There are some narrative missteps in the second season, IMO. Many of the episodes require knowledge of the first season, and not in the "just to know the characters and WTH they're doing" kind of knowledge, but as in direct sequels of first-season episodes that cannot stand alone. And then there are the Endless Eights...
I admit I watched all eight episodes of the Endless Eights arc. It... it wasn't easy, and I'm definitely a Haruhi apologist. I've heard Endless Eights is better in the light novels and I give KyoAni props for having the chutzpah to even attempt such a thing, but I'm not sure it really worked. And that's not to imply that they just re-used the same animation all eight episodes. There was a little bit of re-use, of course, but they actually re-did most of the scenes for every episode, showing the scenes from different angles or POVs or whatever. So, yeah, as an artistic endeavor it was really quite good, but as a narrative one it probably wasn't the best arc they could have chosen.
All the other episodes of the second season were pretty good but overall the second season cannot hold a candle to the first. There are some really good episodes in there but even the best of the second season are entirely too dependent on the first season. It's a fun romp, but I recommend watching the first one or two episodes of the Endless Eights and then skipping to the Eighth one to see how it resolves. There is nothing learned or revealed in 3-7 that truly justify slogging through them, unless you're an obsessed die-hard Haruhi fan. *koff*
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I admit I watched all eight episodes of the Endless Eights arc. It... it wasn't easy, and I'm definitely a Haruhi apologist. I've heard Endless Eights is better in the light novels and I give KyoAni props for having the chutzpah to even attempt such a thing, but I'm not sure it really worked. And that's not to imply that they just re-used the same animation all eight episodes. There was a little bit of re-use, of course, but they actually re-did most of the scenes for every episode, showing the scenes from different angles or POVs or whatever. So, yeah, as an artistic endeavor it was really quite good, but as a narrative one it probably wasn't the best arc they could have chosen.
All the other episodes of the second season were pretty good but overall the second season cannot hold a candle to the first. There are some really good episodes in there but even the best of the second season are entirely too dependent on the first season. It's a fun romp, but I recommend watching the first one or two episodes of the Endless Eights and then skipping to the Eighth one to see how it resolves. There is nothing learned or revealed in 3-7 that truly justify slogging through them, unless you're an obsessed die-hard Haruhi fan. *koff*