Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2...

Recently, I picked up the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 DVD set...

Haruhi continues her search for exciting ways to keep her world from being boring. Unfortunately, for Kyon and the rest of the SOS Brigade, they are forced to go along for the ride.

On the night of the Tanabata Star Festival, Kyon is transported back in time by Mikuru Asahina to what may be the source of what led Haruhi to search for aliens, time travelers, and espers. In the last two weeks of summer vacation, Haruhi leads the brigade on a dizzying list of summer time activities, eventually culminating in the brigade experiencing what they think is deja vu but they're actually re-living the same two weeks of summer over and over again. It's up to Kyon to figure out what's missing to get them out of their endless loop.

As fall rolls around, everyone prepares for the school arts festival, but Haruhi isn't content with their class's survey project. Instead, she hatches her own plan for the SOS Brigade to film and screen their own movie. Step behind the camera to see what went on to create the cinematic "masterpiece" that is The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00!

I'm not big fan of the multi-disc packaging where the DVDs overlap, but, with five discs (including a music CD with two tracks), I couldn't repackage the set. I had a quick peek at the set. The animation quality is consistent with the original series. The second season is expected to be quite controversial... John, a contributor to the AnimeNation blog wrote:

...In a certain sense, the "second season" of Suzumiya Haruhi anime consists of only three distinct episodes. Episode 8 is unique. The eight "Endless Eight" episodes are strikingly similar to each other. Likewise, the five "Sigh of Suzumiya Haruhi" episodes are more similar to each other than different. The "Endless Eight" story arc – literally two straight months of the same episode with cosmetic differences – may have inflicted mortal damage to the anime’s marketability. The current Japanese DVD release is reportedly under performing, but isn't an abject failure. Speculation theorizes that completist Japanese otaku are continuing to purchase Suzumiya Haruhi DVDs despite their distaste for the content of the DVDs. America doesn't have that sort of fanatical devotion. There’s absolutely no certainty that an attempted American DVD release of the "second season" episodes wouldn't be a failure, or would meet with outspoken scorn from American fans and consumers. With so much risk at stake, and seemingly so little potential gain, I can easily envision domestic distributors considering the Suzumiya Haruhi "second season" a hot potato not worth touching...

Also, relentlessflame, a contributor to the AnimeNation blog, commented on the chronology of the series...

Just to clarify the way it’s being released on DVD in Japan, it *is* in fact being released separately (not as part of a re-release), but is packaged and named as if to fit in to the original season’s chronology and releases. The first new DVD was labeled "Volume 4 Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", and the rest of the volumes are 5.142857 through 5.999999 (obviously to fit between volumes 5 & 6). The original 14 episodes are not included on these new releases, and they're not being re-released at this time...

While it's nice to have the opportunity to revisit Haruhi and company, the second season was clearly not as enjoyable as the first. I lost interest in the series as it failed to capture the same magic as the first season. Certainly, the endless eight episodes didn't help Haruhi's cause. In comparison to the first season, the second season, in my humble opinion, was very disappointing. The first season got a 5 out of 5, but, the second season got a 2 out of 5. The second season wasn't a complete waste of time, but, it also, wasn't as much fun to watch as the first season. I suspected that this might happen when I first heard about the endless eight, but, I couldn't NOT have a peek at the second season...