Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

[LivingFlame]

Ah crap, that's definitely what I was thinking in my head, and then the word 'visual' came out.

I had just woken up.

[Willen]

I could swear that I've seen this episode before, but anyways here's my thoughts on the new episode of Haruhi Suzumiya: Endless Eight.

Spoiler :

Okay, I was gonna do another modified copy/paste reply/summary of the latest EE episode, but based on the (hate) comments that this episode has spawned I figured that I should do a serious non-parody reply. Yeah, I should have gone without the spoiler tags since there isn't much to spoil in this episode if you've seen the previous three. Humor me here.

I actually don't mind the seemingly endless Endless Eight episodes. With the exception of the first novel (I own and have read the English edition) and the original Japanese manga volumes, I've not read any of the other print media stories. So while I know of the basic plot points of later unaired stories, I'm coming into the new episodes from a fresh point of view. People keep bringing up that EE is, based on the amount of time spent/pages in the novels, maybe a couple of episodes to animate. So when the story went to 3, then 4, and now to 5 episodes, the amount of frustration (and anger) from viewers increased.

Now, it's unknown if Kadokawa and KyoAni planned to make viewers feel the frustration and feeling of hopelessness that the characters are feeling (well, besides Yuki and obviously Haruhi), or they wanted to give each of their animation directors a chance to put their spin on the episode, or they just wanted to expand on the premise of the story and just ran with it. Hell, a lot of people were frustrated by the achronological order of the original airing ("Wait, they're playing baseball all of a sudden? When did this new guy show up? Did I miss an episode?") and some people feel that it was an enhancement to the adaptation. How the final reaction to the decision to spend this many episodes on a single seemingly small story is going to be is still in the air. But so far the feedback is generally skewing negative. A miscalculation by Kadokawa and KyoAni? We shall see.

If you've read this far then I suppose I should at least let you know my thoughts on this episode and the previous ones where I parody-posted.

Endless Eight was quite entertaining to me as I like slice-of-life stories. A bit of fanservice every now and then isn't bad. And knowing the basic premise of the story, I expected that the seemingly 'filler' episode was a misdirection. Looking back, I don't see how they could spend just one episode on this story and properly tell it. It's at least a two-parter to me.

Endless Eight II was on par with the first EE episode. The change in musical tone partway through the episode was striking. Around the time where we see Yuki sitting at the pool, the BGM disappears and we just get background noises up till the yukata shopping and then, not counting the background music during the festival and the store scene, to the time loop reveal. Then it's simple 'music box' and piano melodies until Haruhi leaves the cafe where it changes to a full dramatic score. I like this episode because it went beyond the fan expectations of 'one or two episodes' and properly fills the story out with this being the 'in-loop' events episode with the reveal and Kyon's reaction to the knowledge of the time recursion. The bit with Mikuru and <classified information> was cute. The fanservice in the earlier half seemed to be ramped up a bit too.

Endless Eight III is so far my least favorite of the series. It's probably the overall tone of the episode. The characters seem to be displaying frustration and appear to be a bit on edge. The BGM is also offsetting at times. As a standalone episode, it's good, but I, like many other people, were expecting the storyline to be resolved at the end.

Compared to the last episode, Endless Eight IV is a step-up. I'm not expecting a resolution to the story this episode. If it goes on for eight episodes (which doesn't make much sense since Eight is referring to the number of the month the story takes place in, which is August), or it actually goes on until the end of our real life Eight. People have compared the animation of this episode to K-On! and I can see some similarities in the style over the other EE episodes. Particularly when Haruhi holds up the box of cicadas. The hairstyle changes of Mikuru and Haruhi (headband-less, too!) were neat animation details. I'm not sure about the images of the plane/glider that kept on popping up during the episode. It it just a red herring?

Well, now it's another week of waiting to see if there is an end to the Endless Eight.

[mirkosp]

Someone get Douggie to do an Haruhi remake of that one.
There is enough material.

[Willen]

I've been half-seriously considering changing the concept of my Haruhi video but still using the same song (trust me, it can work both ways). I think there is enough footage now.

[OmniStrata]

Yeah KyoAni... You're starting to suck shit now...

Nobody cares if you redraw the same ep from 15 different angles [unless one of them happens to be a panties skirt ep, I can take 7 eps of that] But yes, what a loss, I too just 'skipped' through the 5th ep to see if anything changes.

Why the quck does Kyon be all aggressive in the 'snow white kiss' scenario to save the world and now he's like

dur dur dur, Haruhi's leaving dur...

What a LOSS...

[chambeyc]

Nobody cares if you redraw the same ep from 15 different angles [unless one of them happens to be a panties skirt ep, I can take 7 eps of that] But yes, what a loss, I too just 'skipped' through the 5th ep to see if anything changes.

+1.

2 same episodes was a nice concept.
3 same episodes start to deceive me.
4 same seriously get me bored and made me quit the serie.

KyoAni fails ...

[hasteroth]

Nobody cares if you redraw the same ep from 15 different angles [unless one of them happens to be a panties skirt ep, I can take 7 eps of that] But yes, what a loss, I too just 'skipped' through the 5th ep to see if anything changes.

+1.

2 same episodes was a nice concept.
3 same episodes start to deceive me.
4 same seriously get me bored and made me quit the serie.

KyoAni fails ...

Not rly. As an Anon I must say this is one of the best trolls I've ever seen.

[LivingFlame]

KyoAni are masters of trolling these days. Or so it would seem, anyway.

However, that does not make for a good show, and it certainly doesn't make for good marketing or PR.

[hasteroth]

KyoAni are masters of trolling these days. Or so it would seem, anyway.

However, that does not make for a good show, and it certainly doesn't make for good marketing or PR.

I get the feeling that they are laughing. And now that they got the reaction they wanted they'll stop.









I hope. ANd BTW I didn't watch the latest episode. Because I heard it was just another repeat.

[LivingFlame]

I'm officially under the assumption that this is going to go for 8 episodes, so I'll consider watching them around the time we get to the eighth.

And yes, they probably are laughing while they bathe in the money that K-ON! got them. >_>