responses: melancholy of haruhi suzumiya 2009 7
Categories: melancholy of haruhi suzumiya
Tagged: haruhi suzumiya
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Why is Itsuki looking so happy?
A few people e-mailed me about it, and I caught it on The Tonight Show. Conan dubbing Ghost in the Shell. Think Conan would have been perfect dubbing this fictional Shaft-created Excel Saga 2006.
TeeCiel: Admit it Jason, you’re enjoying blogging Endless Eight. It isn’t as fun as blogging about Staplers, but you’re still enjoying it. That said, when this is all over, I expect someone to put every iteration together into one giant side-by-side video and pick out all the differences.
People have already done this on YouTube. But I’m not really enjoying Haruhi 2009 very much. It almost feels like a chore to come up with new stuff to talk about with Endless Eight… and what should have been a huge celebration feels like a funeral… but I am enjoying running the 15,524 joke into the ground. My goal is to come up with 15,524 different variations.
(Good news is that when we do get non-Endless Eight episodes, the car flag-waving Haruhi fans will just pretend that Endless Eight never happened, along with Godfather III, Matrix 2-3, Batman and Robin, and The Tony Danza Show.)
bluemonq: For those who haven’t seen it yet, this is a good comparison of the first 5 iterations: http://www.gametrailers.com/us…..x-5/324900
There ya go… but it only has 5 iterations.
Nekonron: Once Kyon finds out about the time loop he should just abuse it and start making out with Mikuru or something. After all, everything will reset in a few days… Of course, Itsuki could do the same with Kyon…
I already suggested this four episodes ago. Basically, that’s what Richard Dean Anderson did when the SG-1 team got caught in a time loop.
boo: That last screenshot…..The forgot Mikuru’s mole! -_-
They forgot more things than a silly moe. Uh-oh… we’re in the lightening round!
Brazil: Welll the up side for KyoAni is that more people are talking about Haruhi right now, than they would if they were actually airing new shows. Maybe they believe that their is no such thing as bad publicity.
Erin Andrews begs to disagree.
SH: You could be watching bakemonogatari 4 right now
You could be writing a better comment right now.
Kikimaru: Hey, this is just as repetitive as playing a v-13/Tager match!!
Best. Comment. Ever.
Darma Shoten: Bro, honestly speaking here…You CANNOT IN ANY WAY THINK Haruhi is the best anime of the first 10 years of this millennium because Haruhi 2009 is a continuation of Haruhi 2006, not a sequal, not an OVA, not something that ‘just has the same characters and settings but is completely different,’ it’s a continuation.
Rage much? It’s just semantics. But in every sense, it’s a sequel. When Kyoto made the original, they had no plans on doing any more. (As we learned from Gainax last year, a normal anime takes 2 years of planning alone.) It became more popular than they thought, they scrambled, and here we are. It’s no different than Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix. Revolutions carried on the plot and characters and picked up after The Matrix; it’s a sequel. Enough time has passed.
Now if you want to retroactively hate 2006 because of 2009… that’s just idiotic. As much as I don’t like Godfather III or Matrix 2-3, I still consider Godfather and The Matrix to be two pantheon-class movies. A more timely example would be, sure Michael Jackson was a creepy man who enjoyed his time with little boys, but does it make Thriller, Off the Wall, and Bad worse from a music standpoint?
Strabo: Congratulations, KyoAni, you’ve driven someone on the fringes of anime culture running and screaming from the room. Here’s a hint: you’re supposed to _build_ your audience with accessible material like this, not drive it away.
This is why I always prefer new shows. Anime is always about the next big thing. This season, it’s Ghostory. Then, one day, The World God Only Knows will be made into an anime (hopefully not by Shaft, Gonzo, or a dozen other studios on my do not want list), and that will be (hopefully) big. And then something else will take its place. Anime fandom is a running target. If you’re not willing to run, stick with DBZ or One Piece that you can enjoy endlessly for hundreds of episodes.
kadian1364: In terms of pure storytelling quality, can anyone go down this list and say Haruhi 2006 is better than each and every one of them? Cultural impact is really an unfair measure because that’s a product of the times, fans. and comparable works as much as the magnitude of the work itself.
You do realize that you just completely missed the point. The whole point is the find a series that fits the decade because it’s the best of the decade and the best because of the decade. It’s not just about story or writing. It’s about resonating with the fans, about watchability (and rewatchability), and living on past its run. For most anime, we forget about them almost immediately after they end. I still remember (and chuckle at) the commenters who claimed Planet of the Beast King was the best anime of summer 2006.
Besides being a wonderfully done series (and a highly rewatchable one, as evident by everyone watching Endless Eight for the nth time), Haruhi is the embodiment of major things colliding in the decade: social networking, high definition, and modern character design (as in it is no longer okay for a character to wear the same clothes ever episode). It was a great anime that was made greater by the changes that occurred in the decade.
The only other show that got this type of assist… I would say Love Hina. Love Hina was, famously, the first anime “digisubbed”. Prior to it, anime was only traded via VHS in an underground network. Some people eventually started digitizing the VHS subs and putting them on newsgroups… but the Hawaii guys who did Love Hina only distributed it over the net. Besides that, Love Hina basically rescued the harem genre and made the tsundere popular again. Who knew? Naru became the Isiah Thomas to Hitagi’s Ricky Rubio. Remember, prior to Love Hina, most harem anime were more on the agonizing romance or the agonizing slow side with “perfect” haremettes, a la Belldandy. That was a shift.
More importantly, Love Hina was the first series to transition from cel-based animation to computer-based animation. You have no clue how big this was. This was like going from horse-drawn carriages to the Model T. (Of course, Eden of the East would be a BMW 3 Series.) I think this is a bigger change than going to HDTV. Though the problem with that selection is that Love Hina is Love Hina. It’s no Haruhi Suzumiya. If Love Hina were an “A” series, I would give it more consideration.
Anime is not just about the story. It’s about the sum of the parts. It’s everything– the animation, the music, the fandom, the impromptu Hare Hare Yukai dances at Fanime, etc. This is what anime is about. It’s not about dissecting shows like how you would dissect To Kill a Mockingbird. To think that something has to be a great story to be a great anime is just a lousy way to judge things. I get as much out of anime by arguing about it with friends, reveling at YouTube clips like Tissue Princess, and getting YTAMR comments from you guys than I do the series themselves. Anime needs to be treated holistically, and that’s always been my focus in writing this blog.
Giant Humanoid Robot: In the time it takes to watch just one episode of Endless Eight, you could watch the Needless ED at 1.46 fps. Just something to think about.
Needless is totally underrated. If I had more free time, I would definitely be blogging about it.
splitter: You know, for all the whining you’ve done about what you’re going to talk about for the last few weeks, you could have done a thin slicing of the season instead. Just saying.
Just out of curiosity… which do you think takes me longer to write? A 800 word post where I use two keystrokes (control-c and control-v)? Or a 4,000 word post that’s written from scratch?
warm: This should end soon. It still feels like we’re at the start of groundhog day and Bill Murray hasn’t gone bonkers and kidnapped the groundhog to drive off a cliff. Mmm… maybe Kyon should do the same, get drunk, kidnap Mikuru and do some (other) driving…
Yep… these are my readers.
24 Responses to “responses: melancholy of haruhi suzumiya 2009 7”
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Jason have you been playing NBA Jams cuz your ON FIRE with blog posts…or is it HEATING UP? I just don’t know anymore…;_;
When the DVD comes out, the entire Endless Eight arc should be packaged as one episode, where the viewer can toggle the scenes from the various episodes, so it’s like being able to change their clothes and stuff. That’s the only way this is justified (as a cool DVD feature).
If you need to think about it that way, then it’s truly depressing. I need to go re-watch the DOGS episodes again now…
I actually prefer Love Hina to Haruhi….
In the ‘best anime of the decade’ award I predict an all-out battle between Haruhi and Death Note with Haruhi eventually coming out on top. Oh and Elfen Lied to take a shock third place.
If I had the skillset I would totally do a mashup of endless eight eps where Kyon loses it halfway through like Jack did in that SG-1 ep and starts doing weird random things like making out with Mikuru or something. Hopefully someone with the skillset is reading this and will make it so we can enjoy it XD
Auw, since when do you take the time to degrade bad comments? That could really hurt someone you know, if you are going to use some self defined scoring system let us know what it is.
I remember getting Love Hina off kazaa back then, if it wasn’t for those few series on there, quite a few guys i know would never have started watching this stuff. Well maybe the toonami stuff, but if you keep watching dubs you go down weeaboo road fast and miss out.
You know, it always bothered me that it was Daniel Jackson of all people that gave O’neil the idea to just screw around because of the time loop. I always thought Jack would be the first person to think of taking advantage of the situation.
Itsuki’s face in the picture is the best thing about this post; Mikuru’s expression just fortifies it as a great picture. ItsukixMikuru, practically canon. And just to add substance to this comment, Mikuru is like Steve Nash.
i like how jason seems to put up with less flak from his readers than he used to and how he expects good comments in return for writing awesome posts. im not actually watching haruhi right npw but i plan to marathon all endless eight episodes in one big horrific stretch. this allows me the advantage of later blocking that day forever out of my memory. p.s. sorry for typos/bad grammar. writing from my phone.
The placement of Mikuru’s hands may have something to do with it. Just saying.
Then drop Haruhi, that other Shaft anime that isn’t Bakamonogatari (typo intentional) and do it. Just saying.
Itsuki just has a powerful imagination. “wow Kyon has some really amazing tits today”
You sound angry this post, jason. That means Endless Eight is doing it’s job… I think.
Ironically, I saw the Love Hina anime through an old-fashioned anime club, the last season before they went released R1-only. I came into it several episodes late and hated it instantly, so I wound up watching only a few episodes. The manga chapters were all mashed together, and the cranked-up pacing made me uncomfortable too. And it had the worst kind of anime-only character: the crappy second-rate rival who always butts in. When has this ever worked? Would Clannad (can’t think of another wingman show at the moment) have worked if Sunohara was always jealously butting in? Would Haruhi be good if Itsuki constantly hit on the girls, killing the mood?
Maybe it’s the alterntate universe Itsuki who likes girls… though that guy liked Haruhi and the one trying to cuddle Kyon would be Yuki.
Anyways, I don’t think I really appreciated anime blogs till Endless 8. Prior to blogs I would have had to watch 7 stupid repeats of the same episode with different clothes. Now I just have to wait for the inevitable “IT’S OVER” post to know that it’s safe to watch Haruhi again.
If that 5-in-1 wasn’t a good enough timesaver for you, here’s all of Endless Eight in 37 seconds. Or infinite seconds, if you want to be technical about it. But hey, now you can watch 15,524 iterations of Endless Eight in less than a week! I bet Nagato would have appreciated this.
http://www.endlessyoutube.com/watch?v=7ClrQDVxkHc
Ive been re-watching Full Metal Panic recently. Just finished Fumofu…. Holy CRAP where did Kyoto Animation disappear off to? The Goddess Comes to Japan Part 2 episode…. Kyoto pulled a “coincidental censoring” gag with a ladybird on a leaf. And then with a rubber ducky on the floor…. And then all the “Girls Bathing” talk….. They entered the Anime scene with some of the most fanservice-filled shots possible.
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But… But…. Where has it all gone? All we get is Itsuki in a Speedo, and 15,513 different swimsuits on Haruhi, Mikuru, and Yuki. *sigh* I think im starting to crack…
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Sidenote, Mirai Nikki Chapter 43…
http://www.onemanga.com/Mirai_Nikki/43/22-23/
If KyoAni do more then 1 more episode of Endless Eight, I may have to announce Yuno Gassai my new goddess.
I think you desperatly need to see this video, Jason. DESPERATELY.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiSg02Ll20s&e
@mahoshin: You know what this means: 5 eps remaining for the most fantastically, epically, unbelievably ballsy move that Kyoto Animation could ever pull. Too bad they’ll get castrated right afterwards.
The part of me that liked Haruhi would like to believe that if they did something like that, KyoAni would suddenly reveal another 14 real episodes. But that’s even less likely.
The 37 seconds video needs to be done for each episode and then looped. It will be the same, and yet not. Makes it more intesting.
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And delicious Tessa…always up for more Tessa fanservice.
@Niles
That’s the Love Hina OVA.
EVERYONE hated that OAV.
The only thing it’s got going for it was the improved, closer to the original manga designs (hmm, sounds familiar…) art; the story was even worse than the TV series (which was polarizing already to the fanbase).
And Kanako was from the manga.
@mahoshin:
It was good until they got to the “I’d rather have more Little Busters! or K-ON!” line.
I was expecting Hitler to be more of a FMP fan.
Endless Eight would be so awesome if it was anything like CROSS†CHANNEL.
Skribulous: nope, I’m referring to Kentaro and the TV series proper.
@Niles:
Did I say the anime was universally loved? Like most anime based on manga, the manga fans hated the butchering. Most of the LH anime fans usually had LH as their first exposure to anime.
But that doesn’t excuse the disaster that was the OAV.
And Keitaro got a lot better development in the manga, anyway.
Oh damn, you must have good control over my subconscious mind lol
I didn’t even remember reading or hearing anyone mentioning that when I wrote it XD