SUZUMIYA HARUHI NO YUUUTSU (2009)

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MOVIE DramaSuzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu
NOVEL ComedySuzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
MANGA ComedySuzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
ANIME ComedySuzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
ONA ComedySuzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu
ONA ComedyNyoro-n☆Churuya-san
NOVEL ComedySuzumiya Haruhi no Tameiki
NOVEL ComedySuzumiya Haruhi no Taikutsu
NOVEL ComedySuzumiya Haruhi no Bousou
NOVEL ComedySuzumiya Haruhi no Douyou

REVIEWS

• 

  Mysticgoose

  30/100
  The Endless Eight arc may be the worst arc in any television series I've ever watched.

  2009

  The endless eight arc is unforgivable. There's already a lot of issues with this series that stem from the unfortunate lack of anything ever mattering, but this awful arc takes that to a level that would almost be hilarious if it wasn't so sad. While I can appreciate the fact that the art and directing was slightly different in all eight of the episodes, it isn't nearly enough to fix the greater issues that stem from it.

  In truth, it's insulting to the viewers to produce the same story for eight consecutive weeks. If the direction they were trying to go was so incredibly important to the story that they couldn't step away from repeating the same events in at least a few episodes, then the director should have limited it to a total of three. 1) The club goes through the events of the endless summer vacation, 2) The club figures out what is happening, 3) Kon saves the day. This would have had nearly the same impact, without taking an already mediocre high school romcom and making it totally unbearable.

  With that short rant out of the way, I'll delve into a few other issues I had with the series as a whole. Most stories tend to either be character or plot driven (occasionally there is something truly magnificent that is both but it's rare, and certainly not the case here). The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya tends to forgo plot and instead tries to drive a fun story with it's "strong" characters. The issue with this isn't the direction, but instead the execution. It's problematic for a character-driven story to have terrible characters, and unfortunately, 4/5 of the mainstays in the series are genuinely bad.

  Kon is the only character in the series that is at all enjoyable and even he struggles to maintain a grasp on the viewer's interest after the endless eight arc. Haruhi is better written than the other three main characters but despite that, she's not at all likable. She's both a Mary Stu and a generic Tsundere. Her relationship with Kon is occasionally cute, but I found myself desperately wishing that he wouldn't fall for her because he didn't deserve a life that would be filled with misery, and frankly, that's the only thing Suzumiya was going to offer him. The other three main characters are incredibly 1-d, it's really unfortunate that this is the case because all three of them have the potential to be much better characters than they actually are.

  The thing that continues to stick out in my mind as I type this, is the wasted potential of the series. There was so much to work with and instead of actually adding flesh to the skeleton they built, they decided to go the sitcom route, and that only works if you're willing to write truly great characters.

  I walked into The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya expecting something lighthearted, funny, and potentially one of the all-time greats. What I got was a 26 episode high school romcom with bad characters and an episode that repeats itself 8 times.

  3/10 do not recommend unless you've seen thousands of other series and literally have nothing else to see.

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• 

  CodeBlazeFate

  34/100
  This season had no right to be as long and annoying as it was

  THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS

  It's time to do what no one who has reviewed this second season has ever done before: actually give an in-depth review explaining why this series sucked. Not just: The Endless 8 sucks because etc. etc. therefore, this show sucks. Nor will I be "ok, the Endless 8 wasn't very good, but the rest of the series was pretty decent due to insert quick explanation here." No, this review will show why the WHOLE SHOW sucks, not just one part. I'm sick of just "Endless 8 sucks so automatically, so the show sucks by default". Forgive my aggravated rambling; I needed that off my chest. Do you wanna know why this show is bad? Do you wanna know why this almost ruined the franchise for me? Then, let's find out, shall we?

  To be honest, nothing about this season added to the story of the series. It's 14 episodes of (mostly) pure, bona-fide filler. This show is a midquel that answers next to nothing about Season 1, particularly because Season 1 left little to be explained. This season takes place before the last 4 episodes of season 1. The 2nd season starts off well. It's a small adventure that only really becomes relevant in the Haruhi Movie. Then, the Endless 8 begins. Episode 2, is also good. Then, episode 3 redoes a lot of the previous episode with a twist! Everyone is in an absurdly high time loop spanning over 15,000 repeats. First off, since all of the following episodes of the arc literally go one repeat after another, why not start this off with say 50 loops, and then continually increase the number dramatically? It would be more like the show to do that. Then, episodes 4-8 repeat the exact same episode (episode 3) with minute changes. Finally, episode 9 breaks the loop in hilariously stupid fashion after terrible buildup with 7 episodes that show no progression towards the arc. This whole thing literally could`ve been resolved in three episodes. One for introduction, one for setup, and one for resolution.

  As for the final arc, I've actually seen people DEFEND this arc, which really boggles my mind as to something just as mind-numbingly stupid as the Endless 8. Honestly, we'll save this one's biggest problem for later as this arc`s biggest sin is how badly it botched up the characters. Let's put it this way. Season 1 established that when Haruhi is visibly upset, a different field of the world begins to suffer the wrath of giant monsters, and that could prove dangerous to the real world. At one point, Haruhi is the most unhappy she’s ever been via confrontation that she effectively deserved, and NOTHING HAPPENS!!! First off, Haruhi brought this on herself, and Kyon was scolding her for being basically tyrannical to her friends, and he's forced to APOLOGIZE?! WHY?! Haruhi also gets off scot-free for being so horrible. also, for how "smart" she is, she should've put two and two together during the final scene of Season 2. I get that maybe trying to hit her was a bit out of hand, but still, she needed some repercussion for being so damn awful! This season was pretty awful by this point by this moment killed any chance of it recovering. The ending sucked too, just to let you know.

  If you know Haruhi Suzumiya, you know that she's kind of a spoiled brat with an (understandable) god complex. She's a bit of an ass, a tyrannical one, but you understand why she's that way, and see her developed into a slightly more polite and caring person. Despite the fact that this season takes place after the events containing most of her development, this final arc, in particular, decided to DECIMATE all decency from her, and flanderize her obnoxiousness and bratty-ness to new levels. She actively treats Mikuru like a sexy slave, even more so than in season 1. She becomes a bigger dick than ever and ignores all sense of likability and development. Mikuru is reduced to a whiny moe slave for the series who only accomplishes following Haruhi`s demands, and only to varying effect. Itsuki is the same, only spouting off his stuff under unreasonable circumstances that only serve to make Haruhi a Karma Houdini, which sort of waters him down a bit. Kyon, is the same, only less entertaining, less intelligent, and less snarky, meaning that like almost everyone else, he is at least somewhat watered down here too. Yuuki Nagato is the only character with any improvement, as we see a more urgent and ambiguously caring side of her, as she does some risky things this time around. Unfortunately, the side characters are less present, and less likable, albeit, when Haruhi makes you drug your friend with alcohol, and you accept in a heartbeat, that's bound to happen.

  Knowing KyoAni, brilliant animation to them is as simple as doing a worksheet of simple math problems. Takes a bit, but it's easy and leads to damn good scores. Not much was stepped up, other than slight changes to character models, though I kinda like the change. While this season didn't get to show off its creative muscles like Season 1 did, the animation was still really good, and if it got to show off some of the amazing stuff Season 1 did, it would've gotten a 10, for even the minute changes in the Endless 8 are appreciated, as they change the clothing, and give new angles for repeated scenes. This is always a highlight of the franchise, and even though this season sucks, at least it lived up to KyoAni's expectations in the animation department. Too bad it was wasted in this garbage-tier anime.

  Unfortunately, the music isn't as good as in season 1. Luckily, it's still overall decent. The OP and ED themes are once again, great, really capturing the tone of the series, and are just as good, if not better than those of season 1, even if they'll never become as ubiquitous as "Hare Hare Yukai", season 1's ED. This season, otherwise, added nothing to the soundtrack, and the recurring themes aren't memorable, minus a few jingles in some of the themes. Also, while the dub has the same voice actors and talents, the repetitive dialogue for the Endless 8, along with Mikuru's aggravating squealing, bog it down a bit. Heck, Kyon doesn't even get any deliciously scathing monologues here.

  This series had no right to be as long and annoying as it was, and the botched characters, nigh-useless story, and painful moments make me hate this show, no matter how pretty it is, or how good it sounds. Honestly, this is an allegory for how this season made me feel about Haruhi herself, attractive and with a nice voice, but a total bitch. Yes, the first two episodes are good, and yes, the Endless 8 had the potential to be pretty good if they cut large portions out and made the set-up more in line with the spirit of the show, but overall, this series can't stack up to its predecessor in any way other than production. Lastly, thank God for the movie since if not for that, this would've actually killed the anime franchise as a whole with it being such a gigantic pain. With that, I bid you adieu.

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• 

  Tolnin

  100/100
  Endless Eight is not a bad arc.

  Disclaimer: This review will be for the entirety of the show, not just the 2009 portion. However, there will be NO spoilers in this review.

  I'm going to try my best to keep this an unbiased review, but Haruhi as a show and as a character has helped me on a personal level so that's one reason I love this show so much... the other reason is because it's genuinely a very enjoyable show. Haruhi used to be the Queen of anime, but of course all good things come to an end.

  The show doesn't have much of a story, really. It's more of a slice of life comedy show with supernatural elements thrown in. Although, after my most recent rewatching of this show (which I finished last night), I can say that this show has more character development and foreshadowing than I previously realized, definitely in the last four or five episodes. Now, when you get to the Endless Eight arc, at first you'll probably hate it for reasons I'll leave unknown for now. Just, don't give up on the show there. You can just skip the "bad" part and you will miss basically nothing. Personally I love the Endless Eight arc, but it's very understandable if you never grow to like it. Of course, when I first watched this show I also hated the Endless Eight arc, but then I began to like it more and more, and now I love it. Please don't give up on it, give it a chance. Watching this arc will also make Nagato's actions in the movie more understandable.

  The art style of this show isn't really anything special, but it's still very appealing; definitely on the Blu-ray. There are some shots that look very good, and then other shots that look like your basic slice of life moe show. But, throughout the entire show, Kyoto Animation has consistent animation and no "bootleg" shots. Of course, some shots are more detailed than others, but that's only when they need to be.

  The first opening of this show? Amazing. The visuals and song are both beautiful. You wanna know what's better than the first opening? The second one, with even BETTER visuals and song. Also, the second ending is very nice but probably the worst of all the openings/endings. But, the first ending is what spawned an anime phenomenon. The Hare Hare Yukai dance, or probably more widely known as the Haruhi dance. Easily the most iconic part of the show. Also, the soundtrack for this show is amazing too. The main background song in this show always makes me giddy to hear, and it's actually the first thing you ever hear in episode one. Amazing soundtrack.

  Now, the characters. Mikuru Asahina is a clumsy, moe character as Haruhi would put it. She's mostly in the show for fanservice honestly, but she still has some very good moments. Now, Yuki Nagato, she's a very silent and reserved character that only speaks when she needs to. Her design is nice, and she has some amazing moments in the show. While she's quiet, there is Itsuki Koizumi who is more talkative. He's a very polite and mature character, who is in stark contrast to Kyon. Kyon is usually always upset with something, he whines and complains a lot, but trust me his character gets some amazing development towards the end of the show and even more and better development in the movie. He's not exactly unlikable, but he's definitely my least favorite main character. As for my favorite character, that honor goes to Haruhi Suzumiya herself. She's kind of a tsundere type character, but that's not the aspect I like about her. Yes, she's rude, bratty, and to some she may be overwhelming, but the thing I love most about Haruhi and what changed me as a person is seeing her passion. Seeing her seize every single day. Seeing her try her best to enjoy her life, and not worry about being "normal". In the episode "Live Alive", you'll see her get some development though, and it is very heartwarming to see.

  All in all, if you like supernatural stuff then you'll probably like this show. If you like slice of life stuff then you'll probably like this show. You might not become a huge fan of this show, but it will definitely be a good, fun, and enjoyable watch. I hope this review helps, and I hope you enjoy the show.

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