At this point, the new season of Haruhi has released five episodes. Four of them are the same series of events as our chracaters are trapped in a repeating summer. Four episodes is about 80 minutes of watching the same thing over and over. It’s not very entertaining.
What makes it even odder is that KyoAni is drawing it out. People who have read the light novels have commented that it didn’t take as long in the light novels as it has in the anime. Personally, I was betting on this episode to be the final one in this ridiculous game.
The thing is, this isn’t even the first stunt KyoAni has pulled with Haruhi. There was the infamous ‘Nice Boat’ incident where KyoAni claimed that they were giving us the first episode of the next installment. Instead, we got footage of a very nice boat–but it wasn’t Haruhi.
Could KyoAni just be sick of Haruhi and not want to continue? That does bring up the question of why didn’t they just cancel it. Even if the episodes are a joke, they’re still putting money into the project. Each episode, while the same series of events, does contain different animation.
Some people have pointed out that KyoAni has subtley slipped the hints to what Haruhi wants into the episodes, but if that is their intention, is isn’t really working. For one, it’s kinda obvious. Two, many fans already know the answer thanks to the light novels, so it’s not really a puzzle to them. Some people have said the variations are interesting to watch for. I personally don’t care to much for them.
Who know why KyoAni is doing what they’re doing. Personally, I’m going to stop watching Haruhi until we move beyond this arc.
CJ
stardragon
alexkun
Crisu
Janette
rakuen42
Dave
Errr… It’s mostly Kadokawa is doing all the trolling of Haruhi…
Kyoani complies though, that makes them partners in crime.
It’s because we didn’t buy enough Haruhi DVDs.
Oh you.
LMAO
The question then becomes how we can mobilize a fickle fanbase to effectively censure this sort of behavior. Part of the reason why I think they can get away with it is that once things return to normal, the fans will be back eating out of their hand.
An interesting question has come up lately and that’s regarding how much creative control Kadokawa has over the Haruhi franchise. If it’s as much as I think it is, that’s not gonna bode well…
It’s true in a way, as soon as the series returns to normal, I’ll start downloading the episodes again. On the other hand though, my interest in buying any merchandise has dropped to an all time low.
It’s because Kyoto Animation has so much loyalty is feels that is has a “cushion” to do whatever it wants. There are people out there who would defend the Haruhi franchise to the grave, believing that KyoAni could do no wrong. KyoAni is not challenged to meet the expectations of its fans enough anymore, its reputation precedes it, it’s almost like hubris, but with more anime and less Greek stuff.
And it’s eventually going to bite them in the ass.
Fanboys/Haruhitards are too easy to please. Evidence that there are people who just can’t get enough of Endless Troll
Those people need to get into some other anime…
So true. Most big Haruhi fans I know have extremely low anime experience.
They will finish it exactly after the end of Summer.
In fact one thing that makes what Kadokawa/Kyoani/Charles di Britannia or whoever is behind this more surprising and frustrating is not even the fact that they’re pissing off their own fans, but the fact that we have to consider DVD sales as well.
With DVDs in Japan often only containing 2 episodes and costing around 60 dollars/euros each, who the hell is gonna buy at least 2, probably 3 DVDs containing the same thing? I don’t know how much they depend on DVD sales to cover expenses and make profit, but they aren’t likely to be as high as it could be expected, because unless it’s some dumb obsessive fan, it’s not rational to spend 200 dollars on basically one episode being played over and over again.
I’ve heard some rumor that it’s some kind of production blunder. It’s the most logical, although I don’t know if true, explanation since it doesn’t make any sense at all – less DVD sales, pissing off your fans, boring the hell out of your staff doing the same thing, wasting the second season while there being enough material from the novels to cover 3 or 4 seasons and lowering your credibility as a studio.
In fact, in the novel it only covered, not one novel, but one third (or even less) of a novel, that is, around 50 pages or so, if I remember right. And there were no iterations whatsoever.
This is so surreal that if we were in Kyon’s world we’d have to think that it was Haruhi that was behind this
I honestly don’t know…I mean I know they’ve enjoyed teasing fans before, but it’s a bit much. I hope you’re right, I’d like to not think an anime studio would stoop so low.
I actually might get it if it were an actual puzzle, but as it’s not. The answer is in the light novels. :/
I think it’s fantastic. I’m honestly as bored as you folks are by it, but unlike most of you, I don’t think they’re trolling as much as it is that they’re trying something new. Granted they’re failing and failing hard, but I admire the balls of steel that it had to have taken for these folks to even try it.
That said, it’s sort of sad to see the fallout. Not only because the first season of Haruhi was legitimately great, but because you’d figure that folks would have shrugged it off three or four episodes in and given up on it. All the pissing and moaning is almost out of hand, and besides, I can’t can’t on one hand how many angry blogs I’ve seen written about how much this season is pissing folks off and that they’ll never watch the show again, only to see the same blogger post another angry tirade the next week when yet another repetitious episode airs.
Hell, maybe that’s the genius of it. While not much of what folks are saying about Haruhi’s second season is favorable, folks are talking about the show just the same. It’s keeping the show in people’s minds, and we all keep tuning in every week just to see if this is the episode that finally gets us out of the rut and into something different.
I suppose, but still, I’ll never be able to look back on this fondly. I just can’t comprehend the money they’re wasting on this and all the material they could be covering.
I actually have not watched an episode since I made this post, I just have my fingers crossed that next week will be the last…
It is kinda funny knowing everyones getting so pissed off over this and at the same time it isn’t funny knowing that i’m one of them.
I really hope they all wake up to a big german guy named sally peeing on their heads.
Incidentally………I think this series is gonna last 8 episodes ending on august 8th.
I don’t think it’s mainly KyoAni hating it’s fans; I think it’s mainly KyoAni buying themselves time to start planning how they are going to do the next episodes XDD
And wanting to cause pain to their fans. That’s probably in there too, somewhere XDD