Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009)

“Something’s wrong. That’s what it felt like, anyway.” --Kyon This second season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was cloyed for, sought after, and eventually delivered by Kyoto Animation in 2009. Three years after the release of the original series, fans were ecstatic to see the return of the SOS brigade to the small screen. It might be the most anticipated second season I've seen in my years of watching anime, with the only comparable hype being the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood reboot that premiered the same year. But while FMA's new look and feel resonated with viewers and surpassed the original anime, Haruhi's second act is a tremendous,awe-inspiring disappointment that scarred fans of the series. The words "Endless Eight" became shorthand for insatiable trolling and disappointment. Haruhi's inevitable marching order of wannabes and imitators failed to tarnish the reputation of the series, so Kyoto Animation tried their own hand at it, and they succeeded beyond their reckoning.

Let's get one thing out of the way first: the second season's animation and art is perhaps the best part of it, showing marked improvement over the first and still looking great even seven years later. Haruhi has never been harsh on the eyes, but in just three short years you can tell that the techniques and tools at KyoAni have been refined. The English dub actors put in yet another sensational performance, getting back into their roles with ease. As I said in my review of Season 1, even if you don’t like dubs, Haruhi’s English localization is every bit as good as the Japanese.

The new OP, “Super Driver” is also absolutely amazing, and probably one of my favorites ever. It’s even better than “Bouken Desho Desho”, which still holds a special place in my heart after all these years.

But that’s all that’s improved. The story consists of two arcs, with a one-off episode taking place at the very beginning. That single episode is the high point of the season. It’s all downhill from there.

You really can’t talk about this second season without talking about the first arc, Endless Eight. It is every bit as bad as you can imagine. It is the same sequence of events repeated eight times in eight episodes, with only very mild changes taking place in the third through seventh repetitions of said events. I’m trying to be as fair as I can be to it in saying that at least the first and second time it’s entertaining, but once I got halfway through it I wanted to claw my eyes out. I soldiered on and finished the arc, but my opinion of the series and of KyoAni as a whole was damaged. I can only imagine what people thought as the show was airing. Who told them this was an okay thing to do?

After that, we get the Sigh arc, which depicts and details the events that took place while the SOS brigade made the infamous “Adventures of Mikuru” movie for the school festival. It’s a return to form for the show and has some really funny moments, but suffers from character derailment.

Allow me to explain: in the first season Haruhi Suzumiya definitely had her moments where her overbearing, bossy nature was a bit excessive, but her heart was generally in the right place. You could tell that she was at least somewhat concerned for the wellbeing of her so-called charges. But in Sigh, Haruhi becomes a caricature of her worst traits, culminating in her spiking the drink of an SOS brigade member and then physically and verbally beating her up for no good reason.

It’s a betrayal of her character, in my opinion: while Haruhi can be overbearing, bossy, and sometimes even mean, she was never outright cruel to her friends before that. It feels forced, like they needed some harsh interpersonal drama so that the season could have a climactic emotional reckoning, but even the resolution of that rift is disappointing and rushed.

In summation, I can’t understand how a show could devolve in quality this severely between seasons. I can’t imagine what director Tatsuya Ishihara was thinking as he developed it. When fans begged for more Haruhi, they weren’t asking for this. And while I can’t claim that Haruhi is “ruined” by this disappointment, it wasn’t for lack of trying. I’d like to say that you’re better off not watching this entire season, but I can’t because the first episode is admittedly one of the best in the show’s 28-episode run, and the events of Endless Eight are integral to understanding the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie. My best advice is to soldier on, skip Endless Eight’s third-through-seventh episodes, and try to enjoy the top-tier animation for what it is.

Until next time, don’t forget to do your summer homework.