On Haruhi

I'm still fascinated by the whole Haruhi fiasco. Sure, it was eight episodes of madness, but it was also an unusual experiment that hasn't been tried in anime before. After all, almost no anime director would dare to string together eight episodes of nearly the same thing.

Most hardcore fans, especially Americans, hated the Endless Eight with a passion. However, I think it was also a test to force the otaku community to analyze their own reasons for watching anime for hours on end.

In the Answerman column of the Anime News Network, Adam Bruck gave some intriguing comments on the Haruhi Endless Eight.

"While the 7-week and counting repetition of Endless Eight is not good in any sense of the word, the fact that Kadokawa and/or Kyoani went this direction at all and the overwhelmingly negative public response make the situation very interesting.
Haruhi, of course, was a mega-hit that reached sales numbers and fandom seen only by shonen and giant robot anime. The fanbase was full of very obsessed people who helped the series sell a million CDs and DVDs and tons of character goods. It's incredible that a company would willingly destroy such a franchise. From a business standpoint, Endless Eight seems like exactly the wrong thing to do; from a fan's standpoint, it's depressing to see the continuation of an amazing first season turn out like this.
However, the fan reaction provides an interesting social experiment - what happens when you severely piss off a group of obsessed, introverted, hardcore Otaku who basically live for this stuff? (I know most Haruhi fans aren't like that, but the most vocal ones are.)"

Like many fans of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," I have trouble deciding whether to like it or hate it. However, I really respect Kyoto Animation's stance. It's really hard to release eight episodes of endless repetition, but the series has gone far in yanking people out of their comfort zones. Unfortunately, if I say that I love it, I'm certain that some people will inevitably troll me for my views.

I'm thankful that very few people comment on this blog, for my sake.

Image courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net