Haruhi Suzumiya

Specifically, light novels are differentiated by the amount of allowed characters (kanji) used, with light novels having a significantly lower count compared to traditional novel. And it shows — take a look at the samples of stuff like, say, Hyouka, where it's almost kanji after kanji, with little kana in between (meaning it's for advanced or adult readers).

I'd just like to point out that When They Cry is a visual novel franchise, not one of light novels. You must be thinking of something else.

Nah, you're right, my bad. I was thinking of the Bernkastel notes I'd read on a website.

Heck, you can even use the Haruhi books themselves as a basis for comparison — only the technical terms get the really fancy kanji, while the rest remain fairly accessible kana.

Now open an Akechi Kogoro book. There's quite a difference.

Ending's out

And now all that's left at the moment is the OVA, which isn't out until late October.

It was a good run. Knew exactly what I was getting going in, wasn't disappointed. It was funny seeing some places, specifically 4chan, get so salty over this, but I've been a fan of the manga since the start, and enjoy it for what it is, not what a handful of vocal whiners wants it to be.

Fight the power: 4chan has no power here This series has enough strong points to distinguish it from the original in its manga form, and ultimately, the anime simply allowed more people to view what was presented in the manga.

edited 19th Jul '15 8:20:04 PM by Person0123452

It was a fun ride. But I think the manga is better. but that's just my opinion... though lately it kinda irks me that Asakura keeps acting more like a mom than a friend.

It makes me wan't to scream "Are you a mom or something?!" in classic tsukkomi style for some reason... probably from reading too much D-Frag!.

Well, the OVA that was a special release with the latest Japanese manga volume came out.

Not really surprising that it's Endless Eight, minus the endless. Unlike in the manga where we only see the part where Kyon has everyone over at his house to help with his homework, this OVA did detail some of the activities they did.

shame that Sasaki didn't appear at the end like she did in the manga chapter.

Don't know if it's even going to get subbed, honestly. Weird to think that unless there's a second season or a renewal of the main series that this might be the last animated Haruhi related thing we see.

Not sure why people are still sore about Endless Eight, to be honest. It's been some six years, has it not?

It prevented more from being adapted, that is pretty much the only reason at this point.

I watched it live and loved it but really I can't fault the the reason above.

The whole thing comes off as incredibly indulgent. Not saying it didn't have a point, but it certainly cost a ton of money, re-recording, scoring, scripting, and animating everything from scratch.

Rumor had it that Kyoani didn't want to do it but were made to do it.

Kyoani just did it in the only way they could make it interesting via every episode outsourced to a different staff and director thus making each one 100% unique no shared camera angle or stock footage between them.

edited 30th Oct '15 7:02:20 AM by Memers

If you go back a few years and many pages, I think someone posted a link to an interview where Kyo Ani staff talked about how the extra episodes eaten up by Endless Eight were supposed to be for the Disappearance (had it not been turned into a movie). So, yeah. Basically lots of dubious production decisions that kind of killed off fan goodwill.

I do agree that during Endless Eight that a lot of audience goodwill was pissed away, needlessly. But after the movie they had gotten most of it back. Everyone was super hyped and on board again.

And then nothing happened.

Whether it was because Kyo Ani was trying to move away from licensed to original content, or because of the hiatus/stalling of the novels, or because of the specter of E8, the series sat and languished. People didn't grow to hate it as much as they just stopped caring after it was obvious that nothing was being done.

I'm personally gonna bet on the series stalling out being the biggest issue there personally. No mainline series content to promote means no financial incentive to make more series.

I think moberemk has it right there. Having more material left to adapt still doesn't mean much if there aren't more books coming out to advertise.

Man.

I love that Endless Eight happened.

I was so miserable waiting for each new episode, having my hopes that "maybe this week will be the one" being shattered for two whole months until it finally ended.

You can never relive that, nobody else would be crazy enough to shit on their fanbase like that, and even if you are watching that arc for the first time you can just skip a few episodes if you want to.

It was truly an experience.

edited 30th Oct '15 5:20:21 PM by RunoEddie

nobody else would be crazy enough to shit on their fanbase like that

Eh, something like that will eventually happen at some time or another. Never understimate mankind's capacity for madness.

Eh? It wasn't that bad, it was an attempt to basically be artsy. Artsy is really a hit or miss proposition, sometimes it goes badly, others it's a home run.

Haruhi is well known for its artsy and viral marketing and screwy shit. Look at the 'broadcast order' crap and those prerelease promos they did starting like 3 years before s2 even aired.

Also there have been entire series and games based on a and breaking a "Groundhog Day" Loop.

edited 30th Oct '15 6:30:57 PM by Memers

I like groundhog day loop plots, but Endless Eight had a problem that those other stories I read didn't: It was too boring to keep watching. Watching Kyon get a burrito one day but not another was not particularly engaging.

But it wasn't just a Groundhog Day Loop.

The only thing that changed between iterations was window dressing, and the only character that was aware of it did nothing to change things.

I can think of a few series based on loops, but I don't know any that looped with minimal difference like Haruhi.

Oh, it was awful, you won't catch me dead watching it ever again, but I'm glad I watched it all at the time

edited 30th Oct '15 6:44:35 PM by RunoEddie

So I watched the first series of Haruhi back when Haruhi was THE thing for anime nerds to watch.

Hard to believe something like...what was it, 13 episodes, made such a huge impact on people. Oh well.

Just curious if it's worth checking out anything else? Like the original light novels or any follow up series or whatnot?

The Disappearance movie is of course a recommended watch, but you'll also have to take a look at the second season for the added oompth. Word of advise though — in the Endless Eight set of episodes, select the FIRST episode, then a random episode, then the final episode where the loops break. Don't torture yourself watching the whole eight episodes.