Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

There's not much more to say than what's already been said about Melancholy of Haruhi. Having watched this a decade later, I knew there were bound to be nuances that would elude me. Of the reviews I've read, many refer to Melancholy of Haruhi as "symbolic" or "artistic", and this their reasoning for the disparity between those who liked the series and those who hated it. I disagree though. Quite often people who love something use "artistic" as more of a debate point rather than an actual point in a refenced series favor. This is especially true considering Evangelion came out a decade before thisseries, but Evangelion is actual art while Haruhi is just a mediocre mess.

Before I say anything else, I started out this series loving it. I didn't think the characters were original in any way but appreciated them regardless. I liked the direction of making what was thought to be fantasy a reality. And I especially liked the episodes in which life or the world is threatened due to something Haruhi has done (the episode where both protagonists wake up in their own world with the monsters in particular). So you may wonder why was there such a shift in my opinion of the series. It's simple, and it stems from episodes 11-19.

After 11 great episodes of a unique and comedic slice of life, the creators made the decision to phone in the rest of the series aside from the finale. Around episode 12, we're provided a charming episode covering the last 3 weeks of summer before school starts back. Instead of returning to the classroom in the next episode though, we're instead provided a charming episode covering the last 3 weeks of summer before school starts back. I thought I had accidentally clicked the previous episode, but to my surprise it was, indeed, the follow up. Regardless I was able to push though to episode 15, where we're once again provided a charming end of summer tale for the main characters that ends with school starting the next day. At least in episode 16 we're provided a charming end of summer tale for the main characters that ends with school starting the next day. I definitely understood at that point just how much fun the final 3 weeks of summer were. By episode 17, when we're provided a charming end of summer tale for the main characters that ends with school starting the next day, I started giving up on the series altogether. If your curious, this carbon copy of the initial episode 12 repeats itself 8 TIMES throughout season 2! I unfortunately made the decision to continue sitting through this joke of a concept only to find that little to nothing had changed since the very first episode covering the last 3 weeks of summer!

I can't describe how frustrating this repetition was for me... but I can say definitely that it wasn't artistic, informative, or entertaining in the slightest. This concept was by far the laziest method I've ever seen in anime to move a story forward. Had this theme been a 2 episode arc, or even 3, I would've been fine, but 8-9 episodes literally made me switch my personal rating for the series from a 9 to a 6. The only good part about this arc was it gave me time to realize how flawed the series was as a whole.

To be honest, I'm not even sure what was the point in having two seasons was since ultimately it only had 14-ish worthwhile episodes. I honestly wanted to like the series, and probably would've finished the it like normal had the creators put even minimal effort into the finale. And had it not been for the "3 Week Loop" arc, I probably would've left this series at an 8 and not even bothered with a review, but, as you already know, I'm instead here complaining, giving clarity to just how detrimental the second season was to the series in its entirety. It's actually sad considering the potential Haruhi had, whether with it's characters, concept, or lore. If you've made it this far and haven't seen the series, I'd suggest either skipping it altogether or at least skipping episodes 12-19, it's quite literally a waste of time, unless you enjoy watching the same episode 8 times in a row for little to no payout.