Reviews

Aug 16, 2008
Mixed Feelings
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni has received much praise from the anime community in general, which hails it as the mystery to end all mysteries. Everybody loves it and chances are that, if you're reading this now, you've heard good news!

However, upon my completion of the anime and the 2 subsequent seasons that followed, I came to the conclusion that this praise was COMPLETELY undeserved by the anime, which is mediocre in the intellectual department, and is much less a mystery story than it is an action/adventure story with a lot of secrets. Furthermore, any actual "mystery" behind the story is made impossible to solve by the introduction of unnecessary paranormal elements and fictional diseases.

Overall, I was very disappointed by this anime, and it is not worth the hype.

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Story: The first part of the first season I found to be very interesting indeed. Everything was confined within the laws of physics, and I was constantly on my toes trying to solve the mystery of Hinamizawa. Sadly, the story floundered from the last arc of the first season up to halfway through the second season, and it became a chore to watch. The introduction of unnecessary paranormal elements and fictional diseases did not help either, and only served to further complicate the plot while not adding much value to the story. In any case, we certainly could have done without them. Luckily, the story picks back up during the second half of the second season, which greatly makes up for the absolute failure of a first half, and you'll probably find yourself pleased with the ending.

Overall I would say that the story lowered itself from what it could be (an awesome mystery story) to what it is now... a confusing action adventure story for people that like to pretend they know what's going on from the very first episode.

Score - 6; Completely overrated. So much wasted potential...


Art: I wouldn't say that the art is completely terrible, but it certainly could've been better. The artist uses gradeschool techniques of using unusual hair to differentiate the characters. Okay. The little girls are anorexic and have square-shaped heads. Alright. Mion and Shion have stereotypical oversized breasts. I'm losing my patience...

Then I figured out that Teppei Houjou is a recolor of Ooishi.

Now I'm just angry.

The blood and gore portrayed in the anime does help alleviate the pains of this travesty though, and the general art style isn't atrocious like in some other anime I know, so I can't give it a 0.

Score - 3; Everything you would expect to see in an anime, with added blood. I don't see why everyone thinks it's so special.


Sound: I found that the voice actors fit the characters well, and I was also impressed by the ending and opening themes for each series. However, I found some of the character dialogue cheesy, and some of the children's speech patterns were annoying (okay Satoko, you miss your brother, we get it.)

Score - 7; The VA's were good, the soundtrack is nothing to scoff at, but the dialogue is not without its flaws.


Characters: You know, I must admit that the character development was pretty "good". In fact, it was so "good", that I was bored by it. I found Rika's long tangents later in the series to be uninformative, uninteresting, and unimportant. But it's okay because "it helps build her character!" right?

Wrong!

Furthermore, I don't see why the hell the older characters would even bother to hang around with the younger ones, aside from Shion that is. And, more importantly, why the devil does someone like Satoko know guerrilla warfare!? Humorous as it may be, I don't believe it is ever explained.

(and even if it is, that doesn't explain why she can knock Keiichi flat across the room without batting an eyelash!)

Score - 4; I was sarcastic when I said that the character development was good.


Enjoyment: Despite being highly disappointed by the anime as a whole, the ending was cute and the beginning does get you hooked pretty quickly, so I did moderately enjoy it.

I think my favorite arc was when Keiichi threw the ohagi at the wall. I lol'd pretty hard.

Score - 7; Maybe I'm being generous, but I had a few good laughs and there was nothing better than seeing the look on Keiichi's face when that ohagi went splat.


Overall - 6; Although I was highly disappointed by it, the anime did have its good points. My advice to you is don't listen to the hype and don't bother with it unless you like shoddy, confusing storylines.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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