modern anime fans complain about delays and changes and stuff between seasons but i swear NOTHING can ever beat what happened with Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
This anime was one of THE top anime of the 00's, easily topping the lists of "must-see" anime series. I mean this thing was HUGE in 2006 when it came out, think almost peak Homestuck levels! You couldnt set foot in a convention without seeing weebs performing the ending theme song dance (Hare Hare Yukai if you wanna look it up), and the sailors uniforms from the series were everywhere. This was right up there with Yaoi Paddles and Deadpools in terms of Convention Things, and it had only one season despite having PLENTY of other light novels in the source book series! It was just really well-done. Kyoto Animation, the studio behind it which is now one of the biggest names in anime, got its reputation almost entirely because of it (And Lucky Star and Clannad which came out right after S1 of Haruhi). One of the reasons it was popular was the unique air order of the series, that in its original airing the episodes were out of chronological order, allowing for a chaotic watch that manages to have better flow (at least, many claim as much, ymmv). So fans were divided between watch orders, but season two was inevitable, and indeed, they announced it was in the works...but didnt announce any dates or anything.
But then, three years later, one of the channels in japan announces its re-running the first season, but the part where they say how many episodes they plan to air, they put double the first season's number. FOURTEEN more, to a total of 28! Nobody knew for certain, because like I said they didnt announce a release date, but speculation was that the extra 14 would be season two! Anyways, the first season starts airing in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, which was, of course, a highly controversial move...But then!!! On the eighth episode, an entirely new one airs, confirming that Season Two is in fact happening, but mixed into season one in a chronological order. Fans proceed to lose their shit.
BUT THEN. The second new episode airs, and its covering a light novel story where the protagonists are caught in a time loop! Fun, right? Except it doesnt resolve itself by the end of the episode. Oh, thats fine, it'll resolve by the end of the next one, right? WRONG!! In fact, Episode Three is the EXACT SAME EPISODE as EPISODE TWO, but re-animated from different angles. This continues for eight fucking episodes, dubbed the "Endless Eight", and the only major difference is in the final episode when they break the time loop!
WHICH MEANS. KyoAni dropped the second season, UNANNOUNCED, mixed in with season one in an unpredictable manner, and OVER HALF the "New" episodes were the SAME. FUCKING. EPISODE. ON REPEAT!!!! By far, this was THE BIGGEST season two troll in anime HISTORY and NOTHING in even your worst anime fears could come CLOSE
