Melancholies and Demons

[The Melancholy Code->]

Welcome to the sequel.

Our church is at war. We are under attack from an old enemy… the trolls at KyoAni. They have struck us from within and threatening us all with destruction from their new god Haruhi. For years, Haruhiists have been trying to understand so many aspects of our Haruhiism, including the creation of the second season. And yet they have not found the answer.

But I tell you folks, the path is alive! In just a few hours the truth shall be revealed. The wheels have been in motion for a long time. Our victory has been inevitable. Never before has it been as obvious as it is at this moment! But this victory has cost every one of us. And it has cost us deeply. Our comrades have been brain asploded for weeks leading up to this day. And so I step back from this battle with great humility.

This series was big to me. I was actually in Japan back in summer of 2006. The anime just ended its television run, but the virus had just begun to spread. In my actual first visit to the otaku land of Akihabara, I thought it was Haruhi land. You know it’s big when massive posters, DVD promotion materials, cosplay, and tons of merchandise related to the series are being shown at literally every corner. Of course, being a newbie, I only would be able to skim the surface, meaning the streets and major shops. Who knows what goodness lurks inside those hidden otaku and doujin shops that I didn’t dare venture into back then. And being total failure for not taking any pictures, this text would be the only account that I would leave you. I enjoyed it, the immersion. Even if I don’t have money to purchase anything, I would just idle around and window shop.

Three years later though, it isn’t as big to me anymore. What’s the problem? Do I need a rewatch of the original series? I read forums and such, they are still hyped about this thing. And their anticipation seems to be building at a climax since the reveal of the 8th episode to be the FINAL(or is it?) nail in the coffin about the so-called “second coming”. In my case though, I just follow the clues never really digging deeper into it. I don’t mind seeing more of the SOS-dan gang, but I don’t mind “not” seeing them either. Oh, maybe I’m a bit saturated of them because of the many [animemes->animeme] that feature them. I consider Haruhi to be a major prime mover of the [modern doujin->modern-doujin] era, and as a rabid consumer of all things parody and MAD I literally see some sort of Haruhi everytime I watch those videos. In Hollywood terms, maybe this series became my Star Wars or Back to the Future. I don’t remember much details about those movies, but I frequently refer to them because they were some of my favorites. And I would tend to laugh everytime some or article or post would refer to quotes from those movies (ex. 1.21 JIGAWATTS!).

Maybe that’s the point. Haruhi, to me, became a meme. A franchise that would forever be embedded in my entertainment consciousness whether I like it or not. This is in essence a good thing, because whenever something gets elevated to meme status, it means that it’s now a legend to me. Call it “silent hype”. I won’t shout loudly about my Haruhi fandom, but something inside of me is greatly wanting the second season to happen. Well, it “will” happen eventually. We just don’t know if it’s this Thursday late-night, after the 14-episode rerun of the anime, or some other date far far away. This massive trolling by Kadokawa and Kyoto Animation, while seen by some fans as demonic and cruel, is actually a unique way of advertising. The oncoming sh*tstorm will certainly be interesting. I will update this post for the results, but I’m sure you’ll be faster than me, because I’m sleeping tonight. I don’t care when it comes, but when it “does” come, I will watch it. Enjoy the hype, people.

Update: Didn’t sleep. So I found this: