The Best Episodes Directed By Noriko Takao

Yui finds herself playing guitar for a band called Death Devil.

While on the trip, Tomoya buys a toy robot he picks out for Ushio to play with after they arrive in the countryside. The next day, after staying at an inn the previous night, Tomoya and Ushio take a walk through the area and come across a field of flowers. Ushio plays in the field as Tomoya watches, but Ushio soon loses the robot in the field; they try to look for it, but to no avail. Remembering something from his past, Tomoya goes off to another area and meets his grandmother Shino Okazaki, his father's mother. She tells Tomoya how he came here with his father shortly after his mother died, and Shino tells Tomoya how his father worked very hard to support him over the years. Tomoya finally comes to terms with his father, and realizes he is not a bad father. When they go back to the field where Ushio is, she still cannot find the robot, and does not want to stop looking because it was the first thing her father ever gave her. Tomoya realizes his previous mistakes and vows to try his best for Ushio from now on, who is very happy at the prospect of being with her father. On the way home, Tomoya starts telling Ushio about Nagisa for the first time.

Azusa realizes the music club has been slacking off lately, and she resolves to practice more.

Yuichi desperately wants to make Shiori’s birthday special, but he can’t seem to think of how - until a chat with Ayu provides just the right inspiration.

Yusuke tells Tomoya a little about his past and how he met Kouko in high school. After graduating, Yusuke went on to become a successful singer-songwriter, but ultimately it all came crashing down and he started taking drugs. When he came back to the city and saw Kouko again for the first time in years, he regretted not continuing to sing for her sake. Tomoya is offered a new position as a manager in a new electrician firm, but the deal falls through when his father is arrested. Tomoya is enraged that his father is still managing to mess up his life. Tomoya finally proposes to Nagisa, and she accepts.

The annual school festival is getting closer and the Light Music club will be performing again... however, Mio and Ritsu get into an argument.

Azusa makes a cake for her friends and visits the shrine to pray for success and good fortune for them all.

Throughout Golden Week, Tsukasa and Kagami have been playing together. However, Tsukasa does not know that her sister has actually been waking up earlier and going to bed later than her in order to study and finish homework. After the break, Konata does an all-nighter and manages to obtain an above-average score despite doing no studying during the short vacation. Later, Konata decides to get a job at a cosplay café in order to fund her otaku desires.

Three days left 'til the music festival, the girls are still not officially recognized as a club. Ritsu blackmails a previous club member to be their advisor.

The girls realize that there's more waiting for them at the end of missions than they bargained for. As doubts pile up and tensions rise, Ura-Acca decides to tell Ai his story.

It's about that time of year for the girls: athletic festivals! Konata's father is excited because he has been dying for an opportunity to try out his new camera. Kagami is in an eating contest, Konata is in the one-hundred meter dash, Tsukasa has to jump over hurdles, and Miyuki is in a relay race, where she brings the team from third to win the race by using her physical assets at the end. Later, Tsukasa is trying to learn a song on the recorder. Unfortunately, she is not very good. She then is taught by her sister not to blow so hard into it. Later, we see the girls in at school in a lunch line having various conversations about food and public eating facilities.

The girls go to a concert entitled "The Jam of Haruhi Suzumiya". Kagami explains how much her pet goldfish has grown. Konata actually finishes her homework, Ms. Kuroi accidentally erases a saved file in one of Konata's games, Miyuki talks smack about Ms. Kuroi, and Konata's dad is thinking about remarrying... or not! April Fool's! The girls enter their third year of high school, and they see who's in what class for this year. Once again, Konata, Tsukasa, and Miyuki are in the same class, but Kagami is in a different one from them. Meanwhile, Konata's cousin Yutaka and her new friend Minami Iwasaki enter their first year of high school. On Lucky Channel, it's announced that Akira will have a live concert next week.

Kotomi returns the violin to Rie Nishina and becomes friends with her. Kotomi changes her usual routine and starts attending her classes. Due to Kyou's idea, she, Ryou, Kotomi, Nagisa, and Tomoya go out together as a group and have fun in town. While out, Fuko makes an appearance in, but no one remembers her. The next day, Nagisa runs up to Kyou thinking Ryou got in a bus accident, though when they rush to the scene, they find no one was hurt; however, Kotomi has an emotional episode and collapses while screaming out. Kotomi leaves early that day, but when Tomoya, Nagisa and the Fujibayashi twins go to see her later, there is no answer at her house. After they leave, Tomoya goes back and runs into the strange man from earlier; he finds out the man is an acquaintance of Kotomi's parents.

During the time that Tomoya is suspended from school, Tomoyo continues to come to his house, wake him up, and make him breakfast, though when she tries to ask him about his relationship with his father, he does not answer her. On Sunday when Tomoyo is making him lunch, Kyou, Ryou, and Kotomi arrive each bringing a bunch of food, and even Fuko appears with food; Tomoya ends up eating everything. Once back at school, he finds out how Tomoyo's reputation is dropping due to rumors of her as a gang leader, and arranges for Tomoyo to compete against several school sports clubs to boost her reputation. After school, Tomoyo tells Tomoya about her family situation and how her brother risked his life to keep their parents from divorcing. Nagisa finally comes back to school and is welcomed by her friends. During a tennis match between Tomoyo and a male tennis club member, a stray ball hits Nagisa on the leg, and Tomoya overprotects her, showing everyone how devoted he is to her.

Tomoya and Nagisa invite Fuko's older sister Kouko to the Founder's Festival. In the meantime, Fuko hands out more carved starfish to students at the festival, and her fan club helps spread the word about Kouko's wedding too. Nagisa and Tomoya meet Tomoyo, who is wearing a bear suit to find people who are causing trouble, and manages to knock Youhei out a window for bothering a girl. When Kouko finally comes, she cannot see or hear her sister.

After seeing the girls' current profile pictures, the Producer thinks that they need new ones and orders a re-shoot so the girls can make better impressions in their auditions.

The Producer manages to survive his accident but remains hospitalized for a while. As a result, Haruka returns to musical rehearsals to channel her grief into her role and wins the lead from Miki. Desperate to get the idols together, Haruka asks Ritsuko to reschedule or cancel her current gigs so she can practice for the New Year's concert.

The previous time loop continues for the 15,513th time. This time, Kyon mentally senses an even greater familiarity with events and places from previous cycles. Once again, none of the Brigade members can devise anything to stop the cycle from repeating. On their final meeting in the restaurant, Kyon tries to call out after Haruhi but fails to do anything as visions of the loop's events flash in his mind. As Kyon regains his senses, Haruhi has left. As the last day of vacation arrives, Kyon, resigned to the loop repeating itself, goes to bed without finishing his summer homework.

Preparation for the SOS Brigade's short film continues, with character roles revealed—Yuki as an evil alien, Itsuki as an esper, and Mikuru as a battle waitress from the future. Mikuru is forced to dress in an embarrassing waitress costume for her role, while Yuki appears as a witch. On the first day of filming, the Brigade film two commercials to advertise their sponsors with Mikuru dressed in her waitress costume and then her bunny girl costume, much to her embarrassment. They then film several scenes in a park, and Kyon points out that Haruhi did not actually write a script.