The [xyz] of Suzumiya Haruhi

[EricTheFred]

So I guess it's confirmed that there are about 15498 episodes in the Endless Eight arc.

[Spoiler]Considering the actual light novel that contains 'Endless Eight' does not repeat at all (it shows the 15,498th rep only, and that as the last one) I'm kind of surprised how they're dragging this out. This repeat,repeat, repeat nonsense isn't good storytelling. I was sort of okay with the first time, repeat, then resolve format I thought they were doing, but it shocked me when the third show ended just like the second.[/Spoiler]

[Maokun]

Actually I liked it a lot Fred. [spoiler]It was kind of a "spot the differences from your memory" contest and I believe that it was good drama to show how Kyon had many chances to stop the loop but for one or other reason failed at it. In the end it was surprising that he didn't manage at all and chose to take a defeatist attitude. Now I'm really curious about the next episode[/spoiler]

[blkmage]

This week's (and next week's) Haruhi.
[spoiler]HOPE YOU LIKE MORE ENDLESS EIGHT[/spoiler]

[EricTheFred]

I guess the whole reason 'Endless Eight' is confusing me is because at one point I got the idea that "The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi" was going to be a major part of season 2, and that story would need at least three or four episodes to do correctly. (This was based upon a widely discussed gag that the official site did, which seemed to strongly hint that 'Disappearance' was in the upcoming season. Although, IMO it might have been also referring to 'Snow Mountain Syndrome'. The problem with that theory is, the resolution of 'Snow Mountain Syndrome' depends Kyon's prior experience in 'Disappearance'.

Anyhow, milking this many eps out of one short story is strange itself.

On the other hand, the short stories 'Snow Mountain' and 'Endless Eight' are both found in volume 5. (the remainder of which is a third story, 'Day of Sagitarius', which was done in a single episode in season 1.)

We'll see.

[blkmage]

I'd thought that if they didn't have enough time, they wouldn't do Snow Mountain Syndrome because it seemed to tie into volume 7 more. The clues surrounding the second season that they did drop seemed to indicate that Disappearance would be the central storyline. Some people thought they were going to do Sighs too, but that's looking pretty unlikely right now.

Also, the Wikipedia page for episode listings is hilarious.

[EricTheFred]

Okay, I'm pretty sure that the July 10 episode hasn't aired yet (it's like, 2 in the morning in Tokyo as I write this) so let us hope that's someone's idea of a joke....

[Sheol777]

Ok when does Endless Eight end? I though the second time was done very well, but after that I wanted them to get on with it. Why doesn't the SOS brigade:
[spoiler] Rig the bug catching so someone else is the Chief of the SOS so in Haruhi's mind, whatever that person says goes. Then they call an end to the summer fun.[/spoiler]

[Maokun]

Yeah, I agree that a third time without a resolution was pushing it. Also, almost nothing changed this time! I wonder if there's some kind of hint in the small differences in the dialogue or in the actions of the characters and that's why they needed to do it so many times. That would be awesome.

[Kung_Fu_Master]

If you noticed the 12 or so times in endless eight part four that an airplane was shown.

And I have a theory. Endless Eight well take up eight episodes. Why? Just read the title. So this means we're only half through. Or I could be wrong and it ends in three more years.

[EricTheFred]

I'm pretty sure "Endless Eight" is a reference to August being the eighth month. It makes more sense in Japanese, where the word for August just means "Month Eight".

[Kung_Fu_Master]

Oh. So yeah, it's ending in three years.

[blkmage]

There are good reasons for why people who have read the light novels are angry. It has to do with the fact that only fourteen episodes were confirmed for the new season and that they've spent so many of those episodes on Endless Eight. Endless Eight might be kind of interesting, but it's a really minor part of the story. The other stuff that they could be animating is so much better and so much more interesting (without having to repeat it 15498 times) that it's a gigantic waste of a season. Knowing this, and with the general mood being that they'll be dragging their feet for another three years before another season gets animated, the fact that we'll be seeing so little new material this season is really frustrating.

[EricTheFred]

When I realized that the first 'Endless Eight' episode was the first iteration (presumably), since there was no deja vu and no recognition of the situation, I thought that was clever. They should have resolved it in the next episode though, or at the most, in two more episodes. Taking five episodes (at minimum) just doesn't accomplish anything except save money (there's been considerable footage reuse, although each episode seems to have at least 50 percent new animation.)

[EricTheFred]

S2 Episode 6 wa...

NAN'DA YO@!!!!!!!!!???????

[blkmage]

I never ever thought I'd feel like I need to watch Haruhi at 2.5x speed.

[Maokun]

I believe we need to jump to the most obvious conclusion now: The endless Eight Arc is going to last Eight episodes.

[EricTheFred]

I know you're kidding, but please no.

They've already chewed up half of their new eps. (total of 14. 1 used for Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, a minimum of 6 for Endless 8.) At least use the other seven on something else.

[Fish and Chips]

Didn't one of the producers come out on 2ch and basically admit that they're trolling everyone? I'm a little sketchy on the details, but I could have sworn I read that somewhere (because the Internet never lies right guys?).

[Bobtheduck]

Didn't one of the producers come out on 2ch and basically admit that they're trolling everyone? I'm a little sketchy on the details, but I could have sworn I read that somewhere (because the Internet never lies right guys?).

We do know Kyoto Animation does visit 2ch because they showed it on Lucky Star. And they sort of made fun of the 5 minutes of Nagato book reading from Haruhi Season 1... If there's a second season of Lucky Star, Konata will REALLY have something to talk about, hahaha...

I wouldn't doubt this being a big slap in the face to fans, like they know the fans won't stop watching so they'll just keep doing that stuff... "We can do this because you're all otaku with no lives and you'll keep watching no matter what."

[Roy Mustang]

Didn't one of the producers come out on 2ch and basically admit that they're trolling everyone? I'm a little sketchy on the details, but I could have sworn I read that somewhere (because the Internet never lies right guys?).

I believe it was Yutaka Yamamoto that did that. He was the director for Lucky Star and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya first season.

He only got to direct ep 1 to 4 of Lucky Star before being let go of it.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[blkmage]

I think you might be talking about Yutaka Yamamoto's Q&A session at Otakon this year, in which he apologized as someone who had worked on the show and knew about the trollans that would be happening. Yamamoto was the director of the first season of Haruhi and was the director for the first few episodes of Lucky Star, but left KyoAni shortly after that. He's at A-1 now and he directed Kannagi.

EDIT: Beat'd.

[Maokun]

This whole affair reminds me of one of the few South Park episodes I've liked: Cartman becomes an incredibly successful entrepeuneur by accidentally coming up with the revolutionary discovery that customers love to be mistreated and will keep coming back for more.

[Radical Dreamer]

I just watched episode 7. I totally do not understand what good this is doing for the studio creating this. XD I mean my gosh, I can't imagine being one of the animators (or the voice actors), having to re-animate the same events every single episode. XD I really hope this stops with the next episode. Endless Eight was amusing the first three times, but it's really just starting to get boring. I skipped around most of episode 7; hopefully, 8 will have some new material in it that gets them out of this nonsense. XD

[Roy Mustang]

I just watched episode 7. I totally do not understand what good this is doing for the studio creating this. XD I mean my gosh, I can't imagine being one of the animators (or the voice actors), having to re-animate the same events every single episode. XD

Even KyoAni was getting bored of Endless Eight
by Josh Tolentino, 07/25/2009

It appears that even The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's masters at Kyoto Animation weren't all confident about making the show's currently-running "Endless Eight" story arc, if an interesting Q&A is to be believed.

Posted on the series' official blog, the interview is between the blog's host "Kuroneko-man" and unnamed members of the production staff. It was implied that the process of making the infamous story arc was that multiple teams were given the same subject material (i.e. scripts etc.) to work with, and were made to construct an episode. The result was a series of episodes, each essentially the same but with differences in pacing, tone, visuals, dialog, etc. The staffer s felt that it was quite interesting to see other teams employ the same material and the diversity of the resulting work, and that the project "broadened their outlook" on the show as a whole.

Tongue firmly planted in cheek, the interview also seemed to acknowledge the largely negative fan reaction, with both Kuroneko-man and the staffers themselves admitting to empathizing with character Yuki Nagato who during the arc could remember every iteration of the Groundhog Day-like time loop, ending up with 594 years worth of boredom.

As a viewer, I have to confess that I found Endless Eight quite interesting the first couple of times, mainly for the reasons detailed above. As former director Yamakan noted however, eight freaking episodes is far too much, and it's very bad form on KyoAni's part to treat their audience as something of a drafting board. I certainly doubt that they expect people to buy the DVDs, especially not at Japanese prices . Here's to hoping that they can do something truly awe-inspiring with the five installments they have left. I mean, they managed it in the original, so there's still a chance, right? Right?

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[Maokun]

Now more than ever seems totally likely that the arc is going to last eight episodes. If they already made it 7 times why not one more to resound with the title? To watch it on fansub or on TV is one thing, but I do indeed wonder who in his right senses would want to buy a DVD containing only Endless Eight episodes.

[blkmage]

It'll be interesting to see how this affects Japanese DVD sales, where DVD releases contain one or two episodes. The first DVD is getting released on August 28 and has one episode (Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody) with a regular price of ￥4830. Could you imagine buying four DVDs with two episodes each of Endless Eight? I guess this will separate the true Haruhiists from the rest of us.

ヽ(´ー｀)ノ

[EricTheFred]

[quote="blkmage (post: 1332432)"]It'll be interesting to see how this affects Japanese DVD sales, where DVD releases contain one or two episodes. The first DVD is getting released on August 28 and has one episode (Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody) with a regular price of ￥]


Right now, there's still a chance of that fourth DVD having an ep of something else. We're up to 7 eps (6 aired plus at least one left.)

I suspect they assume the guys who were going to buy the DVD will buy it anyway. Remember, most Japanese anime fans have no need to buy DVDs. They watch it on TV. DVD customers are probably looked at as hopeless fanatics.

What really will strain things is the overseas sales. I'm wondering how potential licensees are going to look at it. Especially if the other six eps are decent. They'll have to buy the whole thing to get Bamboo Rhapsody plus six remaining episodes. Maybe the licensees will compress Endless Eight onto a single DVD, or scatter it across the set or something, so they aren't stuck with unsaleable merchandise.

[Maokun]

I'm somewhat relieved you didn't say "from the rest of you".

What really will strain things is the overseas sales. I'm wondering how potential licensees are going to look at it. Especially if the other six eps are decent. They'll have to buy the whole thing to get Bamboo Rhapsody plus six remaining episodes.

Well, take in account that the first ep of E8 is quite watchable on its own, and if the last proves to be radically different, at least one of repetitions become important on itself. That leaves only 4 (or 5 if my prediction comes true) episodes of nothing.

[EricTheFred]

I'm somewhat relieved you didn't say "from the rest of you".

Personally, I'm glad he didn't say "the rest of them!"

Well, take in account that the first ep of E8 is quite watchable on its own, and if the last proves to be radically different, at least one of repetitions become important on itself. That leaves only 4 (or 5 if my prediction comes true) episodes of nothing.

The blog posting seemed to expect 8 eps as well, so you aren't alone in predicting this. By the way, this is why compressing all endless eight eps onto one disc would make the most sense, but it drops the number of discs that way. That's why I thought they might scatter them across all the discs, instead.

[blkmage]

I suspect they assume the guys who were going to buy the DVD will buy it anyway. Remember, most Japanese anime fans have no need to buy DVDs. They watch it on TV. DVD customers are probably looked at as hopeless fanatics.

That's why it'd be interesting. The numbers will reflect how many ultra hardcore Haruhiists remain.

I'd be surprised if they changed anything for the North American release from the first season. If they have two four-episode discs and two three-episode discs, would people really not buy the second disc because it contained three or four episodes of Endless Eight? If I had the other three volumes, I might as well bite the bullet and complete the collection. There's really no scheme to entice someone in North America who decided not to buy it because of Endless Eight to reconsider their choice other than making Disappearance very, very worth it.