TV stations have now not only confirmed that the “new” season of Haruhi will start with a rerun, but also that it will amount to 28 episodes, finally confirming the “new episodes mixed in with or ont the end of the old episodes” theory.

Fans rejoice at the news, although they must by now be wary of unpleasant surprises…

As usual Haruhi-based news arrives in spurts: first, we heard that the title of the first episode aired would be the same as that from the original broadcast.

Now we hear that unofficial confirmation (it seems possible Kadokawa has ordered stations to hold back details) from TV stations, Saitama TV and Chiba TV, suggests the show will air in two “cours”, or seasons, and constitute 28 episodes, being treated as a “new” programme.

With the original coming in at 14 episodes, the only logical conclusion (not that logic has much place in Haruhi marketing) is that the additional 14 episodes will be the newly produced second season, and will either follow directly on from the broadcast, or be interspersed with the old episodes.

Via your friendly neighbourhood otaku.

This all seems an astonishing way of marketing your top franchise…

The long awaited second season of the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi has begun, secreted in the midst of a rerun of the first season, and as revealed earlier is the new “Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody” episode(Ep 8).

What remains of Haruhi fandom has exploded, and 2ch entered into meltdown mode with hundreds of posts a minute.

The repeated leaks of broadcast schedules seem almost almost too convenient… Quite possibly a deliberate effort

All that remains to be seen is whether the marketing debacle (or “innovative viral marketing strategy”, as Kadokawa will doubtless like to think of it) succeeds in recouping something of the huge popularity the series once enjoyed now that the age has apparently shifted to K-ON!