Victory is almost theirs. They can taste it. That boiling blood of the fanbase.

Certainly Kyoto Animation and Kadokawa have stretched the majority of Haruhi fans almost to their breaking point with their 5th iteration of Endless Eight; or at least, the part of it I can see, especially in the otakusphere corner of blogs.

I took a dive through my feed reader earlier and saw approximately three kinds of posts:

1) Cleverly reposted summaries of the last 2 3 4 Endless Eight episodes. Probably too frustrated, too lazy, or both, to write new posts.

2) Generic rage posts about how [KyoAni / Kadokawa] is [mistreating / milking / abusing] their [franchise / fans / anime itself] and how [the director / Haruhi / Kyon / everyone involved] needs to [die in a fire / be fired immediately / be enlisted for immediate inclusion in Shubesuta doujins].

3) And once or twice, a defense of the show. Maybe not a defense of the content, maybe not a defense of Kadokawa / KyoAni’s choices, but a defense of why Haruhi is enjoyable.

Certainly I have no reason to be backing up, merely on content alone, a show that has aired the same content (roughly) five times straight, not to mention in its latest iteration the same scene four times in a row, ending on a scene that should be all too familiar to ‘fans’ of the first season’s Someday in the Rain.

But, why the hell not?

I guess I can consider myself in the contingent, a small one but definitely one that exists, of viewers that have been, more or less, broken by this amazing tactical maneuver. There are many kinds of broken: there’s Higurashi broken, there’s Mako-cakes broken, but this kind of broken is the more subtle kind of broken.

Not crying broken, either.

I explained it in my B-SIDE post on Haruhi a week or so ago – and I must thank all you commenters for the response to that post, I will get to it once I get all my thoughts on Haruhi together (i.e. ‘I’m lazy) – but I’m definitely the Diethard (Code Geass) kind of broken.

It’s not broken in that I’m going to end up stabbing someone or cross-dressing or whatever, but it’s that broken that makes you want to just follow a phenomenon and mark its every move, feeling like you’re following something that will go down in history – no matter what its motives or effects may be.

Tornado watchers, almost. That’s me and Haruhi. That feeling that, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how much we’re getting toyed with, no matter how much people try to apologize for and tear down Haruhi – that I’m seeing something that I won’t see the likes of again for a while.

It’s why I think of School Days so highly. I’ll acknowledge lolikitsune’s comment from last time that perhaps School Days contained more new content during its descent into insanity, both in and outside the frame of the anime; but somehow, I’m still finding new and strange things to poke it with each iteration of Endless Eight.

Why? Because KyoAni knows how to toy with viewers, with one of the favorite bits I like to chomp at – art style.

It’s why SHAFT has always a studio I follow closely, because especially with some of their recent shows and with some of their Shinbo shows, they’ve combined two of my favorite things: art which has meaning or maybe just pretense, and a taste for being balls-to-the-wall ridiculous (sup Zetsubou Sensei).

I actually still hope a.f.k. would translate those signs that Haruhi smacks around in the OP

KyoAni has been having some fun of their own with Endless Eight; some astute viewers may have noticed it with the first few episodes, how the color slowly drained out of the scenes, reflecting the dullness of repeating an event, oh, say, fifteen thousand times.

Endless Eight #4 (episode 5) had imagery all over the place, that one plane that depending on who you talk to, is the key to everything, or just a red herring. Iteration #2 seemed to have higher production values – or rather, a brighter, blurrier art style reminiscent of Clannad compared to the rest, which leads to speculation of different E8 episodes being animated by different teams within KyoAni.

But Endless Eight #5, the most recent episode 6 of the second season, is just a whole new bag of delicious confusion, with a art style that, to me, was quite jarring in comparison to how many of the previous episodes were presented. I imagine intentionally.

Yeah, this episode may have been the same as every other Endless Eight so far … if you close your ears. But if you take a critical eye to the art direction, you find that KyoAni pulls a few tricks that haven’t been seen so far in previous iterations. And it seems everyone is too busy giving up on the series to even pay lip service to this kind of stuff.

My first indicator that something was off was the fact that the shots seemed more kinetic than in past episode. There were lots of pans and the frames seemed to be moving a lot, cutting in and out between extreme close-ups and normal, faraway shots at quite a rapid pace.

KyoAni’s got the moe gun cocked and is waiting to pull the trigger. Curve that lip, Nagato, and we’re all dead.

After the swimming pool though, we’re presented with a shot that I think is a sign that KyoAni knows it’s holding back. It could annihilate half the otaku population right here, right now with Nagato. The tedium of Endless Eight is a barrier between us and the infinite fountain of moe that is Dissapearance Nagato. As I joked about earlier, they’re doing this for our own good.

But it seemed strange. Why such a strangely framed shot, with Nagato staring straight into our souls, lacking that dead-eyed look seen in previous episodes, reflecting the pool in half-closed eyes? And then, it seemed obvious.

This episode was being told, even more than usual, from Kyon’s point of view.

Now, we get to stare at the phone as Kyon gives it a weird look when Haruhi calls. We get to feel just how damn close Itsuki’s face gets all the time. When there’s conversation, quite oftenwe’re right in the action – it’s a ‘tactic’, if I can call it that, used in visual novels. Put the player in the game and all that.

It’s probably why we don’t get the yukata shopping scene or else that 30-second-shot of the clock at the end would have been replaced of a 30-second-shot of Kyon watching Mikuru jiggle all over the place.

Yeah, more reason to hate KyoAni, I know.

But why here? Why Kyon?

Well, as they say, if I knew the answer, then I wouldn’t be asking this question to begin with. We could toss about theories about how maybe we’re supposed to be put in Kyon’s shoes and feel his hopelessness, a tactic used earlier with Nagato – it’s popularly thought the whole reason we’re getting this many Endless Eights is to convey the utter tedium Nagato is going through.

Your face is too fabulous

But what kind of tedium is Kyon having if he just stares at a bunch of googly-eyed girls (and Itsuki) all the time? Sure, we get the scene at the end where Kyon searches through the memory of Haruhi leaving four times, see his desperation then – but until then, there’s just nothing to feel.

Or maybe -that’s- the point. The reason this is repeating so often after all, one would believe (forgive me, it’s been a long time since the novels), is because Kyon isn’t stopping Haruhi at the end. Or in the middle, or really at all.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Kyon just doesn’t care; he could try to change what to him is -maybe- a time loop, but it’s just too much hassle, especially when dealing with an energetic girl like Haruhi. Best leave it to Mikuru, or Nagato, or Itsuki or someone else to do something, right?

After all, he has this feeling of deja vu, and the word of the SOS Brigade, and that’s it. Time’s looping. Sure. Whatever. He’s probably still in denial about kissing Haruhi in closed space, after all.

When Haruhi stands up to leave, he’s hit with another wave of deja vu and then the desperation hits, the belief that this is real appears, but of course it’s too late already by the time he’s reached that point. Doesn’t the phrase “too little too late” ring a bell?

I’m almost tempted to say the music agrees as well; the music in episode 6 (E8 #5) seemed rather off to me as well, never quite picking the right tone.

Note the bottle is full before and after Mikuru drinks; in before Sankaku’s “Haruhi Bottle Animation Fail” post

In the beginning, despite the thoughtful melancholy of the previous few episodes, it’s bright and peppy. During the cicada hunt and part-time job, it’s a tune full of bravado and energy. It’s blindingly enthusastic compared to the last few episodes, which were much more pensive.

When Nagato announces it’s the eleventy billionth time they’ve done all this before, it breaks into a piano tune that has traces of melancholy, but is very ‘visual novel’ in nature, reserved more for a touching event than a shocking one. What’s up?

I could make crack theories all night long, saying this ties into the whole ‘Kyon POV’ thing as well. Kyon’s not as worried as everyone else when it comes to this sort of realization – a little off-put, but in the end like any normal citizen, he decides to ignore things that are troublesome to him.

Is that good enough to be a message? I can’t say.

Certainly it’s very tempting to say that I’m overanalyzing and that KyoAni is just putting random wankage into Haruhi at this point to pretend they’re mixing things up, what with the planes and all. The clock scene at the end is a bit stranger and a bit tougher to explain, although it does seem very much in line with Kyon’s motto of ‘wait and see what happens’ (and just like waiting 2 weeks is a long time, so is waiting 30 seconds in a 22 minute show).

Strangely non-bored for Nagato, although many noted she had no book this whole episode

But in the end, I’m having far too much fun throwing out these conspiracy theories just as if I was watching ef all over again (tying it back to the title), wondering about whether the framing of characters within umbrellas is intentional and contemplating why this part is black and white and just why we have to watch a phone card count down from 100.

Certainly one show has more content than the other; Haruhi, to many, may seem a lot more like picking at nothingness than ef. Even if both had its detractors, I’m sure ef fans just got called pretentious, while Haruhi backers at this point must be nothing less than fanatic.

I prefer the term ‘maniacal’, thank you very much. “Characterized by uncontrollable excitement or frenzy.” That sounds about right.

After all, I’ve probably wrote more words combined in the last few weeks on Haruhi then they’ve written for the Endless Eight script. And I don’t care. Maybe it’s because I specialize in the insane, the ridiculous, and the time loops, that I’m having a ridiculously entertaining time watching Haruhi S2 for all the wrong reasons.

But as ghostlightning said in the posts I linked in the begininng; in the end, if I enjoy entertainment, whether for the wrong reason, or the right reason, what’s the problem in that? So maybe my passion can get through to you, and you too, can be utterly broken, in all the right ways, by Haruhi.

-CCY

I haven’t had a post with this many words yet

(p.s. that disc I smashed the other day for the Haruhi rage post, that was a blank CD. I actually own the R1s and was planning to fake-smash those, but it seems breaking a fan-sub disc had interesting connotations of its own)

there remains one more stage to that story …

-CCY
who is a douche
but for an entirely different reason than you thought so yesterday

It’s done, finished, over. I don’t care how many more Endless Eight episodes they do or don’t produce; KyoAni’s thrown a sure deal away, looked a gift horse in the mouth, exploited their fans beyond the breaking point, and I’m not having any of it anymore.

I think, if we want to show KyoAni and Kadokawa that we’re not standing for this, that we have to do something about it more than just complaining. After all, so many naive fools are still watching the series, no matter how much they moan about it.

And so for this bandwagon, this is where I jump off. I urge you to do the same before other companies think they can get away with such cheap tactics, that offend the very nature of anime itself.

Ugh. So glad I didn’t buy the actual DVDs or any actual merchandise. Kadokawa isn’t getting any of my hard-earned dollars anymore if they’re going to take advantage of us fans like this.

From now on, Haruhi is dead. Nietzsche would be proud.

-CCY

But, after skimming through the AnimeSuki thread I felt like I had to try to scream louder than the most enraged voices there, just to be heard. And so I decided to do something extreme, like fake-destroying my Haruhi DVDs and then hiding the link to my real post right at the end.

Well, I guess, this is ‘curiosity’. Pushing the boundaries to see what would happen, to see whether people will see the face of this post or the last one. Certainly, ‘curiosity’ is something not unknown to Kadokawa or KyoAni.

Maybe it’s not known as ‘curiosity’. ‘Guts’, maybe. ‘Trolling’, for those quicker to spout meme-words. Probably the closest is ‘insanity’.

Not insane like writhing-around, nonsense-talking insane, but the good kind of insane. You know that grin on Lelouch or Light’s face whenever they hatch some master plan? That’s the kind of grin the people behind Haruhi have got right now.

And it’s certainly an expression that’s not unknown to me, for following the rise – and possibly fall – of the second season of Haruhi Suzumiya has been one of the most interesting anime-watching experiences I’ve had in a while.

Probably if I were to chart the hype, Haruhi has been rather bipolar; the momentum it had leading up to the start of the second season was massive. Naturally, right? It had been years since the last episode, and at every new chance for a new episode (whether it be the “Haruhi Returns” issue of Newtype or whatever) the fans jumped.

Some jumped off the ship, disgusted with how the series was being handled. But still, others jumped for joy, waiting for that one moment God would return to them.

And then the series aired, and the world exploded! A stealthy airing, almost without notice, unheard of in the anime industry, and it was Haruhi Suzumiya, no less! It was incredible. Morale was at an all-time high.

But that motivation slipped. The first few episodes, while fairly classic Haruhi, weren’t able to stir up the same emotion. Maybe the hype for Haruhi had outstripped the show. But at least among the otakusphere, reaction to Haruhi slipped.

It went from being mythical, God-like, to being something that was merely ordinary. One of the mortals. It was a good show to watch but it wasn’t the second coming.

It’s the kind of hope-crushing that is very reminiscent of long-distance love. After a first shot from Cupid, one builds up all these fantastic expectations, their perfect image of the person in question. The Second Season of Haruhi was mythified, fantasized about, so on so forth.

And then it aired, and the viewers and their goddess were reunited, and it seemed … well, ordinary. Certainly nothing could live up to those expectations. It became less and less to talk about – it was not horrid but it was not spectacular. Married life, maybe.

But then came Endless Eight, and Endless Eight, and Endless Eight, and Endless Eight, and now staring down the maw of a fifth iteration (still nothing compared to Nagato’s tribulations) the fandom has roared to life again … with rage.

It’s an intriguingly similar situation. Fans are waiting for new content. KyoAni and Kadokawa tempt them, but ultimately yank the bait away, leaving fans high and dry. As a result, fans get enraged. They threaten to leave the bandwagon. Some of them do.

Familiar, isn’t it? It’s almost back to square one for the second season.

But it makes one wonder what is KyoAni and Kadokawa’s goal in this seemingly excessive iteration of Endless Eight. Is it a test of will? A good-natured challenge from God (so to speak) to weed out all but Her most devoted followers, whose loyalty shall be rewarded by the bounty of blushing Nagato? It seems a bit too unrealistic.

Maybe the worst-case scenario is true. KyoAni and Kadokawa are just money whores. They want nothing more than to wring dollars out of the fanbase by producing moe-a-minute anime such as K-ON or the Key series, and they know they have to put no effort in to make Haruhi a hit. Again, a bit apocalpytic and extremist.

To some disillusioned people, possible; I don’t have the magic equations that will allow me to solve for the amount of people who leave the Haruhi train each episode, versus the amount of dollars profited per rehashed episode off of more fanatic followers. I doubt it’s a working business model though, or else we’d be on our 20th season of [insert popular cash-in anime here, whichever one you hate - that isn't the point here] by now.

But two conclusions grows ever more and more apparent, as a grin spreads across my face as I know I’m in for something big. It’s that same expression that you can picture Diethard making; a little bit crazy, a little bit fanatic, completely lost in the moment. It’s that expression that I know I’ll die as a result of one day – metaphorically, I must say – that insanity that will burn you out but will give one hell of a ride.

That ‘insanity’ is something that I hope KyoAni’s captured in their telling of the second season of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Just maybe, KyoAni is really trying to break us. To push us right to our limit. I title the post ‘Haruhi Requiem’ entirely intentionally.

You may recall my gushing praise for the final Zero Requiem arc of Code Geass; before those final episodes, there was little but a mess of narrative and increasingly convulsing plot twists, but afterwards, those final few straws that Lelouch placed on the camel’s back, seemed to only work genius. It was beautifully simple in the end.

What do you do when you’ve accumulated too much hate, or too much hype, for your own good? You take it all in, instead of trying to push it away, you draw it into yourself, faster and faster. You become the hatred, the symbol of all that is bad.

And then you sink that hatred with yourself, take the fall and bring down the darkness with you. It’s closing the curtain on the chapter and raising a bright future as a result. Phoenix from the ashes.

And just maybe, that’s KyoAni’s plan to defeat the hype.

After all, KyoAni knew – everyone knew – that it was near impossible to match Haruhi’s hype. No matter how much quality, how much animation they brought out – and maybe they didn’t bring their A-game at the start anyway – it wouldn’t be enough for many people, to match that image of Haruhi that shone since 2006.

For me, I was one of them. The first two episodes did not click at all.

And so, KyoAni flooded the Haruhi ship. They opened the gates and started pumping water on with Endless Eight after Endless Eight. Some fans will bail, others will flounder, trapped by the pull of the series. The situation gets worse and worse as the people get more and more discontent, until …

There’s that inner tube on a rope that KyoAni throws you. The last hope to save you from death and despair.

The Dissapearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.

It’s an easy theory, one that I’ve seen work before my very eyes one too many times. When prefaced with rubbish, even ordinary material shines. Where a childhood friend would struggle to match up in any harem show, drop her in a gambling anime like Kaiji and suddenly she’s a bombshell.

It’s the same with Code Geass above. After the Thought Elevator and all that nonsense, such a simple, straightforward concept as Zero Requiem almost brings me to tears.

I can’t count how many anime I’ve started and thought were absolute trash, but warmed up to in a matter of episodes. Some of these would go on to become some of my all-time favorites.

H2O ~footprints in the sand~. One of the most painful starts that I’ve seen in a harem game, with gratuitous fanservice, little to no plot, and Yui. But the twisted, perhaps traditional visual-novel plot that unfolded after, solid on its own if not full of holes … sheer genius by comparison. And so I have a good taste in my mouth whenever I think of H2O.

It’s all about lowered expectations.

Perhaps the other thing that Haruhi’s Endless Eight might share with H2O is that it’s been shown that KyoAni is at least not afraid to push the envelope, directing-wise. Or rather, maybe they’re pushing the envelope while they still can.

H2O pulled off some tricks that I’ve not seen the likes of since, with an epically broken harem lead near the end, some serious pathos, and the most crack-inducing dream episode I’ve seen … which still ended sweetly.

Similarly, Haruhi is showing it has the guts, the lack of sanity, to pile the same episode on five, six, maybe more times, with only minor changes. The content is mediocre but the concept is incredible. And in a timeloop situation, it’s hard to even call it cheap, as every time through, there’s that search for the key, that one change, the way out.

Maybe the Endless Eight saga, just by itself, is not the greatest thing to watch, but to consider the nerve of KyoAni to pull this off while the fandom (and perhaps the sponsors) anguish in the background, EXPERIENCING the emotion of watching Haruhi live is simply incredible.

Remember School Days, how watching it was one thing, but watching it while seeing people alternatively defend Makoto and beckon for his blood was another? That’s what we’re doing again. Except the people on the stake are KyoAni and Kadokawa.

The difference here is that, one cannot help but picture the two of them sitting in a leather armchair somewhere, stroking their white cat named Mr. Kittens and chuckling to themselves. I feel like I’m getting played, but in reality I want nothing more than to go along for the ride, to finally observe the workings of a studio almost as insane as I am, noting what might be another piece in the legendary, reality-breaking history of Haruhi Suzumiya.

-CCY

Sadly enough, I haven’t been popular enough to have any rumors of my blogging death to greatly exaggerate (in the Mark Twain fashion) – perhaps this is due to the fashion in which I’ve slowly diven underground in the last month, preferring such locales such as Twitter and IRC for making snarky and utterly fluffy remarks.

So I can’t really even claim to have dissappeared from the community in any regard, so making this a flashy comeback post would be perhaps too extravagant, especially with a lack of fans clinging onto my legs, begging me never to leave again.

Instead, I shall be that fan, clinging on the disproportionate amount of anime which are walking away from me in to the sunset, distanced by the passing of time.

Unnecessarily Long But Insightful Introduction
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Anyway, the anime up for discussion today, if you have not already made yourself feel clever by interpreting the title, are Hayate the Combat Butler, Eden of the East, and Yuki Nagato (ed: stick to one girl at a time) The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Second seasons where applicable, naturally.

What ties all three of these series together for me, is how little I have to say for them. In contrast to my massive Kaiji and KimiKiss rampages last year (to name a few), I still haven’t felt like I had something that I actually had to express regarding any of these three shows, theory, romantic pairing, or otherwise.

The Moelancholy of Hayate Ayasaki
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Sequel of the Haruhi
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Akira the Japanese Seleção
Show ▼

As a fan who lives and dies by passion, that’s enough at times.

-CCY

Right now the best choice is perhaps a late lunch on Sunday, after the Visual Novels panel, which ends at 2 PM, at which point I have an open block until about 5 PM or so. We can eat … somewhere. I know of a nice little Asian place near the McDonalds, but then again, I don’t really count for food, so it’s up to you guys.

Or if you want to just meet up and stroll the halls, up to you.

Additionally, what I should probably add to my schedule, in addition to videos and panels:
* Whoring the game room until my fingers drop
* Walking in and out of the dealer room while not buying anything
* Perhaps going to the dance lessons, since many of my college buddies are on ballroom dance teams, and so I’ll be corrupted into learning eventually anyway

And finally, here’s my shirt designs for this weekend; if you see any of these images on a shirt, you’re probably seeing me, and should say hi:

Except they won’t be reversed, and all. Those are print copies; print them reversed, iron them on right-way-around.

FRIDAY
4:30PM – 6:30PM Macross: Do You Remember Love? (Video 2)
I get a lot of my anime reccommendations from the otakusphere; it was what first turned me on to Kaiji, Kimikiss, Eden of the East, and many other jewels hidden in the rough. Or sometimes, jewels sitting around, in the open, just waiting for me to covet them.

“Macross: Do You Remember Love”, however, is an amusing variant on ‘well the otakusphere said so’, mainly because, while I’ve pretty much tuned out 95% of any talk about Macross or really any mecha show, there is one peculiarly titled blog out there … which just might tempt me into jumping in feet-first. Especially on a slow Friday, right after checking in…

9PM – 12AM Nerd Courting (Panels 1)
This sounds like “How to Talk to Girls” on crack (i.e. the 18+ version, apparently). “How to Talk to Girls” was an amusing little panel at AOD 2008, and this sounds like it might be a cute mix of funny and Important Life Lessons. Maybe.

After all, I might need it if I have to work up my nerve to talk to olikitsune-kouhai … I mean … uh, d-did I s-say that out l-loud?

10PM – 12AM Kara no Kyoukai (Video 2)
I always meant to watch Kara no Kyoukai, but never found the time. If I get bored of Nerd Courting, maybe this is worth a shot. Although I’ll have to break early for…

11PM – 3AM Detroit Metal City Marathon (Video 4)
I’m sleeping at the hotel this weekend, so I figure I have to do at least one ridiculous marathon. DMC is ridiculous. It’s at ridiculous hours. It’s a good idea, and it cannot fail. Who else is up for some LATE NIGHT RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAPE?

SATURDAY
10AM – 12PM K-ON!
OH MAN I NEED TO GET LIKE OLIKITSUNE AND WHOEVER AND RUN AROUND GASMING ABOUT MIO FOR TWO HOURS IT’LL BE GREAT

On second thought, no. (Although I do wonder how straw-polling people watching at Fanime would turn out…)

11AM – 12PM Marimite (Video 1)
Perhaps one that is more likely, another title from my list of anime that might be worth starting. If I’ve got an hour to burn, why not?

11AM – 12PM Local Bay Area Anime Fans (Panels 1)
Unfortunately, I might not. This seems vaguely tempting, just because I want to keep up with the local scene.

1PM – 3PM Older Titles for Newer Fans (Panels 3)
This might actually be useful. I’m a newer fan. I suck at older titles. I suck at titles that are not moe. Why not let someone else form my opinion for me?

5PM – 6PM Meet the Anime Vice Squad (Panels 1)
I remember reading Gia’s blog every now and then. Maybe it’s worth dropping by; I never did check out Anime Vice, but maybe I should. Something something, representing the otakusphere, something something.

7PM – 9PM Create That Anime (Panels 2)

8:30PM – 12AM Yaoi-Con Bishie Bingo
NOTHING SOUNDS LIKE A BETTER WAY TO SPEND A SATURDAY NIGHT THAN TO SPEND IT AMONGST TEEN YAOI FANGIRLS SQUEALING THEIR HEADS OFF

And it’s not even 18+, ensuring maximum maturity. It almost seems like a ’so bad I have to try it’ experience, although I don’t know if I’d escape this with my head attached. I need backup.

10PM – 12AM Eden of the East (Video 3)
I don’t know if I’ll go. But everyone I know, that hasn’t seen Eden of the East, is going to this. I’m making them. This anime is full-on, 100% worth it.

SUNDAY
3:30AM – 12PM Toradora!
not going to do it not going to do it not going to do it not going to do it
but I want a huge serving of Toradora goodness. CHOU MORUZEEEEEEEEEEEE

8AM – 9:30AM Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (Video 3)
Another from the list of ’stuff I need to pick up on’. Nothing better to wake up with than a nice pack of ADHD schoolgirl stereotype Shaft action.

12PM – 1PM Anime for Parents (Panels 1)
Worth heading to, just to keep the older generation informed. I want to see what the people here think of anime. Something informational.

1PM – 2PM Visual Novels (Panels 2)
Visual novels = good. Again, I want to see what they say.
I hope Shira Oka makes some kind of presence this year too.

4PM – 5PM Aria (Video 1)
5PM – 6PM Baccano! (Video 1)
Another block of ’stuff I should watch’ – although I’ve already started Aria a long time ago, I could use another shot … plus, this late in the weekend, Aria might have the right ‘relaxing effect’ after all.

6PM – 8PM Restricted RPS (Panels 1)
ANDOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

7PM – 9PM How to Talk to Girls (Panels 2)
As mentioned above in the Nerd Courting section, this might be worth it too. We’ll see.

10PM – 11PM Legal Anime in the US (Panels 2)
Hinano-Favorite-points ++?

Again, like the Anime for Parents panel, it’s worth it to see opposing viewpoints, and to educate myself. If things go smoothly.

MONDAY
8AM – 9AM Asu no Yoichi (Video 3)
9AM – 10AM Da Capo If (Video 3)
The final stint of ’stuff that I wanted to check out someday that Fanime will give the best opportunity for’, harem trash edition. Awww yeah.

12PM – 1PM Abridging a Series (Panels 2)
*shrug* Might be worth it, if it doesn’t come out too heavyhanded in terms of humor. Liked the Abridged Series back in the day. (I’m At a Con, feat T-Pain?)

===

And two more…

Friday
5PM – 6PM Why Girls Should Watch Hentai
… oh … wait … “Why Girls Should Watch Sentai”. Damn it.

Sunday
12PM – 1PM Haruhi Suzumiya
I heard the second season of Haruhi Suzumiya might be airing soon, for real this time. It’d be funny if it was shown here first, at Fanime. So it’s worth peeking your head in at least for a bit, right?

Wait, this just in, apparently the second season has -

zomg secnd seasn of haruhi leegit finaly no wai i dont belive this is

NO WAY THAT’S IMPOSSIB -
WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EV -

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asldkuiobuioaswuiowejk
foiufwoememsdlfjbuasklem

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WARNING
WARNING
WARNING

Runtime.getRuntime().execute(haruhiTakeover);
getHomepage().redirect(”sos.dan”);
setLeader(sosBrigade.god());

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

A LARGE FANGASM IS APPROACHING AT HIGH SPEED

ENCOUNTERED A SECOND SEASON
BE ATTITUDE FOR MOE

01010100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01101111 01101110 01100101 01110011 01110100 00101100 00100000 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101110 01100111 01100001 01110011 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01001000 01100001 01110010 01110101 01101000 01101001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101101 01110101 01100011 01101000 00101100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101001 01110100 00100000 01110000 01100001 01110100 01101001 01100101 01101110 01110100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110011 01110101 01100010 01110011 00100000 01100110 01101001 01110010 01110011 01110100 00101110

NO REFUGE

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YUKI.N> _

It’s been a busy weekend so I apologize if no post comes up until Monday or possibly Tuesday (y’know, Pacific Time). I suppose as a teaser I’ll let on it involves some predictions, arguments, and comparisons between some of the most heated harem-style romantic wars this season. Which, y’know, is basically what I’ve done about 25 times already – and still loving it – but this time I’ll see if I can understand just why fans think the way they do. For instance, why do we only cry tears for the ‘fallen’ in Clannad, while we go and construct effigies to burn ‘less deserving’ leaders in KimiKiss?

(And by ‘we’, I might just be getting at ‘me’.)

Again, it’s a ‘what makes things tick’ question, and the answer is: explosive devices. Or, at least explosive characters. Damn those haremettes for actually having personality!

The main reason for the delay is an impromptu trip down to Anime On Display today, so maybe if I see anything interesting in my first convention I’ll cover that.

And now, images.

(Invisible Update:) Well, not really. Imageshack be hatin’ on me, so I’ve uploaded a zip file to MegaUpload instead. Download and enjoy. Thanks for your patience.

-CCY
(In other news of the random, went to try Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 in the arcade yesterday, and it turns out they have a Gurren Lagann song on there – “Trust”, and apparently it’s Yoko’s image song. They had the Sky Girls OP on there as well. Either Konami of America knows their audience – sweaty white anime fanboys – or they didn’t feel any reason to get rid of it from the Japanese conversion. It’s #1 on the Most Played list on the machine, too. Intriguing.)

The “12 Days of Christmas” series is a joint feature by some members of the Anime Blogging Collective recognizing twelve moments, twelve series, or just twelve things about anime that we’ve enjoyed over the past year, that really make us enjoy loving what we do, and that is being an anime fan. Feel free to join in the list-making fun too if you wish. We hope you enjoy this feature.

Some things just can’t be denied in this world.

No matter how much of a soft-hearted, romance-loving, magical-girl-watching anime viewer I become, there are some things that just work every time with me, that just resonate strongly as a Great Moment.

It’s like sports to the average male. I don’t claim to watch football or baseball passionately, or even on a weekly basis, but when it’s bases-loaded with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game, the raw energy that such a moment can emit can be felt and enjoyed by just about any person.

Such is the case with a well-done fight scene in anime. Conflict is a key part to any show – whether action or romance, it be physical or emotional conflict – and when that conflict builds to a head, that’s when the real exciting stuff happens.

Physical conflict between characters is tough to do right. There’s a fine line of disbelief not to be crossed. But when a fight is made correctly – replete with exciting animation and high-energy – soundtrack, it’s something to be seen, even for the most avid harem lover like me.

And so enters another reason for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 4 (chronological) to become legendary.

12 Moments of Anime 2007
#7 – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 4 (10)
“The Literal Definition of Hax”

The Overratedness of Haruhi Suzumiya? Quite likely.

Make no misinterpretation of it, SHnY was definitely one of my most enjoyed anime this year, and I am nothing short of melting into a puddle over the second season announcement, but the way a lot of the community speaking, you’d think Haruhi was God herself or something.

Wait, I see what you did there.

But really, there reaches a point of stardom for a show that it becomes nearly impossible for it to live up to its reputation. For some it may be the epitome of all that is good and right in the anime world, but for the rest of us with less tinted glasses, SHnY will have to settle for being very good.

It’s not a life-changing anime.
It’s not a seat-of-your-pants thriller anime.
It’s not any one thing.

And that’s the strength of it. It has the moe, has the romance, has the action, has the existential technobabble, and it all. It may be the jack of all trades but the master of none, but somehow that doesn’t seem so bad.

It doesn’t really come across as spreading itself very thin; with a few exceptions, pretty much element you could look for gets a bit of attention.

The show treads the ever-important shipper line masterfully, throwing each female lead a piece of bait and letting the viewers decide for themselves who Kyon tilts toward; since, if Shuffle! has proven anything, it’s that the wrong choice can be very controversial. And so, in SHnY, there really is none.

The technospeak can be glazed over or drooled over as well; those who can actually figure out what the hell Fabulous Esper Itsuki is going on about will love his ranting speeches, will love the paradoxes presented by the concept of time traveling, of having done something, yet having not actually done it, yet being forced to do it in the future in order to preserve the continuum.

And those who can’t handle all this can sympathize with the main character Kyon, who’s equally clueless in these situations. And there’s always adult Mikuru.

And the fight scenes are enthralling without being overbearing, important without becoming all-encompassing. A sort of “and now for some action”, except without that feeling of being disjointed with the rest of the show. Yeah, it’s confusing at first, but it’s damn good looking and eventually some character will come along and make sense of it all.

(And then another character will come along and make sense of that, and so on, but I digress.)

The clash of the humanoid interfaces in chronological episode four is probably one of those moments that could personify the above statements and the series as a whole.

Yeah, it’s more than a touch unrealistic at times.
Yeah, it kind of has that ‘just trust what I say’ mentality to it.
Yeah, you could probably deconstruct it as a way of showing what’s wrong with the show.

But really, you’ll probably be busy getting your jaw off the floor first.

Perhaps a bit of a understatement but one can’t deny that a scene like this really is made with high-quality values. Maybe I’m just distracted by all the fast motion, jumping, and projectile-throwing, but the fight scene definitely looks impressive, and the high-energy soundtrack fits and is timed great to the visuals.

The scene is a good capping piece to a mound of revelations, a sort of “You think we’re kidding? Well, here’s the truth” response to all the sci-fi aspects that Ryoko and Yuki threw out there.

There’s that sense of power there, from Ryoko’s wanton destruction of the environment around her (not to mention the eerie, otherworldly background itself), to Yuki’s space-warping physics-defying jumps and so forth.

And it’s enough to fool you too – maybe those with more common sense could remember that, chronologically, Yuki and Kyon both live through the fight. But who didn’t hold their breath when Yuki got impaled like that?

Too many fight scenes are amusingly one-sided, with the most damage a protagonist taking be a few bruise marks that do nothing, but the damage here was quite real, even if it was healed easily.

Attention to detail is another thing that I can’t help but love. Hidden messages encoded backwards at a high rate of speed in all that ‘computer speak’ of theirs? Maybe it’s a bit esoteric, but it’s the kind of thing that adds a personal touch, a metaphorical wink from studio to audience.

And the simple details, such as Yuki losing her glasses; one of those details that seems like it would be blaring but really didn’t stand out until it was cleverly brought to light at the end of the scene.

Maybe other people have less of a tolerance for feeling like an idiot but I really like this style of foreshadowing, in a sense; that sense of having all the pieces to put the puzzle together, but just not knowing the right picture. A lot of anime are either rather blunt with their clues or don’t use them at all (or, in some cases, both), and so the coy style in which SHnY drops the little hints for you – a line here, an object there, is something that I can really enjoy.

In the end I haven’t done a lot of explaining as to why the Nagato vs. Asakura fight scene is number seven on 2007’s list aside from “it’s pretty and the music is awesome”, and at the risk of a cop-out, I’d like to argue that there’s not a lot that needs to be said.

Everyone has their weakness in anime. Some like the crying shows, some like a good straight-up machofest, others a sweet romance. Maybe even a subset of the genre; a particular brand of love might resonate strongly with a person, while it bounces harmlessly off the other.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya seems to be something that’s struck a lot of people the right way, and being one of those who can attest to this at least in part, it’s kind of a matter of ‘getting it’ or not – and I don’t blame you if you don’t. Haruhiism is polarizing like that.

And picking this moment out of the many quite appealing moments that SHnY has is pretty much down to a matter of taste. Haruhi fans might take the climax of the show at episode six as their number one. The musically inclined, the God Knows concert. Mikuru supporters, perhaps the appearance of Adult Mikuru at the end of episode four.

As a Nagatoist to the end, there can be none other than this scene.

-CCY
(and his scary fanboy side)

While I am unable to provide pictures for these two I can still review them and provide some information, of which was sorely lacking when I tried to research these two the day before. (when drooling over them at twice-the-price Kinokuniya.)

Jump!

The Haruhi Suzumiya Official Fanbook (Suzumiya Haruhi no Koushiki) undoubtedly, even for lesser Nagatoists Haruhi fans like me, was a good buy at $6 (Kinokuniya price $16). It comes with a pull-out poster, and being reversable it’s your choice of the full cast in swimsuits or Yuki reading a book in the clubroom. Unsurprisingly I chose to bring my Nagato poster count to a whopping two. Insert fanboying.

The Haruhi book (the inside cover says “Haruhi’s Formula”, cryptically enough) features more information than you really need, which is strange considering that I don’t even understand half of it. But when you flip to a page which has a picture of the entire seating layout of Kyon/Haruhi’s class, including names and sentence blurbs about every member, you can tell there’s a bit of detail put into it.

There’s a good section on each character (unreadable, of course), in addition to interviews with the voice actors for the anime and the producers of the novel (artist + author, I believe). There’s also another section which I think is terminology or something, but it’s uber wall-of-text.

About 10, 20-odd pages consist of random illustrations as well; there are 3/4 page pictures of textless images that ran in magazines previous (if you have Haruhi wallpapers from the interwebs, you’ll probably recognize quite a few), as well as some fanart by other artists (one was the core trio of girls in the Shuffle! art style) and a set of four 4-komas which, again, I don’t get.

Someday I plan to get it though, which is my excuse for buying this kind of stuff.

There are also pages devoted to going through each episode (in addition to the OP/ED sequences) in full blog-post fashion, with more screencaps, more moonspeak, and apparently Haruhi’s “tsundere” meter, which measures just how much she’s either a) beating up or 2) melting over Kyon at that episode’s time.

All in all a very worthy purchase, in my belief, doubly so if you actually understand any of this. Eheheh.

The Shuffle! On the Stage artbook was decent as well but at a comparatively whopping $13 (Kinokuniya: $30) and feeling a bit sparse on the art, I didn’t think was as interesting. To be fair the Shuffle! book was a bit bigger (both clock in above 125 pages) but it didn’t come with any nifty posters.

It too had a selection of art, from what I understand of the English-heavy Shuffle! was sourced from either game releases (the LE/SE versions of Shuffle!, Shuffle! On the Stage, and the DVDs, among others), but there weren’t a massive amount of random artwork as well.

The bulk of the book came from the sections on the characters; there were about 6 pages devoted to each main heroine (7 in On the Stage, the core 5 plus Mayumi and Kareha), and a few less for each minor character (Itsuki, Kikyou, Tsubomi, the parents, etc). Each section displays most to all of the game CGs for that character, as well as a sketch or two and a Wall of Faces. No kidding – they took all the facial expressions and pasted them next to each other on a half-page; most clock in at about 30 or so. Walls of Text are, of course, very applicable throughout.

There is also a sketch section, where some unfinished art plus commentary from the artists are displayed; interesting perhaps, if you’re interested in knowing how the process works or how to draw the characters; but most of the art is just uncolored/unfinished CG, so it’s nothing new.

The interviews with the voice actors and the terminology section also exist in the Shuffle! book, and are still equally incomprenhensible.

If you’re curious about the worksafe-ness of the artbook, since On the Stage was the PS2 version of the visual novel all ero content has been removed and as such the novel is relatively safe. There is no sex, no nudity (there are Barbie-style models in the sketch section, however, but everyone knows those don’t count) and strangely enough no panty shots as well; although all the fanservice situations (Mayumi shoving her butt in Rin’s face, etc) are relatively intact, although things have been censored to the standards stated.

What really weirds me out is that Mayumi and Kareha’s scenarios still feature situations that look like they could have been lifted from the PC version, in that there is obvious censoring going on; one wonders why they even bother sort of leading the viewer on like that, pretending that they’re seeing something.

An interesting bonus to the On the Stage artbook is that it features sheet music and lyrics for the OP and ED themes of both Shuffle! and Shuffle! On the Stage; however, being musically inept beyond DDR, I am not able to take advantage of these.

All in all both fanbooks feel like very good buys, although I personally prefer the Haruhi one, perhaps because it contains more content to the untrained eye. I would recommend both of them to any fan of the series, especially if they can be found this cheap.

-CCY

(Stock images from Animephile and Animebooks.com. This has not been an advertisement. XD)

You want to be fooled.

But you wouldn’t clap yet.

Because making something dissapear isn’t enough…

you have to bring it back.
-Alfred Borden, The Prestige (2006)

Forgive me, it’s a good movie for quotes. And I had to stick in the old image of the now infamous “Haruhi Returns” to fit the theme of the quote.

But, with any luck, this time it should be for real. According to the Animesuki forums, Newtype’s advance copy of its August issue has that picture above that translates to something vaguely resembling ‘the second period/season of Haruhi Suzumiya’, or at least we hope.

The official word is supposed to be out July 7th (Tanabata, as I’ve heard), so, hold your breath for 48 hours or whatnot. But it seems reliable this time; you guys can trust Konata, right?

In any case, I know I want to be fooled.

-CCY
(Thanks to Heisei Democracy and Kurogane’s Anime Blog for pictures)