Friday 11 September 2009

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Season 2 - Episode 14 (aka Episode 24) (Completed)

The previous episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya finally gave us an opportunity to talk about a new instalment of this franchise in terms above and beyond dismay and controversy, which in itself made for a refreshing change after all the (justified) negativity of weeks past. Now, as this run of new episodes ends, so does the Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya arc (full movie screening aside).

Of course, the first item on the agenda for this episode is the origins of Shamisen the talking cat, and it probably goes without saying that there's always comic potential in talking animals, which gives us a reasonably amusing little distraction for a while.


From here, the big issue to be tackled is how to get Haruhi to understand that everything in the movie that they're filming is well and truly within the realms of fiction - A requirement that becomes ever more pressing as more and more out of place occurrences take place. However, even this state of affairs is overshadowed by disagreements which surface between the other members of the SOS Brigade as to what Haruhi actually "is", with Koizumi and Mikuru both vocal in their own understandings and beliefs about what Haruhi represents and exists as.

Regardless of such philosophical debates, as per usual it's left up to Kyon to resolve the whole mess, which he does in his usual inimitable simple yet effective style, before the end of the episode gives us an amusing little dénouement to this batch of new episodes.

So it is that we reach the conclusion of all of the episodes which make up the second season of new Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episodes, and what more is there to say about it that we haven't already discussed to death? After the brilliance of the single episode of Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody looked ready to set the tone for a new season of wonder, so Endless Eight wore us down with its pointless and overblown repetition, wasting week upon week to irreparably scar the reputation of both this franchise and KyoAni as a whole. After that came The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya (perhaps ironically mirroring our own sighs during Endless Eight), a fleshing out of concepts we'd seen to some degree the first time around, and even this took quite a while to warm up, only truly coming to fruition for its last two episodes.

However objectively we try to look at it, Endless Eight has stained and overshadowed anything to do with this series - No doubt it'll be talked about for years to come (and certainly watching and then 'blogging about those episodes was a unique community experience all of its own) while the rest of these new episodes will be forgotten. The fact that, Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and a few smidgens of The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya aside, the rest of these new episodes were largely forgettable in the first place certainly doesn't help, and that point probably shouldn't be ignored in the larger brouhaha surrounding those infamous eight episodes. If we're honest, this wasn't The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya at its best, and it'll be interesting to see what the fallout from this particular series will mean for the Haruhi franchise further down the line.

10 comments:

Yumeka said...

I agree with what you say about the majority of the episodes in this new season being forgettable and possibly hurting the franchise. I only hope that we don't have to wait too long for the next batch of new episodes because, as many fans who have read the novels will agree, the quality of the stories greatly increases.

Unknown said...

we basically got two stories out of 14 episodes, I say boo-urns to Kyo-ani, boo-urns.

AidanAK47 said...

So it was the last episode of the arc, just as I expected.

If this is the end of the season then I am deeply disappointed. Out of 14 episode only 4 were at the same quality as season one.(The first episode, I will count that last endless eight episode. The story was interest....but overdone and the last two episodes of the sigh arc)I say that KyoAni must be absolutely retarded if they thought that this would satisfy the haruhi fans.

Still not to hold out false hope, but the airing is not over yet and I see nothing that confirms that this is the last new episode. KyoAni may surprise us again and throw out another new episode. But if you want my advice, don't get your hopes up.

Anonymous said...

Seems like they had the urge to let Nagato make up for all the episodes she barely said a word in.

Anonymous said...

If you don't like it, Why watch it..
And watch it till 14 episodes??
Funny people...

Anonymous said...

Funny how disappearance has disappeared.

Anonymous said...

Well since the entire anime is based off of the novel series, there will definately be more new episodes and most likely a third and even 4th season as it seems that (even though he is still taking forever to write it) Nagaru Tanigawa is not planning on ending his series anytime soon with the split scanarios and introduction to new characters and conflicts in volume 9, and the to-be-released-god-knows-when volume 10, with the title "The Astonishment of Haruhi Suzumiya". But putting those thoughts aside, I think that KyoAni is being lazy but doesn't want to lose their fandom and franchise, so they just made the Endless Eight arc extremely long to hold over the Haruhi fans thinking that that was acturally going to satisfy them, when it really did the exact opposite. I honestly have to say that the entire second season was very badly done, and almost all the Endless Eight episodes and even the Sigh episodes had visible slack in them. Either that or they are way too dramatic and overdone. Endless Eight was after all only like 42 pages in the novel or something, and it was shown as a minor problem, I think it was maybe there to help the readers understand some of the reasons why Yuki goes astray in the later novels. So in conclusion KyoAni really screwed up and the idea itself was stupid. But I definately agree with Yumeka saying that the next episodes will be better, but the only problem is that all the upcoming ones are from the previous season, all the new stuff comes after Someday in The Rain. I never got super into the series until the Dissapearence anyway. With that being said, I at least give KyoAni credit for thier accuracy on the novels, EXCEPT on Endless Eight they lose major poins on that.

Anonymous said...

Well that was the longest and shortest series ever if this is the last episode.
i nearly died during endless 8...it made me so angry! and because it was basically the same episode over and over i feels as thoough there should be more 'new' episodes in this series.

please dear god dont make us wait another 3 years for the next lot.

fingers crossed this series will be 24 episodes, doubt it though :(

Anonymous said...

We saw your blog today. It's nice! would love to exchange banner with your site. Our site is www.e2046.com, an anime figure site. Our traffic is good.

email exchangebanner@e2046.com

Light said...

I think their going to hold these in our memories so that when season 3 finally appears we will all jump at it like a pack of animals that are still raging over season 2 and looking for some substance and plot at long last after the eternal wait and bait + endless eight^^.