The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Episode 19 Discussion / Poll [2009 added ep. 9]

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Sute443

Let me get this straight: Kadokawa orders eight episodes of a single short story, causing weeks of raging, and all is forgiven just because KyoAni manages to make the ending feel epic? Sure, not everyone is acting that way, but it seems to be the dominant opinion in this thread.

This looks to be an example of the human tendency to think things weren't really as bad as they were in hindsight. Sure, the ending was better than I thought they could have made it, but I still would rather have had Disappearance.

To me, it is a feeling of "Wooooow, about f*cking time.", similar to how I felt when I got back in France, after two months in a climate I could not stand (hint: tropical climate).

[Sute443]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

I fully expect Disappearance within a year... this season seems more designed to draw interest than anything else.

The pessimism has grown weak in this one.

Originally Posted by -Sho-

It was Kadokawa or Kyoani who ordered 8 episodes ?
I saw a news before , Kadokawa who apologise and said that it should be around 2 episodes and it was Kyoani who kept with more .

Kadokawa pays KyoAni to do what Kadokawa says.

Originally Posted by Sheba

To me, it is a feeling of "Wooooow, about f*cking time.", similar to how I felt when I got back in France, after two months in a climate I could not stand (hint: tropical climate).

So it's not forgiveness in your case? Good. They haven't earned it.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

He wasn't necessarily a lost cause before Endless Eight. In other words, he's a costumer that KyoAni/Kadokawa lost because of Endless Eight.

This is what I meant to say. I just tried to use the phrase "lost cause" because I think it sounds cool.

[Tyabann]

Look, just try to forget about the past two months and look ahead, guys.

Even if it IS Sighs, at least it's not Endless Eight.

...You can tell they've done their job when I'm using phrases like that.


The new meme is now "At least it's not Endless Eight!"

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Rice_slayer

I was sealing concrete, on my cellphone when I heard the news, I almost jizzed in my pants! Seriously, Hearing that the arc FINALLY ended made my dad, or maybe it was the sealent fumes, either way Im happy!

And so the birth of a new internet meme: "Where were you when you heard Endless Eight ended?" ^_^

Need subs.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Dakota

This is what I meant to say. I just tried to use the phrase "lost cause" because I think it sounds cool.

It does sound cool.

[Jarmel]

Forgot to mention, they better animate every single chapter after this and not rush even one of them as they have no excuse after this.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Hmmmm....while I see no real reason to be out and out praising them for finally ending an unpopular arc, I also see no reason to hold on to any discontent. I won't be forgetting how lazy the last episodes have been and will still be taking it into account when we all do the overall impressions, but I kind of expect the next episodes to actually be good (and by that I mean I hope they will be), not just average but good by contrast with Endless Eight. I say take it as it comes.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Sute443

So it's not forgiveness in your case? Good. They haven't earned it.

Mind you, Endless Eight WAS my favorite short story. However, stretching it for eight episodes was one of the worst ideas ever. In fact, IF they had fun stretching it by spicing the things up, like having Kyon declaring his love to Itsuki, kidnapping Mikuru, stealing a car to pull a Thelma & Louise, or teach Yuki the recipe of curry, it would have been entertaining. Ending is good, but it does not erase six weeks of chores (watching a Endless Eight episode YET AGAIN!)

I am not forgiving Blizzard for neglecting Diablo and Starcraft for so long while churning out more updates for World of Warcrap. Even with the announcement, I am not forgetting.

With Munto TV and Endless Eight, they screwed up big time imo. While the ending of Endless Eight is good, it does not mean I forget what was before. Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody showed Haruhi back on its track, however Endless Eight was, in my opinion, a distasteful derailment.

EDIT: At some point I expected them to stretch it to the whole month of August, so to speak.

[Rice_slayer]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

And so the birth of a new internet meme: "Where were you when you heard Endless Eight ended?" ^_^

Need subs.

Exactly, just like, where were you when Haruhi Season 2 FINALLY aired :P. I was in my Math 30 class "taking notes" and watching to see if the episode was going to air :P.

[Rungelunge]

My 10 is for Kyoani, Kadokawa can burn in hell.

[Ithekro]

Actually for international sales, the typical number of episodes on a disc is four, with sometimes five for odd numbered series. A logical move for Endless Eight would be to place BLR and the first four E8 on one disc and then the remaining four E8 on a second...both discs sell. The first one because if BLR and the start of the arc (this could work even without BLR) and the second for the end of the arc. While not easy money, the two important episodes are on the two discs, meaning you need to get both.

This is harder with Japanese discs as they put two episodes per disc. This means people could easily skip out on two of the discs inthe middle and still get the beginning and ending discs. Oddly, this might be why some of the episodes were better than others...so they could distribute them across the four discs to encourage sales.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Hmmmm....while I see no real reason to be out and out praising them for finally ending an unpopular arc, I also see no reason to hold on to any discontent. I won't be forgetting how lazy the last episodes have been and will still be taking it into account when we all do the overall impressions, but I kind of expect the next episodes to actually be good (and by that I mean I hope they will be), not just average but good by contrast with Endless Eight. I say take it as it comes.

I more or less agree with this.

I intend on making a YouTube video to commemorate the ending of Endless Eight, and I'm going to closely watch how the Haruhi DVDs for this year do... but I probably would have done the latter anyway.

But I'm going to try to look at the rest of this year's Haruhi with out any consideration of or for Endless Eight. Actually, it'll be nice to be free of the "Episode is great on its own merits, but it's part of an arc that never should have gone this long to begin with" voting conundrum that I faced a couple times.

[Kaiba]

You know, in retrospect, maybe I should have given this episode a 10 as I define 10s (of which I've only handed out three ever) as awe-inspiring, incredibly amazing episodes that will drastically change your viewpoint of others or life in a way that you will never forget. And this episode did do that, just not in the usual manner.

[TakariCritic]

After coming down from my high, I confess I voted ten out of pure relief. I admit that the feeling we all had when it ended couldn't have been recreated any other way, but to me, it wasn't worth the two months of trolling Kadokawa put us through. I will never admit that their decision was good, wise, or logical. It wasn't. This episode, by itself, was actually well done so I do not regret my 10, but I'll be damned before I buy their DVD's.

[Le Zeep]

I only have one thing to say in the words of Fujin, JOY.

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by Sute443

The pessimism has grown weak in this one.

Well Kaisos is a manic depressive when it comes to this arc... one minute he thinks it's quality, then the next minute he thinks it's ruined forever.

OTOH, I'm much more stable. I've pretty much maintained my constant level of "blah" ever since it became clear what was going on with E8.

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Actually for international sales, the typical number of episodes on a disc is four, with sometimes five for odd numbered series. A logical move for Endless Eight would be to place BLR and the first four E8 on one disc and then the remaining four E8 on a second...both discs sell. The first one because if BLR and the start of the arc (this could work even without BLR) and the second for the end of the arc. While not easy money, the two important episodes are on the two discs, meaning you need to get both.

This is the exact marketing scheme that will keep me from buying any DVD's. Endless 8 and Bamboo leaf aren't good enough to justify me buying 2 full priced DVD's for it. I may just for go anything with E8 on it.

This will also be bad for new fans who get introduced to the show who buy it on DVD, because after they finish with the 1st volumes of loops they'll wonder what's going on. A quick google search reveals that the entire second disk will be more E8, so they get turned off the series and don't buy anymore DVD's.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

Well Kaisos is a manic depressive when it comes to this arc... one minute he thinks it's quality, then the next minute he thinks it's ruined forever.

It largely depends on what side of the bed I get up on that morning.

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

A quick google search reveals that the entire second disk will be more E8, so they get turned off the series and don't buy anymore DVD's.

Yeah, I agree, that's going to be a problem...

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

If not for the Newtype Article (which in my view indicates that KyoAni is well aware of the damage that they have done, and are owning up to it by promoting the end of the arc), I'd be far less happy on this thread than what I am.

The Newtype article doesn't really suggest anything of the sort. Of course people will be curious to know when Endless Eight will end -- that was part of the game they've been playing all along. Reporting on this is pretty natural. It's certainly not some sort of "mea culpa", any more than their blog post about it was. Of course they know, but why apologize? This is exactly what they wanted to accomplish -- they created drama. And then they advertised the fact that it was over so that everyone who ducked out for a while until it was over would know it's okay to come back. "Just as planned" indeed.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

There's nothing extreme whatsoever about getting pissed off over being fed the same basic narrative this many times. Really, relentlessflame, it's weird to you for people to get upset over the plot being completely halted for a full eight episodes? That's actually a hard thing for you to understand, and sympathize with?

What's weird is that they do this without realizing that their reaction is the joke. You've been manipulated all this time to be pissed off because you take the show too personally.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Which is exactly why Endless Eight was a failure. When meta-commentary overtakes discussion on the actual content of the shows, that's almost never a good sign.

Has this ever not been the case with Haruhi, either directly or indirectly? How many pages and pages of discussion were there about episode order? How about that Ontology thread? Or the genderbending thread, which is probably one of the largest threads on this board? Haruhi is meta; it's a phenomenon. The content is almost just a formality at this point (especially given that, other than the delivery of this arc, there hasn't been any new content for years).

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Those "crazy theories and explanations" existed because of how secretive KyoAni and/or Kadokawa were until the very end. It's not the fan's fault that these companies aren't more transparent, which naturally leads to increased fan speculation. Not all of us have your unshakable faith in KyoAni and/or Kadokawa.

What I've had faith in is the fact that Haruhi fans are dedicated enough that, once the filler arc was over, people would come back. And because of that, the sales of this particular set of DVDs that people are so worried about are actually pretty unimportant over the long term, because there's a lot more to go. Kadokawa and Kyoto Animation simply realized this, and took advantage of this "trick" as a way of prolonging this season in anticipation of a future season three.

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

The thought of someone seriously buying 4 dvd's of this arc makes my brain hurt.

I'm going to buy them, but it's actually not because I'm such a huge Haruhi fan, or because I'm such a huge fan of this story arc (though I've always said they're not worth all the rage they get either). Buying R2 DVDs at those prices is about collecting, not really about the content. That won't make sense to most people around here, but just think about it -- this is the Internet. If all I cared about was the content, I could easily get it. If anything, I'll just laugh when the sales come through not nearly as devastated as people think they "rightfully should be", and it becomes yet another case of "those otaku" being idiots/retarded/brain-dead/stupid/etc. etc. etc. That alone is nearly reason enough to buy it. If you can't be accepted, at least be incomprehensible to those on the outside.

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I'm going to buy them, but it's actually not because I'm such a huge Haruhi fan, or because I'm such a huge fan of this story arc (though I've always said they're not worth all the rage they get either). Buying R2 DVDs at those prices is about collecting, not really about the content. That won't make sense to most people around here, but just think about it -- this is the Internet. If all I cared about was the content, I could easily get it. If anything, I'll just laugh when the sales come through not nearly as devastated as people think they "rightfully should be", and it becomes yet another case of "those otaku" being idiots/retarded/brain-dead/stupid/etc. etc. etc. That alone is nearly reason enough to buy it. If you can't be accepted, at least be incomprehensible.

Seems somewhat tacky to buy something purely because allot of people hate it.