Advancement of Suzumiya Haruhi
I just finished the second season, and really it's just the last episode or so that's worth watching - skip the pointless and stupid Endless Eight (fastfoward to check out their costumes if you want to).
The last couple of episodes mix things up, with doubt and suspicion cast on main characters, and alternative theories of the circumstances. Koizumi's smarminess becomes sinister, shadows are cast on Mikuru's behaviour, and even Yuki won't give a straight answer. Even the animation improves: Haruhi's outbursts, her confrontation with Kyon, and Shamisen falling from Yuki's shoulder.
The epilogue was way too tacked on for the import of what Kyon was trying to do, and in many ways typified the entire season: spending too much time on pointless things and giving too little weight to the things that matter, stretching the wrong things out, and dealing superficially with or otherwise procrastinating the hard stuff.
The last couple of episodes mix things up, with doubt and suspicion cast on main characters, and alternative theories of the circumstances. Koizumi's smarminess becomes sinister, shadows are cast on Mikuru's behaviour, and even Yuki won't give a straight answer. Even the animation improves: Haruhi's outbursts, her confrontation with Kyon, and Shamisen falling from Yuki's shoulder.
The epilogue was way too tacked on for the import of what Kyon was trying to do, and in many ways typified the entire season: spending too much time on pointless things and giving too little weight to the things that matter, stretching the wrong things out, and dealing superficially with or otherwise procrastinating the hard stuff.