Psycho Cicadas
Well, its been a long time coming, but a few certain things have forced me out of my slumber. One of those things is a certain series called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. (translates to “When the Higurashi Cry”, Higurashi being a certain type of insect). And this post was even further delayed when I decided I would wait till I finished watching the conclusion OVA Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei.
I have decided to review the two seasons of Higurashi and the OVA separately for reasons I will explain later. There are some minor spoilers, especially in the 2nd and 3rd review.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Where should I start with this series? Suspense, mystery, horror are genres that we see associated with many anime, but many fail to do any of them, especially the horror bit, well. Higurashi does fall in those genres but raises the bar so high that even its own sequel pales in comparison.
Perfect pacing, along with a soundtrack that fits every situation, Higurashi is a marvel of the genre. The story is told in a unique way, it being divided into chapters, where a certain portion of the timeline is repeated in the town of Hinamaziwa. Each is different in who kills who and how it goes about. What’s great is how it manages to tell each chapter letting you know a little more each episode, keeping you in the dark, but still not irritatingly so.
It’s hard to describe the plot with spoiling anything, but in a nutshell, the town of Hinamaziwa has a certain murder trend, where on the night of Watanagashi, certain people are murdered and certain people disappear every year. This is attributed to Oyashiro-sama’s curse, who is the local deity of the village. However, the killings begin after plans of a controversial dam construction come to light. If the dam was completed, the villagers would be displaced. Thus ensued the Dam War. After the Dam War ended, people would die every year.
The story centers around 5 students who go to a small village school. Although at first it may seem that Keichi is the main character of the series, just about every character gets their time in the spotlight (until the focus shifts almost entirely on just one character in the next season). This balance is handled very well, and everyone’s story is just as interesting as the last.
I think the biggest reason why this anime is so good, is that it actually managed to scare me! I never thought something animated could do it, but it did, and did it without resorting to excessive gore. Although there is a lot of blood, none of it seems unwarranted (unlike series like Elfen Lied). It is used to show the sheer contrast of the characters and how far they are willing to go.
In all, I can’t really think of things that detract from the anime, True, the animation is not the best, but its not something that really affects the overall experience. The opening song completely fits with the series, as does the ending. In fact the ending would have been perfect if the lyrics weren’t in engrish (why they decided to do the entire thing in English is beyond me). However, I still think that the series deserves a 10/10.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
Well, this series is… different. Granted, it’s a continuation of the same story, but you can almost go as far as saying the entire genre changed with the anime. No murderous, psycho lolis, no suspense and no horror. Considering that’s what made the first series so unique, I was taken aback quite a bit.
The entire series is mostly just about answering all the questions from the first series, since the first series only really managed to clear a few things up. The focus is shifted to Rika Farude, who didn’t have much role in the first series, besides being generally mysterious.
The problem I have with this series is some of the situations and how they are handled. The chapter that made me think this was some other series, is the Massacre Chapter. Dialogue is borderline cheesy. And how it was so hard to get a girl getting abused by her guardian to safety just doesn’t make any sense. Uhhh, the girl has to say that she’s getting abused? Since when???
Kinda Big Spoiler Ahead:
The last few episodes also made the series’ respect take a hit with the afterschool club taking on commando level opponents. The series that once prided itself on somewhat surreal but still believable situations somehow got itself into a sticky mess in Satoko’s traps…
However, as far as the story is concerned, it wrapped up most of the loose ends in a satisfactory manner, so I can’t be too hard on the series. In all, it gets 8/10 from me.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei
This was just a 5 episode OVA, and while it doesn’t add much to the lore of Hinamaziwa, the sub-arc (episodes 2,3 and 4) tells a nice what-if situation that Rika must face. And though it was resolved quickly, the impact of the decision she had to make was definitely felt. The final episode revolved around Rena when she accidently swallows a love charm. It was actually pretty funny(unlike the many times the series tried), as it made fun of the series itself and put characters like Takano in very different situations. In all, the OVA deserves another 8/10.
