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	scifantasy 2011-08-07 08:02 pm UTC (link)
	Hm. I know that TV Tropes was all over it (since Suzumiya is a troperrific show at the best of times), but other than that, I'm not sure. (Reply to this)

	white_serpent 2011-08-08 06:50 pm UTC (link)
	It doesn't sound familiar. When would it have been? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	photosinensis 2011-08-08 11:18 pm UTC (link)
	Summer 2009. It was all over TV Tropes and anime fandom. I was hoping there was some preservation of the wanking. It was glorious. I mean, running eight virtually identical episodes was one hell of a way to piss off the otaku. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veneotaqueen 2011-08-09 02:11 am UTC (link)
	And the best part was that every episode was animated from scratch, and the seiyuu had to repeat recording the same lines for each chapter like it was new one. Everybody involved (save the ones who approved the production) were profoundly embarrased. Blog posts were written, heads were petitioned, worldwide spread rage... it was awesome. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	photosinensis 2011-08-09 02:18 am UTC (link)
	I remember something about the American otaku seriously considering stealing a nuke and lobbing it at Kyoto. And now, as I've railed it in one sitting like so much cheap heroin, it doesn't seem quite so bad. Indeed, it makes the movie make that much more sense--which I guess was the long troll: making the fans agree with their decisions. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	crysiana 2011-08-09 02:58 am UTC (link)
	I admit that I really liked the Blatant Fanservice ep, if only for the hilarity factor. (Poor Yuki looked so bored by the end.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	photosinensis 2011-08-10 12:24 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, before I saw the movie, I recommended watching parts 1, 7, and 8. (Reply to this)(Parent)

keri
2011-08-09 03:04 am UTC (link)

could always check the animesuki boards. there's gotta be something preserved in the enormous pile of haruhi threads they've got there. (people still bitch about it)

(personally, it was peripheral awareness of E8 shortly after it ended that made me try the series. I loved the idea of E8 and it was one of my favorite parts when I got around to watching it. I also loved the trolling. the people who are in charge of Haruhi publicity and stunts are some of my favorite people in the world for the way they toy with the fans.)

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	lilychan 2011-08-09 11:32 pm UTC (link)
	Endless Eight? Time to Google. (Reply to this)(Thread)

photosinensis
2011-08-10 12:21 am UTC (link)

To 'splain this troll:

1. Make massively popular anime in 14 episodes. We're talking instant-classic memetic hazard here.
2. Wait three years. Occasionally tease at a second season that will include a fan-favorite arc from the original sources, but officially deny everything.
3. Make two gag YouTube series based on it two years after it ran.
4. During a chronological-order re-run of the first 14 episodes, slip in a completely new episode. Make sure three years have passed since season 1.
5. Wait three weeks for the otaku to clean up the jizz in their pants.
6. Start a Groundhog Day Loop story. Diverge from the original material when the characters don't discover the looping by the end of the episode.
7. Three episodes into the Groundhog Day Loop story, cover the last loop in the original short story. Don't resolve the story, though, and make it clear that the next episode will be yet another iteration of the loop.
8. Make eight total episodes, each covering its own loop.
9. Don't get to the fan-favorite arc you had teased at in the previous three years.
10. Sell the second season on DVD.

That's the short troll. Here's the continuation for the long troll:

11. Officially release a 30-second teaser trailer for a feature film based on the fan-favorite arc.
12. Actually make the film based on the fan-favorite arc. What's more, do a really good job of it. We're talking film-of-the-year material here. Make it clear in the course of the film that the whole thing would not have happened if the Groundhog Day Loop story hadn't happened.
13. Release film.
14. Get some otaku to not only forgive you for eight of the same episode, but to say that you're justified in having made it that way.

Everything but the movie is available on Crunchyroll. Trigger warnings: dubious consent, ear worms, memetic hazards, eight episodes that are exactly identical.

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	lilychan 2011-08-10 12:31 am UTC (link)
	.... That is ingenious. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	cmdr_zoom 2011-08-11 10:15 pm UTC (link)
	I think that if I'd been a fan of this (or any other) show, I'd have given up after about the fourth episode of such a stunt. "Screw this, I'm done. Better things to do with my time. You want to pull this &&&& on your fans? Do it without me." This is, in fact, pretty much exactly where Joss Whedon stands with me these days. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

kaen
2011-08-12 01:16 pm UTC (link)

You wouldn't have been blamed. Or alone. Seriously, it's usually ridiculously hard to bore me and it still didn't take long to drive me to fast-forwarding to three specific scenes to see any differences each week (for anyone who's watched them that's wondering: Kyon's talk with Yuki, which mask Yuki picks at the festival, and the number of that week's loop).

I mean, when you get what it's trying to do it does it (basically the gimmick's to make you relate to the one character fully aware of the loop; you're supposed to imagine what it must have been like for her to be stuck in it for almost six hundred years if you're that bored after only seeing it eight times), but blah. Still not worth actually sitting through them all to me.

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	re_weird 2011-08-12 01:34 am UTC (link)
	I don't know why, but trolling by creators is infinitely funnier than trolling by fans. I haven't seen anything besides the first series so thanks for the rundown. (Reply to this)(Parent)

the_sun_is_up
2011-08-13 05:36 am UTC (link)

She left one thing out: During the Groundhog Day storyline, the producers ran eight episodes that were almost identical, but instead of just reusing the footage, they made the animators and voice actors re-animate and re-dub the same episode from scratch eight times. They didn't just troll the fans, they trolled the show's production staff too.

(That's what really gets me about Endless Eight — the colossal waste of everyone's time, energy, and money. I don't mind the creators trolling the fans, in fact I usually enjoy that sort of thing, but couldn't they have found a cheaper way to do it? I mean they could have used that money for anything!1!)

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	lilychan 2011-08-14 10:10 pm UTC (link)
	LOL Wow, they really went all out. I actually found out the boyfriend tried to watch the Endless Eight back in the day and gave up at episode four. He was halfway there! I'm kind of curious myself since I've never seen Haruhi but I don't know. lol (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	photosinensis 2011-08-15 01:48 am UTC (link)
	Okay, watch it, but there is a right way to watch this show for the first time. And you absolutely should watch the show. It's kind of like heroin. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lilychan 2011-08-15 03:17 am UTC (link)
	O-oh. Thank you though! Haha, I've been told I would like it but maybe. We'll see! (Reply to this)(Parent)