Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009)

Overall, I can say I enjoyed these extra episodes for their novelty and because I fell in love with the concept of Suzumiya universe. It takes a special formula to make me forgive boredom, and the endless eight has it in there. I would normally say that making your viewer purposefully bored is just a gimmick, and a really poor replacement for good storytelling, but I felt it brings to the forefront the overall aesthetic of the series; that you cannot take what the characters say as truths. You have to figure out what the universe is really like through your own observations. (Ill tryto keep this next part as spoiler free as possible, but caution anyway)

In the first season (if I remember correctly) there is a tiny subplot that is peppered in at random times, that tells you not to believe what the characters are telling you. Some characters tell you the others are lying, and some tell you that they could be lying themselves. The main character himself even question who the driving force behind events is. In this season, it also asks philosophical questions, like could an infinite emotionless being get bored. Then it asks you to take a walk in those shoes yourself. Or, it asks if you saw someone doing something morally wrong, would you stop them? Even if they were your friend? Even if they could destroy the universe?

But if you look at it from a different angle, why would a character who is highly oblivious by nature, be the driving force behind the endless eight. That character would assume that the event that needed to take place, already happened. Who in fact benefits most from the events in the endless eight. Who gets to see the girls in different yukata and swimsuits? Who avoids getting in trouble..?

In the Sigh arc, things also unfold a little bit differently than we were first told. Like for the fact that there is no closed space when Suzumiya is depressed? There is an explanation given, one that i feel is unsatisfying unless you take into account that the person giving the explanation could be lying. Because it seems to me that the world is a whole lot less fantastical when Kyon is pissed at Suzumiya...

These things also bring into question events in the first season, the biggest being; why does Kyon seem to be the center of everyone's attention?

Maybe I read too much into things, and that may be where most of my enjoyment of this second season comes from, and that most people will probably like it less than I.

There is also a big criticism that could be placed that after six episodes, there is no real relationship development between the two main characters (unless you switch there roles)...

Anyway I rate this 9/10, on a personal taste scale, not a general everyone should love this too scale.