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Originally Posted by relentlessflame
People are generally insecure and, especially when surrounded by others who seem to agree with their point of view, resort to bashing the people whose point of view they don't understand or seems incongruous to their own. I think it's a primal instinct; it's like you're the nail that sticks up, so you get hammered down. You get this all the time around here from source purists, counter-culture trolls, and, of course, in this thread It's like the power of their own opinion is only supported by the opinion of others (hence their need to have others agree that they're right), and is made perfect in a delusional belief that there is only one possible truth; that if others feel differently, there must be something wrong with them. After all, to assume otherwise would be admitting that your own opinions aren't perfectly logical, reasonable, and Right, and who would want to live in a world where their own opinions are arguably wrong?!
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I may have slipped into an unkind frame of mind when regarding those who said they were enjoying the arc, and that wasn't fair. However, I have tried on the whole to be objective and calm.
By critiques of the Endless Eight "experiment" are these two things:
1) As an artistic experiment, I feel it was a failure; that is to say, it did not do what I think it intended to do. I think the intention was to make the viewer see things through Yuki's eyes; however, the tone of episodes 2-7 was inconsistent, at one moment as upbeat and other moment nearly schizophrenic, but randomly and without progression. As a result, I didn't feel like I was in Yuki's shoes at all.
2) It seems to me very likely that the decision to do Endless Eight this way was financially driven; either Kadokawa wanting to extend the series and figuring that even people who didn't like Endless Eight might buy it out of fan loyalty; or as an attempt to build up the buzz lost over the hiatus. Of course, a financially driven decision by a production company and its sponsor is not inherently objectionable---but the way they strung the fans on with distortions and half-truths about the nature of this "re-airing" (as in the Newtype issue with
Disappearance Haruhi on the cover) was at best duplicitous and at worst outright fraudulent.
I think that there is some logic behind these statements, but I perhaps my judgment is clouded by my own ego. I'm not trying to be sarcastic here at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by relentlessflame
What I don't get about all of this (though understand all the same) is how a niche geek community somehow thought it was right and proper, in a smaller context, to mimic the way the larger community looks down upon and discriminates against us. I mean, most people I know think anime is stupid and would seriously look down on me if I admitted that I simply watched it, let alone collected it. And yet here we are, In This Thread, with people judging anyone who would dare either admit they enjoyed the story arc, or is considering buying the DVDs. Because it's the same story re-animated? So what? I'm sure that others enjoy shows that I would personally consider an even greater waste of time for me for entirely different, personal reasons. Just because some people - heck, even many people -- didn't like it, that must mean that there's something wrong with people who feel differently? Is their feeling differently so incongruous to the proper functioning of the world and all that is Right and Good and Normal? When we're talking about a freaking cartoon that most people think you're developmentally-challenged for still watching at your age? Nevermind discussing it ad nauseum on a freakin' message board. Why hello there, Kettle. You're looking rather black today. Is the only way to convince yourself that you're "not wrong" to fool yourself into thinking that there are others more wrong than you?
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There is one thing about this statement that I feel misses the mark. If people look down on others because of their tastes in entertainment, then that is their problem. But I don't think one can compare Endless Eight as a form of entertainment to anime as a whole. That is to say, while anime is a form of entertainment that has certain thing that distinguish it from other forms (it is animated, and animated in a somewhat different way than Western animation; the drawing often has certain similar characteristics), it is still similar to other forms in that it usually has characters doing some kind of action; indeed, I doubt there is an anime out there of which there is no other show or movie like it, or even sort of like it. But there has never been anything like Endless Eight before, nor, I imagine, will there ever be again. It is essentially eight episodes of a show in which basically the same actions and dialogue repeat nearly eight times: if there is something similar to this out there, I'd be interested to hear it.
So, I don't feel it really works to say, "I bet there are shows that you like that most other people don't like", because Endless Eight isn't comparable to any other show.
Of course, if you or anyone else likes Endless Eight, no one has any right to find fault with you. But I think that the difference between those who enjoyed Endless Eight and those who didn't goes beyond a difference of taste in anime---it is a difference of taste about completely separate mode of entertainment. As in, liking Endless Eight is not like you enjoying a certain action movie whereas I dislike it; liking Endless Eight is like you liking magic shows (an almost unique form of entertainment) whereas I dislike magic shows. In such a case, I don't think either side can really understand the other as much as they would like. I certainly won't say there is anything wrong with anyone who liked Endless Eight (there isn't), but try as I might I simply can't understand that point of view. Perhaps it is simply a limitation of my experience or my ability to sympathize with others (a flaw many of us have), but I can't deny that it is the case.
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Anyway, I watched the last episode as well as the three I missed. One thing that got to me was how many still shots there were is six; it was as though you could hear the animation cels starving from want of budget. Episode 8 was sufficiently different from the others that I felt it merited a seven. Especially Kyon's, as many are calling it, "acid trip".
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Surely homework couldn't have been the only way 
But after going through much of this endless hell, I have to admit ending was awesome. Time to put this arc behind me and move forward. Why dwell in the past eh? Also crying Mikuru is still the cutest.
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