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The beginning concept of Higurashi isn’t that original — a boy moves to isolated, rural town and slowly discovers things are not what they seem. But it’s a “classic” story setting for a mystery anime, as opposed to one that’s “overused.” Higurashi is also impressive when you consider how it blends perfectly a bunch of genres that don’t usually go together. It’s a harem/ horror/ mystery/ drama/ comedy/ psychological anime that even has some slice-of-life. The detail and originality of the Higurashi story is splendid, with puzzling mysteries, exploration of the “curse,” and the way the world resets with each arc. I’d say more, but ... I’m avoiding spoilers.

Now let’s take a look at the content and how it’s presented in Higurashi. I don’t know of any other anime that does such a good job of combining stories of lighthearted fun and comedy with stories of disturbing violence and suspense. When things are peaceful, I feel like I’m right there with the characters having fun with them. The cute, funny, and weird quirks, reactions, and interactions are highly entertaining. The humor will at least bring a smile to your face. Higurashi‘s presentation of suspense and creepiness is right on-point. The violence is just as horrifying as it should be (and believe me, it’s not over-the-top compared to some of the graphically violent anime out there.) Also, the show knows how to deliver good, interesting drama.In Higurashi‘s first season, thought-provoking themes and motifs are not immediately obvious because of all the gore and insanity. Some are there, though, and they’re fairly powerful. (Still, the second season does better with incorporating meaningful messages and themes.) These include friendship and faith in friends, betrayal, atonement, misunderstandings, cause and effect, young love, obsession, character psychology, and determination.It would be a great understatement to say the seiyuu cast is great; they are basically perfect in this show. I’ll mention some here. Soichiro Hoshi voices male lead Keiichi, and I’m surprised he doesn’t have more roles since his acting was all-around on-point. He played the MC of Gundam Seed, and I know him best as Gino from Code Geass. Satsuki Yunkino plays Mion and Shion Sonozaki; she is probably best known for voicing Kagome in InuYasha and Otae in Gintama. The range of Yukino’s voice from sweet to scary is impressive, as is the volume and power she can put into shouts and laughs. She’s a veteran voice-actress who really gets into her characters.

Rena Ryuuguu’s seiyuu is Mai Nakahara, another bright talent, and exceptionally great with playing characters that have a menacing side. She’s been in many anime I haven’t seen, but I know her Luvia in Fairy Tale, Nagisa in Clannad, Watashi in Humanity Has Declined, Mai in Mai-Hime, Yukinoshita’s older sis from Oregairu, and Nanami Yasuri in Katanagatari. The seiyuu of Rika Furude is Yukari Tamura, whose voice is usually adorable and high, but has a great range of pitch/ tone etc. She’s most famous for voicing Suzuha in Steins;Gate and Nanoha in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Other fantastic VAs include Yuu Kobayashi (as Satoshi), Miki Itou (as Miyo Takano), and Hirotaka Shimazawa (as Detective Ooishi).In my opinion, the characters in Higurashi deserve another full 10/10, but many other people consider them difficult to relate to because of the insanity most of them suffer at one point or another. As well, it’s difficult to gather a detailed picture of the characters’ personalities from just one watch of the series; to understand them and love them as much as I do requires re-watching many times and analyzing many behaviors and lines spoken. Because of these potential difficulties, I gave the characters category a 9/10 rather than 10/10.

Other than anything mentioned above, the characters in Higurashi are presented and expanded on perfectly. The development and growth of characters is well-paced, spread throughout the episodes. It’s great how you learn a little more about each of the characters in each arc. There is adequate character growth/ maturation within the arcs, but of course, it doesn’t really carry over to the next world. Even if you can’t relate to them too well, I believe you’ll find that Mion, Shion, Satoko, Rika, Keiichi, and all the others are engaging and entertaining characters.

It’s getting very difficult to resist writing tons of text about the characters I love, why I love them, and their stories. Anything like that would include spoilers. So I must stop myself nowOh, this isn’t fair. I want to give you examples of so many things I love. Things like favorite character, favorite arc, a quote I like, an enjoyable funny moment or joke, a sad moment that spoke to me, or my favorite scenes of characters going crazy. But almost all of that involves spoilers. Well, maybe not. Let’s see. My favorite character is Shion Sonozaki, and second-favorite is Rika Furude. My favorite arc in season one is “Meakashi-hen,” or “Eye-Opening Chapter.” It runs from episode 16 to 21. Something funny I love is Satoko’s villainous ojou-sama laugh. It’s perfect.

The sad, powerful, and crazy moments I want to talk about all give spoilers, though. I did have a quote in mind, but it won’t make any sense to you unless I explain the situation (would mean giving spoilers) or unless you’ve already seen the show/scene. Well, I’ll leave it here anyway. I like this quote because reveals a lot abut Shion’s personality and motivations.