Well it was just a short while ago that Brad posted about the community blogs, encouraging us to become literary geniuses if only on Japanator. One thing got me thinking though, and it was a small comment he made.

"...how Endless Eight screwed you over"

This is the thing, I raved and ranted like most people when I saw the episode count slip past four. I knew as well as everyone at that point that we would most likely be stuck with another four, yet why was it that I watched each and every episode? Sure, the art and dialogue were slightly different, but there had to be another reason. I figure it's not because I wanted to waste some time and click on that little plus arrow over at Myanimelist, but for a superior and elusive reason.

Endless Eight must be an animated masterpiece.



"How did you work that one out?" I can hear you saying. Well, stop talking to your computer screen you lonely person and I'll tell you. I believe that the primary reason for enjoying this lies with empathizing with Yuki. Remember that the very last iteration of the SOS Brigades endless summer was the 15,532nd time that she experienced it. We already know that there was very little variety in the events of their summer, unless of course she gets a kick out of guessing Haruhi's seeming endless supply of swimsuits, or taste in ice cream. You have to get into her head here. Sure, she is an alien, she's not built the way that we are. You've seen that episode of Red Dwarf right? The one where Krytons android replacement arrives, but after so long in space on it's own it eventually flips and starts attacking everyone? It can happen to anyone!

Now lets get down to business. Saying each episode of Endless Eight is twenty minutes long, that is a grand total of two hours and forty minutes of endless-ness, with a whopping eight iterations of the same events if you also count the conclusion. Now lets see what Yuki went through. She went through the summer 15,532 times, each day obviously 24 hours long. Oh, and another thing. Yuki went through 15,532 summers, not days. According to wiki, summer vacation in Japan is a month long, though I'm sure Kyon mentions that they only have two weeks left, so lets go with that.

595.7 years
217,448 days
5,218,752 hours
313,125,120 minutes
18,787,507,200 seconds

Your 160 minutes doesn't look so long now does it? Considering the backlash and threats that were posted all over the internet with the airing of Endless Eight, I believe that the producers have done a fantastic job with creating a mindset similar to what Yuki may have been feeling, within a fraction of the time she went through. Though this is arguably not the intended reason why Endless Eight spanned eight episodes, it makes a satisfactory simulation of the events, does it not?

Now this is not the only reason I have for claiming that Endless Eight deserves more credit than it already has. Lets take a look into the mindset of the other three affected by the endless summer; Kyon, Mikuru and Koizumi. Cast your eyes on the first episode. Everything proceeds as normal, as at this point we are unaware of what is in store for us. The same applies for Kyon, he is yet to realize that something is happening with his summer. Now fast forward to episode seven, Kyon is experiencing so much deja vu that he sees things before they happen, even completing their phrases inside his head along with them. With the exception of Kyons dialogue, everyone else's remained more or less unchanged. So Kyon can remember these things, big deal. The point I'm trying to make here is that we are watching this for the seventh time, and for the majority of us we remember what is coming up too. You can tell which event will come up next. You can almost recite Haruhi's speech with her new found friends at the swimming pool. You know that Kyon will always pull over Yuki for no explicable reason. Christ, EVERYONE learned that 'denwa' means phone! Again, be it intentional or unintentional, you are experiencing similar effects to those in the SOS Brigade. I will be honest here, this is the one and only time I can positively say that I have felt like I was in the anime, that I can understand what the characters are going through, and how satisfied I was with Kyon finishing his homework. Games and films are commended for making their work immersive, so why is Endless Eight shunned for doing so?

It is because Endless Eight is a masterpiece, you just don't know it yet.