Ranked #2256

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009)

I usually try to give a fair, as unbiased a review as I possibly can. But not this time. This is the 0.01% of the time where I'm going to purposefully express my hate for a show. And today that show is The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2. Or as I like to call it, "The Melancholy of The Fans of Haruhi Suzumiya".

In case you didn't know, "melancholy" refers to sadness or depression. Only instead of Haruhi being the sad and depressed one (as the show is about those around her trying to keep her spirits up), this time around it's our turn: the fans who supported it financially (if you bought the first series or any other merchandise), increased its popularity (by recommending it to friends), and who even created a sort of "Haruhi-ism" pseudo-religion.

This abomination of a "second season" is a slap in the face to all of the fans who have waited so long to see Haruhi return after all this time. I don't say this as a rabid fanboy, in fact, I'm one those out there who never saw the Haruhi franchise as anything more than another "somewhat entertaining" time-killer. I say this as a fan who empathizes with my fellow anime fans who were waiting with excruciating patience for a great second season, only to be handed a steaming pile of cow dung. Which, strangely enough, is probably the impression KyoAni was aiming for. How? Why? No one knows. Maybe they're just trying to kill their name, and the Haruhi franchise. Maybe they're trying to go out of business. It's beyond my comprehension. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!?!?

In case you didn't know (but chances are you probably do if you're reading this), the last couple of episodes of this "second season" (ugh) covered the story arc where the gang becomes caught in an endless time loop, that can only be resolved if Haruhi helps Kyon with his homework before Summer ends. They could have done this in two episodes, one episode to show one of the loops, the next episode to dedicate half for the realization of the occurrence of the loop, and the next half of the episode to resolve it in yet one last loop, leaving the next episode open to the next part of the story. They could have even stretched it to three and I'm sure it still could have turned out wonderfully.

But no. Here's (likely) MORE THAN HALF THE SEASON DEDICATED TO THE SAME DAMN STORY ARC. Not only that, but said story arc involves showing the SAME EPISODE OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER (etc) for God only knows how many times (yet to come as of this writing). Forget new content, it's rehashed content for half a season, if not more. Oh, but I guess technically some scenes were redrawn due to being shown from different angles... But that DOESN'T MAKE IT ANY MORE INTERESTING.

Here's my advice. Watch the first episode of the season. Then the second. Then skip half the season and pick up where Endless Eight finally ends, then continue on for your (probably) four remaining episodes. Enjoy your approximately five new episodes of Haruhi. It might as well have been an OVA.

I recommend we show our distaste at this horribly unprofessional series by rating it as low as possible, and writing as many bad reviews as possible. I'm not the type to do this, it's far from the kind of person I am. I always try to give things a fair chance, without spur-of-the-moment emotions, without just jumping the gun to write based on my initial impressions. I try to give a show a chance to settle in my mind. But this is a whole other ball game. It's ridiculous, and has infuriated fans across the globe. The fans who love the series, the fans who poured money into it, supported it, and the fans who, most importantly, waited a long time to do it all again in a heartbeat.

Shame on you, KyoAni, shame on you. I will never buy any of your products. Ever. Please give my regards to the Japanese government when you file for bankruptcy. read more

I didn't want to be the one to call out the bias fans, but if no one else will do it...

There is simply no excuse for the Endless Eight arc. None whatsoever. To the people defending it, shame on you. I would not have minded half as much if there was even a slight difference between episodes. If they could have bothered to have Kyon having slightly different thoughts the next time around. They could have added bits and pieces each new episode to further explain the situation so that we'd come closer to finding out a solution at the very end. But no, they decided to pull out a completely random ending that crushed my hopes of at least making the wasted hours of watching worth it in the end. The only good thing they've done is miraculously hold the patience to reanimate each episode with a different set of clothing. They did not bother to change a thing, they've barely added to the dialogue at all. Realistically, I doubt that people would be saying the exact same things if they were in an endless loop.

Anime is a form of entertainment. What does it say about an anime when the people watching are bored out of their minds? Yes, they were following the manga (no, I have not read it). But they certainly could have taken a different approach with this plot line. People who deem this season to be acceptable need to take a step back, take off the rose-tinted specs and absorb it for what it truly is. Ridiculous. I can't believe the creators somehow agreed that this would be the path they'd want to take this anime. How could they think it's acceptable to make us watch this? How could people pass this season off as decent while mentioning that viewers should watch episodes 1 and 2 then skip onto 9?? It baffles me how ludicrous this is.

The rest of the episodes (obviously I haven't seem them all yet) are alright, but somehow lack the charm of the first season. The episodes, to me, are on the boring side and I'm practically forcing myself to sit through them without fast forwarding. The characters' personalities seem to be slightly exploited and the humour appears forced. The animation has also changed somewhat from the first season (not saying it's bad, but I would still have liked to see the continuation of the art from the previous season).

I'll keep watching, only because I fell in love with the anime from the first season. There's nothing they can throw at me that will change my mind at this point but lets hope they'll try to pick it up from here onwards. read more