The Thread of Haruhi Suzumiya (General)

[Yuuni Anno]

Hey Hey! Brigade Members!

Recently, on my way to begin my infiltration of the Dominion (Canada) I've picked up the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime, over the course of the last few days and weeks I've gone through the series.

As of writing, I've just finished Endless Eight only a few minutes or so ago, and I felt inspired to talk about it given how much I actually ended up enjoying my run through of Endless Eight that I thought.

I also noticed we were lacking a dedicated thread on Haruhi... which feels a bit strange... But I aim to rectify that with this here thread!

Anyway, uhh, I'll start this all off with talking about my feelings towards Endless Eight, and my feelings on the series leading up to it. When I first started Haruhi, I kind of did so on a whim given I had finished the Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0 animes, that both were majorly popular back in the 2010s, going by that logic I thought of going through all the popular anime around that time, excluding shounens because those always seem to be really popular regardless of the time period.

Up to this point I found the series really fun, seeing the SOS Brigade fucking around and meeting everyone early on was nice. So far I think my favorites among the cast aside from Haruhi herself, is Koizumi and Nagato. Kyon is also a funny perspective character and he's a great straightman to the general wackiness of the rest of the cast. Though someone I find really lacking is Asahina, though I can't be too mad at her as she seems to never catch a break as both the Brigade Mascot and "Designated Person the World Fucks Over at Every Given Time", as for adult Asahina, for how little of her I've seen so far, seems pretty nice, though given how sparse her presence has been I can't form a solid opinion on her as a whole.

I heard a bit about Endless Eight before I went through it, I found it pretty intimidating at first given the entire idea but actually going through it was both a lot less painful and much more fan than I thought it might be. Playing spot the difference and seeing how they do the cinematography in some scenes and seeing what small moment gets cut and what is kept is really cool to see.

Another thing though is, I don't know if this is correct, I have not looked into it, but I swear to God it felt like every episode was done by a different studio. That's probably not the case given the logistical nightmare that it sounds like it'd be, I don't know, the lighting always felt like it changed majorly as I watched through, could be things going into short term memory but I can't tell.

Either way, I think Endless Eight was a really interesting experience, hopefully I can come to appreciate it more in the future when I do a rewatch of the series long after I finish it. Other than that, I don't have much else to say, but I'll definitely revisit this post in the future when I do!

With all that said and done, I guess that marks the start of the Haruhi thread, welcome one and all!

[Amlux]

I heard a bit about Endless Eight before I went through it, I found it pretty intimidating at first given the entire idea but actually going through it was both a lot less painful and much more fan than I thought it might be. Playing spot the difference and seeing how they do the cinematography in some scenes and seeing what small moment gets cut and what is kept is really cool to see.

What was the first thing you noticed changing? For me, it was the swimsuits in the pool scene near the beginning if I remember correctly. It might have just been Haruhi's though? I was sort of half-AFK while watching all the repeating episodes and I think you can forgive me for it... unless that's just not hardcore enough.

Anyway Fuck Haruhi, Marry Mikuru, Kill Yuki. Though I actually like Yuki best as a character, just not as a romantic interest.

[Yuuni Anno]

I heard a bit about Endless Eight before I went through it, I found it pretty intimidating at first given the entire idea but actually going through it was both a lot less painful and much more fan than I thought it might be. Playing spot the difference and seeing how they do the cinematography in some scenes and seeing what small moment gets cut and what is kept is really cool to see.

What was the first thing you noticed changing? For me, it was the swimsuits in the pool scene near the beginning if I remember correctly. It might have just been Haruhi's though? I was sort of half-AFK while watching all the repeating episodes and I think you can forgive me for it... unless that's just not hardcore enough.

Anyway Fuck Haruhi, Marry Mikuru, Kill Yuki. Though I actually like Yuki best as a character, just not as a romantic interest.

First thing I noticed I think was just generally the outfits, through the whole arc everyone rotated through an entire wardrobes worth of clothing and that was one of my favorite things to look out for when I went through, mainly because it was nice to see what everyones styles were.

Also, honestly, that order is probably the only stable one. Mikuru is literally the only other person who could reasonably be called sane, or having much more realistic standards among the brigade aside from Kyon, as I'm pretty sure Koizumi has purged all thoughts that aren't "Glory to Miss Suzumiya" a la Soviet Commissars.

[Steve]

the outfits were the best part of endless eight for me, its so rare getting to see characters in so many different styles I was excited every iteration.

[MetalHaruhi]

I recall watching the endless eight without knowing about it beforehand, at the second episode I thought I had accidentally replayed the same episode so I think I went backwards with my tv remote but then I realized it was on purpose.
Then I noticed the clothes and other minor stuff changed between episodes.

I actually watched all of them in one sitting, waiting to be delivered of my pain.
Hoping the next episode would be it, only to be disappointed again and again:

" K̴̥̒̓y̶͔͈͑o̵͚̐̾ǹ̷̹͊-̸̬̀͑k̵͖̙̈ù̷̼̪̄n̶̦̍͜,̶̳̈́́ ̵̖̐͐d̷̡̠̕e̸̡͆ͅn̸͎̱̊̑ŵ̵͈͓a̴͇͊̐ "


Did they need to make 8 episodes? Probably not, but in doing so it made me feel a bit of the horror of being stuck in a time loop, so it accomplished its purpose in that way. It was a bold artistic decision which I respect.

[herzblutnord]

I have two tattoos, both are references the 4th volume of the light novels "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya". Big time fan of the series, also one of the first animu i ever saw back in the 2000s when it was still quite new. good times. good anime. i rewatch the animu from time to time, and i have read through all the LNs (except for the newst volume that came out fairly recently) at least 6 times i think.

endless eight are fun, when i watched them for the first time, i thought the little things that were different sometimes were hints and was trying to interpret them, especially that scene towards the end where they show a plane and stuff like that.

did you guys know that the clock you can see in many episodes in front of the train station where the SOS brigade meets, after being originally removed from the train station, a fan found the clock at a scrap recycling facility in nishinomiya and they brought it back and its now back at the very different looking place infront of the train station

[capstasher]

Yeah people sold Endless Eight as this nightmare of a slog but I found it incredibly enjoyable and would actually be one of the things I'll look forward to in my next re-watch.

[witch]

If you skipped endless eight I just assume you don't like anime.

[Steve]

nowadays "anime fans" skip the whole show