The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009): Episode 2-9

“By the way, how many times has this repetition happened?”

Now that wasn’t so bad…

Endless Eight takes place after the Mysterious Island arc in the first season, near the end of summer. Due to Haruhi’s feelings of regret, the world has been thrown into a two-week time loop. The gang will relive their summer over and over again until Haruhi is satisfied.

Everyone has a lot to say about Endless Eight, most of it bad, and though I have a lot to say too, I feel like I can’t get all of it quite out. Nor will I try to say all of it, as that would probably take up a little too much space, and since this is being posted practically half a year later, I think most of the things have already been said anyway.

To begin, I watched all eight episodes straight through, rather than one by one, and thus I don’t feel any of the torture, insanity, or urge to kill that many others have experienced. The first episode was pretty boring to me, but that’s probably because there was nothing odd or off-kilter with it.

The second through sixth episode were actually amusing though. Despite the majority of the script being exactly the same as the first episode, there were slight differences in dialogue, and huge differences in visuals and angles that made the episode worth watching through.

Okay, maybe I didn’t EXACTLY watch it through. I did kinda surf the Internet, read a book and twiddle my thumbs at the same time. But I paid enough attention and wasn’t TOTALLY bored until around the seventh episode. That was when I really started to feel antsy–seven times was quite enough.

Thankfully, the eighth episode was the last one. And the end of the episode actually really got my blood pumping. Something about seeing Kyon finally breaking out of the cycle made me feel inspired–as if I myself could break out of some endless cycle in my own life. I’m not quite sure what exactly that cycle in my life would be–but if I ever DO find that cycle, you know for sure that I’ll be inspired to break it!

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite moments from the arc:

Mikuru’s Final Breakdown

Halfway through each episode, Kyon gets a call in the middle of the night from Asahina-san crying for help. Each time, she is having an emotional breakdown, which really, is TOTALLY in character for her. This wouldn’t be anything special except for the last time this happens in episode 9.

By this point, whether it’s because the 15,532nd time is the last straw, or because of some other reason, Mikuru has reached the point where she’s completely incomprehensible! The line “Ib become unable buture!” will forever bring a smile to my face. In addition, Kyon doesn’t understand what Mikuru says and assumes that Itsuki molested her. This made for quite a fond memory.

Clothes

Despite the script being pretty much the same for each episode, you can’t accuse Kyoto Animation of slacking off during these eight episodes. The attention to detail given to the scenery, the mood and staging is actually quite astounding. One of the most obvious things to notice is the clothes that everyone wears. For instance, take a look at these yukatas:

Pretty much every episode, the main cast is wearing different clothes within the same scene. Hell, they’re even wearing different swimsuits! (Now who owns eight different swimsuits at home? *shrug* Not me.)

Nagato Yuki

Watching the events in Endless Eight might be hard for us–but imagine sitting through it 15,532 times! Kyon’s concerned that all this repetition is hard on Yuki, and he may be right. I’m not sure though…it’s kind of hard to tell from her face, plus Yuki is already used to waiting long periods of time doing nothing. I don’t think she would really mind, but I’ll just assume the main character is right.

In any case, Yuki buys a mask from the Obon festival every iteration. From a quick estimate, there are 25 different masks on sale at the mask booth. This means that on average, Yuki has bought each mask about 600 times, assuming that she doesn’t have a preference for a certain mask. That’s a pretty reliable customer, doncha think?!

“I Love You~”

“Embrace Suzumiya-san from behind and whisper into her ear ‘I Love You’.”

From episode 2 onwards, I especially paid attention to this scene. If you don’t remember, it goes something like this:

Kyon: What does she want anyway?
Itsuki: Why don’t you try embracing her from behind and saying “I Love You”?
Kyon: Like hell I will!
Itsuki: Well then, what if I try it then?
Kyon: …
Itsuki: Just kidding. *smirk*

And I noticed the first time around that during Kyon’s “…”, we don’t get to see his face. Which makes me all the more curious–just what kind of expression is on Kyon’s face as he thinks of Itsuki taking Haruhi away?! Gahhhhh, I want to know!

But even up until the very last episode, we never get to see Kyon’s expression. In one episode, the camera will be from Kyon’s point of view. In another, it will be aimed squarely at the back of his head. And most of the time, Kyon isn’t even on-screen during this moment. It’s a bit frustrating, but I guess that leave the expression up to the imagination. Good stuff.

Final thoughts

Certainly, showing the same episode eight times in a row wasn’t something viewers would like, and maybe the producers even did it on purpose in order to provoke us. But at the same time, making me rewatch variations on a theme over and over again created an emotional reaction in me at the very end that could not have been reached with only two or three episodes.

I probably wouldn’t have found Asahina’s incoherence as funny if she hadn’t spoken clearly seven times before that. I wouldn’t feel as bad for Nagato if I hadn’t experienced at least a fraction of what she has. And the final scene, where the time loop finally ends, would not have been as exhilarating if I hadn’t seen Kyon fail so many times before.

Despite the same script, the animation and colors increased the desperation and intensity of each episode until it finally reached the climax. In the end, it was worth sitting through it all.

Well, hopefully this post marks the end of a long hiatus. Take care, everyone!

~eNamorD (byItsuki’s amazing lung capacity)

1 Comment

• 

  By Yumeka, January 16, 2010 @ 9:39 am

  Great recapping of Endless Eight.

  I heard a theory on Cartoon Leap about why KyoAni decided to repeat it eight times. They had intended to make The Disappearance movie a long time ago, since it’s the most popular novel (remember all the promotional art for it before the new episodes even aired?) So that means they had to make episodes of all the novel stories before The Disappearance. Usually anime seasons run for 24 to 28 episodes. They decided to make it a rebroadcast so fans could rewatch the original 14 episodes after 3 years. So with the 14 old episodes, they needed more to make it 24 to 28. The only stories left to animate before The Disappearance were Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, E8, and The Sigh. Those three alone weren’t enough to fill in that many episodes, so what option was left? Make eight variations of the E8 episode.

  The fact that the E8 DVDs are selling in Japan shows how popular Haruhi still is.

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