Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei

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.

An OVA, isn't it... So, OVA, we indeed did cross paths again. I never thought I would meet you in such circumstances.

Ah, Rei. The season that has absolute jack-shit to do with the story. Continuation? Oh, yes. We've prepared that. Why not have Kira to continue with it?

Rei isn't really one of my favorites. It just gets a laugh out of me. The first episode, made me laugh my freakin' ass off. But, I kinda wanted to make my skin crawl, not laughing. Luckily, the second arc of the season saved it for me.

I'm not going to explain the story. It is pretty self explanatory ... itself. It's basically like the other ones.

Rei is split into two. Absolutely silly episodes, and skin-crawling episodes. The first and last are silly, and the middle kinda make your skin crawl a bit. If beating the shit out of someone with a chair makes your skin crawl, then... Go ahead.

The graphics in this season have tremendously improved. Improved incredibly from the last two seasons, I don't know if Rika dyed her hair again or not, but enough of that. I think the reason it was improved was because, they had better technology? I don't know. But, the graphics are great, nevertheless.

The soundtrack, isn't so good in this one. What? I know what I'm saying. I said the soundtrack isn't so good. It just doesn't have as much songs as I like. Like, I like songs that make my skin peel off, and being replaced with another skin, inside of my skin that is dark. That made no sense, I know. But, there wasn't many new songs in this one, they were all probably repeated from the last two seasons.

Characters. I forgot to mention Hanyuu. Hanyuu is my absolute favorite in the anime. Hanyuu is the pinnacle of kawaii. I think. Eh, what am I saying? Too many animes have too many kawaii characters. So, I'll stop for what I am saying at this moment. In the first episode, a new crew group type thing is introduced.

The Soul Brothers or The Four Heavenly Kings. It consists of Keiichi, Tomitake, Ooishi and Irie. It's completely funny and completely absurd, it makes me laugh all inside. So, every time you see the Soul Brothers, there wont be a time where you wont laugh. I think. Depends on your sense of humor. Mines kinda dumb.

Anyway, I didn't enjoy this as much as the other two seasons, the reason my enjoyment is so high though, is because of how much I laughed. I somehow laughed when (Insert spoiler here) even though it was kind of making my skin crawl. But, also made me laugh, considering that she kind of deserved it.

Overall, I have no choice but to give this anime a 6. The anime in terms of horror, or psychological, are now a disgrace to the name. It is no longer horror or psychological after this OVA. Luckily, Kaku: Outbreak was released sometime last year.

I can't really say to enjoy this or not. It's either you do, or you don't.

After watching the first episode I thought this was garbage and I gave this ova a 4, and dont take me wrong, I dont mind fan service, I quite enjoy it sometimes but with higurashi, I felt it didn't fit, higurashi did have comedy but in the first episode, I personally think they just take it to a ridiculous level, and I personally hated it. I came here to watch higurashi, not a hentai.

After that incredibly painful to watch first episode I looked at a few reviews and ended up giving the rest of the episodes a chance, and im glad I did. Episode 2, ... 3 and 4, weren't anything amazing, but they legit just felt like a normal continuation to the second season and I had a lot of fun watching them, as of episode 5, while it was mostly comedy, It was nowhere close as to how bad the first episode was, things actually made sense and I enjoyed watching it.

Overall, I'd give episode 1 an 4/10, episode 2, 3 and 4 an 8/10 and episode 5 an 7/10, the animation was as good as always, I really liked the opening and while I hated the 1st episode, I think the rest were pretty entertaining.

Higurashi no naku koro ni was all about a village with a pissed off history. all those murder and massacre made these series a hit. but what will be the scenario if there is no massacre.how will a peacefull hinamizawa village look alike??

higurashi no naku koro ni rei is about that peacefull hinamizawa. i really liked this 5-episode series. in this less duration, they tried their best to showcase a beautiful hinamizawa,

when i completed the rei series , i was wondering that will the future higurashi series will be more darker or somewhere we would get a spin-off like rei.

Poor rika, wherever she goes, she ... has to sacrifice.

Well, while this isn't as strong narratively as the first two seasons of the series. The story still is interesting enough (minus the first episode going for something different compared the rest of the episodes and having a more...comedic fan-service type of vibe.)

The art overall is a slightly improvement over the original, even if it still looks relatively samey (at least for me because binged Kai and this rapid fire.) There's a much stronger emphasis on color for the first episode which is a bit of a fresh air for the series (it's also probably just meant to match the tone of the episode), but ... the show DOES tone the colors back down for the rest of the series to match.

There really isn't any actual 'horror' in this one for me, rather the show has an emotional plot that sort of takes center stage and while it's not bad, it's nothing spectacular either. It just feels...passable I guess, though it does still makes sense in the world of the show.

The characters act like they're supposed to, even having some characters who didn't get a lot of screen time actually get a few minutes here, which is nice. The problem for me is that we really don't see the whole main cast from the class, rather we're focused on one character again like in Kai (which I'm guessing took over the franchise up until now. Hopefully the 2020 remake gives an emphasis on ALL of the characters rather than just one and just finds a way to develop them all appropriately. That's either said than done though.)

Songs are re-used from the series's soundtrack, which I guess makes sense, since some people consider this a 3rd season of sorts to the series (which makes this one of the shortest seasons I've seen an anime have.) The opening and ending themes are good though (which doesn't mean much since I gravitate to that kind of J-Pop sort of music thanks to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.)


Overall, I didn't really ADORE this one, but I didn't hate either. It's just kind...meh. It just feels like a sort of like filler stuff. But I get that it's adapting light-novel stuff, so I guess that makes sense (though, I'll be reading the Manga and the novels to compare to the anime series at some point.)

It's alright, I'd say unless you're a real big Higurashi fan and want more of it (especially Rika and Hanyuu), just skip it.

This OVA confuses me. One minute it's trying to be a serious story and the next it throws all logic out of the window in favour of silly fun. The tone is all over the place and I don't know how to feel.

Episode 1 can be enjoyable if you turn your brain off and enjoy the madness but if you think about it for even a second, your brain is going to hurt. It is so jarring to go from 50 episodes of a dark and bloody mystery series to whatever this is. I understand the appeal of wacky and surreal comedy but it doesn't ... feel right when it's using these characters. Yes, the main series had some laid back and silly scenes but A) not to this extent and B) they at least made logical sense for the most part. This was too much.

Episodes 2-4 are what you would expect from this series. A multi part mystery about the most recent iteration of Hinamizawa except things are out of place this time. Although it's nothing special and it being a continuation of season 2 ruins the ending a little, it's enjoyable for what it is. It's nowhere near as compelling as the arcs that were in seasons 1 and 2 but it's interesting enough to where I'd recommend it to anyone that wants more Higurashi.

I haven't watched episode 5 yet but from what I can tell it's just another "logic out the window" episode similar to episode 1 so I expect my feelings to be the same.

To sum up my thoughts, what was the point of this? The silly parts feel extremely out of place and while the middle arc was enjoyable, it doesn't do anything to justify it's existence. All of it is just pointless filler. I want to give this a 7 for the enjoyable middle but if I'm reviewing this OVA as a complete package, the silly stuff tanks the final score.