[fish eric]

I already wondered when this is going to happen.
Hopefully somebody will suicide-bomb KyoAni or something.

Thats just not cool

Originally Posted by Ikonomi

I've also thought that the extreme similarity between Endless Eight 2 and 3 might have caused a lot of the uproar. 3 was, in my opinion, the weakest of the Endless Eights, and felt the most like a lower-quality rehash of the second episode. It had its moments, but by and large it felt like 2 with some still montages thrown in. 2 and 3 were fairly similar in style to the archetypal Endless Eight, but the quality seemed to have deteriorated to some degree by the third episode, and this was obviously not a good way to introduce the fanbase to the idea of several repeats of the story.

Endless Eight 4 was, obviously, significantly different, but at the same time a lot of people didn't like the art direction and animation, and a subset of those people took it as an indication of the decline of Haruhi's quality. In my opinion, it was pretty obvious from the second episode that KyoAni were trying out various art styles and animation directors and that the changes in style were endemic to Endless Eight. 4 seemed to be an especially polarizing episode because of its art style.

Endless Eight 5 is, in my opinion, the best iteration so far. The animation and art are very good, and the direction is a departure from the previous episodes. It had the most Haruhi-like flourishes, including the rotating screen and the mini-loop of Haruhi leaving the cafe. It was overall a very strong episode, and significantly better than 3. If 2 and 3 had been up to the standard of 5 in terms of art and direction, I do think the reaction would have been more positive. I'm sure there would still be a complaining faction, but that's to be expected.

I do think KyoAni have made an effort to differentiate the episodes, but the intentional changes in art style haven't gone over very well with the fans.

You know I think this whole arc would have been better if:


Episode 2 was episode 3
Episode 3 was episode 4
Episode 4 was episode 2
Episode 5 was episode 5


I think that by having the weakest episode(3) be the first loop everything is better after that so people are more and more pleased.