I read the Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody chapter in the novel, and it was worth reading. When I saw the first anime series first before reading the novels, I was thinking to myself that there was a lack of time travel. And this being the first was very well executed. My personal favourite bits were the John Smith bit and Nagato's change, which would change Melancholy Part 4.
Whilst Endless Eight was a terrible idea, I could understand that it was to emphasis Yuki's emotions. But its not something I enjoyed watching. If you do like it, at least you can watch all 8 episodes on a repeat rather than play one episode over and over.
I was glad to see the back of Endless Eight. I did like Sigh, but it wasn't enough to heal the E8 wounds. Nevertheless, the plot was good, but it wasn't fantastic as those who saw the series back in 2006, we knew what was happening before it took place on screen.
8 Endless Eight episodes, 5 Sigh episodes, 1 Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody. My math says 6/14 episodes were good. Considering that 13/14 last time were good (Someday in the Rain was good, but only the first 3 viewings.) its a disappointment.
UPDATE:
Wondering why KyoAni did what they did, I decided to read the novel version of E8 (Translated, of course) and suddenly I knew. It's because the novel is from the point where summer has looped thousands and thousands of times and Kyon finds a way to stop it by getting the brigade to come to his house the next day. The novel made a good point of how the only proof of the loop was the sense of Deja Vu that we know Kyon and Koizumi (Although she never said so, probably Mikuru as well) were having. The anime version still tells the story from Kyon's perspective, but you experience what Yuki has been put through.
