Haruhi Through My Eyes (Season One Episode 2 Broadcast order)
___.
Asking me why I watch anime would probably yield a similar result to asking me why I live. It might be overly dramatic, but you’d probably get another question as an answer like “Why do we do anything?” People who have dreams, goals, or desires are the lucky ones… They’re simply too stupid to see the truth and as that one fool said “Ignorance is bliss”. There really is nothing too look forward too, and I watch anime because it’s better than feeling nothing at all.
But what if life was more interesting than awaiting death in an ordinary way?
I actually don’t know how many times I’ve watched the first season of Haruhi: If I had to guess I would say around 7, but I’m not sure… it’s probably more; I’ve watched the second season only twice and I skipped most of the episodes of endless eight both times; I’ve read the light novels for all the content not yet animated; I especially enjoyed the camrip of the movie (not the quality but the story). Am I a fanatic when it comes to Haruhi? Probably. However, my love for the story, characters, and world isn’t exactly without intellectual backing. I, however, also wouldn’t say that I discovered something new every time I watch the series. Instead I would say that I always discover that feeling of… of what? I’m not really sure; it’s that feeling of watching Haruhi which is somewhat equivalent to happiness. I’ve tried to tackle the series as a whole more times than I care to admit, and every time I veer off in so many directions I can never say what I mean. So instead I think I’ll try to tackle the first season once again episode by episode and try to convey a little bit of what watching this show is like through my eyes. If you like the show you might like this and if you don’t like the show you might more clearly be able to pin point why from what I’m about to transcribe on this lonely anime blog. For reasons that may become obvious I’m skipping over Episode 00 The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina. I’m planning to go in broadcast order for all of you who might want to follow along and for the few people who have waited out my long hiatus for content: I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long, please forgive me.
buy ampicilin target=”_blank”>
Perhaps all of us have had that moment when we realized the world wasn’t magical. The disillusionment of youth is unfair, but perhaps what’s more interesting is the way KyoAni chose to make Kyon’s entire existence literally gray before he meets Haruhi.
This is the only chance we get to size up everything he is before thrusting him into the SOS brigade and interestingly enough this speech had more than enough to say. Is it sadness that drives him to say those words or is it maturity? Is maturity sadness? Either way, no matter how Kyon lies to us in the future I think it’s important to remember that he clearly says in the introduction: “I longed for aliens, future men, ghosts, monsters, espers, and evil cartels to just appear from the bottom of my heart. But reality’s harsher than you think.” He’s accepted normality and normality has accepted him. If you wonder why some people have ambition while other seemingly smart people don’t you shouldn’t look much further than Haruhi and Kyon. Kyon, in many ways, has given up on the existence he would like to have while Haruhi
Has not. Be wary that it’s exactly this aspect and dynamic of Haruhi and Kyon that drive the first season, and for once the author (Tanigawa) knows it. However, even though Kyon is the one who’s given up it is Haruhi who ends up being the “weird” one. She never jokes.
Kyoto really does some fun things in this anime and here’s one of the shots that comes back in the last broadcast order episode when they’re in the gray world. The shot of the man and women symbols for the bathrooms and once again we’re referring to Haruhi and Kyon. I could joke, but I think the meaning isn’t particularly cryptic with the Adam and Eve references later. It’s Kyoto’s way of pointing out the fated meeting between the pair of interest. Really it’s the relationship between these two that propels the story, but what the heck, we’re still only on episode one. The best part of this line in particular is the intrigue it builds for later in the series for a first time viewer. Though it’s crystal clear to us what Kyon means, for everyone else it can go one of two ways. Either one “Oho, it’s the fated meeting,” or two “Is there some crazy s**t going on here?”
Cue the OP:
Although I’m sure I’ll talk about it many more times throughout the series I have to say that the people who animated this show really loved and understood this series. Seeing galaxies in Haruhi’s eyes is a direct description Kyon gives of Haruhi in the eighth light novel. Yuki standing in the snow is also from that eighth light novel but much more subtle. It actually deals with the short story Haruhi forces her to write when they’re trying to save the literature club. I won’t spoil more than that, but what’s interesting here is that it’s perhaps the rarest look we ever get into what Nagato really thinks as it’s one of only a few times that she’s the one who’s actually talking a little bit about how she feels. For Nagato this feeling is looking up at those little white dots that formulate her name: Yuki. To her it’s the most beautiful thing and whether or not she named herself because of that is a mystery only the author could know for sure. Regardless this is not something the average lover of Haruhi would put in their OP. Add the song lyrics capturing the Haruhi wavelength and I can tell you that Kyoto just gets this series. I would go far as to say that they do more than just get it too, they quite possibly might appreciate the beauty of the creation more than the original author… Then again I have seen too much of endless eight and Super Driver so I guess I’ll have to retract that statement. The OP is mysterious at first, but once you’ve seen it and the series you get it. As you delve through the entire Haruhi verse each frame becomes meaningful in its own right and I can’t help but smile when I hear Aya sing “It’s an adventure Right? Right?” Life that is.
You get it, I like it, let’s save more ramblings on the OP for another time as we delve into the themes more. For now let’s actually make some progress on this episode.
I like how normal this conversation feels as we flow from one scene to the next and last but not least I think it’s a good opportunity to inform you that you should not trust Kyon as the narrator. Kyon can be a liar and in truth he lies to himself. It’s classic really. We can convince ourselves about just about anything, but for Kyon to later say that he is not completely interested in Haruhi is a downright lie. Why is he interested? At this point we have little way of knowing… or do we? Could it be as simple as he wants to understand how a “beautiful” high-school girl can still believe in Aliens, Time-Travellers, and Espers? Maybe he wants to know because a small part of him still wants to believe too. Maybe he wants to know because he can’t stand that she can still believe and he cannot. My favorite reason is he recognizes something in her that he’s lost: That is passion. In the light novel he grumbles a lot more about walking up the hill and if you hadn’t notice nothing really excites him. Life is a chore, but for Haruhi? Haruhi is always busy while Kyon wallows. Haruhi says
While all Kyon does is waste time. I’ll leave Kyon’s motivation for you to decide, but I should caution you not to necessarily believe his take on it. Maybe it’s intellectual curiosity, but I doubt that his interest is simply random. He watches and asks about her too much for that.
Also in this conversation with Taniguch a lot of plot for later light novels is set up. I don’t think Tanigawa (the author) really intended to write more than one novel, but Kyoto had access to a lot of novels at the time of this airing, so he has definitely been foreshadowing. I often forget, but at this point in watching the series it’s also important to remember that nothing bizarre has happened. There is no reason for us to believe that Haruhi is anything but eccentric. Truth be told, I did not believe that Nagato was an alien when she first talked to Kyon in her apartment. It was just so out of the blue. How could I know what Haruhi was at this point on first viewing? In that sense I like the foreshadowing, but at the same time I like that they don’t make it look like anything more than eccentric behavior. Haruhi is just weird.
On the same vein as foreshadowing are Kyon’s continual remarks to the future such as triggers. However, I shouldn’t discount the way Haruhi looks at Kyon for the first time in this scene. Before when they had conversations she looked over him, but during their second conversation she sizes him up for the first time. All of you might be thinking about the good ol’ John Smith incidents at this point, or perhaps you’re wondering more about when Haruhi chose Kyon as the only person she would want to take with her from the old world. Regardless, Kyon thinks this is the trigger and perhaps I’ll agree. Maybe Haruhi doesn’t fall in love with him right here, but she certainly just took notice of his existence, and things happen when Haruhi’s attention is grabbed.
If I ever could sit down and ask Tanigawa one question about this series I would be hard pressed as there are just so many. However, clawing its way close to the top would have to be “Why did Haruhi cut her hair?” There’s really no reason for it right? Even I am hard pressed to think of answer besides perhaps Haruhi was testing Kyon and she really did want his attention. She got it and once more she looks at him when he talks to her.
Alright, this is just going to be a blithering fanboy comment. I love Haruhi’s frankness,
but more than that this line is just so win: “Whatever you heard it’s probably true.” I mean come on? Tell me you didn’t just fall for the girl who isn’t constantly worried about people talking badly about her behind her back. She could actually care less and that is rare.
I think everyone cares a little bit, but Haruhi doesn’t bother with “ordinary” humans so what did it matter… that is until Kyon. Then again, it could also be a little sad if you think of her having absolutely no connections with society. I’ll leave it to you to form your own opinion of Pre-Kyon Haruhi.
Every time Kyon says coincidence my mind immediately jumps to Haruhi wanting something to happen as the God of the world (i.e. Itsuki’s interpretation/explanation).
Haruhi manipulated the world data to sit behind him in class. That’s the more romantic view right? Unfortunately in this case we also happen to know Asakura Ryoko is an alien who can manipulate data easily and is interested in whether or not Kyon can produce interesting results from Haruhi. Don’t worry though, there are plenty of romantic interpretations left in the series, but this time I’m just going to have to award the most likely manipulation to Asakura Ryoko. Then again Haruhi works in mysterious ways, who’s to say she didn’t will Asakura to be the kind of organic human interface who would manipulate the data to have Kyon sit by her. Uh oh, this I’m stepping into dangerous realm of Itsuki’s infallible arguments.
I love the cut to an extremely annoyed Haruhi during Kyon’s speech on normalcy. In the end I find it hard to believe that Kyon wasn’t just waiting to give this speech. He had it all scripted out. He’s probably been thinking the whole thing since he heard class introduction. She blows up, but between the two characters this establishes the primary conflict. Why is Kyon pushing so hard for her to accept a normal existence when he has already admitted he wishes he didn’t have to live one? Why is it important for him to make her admit that she’s not special and special things won’t happen? I think when you answer this question you get dangerously close to discovering something about Kyon you might not have wanted to know. On the other hand from the results of this conversation I think we discover something about Haruhi that’s really sweet.
Although Kyon said he was a common person who wanted to live life in a common way Haruhi doesn’t leave him to it. She doesn’t just give up on his existence she tries to drag him into hers. It’s not pity; it’s affection. However, Kyon won’t be dragged into her world so easily and now we have a battle where each is trying to change the other. The strange point of the matter though is that Kyon wants to be more like Haruhi, or at least he wants the world she believes in. So why does he resist so hard? Does he have some lingering attachment to being right or what? I’m going to go ahead and hand out some of the conclusions I’ve come too after repeat watchings of this series. Keep in mind this is a subjective analysis of Kyon, but I believe there is a small part of Kyon that is both grateful and resentful of Haruhi for what she does for him starting right here. She drags him into an interesting world, but at the same time he would have never been able to get there of his own power. In some ways I think this fuels many of his snide remarks and passive aggressiveness in later arcs. Maybe he is trying to defend Asahina Mikuru in the movie making arc, but to me it seems like he goes out of his way to find fault in Haruhi. He slowly comes to realizations when he isn’t necessarily being logical, but I don’t think he ever really understands himself in this regard. That isn’t to say that he never is affectionate for Haruhi, but people can be affectionate and still be resentful. You’ll have to decide for yourself, but there is a small part of Kyon that is always fighting to make sure he knows that she’s not any better than him and in the later light novels I’m fairly sure he convinces himself of it. He’s the rational one while she flies off on crazy bouts. She’s the danger that he’s protecting the world from. Personally, I think I would like a world that Haruhi created better order online pharm than the one we live in… That might just be the rabid fanboy talking though.
Alright, I finally get to talk about something other than the Haruhi-Kyon dynamic (not that I mind talking about the Haruhi-Kyon dynamic). I absolutely love how awkward these first conversations are between Kyon and Yuki.
Have you ever had someone try to talk to you when you just want to read? I’m pretty sure the Tanigawa has. Normal people answer open ended questions like that in one word when they just want to be left alone. Whether or not Yuki is doing that is up for consideration, but right now we don’t know she is an organic human interface so I think we were supposed to lean the other way and be surprised later. I guess this is why Haruhi is a show that begs to be watched more than once. Almost everything I’m talking about happens later, but I’m talking about the development in the vein of the here and now. How many shows could I do this with that have premiered recently? Unfortunately, not many.
antibiotics to buy online target=”_blank”>
Then enters Asahina Mikuru who many probably think only exists for fan service. I’m not so sure. Although that certainly is a benefit of Asahina Mikuru she ends up playing a very, very important role in this series. Namely in her ability to manipulate Kyon (even if she’s not the one who originally thought up the ways in which she would manipulate him). She’s needy, she’s beautiful, and she’s a damsel in distress to Haruhi as King Kong. More than anything she’ll end up playing the role of Kyon’s justification for his dislike of Haruhi. When Asahina Mikuru cries (at the slightest provocation) Kyon always, always takes her side. He never sees things rationally when it comes to Mikuru and in several instances this causes Haruhi and him to butt heads. You also have to feel bad for Haruhi as she realizes his affections for Mikuru and yet can’t do anything. It’s unfair really, but since we are always in Kyon’s head I’m sure even you have taken Asahina –san’s side at one point or the other. She’s just so helpless, really too helpless to be a time traveler. In other words I can’t help but agree with Itsuki in the much later episodes when he questions whether or not Asahina was sent back for the express purpose of manipulating Kyon in that way. Asahina provides that constant tension between Haruhi and Kyon and in many ways is the wedge that will try to prevent them from getting close (though this isn’t really ever directly perpetrated by Mikuru). Of course, as I’ve said, and you’ve seen, this doesn’t stop Kyon from ever being affectionate towars Haruhi, but you’ll notice it’s generally when Asahina isn’t around and he can think clearly. Notice Asahina was the only SOS member missing during the God Knows concert, but more on that later.
buy online tabsAND with the creation of the club and a few quirky anime shout outs by Haruhi we reach the end. I’m skimming over the comedic moments because that’s just something you have to enjoy for yourself:
Cue the ED:
The Hare Hare Yukai dance is one of the most loved things from the original airing of Haruhi, but I can’t help but believe that it’s just a response to the love for the story: Like keeping a ticket stub from a movie has more to do with love of the movie or love of the person you were with than a love of paper. Still it’s not all sentimentality as it’s a strangely addictive song. I think Haruhi’s optimism and way of viewing the world is infectious and it shines through in the way she sings this song. How can I not be infected by pure happiness. BTW Hare Hare Yukai has now been my ringtone for a good two years :P.
Glad I decided to do this episodically; it gives me a lot more structure and makes the task considerably smaller.
So are you going to look forward to the next post on Haruhi or is this show so beyond your radar you wish I would have just stayed in Hiatus? These things are important.
Loading ...
13 Comments
First off, Its great to be reading your reviews again, its been a while :smile:
Secondly, I really like the way you’ve broken this episode down and thought about it; you’ve certainly turned a few gears in my mind and re-perked my interest in the show… I’ll have to watch it again.
Looking forward to reading your thoughts and discussion on the second episode! I might have a bit more to add than just praise too… :smile:
Thanks Dabookman!
I’m glad I finally posted something. I’ve started about 12 posts in the last THREE MONTHS that I’ve been away, but I’ve never really been able to finish them. The longer you’re away the harder it is to come back :P. Anyways, I’m hoping to post a few things soon, including the next episode of this.
Haha not a problem mate. You’ve got a pretty dedicated reader base. So long as you post something, we’ll read it. Anyway enough spamming from me, let’s see what others have to say.
Oh, I’m not so sure my dedicated reader base could hold out for 3 months :/. I am happy that you did though. Oh well, maybe they’ll stop by sometime in the future and be surprised (or perhaps Haruhi isn’t what they wanted to read about AGAIN).
I am sorely disappointed that you decided to skip Episode 1 (broadcast order). Episode 00 just sucked me into Haruhi. It was simply the most brilliant introductory episode I had ever seen, and I don’t think I will ever see the likes of it again.
You also took a shot at Endless Eight again, and I am oh so tempted to jump straight to its defence, but I hijack your blog enough as is.
I think I’ll never stop marveling at your dissection skills of literary works, Dustin. It puts me to shame that I’m a lazy reader/viewer who usually takes things for granted whenever I read manga/light novels or watch Anime. But not to worry though. I think your posts are a great source of motivation for someone like me who needs a good push in digging deeper into the stuff I read and watch, and not just scrape their surface and be done with it.
Anyway and safe to say, Haruhi is one of those series which really gets my brain gears going as opposed to series like oh…Seitokai Yakuindomo *rolls eyes* (I bet it’s a blasphemy that I mentioned Haruhi and SYD in the same paragraph and sentence). I’ve never written reviews about Haruhi but if I had, I would have wanted to touch on similar points like you did above in highlighting why I find it so appealing. I guess what attracted me the most about the story is its many cryptic, psychological and thematic messages such as Kyon’s cynical outlook on life before and after he meets Haruhi and the rest of the SOS Dan. The narrations and exchanges between characters don’t just fly over your head like any ordinary remark dull enough to be ignored. Sure, they sound like some common comments you often hear elsewhere but in Haruhi’s case, they’re a clever way of inviting us to understand the characters, the events that surround them and why they’re involved in those events e.g. to quote your paragraph above – Kyon’s impressions of Mikuru, his observations of the embarrassment she had to endure under Haruhi’s bully regime (costume raeping, for instance), and why he wants to defend her from Haruhi and the consequences that follow from it.
I had fun reading your post. It made me reassess how I viewed this series and revived my reasons for admiring the ingenuity involved. Truly, Haruhi is a series that deserves to be called a masterpiece. :grin:
@Passerby
I’m sorry about skipping episode 00, but believe me it’s not because I didn’t believe any of the things you just said. I do consider it one of the most brilliant openings of all time and the first time I saw it I was pretty much thinking WTF is this really The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya?! However, the brilliance of the first episode is almost self-evident and the things I really wanted to talk about in the first episode required the development of other parts of the series. Instead of skipping it like I said what I meant to say was “I’m going to skip this episode for now and come back to it”. I’m not really sure when though.
Oops, took a shot at Endless Eight huh? Unfortunately, I honestly have never been able to watch all eight episodes of endless eight. I always skip to the last one after the first couple. It ends up being too much even for a fan like me. I guess it comes down to whether or not you think Haruhi is worthy enough of the art title to suffer through it. Do you say “Endless Eight created exactly what it intended, absolute boredom” or do you go the other direction and say that “Endless Eight was a colossal waste of time”. I happen to be of the opinion that they could have made their point a lot more succinctly. I also believe that Herman Melville didn’t have to spend every other chapter of Moby Dick telling us we knew so very little by writing the encyclopedia of whaling. I’m capable of withstanding a little boredom, but the amount of boredom inherent in Endless Eight was beyond my capacity.
I know this might seem strange since I’ve watched the first season of Haruhi so many times, but Endless Eight is built around the concept of being bored with the repetition (and apparently Mikuru in different swimsuits). I just couldn’t stand behind that.
Haha, I guess that means I gave you permission to Hijack my blog ;). Anything you say now is my own fault so feel free :).
@Keiri
I don’t know what you’re talking about Keiri. I have a lot of fun reading your posts and honestly I think you choose your content really well for your style of blogging. With To Aru Kagaku no Railgun there’s really not a lot to look for in terms of depth. The conversations we had about the transformation of the Mikoto character was really pretty depthful in itself. In the end I spent a lot of time showing this series to other people and ended up watching it a bunch. Darker than Black is the foundation of this blog so I spend a lot of time on that too. For me to really dig into a story I have to be really interested and most stories don’t warrant that. Not to mention sometimes looking deeper can totally ruin the experience of anime. Often it’s better to watch shows like Seitokai Yakuindomo without a critical eye and just be surprised if something nice happens. I’m glad you think so highly of me though! I have a hard time cranking out posts sometimes and you’ve always remained fairly consistent (plus people are always waiting and willing to comment on your next post. You must be doing something right).
Haruhi is a masterpiece for sure. The story is complex but dressed in simplicity. I also like that we’re lead gently along. Kyon comes to his own opinions but they’re never really forced upon us and like I said before lots of times Kyon finds himself in the wrong. How many times has Touma been in the wrong? I can’t think of any.
I appreciate this too. Unlike most animes that are plot focused Kyon spends most of his time thinking about the characters and trying to get into the heads of these uncanny parties. I love that they don’t hit you over the head with what the characters are thinking. Besides Haruhi there is little to no exposition that is just straight up “I’m sad because my daddy in the future died”. Often times I feel writers spend too much time thinking about how characters will deal with events instead of how most of the time we’re just trying to figure out each other (when we’re forced into a small space). Kyon is the embodiment of normal this way, and for the most part self-interested.
I’m glad you stopped by and read this!! I know you’re really busy :).
I guess I should preface all this by saying I actually think that Endless Eight was a failure. But I’ll get to that.
Anyways, I hear a lot of people calling Endless Eight a massive troll attempt or a cost-cutting measure, but that can’t be right. Kyoani spent too much effort on it to be simply budget savings, and I certainly think it had more value than just its ability to stir up the pot. I think Endless Eight was actually interesting. Boring, perhaps, but there is certainly an element to it that held my interest.
The thing with Endless Eight is that for once we aren’t seeing things from Kyon’s perspective (except for arguably the first episode of the arc). The perspective is actually Nagato Yuki’s. Sure, Kyon is the narrator. Sure, we spend most of the time following Kyon around. Sure, Kyon is the main character who needs to crack this pretty puzzle in the end. But for once Kyon is no longer the audience stand-in, who says the normal everyman, who says what we wish to say. Kyon doesn’t remember every other iteration of Endless Eight. We do. Kyon hasn’t seen all his past efforts end in failure. We have. Rather than standing a bit behind Kyon, looking over his shoulder, the viewer is now in a position where he or she wants to actually grab Kyon, shake him, and tell him to wake up. We want to shout out whatever solution we thought was right. We wanted Kyon to screw it together and stop Haruhi from leaving the cafe. Instead, we realise that we are stuck behind the screen. It really hits home that we are merely observers, not players.
Just like Yuki.
Yuki, like us, is also bound to being an observer, albeit by her duty of non-interference. And observe she did, categorising very iteration of sumemr vacation. Indeed, every single episode of Endless Eight was subtly different. I found myself unwittingly playing the same game as Yuki, looking for the little things, noting what was different, doing anything to suffer through the episode, and then at the end desperately rooting for Kyon while getting used to the usual disappointment. I can’t even imagine Yuki’s infinite patience, having to do summer vacation, and nothing else, 15 532 times. But I got a thin slice of it. And when the last iteration came around and Kyon solved everything in the most mundane way possible (as we’ve come to expect of him), my relief was palpable. It was an experience, I tell you.
Now, despite all this, I consider Endless Eight a failure, for two reasons. Firstly, success is judge by what was being achieved. I think Endless Eight achieved what it wanted to achieve. It made me empathise with Yuki most effectively. It took me through its journey. However, at the same time, anime is fundamentally about entertainment. Endless Eight cannot be called a success if it failed in this prime directive. This is where I think the ball was dropped. Endless Eight may have been an interesting excercise, yes, and instructive experiment, yes. But was it entertaining? I don’t think so. At the very least, most viewers were not entertained, and that’s failure right there.
This leads me to my second point: Endless Eight puts much too high an onus on the viewers. I defend Endless Eight because I slogged through it, gave it a chance, tried to give it some merit. Most viewers will not do that, nor feel the need to do that. They aren’t obligated to stick with the time-looping, like Yuki. We only get 23 minute episodes every week. We can go and watch something else, or even just do something else. We don’t feel any need to sit and keep faith in silence, like Yuki. We rage, we complain, we send angry e-mails to KyoAni. We can’t be barred from these outlets, and we used them.
Even though I ultimately consider Endless Eight a failure, I am still glad for it. I like to think that KyoAni knew they can’t possibily top the hype, so they might as well make use of it to do something interesting. Endless Eight is the kind of experiment that a hugely successful studio can afford to do; if it fails, then they still have capital to buffer the losses and have full confidence they have th ability to revive the franchise later (Disappearance). I’m glad they had the courage to do something like this. At the same time, I fear the backlash may stop them from doing anything experimental in the future, and be forced to retread formula. That would be a bar to even successful experiments (like Episode 00), and would take away a lot of what I loved of Haruhi.
(Speaking of Disappearance, I haven’t watched it. The only thing available seems to be that horrid camcorder version, and I don’t think Disappearance is coming over to cinemas here.)
Urgh, I want to respond to this. I really, really do, but you see I just wrote 3,000 words in response to the darker than black comment and it’s just too late at night to do that again :P.
In short, I love the interpretation of Endless Eight and I have mostly switched my stance to mirror yours (believe it or not I didn’t have to move very much). At least half the things you said I posted in Haruhi revisited earlier and the other half were just pure epicness based off that. Still, I do have to view Endless Eight as a failure because it failed to entertain. It was too big of a step to take for most of us fans. Am I glad they tried it? Hmmm, it was pretty drastic. I’m fairly sure they could have done the same thing in four episodes. I know people were bored by ep 3. Maybe 5 eps max.
Still I love the idea of Endless Eight. I love the idea of making us the observer instead of Kyon and I wish the rest of the anime community (including myself) could appreciate it as much as you apparently did. I guess one failed experiment is allowable.
Actually I didn’t really mean to take a shot at Endless Eight but more at Super Driver. I felt with the OP and ED of the second season they were aiming for a show that wasn’t about story anymore. If anything I felt like they were trying to bandwagon like they’re doing with K-ON!! and that really bothered me. Maybe I’m wrong, but didn’t it feel like the songs were saying “Hey, the SOS brigade is cool and fun, come join it”. I hated feeling like every episode started out with a statement about how this wasn’t about story anymore. Other shows do this all the time, but Haruhi had such a great OP the first time around maybe I was just expecting to much.
Oh well so it goes,
This was already more than I wanted to comment on XP.
I must admit that when I rewatch Haruhi I almost invariably skip over Endless Eight. It would take some rare breed of masochist to have fun rewatching the full set of episodes. I don’t blame anyone who found no enjoyment from the arc; if they found it boring and unentertaining they’re probably right. I cannot in good conscience go out of my way to recommend it to anyone, which is my measuring stick for these things.
As for Super Driver, I didn’t really like it either, especially compared to the first OP, but I never did any complex analysis as to why. I suspect it has something to do with the dispersal of nonsensical Engrish and the fact that it could easily be considered a song about high-powered golfing.
@ Dustin & Passerby
With all this talk about endless 8 already, are you going to be able to cover it in your breakdown? Anyway, although the E8 was a painful experience for most any Haruhi fan, it wasn’t all bad. If you were hardcore enough to sit through ALL 8 without breaking down into a gibbering wreck, then you have to admit that the emotional thrill ride throughout the episodes was quite something. The first time Kyon realized something was amiss was like a shot of adrenaline – “Kyon can be a smart guy… maybe he’ll figure it out”, but alas we once again start with that familiar baseball game and the singing cicadas.
Each and every following episode I found myself hoping that against all odds, that Kyon would solve it, that the gang could move on; even though it became apparent that it wouldn’t be resolved until episode 8 of the arc. To be honest, that was probably what I got out of the arc – an emotional roller-coaster that you know is only going to end one way, but you can’t help but hope it doesn’t. It may be sad to say, but I would re-watch E8 if I watched Haruhi again, albeit better prepared this time :smile: if only for that ride again.
True, Super Driver was very different from the kind of Haruhi we were used to. “Bouken Desho Desho” had all that sense of intrigue and oddball-ness that made H.S. up; where as “Super Driver” was more about fast music, faster colors and perhaps the type of Haruhi who wouldn’t be stopped by anyone or anything (e.g. “STOP” signs she changes to “GO”). If you look at it this way, both openings show a certain side of Haruhi (has anyone ever mentioned how awesome her name is? I’ve said it around six times so far, and it’s still awesome). So while Super Driver may not hit you in the face with storyline, that doesn’t mean it has little to do with the show. Look at it this way, Super Driver could be used to describe Haruhi’s massive drive to accomplish things – therefore it has a relation to the story.
And now I’m going to stop here before I go any further off-episode. The E8 will turn up I’m sure… or a least I hope. Then there will be much discussion, but until then I’m looking forward to Ep2′s review.
Holy shit you people. Your brains are so much bigger than mine.
I love Hauhi, I watched all of endless 8, I went out and purchased the English 3rd haruhi novel at the book store…
I can’t even compare with the level of insight here.
Rather, I get it – i think on the same level – but no way in hell I would ever be able to write it down.
Also, mentioning the things from the eighth novel was cool, I would have never picked up on that.
@Dabookman
What!? Don’t defend Super Driver you’ll make me actually take it seriously for a second and that will lead to thinking which I clearly do not want to do!
In all seriousness though I get your point. In some ways it does reflect an aspect of Haruhi much like Hare Hare yukai reflected that optimistic no holds grabbing the sunshiny happiness falling from the sky. Super Driver had some interesting symbolism but in the end I felt like the whole this was a lot more obvious than Bouken from S1. Maybe I’m jaded as I know a lot about the series now, but obviousness isn’t always great. I like saying WTF while watching anime (as long as it’s a good WTF: Like Franken Fran).
As for whether or not I’ll get to season 2, I guess we’ll see. Let’s see if I can get through season 1 first. You might have noticed, but I’m not exactly the most reliable person in the world, nor am I able to complete every task I set for myself. Hopefully this won’t be one of those times though :).
P.S. I didn’t get the emotional thrill so much: Until the last episode when it was finally over. I get what you mean though. If my heart wasn’t a shriveled bean I would probably have experienced it personally.
@dai1313
Oho, thanks dai, it’s been awhile.
I’ve had a little bit of practice trying to explain it to a few of my friends before so it’s not like this is my first attempt at writing all of this down. I actually don’t think I could have ever written this about the Haruhi series without seriously thinking about Haruhi first. Most of the time I just don’t watch anime analyzing everything.
Thanks for the comment though: It was very flattering.
No problem about the eighth light novel. I really liked that KyoAni included it :).
One Trackback
[...] (as someone who has spent way too much time on the series) to this blog. Feel free to read the previous post on Ep2 or jump straight into this [...]