Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009)

It's the Endless Eight. And a little extra. It's got a reputation. Many people think that this entry in the series is just worthless. It's not. It has some things going for it. I don't even think the idea of running 8 similar episodes back-to-back is that bad, so long as it is executed properly and has a good payoff. In this particular instance, the payoff just isn't there. For the other episodes, they definitely felt less entertaining than the best episodes of the original series, though the filming process episodes pay off in spectacularly in the Mikuru Adventures episode. The characters also don't geta ton of love in the series, which, while not necessarily a 'strong' point to the series, is still meaningful. You get less of Kyon's eccentric monologues and less of Yuki being super sick, and that sucks. Really, Haruhi 2009 just ends up being more boring than the original series, and that's a bummer.

[Pros & Cons]
[+] Marked increase in art quality. Still never really 'exciting', but always clean and can hit certain moods.
[+] Sound design still good.
[+] The film production episodes make Mikuru Adventures of the original series just insanely funny.
[-] Characters don't get a whole lot of love.
[-] Overall, story is bland.
[-] Endless Eight does not have the payoff it needs in order to be successful.

[Endless Eight Structure]
There are warranted complaints about the Endless Eight structure. Mostly under the premise that there is no real reason to subject an audience member to that level of asinine plot structure just so that the series can achieve some level of notoriety or novelty. In this case, I agree. But that is only because there is no payoff, not because the idea itself is poor.

The idea itself is functional, and in fact maybe great. If episodes are nearly identical, our brains will ideally amplify any differences or oddities we see. This setup provides a great environment for audience members to do their own detective work and gather their own conclusions about the puzzle at hand, whatever that may be. At the end of the cycle, the path to a resolution can be revealed, and it can be very dramatic. Also, the audience gets to see how their conclusions measure up to the real thing. I think this structure has loads of potential.

So where does Haruhi go wrong? First, it is impossible to draw conclusions. Events happening are pretty much the same, there is no trial and error done by Kyon or the rest of the cast, so there is no way we can get a handle on what Haruhi is regretting. Second, the payoff is too small. In essence, the reason why Haruhi doesn't want summer to end is very touching and significant, but it doesn't come across that way in the series. If Haruhi could fix these things, I think Endless Eight could be great!

[Rating]
Story: 3
Art: 7
Sound: 7
Character: 3
Enjoyment: 3
Overall: 4