Haruhi Season 2: Episode 2 - Endless Eight
Finally, a new episode after some 3 weeks since Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody. From what I hear, this episode is the start of the actual season, so there are consistent episodes per week starting from here on out.
Next to Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, this episode also bears a significant amount of importance should this series cover the Disappearance arc. Anyway, after watching this episode, it would appear that this little story arc is a two-part series, although it was not mentioned at all either at the beginning or the end of the episode.
Episode Summary and Review:
Surprisingly, this episode actually starts out at Kyon’s house. That’s refreshing, considering 75% of the episodes started at the school, and the majority in the clubroom. But there’s a reason for this, since everyone’s on summer vacation. It also appears that the animation studio is going to shoot for a basic chronological series this time around, instead of mixing them up. It is good to note that the actual Melancholy story arc episodes were in chronologically aired. Just the random eps were randomized.
Okay, back to the episode. The title of the episode, Endless Eight (or Endless Eights) may not bear much meaning from this episode alone. If the next episode covers what happens next, then the title would make more sense. The premise of the episode here is that Haruhi is maximizing the remainder of her summer vacation with the SOS Brigade and doing a shopping list’s worth of activities.
The activities went from going to a Bon Festival, lighting fireworks, catching cicadas, karaoke, etc. I won’t go into details with the activities, so to sum things up, Haruhi, Kyon and company did a ton of things for the last two weeks of their vacation. One thing worth noting about these activities is that it explains where the frog suit came from. If you’ve watched the first season, the frog suit appears in the Day in the Rain episode.
The subplot of the episode, which is actually pretty important, is Kyon and his pending summer homework. He brings it up throughout the episode, and at the end, simply couldn’t finish it in time. Insignificant for this episode, but plays an important role for the second half of this Endless Eight(s) episode.
Not really an exciting episode by any stretch. I think the one thing to take away from this is they premiered the opening credits for the show. Unfortunately, it was rather forgettable. Still a lot of content to go, so it’s all good.