On the surface the story focuses on a group of friends, Keiichi, Rena, Rika, Mion, and Satoko and the small town they live in. The first arc is mainly used to set up the story and get the mystery rolling, and it did its job extremely well. As the arcs continued and I got to see different viewpoints of similar stories I couldn't stop watching!
Besides the story being great, the characters were also really nicely developed and they each had an interesting life/ back story that was presented throughout the season. The characters and the backgrounds were all drawn to give the show a kind of lighthearted appearance which I thought was a nice touch since it made the plot seem to stand out more. I watched some of the English dub, but I mainly watch the Japanese dub because I felt that the Japanese voice actors caught the characters better than the English voice actors did. So I would recommend watching this show in Japanese.
I honestly loved Higurashi and I thought it was highly enjoyable and interesting to watch. The end of the first season left me wanting more, which was great because the second season is available. The horror or violence aspect of the show may draw you in but the story is truly interesting and the mystery kept me guessing most of the show, so I highly recommend watching Higurashi no Naku Koro ni if you are a mystery or horror fan.
