Yes I understand. YMMV is strongly in effect here. But for me, Haruhi is my favourite tv show.
For example: the pilot episode
Yes, many people disliked this episode for many reasons, but is episode this an onion.
The first layer is that it sucks. Cue hate.
The second layer is Stylistic Suck and Main.SoBadItsGood. It's a painfully accurate depiction of a student film with no budget, plot, script, acting ability, direction, and many, many other things. The narrator points out how terrible the film is, yet, the director, the title character who is only dramatically shown in the end, disagrees.
The third layer is realising the trope density of this single episode. In one 22-minute episode, it is able to embody every trope that is wrong about anime. Watch the episode. Try to count them. The narrator himself lampshades a lot of them.
The fourth layer is the weirdness. Despite its realism of what a bad student film would be like, there are several inconsistencies, several things that are off that would suggest one more deeper level.
The fifth layer is meta. Certain details that are presented as fiction in-universe are literal truth.
The sixth layer is chronological. While this is the first episode aired, it is in truth, the 12th chronologically.
What other people consider negative qualities, I consider them reasons to love Haruhi. Above all, Haruhi is a thinking anime series, abandoning Genius Bonus into Viewers are Geniuses. Yes, it is in Anachronic Order, but brimming with Fridge Brilliance. It's a unique and effective method to develop plot and characters and generate suspense. It requires you to keep track of the timeline yourself and pay attention to every single subtle detail to notice the weirdness and the references to events that didn't happen yet in our viewing. It is Genre Busting and Troperiffic to such a degree that it achieves Trope Overdosed despite 14 22-minute episodes. Intimacy with Anime Tropesis required; this anime does not insult your intelligence.
A Positive Review of Haruhi Suzumiya, Season 1
I'm surprised at the amount of negative reviews. I would like to offer a counterpoint, but I will have to be concise:
(spoiler warnings for people that care)
negative:
Hype Backlash
Hype Aversion
Fan Dumb
YMMV
positive:
Yes I understand. YMMV is strongly in effect here. But for me, Haruhi is my favourite tv show.
For example: the pilot episode
Yes, many people disliked this episode for many reasons, but is episode this an onion.
The first layer is that it sucks. Cue hate.
The second layer is Stylistic Suck and Main.SoBadItsGood. It's a painfully accurate depiction of a student film with no budget, plot, script, acting ability, direction, and many, many other things. The narrator points out how terrible the film is, yet, the director, the title character who is only dramatically shown in the end, disagrees.
The third layer is realising the trope density of this single episode. In one 22-minute episode, it is able to embody every trope that is wrong about anime. Watch the episode. Try to count them. The narrator himself lampshades a lot of them.
The fourth layer is the weirdness. Despite its realism of what a bad student film would be like, there are several inconsistencies, several things that are off that would suggest one more deeper level.
The fifth layer is meta. Certain details that are presented as fiction in-universe are literal truth.
The sixth layer is chronological. While this is the first episode aired, it is in truth, the 12th chronologically.
What other people consider negative qualities, I consider them reasons to love Haruhi. Above all, Haruhi is a thinking anime series, abandoning Genius Bonus into Viewers are Geniuses. Yes, it is in Anachronic Order, but brimming with Fridge Brilliance. It's a unique and effective method to develop plot and characters and generate suspense. It requires you to keep track of the timeline yourself and pay attention to every single subtle detail to notice the weirdness and the references to events that didn't happen yet in our viewing. It is Genre Busting and Troperiffic to such a degree that it achieves Trope Overdosed despite 14 22-minute episodes. Intimacy with Anime Tropes is required; this anime does not insult your intelligence.