The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Episode 20 Discussion / Poll [2009 added ep. 10]

[monir]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Suzumiya Haruhi (2009), Episode 10.

Thread Guidelines
Raw requests and offers are not permitted anywhere on this forum.
Spoilers about future events must not be posted in this thread.
If you need to reference something that would spoil a future event, reply directly with a private message (http://forums.animesuki.com/faq.php?faq=vb_board_usage#faq_vb_pm_explain).
Discuss your expectations of the episode if it has not aired yet.
Be polite to your fellow forum members.
Please try to keep the discussion on topic.

Spoiler Policy

Any spoiler that reveals future events, even under a spoiler tag, will be deleted.
Spoiler tags should still be used where appropriate.
Adding a Spoiler tag:

spoiler.gif
Just highlight your spoiler and click the button found
on the "Quick Reply" and "Reply to Thread" forms.
Make sure that you include a title for the spoiler!
Please use the Report button if you see any spoilers:

report.gif
Click the button found to the left of the post, just under the poster's avatar.
Using the Report button is anonymous and helps the Moderators
to locate and deal with problems quickly.
Posting prohibited spoilers may result in a ban.
Note: Reporting a post does not mean the poster will be banned instantly.
The Moderators will use bans if warnings are repeatedly ignored.

[ac195]

Sports Day!!!
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7791/1250179046510.jpg

[Dakota]

I think the Title had Roman Numeral One, which leads be to believe it's Sighs I now...

[Ascaloth]

Where's the 2ch thread?

[Roger Rambo]

Huh. So those people called on what it would end up being.

[spawnofthejudge]

I love the picture. Focus, focus, determination, focus, Koizumiwithanunfocusedsmile, focus, focus, determination, focus...

[M.Marangio]

Where's the 2ch thread?

(2chan links deleted)

[ac195]

I love the picture. Focus, focus, determination, focus, Koizumiwithanunfocusedsmile, focus, focus, determination, focus...

That shot made me a Koizumi fan for a second... only for a second though...

[CrazyPerson]

Watching the live feed, the words for sighs I came up. So yeah, definitely sighs.

[CrowKenobi]

From that picture, does it look like they're preparing to beat up some "defenseless" girl in order to date her? :heh: :heh:

[Gensing]

Episode Title screenshot:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/Thursday228/1250179645064.jpg

[Sho-tan]

well, it's sighs.

[TakariCritic]

I laughed so hard at Nagato's leg of the relay race. The entire scene was hilarious.

[Roger Rambo]

So is this episode a sports day centric original episode, or is this just the start of Sigh's?


Cause frankly I was looking forward to Haruhi running around in Gym shorts.


EDIT:So not sports day

[spawnofthejudge]

That shot made me a Koizumi fan for a second... only for a second though...It's funny. I both like him and don't in equal degrees. That shot is just a heartbeat shy of a CMOA for him, though.So is this episode a sports day centric original episode, or is this just the start of Sigh's?


Cause frankly I was looking forward to Haruhi running around in Gym shorts.


EDIT:So not sports dayIs there a reason it can't be both?

[Jonbob0008]

It looks like it is both.

[ac195]

So is this episode a sports day centric original episode, or is this just the start of Sigh's?


Cause frankly I was looking forward to Haruhi running around in Gym shorts.


EDIT:So not sports day

The Sports Day relay was in Ch.1 of the Sighs LN.

[SidVicious]

Yuki looks so cute. :D

[ReneeBurossamu]

...what? I don't get it. I can see that the animation has gone more... "new style"-ish again when compared to last week. Hmm.

But it's pretty cool that they're taking the time to animate such a short mention/the beginning of Sighs.

[Rockman-X]

EDIT: Wait, is the episode still playing right now?

Already ended @ SUN TV

[ac195]

...what? I don't get it. I can see that the animation has gone more... "new style"-ish again when compared to last week. Hmm.

But it's pretty cool that they're taking the time to animate such a short mention/the beginning of Sighs.

EDIT: Wait, is the episode still playing right now?

It's about to end.

The Sports Day part was just a small part of the episode, and the most memorable. It's basically a setup episode, like any first episode of a new story arc.

[Sho-tan]

Lol, sony camera.

[Peanutbutter003]

Nagaru Tanigawa wrote this episode?!?! :twitch:

That means he's still alive! :heh:

It's a S*NY! :heh:

[ac195]

Lol, sony camera.

Sponsors :D

[ReneeBurossamu]

OH MY GOSH.
I visit Justin.tv for the first time and actually find the correct channel. And you know what I was watching?

TOMARE. Fffffff.

[Daniel Lind]

Well that was a nice start for Sighs.
Remember, it gets better later and they have 5 episodes for this.

I LOVED expressions on Kyon and Haruhi. Seriously, I like new designs much more.
New background music was there as well... pretty nice.

They left out (for a time being?) a scene where
Kyon and Haruhi talk in cafe about SOS-Dan members' real identities.
They had that scene in "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku" video game though.

Anyway, that was a good episode.

P.S. It's a SONY!

[typhonsentra]

So wait, they cut the part where Kyon confesses everything about the group?

[Heminga13]

Yeah, instead of Kyon just saying there was a sports festival (or day, whatever) that took place, they chose to just animate part of it. At least I think it was only mentioned in the novel. Anyway, they gotta make sure that this will last five episodes lol.

[velocity7]

So wait, they cut the part where Kyon confesses everything about the group?

It's probable it's being saved for later.

[haruhi.ism]

Yuki looks so cute.

yuki was definitely super adorable in this episode!
i can't wait to see the rest of this arc, the sighs is one of my favorite light novels

[Game8910]

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/8297/1250180722137.jpg

Haruhi here, about to take care of the E8 non believers

[Ice Block]

It's a SONY!

Train scene was nice, but best part of the episode has got to be Yuki's part in the relay race. Major lol. :D

As for art/animation, I believe we are back (with the rest of the season hopefully) to E8 5 and 8 quality -- new character designs with better-of-2006 animation, minus the overly detailed background art and characters (though we had a glimpse of that here with the train and classroom scenes -- and hoping we eventually get more). Plus, we get lots of "new" facial expressions this time around. Lots of things I might have missed from the stream though -- kinda laggy today.

Hahaha I still can't get over Yuki's relay run. :heh:

[Roger Rambo]

And so the Haruhi "Dat Ass" meme continues.

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1610/1250181094382.jpg http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/4572/1250181203827.jpg

I hope there's higher quality of this in the subs...

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/8297/1250180722137.jpg

Haruhi here, about to take care of the E8 non believers
FUCKING AIRSOFT DEAGLES!

YOU GONNA LOAD IT WITH CLIPS?

I think I'll go troll /k/ now.

[Triple_R]

Sports Day!!!
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7791/1250179046510.jpg

This scene reminds me a lot of the anime Ranma 1/2. :D

I hope that OkamiNoKaze gets why, at least. ;)

[W-General]

Awww snap. Missed a live streaming...

Took me a while to find the new channel since the old one got shut down

[Heminga13]

Nagaru Tanigawa wrote this episode?!?! :twitch:

That means he's still alive! :heh:

Did he really?

Oh man, what's he doing writing episodes for the anime and not finishing novel 10? You don't think he's working with Kadokawa on some sort of scheme, do ya? /conspiracy

[Daniel Lind]

Oh man, what's he doing writing episodes for the anime and not finishing novel 10? You don't think he's working with Kadokawa on some sort of scheme, do ya? /conspiracy
He probably finished it three years ago

[SidVicious]

This scene reminds me a lot of the anime Ranma 1/2. :D

I hope that OkamiNoKaze gets why, at least. ;)

The one with the Kendo outfit looks like Kuno. :p

[Triple_R]

The one with the Kendo outfit looks like Kuno. :p

Good eye! I was thinking the same thing. :D

[ac195]

From that picture, does it look like they're preparing to beat up some "defenseless" girl in order to date her? :heh: :heh:

Oh man, that one went right over my head on a first read, haha.

[Triple_R]

From that picture, does it look like they're preparing to beat up some "defenseless" girl in order to date her? :heh: :heh:

A ha! Somebody else got that impression too! Cool! :D

[GMT]

FUCKING AIRSOFT DEAGLES!

YOU GONNA LOAD IT WITH CLIPS?

I think I'll go troll /k/ now.
For some reason, I can see Haruhi as a "Deagle" fangirl.

Haruhi: "ZOMG DEAGLES R TEH KOOL!!11"
Kyon: *facepalm* "Ugh, not a 'Deagle' fan. Couldn't you have picked something more practical, like a M1911, or something?"
Haruhi: "ZOMG LAME! DEAGLES R ZOMG AWESUM!!11"
Kyon: "Nevermind. Do what you want. Just leave me out of it."

[Roger Rambo]

Interestingly enough, having been on /k/ recently, I can attest that they're almost as hating on .45 acp now as they were on Deagles.

[Game8910]

Interestingly enough, having been on /k/ recently, I can attest that they're almost as hating on .45 acp now as they were on Deagles.

I replied to your thread with some Kyon...so meh

[Takamura Mamoru]

http://i25.tinypic.com/55s5j8.png

[Daniel Lind]

ITT: 4chan

[Triple_R]

LOL I love the detail on her fingers there.

[Roger Rambo]

ITT: 4chan
Isn't it a magical place?

[ReneeBurossamu]

Quick question: What time in Japan do the episodes play?
Perhaps someone could give the appropriate time in American time...?

[spawnofthejudge]

Quick question: What time in Japan do the episodes play?
Perhaps someone could give the appropriate time in American time...?The first showing is approximately noon EDT on Thursdays.

[Game8910]

http://i25.tinypic.com/55s5j8.png

here bro

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9294/1250181192135.jpg

[Daniel Lind]

Quick question: What time in Japan do the episodes play?
http://cal.syoboi.jp/tid/1639/time
Here are airdates by channel by episode.
It might be hard to read without knowledge of japanese, though.

[Heatth]

An easier one:

http://haruhi.tv/schedule.html

25:00 = 1:00am

[Kid Ying]

Wow, two episodes with new stuff in a row! I thought i would never see this happening again. ;a;

And yeah, the scene with all those guys does resemble Ranma a lot. It looks like Akane is on the other side of the camera waiting to kick some asses.

[cybermirage]

They left out (for a time being?) a scene where
Kyon and Haruhi talk in cafe about SOS-Dan members' real identities.
They had that scene in "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku" video game though.


They long passed up the chance to animate that scene during the first airing. That particular scene falls immediately after Melancholy VI ends. They didn't really leave any room to put it in, and it's obviously WAY too short to be worth a new episode in this broadcast of the show.

[spawnofthejudge]

They long passed up the chance to animate that scene during the first airing. That particular scene falls immediately after Melancholy VI ends. They didn't really leave any room to put it in, and it's obviously WAY too short to be worth a new episode in this broadcast of the show.They might mention it in passing. This is particularly likely to happen during the Sigh arc.

[karumofin]

well... I know that noone cares about the EE debacle anymore, but I'll still say it.
I feel kind of excited that the season is STARTING now, while in reality I know its ending. So yeah, meh.

[Daniel Lind]

They didn't really leave any room to put it in, and it's obviously WAY too short to be worth a new episode in this broadcast of the show.
They might do it as a flashback in the beginning of Sighs II.

[ac195]

They might do it as a flashback in the beginning of Sighs II.

Yeah, I can see it being done when Haruhi reveals the details of the character roles.

[Roger Rambo]

Posted this in the image board but thought it might be somewhat relevant here., since we've got all this Haruhi Macro content here.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7995/haruhipearlharbor.png

[Game8910]

ok I lold -__-

[ac195]

Posted this in the image board but thought it might be somewhat relevant here., since we've got all this Haruhi Macro content here.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7995/haruhipearlharbor.png

I wonder how many people are gonna recognize that as the island of Oahu (Hawaii) and Pearl Harbor...

[Kaisos Erranon]

Eh? So Sighs I AND a Sports Day?

Awesome.

ok I lold -__-

Get rid of your avatar. I called it long before you did.

[Kaioshin Sama]

I need a slight refresher, this is still chronological right?

LOL I love the detail on her fingers there.


Yes...quite the attention to detail eh? :heh:

Oh well...it looks like we've still got that questionable style of animation as opposed to the classical style that I was hoping to go back to. Kind of disappointing, but at the same time not terribly surprising.

[TakariCritic]

Yes, this is still chronological. Endless eight finished on September 1st, and the sports festival and culture fesitval setup take place in early Autumn. Apparently nothing happened in October.

[Daniel Lind]

I need a slight refresher, this is still chronological right?
Yeah.

Yes...quite the attention to detail eh?
Note that her fingers are moving in that scene.

Well, KyoAni can't draw hands at all for long time, since Kanon 2006.
I stopped to wonder.

[Heminga13]

I need a slight refresher, this is still chronological right?

Yes it is and it should continue to be up to Someday in the Rain.

[Solictum]

http://i25.tinypic.com/55s5j8.png

Is it just me, or does Haruhi's left hand look a little... weird?

[spawnofthejudge]

Is it just me, or does Haruhi's left hand look a little... weird?Right hand's weirder IMHO.

[Kikuchi]

My only complain about this episode would be the animation style. I like the original one (like in E8-2) way more.

Otherwise it was a pretty solid setup episode. And God does it feel good after those last weeks...

[Roger Rambo]

So it seems that we're stuck with the rather fluctuating art style rather than maintaining what we got in E8 2...

[Triple_R]

I need a slight refresher, this is still chronological right?




Yes...quite the attention to detail eh? :heh:

Oh well...it looks like we've still got that questionable style of animation as opposed to the classical style that I was hoping to go back to. Kind of disappointing, but at the same time not terribly surprising.

Yeah, I completely agree. However, I'll go a bit easy on this episode simply because it's giving us new content! :heh: As for the episode as a whole, I'll be waiting for the sub, as always. I intend to make a thorough review of it once I see it.

By the way, great avatar! As my sig shows, I'm an original Mobile Suit Gundam fan myself.

[ReneeBurossamu]

Awesome, the raw is out.
I think that I would enjoy the episode more if I could understand what they were saying.

[GMT]

Awesome, the raw is out.
I think that I would enjoy the episode more if I could understand what they were saying.
Having read the light novel, I knew the gist of what was going on. I had more fun making up my own dub as the episode went along.

[typhonsentra]

Wow, we'd usually get to over 100 posts before the episode was over. Guess when we're not drinking the haterade there's less to talk about. :heh:

[Kaisos Erranon]

I fully expect several hundred posts complaining about the art when the subs come out. -_-

I may have figured out why they're not doing Disappearance this season, though... it'd be too demanding on the animation budget.

The stories they chose (BLR, E8, and Sighs) are, for the most part, doable without restorting to budget extremes like with Live Alive, DoS, and the latter parts of Melancholy, though.

...We will, however, see what happens when they get to some of the later scenes in Sighs... They'll probably either cut them out or replace them with something less flashy.

MIKURU BEAAAAAM

[Jenni]

I fully expect several hundred posts complaining about the art when the subs come out. -_-

There's no excuse for bad art... which this episode has in spades. :frustrated:

[Kaisos Erranon]

There's no excuse for bad art... which this episode has in spades. :frustrated:

It's not "bad art". It's "art we don't want to see".

Umineko has bad art. The art here is still great, just a completely different style.

I hate it too, but it's not "bad art".

[DJ Trouble]

After that E8 stunt, isn't it just possible that a lot of people don't care anymore?

And Sighs doesn't seem to be high on some people's lists, too. Those two things together, well . . .

I love that look Kyon through to the camera after Haruhi walked away near the start. That was without a doubt my favorite part of the whole episode.

[Triple_R]

It's not "bad art". It's "art we don't want to see".

Umineko has bad art. The art here is still great, just a completely different style.

I hate it too, but it's not "bad art".

I don't know... some of this anatomy is genuinely pretty questionable. That's one of the things I liked a lot about Haruhi Season 1 - very solid anatomy. Take away the big eyes, and squiggly lines for nose and mouth (which are staples of anime, anyway - so we're all quite used to them), and you have normal body proportions.

Still, like you said, it could be worse.

[Roger Rambo]

*snip*
That's just depressing...


Still, like you said, it could be worse.
Considering the buzz the first season had, this is hardly the kind of reaction that should be elicited.

[Kaisos Erranon]

I don't know... some of this anatomy is genuinely pretty questionable. That's one of the things I liked a lot about Haruhi Season 1 - very solid anatomy. Take away the big eyes, and squiggly lines for nose and mouth (which are staples of anime, anyway - so we're all quite used to them), and you have normal body proportions.

Still, like you said, it could be worse.

Again, style, not art. They lost a chunk of the original Haruhi animators, as well.

The reason E82 looked so great is because most of it was animated already, I'm pretty sure...

Again, I hate how it looks now too, but it's all we've got.

That's just depressing...

I just don't think they have the money anymore. We're in a recession, they're a small studio, and they did three other shows right before working on this one.

Maybe they're waiting until they make enough money off of K-On and this... Disappearance would require a ridiculous budget, so...

[khryoleoz]

Oh we're getting Sighs? Sigh. Not that I thought it was bad, but this was my least favorite volume for two reasons, 1) the movie already sums up what happens, and 2) this was where I least liked the progression of the Kyon/Haruhi relationship. But, more Haruhi is better than none. I'm actually looking forward to it. It's just that I had just assumed that we would be heading towards Disappearance soon, so I was a little surprised.

[Roger Rambo]

I just don't think they have the money anymore. We're in a recession, they're a small studio, and they did three other shows right before working on this one.

Didn't those shows make them money though, like, through merchandising sales? I mean the economy wasn't as bad back then...


Maybe they're waiting until they make enough money off of K-On and this... Disappearance would require a ridiculous budget, so...
I'm sensing a catch 22 coming up here.

Because they don't have money they can't make the excellent animation... and because they can't make the excellent animation they can't make money.


Me thinks that the god tier trolling to wait 3 years before making Season 3 has bitten them in the ass?

[Triple_R]

That's just depressing...


Considering the buzz the first season had, this is hardly the kind of reaction that should be elicited.


You know what's sad? Endless Eight alone, or the art style changes alone, could be overcome... but both at the same time?

Whew... that's a hard combo. It's really testing a lot of the fan base I think.

I'm going to hope that the subs change my assessment, though. If nothing else, I like the hat-tip to Ranma 1/2. Somebody on the animation team clearly liked that anime when they were growing up.

[Kaisos Erranon]

I'll wait on subs to really analyze, but if nothing else, for most of the episode they're using S1's wild camera techniques.

At least they still know how to do that.

Still not that great of an episode, but Sighs is crap anyway. If they keep in -that scene-, and all of the crazy BEEEAAM stuff, it should get better.

Sighs V should be like an auto-ten from me though.

Oh we're getting Sighs? Sigh. Not that I thought it was bad, but this was my least favorite volume for two reasons, 1) the movie already sums up what happens, and 2) this was where I least liked the progression of the Kyon/Haruhi relationship. But, more Haruhi is better than none. I'm actually looking forward to it. It's just that I had just assumed that we would be heading towards Disappearance soon, so I was a little surprised.

Sighs was more about a) the relationship between the three abnormals and Kyon and b) What a huge bitch Haruhi really is.

I'm really, really afraid they're going to cut the latter part, though. If they do, it'll make Live Alive look less awesome than it could be.

I mean, Live Alive already was awesome, but when put into context...

Didn't those shows make them money though, like, through merchandising sales? I mean the economy wasn't as bad back then...

Munto made like no money and Clannad isn't as ridiculously popular as, say, K-On currently is. (Best selling anime ever, remember?)

And remember this show was being animated... sometime late last year, or something? That might explain it...

[Roger Rambo]

Well that would put a damper in the whole "Kyoani and Kadokawa have money to blow off and experiment with" theory.

[Heminga13]

The movie doesn't really sum up Sigh as a whole, it just sums up what the Brigade did in Sigh. The rest of it focuses on Haruhi's powers (and probably some other stuff but it's been a long time since I read it). I'm hoping that it'll be a little more fun to watch it than read about it (Sigh wasn't bad, but I'm one of the ones who didn't like it that much compared to others).

[Jenni]

It's not "bad art". It's "art we don't want to see".

Umineko has bad art. The art here is still great, just a completely different style.

I hate it too, but it's not "bad art".

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d199/Darth_Xor/1250179838525.jpg
See her fingers and hands in that pic? See how misshapen they are? That's no stylistic choice... that's bad art. Keep in mind, this art failure merely compounds the poor choice of style. Haruhi has become an art fail show like K-On! :frustrated:

[Triple_R]

Well that would put a damper in the whole "Kyoani and Kadokawa have money to blow off and experiment with" theory.

No offense to K-On fans... but I find it pretty funny that K-On is what is keeping Kadokawa and KyoAni afloat financially.

You know... could that be the reason for the art change? Moe blobs sold excellently in K-On, so it should also sell well in Haruhi? I wonder if that's the thinking here.

If so, it'll be interesting to see if it pans out (EE effect notwithstanding).

Jenni - Exactly. That's Liefeld-esque bad anatomy (comic book fans will get the reference - for non-comic book fans, just focus on how long each of Haruhi's fingers are given how they appear here...).

[CrowKenobi]

The movie doesn't really sum up Sigh as a whole, it just sums up what the Brigade did in Sigh. The rest of it focuses on Haruhi's powers (and probably some other stuff but it's been a long time since I read it)."Why cats talk and the witches who use ventriloquism!" :heh:

[Kaisos Erranon]

Well that would put a damper in the whole "Kyoani and Kadokawa have money to blow off and experiment with" theory.

They're just scared of wasting money on something that might not sell. Disappearance is really heavy, and most of everything up 'till now has been relatively light...


See her fingers and hands in that pic? See how misshapen they are? That's no stylistic choice... that's bad art. Keep in mind, this art failure merely compounds the poor choice of style. Haruhi has become an art fail show like K-On! :frustrated:

K-On was art fail?

K-On had great animation and design for what it was. A crappy moeblob show.

And yes, that particular part sucked. I can point out to you a couple of scenes from S1 with just as questionable art.

The episode as a whole wasn't as bad as that. It's still no BLR.

Honestly, it just seems to me as though you're looking for things to complain about.


You know... could that be the reason for the art change? Moe blobs sold excellently in K-On, so it should also sell well in Haruhi? I wonder if that's the thinking here.

Again, this was made a while back, as was K-On. They didn't realize K-On would sell so ridiculously well. It's just the style the newer animators are better at working with, and they don't have the money for the ridiculously detailed designs anymore.

If they really wanted to turn this into a moeblob show, there wouldn't be as much focus on Kyon and Koizumi as there is.

[Jenni]

And yes, that particular part sucked. I can point out to you a couple of scenes from S1 with just as questionable art.

The episode as a whole wasn't as bad as that. It's still no BLR.

Honestly, it just seems to me as though you're looking for things to complain about.

Yes, S1 had art fail as well... but is was never as bad or as obvious (especially to the untrained eye) as it has been in the new episodes.

I may be complaining... but that's merely because I think Haruhi should be held to a higher standard than this. If we settle for anything less, and assume an "Oh well, it's not THAT bad." kind of attitude, then KyoAni will continue to pump out crappier and crappier shows.

Or, if you would prefer that I oversimplify my point into a tired metaphor, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease."

[Mecha_Trueno]

I still found the "you don't look like a dojikko maid at all" scene funny:D

[Ice Block]

...

How many actually watched the episode before complaining about this so called bad art?

Just like how many actually watched the E8 eps before complaining that they had bad animation?..

:uhoh:

[Triple_R]

Again, this was made a while back, as was K-On. They didn't realize K-On would sell so ridiculously well. It's just the style the newer animators are better at working with, and they don't have the money for the ridiculously detailed designs anymore.

Now I want to cry... :heh:



If they really wanted to turn this into a moeblob show, there wouldn't be as much focus on Kyon and Koizumi as there is.

You forget something here, though - KyoAni is also slaves to source material. They're beyond faithful adapters - they're absolute slaves to the source material. For the most part, this is a good thing.

Kyon and Koizumi are two of the five main characters in the source material (Kyon being the narrator on top of that). So, KyoAni's faithfulness to the source material is perhaps the one thing that trumps their love of moe blobs.

[Jenni]

...

How many actually watched the episode before complaining about this so called bad art?

Just like how many actually watched the E8 eps before complaining that they had bad animation?..

:uhoh:

*raises hand*

I did...

[Ice Block]

*raises hand*

I did...
Then what would you consider as good art then? Give examples form current series.

[Kaisos Erranon]

then KyoAni will continue to pump out crappier and crappier shows.

...So because we "let them get away with being lazy" which, as I'm saying, they're not, they'll "continue to create crap"?

...?

........?

The show is still very good. The art is just not what anyone here would like to see. Why should the art impact your enjoyment of the story and characters, which are the meat of the show, any?


Also, did anyone catch the girls from Kouyouen Academy on the train? ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

THAT is what makes KyoAni KyoAni. Not the art.

[kk2extreme]

at least its not E8 :D

[wittyusername]

Also, did anyone catch the girls from Kouyouen Academy on the train? ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

THAT is what makes KyoAni KyoAni. Not the art.

These ones?

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1863/kouyouentrain.jpg

[Roger Rambo]

Jenni - Exactly. That's Liefeld-esque bad anatomy (comic book fans will get the reference - for non-comic book fans, just focus on how long each of Haruhi's fingers are given how they appear here...).
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9363/liefeldcap.jpg



Ok S2 isn't this bad, but honestly it doesn't really win points for it's anatomy....though there was that one time in E8 that really made me cringe (http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9616/vlcsnap1629125.png).

[Mecha_Trueno]

Also, did anyone catch the girls from Kouyouen Academy on the train? ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

THAT is what makes KyoAni KyoAni. Not the art.I was wondering about that when I first saw it actually. They were certainly "black" uniforms though... didn't get to see the front.

While we're on this, did anyone notice ENOZ (and the computer club) near the beginning?

[Kaisos Erranon]

These ones?

Yep, they're in the previous shot, too. You can see the grey ribbons.

...What does this mean?

Who knows!?


While we're on this, did anyone notice ENOZ (and the computer club) near the beginning?

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

[Jenni]

...So because we "let them get away with being lazy" which, as I'm saying, they're not, they'll "continue to create crap"?

Thus far, KyoAni (or Kadokawa) has twiddled their thumbs for three years, fired Yamakan, finally aired new episodes at ungodly hours in the morning with no fanfare, stretched a 30-page story to eight episodes, made a poor stylistic choice for the new art style, and allowed the overall quality of their art to decline.

Though not intentional, this feels like a giant "F*** YOU!" to the fanbase.

That may not be laziness, but it is bad nonetheless. The reason Haruhi is still a good show is because it has good source material... but if this trend continues, not even that will be able to save it. Haruhi deserves better than this.

[Kaisos Erranon]

I have subjective opinions.

Yes, yes you do.

I agree with you on most counts. but can you tone it down a little? :heh:

They've been working on a host of other projects for three years, and it's not like they OWE us this...

[Roger Rambo]

No, but they do need to produce a product that's good enough that we'll want to buy it.

[Solachinx]

Apparently Tanigawa still endorses it since he wrote the damn episode; so, he probably doesn't care about the art. IDK. He might just be in it for the money. I'll wait for subs before passing judgment.

[Jenni]

Yes, yes you do.

I agree with you on most counts. but can you tone it down a little? :heh:

They've been working on a host of other projects for three years, and it's not like they OWE us this...
Sorry about that, I tend to debate quite passionately. :D

And yes, my opinions are quite subjective... but they're correct too. /jk

On a more positive note... as you mentioned, there's still great attention to detail in KyoAni's work, and the animation is very fluid. So it's not all bad. :p

[Heminga13]

I wonder if Mazui knows there was another 'new' episode today lol. They got S&W done last night so I thought maybe they'd get it out sooner today. They were usually getting them out 6ish est before S&W started airing.

Not trying to complain about something I get for free or anything >_>

[Kaisos Erranon]

No, but they do need to produce a product that's good enough that we'll want to buy it.

Fair enough then.

Apparently Tanigawa still endorses it since he wrote the damn episode; so, he probably doesn't care about the art. IDK. He might just be in it for the money. I'll wait for subs before passing judgment.

Surprised this episode wasn't better than it was, considering, but then again, he's no Gatou, who is a god-tier director...

I think they only reason they got Tanigawa was because of the Sports Day bit, which was glossed over in the books.

[Triple_R]

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9363/liefeldcap.jpg



Ok S2 isn't this bad,

Well... on a generic pop culture site elsewhere, I put up "Rob Liefeld vs. The Moe Blobs of Haruhi Suzumiya". :D I used that same infamous Cap pic, and compared it to the EE pic where Haruhi has no elbows. Then I took a Lifefeld woman with no spine pic, and compared it to Haruhi with mutated fingers. It should be funny to see what reactions I get.

You're probably right - I doubt that anything can match Man-boob Cap when it comes to atrocious anatomy, but the very fact Haruhi's fingers reminded me of Lifefeld is bad enough. :heh:


...but honestly it doesn't really win points for it's anatomy....though there was that one time in E8 that really made me cringe (http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9616/vlcsnap1629125.png).

Thanks for that image! I had forgotten that one. I'll have to put that up on my other thread too.

[Heatth]

While we're on this, did anyone notice ENOZ (and the computer club) near the beginning?


The same scene has some guy from a random band that also played at the festival.

[Heminga13]

I'm interested to see how close they'll make sure to keep this arc consistent to how they portrayed the movie. Like, scenery backgrounds and whatnot. It's probably a bit of a task to look at how they did the movie and make sure everything matches up in Sigh lol.

[Dr. Casey]

Sighs was more about a) the relationship between the three abnormals and Kyon and b) What a huge bitch Haruhi really is.

I'm really, really afraid they're going to cut the latter part, though. If they do, it'll make Live Alive look less awesome than it could be.

Sighs is generally lambasted as one of the worst Haruhi stories, but you've just made it sound pretty good; the relationship between the three abnormals and Kyon is something I have a lot of interest in. I hope the execution ends up being as good as that basic concept. And Kyoto had better not take out Haruhi being a bitch. I have no idea what Haruhi does that's so bad, but Sighs sounds to be her lowest point, and her bitchiness there is infamous to the point of being legendary. ... well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but people do mention it a lot. :heh:

Anyway, I'm just waiting on the Mazui subs.

[Heatth]

Sighs is generally lambasted as one of the worst Haruhi stories, but you've just made it sound pretty good; the relationship between the three abnormals and Kyon is something I have a lot of interest in. I hope the execution ends up being as good as that basic concept. And Kyoto had better not take out Haruhi being a bitch. I have no idea what Haruhi does that's so bad, but Sighs sounds to be her lowest point, and her bitchiness there is infamous to the point of being legendary. ... well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but people do mention it a lot. :heh:

Anyway, I'm just waiting on the Mazui subs.

The problem with Sighs is it is boring. I liked it, but only because of few scenes (the ones Kaisos is talking about).

[ReneeBurossamu]

Sighs is generally lambasted as one of the worst Haruhi stories, but you've just made it sound pretty good; the relationship between the three abnormals and Kyon is something I have a lot of interest in. I hope the execution ends up being as good as that basic concept. And Kyoto had better not take out Haruhi being a bitch. I have no idea what Haruhi does that's so bad, but Sighs sounds to be her lowest point, and her bitchiness there is infamous to the point of being legendary. ...

... The first time I watched Haruhi, I kept on watching because of Kyon. I still do watch for only Kyon and his relationships with everyone else.
I don't like Haruhi... at all. Much as I like the show, I dislike the title character. That scene in Sighs just made me hate her even more.

And now I'll lurk elsewhere to avoid any possible flaming.

[Jenni]

The problem with Sighs is it is boring. I liked it, but only because of few scenes (the ones Kaisos is talking about).
It might be boring, but at least it's less boring than E8.

Hey! Maybe that's KyoAni's master plan! They repeated E8 eight times to make Sighs seem exciting!

[Rice_slayer]

I wonder if Mazui knows there was another 'new' episode today lol. They got S&W done last night so I thought maybe they'd get it out sooner today. They were usually getting them out 6ish est before S&W started airing.

Not trying to complain about something I get for free or anything >_>

They have to work harder this week, it isnt a repeat like the last 8 were:heh:

[Kaisos Erranon]

Should mention: They seem to have cut out one thing in particular: Koizumi is ALSO staring at Mikuru at the end of the first meeting, in the book.

[Mecha_Trueno]

I'm more worried about whether they're gonna censor "that scene" later on. I wouldn't be surprised if they cut it out completely, seeing as they cut a similar scene out in Lone Island Syndrome for the sake of "censoring"

[ReneeBurossamu]

I'm more worried about whether they're gonna censor "that scene" later on. I wouldn't be surprised if they cut it out completely, seeing as they cut a similar scene out in Lone Island Syndrome for the sake of "censoring"

Haha, they should have it be... sleeping pills or something like that. I'm not big on medication but that seems to be the closest I can think of if they're going to censor.

[Kaisos Erranon]

It's not what caused the scene to happen that's important, it's that the scene, in the first place, happened.

They don't even need to do -that- for the entire scene to have the same effect.

[Roger Rambo]

Thanks for that image! I had forgotten that one. I'll have to put that up on my other thread too.
Could you link to that other thread? It sounds interesting.

Should mention: They seem to have cut out one thing in particular: Koizumi is ALSO staring at Mikuru at the end of the first meeting, in the book.
Of course.

If they didn't people might think Koizumi wasn't gay :eyespin:

I'm more worried about whether they're gonna censor "that scene" later on. I wouldn't be surprised if they cut it out completely, seeing as they cut a similar scene out in Lone Island Syndrome for the sake of "censoring"
Considering the importance it has to character development, I doubt they could get away with cutting it completely.

[Rice_slayer]

It's not what caused the scene to happen that's important, it's that the scene, in the first place, happened.

They don't even need to do -that- for the entire scene to have the same effect.

If they delete the "scene" where Kyon grows a pair to Haruhi, I will be P-Oed. Sighs was really boring to read, aside from that part lol.

[Triple_R]

Could you link to that other thread? It sounds interesting.

It's for a site where people debate "This fictional character vs. That fictional character", and we take from all of pop fiction - anime, video games, western comics, the works. I'm "Darth Joker" over there, and I have Kaisos' current avatar over there, stilled version.

Anyway, here's the thread: Rob Liefeld vs. The Moe Blobs of Haruhi Suzumiya (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=282381)

Keep in mind that not everybody there even watches anime. One respondent, for example, is focusing on how... Haruhi looks eight years old, max, to him. :heh: This is probably not something that someone who watches a lot of anime would say, but he does raise a bit of a point - Haruhi does look de-aged from Season 1 to me. I wouldn't go all the way to 8 years old, though - more like 12 instead of 15.

I haven't put up your cringe pic yet, but I will pretty soon. Before I do, though - was it Haruhi's appearance in the pool that made you cringe? Her... lack of hands?

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

If they didn't people might think Koizumi wasn't gay :eyespin:

"I can't have people thinking I'm straight." :heh:

[Jintor]

I'm guessing it's going to take a while for it to be subbed; must have been getting used to everybody's 'pretty much the same dialogue' speed.

[Roger Rambo]

I haven't put up your cringe pic yet, but I will pretty soon. Before I do, though - was it Haruhi's appearance in the pool that made you cringe? Her... lack of hands?
The hands were creepy, but the thing that mostly set me off was the proportions...it's like she went into outright super deformed mode, but considering the show typically doesn't employ that trope, you realize that this isn't meant to look SD. One minute she's "normally" proportioned, then the next she's completely off.

It's like they wanted to draw her normally, but ended up doing it like this almost on accident.

[ac195]

I don't know... some of this anatomy is genuinely pretty questionable. That's one of the things I liked a lot about Haruhi Season 1 - very solid anatomy. Take away the big eyes, and squiggly lines for nose and mouth (which are staples of anime, anyway - so we're all quite used to them), and you have normal body proportions.

Still, like you said, it could be worse.

Like you said yourself, this is anime... can you really question anatomy.

Then what would you consider as good art then? Give examples form current series.
I'd really like to know this as well. Give us some examples.

I can't think of a single series that hasn't had to commit this necessary evil due to budget constraints... if it is really bad they do touch it up with the dvd version.

Also, I don't enjoy classical anime just on the sole basis of the quality of its "art."

Should mention: They seem to have cut out one thing in particular: Koizumi is ALSO staring at Mikuru at the end of the first meeting, in the book.
He was glancing to the side while talking to Kyon, which caused Kyon to stare at Asahina. It was there, you just missed it... or I imagined it because the stream quality was low... but I still think I saw Koizumi's wandering stare.

[Heminga13]

Looks like Mazui will have it up soon from what I saw on irc (they mentioned Haruhi having twice the line count as this week's S&W lol).

I don't really have anything else I feel like doing right now. :/

[Triple_R]

Like you said yourself, this is anime... can you really question anatomy.

It goes back to what Roger Rambo just said.

Haruhi Season 1 didn't really use the super-deformed trope - Haruhi wasn't Azumanga. It had consistently realistic (from the neck down) anatomy. And, simply put, I preferred it that way. The typical anime heads aside (which I've totally gotten used to, and like), I prefer normal body proportions from the neck down.

However, if you prefer this art style, then great. Somebody must love it, or K-On wouldn't have sold so well.

[Roger Rambo]

Like you said yourself, this is anime... can you really question anatomy.
Having some consistency to anatomy would be nice though.

And as others have said. Haruhi was one of those series where anatomical consistency was a given. Having something like that show up is rather jarring.

[Jenni]

Then what would you consider as good art then? Give examples form current series.
I really like Saki's art. It has character designs that appeals to me, and fairly consistent quality. Granted, the characters are still moeblobs... but they're well drawn moeblobs.

[Heminga13]

Yeah, I felt that the 'realistic' style of the original episodes suited the series well, as I always thought of it as a realistic setting with unusual things suddenly occurring.

Woot subs are out.

[Daniel Lind]

Thus far, KyoAni (or Kadokawa) has twiddled their thumbs for three years, fired Yamakan, finally aired new episodes at ungodly hours in the morning with no fanfare, stretched a 30-page story to eight episodes, made a poor stylistic choice for the new art style, and allowed the overall quality of their art to decline.
They didn't fire Yamakan. He left himself.
Haruhi airs at night, not in the morning, in a usual anime timeslot.
Some people (me included) like new designs much better, it's just animation quality suffers.
There are speculations that the current Haruhi (S1+) was made before, or along K-On! which actually makes point "Moeblob sells, let's make moeblobs!" moot, since they couldn't produce episodes AFTER K-On.
And for limited animation low-budget thing (New Haruhi is really low-budget, I admit it, just look at how many key animators they have on each episode this time -- not so much) it's not even half bad.


And you people seem to be picking at details more and more.
OH GOD THEY CUT OUT THE LINE WITH HARUHI CALLING 5% OF MEN GAY!!!1111
So what? Portrayal of characters is still consistent with the novel.
That's adaptation after all, not illustration.
[/rant]

A checklist for us sorry fellows.
[ ] Bitchslapping Haruhi
[ ] Tsuruya and alcohol for Mikuru scene
[ ] what else???

[Yuutsu]

Wait, I'm slightly confused. The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya, for the novel at least, is almost exclusively about making the film that was featured as the first episode of the first season. Yet, from the pictures and discussions I've seen, people seem to be anticipating a <spoilers> blushing Yuki and long-haired Haruhi </spoilers>. As far as I know, the second season is animating the Sighs, not the arc that comes later.

[Daniel Lind]

Yet, from the pictures and discussions I've seen, people seem to be anticipating a <spoilers> blushing Yuki and long-haired Haruhi </spoilers>.
Um... We do anticipate Disappearance, but it's Sighs now.

[ijuinkun]

And Kyoto had better not take out Haruhi being a bitch. I have no idea what Haruhi does that's so bad, but Sighs sounds to be her lowest point, and her bitchiness there is infamous to the point of being legendary. ... well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but people do mention it a lot. :heh:

For the scene where Koizumi carries a passed-out Mikuru, Tsuruya had spiked Mikuru's drink with tequila in order to loosen her up. Haruhi is ecstatic and starts trying to push Mikuru to act sexier, while Mikuru herself is halfway to unconsciousness and unable to speak without slurring badly.

Following this, Haruhi tries to remove Mikuru's contact lenses (the ones that fire the "Mikuru Beam") by repeatedly whacking her in the back of the head to make them fall out.

In response to Mikuru's cries of pain, Kyon yells at Haruhi, "Asahina-san is not your toy!"

Haruhi retorts, "I've decided, yes she is my toy!"

It is at this point that Kyon attempts to slug Haruhi, and has to be physically restrained by Koizumi.

[Launch]

Just watched the subs. At first I was sure this episode would be entirely about the Sports Day (I wouldn't have minded xD), but Sighs is good as well. Not the best story arc in Haruhi, but I hope they flesh it out a bit more with some anime original material. (I'm thinking that the Computer Club will show up for something, the only reason being that they're in the OP. Just a thought).

Anyway, this episode was alright. I'll be looking forward to more episodes.

[kniteowl]

All the best moments in this episode were Yuki moments at the beginning and near the middle.

Well I am a bit Yuki bias but still.... the rest of the episode was fairly boring, it's still early days in Sigh though.

the ending was unexpected, with Asahina want to ask Haruhi a question then it just cuts straight to the ending theme.

[sacundim]

Also, did anyone catch the girls from Kouyouen Academy on the train? ATTENTION TO DETAIL. THAT is what makes KyoAni KyoAni. Not the art.

We've seen them before, too.


http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3016/screenshot1crx.png

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5029/screenshot2xej.png

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/2467/screenshot3cdo.png

[chinaboat]

I agree with Jenni, bad art is bad art. In "Part 1" in S1 at about 19 minutes Haruhi brings in Mikuru for the first time; to me the drawing was crisp almost spectacular. This new episode is like "The Wizard of Oz". In the Sports Day (Kansas) everything is "normal", clothes fit like they're supposed to, Haruhi's got her standard set of boobs, shown off quite nicely when taking the baton from Yuki and then later in a low angle shot. Then we're in the club room and we're obviously not in Kansas anymore. Haruhi's blouse is about two sizes to big and she seems to have left her boobs back on the farm; Itsuki's blazer reminds me of kids wearing their parents clothes; no matter at what distance, you were always aware of the body under Mikuru's heavy maid outfit in S1 but now it's like someone said to an apprentice, "Here, see how close you can come to getting it correct." I've never seen K-On but if that's what everyone's referring to as "moeblob" it sucks.

On the bright side, Yuki rocked as always and I loved the lines: "By the way Kyon, do you know what you need to make a movie?" and "Every time she laughs like that, I end up having to go into disaster recovery mode."

I got into anime through FLCL and Haruhi but after the E8 debacle (yes, I watched every one of them) this lazy animation has just about put me off what was my number one series.

[ac195]

Is it that summer is coming to an end... or that without all the "rageraid"...these forums have quieted down? Wheres all the spamming of 1's and 10's?

Anyway, those "Someday in the Rain" uniforms look navy blue to me and not black. I also don't remember that hideous ribbon...

[Kaisos Erranon]

I think I deserve something that I really don't.

I'm glad you can come out and admit that.

In all seriousness, yes, the new art style sucks. But can we please cease with the wall of bitching about the art? Nothing you say is going to change their decision to use this style...

[Jonbob0008]

Okay, I'm done watching the episode. It's definitely dialogue heavy (as will likely be the case for much of Sighs), but the directing of Haruhi and Kyon's facial expressions helps make it a lot more interesting. Heck, even Mikuru got to show of some never before seen expressions (the part where she tries to go "um, I just remembered I have to go back to class-" was cute as hell).

I do agree the animation was lacking, but I think the direction was good. And the sport festival scene was full of win, even if it was short.

Pros:
- Good directing, making full use of character expressions to try and make the dialogue more exciting.
- Awesome sports festival scene.
- Voice acting was awesome as usual

Cons:
- Dialogue heavy, making this a somewhat less interesting episode.
- Animation quality drop. There were moments were the animation was choppy, and occasional moment where fingers and eyes looked weird.

I scored it a 9, although in hindsight it probably should have gotten an 8. Oh well...

And I personally think the fact that people are even debating as to whether that "scene" would be removed is silly. The scene was way too important for Haruhi's character development for it not to be included. Easily one of the most important scenes in Sighs.

[Daniel Lind]

In all seriousness, yes, the new art style sucks.
It doesn't.
It's just different.

There are some QUALITY moments, but 2006 had lots of them as well.
Damn, people, you sure are picky.

I can imagine that -- another new Haruhi thing comes out and you go "Remember Endless Eight? That was some awesome animation right there. And look, now it's shit!".


I'm seriously tired of people bashing the new artstyle. It's even much closer to Noizi Ito's illustrations than original anime artstyle was!

[ac195]

It doesn't.
It's just different.

There are some QUALITY moments, but 2006 had lots of them as well.
Damn, people, you sure are picky.

I can imagine that -- another new Haruhi thing comes out and you go "Remember Endless Eight? That was some awesome animation right there. And look, now it's shit!".


I'm seriously tired of people bashing the new artstyle. It's even much closer to Noizi Ito's illustrations than original anime artstyle was!

QFT, about the original drawings.

To be completely honest, I think those complaining are still butthurt about E8. Seriously, as long as the key scenes make the right impact... I could careless about the fingers I was barely paying attention to in some minor scene.


Pros:
- Good directing, making full use of character expressions to try and make the dialogue more exciting.
- Awesome sports festival scene.
- Voice acting was awesome as usual


The relay race made this episode. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw that first shot of Koizumi with his SOS-dan battle gear. The battlehorn sound effect they use in all things Sengoku was definitely sounding off in my head.

Oh, and the race itself was golden. From... Koizumi's quiet indifferent pace... to Asahina's cries and stumbling... Kyon's high spirited "LET'S GO!" (I can only imagine the face he had watching Asahina run toward him)... Nagato's fast-forward... and Haruhi's look of shock and delight knowing its her win. Yeah, it was only about 30 seconds... and most of it was left to our imagination... but it was still golden.

[Slobodan]

So, my impressions of this episode:

The new art style feels a lot like K-ON! if you ask me, loved it. Every character looked good, especially Mikuru who was just super-duper cute.

As for the story, it wasn't anything extraordinary, but not terrible either. It generally felt more easygoing than any of the episodes in S1; this was simply SOS brigade doing things, being themselves, nothing quirky (-ier than usual). There were a couple of funny moments that made me laugh out loud while they were in the clubroom creating a plan of how to go about making the movie, I can't remember the last time that happened with this anime.

Of course, any real episode feels refreshing after that endless summer. Now that I think of it, it's almost like I was a part of that. Guess I have no bad feelings about E8 anymore.

To sum it up, yes, I liked the episode, please let it continue this way, I'd only like it a bit more substantial next time. Rated it 7.

[Kaisos Erranon]

Watched with subs. Episode was pretty good. Kyon referenced Persona 3!

Sometimes I can't tell whether Kyon is supposed to be the tsukkomi or the boke... either way, he's awesome.

8/10

It doesn't.
It's just different.

There are some QUALITY moments, but 2006 had lots of them as well.
Damn, people, you sure are picky.

I can imagine that -- another new Haruhi thing comes out and you go "Remember Endless Eight? That was some awesome animation right there. And look, now it's shit!".


I'm seriously tired of people bashing the new artstyle. It's even much closer to Noizi Ito's illustrations than original anime artstyle was!

I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOREVER.

Christ. Why is this in response to MY post?

Perhaps I should have said "The new style is NOT popular" rather than "the new art style sucks" if that offended you.

[Myssa Rei]

Pretty amusing episode, all told, though the current art style will take getting used for the people who've only seen S1 (NOT us here), especially when we hit the S1 episodes after Sighs (Koi no Mikuru no Densetsu in particular), as the art shift will really be apparent.

Yes, the new style isn't exactly preferred, but it's the only thing we have.

[Akka]

Had quite a lot of fun.
Kyon is back as its best, the deadpan snarky narrator, somewhat willingly slave to the tornado that rearrange his life.

A good 7/10.

And personnally, I don't really care about the "new art". It's perhaps a bit curvier than the original, but it's pretty much in the same style overall.

[thirdlc]

There are speculations that the current Haruhi (S1+) was made before, or along K-On! which actually makes point "Moeblob sells, let's make moeblobs!" moot, since they couldn't produce episodes AFTER K-On.
And for limited animation low-budget thing (New Haruhi is really low-budget, I admit it, just look at how many key animators they have on each episode this time -- not so much) it's not even half bad.

The beginning of the new Haruhi seems to have been produced concurrently with the second half of K-ON, but still the new Haruhi is being produced NOW according to the official staff blog.

The number of key animators doesn't matter because animators are piece workers for each shot. When they have more key animators on a certain episode, that merely means they didn't have much time left to produce the episode. And vice versa. That's all. You can be sure that it never happens that budget becomes problems. It's always time that causes problems.

[Akka]

And honestly, considering how much they wasted in E8, them being low in budget is not going to be accepted as an excuse...

[Daniel Lind]

but still the new Haruhi is being produced NOW according to the official staff blog.
They are making Disappearance :P

[Roger Rambo]

"Taniguchi wolf whistles at two passing girls in gym clothing on sports day"

LOL

[siber222000]

yesss finally get to find out HOW movie is made :) very nice :D

For the scene where Koizumi carries a passed-out Mikuru, Tsuruya had spiked Mikuru's drink with tequila in order to loosen her up. Haruhi is ecstatic and starts trying to push Mikuru to act sexier, while Mikuru herself is halfway to unconsciousness and unable to speak without slurring badly.

Following this, Haruhi tries to remove Mikuru's contact lenses (the ones that fire the "Mikuru Beam") by repeatedly whacking her in the back of the head to make them fall out.

In response to Mikuru's cries of pain, Kyon yells at Haruhi, "Asahina-san is not your toy!"

Haruhi retorts, "I've decided, yes she is my toy!"

It is at this point that Kyon attempts to slug Haruhi, and has to be physically restrained by Koizumi.


wow that seriously happens? if it does.. wow.. i hope it doesn't get to the point where i'll dislike haruhi lol.

[Rice_slayer]

"Taniguchi wolf whistles at two passing girls in gym clothing on sports day"

LOL

That was hilarious, he was probably thinking "DEM ASS!" Honestly, I dont see why people hate the new art style, its not bad, its just different from S1. I honestly like it, and the episode was overall pretty good, Koizumi is still fabulous, Nagato's "yes" then back to ready was funny, Mikuru's reaction to Haruhi's equipment plan, Kyon in general. Good episode, an awesome break after 8 of the same fricken episodes! 9/10.

[typhonsentra]

Those of you saying it's just an art style.... how are you ignoring all the issues with Haruhi's eye focus? She's cross-eyed numerous times in this episode for extended periods of time. Even if you were to ignore her occasionally oversized chin or creepy hands in that one scene, the eye mistakes are pretty distracting when they pop up.

[Roger Rambo]

There are definite quality differences between season 1 and...what ever it is we're getting now.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/7234/comparisonq.jpg

Say what you want about Season 1 having animation cluster fucks, but none of them were this blatantly noticeable to me.

[Scorpiodestructio]

im sry but i want to watch it to where can i see the subbed version or had it been removed from animesuki ??

[Slobodan]

There are definite quality differences between season 1 and...what ever it is we're getting now.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/7234/comparisonq.jpg

Say what you want about Season 1 having animation cluster fucks, but none of them were this blatantly noticeable to me.

The right pic is S2? That one looks better, rather more stylish.

[iHateApril3rd2009]

And I personally think the fact that people are even debating as to whether that "scene" would be removed is silly. The scene was way too important for Haruhi's character development for it not to be included. Easily one of the most important scenes in Sighs.

and what scene would that be?i need to refresh my memory a bit

also after seeing 10(3) episodes' ending, i kinda miss Hare Hare Yukai

[joshualimm]

The right pic is S2? That one looks better, rather more stylish.

Couldn't agree more. :)

Too bad we won't get Disappearance before all 28 episodes are up. :~(

Wonder if we'll have to wait another 3 years before we get Disappearance...

Btw, Sighs is my 2nd favourite arc, right behind Disappearance. For me, it's the one arc which shows how Haruhi's powers are really affecting the world, and how horrible her attitude can get.

But still, ... I WANT DISAPPEARANCE!!!! sniff sniff...

[Peanutbutter003]

What were the words on their headbands?

Anyone can help?

[Roger Rambo]

The right pic is S2? That one looks better, rather more stylish.
The right pic. The one where Haruhi's body proportionality is magically transformed into that of a 4 year old. You think that is more...stylish?




cool story bro.

[OkamiNoKaze]

Saw it. Really liked it. I've always been one to watch the special features on DVDs so to see the story behind how they made the movie is pretty cool. Ah that'd be a cool special feature for that volume of the DVD, "The Making of the Making of the Adventures of Mikuru Asahina" And yes that line up at the race did give me a Ranma vibe. I've got it, I've got it. Haruhi is Nabiki's daughter it explains everything. As far as the art goes, it had it's off moments, but I seem to remember reading something that dates as far back as making Disappearence that there was going to be a change in the art style. Mikuru and Yuki doesn't seem so bad in that style, Haruhi is the only one a bit off. I also like Yuki's leg of the Relay too that was awesome. and Haruhi's manical evil genius pose there. I suppose some one will shop it with like the earth in her hand or something. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought the end of the episode was a bit abrupt. I'll probably catch more things on A.F.K version when that comes out.

[TakariCritic]

I gave this episode below average. the Animation has just gotten so much worse. I loved the season one style, so I'm sure there's a bias, but still.... the horrible hands, poorly drawn facial expressions, still frames with only moving mouths, static backrounds...

S1 felt alive, this feels dull and boring.

[baltakatei]

I gave this episode below average. the Animation has just gotten so much worse. I loved the season one style, so I'm sure there's a bias, but still.... the horrible hands, poorly drawn facial expressions, still frames with only moving mouths, static backrounds...

S1 felt alive, this feels dull and boring.

My guess is that it's to save up animation hours a few minutes of epic moneyshot in 2 or 3 episodes at the conclusion of Sighs. :D

I'm just glad that we're moving on to unanimated plot.

[OkamiNoKaze]

Sometimes I have a feeling people watch these shows in slow motion just to catch all the flaws and flubs.

[ReneeBurossamu]

Wow, I didn't say anything about the new art here because I thought people would say that I'm "following the trend" here. But I'm not gonna lie. Compared to what we got in season one, it's not good. At all.

It was better than BLR, but I'm still not fully enjoying the rounder curves of the faces and whatever else changed.

[Daniel Lind]

Too bad we won't get Disappearance before all 28 episodes are up. :~(

Wonder if we'll have to wait another 3 years before we get Disappearance...
Yeah, how are you so sure?

[suguru]

It was good to see something new this week, but somehow the episode just fell flat for me - it wasn't bad, it just didn't reel me in either, and I found myself looking at the clock halfway through. Haruhi being Haruhi and Kyon's commentary are the heart of the show, and we had plenty of that in this episode, but it just didn't click for me the way the first season did. I remember reading Sighs I thought it was a little boring compared to the first novel too, and didn't enjoy it as much as Disappearance, Snowy Mountain Syndrome, and some of the other stories, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised the anime version of Sighs doesn't have me hooked either. Lots of moe facial expressions from Haruhi this ep, though - I'll give them credit that she has a great smile, although I can understand why Kyon would dread her smiling... :heh:

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

Sighs is my 2nd favourite arc, right behind Disappearance. For me, it's the one arc which shows how Haruhi's powers are really affecting the world, and how horrible her attitude can get.

You are probably the only person who holds Sigh that highly. :heh:

Too bad we won't get Disappearance before all 28 episodes are up. :~(

Wonder if we'll have to wait another 3 years before we get Disappearance...Yeah, how are you so sure?

Disappearance can't be done in three episodes.

[Ascaloth]

Episode 20 article is up:

[RIUVA] Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (2009), Episode 20: Suzumiya Haruhi no Tameiki I (http://www.riuva.com/?p=1482)

This feels pretty much like a set-up episode; there isn't much going on for now. 7/10.

[Isekaijin]

It's just me or the animation quality is nowhere near the first season?

[Dakota]

Ok, I finally got a hold of the Mazui subs this morning at work. (I know, I have the worst work ethic. But you're not my boss.) Then when I got on to AS, somebody listed it as 2009 Episode 9, not 10. I fixed that. :)

Anyway, I think I liked this episode too much because it isn't Endless Eight. This is apperently the bandwagon here. The animation was decent I thought, and some art bothered me (I blame this on reading the thread before the episode). But I probably don't watch nearly enough new anime to make comparisons about art and animation. That's probably why I don't really focus on that. "Moeblobs" are still adorable.

I'm glad that I haven't read the novels (besides spoiling myself for E8, and teasing myself with a bit of Disappearance), because I probably wouldn't have found this as enjoyable. Having seen The Adventure of Mikuru Asahina Ep. 00, I catch myself smiling at the fact as how Haruhi's plot is slowly falling together.

There was also a cliffhanger in this episode, when Mikuru says "But..." and then it goes RIGHT into the credits.






tl;dr

I like where this is going.

[Proto]

Is it just me or people don't know the difference between animation quality and art quality?

Anyway, I'm sure more than one people cringed at the sight of the frog custom. :heh:

[Dakota]

Is it just me or people don't know the difference between animation quality and art quality?

I lump them together since I'm more interested in plot and character development, but I know the difference.

[Proto]

Personally I'm normally more insterested in those two aspects as well, but I think it's important to make the difference. For example, have you ever seen Noein? (for an example of a series with horrid art and excellent animation).

[Dakota]

I probably don't watch nearly enough new anime to make comparisons about art and animation.

Personally I'm normally more insterested in those two aspects as well, but I think it's important to make the difference. For example, have you ever seen Noein? (for an example of a series with horrid art and excellent animation).



No, I did not.

[aulzon]

It was an interesting episode. Nothing that memorable. I'm still getting used watching a new haruhi episode without the words Kyon-kun denwa to start it off.

Also, did anyone rewatch the episode 00 after watching this?

[Akka]

Anyway, I think I liked this episode too much because it isn't Endless Eight. This is apperently the bandwagon here.
Well, actually, I'm pretty sure I enjoy much LESS the show since E8. A bit like if the serie had been spoiled in some way - okay, maybe it's just this and not a "like if".

[Triple_R]

Once again, Haruhiists and Kyonphiles and gender-bender-renders, it's time for a Triple_R Queen of Queens (since that's what Haruhi is!) minutia review!

I call this review Sighs of Relief, since it comes right after Endless Eight!


This week's Sake Shot Glass Challenge!:

Take a shot for every time Kyon furrows his brow in this episode. :heh:


Now, unto the episode (don't read further if you don't want to be spoiled)!



First, we have the bright blue sky with the flags hanging up in the air... ooooo, such a wonderful sign of how Haruhi plans to take over the entire world, one nation at a time! And then we have a gun pointing into the air... could this signify how Haruhi plans to take over the world? Given Haruhi's love of firearms as displayed later in this episode, you just never know!

Then we see Koizumi imitating the Pantsless Ninja, alongside cameo appearances by Tatewaki Kuno and Ranma 1/2 extras! I don't know about you folks, but I'm getting pumped already! I expect a fiery temperamental girl that's very combative and athletic, but who tends to abuse guys, to show up at any moment now...
and sure enough, Haruhi doesn't let us down! *ahem* ;)

Then we see that Haruhi is bearing flags of war as her Brigade races into battle! That flag is clumsily carried at first, but then the every speedy Nagato grabs it, making Bleach's Yuichi look like a slowpoke in comparison! Alas, our animators are even better than Nagato at pulling a fast one as they decided to pan above the streaking Nagato, showing that they don't quite share Haruhi's guts and glory... sad, but what can you do? I don't know about you, but I would have liked to have seen Nagato on camera for her Flash-esque heroics.


On a positive note, however, I ~love~ Haruhi's outfits and sutra headbands for the sports festival. Very dashing - very bold! Makes me wonder if Haruhi is a Samurai Jack fan.

...And then we see Haruhi capture gold for China at the Beijing Olympics!

Aaahhh... so that's why she was on the Olympic promotions for China; it all makes sense now! :D

We then see indisputable evidence of how Kyon and Mikuru are the most out of shape sprinters on this Brigade, with them on their knees in exhaustion while Koizumi and Nagato haven't even broken a sweat. Now I see the real reason why Haruhi brought Kyon and Mikuru along with her (later in the episode) but not Koizuki and Nagato - she clearly needed to whip Kyon and Mikuru into better shape! Not that Mikuru's shape is bad to look at, mind you... ;)

And now... Taniguchi and Kunikida are back! Nice to see some important secondary characters for a change. However, they don't look quite so pleased to see us - rather, Taniguchi looks bored out of his mind, while Kunikida looks like he's dreaming of his newest crush. I love how their facial expressions don't change at all for their entire conversation with Kyon - that must be one hot girl that Kunikida is dreaming of, ha ha!

Speaking of hot girls, Taniguchi shows his legendary suave charm by whistling at the butts of two passing girls... and then he tries to pretend that it was their hair he liked. Oh, Taniguchi, you cad you! :heh:

Kyon's full appreciation for Taniguchi's womanizing ways is hilariously shown by his facial expression from 1:40 to 1:50. Kyon then takes a gulp of water, and we're into our intro!

I have to say that Super-Driver is a genuinely awesome intro - even for something that's been fairly maligned (before I went into this episode) like this episode has been, it still managed to get me pumped up for the rest of the episode.

Then we're treated to some pretty decent shots of Haruhi extras. Solid, if unspectacular, work. Decent playful background music, and good Kyon narration.

And then... Kyon wears white Nikes, and you should too! :heh: After all, what footwear brand other than nikes could manage to hold your attention for this much walking visuals, eh? ;)

Two episodes ago we saw Koizumi shilling for Esquire Watch, and now we see Kyon shilling for Nikes! Now we know where the SOS Brigade gets their money from - it's not the Literature budget at all; Pimptress Haruhi has been contracting out the SOS Brigade to do commercials! I wonder what'll be next? Yuki promoting Microsoft? Haruhi advertising for Metal Gear Solid? Mikuru displaying the full effects of WonderBra? We can dream. ;)

Anyway, the look on Haruhi's face at 4:28 tells me that Haruhi doesn't like Kyon's taste in shoes. Hhhmmm... since she doesn't like Nike's, I wonder what her brand is? Whatever it is, they must be awfully good, given Haruhi's running into the sunset performance beginning at 4:50, and including an outrageously funny "VROOM!!!" sound affect. Adam West Batman has nothing on you, Haruhi!

Haruhi's "intense radiant brightness", OTOH, should have been over-animated a bit more - it didn't match Kyon's wonderful voice acting. OTOH, I loved the sound effect for it.

Hhmmm... good sound effects on this show. KyoAni deserves props there.

Also, KyoAni has good setting detail with their animation. I love how they lay out North High. It actually makes the school seem a bit enchanting.

Haruhi and Kyon finally make it to the club room and... Haruhi's jealousy over Kyon's appreciation for Mikuru's beauty seems very understated here. It came across much more strongly in the novels. In the novels, I got the distinct impression that Haruhi wanted Mikuru to deliberately spill hot tea on Kyon because she was in a bit of a jealous rage. Here in the anime, it just feels like pure oblivious eccentricity on Haruhi's part. Don't like that change in mood at all.

Love Kyon's little playful grin towards Nagato at 8:23. I see that Taniguchi's mannerisms is starting to rub off on you, Kyon...

Then the fabulous one finally makes his appearance... and he is indeed quite fabulous in this episode, as Kyon will soon find out!

Not much to say about the next few minutes... except that there's a really friendly atmosphere here. Not sure if that's good or not.

Anyway, Haruhi imitates a military commander, and brings out the pointer and blank chalkboard, which were handled nicely. I like Haruhi's look and stance at 11:17 . Probably one of the closer moments to 2006 Haruhi.

Then at 12:05, we get an...

Itsuki Fabulous MOMENT!!!

... as Itsuki slides over towards Kyon with that dreamy stare and smile of his, ha ha!

Kyon shouts "Too close!"... but is it close enough for Koizumi, I wonder? I'll leave that for Kaisos to answer... *ahem* ;)


Haruhi: There's always this one problem I find.

Kyon: My problem is what's in your head.

Oooo... good burn! I wonder what comeback Haruhi will have? I guess we'll have to wait and see!

As an aside, I agree with Haruhi on TV dramas. Killing off key characters in the last episode is typically cliche and lame. Wouldn't it be ironic if somebody important died in the very last Haruhi episode?


Kyon (to Haruhi): Which studio?

Haruhi: Kyon, there really is nothing in your brain, is there?

YEAH... good comeback to the previous insult, Haruhi! Better to have strange ideas in your head than nothing at all, after all.

Shortly thereafter, Haruhi recounts her horrific experience of watching Battlefield Earth one night (that's clearly the movie she's referring to - go call and flame the producers of that movie, Haruhi, do us Haruhiists proud!). Haruhi quite rightly believes that she's better at making movies than John Travolta is.

Haruhi: I'll do it because I can!

I love Haruhi's spunk here!

Later on, we're treated to this guffawing sequence...


Haruhi: But Yuki said it's Ok.

Everybody looks at Yuki. Tense Pause. Yuki slowly turns her head.

Yuki (utter deadpan): Yes

Yuki turns her head back and resumes reading her book. Kyon looks at her like she has a dozen heads!

This alone would be hilarious, but then Koizumi seals the deal by putting his hand over his mouth as though he was the dog from the old Nintendo duck-hunt game about to burst into laughter! :heh::heh::heh::heh::heh:


That was very well done! I loled there I must admit.

Nice detail on Haruhi's bookbag as she leaves the SOS Brigade room.

Later on... Mikuru looks adorable at 18:13.



Haruhi: By the way, Kyon, do you know what we need to make a movie?

Kyon: An innovative idea and earnest passion?

Haruhi: I'm talking about a camera.

Great delivery, and perfect facial expressions for this back-and-forth. It came across much funnier here than in the novels... especially Kyon's incredible look after "I'm talking about a camera".

I like the toy at the top of the Lighting House store, shown at 20:35.

At 20:46, Haruhi appears to begin to put on a strip dance for the camera man... so that's how she convinced him to give her the camera for free! Seriously, Haruhi's theatrical movements here are really funny... what the hell is she supposed to be doing?! I'm sticking with strip dance for now.

Love Haruhi's power-walking style at 21:48. Apparently, she studied at the Vince McMahon school of strutting.

Haruhi then explains that, like Mr. McMahon, she likes flashy fights with big explosions. Only Haruhi intends to use actual firearms and TNT. Can even Sly Stallone compare to Haurhi when it comes to being a Demolition Man?

And then... episode ends abruptly.


General impressions not mentioned yet...

Nice variety in facial features and body movements for Haruhi at least. She showed a good range of emotions here. Still, she came off much sweeter here than she did in the novels to me. Maybe that's me misreading the novels, though, and reading "Exasperation" into Haruhi's words when it's really "Eccentricity". Could make for a good topic of debate in reviewing Sighs as a whole after this arc is over.

Kyon's little smirks were neat, but his brow furrowed too much... as I'm sure anybody who played this week's Sake Shot Glass Challenge! will be aware of once they wake up with a hangover in a few hours. :heh:

I know that Kyon is supposed to be snarky, but furrowing his brow so much had the same effect as italicizing every other word in a sentence; you do it so much that it starts to lose its effect after awhile and just gets distracting and/or annoying. ;)

So, Kyon, little smirks here and there are cool, but give your forehead a bit more of a break next time!

Nagato and Mikuru were well-animated. Koizumi was pretty good.

Voice acting was excellent. Background music was Ok, and appropriate for the most part. Great sound effects. Art style isn't my thing at all for the most part, but body movements were fluid at least.

Overall, a very solid 8/10.

And that ends this week's Queen of Queens review! I hope people enjoyed reading it!

[Dakota]

This week's sake shot glass challenge:

Take a shot for every time Kyon furrows his brow in this episode. :heh:

I read this, and automatically liked the rest of your post. Except I only have four beers.

[kk2extreme]

They are making Ep 00, could someone fill in the gap on the timeline :heh:

[Triple_R]

I read this, and automatically liked the rest of your post. Except I only have four beers.

That probably lasted you until the 8:00 mark then. :D

Thanks for the feedback!

[typhonsentra]

I also liked the subtle touch in the scene where Taniguchi lets out his cat call, the way Kunikida joins him in leering at the girls even if it's just for a few frames. It establishes why they're as close as they are as it doesn't seem very apparent in the other episodes they're both in.

[Dakota]

They are making Ep 00, could someone fill in the gap on the timeline :heh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Haruhi_Suzumiya_episodes

:rolleyes:

[TadloS]

Is it just me or people don't know the difference between animation quality and art quality?

No, not just you. I fell the same way. Most people don't see difference between animation and art.

[Kaisos Erranon]

And then... Kyon wears white Nikes, and you should too! :heh: After all, what footwear brand other than nikes could manage to hold your attention for this much walking visuals, eh? ;)

Those are their indoor shoes. They're color-coded by year, as are their gym clothes.

They're not Nikes. :heh:

[ruisu9]

I think that with this episode where back at season one,just before they do the movie of mikuru and the festival where haruhi sings god knows, if am wrong please tell me, if not, then WTF, really!!!! its the second seaon and we went back a whole year!!!!!!!!!!!???????????Kyoto Animation is fucking crazy, i just hope they do something good with it, not like the E8, dont get me wrong it wasnt bad it was just way to long.

[Triple_R]

Those are their indoor shoes. They're color-coded by year, as are their gym clothes.

They're not Nikes. :heh:

I didn't know what brand or make of shoe they were - I was just making fun of the amount of time that the visuals focused on them. :heh:

Thanks for the info all the same. :)

[Dakota]

I think that with this episode where back at season one,just before they do the movie of mikuru and the festival where haruhi sings god knows, if am wrong please tell me, if not, then WTF, really!!!! its the second seaon and we went back a whole year!!!!!!!!!!!???????????Kyoto Animation is fucking crazy, i just hope they do something good with it, not like the E8, dont get me wrong it wasnt bad it was just way to long.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh, wow.

[Triple_R]

I think that with this episode where back at season one,just before they do the movie of mikuru and the festival where haruhi sings god knows, if am wrong please tell me, if not, then WTF, really!!!! its the second seaon and we went back a whole year!!!!!!!!!!!???????????Kyoto Animation is fucking crazy, i just hope they do something good with it, not like the E8, dont get me wrong it wasnt bad it was just way to long.

Just so you know... Haruhi 2006's episodes weren't just out of order compared to each other... they were all taken from different novel points, leaving large novel points completely "skipped over" at the time. The events leading up to Episode 00 were skipped over before - we're filling in that gap now.

[RAD_ED]

The artwork in this episode seemed kind of bland like the artwork of a cheap quick anime. It was still refreshing to see something different from E8.

[Bri]

The art was unimpressive this episode. Feels a bit like Mystérique Sign. As mentioned by others too many anatomy errors. Too bad really, as the Haruhi-Kyon interaction made this episode really enjoyable.

[TadloS]

Besides, maybe somebody knows who handled this episode? To me it looks like a new animation director.

[Stardust Romance]

Haruhi's smile and giggles are just.......too cute.
It's like over-kill lol.

This episode was alright though.

EDIT: Am I the only one who cringed when Haruhi told Mikuru to be quiet when she was trying to make an excuse to leave the room? Her lying was obvious but saying that to Mikuru just seemed....harsh to me.

[Maxtro]

Meh, average episode. I really don't have any interest in the making of the movie that was shown in S1.

Also I'm starting to dislike Haruhi as a person. I can't believe that she was actually going to purposely spill hot tea on Kyon. If I was was in his position I would give her cold stare and firmly say, "Are you serious?" Right now she's a brat and she needs to learn her place.

[Vampire]

Haruhi must be some sweet talker or something to demand goods and become successful.

[Heatth]

Once again, Haruhiists and Kyonphiles and gender-bender-renders, it's time for a Triple_R Queen of Queens (since that's what Haruhi is!) minutia review!

(...)

Overall, a very solid 8/10.

And that ends this week's Queen of Queens review! I hope people enjoyed reading it!


Nice review man. I already said tht, but would be cool having a blog for this kind of thing. They are cool, but are huge. Don't fit very well in fast discussion tread like that.

A funny fact, you said Kyon is the most out shaped member of the Brigade (besides Mikuru). While it is true, he is also the more exited one besides Haruhi. Yuki don't show any emotion, and Mikuru and Koizumi are obvious only doing it by obligation. Kyon, however seem to try hard, even complaning.


About the art, I think it sucks when compared to the first run (and some particularly good E8). However, is not as bad as most call. Is avarage compared to most anime I've see.

[Triple_R]

Meh, average episode. I really don't have any interest in the making of the movie that was shown in S1.

Also I'm starting to dislike Haruhi as a person. I can't believe that she was actually going to purposely spill hot tea on Kyon. If I was was in his position I would give her cold stare and firmly say, "Are you serious?" Right now she's a brat and she needs to learn her place.

The anime really didn't handle that scene well. The only way that scene can make Haruhi look less of a complete brat is if they played up her getting jealous of Kyon's affections towards Mikuru before making the "spill hot tea on Kyon" order. Then at least it wouldn't be any worse than typical harem anime slapstick comedy.

As is... it's just mind-boggling cruelty. :heh:


Nice review man. I already said tht, but would be cool having a blog for this kind of thing. They are cool, but are huge. Don't fit very well in fast discussion tread like that.

A funny fact, you said Kyon is the most out shaped member of the Brigade (besides Mikuru). While it is true, he is also the more exited one besides Haruhi. Yuki don't show any emotion, and Mikuru and Koizumi are obvious only doing it by obligation. Kyon, however seem to try hard, even complaning.


About the art, I think it sucks when compared to the first run (and some particularly good E8). However, is not as bad as most call. Is avarage compared to most anime I've see.

Thanks a lot!

Kyon gave real effort, yeah. He was perhaps unique there. Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I might go with a blog in the future - however, I'm having a hard time finding a good blog hosting site. Any suggestions?

[Heatth]

Thanks a lot!

Kyon gave real effort, yeah. He was perhaps unique there. Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I might go with a blog in the future - however, I'm having a hard time finding a good blog hosting site. Any suggestions?

Well, wordpress seens to be popular. And is free.

[4as]

After this episode Im sure of one thing: Im not a fan of the new design :/

Also I'm starting to dislike Haruhi as a person. I can't believe that she was actually going to purposely spill hot tea on Kyon. If I was was in his position I would give her cold stare and firmly say, "Are you serious?" Right now she's a brat and she needs to learn her place.
QFT
Yeah, I agree.
Haruhi is my all time favorite anime character, but after this episode... erm, I have a mixed feelings.

[Akka]

Hu...
She's been all that, and much worse, during the whole first season...
Were you asleep or what ? She's just at their typical herself before her "mellowing".

[Takamura Mamoru]

Well shit, it's almost like I don't even care about it anymore. My brother downloaded the new episode instead of me and I haven't even watched it yet. Seeing the disgusting art of the new episode doesn't really help.

Back before the Endless Eight troll I couldn't wait to watch it and now I barely care. Damn it. :upset:

Regarding Haruhi: I think she acts different now. She's much happier and "cute". In Season 1, she had a serious streak of "unstoppable Genki Girl" with.. I don't know, megalomania! Now she's too busy being cutesy and I hate listening to her "happy voice".

[chinaboat]

I think the Haruhi/Kyon tea sequence, to me, comes across as Haruhi testing her limits with Kyon; she found them and accepted them. The two of them now have established the ground rule that while Haruhi will consistently ignore Kyon's advice when he says she must or can not do something she never argues. Also, in the aftermath of "Melancholy" this is when Kyon begins to see himself as Haruhi's protector (primarily from herself) as opposed to the three observers.

I look forward to this arc, it wasn't the greatest but there were some truly humorous moments that I trust will be even better in anime form.

[Triple_R]

Hu...
She's been all that, and much worse, during the whole first season...
Were you asleep or what ? She's just at their typical herself before her "mellowing".

I'm kind of with Akka here. Haruhi's not meant to be sugar and spice and everything nice. She's meant to have a very combative, reckless, and sometimes even vindictive side [mod edit: removed spoiler -- no future novel events in this thread!!!]

In fact...

Well shit, it's almost like I don't even care about it anymore. My brother downloaded the new episode instead of me and I haven't even watched it yet. Seeing the disgusting art of the new episode doesn't really help.

Back before the Endless Eight troll I couldn't wait to watch it and now I barely care. Damn it. :upset:

Regarding Haruhi: I think she acts different now. She's much happier and "cute". In Season 1, she had a serious streak of "unstoppable Genki Girl" with.. I don't know, megalomania! Now she's too busy being cutesy and I hate listening to her "happy voice".

I'm with you. I actually want to see more of the serious streak of the unstoppable/megalomaniacal Genki Girl. A bit too much of her happy voice for my liking as well.

Still, good news for you here, Takamura - the rest of this arc should contain more of the Haruhi that you and I like if it's a faithful adaptation. ;)

That being said... I like for there to be a method to Haruhi's madness. And I didn't see it in the anime's version of the "spill hot tea on Kyon" scene.

[Proto]

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8990/50303376.th.png (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/50303376.png/)


Yeah, right...

[Jintor]

HOORAY TANIGUCHI AND KUNIKIDA

I hearby declare this the 'Hot Tea Character Interpretation Horizon'.

On the other hand, a lot of my friends joke around like that a lot... so I don't know.

lol@camera shake when focusing on Haruhi. Actually, Kyon-eye view is getting used a bit here.

Most of the music seems to be Original Series music, haha, probably to get us back in the 'school groove'.

I honestly can't tell whether Kyon's dialogue is in his head or out loud, except by looking at the mouths now. Which is awesome.

FFFpFpfTT ROBOT YUKI

Oh man a lot of the Kyon-Haruhi immediate banter is killing me this episode.

Hey, two girls in - whatever that high school is called - Uniform. At first I thought they were a K-on reference, ha-ah.

The dynamite line made me fall off my chair. > >

[Triple_R]

[mod edit: removed quoted spoiler]

Yeah, I'll give you that. :)

At the moment, though... I would never want to go to a tea party that Haruhi is hosting. :D (just to keep this on-topic)

[Heatth]

Yeah, I'll give you that. :)

At the moment, though... I would never want to go to a tea party that Haruhi is hosting. :D (just to keep this on-topic)

If she is hosting, the is Mikuru who is serving right? I would totally like to be there :D

Anyway, she still has to hit her worse point in this arc. I expect many more people hating her after this. Especially because most will not rewatch Live A Live, so will have to wait god knows how many moths/years, before seeing her getting better.

[Akka]

If she is hosting, the is Mikuru who is serving right? I would totally like to be there :D

Anyway, she still has to hit her worse point in this arc. I expect many more people hating her after this. Especially because most will not rewatch Live A Live, so will have to wait god knows how many moths/years, before seeing her getting better.
Depends if she's getting her comeuppance or not. Cathartic release can do wonders to public.

Though I don't believe so, as the whole Haruhi character is to be a bitch and get away with it.

[Jintor]

BTW Akka, since Haruhi is effectively still a bitch right now (up until either halfway through Sighs or Live Alive), let's just say I'm currently sympathetic to your views on her character.

[Heminga13]

So I finally watched the sub lol.

First off, I had to get used to paying close attention to the subs again. Being a very dialogue heavy episode didn't help lol. The fact that there wasn't a lot going on besides talking didn't really make the episode that great. Still fun to see them discussing and stuff but I'd put this episode as one of the lower points of the series. Also, did anyone else think the episode ended at a funny spot? I noticed that when I watched it air. It's almost like they animated the whole arc and just took out the first chunk to air it as part one.

It looks like this arc will be the best one to bridge the gap between old and new stories. The beginning of Sigh has Kyon talking about Endless Eight and if the arc does end with them getting ready to watch the movie it'll lead right into that episode from the original. BLR doesn't really have a story around it that relies on it and the same for stories pre-Endless Eight.

[Gibber]

Haruhi was really evil when she was gonna spill tea on Kyon and she said "Be quiet" to Mikuru. I loved that.

[OkamiNoKaze]

Maybe it was Haruhi's Homage to the finale of Sopranos. My opinion is Haruhi watched Jesus Christ: Vampire Slayer or any number of the movies shown on MST3K in their original form.

[Kyanme]

"VERY INTERESTING..."

Straight/Bi/Confused/Whatever Itsuki is hilarious. ...No, Itsuki is hilarious. There we go.

I couldn't help but laugh when Haruhi motioned to pour hot tea on Kyon. Probably because I'd do the same if I had the chance. :C orz

So-so episode. It was a refreshing break from Endless Eight but wasn't as entertaining as I hoped.

My boyfriend has yet to stop quoting this episode yet though and I really, really, really, really want to punch him. ...Yay? /random

[GMT]

Ahh, finally watched the subs. I was generally amused, now that I know what they're saying. The background music was very nice. The artwork . . . well, The Melancholy of Hirasawa Yui beats 595 Years of Kyon Being an Idiot Endless Eight every day of the week and twice on Sunday. In anime-verse TMoSH, Haruhi's attempted tea-bath seemed to be more on the "Heheh, just playing"-side than the equivalent scene in the novel-verse. She does notice Kyon going off into lala-land while staring at Mikuru, and I tell myself this is what prompts her to go for a little payback. When she said she'd never write a show where someone dies at the end, I had to laugh, given how I view the end of each Endless Eight loop (i.e. everybody dies at the end. Repeatedly.)

All in all, a light, fluffy episode. I look forward to the descent into madness that will be the Making of The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina . . . err, I mean Sighs.

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

Honestly, and I know this is going to sound really, really strange coming from me... there was a little too much focus on Nagato. She hasn't even done anything yet(aside from the slightly off-screen relay race) and she got almost as much focus during the announcement scene as Haruhi. While I laughed at the part where she confirmed that she was allowing Haruhi to use the Lit. Club's funding for the movie, it was a bit jarring to see her get that much focus.

Oh well, looking forward to next week's episode, and the inevitable debut of Witch Nagato.

6/10

[Triple_R]

Honestly, and I know this is going to sound really, really strange coming from me... there was a little too much focus on Nagato. She hasn't even done anything yet(aside from the slightly off-screen relay race) and she got almost as much focus during the announcement scene as Haruhi. While I laughed at the part where she confirmed that she was allowing Haruhi to use the Lit. Club's funding for the movie, it was a bit jarring to see her get that much focus.

Oh well, looking forward to next week's episode, and the inevitable debut of Witch Nagato.

6/10

I think that the anime likes to focus on Nagato to help compensate for her lack of lines (or shorter lines, in any event), relative to the rest of the main cast. Basically, it's to remind the viewer "Don't forget, even though she's not actually saying anything, Nagato is here!" :p

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

But she didn't really get this treatment in the first season outside of Someday in the Rain. It's just weird.

Also, I think someone needs to tell royrbff that he can stop 1-voting the series, E8 ended last week. :heh:

[Master Chibi]

Just checking, but this is the newest episode right? As in no more Endless Eight shit?

I just rewatched the first season and I'm still reeling how they could fuck up such a cash cow like this. It's like everything that made the first season so enjoyable is everything they decided to stay away from in the second.

Gah, sorry. I don't even know what to expect of this show at this point, Haruhi-chan and Churyua were more worthwhile.

>_<

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

You say that like Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san were bad... Okay, the latter does get old pretty quickly, but Haruhi-chan was awesome. :heh:

[Reckoner]

I'm not terribly annoyed by them animating SIGHS instead of DISAPPEARANCE, but I am little bit ticked off because of the 8-episode-arc-that-must-not-be-named taking place before this and killing off any time in this season for it to be animated.

This animation style is so gross though. I would normally rate this episode at least an 8, but it gets a 7 because my eyes actually find displeasure when I look at the Goddess drawn and animated in such a horrid way.

I really detest KyoAni as a studio these days, they have quickly been losing my grace in all but one show, and now they are fucking that up too.

[Triple_R]

Given K-On's economic success, I'm actually pleasantly surprised that this many people dislike/hate this art style. It actually reaffirms some of my faith in the otaku community. :heh:

It's good to know that I'm not the only one who values anatomic correctness.

[Kaisos Erranon]

WESTERN otaku community. A great many people on this side of the Pacific despised K-On.

I don't think that many of the real otaku did.

[OkamiNoKaze]

I thought it was a pretty interesting and funny show. I had no idea what it was about going into it, though I think I knew it was about a band, or something like that. I just saw people here with avatars for it, and someone made a video on Youtube that used part of Don't Say Lazy in it, so I checked out the full song, then decided to check out the show.

[Jintor]

How many episodes left of Season One+ do we have before we have to sit back and endure some more trolling from KyoAni re: Disappearance?

[Kaisos Erranon]

How many episodes left of Season One+ do we have before we have to sit back and endure some more trolling from KyoAni re: Disappearance?

Eight total.

[ac195]

Also I'm starting to dislike Haruhi as a person. I can't believe that she was actually going to purposely spill hot tea on Kyon. If I was was in his position I would give her cold stare and firmly say, "Are you serious?" Right now she's a brat and she needs to learn her place.

At the moment, though... I would never want to go to a tea party that Haruhi is hosting. :D (just to keep this on-topic)


I couldn't help but laugh when Haruhi motioned to pour hot tea on Kyon. Probably because I'd do the same if I had the chance. :C orz


wtf is up with all this questioning of Haruhi's tea scene? Isn't it obvious that she just used that as an excuse to serve Kyon tea and tease him at the same time?

WESTERN otaku community. A great many people on this side of the Pacific despised K-On.

I don't think that many of the real otaku did.

You can't even compare other "otaku" to REAL JAPANESE OTAKU. The degrees of fandom is like comparing the moon to the sun...

[Triple_R]

wtf is up with all this questioning of Haruhi's tea scene? Isn't it obvious that she just used that as an excuse to serve Kyon tea and tease him at the same time?



Umm... no, it's not. Is this kind of teasing common in Japan? It certainly isn't in my neck of the woods.

You have to keep in mind that in North America, companies have been successfully sued for their customers being burned with overly hot beverages. I personally felt that it was crazy that these lawsuits were successful, but even implying that you're going to pour a hot beverage on someone is not taken lightly in North America.

Also, again... the anime screwed this scene up badly. The anime gave me the impression that Haruhi was dead serious about pouring hot tea on Kyon, and that it was an act of pure eccentricity on her part.

[ac195]

Umm... no, it's not. Is this kind of teasing common in Japan? It certainly isn't in my neck of the woods.

You have to keep in mind that in North America, companies have been successfully sued for their customers being burned with overly hot beverages. I personally felt that it was crazy that these lawsuits were successful, but even implying that you're going to pour a hot beverage on someone is not taken lightly in North America.

Also, again... the anime screwed this scene up badly. I got the impression that Haruhi was dead serious about pouring hot tea on Kyon, and that it was an act of pure eccentricity on her part.

Wow... I think you know nothing about Haruhi...

She let him know in advance... and she didn't try very hard spilling it...

[ijuinkun]

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8990/50303376.th.png (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/50303376.png/)


Yeah, right...

Only if you haven't seen "The Promise of Haruhi Suzumiya" :P

[Kaisos Erranon]

but even implying that you're going to pour a hot beverage on someone is not taken lightly in North America.

Not on this side of the country, man. :heh:

[Triple_R]

Wow... I think you know nothing about Haruhi...

What bullcrap. I know plenty about Haruhi. Just because I disagree with you on this one scene doesn't mean I know nothing about Haruhi. :rolleyes:




She let him know in advance... and she didn't try very hard spilling it...

...So are you saying that this is common in Japan? Because, again, this is very weird (and doesn't come across good at all) to most westerners.

[ac195]

What bullcrap. I know plenty about Haruhi. Just because I disagree with you on this one scene doesn't mean I know nothing about Haruhi. :rolleyes:




...So are you saying that this is common in Japan? Because, again, this is very weird (and doesn't come across good at all) to most westerners.

You can't be 28...

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

Wait... that scene was supposed to be Haruhi flirting? Could've fooled me. :heh:

[Triple_R]

You can't be 28...

Yes I am 28.

[Myssa Rei]

It's like everything that made the first season so enjoyable is everything they decided to stay away from in the second.

You mean consistency of art style used? I don't think the studio really cares that much anymore haha (ironic, given that this IS KyoAni). Because, when you think of it, the new art style will REALLY stand out when you compare it to the older episodes.

I'm the type that just shrugs at things like this, but a more casual watcher might scream bloody murder at the style shift.

Also, Kadokawa? Remember them? The ones that Must Be Hated?

[ac195]

Wait... that scene was supposed to be Haruhi flirting? Could've fooled me. :heh:

When it comes to admitting she likes Kyon... yeah, Haruhi is like that.

Past examples involving Kyon:
1) Her ponytail at the end of the Melancholy arc (pretty easy to understand that one right?)

2) Changing into the Bunny Girl outfit the second time (she saw Mikuru rubbing up on Kyon, pure jealousy there...)

3) The scene where Kyon "deletes" the Mikuru image gallery (Haruhi suddenly gets up from her chair, behind Kyon, clearly upset... she knows what Kyon did with those pics... I don't recall this scene in the LN but it was a nice touch in the anime)

4) The Boredom episode (baseball) where Haruhi and Mikuru get dressed up as cheerleaders. (She wonders if a ponytail would look better on Mikuru, glances at Kyon and notices he's looking at Mikuru... clearly upset she give up on the idea...)

5) There are more... many more in the LNs but I'm tired and spoilers are a hassle.

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

Notice that 2-4 involve Mikuru. Now, think of how the scene started.

[Ice Block]

WESTERN otaku community. A great many people on this side of the Pacific despised K-On.

I don't think that many of the real otaku did.
And the greater half of these guys hated it just for the sole reason of delaying Haruhi S2.

...So are you saying that this is common in Japan? Because, again, this is very weird (and doesn't come across good at all) to most westerners.
Being more open minded is a good trait. The world is not all about those Americans -- though they surely think it is.

I really like Saki's art. It has character designs that appeals to me, and fairly consistent quality. Granted, the characters are still moeblobs... but they're well drawn moeblobs.
Do I need to mention the boob shot of a certain character early on in the series? Granted, I'm not following Saki (and I don't know much about it aside from the fact that they're a strong faction in SaiMoe this year -- meaning I'll be watching it soon) so I can't give screens, but I'm sure there are more...

----------

On to the ep itself:

Rewatched with subs. A few minor things I missed in the stream:

Kyon's first person view, complete with subtly shaking camera.
Mikuru blinking in the far background (more visible hopefully with higher quality videos).


There was also more blinking this time. Hopefully, we can return to 2006-level "blink spam" soon.

[Jintor]

(re: the Tea Event Horizon) It's possibly both at the same time. That kind of behaviour is (or seems to be, in my view) how Haruhi 'flirts' with Kyon, and at the same time it's Haruhi doing her troper thing. Obviously she hasn't thought it through like Konata has, though...

[ac195]

Do I need to mention the boob shot of a certain character early on in the series? Granted, I'm not following Saki (and I don't know much about it aside from the fact that they're a strong faction in SaiMoe this year -- meaning I'll be watching it soon) so I can't give screens, but I'm sure there are more...


I couldn't watch Saki... the effects and drama of the Majhong antics where boarder-line parody... I swear I was watching a parody of all the crazy card/dice/top/etc shows... If it is a parody, then I take it all back, but I don't think it is.

[Ice Block]

I couldn't watch Saki... the effects and drama of the Majhong antics where boarder-line parody... I swear I was watching a parody of all the crazy card/dice/top/etc shows... If it is a parody, then I take it all back, but I don't think it is.
Hmmm... From an outsider's perspective, I can't really say anything. Popular SaiMoe shows have always surprised me in the past, however (Rozen Maiden, Nanoha and Higurashi to name a few).

And, to keep on topic, I don't see what's so wrong about the tea scene. It's not even implied to be that sinister. Seriously, if I had no clue as to what they were talking about, I would have thought Haruhi was just teaching Mikuru how to better serve tea.

[-Sho-]

This episode wasn't enough entertaining . The design was worse than the other episodes . Dunno what happens . Maybe they are tired ...

[Kid Ying]

I really liked this one, specially because it's the preparations for my favorite episode ever in the series, which is the movie. I'm really looking forward to see how Haruhi got the equipment. I can't believe they gave it to her just because of the ads in the movie.

Either way, a nice episode. I'll give it a 7.

Ah, yeah. The first time i watched the train scene, i thought Mio from K-on was in it, but it turned out it was just another girl... Damn. I love crossovers.

[Triple_R]

Being more open minded is a good trait.

Being open minded is what I was trying to do.

...Perhaps my question of "Is this kind of teasing common in Japan?" came across as rhetorical mocking. If so, I can assure you, it was not - it was a serious question.

If somebody had answered "Yes, this kind of teasing is common in Japan", then fine, then I accept this has Haruhi flirting with Kyon. I have no problem accepting how a particular situation in one country can be very differently interpreted than the same situation in another country (for example, Yamakan's apology over Endless Eight is received very differently between Japanese audiences, and western audiences, for cultural reasons, and I completely accept that).