Friday 31 July 2009

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Season 2 - Episode 8 (aka Episode 18)

I won't lie to you, this constant repetition of the same episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is having an adverse effect on my life. I wake up every morning thinking "Something was strange...", whenever I hear the phone ring I feel the need to call out "Kyon-kun, phone!", I end phone conversations with the phrase "OVER!" and as the sun sets and the stars come out, I mutter about "UFOs, UFOs...". All of this is without the time I was at the classified information with my classified information and then we decided to classified information in the classified information, but we ended up classified information instead. I wouldn't want that to happen again, that's for sure.


Anyhow, in case you haven't guessed this eighteenth episode of the series is yet another repetition of the Endless Eight arc - The seventh iteration, for those of you who have lost the will to count or otherwise fathom how much time you've spent watching almost the exact same thing repeatedly. I'm not really sure what more to say beyond that - This was perhaps one of the better iterations of this episode in terms of the soundtrack and the way some of the scenes were portrayed, but that's a bit like saying "Hey, that was the best session of waterboarding I ever had!". Indeed, even for those positives, some of the other scenes felt so overplayed as to be almost a parody of themselves... which I suppose they are in a sense. Even little jokes like the shop named "Endless" would have been funny had it not been for the fact that we've been going through this torturous state of affairs for almost two months now. The same could be said for those little lines and phrases I alluded to in my opening to this entry - Classic quotes in isolation, but now instruments of suffering to anyone who has been following this series week in, week out.

I suppose the big question now is - Will Endless Eight end with its eight episode next week? Honestly, I just don't know any more. I almost simply don't care any more, although it would be nice to come home from work to watch some actual, bona fide new episodes of this series.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

just shoot me. :( but anyway i knew it would end at the eighth. probably. unless KyoAni just feels like torturing their fans for the rest of eternity by playing slightly changed versions of this episode every week.

Aidanak47 said...

LETS DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!

How much do you want to bet that KyoAni is singing that song? I really thought it was going to end this week, I really did. But even though I am reading this blog for the hope that it may in fact be over I am still pissed at the fact that it is till continuing.

So when do you think they will play that new season of haruhi like they promised? Because I am still waiting.....

Anonymous said...

Japan has the highest percentage of suicide cases in the world and now I know why. Aside from that, I'm regarding this endless shit as a huge, almost criminal waste of time and money.

Anonymous said...

Watch the episode here

http://www.7evenanime.co.cc/2009/07/melancholy-of-haruhi-suzumiya-2nd_30.html

Sergio said...

I suppose it will end next week, but I'm actually hoping for it not to end. It's gotten so ridiculous it would be a waste if it didn't keep being repeated until the end

Shin said...

Don't worry guys. KyoAni fired the idiot who thought of the idea :)

Happy0ne said...

I really really liked the first season of this show, but this season is really pushing it to say the least.

This could have been edited down to 3 episodes to get the point across and have the same effect. I'm surprised that these guys are getting paid for doing this.

Robert said...

I suppose the hook of Endless Eight is morbid curiosity; we know it's going to be bad, but the perverse coil in our mind clenches shut and squeezes out that painful desire - HOW bad?

There's also disbelief - "It HAS to be different this week, surely?" - and the Pokémon Protocol. "There's a different costume each week? Gotta screencap 'em all!"

Anonymous said...

Keeping the rather plain (the version in the novels) and unepic resolve of the cycle in mind, whatever they want to achieve with showing the same episode again and again (with only minor cosmetic changes), I will (no matter what the actual outcome may be) regard this series as one of the most time-, money-, resource- and nerve-wasting slurs in the history of anime. Nothing can convince me that extending and abusing a story in that way has a justifiable purpose. They're just fucking about with their fans. I refuse to believe, that people in Japan actually like this kind of messing around. Don't those people know what the internet is? I bet there are hundreds of forums and stuff in Japan, where people are complaining like hell and they have to know this (they didn't have anything to do in the last two months after all). Why don't they react to this?

Anonymous said...

People will go haywire if Kyoani actually stays true to the end of the novels.

Killifish said...

I've found that the reason these comments keep sounding so monotonous every week is that there's never anything new to complain about. The general consensus is that endless eight sucks and there's nothing more to say.
About five episodes into the arc I, for one, was still willing to defend it, but screw that. I'm done playing nice. KyoAni has forced me over that threshold.

Anonymous said...

Guys, I have a serious problem. I'm starting to get extremely pissed everytime I see Haruhi's face. I think subconsciously I'm turning from a fan into a hater of the series. Creepy.

Anonymous said...

ARE YOU TRYING TO FUCK WITH ME??

Anonymous said...

Proof of Failure, in the light novels, they broke the time loop on the 15,498th iteration, they hit 15,527 here.

Anonymous said...

THE ENDLESS EIGHT HAS ENDED. REJOICE!

shogun22 said...

Finally! "ENDLESS EIGHT" is over!!!

I skipped the rest of the show just to see the ending. :D

Anonymous said...

The end is a crock of shit.

Anonymous said...

WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT ANTI-CLIMAX WAS THAT this entire series was like having a very very large and hard crap it was a long painful struggle and then finally a even more painful ending and then utter relief that its over

thank buddah its over

Ren said...

Yeah it sucked, i hate this anime with passion now.