Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya DVD Second Season
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
zensunni
 Posts: 1294 |
|
|||||
|
Having watched the season after it was already out, I didn't find the Endless Eight that bad. The subtle variations in the presentation and costumes was well done, and it built a palpable sense of dread at the end of each of the last four or five of the episodes. That said, if I had been watching it week by week, I probably would have calculated when the last one was and tuned back in then. As a DVD release, it is an interesting experimental animation idea, as a weekly series, it was a tremendous gamble and probably lost a lot of viewers. It could have been done in 4 or 5 episodes, but people would still have complained about that. If it was fewer than 4, it wouldn't have been effective and people would have complained that it was just a stupid story. Can't win for loosing!
I do prefer Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody to the Sigh arc as well. I can't wait to be able to see the Disappearance movie! spoiler[The Sigh bothered me because of the amount of vitriol and meanness. Kyon became downright unlikable in spots as Haruhi's behavior towards Mikuru became more and more unacceptable. The spiking of her drink to make her "more sexy" was a poor choice that really makes the story cross the border from harassment to abuse! I realize that high school students do drink alcohol, but to have a girl's "friends" slipping her a mickey is bad form indeed! (I felt the same way reading the book version of Remote Island Syndrome, but at least there Haruhi decides that drinking is stupid because she can't remember what she did the next morning.) But the main thing that I didn't like was that it took the relationship of the two main characters away from where I would have liked to see it go. Instead of gradually growing closer, they seemed to grow farther apart. I felt the same way reading the book. I really want to see/read Disappearance to see if it moves the story back in the direction of Kyon realizing how he feels about Haruhi and how she feels about him, as opposed to Kyon mooning over the moe, and potentially manipulatively so, Mikuru. (I have never particularly thought that Mikuru was drawn that in a way that made her any more attractive than Haruhi. OK, maybe the adult version, but the young version just looks to young and moe for my tastes. Give me a more realistically proportioned girl anytime, like the girls from Blue Drop, Holo, or the Fox-maidens from Zakuro.) I guess, in the end, I like the story, but I don't like what the story did to some of the characters. I do like that it deepened the mystery around the intentions of the various factions that are observing and trying to control Haruhi. If I watched it in chronological order, with Live Alive and then Some Day in the Rain close after, it would put the characters in better prospective. ] I hope they eventually release both seasons, in chronological order, on BluRay. I would buy that. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
|
|||||
I don't believe my words are subjective opinion. I have written Bandai of my dislike of the stack-pack boxes used to sell their products and I am not alone in this action. It may be an impolite comment, but I'd hardly call it opinion at this point since Bandai is still using them. What's on the DVDs hardly matters when the packaging has the potential to ruin them all. Last edited by PetrifiedJello on Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:01 am; edited 1 time in total |
||||||
|
||||||
bahamut623
 Posts: 1463 |
|
|||||
I kind of remember hearing that, which is probably why I thought about it. But the thing is, while watching it, it definitely didn't feel that way. They could've gone much farther in making each episode feel different. |
||||||
|
||||||
Losstarot
 Posts: 28 |
|
|||||
spoiler[Personally I thought this was the most interesting part of this whole box set. The only thing Kyon can be reasonably accused of here is not being smart (because angering Haruhi could have world-ending consequences) but he's certainly not being unreasonable or unlikeable in standing up to Haruhi for doing what she does in that scene. All I could think was "Finally! Somebody in this cast grew a spine and stood up to Haruhi when she went too far."] |
||||||
|
||||||
SonicRenegade84
 Posts: 630 Location: Atlantis! |
|
|||||
O_O It finally happens? Oh thank god! |
||||||
|
||||||
|
SonicRenegade84
Posts: 630 Location: Atlantis! |
|
|||||
You do know that Bandai barely has any money to put out awesome boxs sets like they used to, right? Besides, if people aren't going to buy S2 because of the Endless Eight, why should Bandai spend that extra money on Haruhi when they know that people are going to splurge on K-ON in the coming year? |
||||||
|
||||||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
|||||
Unfortunately, to be a reviewer on this site you have to give out the wrong grades every now and then (if not most of the time), and I - of course - would give out the grades I felt were justified. Plus, I wouldn't want to stand the editor (you know, Zac). Although sparring with you in the comments would be kind of cool. But seriously, if I was a reviewer I would look at the entire show, not just conveniently leave out the elephant in the room to sit in the corner and down martinis all by his lonesome. Endless Eight is so offensive and mind-numbingly awful that it ruins the entire season. It pretty much ruined the entire franchise for me, not that I was a huge fan in the first place. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Zhou-BR
Posts: 1432 |
|
|||||
|
I like the fact that Bandai arranged the episodes in a way that makes the infuriatingly pointless middle portion of Endless Eight easily skippable (kind of like the "recap disc" of Wolf's Rain), but I'd like to own a set that included all 28 episodes in proper order, just like the BD boxset that's about to come out in Japan.
|
||||||
|
||||||
asimpson2006
 Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
|
|||||
I want to know how Endless Eight is offensive? As I mentioned before I liked Endless Eight but it could have been shorter I won't lie there. I thought it was creative and different which is why I like it, but I don't think it should be done again, or if it is done again, make it shorter in terms of the loop. |
||||||
|
||||||
Reibooi
 Posts: 394 |
|
|||||
|
I find it kinda funny that everyone trashed the Endless Eight arc so badly. Having not watched it until I got this set about a week ago I thought it was literally the SAME EXACT thing for 8 episodes and it's not. Not even close.
The conversations are different(while still meaning the same thing) the outfits are different and it was fun looking at all the different things that changed here and there. I would exactly say it was a smart thing to do but it wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be. I do 100% agree that it should not have been 8 episodes. Perhaps 3 or 4 would have gotten the point across. However at least for me it was not to big a deal. As soon as I started to get sick of it the arc ended. Most people probably have no patience or anything and I can tell you that ALOT of people who complained never saw it. The way I know this is tons of people complained about how it was a rip off and how it was just done to be easy and copy paste for both the art work and the voice over and blah blah but that's wrong. Most of the scenes were animated different so they had to do it 8 different times and seeing as how the conversations are different and angles are different the voice actors had to dub EVERY episode. It wasn't just copy and pasted like alot of haters said it was. All that said I do wish that Bandai would release a box set that had both seasons arranged in chronological order. It was kinda hard to remember what was happening when in the time line. A new box set would fix that. Sad part is they will probably release a box set with both seasons on it in the future as a anime legends or something and still not put the episodes in order. |
||||||
|
||||||
Mad_Scientist
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 3011 |
|
|||||
You say that a single block of episodes ruined the entire season for you, and pretty much the franchise as well. Yet you talk about looking at the "entire show". You accuse Theron of ignoring Endless Eight, but you are doing the opposite: ignoring everything but Endless Eight. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Heminga13
Posts: 10 |
|
|||||
|
For those wishing for a complete box set, Japan is getting a Blu-ray box set with all 28 episodes of TMoHS (in the 2009 airing order) later this year. I know I would definitely purchase a copy if Bandai decided to release one here as well.
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-language/product/B003UTS85C/ref=dp_change_lang?ie=UTF8&language=ja_JP At least that should be the right link, I can't read Japanese >.> |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18247 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
The problem with that is that no one knew for certain that it was going to be eight episodes long at the time it ran; look in the late 100s for the series thread in the Anime forum, where this issue was discussed extensively. Concerning the grades give: in the Previews thread I took quite a bit of grief for letting a gut reaction through on the first episode of TWGOK, so I decided to specifically avoid that here. That's why this set doesn't have a grade lower than it does. Get by how infuriating the concept behind "Endless Eight" is and it's actually a remarkably well-made arc. Consider that it uses essentially the same material eight times without ever exactly repeating itself; the animation, camera angles, and outfits are at least a little different each time, as is the exact content. They didn't copy-and-paste a single scene. Yes, they dragged it out too long, but the idea is still a brilliant (if ill-advised) one, and I did find that the tension built up by all of the repeats maid the payoff at the end worth it. Still, the series took an overall notch or two hit from me on the Story grade just for that part being irksome. Besides, giving a C or D to the set as a whole just for Endless Eight would have been a disservice to the other arcs, which didn't have such an irritation factor. And dtm42: stuff it on the "wrong grades" business. I am absolutely certain that a significant portion of the grades you'd give could be picked apart as "wrong," too. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
|
|||||
|
Errr...just thought I'd mention that I've always thought Theron is by far the most forgiving of all the review writers on ANN. Kind of why I don't take any of the reviews too seriously (outside of whatever insider information they provide) cause there's such a spread depending on who is being tasked with the job as to make up for almost any other differential factor I can think of. For example the difference between a Carl/Carlos and Theron review could easily be a full two letter grade based on what I've seen of their expectations and grading styles.
Unfortunately there's not much of a crossover in franchise or genre to truly compare since Theron usually seems to get the moe shows while the latter get action related material. Anyway B to B+ seems about right for Theron in this case....kind of predicted it when I saw his name at the top after clicking the link. Finally most of this discussion has just been assumption of correctness on part of the shows creators by those defending the show/review and assumption of wrongness on the part of people attacking the review(er). Hence entirely 100% subjective theorizing that is likely to lead nowhere. Though I guess I should add that I thought the season was pretty dull and forgettable for the most part. A quick frolic that featured only minuscule amounts of development for the characters in the end and didn't do a whole lot to entertain for people who weren't dead set on loving the franchise after the first season. I guess you could say it was a tough sell to begin with for a person that only felt the first season was decent entertainment and it didn't do much to win me over any further. Last edited by Kaioshin_Sama on Thu Oct 14, 2010 3:57 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||||
|
||||||
ArthurFrDent
 Posts: 466 |
|
|||||
|
heh, like EVERYTHING Haruhi, reviews are just as devisive. Like a lot of series that I've seen, I am going to skip much of this in the rewatch... but so what? Does that make the things you get so much less value? Are you basing your enjoyment on how much money per minute that you liked? Yeah, I lament the eps. in E8 that could have be used for story... but they didn't ask me. That moment of shock and fear on Haruhi's face actually meant something to me... and it fleshed out her ralationship with Kyon so very much over the whole series, and indeed, sets the stage for the Disappearence.
For Tenchi and others speaking of the packaging... I've long since bought a large box [100] of slim 2 disk DVD cases off amazon... because I've had a great deal of trouble with box sets recently, and I hate the staged overlay ones like this set. So? Just pop out the cover art, take it to kinko's and color copy it, reducing it's length to the slim case, and make 3 of them, and done. It's certainly not worth breaking a disk, and those linterleaved ones are a pain. It's not as Purty as the bigger box sets, but the best of them have the slimline cases in a box anyway, and it seems like no-one is doing it that way anymore... |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group