| The Day of Sagittarius | |
| |
| Japanese title | Iteza no Hi (射手座の日) |
| Season | 1 |
| Season One Broadcast No. |
11 |
| Season Two (Chronological) Broadcast No. |
27 |
| Air date | June 17, 2006 |
| Episode Guide | |
|---|---|
| Previous (Season One) The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 4 |
Next (Season One) Live Alive |
| Previous (Season Two) Live Alive |
Next (Season Two) Someday in the Rain |
- You may be looking for other uses of The Day of Sagittarius.
Key events[]
- The Computer Research Society challenges the SOS Brigade to an original game called The Day of Sagittarius III.
- The Computer Research Society wagers four laptops against the SOS Brigade returning the computer they took.
- Nagato realizes that the Computer Research Society is cheating, so she hacks in and stops them, helping the SOS Brigade win.
Summary[]
Anxious to get their computer back from Haruhi Suzumiya, several days after the Cultural Festival the Computer Research Society challenges the SOS Brigade to a 5v5 match on the new video game developed by the Computer Research Society: "The Day of Sagittarius III", a real time strategy game in which players control fleets of spaceships in battle. They put four laptop computers on the line and give the SOS Brigade a week to learn the game, though Haruhi is already so sure of victory that she offers to add Nagato or Asahina to the wager.
Kyon tells Koizumi and Nagato to play the game without "cheating", i.e. using supernatural powers, however Haruhi may react. Koizumi observes that there is an unspoken bond of trust between Kyon and Haruhi; she is so confident that she cannot lose with Kyon at her side that she was willing to bet Brigade members on the outcome, and he is willing to risk the SOS Brigade losing because he is so confident that Haruhi will not create closed space if they do. However, the week's training goes poorly; Asahina is hopelessly unable to grasp the video game's basics, Nagato has spent so much of her short life reading that she doesn't even know how to use a mouse, and Haruhi keeps charging ahead of the other fleets, causing early losses because her craft is the flagship.
The day of the game, Kyon at last convinces Haruhi to not charge ahead. However, the SOS Brigade are repeatedly blindsided by Computer Club ships which hit their flanks and then withdraw before they can retaliate. By processing data at high speed, Nagato splits her fleet into 20 squadrons, sewing confusing in their enemies, but the SOS Brigade remains at a disadvantage. Nagato tells Kyon that the Computer Research Society is cheating, having disabled the fog of war on their side so that they can see the whole map while the SOS Brigade can only see scouted areas. Kyon allows Nagato to turn the tables by hacking the game to active the fog of war, immediately blinding the Computer Research Society, who because they were cheating had not been bothering with scouting. The advantage allows the SOS Brigade to win.
Awestruck by Nagato's hacking abilities, the Computer Research Society President invites Nagato to spend time with the Computer Research Society whenever she is free. Haruhi objects, but Kyon realizes that Nagato enjoys playing with computers, and tells her to go visit the Computer Research Society when she feels like it.
Characters[]
Paranormal phenomena[]
Nagato controls 20 squadrons of battleships individually, a feat impossible for humans due to the amount of information that must be kept track of simultaneously.
Quotes[]
- [the SOS Brigade prepares for its engagement against the Computer Club]
- Kyon: "Hey, Haruhi, don't you think it'd be better if you pulled your ships back a little bit? Your fleet shouldn't be so far in front of us."
- Haruhi: "What are you talking about?! I wanna shoot beams and missiles at the enemy too!"
- Kyon: "Look, when you're playing shogi or chess, the king isn't the one who charges into enemy territory."
- Haruhi: "Oh, yeah. Good thinking. Okay, Kyon, you guys take care of it. Go find the enemy leader and give him a good pummeling with your cannons! And make sure you win! I want you to take those fools from the Computer Club… AND BEAT THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THOSE GEEK BOYS!" [breaks contact]
- Kyon: "Wouldn't it be better if we just raised the white flag now? Well, I guess that's not gonna be an option today."
- Kyon: [thinking] "Every day, I hang out with an alien, a time traveler, and an esper...and I'm still as sane and objective as ever. Hmm...I wonder if that makes me special or something. I'm sure Lacan's dying to have a word with me."
- Koizumi: "You seem worried. Is something wrong?"
- Kyon..: [aloud]" Nope. I was just thinking about how awesome I am for being able to cope with this absurd situation. And if you ask me, I think I'm due for a little praise."
- Koizumi: "You're right. Well, would you like me to give you some words of praise, then?"
- Kyon..: "You praising me won't make me any happier. All it will do is make me think you've got something up your sleeve."
- Koizumi: [laughs] "True enough!"
- [Nagato is wagered against the Computer Club for some laptops]
- Kyon: [thinking] "There's a big difference between the specs of four laptops and Nagato, but you wouldn't know that."
- Haruhi: "It's time to launch the <BLEEP>dams!"
- Koizumi: "Let's calm down. The enemy is shooting at us."
- Haruhi: "Anyone accepting defeat will be punished by running ten laps around the school... naked! And you'll have to yell 'Green Martians are chasing me!' for the whole ten laps!"
- Computer Society President: "Nice, very nice! I was a little worried there when they fired up the squadron mode, but we've still got the advantage. We see them, but they can't see us. Time to wrap this up. Destroy them! ANNIHILATE THE SOS BRIGADE!"
- [the SOS Brigade mounts its final offensive against the Computer Club]
- Kyon: "Say good night!"
- Haruhi: [over the radio] "Damn you, Kyon! That's my enemy!"
- Kyon: "Wow, he's driving his fleet right into our sights."
- Koizumi: "Just like a mouse caught in a trap."
- Asahina: "Uh, am I supposed to shoot this thing?"
- Haruhi: "I don't get what just happened, but great job, guys! All ships, open fire! Go out there and burn the enemy leader with all the fires of hell!"
- [the SOS Brigade's combined fleets gang up on the Computer Society President's own and annihilate it except for the flagship]
- Haruhi: "He's getting away!"
- [Nagato fires at the Computer Society President's ship and destroys it]
- Computer Society President: [as his ship is exploding around him] "This can't be happening! GLORY TO THE COMPUTER CLUB!"
- Nagato's computer: "You win!"
Trivia[]
- This episode was broadcast as episode 11 of Season 1, and as episode 27 of Season 2.
- When Kyon says the only memory he wants from the Cultural Festival is Asahina in her waitress outfit, the image which flashes into his head is actually of one of Asahina's classmates in the waitress outfit.
- The president of the Computer Society pretends to be Leader Desslok (Desslar) from Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato).
- On the cover of the “Day of Sagittarius III” game CD is picture of a young Captain Avatar (Captain Okita) from Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato).
- The President's ship is also destroyed by a weapon similar to the Wave Motion Gun, another reference to Space Battleship Yamato.
- The book Nagato is reading at the end is 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke.
- One of the Nekoman (cat people) in Mikuru's spaceship (specifically the muscular one in front) is a homage to the character Kinnikuman. The distinctive characteristic is the symbol on its forehead.
- The Computer Club President screams “Glory to the Computer Club!” as he is being shot down by Nagato. This is homage to the original Mobile Suit Gundam, as many Zeon officers from said anime would shout “Glory to the Principality of Zeon!” as they would be shot down. Those officers also tended to be battleship captains.
- When the SOS Brigade are having a tough time in their battle against the Computer Club, Haruhi orders Kyon to launch in the ******, to which Kyon replies “I’m launching!”. This is a tribute to Mobile Suit Gundam, where the censored word is the main robot, Gundam (the word Gundam is trademarked), while “I’m launching!” is one of the most famous quotes from the show, said by main character Amuro. There is also a pixelized picture of the Gundam shown.
- Kyon and Nagato's conversation during the game is a bit more tense in the dubbed version; Kyon delivers a snippy "Yeah, hi" when Nagato does not acknowledge his initial greeting, and Nagato opens a sentence with a testy "I repeat..." when Kyon again implies she is cheating, neither of which appears in the subtitled version.
- In the Japanese version, when Nagato reenables scouting mode, one of the Computer Research Society members shouts "Enemy fleet lost!" This is omitted in the dubbed version, in which it is never explicitly stated that the Computer Research Society could no longer see where the SOS Brigade fleets were.
- During the opening scene Nagato mentions that "all ECM and ECCM activated". ECM generally stands for "Electronic Counter Measures" and ECCM counters those. This is also a reference to Zettai Karen Children where espers are fairly commonplace. ECM's are an acronym for ESP Counter Measures which are devices that jam psychic powers. ECCM's are an acronym for ESP Counter Counter Measures which are devices that jam the effects of ECM's.
- Haruhi says “Shining light on darkness and vanquishing evil is the duty of warrior of justice”. This is a reference to the anime Sailor Moon.
- The background music that accompanied their battle was adapted from the first movement of the 7th symphony of Shostakovich in the beginning; and changed to the finale of the last movement of the 4th symphony of Tchaikovsky near the end. The symphony of Shostakovich was composed in 1941 and was dedicated to the Leningrad during its defense in World War II. This use of noted classical pieces during space fleet battles is meant as an homage to the long running OVA series Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
- The entire crew of Koizumi's fleet all have the henohenomohe(ji) face (a face usually drawn by Japanese school children using hiragana).
- The design of the four laptops used and finally won by the SOS Brigade is apparently based on the Epson Endeavor NT350 White Edition, albeit labeled as "ESPON" in the episode, each with a Elecom Mobile Wireless Mouse M-D6URSV. They also used a Buffalo LSW-TX-8NP 10/100M 8port Switch Hub to connect the computers to the network (even though said laptop model actually has a built-in wireless option).
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