Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei

Since a review is ~not~ supposed to be an plot summary, I'll give a general feel of what to expect and my opinion about it:

This OVA is broken into two basic sections: Silly episodes (the first and last) and plot episodes (the middle episodes).

You will likely not enjoy the silly episodes if you did not enjoy the silly/cute side of Higurashi. If, on the other hand you liked the antics throughout Higurashi, the silly episodes will probably just make your day. (They were the highlight of the OVA for me, though that's just personal taste).

The plot episodes have more of a traditional Higurashi feel to ... them - suspense and mystery are essential elements, though it's a different sort than we're used to, I would say it's much more 'subtle' than the main series. I can't say I enjoyed these episodes quite as much as the main series, but I felt that they were still entirely worth watching, and were very well-done considering the options open to the storyteller at this point in the story.

In short - If you watched Higurashi, you should enjoy this. (If you didn't like the silly stuff, just skip the first and last episode).

Even if you haven't watched Higurashi, the first and last episodes are still entertaining.

To be honest, I was a little leery about picking up this installment of the Higurashi franchise. The first Higurashi series was a blast, but Kai left a bit of a bitter aftertaste with how it handled its two crucial arcs. Still, I wanted to see where the series could go despite not knowing what to expect and even after all of the questions were already answered. I’m glad I did.

Be advised: The first and last OVA are nothing like the rest of this short series. They serve as comedic buffers to the main storyline in which humor makes virtually no appearances at all. In ... light of this, some viewers may see these episodes as out of place and understandably so. If you are a fan of the brand of humor Higurashi had at the beginning of its arcs, then you’ll be right at home here. Both episodes are full of pretty good laughs, and that’s saying something for a series that is more known for shocking its viewers. If it’s not your cup of tea, then feel free to skip them. The remaining episodes make little to no reference of either one, so critical information won’t be lost.

With that out of the way, the focal point of this OVA can shine. The Dice Killing Arc, which consists of the middle three episodes, is everything that Kai could have and should have been. The storytelling displayed here is done exceptionally well, as everything moves at a decent clip. There isn’t an opportunity to slow down due to the short length of this arc, so each event cuts to the chase and moves on without having to resort to pointless dialogue or reiterated ideas to fill the gap. Despite the increased pacing, Rei never loses track of itself or advances too quickly to the point where information is lost. A note also has to be made for the vastly improved art and animation. Rei takes full advantage of an OVA’s increased budget and sports some very vibrant colors and smooth frame rates throughout its run. It’s nice to finally see a chapter of this franchise rendered with more attention to artistic detailing.

Suspense can be a tricky storytelling element to use; if it is used too much, then the story can drag for unnecessarily long periods of time and become tedious to watch. Thankfully, Rei handles this aspect wonderfully. No time is wasted between each reveal, which keeps things fresh on the plotline. As each pro or con of the new world is revealed, the situation becomes more engrossing, and the viewer is pulled even further into Rika’s shoes. The ultimatum that she faces is one that anyone would have trouble answering. This new Hinamizawa is Rika’s equivalency of the Garden of Eden; it is the world without sin or tragedy that she has desired for her entire existence without the sacrifices that had to be made to get it. Watching her agonize over which world is the correct one to choose left me hanging on the edge of my seat and made me wonder what I would do in her situation. That kind of connection with a character is a strong device to use, and it is used perfectly.

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Rei takes the pacing of the first season, the suspense of the second season, and combines them both in a neat, little package that doesn’t fail to deliver a solid story. With or without the first and last episodes, this series still brings some redemption to the franchise and vaults itself high on my list of recent OVA releases at the same time.

Sea-bears and Skylines

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Rei [Rei] is the third installment of the Higurashi series based on the games created by 07th Expansion. Like the game, Rei covers the events after Furude Rika had finally escaped the meandering halls of fate, breaking the cycle of repetition.

Rei serves as more of a side story, giving small view into life after reiterating summer. The first and last episodes of the set OVA's are for purely comedic purposes. Nothing really happens and the only insight we get into any of the characters is that Rena finds Keichii's 'sea-bear' cute. Yes folks Higurashi went there... they ... implied our brunette buxom wanted Maebara's little friend.

The episodes in-between, 2 through 5 or the Dice Killing Chapter, serve as a more serious side story. Rika one day wakes up in yet another world where everything is seemingly perfect. Everyone she sees is spared of their sin's from previous realities, their souls not torn into shards waiting to be duck taped back together.

It's an interesting setup, but it fails in it's execution. The three short episodes lack any sort of engaging drama, and the story is squeezed down your throat in slabs of monologue. I commend the tale for trying to shade in some background on Hanyuu, Rika's goddess companion, but I didn't find myself caring.

Production

Rei is more of the same. The art hasn't improved much from 2006 when the original Higurashi premiered. The animation was cleaned up a bit, and the colors a bit more vivid. It's somewhat disappointing considering this is an OVA.

The sound work is still the same. The seiyuu remain untouched and the music is largely forgettable. The OP didn't really set an ominous tone like the first two shows did. No special effort seems to have been made in the production of Rei.

Watchability and Enjoyment

The two comedic episodes are hilarious. Funny has always been a part of the Higurashi formula, and it was refreshing to watch an episode focusing on Humor.

Rika's side story on the other-hand is about as engaging as wading through a swamp filled to the brim with molasses compared to the first season. Though it made the fifth episode all the more entertaining. After the dull chapter, the comic finale let me leave the realm of Higurashi with a sweet taste on my lips.

Themes

The Dice Killing chapter, through all it's faults, posed an interesting dilemma: Which world would you pick, one you toiled endlessly to create yourself or a perfect one handed to you on a silver platter. The reality you molded from fate is imperfect but yours, you own it. Which do you keep?

Closing Thoughts

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Rei is a mixed bag. If you enjoy Higurashi's brand of comedy then check out Episodes 1 and 5. I couldn't recommend The Dice Killing Chapter except to the most rabid fans who care to know even the palest of brushstrokes on Hinamizawa's canvas. But if your that crazy your better off getting the sound novels.

Story: 8

For the most part, the storyline is good. It is well thought out, and even original, and rather enjoyable. However, there is a thing about the first episode of Higurashi no Naku ni Rei. It doesn't quite fit with the rest of the Higurashi no Naku that we know.

How to put it, it seems more like something we might see from "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya." Or maybe one of the random Omake from the end of Bleach This isn't a bad thing, but if one has come to expect something from a fandom, it might come across as an actual shock to ... the system.

It doesn't quite fit, and one might feel that there were things let out, and that some things are overly exagerated. Enjoyable, yes, but probabbly not one expected. The thing is, before one makes the judgement of the OVA, don't drop it on the first one simply because it is different. It becomes more familiar as one goes.

Art 8:

The art is very good, what one expects from Higurashi.

Sound 7:

To me... the sound... was awsume, but... it wasn't the same as Higurashi, or it was to simular. It kind of bothered me.

Character 10:

This is one of the reasons I stuck around past the first episode. I love the characters. They are well developed and have their own personalities. One also sees a huge what if situation here too, seeing an alternative world that one could see and get ahold of.

Enjoyment 8:

As much as I enjoyied the whole thing, I found the first episode, not what I had expected.

Overall: 9

It's a good series. Yes, I knocked down way low on some things, but really... it was for things that were very particular, and mostly dealt with that one first episode. Don't get me wrong, it was good, and did lead up to the next episode, but it was also odd... so be forewarned.

NOTE: If you are wondering how the two "no Naku" worlds tie in, there is a clue dropped in the OVA.

So, do you want an ending to the Higurashi saga that is enjoyable, makes sense, and isn't full of government conspiracy, retconning, and actually has a sense of paranoia and sadness to it?

Well, skip the first episode which is just stupidity meant to ligthen the mood after two seasons of bloodshed and loli murder.

What has been done is a rather fresh and melancholy take on the series that finally wraps up the "mystery" behind Hinamizawa in a series of very well plotted episodes that solely focus on Rika Furude being trapped in an alternate Hinamizawa where none of the events of Showa 58 happened ... and only has Hanyuu serve as a distant voice and guide to the choices she must make if she wants to return to "her" Hinamizawa, for being separated from the world she fought to win seems to be the only way she can fully appreciate her struggle.

There is no murder, no disembowelment, no coverups--just a rather touching exchange between Rika and Hanyuu, that and some rather nice solioqoys by "creepy adult Rika." It's all really well done and has a rather eerie vibe to it, regarding a choice Hanyuu forced her daughter to make, a choice Rika is forced to make as well--that and how Hanyuu forever altered Rika's (and Hinamizawa's) fate.

It all is mostly told through dialogue between the two main characters of this arc, so if you don't like to sit around and watch people talk, this probably isn't your thing and anyone expecting a bloodbath to end Hinamizawa, this isn't it, either. The entire story has been trimmed down to two characters, with everyone else just showing up briefly and not getting in the way.

What it is IS a surprisingly charming, touching, and equally creepy end to a rather lopsided run of anime that has been as impressive as of a letdown at times.

But sometimes it's all about how you finish.

And this is quite good.

There are crucial times in our lives when we made the wrong decision and we wish we had acted differently, then, not only us, but perhaps the whole universe would be brought to be different as well.

After finally getting to the end of the "perpetual murders", Rika is riding bicycle with her friends till she gets run over by a truck, which makes Hanyuu transport her to another reality in order to avoid the accident that could result in Rika's death. Yet, this time, in this other world, she cannot find Keiichi, Takano and other characters, while Satoko’s brother and Rika’s parents are still living ... in Hinamizawa.

Things start to get complicated when the two realities start to overwrite one another and Rika needs to decide which reality she wants to live in: a whitish world or a place stained by blood? The plot is developed in a mystery scenario where everything is bewildering and a vital decision seems inevitable. To some extent, we can say this revives the mood of a visual novel in which every resolution is a conclusive factor for the following narrative.

There isn't enough character development with the exception of Rika, since basically all the OVAs are filled with her internal monologue, or rather her conversation with her other persona, and all the other characters remain essentially the same, even in another reality. Apart from Rika's journey, there isn't much except that kind of special that allows fans to see their favorites characters in comical situations.

The paradigm for the whole story consists of a scenario and its deconstruction. If we examine particular scenes, we will see that there is a considerable variety of them and, moreover, that there are scenarios within scenarios, plots overlapping other plots, stories of small importance as well as large, stories with staying power and narratives that quickly pass, leaving their values and resources to be reevaluated by the following storyline.

First, we are in a humorous plot, then in a disturbing one; to close the cycle, we are presented with another comical plot in the last OVA. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei is not about a story of endless murders anymore, rather is about a everlasting cycle of happy and sad moments which we all know very well since it is what life is all about.

As the title suggests (rei=礼=gratitude), while respecting the past, as Rika learned to respect her mother, one must also “kill” his past in order to live the present. Likewise, there’s always an exciting promise that makes us look forward to the future, yet we must never forget to appreciate the here and now. Change is not the aftereffect of exclusively abstract forces, but of real people’s actions in response to their daily lives.

A release from the well-known Studio DEEN, it doesn't stray far from the company’s habitual animated presentation in the previous seasons. Bathed in violent touches, adorable infantile behavior, and a strict adherence to perturbing character development, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei is quite comfortable playing to Toshifumi Kawase’s strengths as a experienced director and screenwriter of fantasy and thriller plots.

The background music is virtually the same of the previous seasons ranging from extremely happy to downhearted. Tamura Yukari once again does a good job as Rika, varying from “Nipa!” to a rather scary voice. Nakahara Mai (Rena) just shows to us this time the “I want to take it home” voice (the “it is a lie!” that was so creepy is actually funny now).

The initial row of the opening "Super Scription of Data" is marked by a somewhat dark mood carried by a guitar riff and a continuous beat accompanied by lyrics inspired in a popular childish song “let's make a pinky promise: if you lie, swallow a thousand needles” - childish and creepy at the same time. The beginning of the song is marked by a brooding intensity and a lofty path till is struck by a new tone, a more extrovert type of music, when reaching the chorus. This duality represents what is this series pretty well. Highly dramatic is the grand pause in the vocal before the refrain.

AnNina has a unique vocal touch, permitting every lyric its full significance, whether she is belting it out or whispering it. The ending “Manazashi” is a good example of all of these factors working together wonderfully. The piano announces the row in a quietly lyrical mood. The music projects a mood of gentle contemplation. In violent contrast is its lyric, with its overtones of brutality: “I killed them gently, so that they couldn't feel any pain”.

Peace is the dream and the search, the longing for oblivion. Since happiness is not to be attained in that reality, love leads beyond its confines becoming the ultimate escape. Thus the impulse that generates life is transformed by a magnificently romantic gesture into the destroying passion whose fulfillment is death: as a dreamlike lyrical melody, the music is steeped in poetry. The piercing sweetness of the voice, a melancholic violin soaring high above the harmony, the dark resonance of the piano - the song has a high emotional content: “What have I lost?” while shards fall with the characters within.

The irreparable of our past – this is the real corpse. All the other cadavers may very well be a delusion. All the corpses may be alive somewhere else, all our own previous seconds of life may be existing elsewhere in the illusion of space and time, in the falsity of elapsing. But what we were not, what we did not do, what we did not even dream; what only now we see we ought to have done, what only now we clearly see we ought to have been – that is what is dead beyond all the Gods.

What we've missed definitely holds no sort of expectancy in any kind of metaphysical system. Maybe we could bring what we have dreamed to some other world, but could we bring to another world the things we forgot to dream? These, yes, the dreams going begging are the real corpse. We bury it in our hearts for ever, for all time, for all universes.

As of right now, there are only 3 episodes out, but stil I felt as if I needed to do a review so here I go!
Story: for those who read the light novel and played the games, you could tell that the animation did a bunch of add-ins and drop outs to the entire story. When I played Saigoroshi, it took me at LEAST 6 hours to complete the entire thing..... haha, but nevertheless, it stuck to the story as much as possible. (Although I hated the fact that they changed Rika's chair scene...) It is pretty choppy though, and for those who just watched ... the first episode will think, WTF?! at it, but just you wait, there is a reason the op is like that *wink* -8
Art: Compared to the first season, the animation is just superb. I can actually see their noses! For the first viewers, it looks as if they didn't do much with the second season artwork, but evern compared to that, I'd say that artwork has been a great improvement -9
Sound: this is the part where there are mixed feelings. I have a bunch of higurashi fan friends that hate the opening so much, they'd rather listen to michael jackson singing opera(.....). But since the opening features Eiko Shimamiya (the woman who sang the first, second, and both movie openings) there is stil the same feel and vibe as in any typical higurashi song. Ending was better, maybe its because I like anNina.. haha. But really, its not a song that was so out there, it was just, there. Like, plop, here it is. Don't expect anything big if you hated Naraku no Hana, thats it. -8
Character: *SPOILERS* right now, I'm hating it. Too much Rika going depressed and all that. Give me some Mion dammmit!... yes, fans of Satoshi over the world may be rejoicing that he has come back, but in return, our beloved Keiichi has gone over the rainbow. And everybody but Rika, Satoko, and Yamamoto has like, 10 minutes of sceentime. Hanyuu has become a ball, for the love of God. Since number 4 is the last Saigoroshi hen episode, I shouldn't be too judgemental though. Hopefully everything will come to place, and Rika will have less screentime (...but you know, its not going to happen) -7
Enjoyment: The Lighter side of Higurashi has triumphed by FINALLY introducing the SOUL BROTHERS!!! YAAY! Rei is definetely bipolar, though. It goes from slapstick to depression in just one episode, and you can't catch yourself. In my opinion though, it definetely gets the best of you, and it even provides add ons for those who already know what will happen. -9
Overall I'm excited to see how Rei will take things. Since it is an OVA it won't provide all the fun and excitement the first seasom gave but it definately won't drag anything... it only has 5 episodes. Maybe if it was longer it would have had more enjoyment. but, you know, "you reap what you sow." HAHA! -8

Pointless.

That is the one word that sums up Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei. Even before I started watching this, I questioned whether the excellent Higrashi no Naku Koro ni Kai really needed a sequel. The answer is no, it doesn't.

What saves Rei from the chasm of utter disappointment is the two comedy episodes, as those serve to tell the story of what happened after Kai, when Rika finally had escaped the cycle of endless deaths. Those two episodes - the first and the last - are great in their own way, as they serve as a sort of "reward" to us viewers. Fanservice, ... if you will.

However, the three middle episodes, falls short. The premise is promising indeed - Rika finds herself in yet another world, where everything is very different - but the arc simply do not pay off. The majority of the time spent in this dimension is pure exposition - talk, talk, talk and very little action. In fact, when it's finally becoming serious, the arc ends and leaves us viewers filling in the holes. I feel robbed of somehting that could have been both very disturbing and very great, much like the first season of the series.

Sure, we get a nice little message in the end that serves as an ultimate ending. But the holes in between are simply too big to be overlooked, and my final impression is that Rei needed more time, as well as more balls from the creators.

What happened to the show's initial focus on insanity and violence? I really miss that.

I've spent so long trying to find this last part of the Higurashi series and I wasn't at all disappointed.

As others have already discussed, the first and last episodes are simply comic relief. I enjoyed both of them - although while watching the first one and having explained to my friend about the gore and horror behind Higurashi, I was surprised at the daft storyline throughout the first episode. Despite that I loved it and loved how all the different characters who you had seen through the other two series are portrayed including Irie and Takano, etc.

Then, of course, there is the main plotline ... which is fantastically thought out. I loved how they explored how each character would be if they had not commited the sins that they had in previous to the first two series. Of course, Rika is still in perfect form and it was still very nostalgic to the feelings you get from the episodes in Rei. And are this plotline, you get feedback from Rika's true friends about their thoughts on their lives and how different they would have been without the influences of their sins - which Rena portrays beautifully.

Despite only being five episodes, I felt this was a beautiful finale to the Higurashi episodes.

Anime: Higurashi no Naku koro ni Rei

Title: Lost all faith in this series.

About the Anime: Several months have passed since the horrific events in Hinamizawa came to an end. Little by little life returns to normal, with Rika and her friends doing their best to put the past them and mend their old wounds. All seems to be going well until one day tragedy strikes again as Rika is unexpectedly involved in a bloody traffic accident that shatters her short-lived peace. As she wakes, she finds herself thrust back into the nightmare summer of 1983, and sets out to once again correct Hinamizawa's twisted killing ... cycle. Rika soon realizes, however, that such a task is more difficult than she first imagined; this Hinamizawa is drastically different from all those in the past, and now more than just her own life is at stake...

Story 3.5/10: Hey there, boys and girls, it’s time again for everyone’s favorite gameshow: Does This Anime Suck?!
So, time to play – let’s start with the first question! Which of the following is a more intelligent decision: watching Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei or skydiving out of a plane without a parachute? Hopefully you guessed skydiving, because that’s sure what you’ll feel like doing after wading through this OVA’s attempt at a plot! If you thought Higurashi Kai’s mediocre attempt at concluding its story was bad, be prepared for a whole lot more of the same. Watching Higurashi Rei waste its potential is on par with throwing puppies on the street, and we here at Does This Anime Suck?! do not approve of abandoning puppies – always have your pet spayed or neutered!
Time for the next round! What is Higurashi Rei’s worst quality: a. its bumbling story with anticlimactic ending; b. its inability to be funny due to atrocious animation quality during worthless “comedic” parts; or c. the fact that nothing at all happens in two and a half hours? And…hidden answer e (all of the above and more!) was the right choice! Few OVAs, save for Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Next Season, manage to piddle around and waste as much time as this. Plus, as if the viewer needed to be explicitly told after wasting so much time, Higurashi Rei is generous enough to openly inform its audience that all the story’s intrigue served no purpose. Despite the initial and captivating return to a non-standard 1983 setting, the show manages to let every one of its potential high points blunder around like a drunk clown in a circus tent, and spectaculary fails at providing any sort of satisfaction. Whereas before the viewers were given only a bare minimum to piece together major events and revelations, in Higurashi Rei every important revelation is insultingly spat out in a silver platter that utterly ruins both the mood and the story.
At last we’re at the final round, so here’s the third and most important question: should Higurashi Rei be watched by fans of the series? I think the answer is already clear. While the middle portion may seem somewhat intriguing at the time with Rika's induction into a radically different and seemingly-hostile environment, just remember that if you decide to stick with it to the end you’ll end up like the nerdy kid at prom whose date ditched him midway for the douchebag on the football team. This botched attempt at a second conclusion ends up being on par with taking School Days’ two crack-job OVAs as legitimate sequels, as the story has no idea whether it wants to be humorous, serious, or outright stupid. Fortunately, even if the show can’t make up its mind about how to properly present such spurious content, the answer is already clear: Higurashi Rei is definitively stupid.
And there you have it, folks, this concludes another tantalizing episode of Does This Anime Suck?! – make sure to stay tuned for Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch and You – A Beginner’s Guide to Decent Voice Acting. With that, congratulations for getting the way through the show; you’ve won a spared viewing of Higurashi Rei! Cherish every moment you would have spent on this anime by doing other things with your life, like fishing with your elderly grandfather or volunteering to feed poor orphans at the local homeless shelter.

Animation 4/10: If
I
typed
like
Higurashi
Rei’s
framerates,
it
would
look
like
this.
At times the animation can be godawfully poor, and really there’s no excuse for such a shoddy level of workmanship for a 2009 (or 1996, maybe?) production. At its worst moments, Higurashi Rei’s on-screen presentation was comparable to a movie composed of flipping through sticky tabs. Sure on occasion some scenes like Rika’s shiny communication orb look great (yes, she has a "communication orb"), but skipping down the quality as a whole to animate the series in a non-painful way would have done leaps and bounds for improving this score, as just…my pupils. They burn.

Sound 6.5/10: At least something about Higurashi Rei is acceptable, and by that I mean “of the quality I’d expect from the original series.” Despite the music being proper and fitting for the writers’ desired level of suspense, there ends up being nothing for it to build up to. Hell, even the lowliest of Rika’s potentially dramatic decisions ended up about exciting as watching noodles boil in a pot. Had something – anything – happened in this OVA to merit this use of music it would have no doubt been great, but underperformance is Higurashi Rei’s second name. What’s the point in emulating the mood of the first Higurashi if none of the content is the same? Your guess is as good as mine!
Oh, and Keiichi? Shut the fuck up. The synthetic Windows voice laughs better than you.

Characters 5/10: Considering that Higurashi Rei is composed almost exclusively of Rika’s monologues and trying to piece things together, it’s hard to comment on the other characters. Except Keiichi, because he’s an annoying piece of shit – probably because he’s animated so poorly that I wanted to take an axe to my screen about fifteen and a half times during the first episode alone. Be that as it may, the characters' comedic stupor does drift away fairly soon, allowing the middle portion of the series take on a more serious tone. As such, it proves a bearable watch, allowing for the story to feign an interesting premise and presenting the original cast in a new and intriguing light. Yet, given that Rika’s incessant monologues turn out to be as meaningful as a lame duck on a telephone pole, all this development ends up being little more than extraneous fluff. Ultimately, this degredation of both the story and the characters does little more than salt the old wounds left by Higurashi Kai, and boy does it sting.

Overall 3.8/10: DOUBLE SHOCK AND TWIN WATERFALL OF TEARS! How did this OVA even get consideration for Anime-Planet’s top horror series of 2009? Seriously, Higurashi Rei is about as horrific as my grandmother baking delicious cookies. Which she does, by the way. Damn delicious cookies at that. Really now, I can’t fathom how this OVA could even land itself in the ballpark of any sort of achievement – such a feat would be comparable Konomini winning most intelligent story of 2004. When all is said and done, the closest this poorly constructed OVA comes to horror is being a horror to watch.
~WhiteBakemono

"Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei" takes place right after the events of "Higurashi Kai" so even though this is actually an OVA, it could also be classified as the third series. To put it simply, Rei is hilarious. Think of this as a reward for all the horror you went through watching the first two series.

The first episode is all about comedy, when I watched it I couldn't believe my own eyes, I couldn't believe that I was actually watching Higurashi. To put it bluntly, it looked more like teenage softcore porn. Yes, I know what I just said. But when Rena suddenly ... keeps on fantasising about Keiichi's... stuff, and on top of that we see Takano in a very revealing bikini, then well, there's no other way to describe it.

Then we have the 3 'main episodes' the ones which continue the plot where it left off in the previous series. It starts very interestingly, but compared with the strenght of the plot in the first series and the second, its... average. It fails to reach the standards set by the previous series.

The last episode is again, all about comedy, and guess what... more romance and cheesy one-liners on the way. But I have to admit, that even for a hardcore Higurashi fan like myself, it's still enjoyable and it makes me laugh out loud.

So, to sum it up:

The story is alright, it's not as brilliant or as entertaining as in Higrashi and Higurashi Kai but it's watchable so 7 out of 10.

Art is Brilliant as always so 10 points here.

Most of the soundtrack is taken from the first and second series and it fits in perfectly, so again 10 points here.

Characters are... uhmmm, well they maintain their values and they're still full of depth but in this OVA, they kinda change from 'creepy and scary' to' horny and clingy'. I wanted to give 9 points out of 10 for the characters but decided to stick with a 10.

Enjoyment, I'm giving 9 points.

And overall, this OVA gets 8 points out of 10 from me. A great way to conclude the events of the first two series, but... the jump from psychological horror to complete comedy might shock you.

Higurashi Rei is the epilogue for the entire story. For those of you that are expecting more craziness, this isn't really the place to look for it as Kai had wrapped up everything properly. However, if you'd like to gain more insight into the world of Higurashi as well as deal with character introspection, check this out. It's best to think of this as a closing act. The first and fifth episode of the series are just slapstick comedy and don't bear any relevance-- they are just for fun.

In general, the story delves into the character's pasts a bit more, and comes up with a ... final scenario that questions the value of the struggle throughout the entire story. Despite the fact that the main story in the OVAs was very dialogue heavy I was able to reflect upon the series as a whole with Rika's thoughts and feelings. If the first season was about confusion, and the second season was about finding answers, this season would be about taking all of it for granted. Certainly that causes us to be a short time at times, even with all this knowledge?

Another strength of the story is that it provides more information about a certain ambiguous scene in Kai, and a possible link into Umineko, another anime that may or may not be linked to the series.

Visually, the anime is very impressive. It is an OVA after all, though I did prefer the character designs from Kai (the eyes are odd). The music is also a step above; the BGM seems more effective here. Superscription of Data is very impressive techno song, and Manzashi is an nice, soothing song that is suitable for ending the story, as well as serving as a complement to Taishou.a

I don't think these OVAs are for everyone. They may be too much talking for some people (but there's at least one side of Rika everyone needs to see), and the slapstick episodes are just kinda there. But if you liked Higurashi for the characters, there's no reason not to watch it.

Higurashi: Rei takes the happy ending found at the end of Higurashi: Kai and flips it on its head. This story here captures the fact that your actions, no matter the intent, have consequences. Here the protagonist is faced with the duality of a seemingly perfect existence and the existence that they have fought so hard to achieve. There are choices to be made.

As always, beautiful art and sound. Ever improving animation. And a capstone to finish off one of the most well known stories in anime.
If you stuck through the first and second seasons of Higurashi there's no reason you'll have trouble sitting ... through this one. It's a touching story that keeps on giving. Long time fans will be happy to see the cast one more time in this "What if?" scenario.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei mostly centers around the character Rika Furude (Let's be honest when isn't she a part of the show in some way) and the ordeals she faces when she finds herself in a completely different world than what she's used to. The story details how desperate Rika can actually get when faced with an ordeal like the kind she's in during this OVA. I found it enjoyable because it gave a lot of explanation to everything that happens and so much more.

If you are a big higurashi fan like me, you may not like these ova's as much as the first and second season. First of all, skip episodes 1 and 5 right off the bat.... too silly to watch, totally destroys the feel of the show. For the good-ish episodes, watch 2-4 of the ova's. They are a real chapter... though in my opinion a little less well done than the first 2 season's.

After first episode of ABANDON ALL LOGIC, I was afraid this won't be Higurashi at all, but just some stupid spinoff parody. Luckily, after first episode, it goes on to be the Higurashi we expect and love. It lays down another mystery that didn't even feel out of place, and even went on to further explain some of the in universe mechanics that were left unexplored. Mystery was in true Higurashi style, and it was pretty great. Definitely recommended to anyone who enjoyed Higurashi. Final resolution was just slightly sketchy. Continued in spoiler section:

SPOILERS AHEAD:

Hanyuu's argument in the end, of doing it ... because of learning respect for her parents was a bit weak and too culture-showing-down-our-throats. But on the other hand whole thing holds water even better with argument of doing it to teach/remind her that she's now mortal. Maybe that's what we're supposed to infer? Either way, story pretty much works on all levels. I found it interesting how they chose to skip animating the brutality in this case, right decision given the context. Though it was a bit extreme, but that extremeness tries to carry the thematic message this time, realising that indirectly killing someone is still killing someone. But it might be a little too hardcore given the context. Coupled with respect for parents message, it's overall a bit stretched. It's just barely holds together.

ok so this is my first ever review

although the story seemed to have ended with higurashi no naku koro ni kai
the second series in the when they cry trilogy
this 5 ep ova to the series still continues to excite warm and intrigue you

the first ep admittedly throws you of your guard although being a very complicated mysterious psychological type series u have to admit it has its sweet warming and very very funny episodes andscenes.
but it is these scenes that create a great part in creating shock and awe when the inevitable happens and this is just how this ova does it

it reels ... u in in the first ep with some good old fun and then throws another twist in your direction.
leaving u to once again wonder just what amazing thing has happened now

i loved this anime because of just that and was glad to find that there was more to see after the second series.

if you loved the first 2 series then i think u will really enjoy this 5 ep ova

yes only 5 episodes it isnt many eps but the stories do not suffer for it.
:)

tl;dr: A series of OVAs that have two comedy focused episodes, one pretty good and one just okay, and three episodes of an epilogue arc to Kai which is good in concept but somewhat weak in implementation.

*Note: This review has minor spoilers for Higurashi and Higurashi Kai.*

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei is a five episode OVA series that is somewhat of a sequel to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, though with only the three episodes in the middle actually serving as the sequel. These three episodes feature Rika arriving in another timeline where things are essentially perfect and all of the tragedies that ... befell the cast of Hinamizawa in all the other timelines simply never happened.

As such, it’s a look at how the cast was shaped by their experiences and how they could have ended up completely different people without them. In doing so, it also explores themes such as the value of having gone through suffering because of the growth that it can produce. It also touches on the concept of how because people are essentially who they are because of their life experiences, if the exact same person goes through completely different life experiences they are a completely different person, and thus if one were to choose the characters from one timeline of life experiences, that would be essentially rejecting the characters from the other timeline of life experiences. It also further fleshes out the lasting damage that going through countless timelines had on Rika, especially in regards to her relationship with her mother. It also felt like we got to see more sides of Rika as compared to the previous seasons, which essentially further cements her as the real protagonist of this series if there was any doubt after Kai.

The general subject matter and content it wanted to contain are solid enough in concept, but I think execution was somewhat lacking. It played way too fast and loose with the rules regarding Rika’s reincarnation and different timelines that had been established so far in order to push the plot in the direction of what was needed to for the themes it wanted to touch on. Still, if it had handled the themes well enough this would have felt warranted, but in the end I felt it only handled them decently well. The climax felt like it was essentially skipped over in some sense which felt kind of awkward in terms of pacing. Instead it went straight to an epilogue that felt pretty much like an overtly heavy handed infodump that tried to outline and explain why what occurred made sense and was justified with a heavy reliance on essentially stating that the problem that Rika was dealing with was one that humans weren’t meant to be able to consider. I feel this is a complete cop out however, as having the courage to fight fate was a core theme of the series up to this point with it being explicitly referred to in a conversation right before this, and thus the message here feels completely inconsistent with that. Thus, in the end I really have no clue what this OVA series was trying to convey.

The other two episodes, the first and fifth episode, were completely different. They were completely random comedy oriented episodes that story wise make no sense and clearly aren’t connected with anything else beyond having the same characters, though with their personalities exaggerated for humorous effect. The first episode is the standard anime pool episode pretty much. The fifth episode is a weird as hell episode where due to some weird magic Rena ends up falling in love with a string of people.

I found the first episode pretty hilarious in how the absurdity slowly escalated from the level of the slice of life sections in the previous seasons to extreme absurdity at the level of outright parody and thus overall I found the episode pretty great. The fifth episode was a bit more grounded while also having a few completely ridiculous elements, but in the end while it did have some humorous portions overall I didn’t find the comedy in all that great and thus found the overall episode only so-so. Though one of the reasons for that is likely that a pretty decent portion of it involved mahjong, which despite my best efforts I’ve only been able to gain a very minimal understanding of, so those that have a better understanding of mahjong may find it more appealing.

In terms of art, the art style and designs are still solid, and there’s a straight up pool episode so there a bunch of new designs on that front which are pretty good. The art quality and animation quality felt noticeably improved in the first four episodes, though there was a very noticeable drop in quality in the fifth. This may well have been intentional for comedic purposes, but I don’t think it landed all that well and thus mostly just felt like it was lower quality. The OP and ED were both decent in terms of audio and visuals, but not as striking or memorable as the OPs and EDs in previous seasons. The soundtrack also didn’t really stand out and wasn’t all that memorable.

I have some massive mixed feelings about this OVA. I feel this is the piece of the story we didn't need to know but had its good moments.

First, I'll start by saying that you can actually split this into 2 parts as the final episode is its own arc and separate from the rest. The way I'll do my review is by starting from the serious episodes 2-5, then the 1st then last episode.

Episodes 2-5 are the actual serious parts, the meat of the story for this OVA. It opened up a pretty interesting premise, one where Rika is thrust into a timeline where the ... goddess cannot reach her, and she has an extremely short amount of time to find a piece of something that can restore the ability for her to return.

I won't spoil it too much, but it didn't actually focus on the syndrome but rather if Rika must make a personal sacrifice and kill someone close to her so she can return, or stay in a world where none of her friends committed the major sins they committed before the series start (Satako and her parents... for instance). However, if she stays, then life as she knows it will change as friends are moving away and some she will have never met this timeline. We also find out why Rika had a goddess by her side all this time, as well as an interesting revelation in regards to her in episode 5 as she firmly tells Rika something which puts episodes 2-5 in perspective (especially as the syndrome is left out).

In contrast, the first episode is purely comedic, but it was a vast change comedy-wise in comparison to any other comedy in Higurashi. Basically, what I mean by this is that it was surprisingly more skeevy and over-the-top. It had its moments, but coming out of the end of Higurashi only to have trained forces coming out of the woodwork at the pool and a canon being shot at someone's chest all the while even the adults are trying to get an underaged boy's swim trunks off.... was weird, to say the least.

I liked a good amount of the comedy in Higurashi, and I'm not against the idea of a bunch of young girls teasingly and dramatically going after a boy's swimsuit, but this went beyond that to a whole new level of ridiculous, especially with the bonkers, almost looneytune-esque reactions of the adults. It'd be more funny if it wasn't Higurashi since it felt more like a tonal whiplash, which is why I almost dropped the OVA altogether.

The final episode is another purely comedic episode, bringing in a godly set of items which can have disastrous consequences, but were intended as match makers. It felt a little bit better than the first episode, but it did have some extremely weird moments with Rena crushing on random people (even breaking up a couple as both adults end up wanting to be with her even after the items' influences are gone). I will say though, I didn't mind it as much as episode 1, and it was still a blast to watch. Definitely a lot more funny, but it almost felt like it was trying to imply these items were the start of the syndrome that plagued the village. Ultimately, by the end of the episode, I think that was a wrong assumption, but that did feel weird as that would open up many more questions and be a crappy origin if it were true.

In conclusion, I like to think of this OVA as a mediocre sandwich made of some cheap, nearly stale bread, and a condiment of which is awkwardly paired with some surprisingly decent filler. Was it absolutely crucial to the overall plot? No, it wasn't. However, it did have some nice bites in there, but nothing too substantial. It came across as very average.

Warning possible Spoilers

With a story that ends in the best way possible I was a little surprised when I discovered a third season, luckily it was only 5 episodes so it was pretty much something for us fans who wanted to see some kind of aftermath for the characters oh so we thought.

After breaking the cycle Rika and the others are finally able to enjoy their lives, but suddenly Rika ends up in an accident which somehow transports her back in time to another world where all her friends seem to have never experienced the horrible things in their past which makes Rika think which ... world is worth more.
For only 5 episodes well technically 3 this small sub-plot where Rika goes to another world by accident was actually pretty interesting because she had to make a choice between two worlds where one is the world in which she broke the cycle and this new world is where everything bad that happened to her friends in their childhood's never happened including Rika herself since her parents are alive and well, because of this Rika shifted back and forth thinking which world is the better one to stay in, she does decide to go back to her original world however in order to get back she would have to do something very gruesome.
I thought this was a nice bit of story telling and still felt like what we had experienced from the first two seasons, but what kinda ruins this OVA season is the first and fifth episodes which just didn't feel right.
The first episode is a kind of fanservicey episode at a swimming pool while the fifth is a bit of a romantic mess between Keiichi and Rena as they get caught up in some weird stuff that affects the both of them and these episodes just didn't feel right and kinda ruined the mood for me.

There isn't really much development for the characters considering we've just had 2 seasons of seeing what their like it's gonna be difficult to build upon that, so instead we got to see more of Rika being the smart girl she is and seeing her trying to figure out the mystery of the new world where she was interesting for her character since she was the only one who could get out of the mess while outside of this for the other characters we just get to see more their comedic and playful nature like we've seen from time to time in both previous seasons.

The artstyle however has definitely improved as the characters looked more well designed and it is easy to identify their eye colours now, but other than that there isn't really much to go on that's different.

Even if there's 3 episodes that are noteworthy there's still a good amount of drama and psychological aspects like how Rika keeps questioning her friends in the new world since they don't have the memories of the original world and because of this we literally get to see Rika beat the sh*t out of Satoko with a chair which made me pretty terrified of Rika from that point on because it shows you shouldn't mess with her.

There was also some comedic stuff too especially during episode 1 and 5 which were pretty much made for that, even though the first episode felt like a fanservice episode for the fans seeing the girls in swimsuits it was actually pretty funny seeing everyone trying to get the swimming trunks off of Keiichi while he is wearing them which continues to show how weird their lives can be wherea's episode 5 is a little difficult to remember, but it goes from everyone accidentally swallowing these weird balls that changes their feelings into a romantic state so this episode felt more of a romantic filler than a comedy one.

Overall this was alright for an OVA designed to be a third season despite having a somewhat pointless first and fifth episodes the episodes in the middle definitely continue to show why this anime is very good.