I personally liked the darker undertones in contrast to the lighthearted-ness. I also found the ending to be very good as well, so I'd have to disagree with you on those 2 points. I think the best voice acting has to go to Aya Hirano...I mean come one...she did both the voice AND the singing voice as well, how awesome is that, fantastic they got someone of that caliber to do it. Very good review I'd say, seems you touched on everything, I'd just have to say you gave it too low of a rating, I personally think Haruhi is one of the rarest and most original animes out in a long time. I think most of /a/ would agree with me, hehe.