July 25, 2009
1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=?
Something was wrong.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya pretty well single-handedly got me back into anime. The first season was so excellently put together with a splash of well-applied avant-garde that really drew you in and made you interested, not to mention welcomed multiple viewings. And dammit, I did watch it multiple times, I picked out all kinds of little things in it, and then I sat back and I said “Woah. Here is something great. Here is something that not only lives up to the incredible hype and fandom it has, but in some ways even surpasses it. Amazing.”
Then there was a season 2, and it started sneakily, in the middle of reruns of season 1. Ha! It was back!
And then came Endless Eight.
It started out innocently enough. A rather boring little episode. But then it aired again, only a little different. And then again and again and wheeeee, Endless Motherfucking Eight!
I’m not going to argue for or against it. I’m sure internet people are doing that all over. But fuck, my blog is so insular. So fucking insular. No, I want to figure out why the fuck I keep watching it, and why I have the reaction to it that I do, and that reaction is…
Well, no reaction.
Honestly, I don’t much feel one way or another on this one. It’s not that I have some endless trust of the people making the show. They had a lot of trust, but by the fourth time I was watching the same episode remixed, that has been completely squandered. I can’t even imagine a way in which this stupid stunt could pay off, much less pay off in the same way that the awesome stunt of Season 1 did. It’s not that I think it’ll be worth it.
And it’s certainly not that it’s entertaining. So little changes from episode to episode that it really doesn’t seem worth my time.
Yet I watch and I watch and I watch.
I love these characters, and I love the world, and the show is really well animated. And I mean, it’s not like they’re reusing shots or anything for these episodes. I keep watching to see what happens to them. I keep going because I want them to break out of this stupid plot bullshit that the animation company has set them in and get back to what made the series great. Honestly, I highly doubt they won’t, after this, come back, in “apologetic” fashion, with something full force that will wow me.
But why stick with the Eight? Why not wait until it’s over? Is it just to be part of the crowd? To be “in” on the time when they pranked their viewing audience or whatever?
Maybe.
Fuck, I dunno.
(If I was really stupid, I’d post this blog post with minor edits for the next few days, Luckily, I am not a complete moron.)