User blog comment:Thailog/Ep. 201 "Happy New Year!" discussion/@comment-47881-20120429132830/@comment-3465526-20120429170242

It would also certainly have helped with the Fan reaction if the creators had simply been up-front about the time jump. If there had been a big publicity comment about "five years have now passed since the..." it would have helped a lot with expectations and wouldn't have left as big a sour-stomach feeling in people who actually cared about the series.