Ah, the infamous second season. For those not in the know, the first season of Haruhi is huge, a total 'Love it or Hate it' sensation. In my opinion, the second season was so hyped up it was going to get hate no matter what. Still, a lot of that hate is not unwarranted. It's 14 episodes are compromised of 3 stories. The first season had the same number of episodes, and a total of 8 different stories.
The first episode here is Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, which I covered in the third book review. It's pretty much a faithful adaptation from the books, so there's not much to talk about. After that is...
That's right! The Endless Eight! This is the only reason to hate the season. While I will get to the story when it comes up in the books, that isn't the issue here. The story of Endless Eight is very good, and might be one of my favorites in the series. The problem here is that they took one chapter of the books, and turned it into EIGHT episodes. Eight episodes of roughly the same thing happening each time, with the only variations being small events and clothing. One episode would have been good, two would have suited the story better and gotten across what they meant with this. BUT EIGHT?! Now, it might seem like I am raging majorly here, but I have to say this: I don't hate this decision as much as most of the internet does. I see where they were coming from, and they did milk out several really good jokes with the repetition. So, what's the last story? Why the Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya of course! Yep, the entire 2nd book, boiled down to 5 episodes. It's actually really well done, and manages to get the whole story done in that time. Combined with the 'movie' they make here, it is really great.
Is this season bad? Not really. None of the individual episodes or stories are of poor quality. What causes the hate is 2 main factors: hype, which I already mentioned; and disappointment. Many were hoping for the 4th book to be in this season, done in the same fashion as Sigh was. However, the fans weren't left waiting for long, as soon THE MOVIE was born. And I'll get on to that in about a week or so. Next time: silliness! Laters.
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