Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009)

Isn't it delightful how many reviewers judge this series for Endless Eight and Endless Eight only? Sure, they overdid it. But is Haruhi 2009 a bad series? In my opinion: no. STORY! This installment of Haruhi consists of three stories. Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, one episode that explains past events. The infamous Endless Eight, where the gang gets stuck in a time loop for eight episodes. The third story is Sighs, where the Brigade take 5 episodes to shoot "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina", the short film seen in the previous series. Being an adaptation of an exceptionally well written light novel series, the story is quite good,though the Endless Eight in the novels focused only on the final time loop, whereas the anime gives us the GREAT pleasure of seeing seven additional loops. A move that was extremely well received...
Story- 9/10

ART & ANIMATION!
Some people like to say that Haruhi 2009 has been "K-ON!-ifyed" in terms of art style, even though the style was previously used by the Kannagi anime and the CLANNAD adaptation before that. Well, the art and animation are... uneven, to put it lightly. The art style has changed dramatically from the first series. The eyes are rounder, teeth are more prominent, everyone's hands now look like balloons etc. The art style gradually starts resembling its 2006 roots by the end of the series, though it's still not quite there. The animation drastically improved throughout the 14 episodes, though. Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody looked extremely "meh" while the last two episodes of Sighs were nothing short of spectacular.
Art/Animation- 8/10

SOUND!
Most of the background music has been recycled from the first series, but that's okay, since I loved the 2006 BGM. Some new tracks are used, though they're largely forgettable. The opening and ending, however, were disappointing. The opening, 'Super Driver', is an upbeat pop/rock song that isn't BAD, but it doesn't reach the lofty standards 2006's 'Bouken Desho, Desho?' set. 'BDD?' was upbeat but still mystifying enough to not feel out of place in the darker episodes. 'SD' is way too peppy for, say, some of the more "hopeless" Endless Eight loops, while 'BDD?' would've worked. The new ending, 'Tomare!', is a decent enough song, though it really falls flat in comparison to the famous 'Hare Hare Yukai'. The voice acting is every bit as good as it was in 2006, though, if not better. The performances in Sighs IV blew me away.
Sound- 8/10

CHARACTERS!
Development. It's arguably the point of this series. Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody brings some new insight on Mikuru, Endless Eight lets us see new sides of Yuki while Sighs really fleshes out Haruhi and Koizumi. Sighs also puts the complicated relationship of Kyon and Haruhi in focus, as well as the appearant conflicts between the factions of Yuki, Mikuru and Koizumi. We also get to see a calmer, more polite version of Tsuruya, which is nice.
Characters- 10/10

ENJOYMENT!
Hmyes. Call me crazy, but I enjoyed Endless Eight. Not just because of the subtle differences between the loops, but also because it's simply a fun story. Of course, the real draw of Haruhi 2009 is Sighs. The absolute hell the brigade members went through to shoot a badly plotted sci-fi romance movie is either tragic or absolutely hilarious, depending on the situations. And Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody solves some major mysteries present in the 2006 series, as well as being a very entertaining story on its own. I didn't like 2009 quite as much as 2006 (or Haruhi-chan, for that matter), but it's still a fun series.
Enjoyment- 8/10

OVERALL!
Alright! They overdid Endless Eight! 8 episodes of the same thing over and over again ruined the series FOREVER! Never mind that the animation is decent, the plot is as good as ever and Sighs being the best arc since 2006's absolutely epic Melancholy arc. Nope. The only noteworthy thing about this series is Endless Eight and how bad it was! Obviously.

Overall, I give The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2009 a Great 9/10.