartment room, but find it locked. Talking to the manager, he describes Ryoko as having purchased the apartment with cash three years ago with no signs of any parents. This only fuels Haruhi’s curiosity.

As they exit the building, they bump into Yuki. Haruhi notices Yuki’s glasses had disappeared, but shrugs off the anomaly. At some train tracks, Haruhi reveals that one night at a baseball game, she realized how insignificant she was when compared to the entire population of the world. Also, the things in the world interesting and special could be found elsewhere as well. That was when she wanted to be the one person who wasn’t ordinary. Haruhi heads home as Kyon politely waits for Haruhi to head off before he headed home in the same direction.

As Kyon reached his house, Itsuki appears and calls forth a taxi and tells Kyon he wants to have a discussion about Haruhi. While in the taxi, Itsuki tells him they are going to a place where the conditions are right for him to display his esper powers. Along the way, Itsuki describes he came into awareness of his powers three years ago along with a few others. He then goes into a long explanation of why the universe exists and his theory of how Haruhi can potentially change the world and the likeliness that Haruhi changed the world three years ago.

The two get out of the taxi and are in a city environment. Itsuki has Kyon close his eyes and then pulls him into a world called “closed space” that represents the world but is devoid of people. This spaced is created when Haruhi is mentally unstable. Itsuki directs Kyon’s attention to the distance where a giant humanoid figure, which he later refers to as a Celestial, as tall as a skyscraper, reaping destruction on the city. Itsuki generates a field of energy around him and join his esper friends to battle the giant. They quickly dispose of the giant and the closed space breaks apart.

On the car ride home, Itsuki explains that these giants have to be stopped. If left unchecked, their destruction expands the closed space until it covers the entire world, and eventually that world becomes the new world. As the taxi reaches Kyon’s home, Itsuki tells Kyon to observe Haruhi’s behavior before heading off. Kyon foreshadows that trouble awaits him the next day.

Review:

The tone of this episode is completely different from what it was from the previous episodes. In this episode, there were practically no moments of comic relief and everything was completely serious. It does indeed represent the kind of mood that Haruhi is currently in. Plus, the series is coming to an end and this is where all the fun and games end and the showdown begins. Fortunately, since we already know that there are events that happen after this particular junction in the storyline, there’s nothing to worry about. The only interesting thing left is to find out what happens and how it’s resolved.

As for interesting tidbits, after rewatching the episode, I realized that the taxi driver is none other than the butler from the island murder mystery. Obviously, the mustache gave it away.