Haruhi Season 2: Portfolio of Evidence

Or, as some might be inclined to call it, “Timeline of Betrayal: A Brief History of Kadokawa’s Harutard Fanboy Baiting, 2006-2009”.

There’s no real point to this; I’m just plain bored.

DETAILED CHRONOLOGY

All times are JST (9 hours ahead of UTC). Note that some links may lead to spoilers for the third and fourth installments of the Suzumiya Haruhi light novel series, and possibly the second season of the animated series.

02 April 2006 – The first episode of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu is aired on Japanese television. Subsequent episodes are released anachronically.

02 July 2006 – The final episode of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu is aired on Japanese television.

05 July 2007 – Rumours of a second season announcement begin to circulate on 2ch. Anime News Network reports that according to 2ch posters, the “reported coverage of the magazine [i.e., the August issue of Newtype magazine, slated for wide release on 10 July] indicates that the science fiction comedy anime’s continuation will be announced on July 7 (07/07/07)”.

07 July 2007, morning – The Asahi Shinbun carries a full-page advertisement announcing a second season for the Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu series. Along a small strip at the bottom of the ad are printed the addresses of the official website and the website of Newtype magazine, together with a brief message suggesting that something might happen at 2100 that night.

07 July 2007, 2100 – The Tanabata Video. A screen on the official website and the Newtype website carries grainy footage (made to look like realistic video feed from security cameras) showing figures moving about on a school campus at night. The details of the video correspond to a critical scene in the short story Sasa no Ha Rhapsody (Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody), the second part of the book Suzumiya Haruhi no Taikutsu (The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi). No firm details about a second season are supplied in the video. The feed is only available for about an hour and is known to be inaccessible by 2226, but within the next few hours copies of the video and screencaps taken from it begin to circulate on the internet.

18 December 2007 – The Disappearing Website. Visitors to the official website find an error message instead of the home page. Shortly after the error message loads, an activity mirroring a critical event in the book Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu (The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi) is triggered. Upon the successful completion of the activity, an “announcement poster” bearing details of the new animation project is displayed. The website’s normal functions are restored by 22 December. A step-by-step account of the 18 December incident (with detailed commentary) is available here; note that the linked page contains major spoilers for Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu.

May 2008 – The official website is updated to reflect changes in the staff roster for the second season of the animated series.

10 June 2008 – The July 2008 issue of Newtype magazine is released. The front cover bears a portrait of Suzumiya Haruhi corresponding to the description given in Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu, while the issue itself devotes several pages to what has now been termed a “new animation project” (as opposed to a sequel).

22 August 2008 – Anime News Network reports that the yonkoma series Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan) and the parody manga Nyoro-n Churuya-san will be adapted into ONAs for distribution via the YouTube video-sharing service.

January 2009 – An announcement on the official website states that the first episodes of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu and Nyoro-n Churuya-san will premiere on 13 February.

February 2009 – Rumours of an imminent second season announcement (see next entry) are qualified when Kadokawa announces that the supposed April “relaunch” of the animated series will be a “rebroadcast”.

10 February 2009 – The March 2009 issue of Newtype magazine is released. Details of the staff assigned to oversee the “renewed broadcast” of the original anime series are announced in the issue.

13 February 2009 – The “Nice Boat” Video. Instead of the first episodes of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu and Nyoro-n Churuya-san, Kadokawa posts a 46-second film featuring boats set against a bright sunset.

14 February 2009 – The first episodes of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu and Nyoro-n Churuya-san are streamed on YouTube. Raw and English-subtitled versions are made available to viewers, along with a separate video (without subtitles) containing the opening sequence for the entire Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu series. (Note: As more episodes are released, older episodes of both series are periodically removed from Kadokawa’s YouTube channel.)

03 April 2009 – Episode 2 of the original animated series (chronologically, the first episode in the series’ proper timeline) is aired on Japanese television, marking the start of the previously announced “rebroadcast”.

28 April 2009 – As of this day, Episodes 2, 3, 5, and 10 of the original animated series (chronologically, the first four episodes in the series’ proper timeline) have been streamed online through Kadokawa’s YouTube channel. The streamed episodes consist of the “extended” versions that were previously released on DVD – containing additional scenes not shown in the original broadcast – and do not have next-episode previews. Although the streams can be viewed for free, no English subtitles are available. As with the two parody series also currently running on YouTube, older episodes are periodically removed from the channel.

WHAT IS KNOWN FOR CERTAIN

Nothing. At this point in time, although there are indications that the second season will begin airing at some point in the near future, we do not know for certain whether there will even be a second season.

WHAT CAN BE INFERRED

The main storyline of the second season – if it even exists! – will probably be based on Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu.

Sasa no Ha Rhapsody will probably appear as one of the side stories in the second season.

The new episodes produced for the second season will probably be mixed into the “rebroadcast” of the first season.

If the chronological ordering of the Suzumiya Haruhi light novel series is strictly observed and the two preceding inferences are correct, the first episode of the new season will probably be an adaptation of Sasa no Ha Rhapsody and will probably air on 22 May or shortly thereafter, by which time – based on the 03 April start date of the “rebroadcast” – a gap will exist in the light novel material already covered by the first season.

If the author of this post were not bored out of his wits by the dullness of 01 May, one of his least favourite holidays, he would probably shift his capitalist bottom out of his proletariat-produced computer chair and stand up to denounce KyoAni, Kadokawa and the whole lot of them for toying around with the fanbase these last three years.

Then he will probably show his magnanimity by absolving KyoAni of its crimes – mainly because he wants them to keep churning out new episodes of K-ON! – while the rest of the criminals are dragged out into the streets and shot like the manipulative dogs they are.

Cheerio, comrades.