Review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009)

15,532 reiterations, and we've only endured episode length instances of 8. Should we really be complaining? Well, Kyon should have. Better yet, he should have done something productive much earlier to spare us the stupidity, if not the time. But he'll redeem himself yet. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009) is the next installment (discounting the Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya shorts) of an anime series originally based off the light novel franchise by Nagaru Tanigawa. It was directed by Tatsuya Ishihara, scripted by Yasuhiro Takemoto, and produced by Kyoto Animation, the same studio that animated the Full Metal Panic Series, the Key holy trinity, Hyouka, andK-On! Hosting three new stories from the source material set in between the events of the first season, it was aired as a surprise (however unwelcome to many when they viewed its contents) with the previously animated material from the series in chronological order. No fresh or innovative doses this time around. This season wasn't much successful either. Truth be told, it was more aggravating than confusing.

Let's cut to the worst: Endless Eight. Perhaps the producers, deciding to withhold the exploration of any material beyond what they used in the movie, somehow felt they needed to broadcast the same number of episodes as its prequel. Perhaps they wanted to experiment. Perhaps they wanted to be cheap. In any case, the reactions to this (almost) eightfold repetition can be likened to an experiment with grease over an open stove. And that's that.

Well, not exactly that. While I didn't happen to watch this show while it was airing, which would probably make Endless Eight all the more monotonous, I would loathe to dismiss the other arcs solely on this one grievance. The rest of the show, on the whole, still has that humorous hyperactive charm about it. Bamboo Rhapsody is comparable, if not not better, than some of the other content aired 3 years ago, and the Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya is the best that I've seen, defying expectations to what I thought would be a comedic telling of the back story behind Episode 0. While it presents the female lead in a rather nasty light (though she's more excitable than nasty herself), it also features a sincere confrontation where, for once, Kyon puts his foot down against Haruhi's antics. How Haruhi reacted to it... that's something to see for yourself. It was executed beautifully, from the slow but sure escalation of frustration to backlash, the emotion so vividly rendered. For consistency's sake, I would like to have criticized Kyoto Animation for changing the character models and animation style, but the reactive expressions that it allows lends itself more to the approach this season's going for than the sweeping motions the previous style would ever permit. In addition, however subtly, we begin to get the impression that the rest of the SOS Brigade may have something more going on with them then before. It's only an impression, though, for the sake of the leisurely pacing, I'm satisfied with just that.

The OP “Super Driver High” by Haruhi's Seiyū Ana Hirano and the ED “Tomare,” or “Stop,” by Yuko Goto and Minori Chihara, the Seiyū for the other two female leads, in addition to Hirano, emanates of the same factor that defined the OP and ED of the previous season: energy. The vocals are just as brazenly peppy and addictingly catchy as before, and the electric guitar get their own nice spotlight moments in both songs. At times, it even seems to surpass them in amount, though the ED's lack of choreographed dancing was sorely missed. Though what we have instead is nothing to scoff at, a mixture of what appears to be neon lighting imprinted throughout different parts of the school setting's premises combined with a flip-book style sequence of shots, blurs, epilepsy, and all, of the main cast. The OP's visuals also utilize something of flip-book and shaky cam, but the most obvious things that standout are those elements one would normally find in comics and manga. The images, names, and onomatopoeia literally pop out from each character introduction scene.

Does the series suffer from Endless Eight? Yes. Is Endless Eight this franchise's death knell? Well, I'll end with this. I'm not saying one should omit Endless Eight from their memory or, for anyone who has yet to watch it, viewing experience. In fact, watching through all, or at least part of it, (specifically, the first two episodes and the last one if you'd rather forgo the distinction of having survived it all) is crucial to being able witness the full impact of the movie. Just don't omit the rest of the show, or the series, for that matter, because of it.

I give The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009) a 7 out of 10.