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Story - This was one of my favourite arcs in the anime 'Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni' and it was even better in the manga! It gives much more depth to the characters of Ooishi, Rika and Mion and introduces Akasaka.

Art - As always, the Higurashi art is beautiful and in parts creepy (especially some of the scenes with Rika earlier in the volume) and I felt that in parts the art bettered what was shown in the anime.

Character - Rika is the most important character in this volume as this is when the story really deepens and she shows a different side to her ... character completely. It also shows how determined and stubborn she is.

Enjoyment - As I said, it has always been one of my favourite arcs but only has two or three episodes in the anime so it was nice that it was lengthened and the mahjong chapter was very interesting too. There were quite a few scenes that were not included in the anime.

Overall - A fantastic Higurashi volume and, obviously, if you liked the previous volumes you MUST read this one as it begins to give more of an insight of what is really happening in their quiet little psychotic village!

Story - I've never seen a take like this on mermaids before. Obviously ritual canabilism comes up in a great deal of stories but I've been seen a take like this before and I enjoyed the story much more than I originally thought I would. I found it fairly predictable however (though this might just be my cynical outlook on people) but the ending was a good twist if you didn't see it coming.

Art - The manga was well drawn. I liked the orignal take on the mermaids and how they look fairly human.

Character - In the end, it is only three chapters but I ... felt they explored the characters to the best of their ability in this time period and you got more of a sense of the two female mains than you might in other short mangas. Also the unexpected twist in character was very well done and worked perfectly with the plotline.

Enjoyment - I throughly enjoyed it. It is a nice quick read with an interesting storyline and a fairly disturbing turn of events.

Story - All I knew when I started this manga was that 'Tomie' was a woman who could make men fall madly in love with her at first sight. As you can imagine, I wasn't really expecting much and was very impressed by what I read. I loved every chapter and felt they were all very original and well thought out to how each 'Tomie' manipulated and charmed each character in the manga which eventually ends in her own demise.

Art - As the other review has mentioned, the one strength to this anime is that Tomie is truely beautifully drawn in the manga with her ... beautiful eyes and shiny hair and there is a lot of attention to detail, especially when her beautiful form is distorted by the 'monster' beneath.

Character - The smaller characters are simply prop to the many 'Tomies' that prop up in all the stories. It is especially unkind to the men who fall madly for Tomie in each arc. Not much is known about Tomie except for her supernatural abilities and as you get more and more used to her character, the stories seem to get more complicated and baffling. Great! And a real challenge for the mind!

Enjoyment - I throughly enoyed 'Tomie' and despite it not being as 'terrifying' as I thought it could be, I found it was a very interesting concept about a strange multiplying girl with no purpose but to make people love her as much as she loves herself.

Overall - Definitely an interesting manga if you like different story arcs and strange characters and plotlines. It can be a little gory/strange in places but hey - what can you do?!

Story - This manga is a collection of short horror stories and range from curses caused by tainted water to parasitic type stories. All of the stories were exceedingly gory and some were quite disturbing but predictable. I got confused quite often as the stories would often jump backwards and forwards between stories that been told in earlier chapters and it was difficult to recall the characters and what had happened to them.

Art - I believe this manga was drawn in the late 80s so the art isn't amazing but I felt it fit very well with the creepy nature of the manga and ... the gore was drawn very well indeed. Some of the drawings were very disturbing and for an early manga, I felt it did this very well.

Character - There are not very memorable characters in Horror Mansion, mostly for the fact that it is a collection of short stories and you will generally only see character for a chapter and more often than not they will come to some grizzly demise.

Enjoyment - I read this manga while waiting for a train and actually quite enjoyed it and didn't put it down until I'd finished it so I think I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Overall - Overall, I enjoyed this manga. However, if you do not like horror/violent/gory manga, this manga is definitely not for you. If you do, sit back and enjoy the madness!

This is by all accounts my favourite manga of all time. I warn you however that I am partial to dark, twisted animes/mangas and a little bit of gore never bothered me so this may have aided my love for Elfen Lied.

*Possible spoilers ahead*

Story - A brief summary for those who don't know. These are Dicloniuses in the world which are distinguishable by the horns on their heads and they tend to have exceedingly murderous tendacies. They usually kill using their invisable hands called "Vectors".I don't want to give too much away but I adored the plotline to pieces. I've never really read anything quite ... like it that could make me sort of dislike but also love Lucy at the same time.

Art - I really enjoyed the art. I haven't really go much to say about it, except that Nyuu was very adorable.

Character - Lucy is one of the most well development characters I have seen in the mangas I've read so far. She is troubled, she is angry and she is out for revenge on humankind! It is interesting how she also recognises her other alterego (Nyuu) and often refers to Nyuu every now and again before changing back. Nyuu's character is so different to Lucy's character but somehow it works so well. For me, Yuki was unbelievably annoying but I will let this slide for how awesome Lucy/Nyuu is.

Enjoyment - I enjoyed this manga throughly. I watched the anime first but I was happy to continue the story from where the anime stops and I think that the second half is actually the better half of the plotline with some wonderful twists and what I think is a very fitting ending.

Overall - If you like a bit of gore, good deep characters and a decent plotline then this anime is for you!

Story - I only just read Ibitsu the other day and I have to admit that I much prefered Ibitsu to this manga. The plotlines are pretty much identical. Two very creepy women stalking the main lead by breaking into their houses, etc. I felt that Ibitsu however had a lot more meat to the story and in comparison I felt that 'Zashiki Onna' just did not match up to the creepiness and twists that was experienced through Ibitsu. However, if you want a creepy manga without the goriness that is drawn in Ibitsu then this is the better choice to make. I felt the ... gore made the Ibitsu what it was. I felt this was more a mere shell of a story.

Art - I wasn't overally bothered by the art but I felt that the creepy tall woman was drawn to look almost unhuman which was pretty well done.

Character - One thing I have to say about this is that I felt there was almost no character development at all. You don't really feel anything for the characters and as a result, the story probably has less of an impact for this reason. Not to sound like a broken record but the characters in Ibitsu were much more development which helped aid in the creepiness. I did not feel this as much from this manga.

Enjoyment - As the manga is short, it didn't take long to read. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't read Ibitsu first as I may have appreciated the story a little more. I felt the idea in this story is very reminiscent of Stephen King's 'Misery' (which is also worth reading if you like this!).

Overall - I think its pretty clear in this review that I much more preferred Ibitsu to this. If you are one who is partial to a bit of gore and epic creepiness, I highly recommend Ibitsu which literally had me hiding in the company of other with the lights on and in comparison I could watch this in the dark, alone.

Story - I didn't know what to expect originally. I've read most of the Higurashi mangas and I've read Elfen Lied (and seen both the animes). I didn't think that anything I read would be much worse than these two... How naiive of me... When I started reading this I was alone in my room, in the dark and I had to sit downstairs in the company of others to finish reading it. I almost expect to see the lolita standing outside my door right now...
Anyway, the story was very well done with a couple of interesting twist. Creepy too!

Art - As others have said, ... the art fit the manga perfectly. Especially the drawing of the creepy lolita with her empty eyes, bruised skin and her dirty clothing. All the horror sections were drawn very well.

Character - And I thought Rena and Lucy were insane, the development of the lolita is amazing. She is creepy and obsessive to no end. You really feel for the other characters that have to come across her.

Enjoyment - Enjoyment... Well, I read it in a couple of hours. I couldn't put it down and it creeped the hell out of me!

Overall - If you love horror manga, you will love this!

[Warning: This review contains SPOILERS]

Being an OVA, I wasn't really expecting much from the episode but I really loved it.

Story : It was a lovely little story. I know that from the other reviews people have been upset that it 1) Was an episode that was during the series and 2) Did not give much back to Elfen Lied as a whole. I have read the Elfen Lied manga and the section where it shows how Lucy is captured was my favourite part that I was sad not to see in the original anime series and was pleasantly surprised to see it in this OVA. ... For me, it was one of the main reasons that made me really feel for Lucy.

Art: The usual Elfen Lied art :) Still pretty in my opinion.

Sound: The same Elfen Lied music, including the hauntingly beautiful Elfen Lied music box tune.

Character: In my opinion this was a big plus for this OVA as it explored how the relationship between Nana and Lucy/Nyuu is healed and I also believe that it gives some insight into Lucy's character.

Overall: I really enjoyed it. As I said, I didn't have high expectations but I was happy to see the transference of my favourite scene from the manga to the special :) I hope you enjoy/enjoyed it too!

I am a massive fan of Higurashi (I've watched all the anime and am making my way through the manga) so when I found this I became unnaturally excited.

[Warning: May contain SPOILERS]

Story: I wasn't sure where this came in the chronology of the original series, kai and rei so I was watching it completely out of interest (but it did have the same creepy feel as the first season and the same music - which is a massive plus in its favour). There isn't much to the story. In true Higurashi style, the first section of the episode is happy and amusing and slowly ... deteriorates to something creepier with Rika being her usual mysterious self. If you want to have an episode where they explore something different to the rest of the series then this explores an interesting storyline that reveals no answers but is very interesting to watch nonetheless.The only thing I would say is that I wanted more! But maybe this is just because I am craving more Higurashi ;)

Art: Still very beautiful, I've always adore the Higurashi art.

Sound: Same music and background music as the first series (I have the soundtrack anyway) and really fits in with the creepy plotline.

Character - All the same characters, all being their 'usual' selves. And Rika being as strange and mysterious as she is throughtout most of the series.

Enjoyment - I enjoyed it, though as mentioned before it is short and I was craving more but the plotline was interesting and definitely something further to consider.

Overall - I really loved it and its another Higurashi work of art :) And if you haven't seen the other series : GO WATCH... NOW!

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.