Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009)

Haruhi Suzumiya.

We all know about the endless eight fiasco. It has been *the* worst arc I have ever seen in an anime period. No doubt about it.

But if we put that past it, the rest of the show is amazing.


I really want to talk about the English Dub version of the movie episode, episode 11.

My god this is such a good episode. The english dub for Kyon KILLED it no joke.
...

Like after Endless Eight arc I wished it would get better, holy crap did it deliver. Please do not drop the anime because of the endless eight. Seriously Episode 11 is a work of art.


The music: Last episode they brought the original OP which was nice. Other OP sucked tbh

animation: still 2009ish so pretty old. not that bad.

Consensus: Endless eight sucked. If it ended at the last endless eight episode, I would've given it a 2/10.


But man Episode 11 is a 10/10 episode. One of my top 3 episodes.

Final Score: 7/10 redeemed by Episode 11.

Thanks!
-CyanCheetah

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 can be viewed as both a continuation or a part of a whole first season of anime series, depending on whether you choose to watch it in chronological order or release order. Anyways, this season contains 2 arcs which have almost no correlation to each other so I'll review them one by one.

Arc 1: Endless 8
The pacing took a huge nosedive in this arc with it being eight episodes long where basically only 3 of those episodes really mattered and the other 5 were kind of filler. The concept of this arc is pretty cool and although ... there are a few different series who explore this kind of concept, the endless 8 did a good job at not copying off what we've already seen and being somewhat original.

Final Scorings of this arc:
Animation: 7/10 (Animation quality varies in each episode but this is one of the weaker animated parts of the series)
Sound: 7/10 (Good)
Story: 4/10 (Basically the same episode repeated 8 times with one of the least satisfying endings to an arc of all time)
Character: 4/10 (No character development or no new information to flesh them out. Just a pointless side-quest for the characters)
Enjoyment: 5/10 (Was fun the first 3 times but I began quickly wishing for the arc to end as soon as possible)
Overall: 5.4/10 (Average)

Arc 2: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya (movie making arc)
Like how the endless 8 was, this arc is a side story that only slightly advances the plot as we are made to suspect the true motives of the characters in the story. Other than that it is what it is, an arc where the main characters create a movie for their cultural festival. Some parts reminded me of all the fun and troubles that came along with making a short film with a group of friends in media arts class so I probably enjoyed this arc more than most people would have.

Final Scorings of this arc:
Animation: 8/10 (Very good for a slice of life series)
Sound: 7/10 (Good)
Story: 5/10 (A side story that doesn't progress the main storyline. Gets an extra point ahead of Endless 8 for having better pacing)
Character: 4/10 (No character development or no new information to flesh them out. Just a pointless side-quest for the characters)
Enjoyment: 7/10 (As a movie-lover and someone who makes amateur movies for fun, I had a pretty good time)
Overall: 6.2/10 (Fine)

Average score of the 2 arcs: 5.8/10 ∼ 6/10 (Fine)

The writing for this season is honestly abysmal. The first two episodes and the first three episodes of the third arc were great. The rest, however, was just ass. Endless eight, while an interesting concept, was executed terribly. Nearly all the episodes, except the first two, were identical. I would say the same for the last, but the only difference was the ending really. And part four of The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya...It was a total mess. Kyon confronts Haruhi for her bullshit, yet he ends up dismissing her actions as if nothing terrible occurred... What a way to ruin an almost redeeming arc. The ... Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya remains to be one of my favorite franchises, but this season in particular is just unfiltered garbage.