Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009)

Story: 8 I'm writing this review with great fear and trepidation. In the end I'll either get shot by those who behead anyone who insults Haruhi, and on the other I'll get shot by the people who are simply overreacting giving this show a 1. Let me start off with the fact that the story was superb! The writing didn't drop at all in quality. The second season instead gave us far more insight into Haruhi's character and mysterious forces working behind her. Her powers were shown to a much greater extent as well. It is really quite amazing howwell this series seemed to have such excellent continuity with the rest of the series and the attention to detail did not disappoint.
Now before everyone starts thinking this review will be just rainbows and lollypops, that ends here. The Endless Eight was a too endless. I honestly enjoyed it, the first four times through. And I did like the last episode, but it was nearly too much making it through the middle three episodes. I loved that there was insight into Yuki's character during this part, but the variances could have been much more noticeable. Basically you watch one good episode, eight times over! (It would have been perfect if it was the Forever Five)
The rest of the series was fun and enjoyable and the last plot was, well, different. I'll address this in the character section.

Art: 9
It was not at the same level as the main series somehow, it felt like K-ON!. So it deserves a nine, a high nine, but a nine. The faces really annoyed me at times, especially Haruhi's, which I thought was changed significantly. Nevertheless it does mostly blend well with the rest of the series, but it didn't test it's limits like the first season did.

Sound: 9
I saw no decrease in voice acting quality. Actually I thought it might have been even better as we get to hear the characters in different situations. I didn't like the intro or ending nearly as much though as the original ones. After all, what can beat Hare Hare Yukai. I thought the intro was actually very mediocre.

Character: 9
One place the show did step up was in the characters. They're different and deeper and in the case of Haruhi, darker. In the "Sigh of Haruhi" plot she seemed at times bordering on evil and we indeed saw her much darker side. This wasn't necessarily bad, it displayed more of her humanity, but it also showed how much of a brat she really was and I felt quite uncomfortable. Usually I can laugh it off when she's using/abusing her friends. But in that plot it just felt very unsettling, and I think that was the intention. This therefore caused what could have been a fun plot, be more of a serious and dark plot and I found I really couldn't laugh like I could with the original series so it disappointed me. Thus at the same time it felt like a step down because of the loss of general likeability.

Overall: 8
Taking all things into account this show does deserve this rating in my most unbiased examination I could muster. It explores a different side of things and it definitely deserves a look from those who've seen the original series. But it doesn't stand on it's own like all the other sequel shows I've reviewed.

Parental Caution
Rated PG-13
-Yuki tackles a girl and it looks... awkward.
-In the endless eight each and every episode has a scene at a pool and on some loops Mikuru is, focused on a little too much.
-In the Sigh of Haruhi episodes Mikuru is in fetish costumes, but they aren't overly immodest.
-Some swearing, I really didn't notice very much of it.
-Some physical abuse.