Ask John: What’s John’s Opinion of Endless Eight?

Question:
What are your thoughts on Haruhi’s Endless Eight arc? As of now there has been five episodes released with four being nearly identical. Is it just bad story telling to continually show the same time loops repeatedly with no story progression between each episode or is the series going somewhere with this? Is the studio just being lazy and trying to milk out extra pointless episodes? Do you think DVDs will sell well for episodes which are nearly the same? I know personally I am already having second thoughts on buying season two if it comes out over here.

Answer:
“Endless Eight,” a story in which Suzumiya Haruhi unconsciously causes the last two weeks of August to repeat over 15,000 times, is the first chapter of the fifth Suzumiya Haruhi novel, The Rashness of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Bousou). That single chapter has been adapted into episodes 12-17 of the current Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu television anime. More specifically, these six episodes all basically depict the same events with minor changes in animation and camera shots. According to a certain former Kyoto Animation staffer who wishes to remain un-named, the studio developed the plan to essentially repeat the same episode multiple times last year. So Kyoto Animation has known for a long time that it would be releasing nearly two full month’s worth of fundamentally the same episode. When BONES released four consecutive re-cap episodes of Wolf’s Rain, fans were outraged and frustrated. But BONES was forced to broadcast four nearly identical episodes by unanticipated production delays and difficulties. Kyoto Animation has no excuse because they’re doing it as a result of carefully planned forethought. That’s an important and revelatory detail that significantly impacts my opinion of the “Endless Eight” episodes.

Like many viewers, I’m not enthused by the recycled “Endless Eight” episodes. I watched episodes 12-14 in their entirety, and roughly half of episode 15 before getting bored and skipping the second half and all of episode 16. The “Endless Eight” episodes haven’t entirely discouraged my interest in the Suzumiya Haruhi anime, but they have caused me to temporarily stop watching the show. So on a personal level, I’m frustrated by the episodes. However, from the perspective of an industry observer, this situation is fascinating. The fact that Kyoto Animation planned this lengthy period of repeated episodes months in advance reveals that this is “KyoAni’s” most recent and most audacious attempt yet to poke fun at anime fans, and maybe even the anime industry itself. The 2006 Suzumiya Haruhi anime caught on because its cynical humor skewered otaku conventions while simultaneously indulging them. (It’s difficult to say that a show featuring bunny-suit clad schoolgirls, alien monsters, and anime in-jokes is entirely an aloof, objective criticism of anime.) Kyoto Animation’s Lucky Star then went one step further, ratcheting up the anime in-jokes, making the series’ protagonist an obsessive otaku, and pointing out the odd idiosyncrasies distinguishing of otaku. Endless Eight may be now KyoAni’s latest and most daring attempt to goad anime fans. It’s literally the knowing challenge, “We can do whatever we want because we know you’ll watch it.” And to a large extent, they’ve been proven right. Taken in a broader context, the Endless Eight episodes are a scathing illustration of the fickle hypocrisy of contemporary anime viewers. Anime fans worldwide complain about contemporary anime being all the same, lacking originality. Yet when Kyoto Animation literally delivers the same episode six times in a row, viewers continue to tune in. I may not like these episodes, but I have to respect Kyoto Animation’s most drastic move yet to point out the irrational, contrary behavior of anime otaku. I don’t know for certain what the Kyoto Animation staff is thinking, but I know that I’m personally thinking: if you’re willing to watch the same episode six times in a row, stop complaining about a lack of originality in anime. Obviously, you’re getting exactly what you’re willing to watch.

If “Endless Eight” is, as I suspect, an elaborate joke simultaneously with and at the expense of otaku, I think we’ll see that especially borne out by the current series’ eventual Japanese home video release. It may seem unfathomable to Americans to eagerly purchase multiple nearly identical episodes on DVD, especially at Japanese DVD prices, which are double or more the price of American anime DVDs. But I can already envision fanatic Japanese otaku eagerly measuring and proclaiming their otaku status by having the willingness and determination to buy all of the “Endless Eight” episodes on DVD. That’s a distinct opposition between Japanese and American otaku. Japanese fans take pride and enjoyment in spending exorbitantly on anime goods. An average consumer buys one. An otaku buys multiples. On the opposite side of the Pacific, American anime fans prioritize economy over all else. While Japanese otaku take pride in spending a lot for anime, American otaku take pride in getting anime as cheap as possible. So I can’t predict how the “Endless Eight” episodes will be commercially marketed to American consumers. But I can say right now that I won’t be surprised in the least if the Japanese DVD volumes containing the “Endless Eight” episodes become, ironically, especially popular as a sort of otaku status symbol – a sign of utmost, unswerving, obsessive devotion.