[Soelke]

LOL. Here I go.

Spoiler for Emotional Involvement.:

Man, was the 2009!series different from the 2006!series. The second season had a much, MUCH darker tone to it than the first season. I could feel pain coming from everyone at some point in the series: Yuki's agony during the Endless Eight; Mikuru's despair during the movie filming; and Haruhi's shock when Kyon tried to hit her. I admit that it became painful to watch, especially when Kyon is asking everyone's opinions on Haruhi (he did, right?).

I give Emotional Involvement a 10/10, because it got such a strong reaction from me.

Spoiler for Thoughts about the animation quality.:

Oh, KyoAni, you never fail to impress me with your amazing backgrounds and flowing hair. The animation was so good that I would find myself scrolling back a little to watch a clip again, because the animation was SO GOOD! The movements were fluid, and even background characters got a lot of detail put into them. I can see that KyoAni worked very hard at this. However, I noticed that the style everyone was being drawn in was kind of similar to K-ON!. Although it didn't feel quite right at some moments, at least Kyon didn't look like a chipmunk when he was screaming at Haruhi over the drunk Mikuru.

I give the Animation a 9.5/10, because although I looove the animation, I could still see some leftovers from K-ON!.

Characters: 10/10

Spoiler for Suzumiya Haruhi:

Where do I begin with this girl? Well, I think I should have paid attention to TVTropes when they said she was a bit of a loony, but I think I had to see it for myself to confirm it. And man, was I convinced she had a few screws loose. She was so willing to get Mikuru drunk, throw her in a pond, and whack her on the head with a megaphone that I couldn't even comprehend it. She doesn't even feel sorry. She calls Mikuru her "toy". She unconciously put Yuki through Hell when she made that last week of summer loop ~15,000 times. She pushed Kyon over his limit and he almost hit her. And she STILL gets her way in the end. Excuse me miss, but WTF are you doing?

Despite Haruhi being the way she is, she's still an awesome character because she has depth. Sure, she's a crazy girl who forces a helpless girl into embarrassing costume, but so were a lot of other anime characters. She feels a wide range of emotions, and literally warps the world around her. You have to give her credit for that.

Spoiler for Kyon:

Kyon is quite different from your average bear. I mean, male protagonist. When a harem of lovely girls come into his life, he doesn't just sit there and accept it! Well, he certainly accepts Mikuru, but that's not the point here. He asks questions, fights back, and isn't afraid to take matters into his own hands...literally. He's cynical, sarcastic, ruthlessly blunt, and I love him. I love seeing unique male characters because, hey, animes with lots and lots of pretty girls don't really seem to spend a lot of time on the guys. But with KyoAni (and a lot of other anime), the guys are just as much as lookers. Kyon's as round a character as Okazaki Tomoya and Yagami Light, and for that, I commend him.

Spoiler for Asahina Mikuru:

There are so many things I want to tell SOS Brigade's personal moeblob. She's irresistably cute, and you just can't help but love her. She's also rather pitiful and kind of pathetic. What I'd like to say to her is "GROW A SPINE!" Seriously. She's cute, but that doesn't excuse her behavior. She doesn't fight back. Not ONCE does she say, "Enough is enough, Suzumiya-san! Stop forcing me into this racy costumes or I'll report you for sexual harrassment!" She just...goes along with it. It's appalling. It's as appalling as Haruhi actually harrassing her. It's hard to sympathize for her because she doesn't resist. She's more pitiful than anything else.

Spoiler for Nagato Yuki:

Yuki was really fleshed out in this season. A lot. Every episode, she's coming closer to having real human emotions. It became more evident with each E8 episode. She started to look more and more tired out, more frustrated, more sad, almost? Yet she can't do anything. Haruhi isn't doing anything to her physically. She isn't treating Yuki like Mikuru, but rather, she's affecting Yuki through time loops and other crazy paranormal stuff. She ends up being relied on a lot, and it starts to get to her after a while. Yuki is more sympathetic than Mikuru because there must be so much pressure on her to help keep Haruhi in line (I mean, the others end up depending on her most of the time), and she can't even express her emotions. Deep down inside, I think she just wants to be normal.

Spoiler for Itsuki Koizumi:

I never really liked Itsuki as much as the others, I'll be honest. He's always sucking up to Haruhi, agreeing with her ever whim and letting her abuse Mikuru. Plus, he always has that smile on his face and it really bothered me. However, this season made me like him a little more. Or rather, gain a newfound respect for him. I don't know the details too well, but he's kind of in a corner. He doesn't go against Haruhi because he can't. He has to keep, basically, a poker face all the time. He can't let the others see how stressed he is because they don't see him as that kind of person.

Actually, I'm starting to like him more because of the Haruhi Abridged Series. Yay Sailor Pothead!

Spoiler for Soundtrack:

Not much to say here, actually. The music was beautiful as always. I really loved the music playing in one of the E8 episodes, when Kyon sees Yuki looking at masks. It was such a Spirited Away moment.

Soundtrack gets a 10/10.

Overall, Haruhi is an epic win. I was so glad I got to experience this show during my lifetime and ride the rollarcoaster with everyone, y'know? Series gets a 10/10 from me...Hehe, I give perfect scores too easily xD