Like most, I went into the series expecting the enjoyably discordant storyline, animation, and voice acting that the original series and movie had. I was consequently confused by Kyon's noticeably different appearance and a number of other slight visual changes that I shamefully explained away by learning the original studio hadn't worked on it. The first few episodes made it abundantly clear that it was not "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", and finding that out annoyed me immensely.
However, as I continued to watch the series, I began to recollect parts of the "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" in particular Nagato's role in it. As part of that recollection, I finally realized, "Ah... this is Yuki-chan's dream reality" and afterwards everything clicked into place. The visual aberrations weren't unintentional, there was meaning behind the almost cliche variants of this series' characters' personas, and even the series' romcom style, and use of aged animations, was used to create a traditionalized perspective reminiscent of Nagato's preferences that contrasts really well against the unreal and jolting, or Haruhi-like, characteristics of the previous series. With this new perspective, even apparently superficial references to the previous series begin to question which of the two realities (i.e. Haruhi's or Yuki's) is the "truest" one or had the most merit for existing. This issue could only have been seen from the original Yuki's perspective, and was briefly discussed in the movie; bringing it up in this manner in Yuki's reality neatly explains the logic of her actions in the movie while allowing Yuki's own personal wishes and motivations to remain at the forefront.
If you watch this series because you wanted a 3rd season of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", you'll be disappointed. However if you watch this series because you want to know more about why Nagato did what she did in the "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" then I think you'll be pleasantly satisfied, and glad that this series made it to air. Personally speaking, the groundhog hell that Nagato went through in the movie still prevents me from watching it again; watching this series softens that angst and brings even more meaning to the series as whole.
