09-11-2016, 07:40 PM | #326 |
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Let's have some fun, then! These next few examples are just some fun or silly things I noticed while reading Book 1. One of the first things I did last year when opening up my English language Haruhi books was to see how the publisher had decided to sum up the book for the Library of Congress's book summary section. After all, every fan struggles in his or her own way with summing up Haruhi for friends. Say too little and they think it's mundane. Say too much and you give away all the fun. It can be difficult. I found the LOC description amusing. It's not wrong! I actually love that this is the description of the book that gets to go down in the annals of American library history. It's just so amusing to me to think that somebody wrote this! Somebody was tasked with writing a library summary blurb and they got the rare pleasure of using such exotic words in such wonderful order. :3 Here's another find I found fun: "Indian style." This was a term I grew up with, something that feels completely benign to me even today because of how, when, and by whom it was used in my life. But of course today's kids no longer use this term. In fact, I fear that if I were to let a term like this slip out in a post today that we might even have some young UPNers just young enough to actually find this term racially insensitive to the point of being grossly offended. ^^; But yeah -- not only was Strato my kinsman in terms of generations/upbringings, it seems, but more generally it looks like 2007, 2008 was a time where people could still use "Indian style" and editors thought nothing of it. Finally, the significance of this one should not go unnoticed by most Nasuverse fans -- "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." That's right: one of the most famous tenets from Type-Moon's Fate/stay night finds its way into Tanigawa Nagaru's breakout novel. What a world, huh!? I have no idea if they pulled from the same source or if one or the other of them was making a nod to the other, or what! The first Haruhi book was published in June 2003, while the first release of Fate/stay night took place on January 30, 2004. It would seem like Haruhi's release is too late in FSN's development cycle for Nasu to borrow such a core idea for his world's operations. At the same time, it's not possible for Tanigawa to have taken inspiration from FSN -- at best, if we're to argue he was inspired by Nasu, we'd have to find this similar idea in the earlier Tsukihime game, though there I'm not sure we'd find it. It's interesting, no? I'd be quite interested to see how these two seemingly unrelated giants of anime culture managed to have the exact same quip about magic and technology in their seminal works.
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09-11-2016, 09:24 PM | #327 |
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Come on Talon, it's a famous line used in sci-fi all the time. =3=
I borrowed the first 3 books after watching the anime for the first time. I got through Book 1 and enjoyed it just as much as the anime. Even though it was the same plot, I really liked the narrative. I think it did a better job than the anime at conveying Kyon's thoughts (and his sheer annoyance). I distinctly remember that it was hard to come up with a summary for people because I read it on the subway and was asked about it several times. I was once approached by some drunk people (because you have to be drunk to talk to people on the subway) who asked, "Is that ANIME?! What's it about?" I think I told them it was about aliens and time travelers. To which one guy responded, "If you like that, I bet you'd like a show called Gantz! You should check it out!" It's a bit embarrassing to admit that I stopped reading after Book 1. The next two have been sitting on my shelf taunting me for too long. I'm not sure what to do. Do I give up and admit failure as a Haruhi fan? Or do I hold on, hoping to discover the motivation to read the rest? This is the eternal struggle.
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09-11-2016, 09:41 PM | #328 | |||
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
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09-12-2016, 11:10 PM | #329 |
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09-14-2016, 05:08 PM | #330 |
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09-14-2016, 08:02 PM | #331 |
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Finished Book 4. It was good. Probably my favorite book in the series so far (of what I've seen and read), although it understandably has to stand on the shoulders of all that comes before it (and one conspicuously absent "Endless Eight" chapter that comes after it) in order to be as grand as affair as it is.
For newcomers or returning fans alike who are eager to know my thoughts on the actual content of the tale, I'll direct you to my older posts in the thread from back when we first watched the movie. I'm going over them now myself. After the links to those posts, I'll be happy to provide some updated thoughts from 2016. thoughts on the villain and their motive (written December 20, 2010) thoughts on what happens at 2h12m50s / page 155 thoughts on the increasing role of t.t. in the story thoughts on the villain's power level Responding to these old posts of mine in turn ... Spoiler: show Spoiler: show Spoiler: show Spoiler: show
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09-14-2016, 08:15 PM | #332 |
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My thoughts are available for your perusal, but for those who might become overwhelmed by so much text above, both 2010 text and 2016 text, I've got this C&P from Skype:
In 2010 I was pretty concerned that Tanigawa had written himself into a corner but in 2016 I'm optimistic that he left himself just enough wiggle room to write his way out of it. We'll see. Spoiler: show Other things to bring up ... Book 4 probably gives Kyon's sister the most screentime she's ever had in the books. I've been bemused by how infrequently she appears in the earlier books, compared with her frequent adorable appearances in the anime. So many best moments in this one, but the best of the best remain for me ... Spoiler: show Alright ... unless there's further discussion at this time, I guess that means it's on to Book 5 for me! Time to read me some
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09-14-2016, 08:26 PM | #333 |
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Wow. You're really blazing through these.
*should do the same* :V
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09-14-2016, 08:57 PM | #334 |
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Not at all, not at all. Aside from how quickly I consumed Book 4, I've actually been reading fairly slowly even by my own standards. Don't forget that I resumed with Book 3 Chapter 4 when I posted a week ago. I didn't start at the top of Book 3, let alone at the top of the series. Books 1, 2, and most of 3 were all read last year (2015). Only the tail end of 3 and all of 4 have been read this week.
I'd love to have you along!
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09-15-2016, 10:33 AM | #335 |
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Okay, so Book 5 has a cute format that I am really enthused by. It's divided into three sections -- "Summer", "Autumn", and "Winter." Each section gets its own story that's roughly 50 pages in length. Long enough to feel like a grand episode of the anime, short enough that you get to have multiple such slices of cake each book. That's interesting. Maybe I'm going to like this more than I feared I would. *shrug* I still think the full-length treatment is better, going off the fact that I place Books 1, 2, and 4 far ahead of 3 right now ... but I didn't dislike 3, and I'm anticipating I won't dislike 5 either. So that's nice.
Also, Book 5 surprises me with my first new story! So that's exciting. I had figured Book 5 would cover the following four TV episodes, all of which I've seen but have yet to read in book form:
Currently only 14 or so pages into the book. Early thoughts on the book version of Endless Eight, but with spoilers for the entire chapter (so don't click if you don't know how Endless Eight ends) ... Spoiler: show
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09-18-2016, 10:35 PM | #336 |
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Haven't gotten to read any the last three days , but I did take the opportunity just now while eating my very late dinner to go ahead and watch the anime adaptations of Mysterique Sign and the first half of Remote Island Syndrome.
"Rose-tinted lenses," eh? I was quite shocked: while the animation in S1 Haruhi is by no means awful, it's not nearly as great as I remember it being. This wasn't the case when I last checked in on the series (last summer, 2015), so I suppose the series is finally, after enjoying ten long and happy years, starting to show its age. Here's the breakdown:
But "holds up" by 2016 standards, I mean! If you hold it to the standards of the time it was animated in, Haruhi S1 is still a bombshell beauty. And maybe this only applies to these two episodes. After all, both of these episodes can be thought of as "filler" compared with the "main story" of S1. So perhaps they were afforded a much smaller budget. I already watched the Book 1 episodes last summer (and had a very positive impression of them), so I'm not about to re-watch them all right now. But I don't doubt that this could be one explanation behind what happened tonight. Now for some spoiler thoughts ... Mysterique Sign (S1E07 in Kyon order) Spoiler: show Remote Island Syndrome, Pt.1 (S1E06 in Kyon order, but also spoilers for S1E08) Spoiler: show
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09-20-2016, 10:45 PM | #337 |
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Finished reading "Endless Eight" the other night. Currently making my way through the corresponding anime episodes. Spoilers for Disappearance, and of course for Endless Eight as well.
Spoiler: show
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09-20-2016, 11:29 PM | #338 |
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I've been following your re-adventure but I haven't had much time for much more than a cursory review, given my own time constraints.
That said, a brief response to your post about the animation quality: I haven't seen Haruhi proper since 2006, since it falls under my still largely-intact policy of only watching an anime once, maximizing the experience, and living off the memory. It's too distracting to go back into a title with knowledge of the future or contamination from other titles and think "Where are they now"?, like with the main cast's CVs. That said, even back in 2006, while I could appreciate Haruhi as well animated and drawn, I never would have thought of it as astounding beyond certain action sequences, like the Nagato-Asakura fight. Even the Day of Sagittarius segment made heavy use of CGI, and I dock points for that versus traditional animation. Animation now, versus animation then, is more an issue of complexity in three dimensions. If you watch old anime, especially TV anime, it's poorly animated and has so-so art, and must live off the strength of its novelty or narrative. Even a well animated OVA in the 1980's, like say Gunbuster which has technical milestones that dwarf most TV anime, is eclipsed by something like 2016's One Punch Man because of the complexity in OPM's shots. Haruhi never struck me as needing good animation outside of scenes like Nagato-Asakura. Kyoani's goal was to make good looking characters, complex shots and vivid backgrounds to make a photoesque experience when reviewing it in the picturebook of memory. Those are aspects of animation least likely to be creeped by improvements in technique. That said, it's surprising you still held a high opinion as of 2015. But I know you are on a low-calorie anime diet, eschewing number of portions for quality of taste, so perhaps that was the reason why. It's like, your VN experience is still very 2011-ish, I think, which is cool, retro, and totally not burnt out-cynical like BBB and I.
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09-21-2016, 01:56 PM | #339 |
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It's the eyes / the faces. When the characters are in your face, a zoom setting of 4 or 5 on a five-point scale where 3 is "standard distance", 1 is max zoom out and 5 is max zoom in, when they're in your face like this, a 4 or a 5, the eyes are really, really gorgeously drawn. They look deep and luxurious. It's hard for me to explain, but it's something I think we all noticed way back when.
The thing is,
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09-21-2016, 01:59 PM | #340 |
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Watched the fourth episode of Endless Eight last night. And I'm ready to offer an about-face on the previous (the Episode 03) post:
Spoiler: show There's a really strange animation phenomenon in this and probably most of the other S2 episodes. The character designs jump between S1's designs and S2's K-On! designs. It appears to be the trend that the more zoomed in we are on someone's face the more likely they are to have an S1 face. Let's use a five-point scale to describe zoom. We'll say 5 is most zoomed in, 1 is most zoomed out, 3 is "standard distance." The 5 setting, then, is the S1 faces. The 3 setting is the K-On! faces. The 4 setting ... is a strange hybrid. And the 1 and 2 settings are just "too zoomed out to be very detailed one way or another; as much an S1 property as an S2 one, really belonging to both and neither." Remind me to bring up the counter when I finish the arc.
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09-21-2016, 08:43 PM | #341 |
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I was waiting to hear your remarks on the conclusion to this arc, but since you seem to have skipped over it I'll ask out of curiosity: What'd you think about the differences in the characters' deductive reasoning abilities? As I recall the credit for solving the crime was spread out in an alternate manner between Haruhi and Kyon (although I don't remember exactly to what degree).
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09-22-2016, 12:09 AM | #342 | |
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Quote:
Remote Island Syndrome, Pt.2 (S1E08 in Kyon order) Spoiler: show
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09-22-2016, 05:46 AM | #343 |
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The cave scene was added for T.V. Bc FANSERVICE/
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09-25-2016, 04:43 PM | #344 |
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Haven't made much progress on Rampage (Book 5). I'm a few delightful pages into the second chapter, "Day of Saggitarius", the one where they square off against the Computer Club with the space fleet video game.
But I have made extensive progress with the anime. Watched all of Endless Eight. Then watched all of Sigh (Book 2), the making of the student film. Then watched KyoAni's take on the actual student film. That leaves me with just three anime episodes remaining (Culture Festival Part I, Culture Festival Part II, and Kyon Buys A Heater) and the highly-anticipated Disappearance movie. Endless Eight: Spoiler: show Animation: The animation is much, much improved in Season 2 over Season 1. All of the 10/10's are still there, but the 4/10s I spoke of earlier are replaced with 7's and 8's. Haruhi S2 basically looks and feels as good as I remember Haruhi S1 looking. If S1's finally passed the peak, S2 has yet to crest. Which is nice. For an anime that's already seven years old, Haruhi S2 looking as good as it does is a testimony to how much effort the studio put into adapting this property to television. Sigh: Spoiler: show
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10-08-2017, 07:21 AM | #345 |
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Happy birthday haruhi
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11-06-2018, 11:03 AM | #346 |
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11-06-2018, 01:03 PM | #347 |
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You're kind of late to that show. lol.
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08-30-2020, 10:28 PM | #348 |
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The Intuition of Haruhi Suzuymia
Volume 11 November 25 2020
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08-30-2020, 10:57 PM | #349 |
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As great as the news sounds, seems it's not worth getting too excited over as it looks to be just another collection of short stories, at least two of which have already been previously released. ^^;
https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-ne...r-9-year-break That said, apparently there'll be one new chapter called "Tsuruya-san's Challenge", so that's something.
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08-31-2020, 02:58 PM | #350 |
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