Nova
Posts : 181 Join date : 2009-07-10 Age : 31 Location : Wherever I May Roam
| Subject: The Melancholy of [the fans of] Harhi Suzumiya Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:38 am | |
| I've written a lot of good about this show in the past, but that time has now ended, and my fanboy-dom of this show is OVER. Going on two "vacations", and trying to run my forum had put me behind on anime, so tonight I decided to catch up after a month. I was severely disappointed with this ex-fave show of mine. After the shit KyoAni, the producers of the show, handed us fans, I feel so much hate for the show it almost burns. Let me explain. About the show: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya follows the adventures of a quite "unique" group of teens. As the main character and protagonist, Kyon began his first year of High School like any other guy. But, after showing interest in a fellow class mate, Haruhi Suzumiya, she creates a club called the S.O.S. Brigade and, against his will, enrolls Kyon, and three other members, Asahina Mikuru, Yuki Nagato, and Itsuki Koizumi. However, this is when the madness begins. Kyon soon learns he is the only regular human in the club, and that his life is no longer "normal". He finds out Mikuru is a time traveler, Koizumi is an esper, and Yuki is an alien, and their reason for being there is Haruhi, who is an anomaly. In short, she's God, and unconsciously bends reality depending on her mood. Unfortunately, she's a bit of a wild card, and keeping her entertained of this world, so that she doesn't discard it out of boredom and make a new one, is a hard task for poor Kyon. If you want to know more, watch the damn show. I made this topic to review and complain, not to hand the show's plot to you. Information: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was originally a light novel and maga series in Japan. It was considered a Sci-Fi, and a bit of an almost "Teen" show. In 2006, an anime was made, and released of it. Season 1 Info: The first season was 14 episodes long, and consisted of the first few adventures of Haruhi Suzumiya and her "friends". The show was unique because it did not release its episodes in chronological order. Instead, it was almost random, and at the end of every episode, when usually the next episode is introduced, two of the characters revealed the next episode's true chronological order. Review: This season was amazing. 10/10. A+. 5 Stars. Get it? It made the show seem to be a god itself. In fact, this show sparked a wave of an otaku semi-religion called Haruhi-ism. I LOVED IT, and made my friend sit through it. Season 2 Info: The second season of this show was announced in early 2008, and began in May 2009. Instead of just airing the new season, or making it random like its predecessor, KyoAni instead decided to re-air the first season, in chronological order, and put the episodes of season 2 where they belonged chronologically, revealing some of season 2 chronologically took place in between episodes of season 1. The show just aired the ninth episode of season 2, and plans on airing at least 1 more. Review: Horrific. Stink fest. 2/10. D-. 1 Star. Get it? This season has so far made a mockery of the show, and hasn't even finished. With only nine episodes, only two episodes of story has been revealed. Episode 1 was an interesting episode, with its own story that ended after it. Episode 2 seemed that way too, except instead of Sci-Fi, it felt more like a filler, only recapping some summer time activities the gang partook in. Still interesting. Then, episode 3 rolled around, and it was...the same thing. Or, at least it began that way. After sitting through the plot of episode 2, it is revealed the gang is actually in a time loop, because Haruhi just can't let summer go. Other than that, the episode is just the same episode as episode 2, only with different camera angles and ver minute changes in dialogu and costume. It ended with the time loop inevitably happening again. Big deal, right? I thought I could sit through one more episode of the same plot, as long as it resolved the time loop at the end. Episode 4 rolled around, and it didn't. It just repeated episode 3, but with small changes. Sounds dumb right? Well...it was an eight part episode. That's right. An Endless Eight, the eight most recent episodes of season 2 were called (and there's only been 9 so far!). So, instead of a new season, with new episodes, and a stimulating plot, we Haruhi fans instead received 8 episodes of the same garbage. One (episode 2) to present the situations, One (episode 9) to resolve the problem, and six more (episodes 3- to present said problem! WHAT A BUNCH OF BULLSHIT! See this review by a brass2damax from www.myanimelist.net for more detail on my disdain. He seemed to have summed it up all quite well: - Spoiler:
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. show less
I hope after this shit, KyoAni can release some GOOD new episodes, to fill the hole in my heart. If they can't, I'm just gonna drop this show. I'm sorry if this rant of mine seemed pointless to you. I just needed a place to complain about this garbage, and a forum with a section on anime and manga was my best bet. So, if you've seen all this, you can agree or disagree. If you haven't, take it as a warning. Instead of sitting through An Endless Eight, just watch episode 1, 2, 3, and 9 of the season (of what's been released so far). | |
|
禁断の愛 Admin
Posts : 337 Join date : 2009-07-09 Age : 328 Location : Somewhere in Atlantica...
| Subject: Re: The Melancholy of [the fans of] Harhi Suzumiya Wed Aug 12, 2009 2:04 am | |
| Dude... That would've pissed me off.
Showing the same episode 5 times? Shit. That's almost as devistating as Naruto filler.
Why do all anime series end up like this? Infuriating fans with the filler/pointless episodes?
Thanks for placing the rant here! I was going to check out Haruhi, but now I can see season 2 is a waste of time. | |
|
Nova
Posts : 181 Join date : 2009-07-10 Age : 31 Location : Wherever I May Roam
| Subject: Re: The Melancholy of [the fans of] Harhi Suzumiya Wed Aug 12, 2009 4:52 pm | |
| Seriously...
Though, they actually aired the same episode 8 times, just once (the first episode in the Endless Eight) they omitted the time loop theory (they didn't want to introduce so early), and once (the last episode of the Endless Eight) they solved it right at the end. Other than that, the six middle ones were EXACTLY the same story wise, and the first and last still had mostly the same stuff.
But, like I said, season 1 was superb, and if you just skip the six middle episodes of the Endless Eight, ya won't get as pissed as I did. | |
|
禁断の愛 Admin
Posts : 337 Join date : 2009-07-09 Age : 328 Location : Somewhere in Atlantica...
| Subject: Re: The Melancholy of [the fans of] Harhi Suzumiya Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:18 pm | |
| ...You should be an anime news reporter. ^.^ | |
|