Higurashi is a must-watch for fans of the horror genre. It is filled with gore, psychological horror, and will confuse you in a way that will keep you watching until the very last episode.
Story 9/10- Higurashi is more of a collection of stories then one basic plot. Each story tends to start out slow having an episode where it just focuses on the characters messing around, but no matter how stupid it may seem it will almost always introduce something important, like a character who will play a big role in the future, or something might happen between two characters which will be the origin of a series of violent acts. After the slow start, the series wont waste any time to mess around, it becomes fast pasted, full of plot twists, and will leave you extremely confused. The stories may be similair in plot but you never feel bored just because youve felt you've seen it before, since each story is presented in a different way and each time you will get a chance to learn new things about the characters.
The plot usually takes place a short while after the main character, Keiichi, has just moved to a town called Hinamizawa. Each year in Hinamizawa there's an event called the cotton drifting festival, and each year on the same night as the cotton drifting festival, someone is found dead, and another found missing. But as the plot continues your focus seems to somewhat drift away from the festival and focuses more on the events happening between the characters and how the events from each story tie together.
Art/animation 3/10- I found this to be the downside of Higurashi as the animation was dull amd could sometimes be so awful I couldn't even look without cringing. The lighting wasn't brilliant either since horror series tend to have more of a darker lighting, but Higurashi's didn't really do much with it. I usually don't judge shows based on artwork, but I feel it's important for horror shows, since it usually adds to the eerie aspect.
Sound 9/10- Higurashi has one of the most beatiful openings I've heard and goes with the series perfectly. I can't really say much on the voice acting except for the laughter. I found the kaughter to be the scariest part of the series.
Characters 9/10- The most interesting part of the series was watching the characters fall into insanity. Not only that, the characters were going through problems that anyone could relate to, some more traumatic than others, such as child abuse and betrayal. Each character developed as we learned their backstory(except for one who remains a mystery) and they all played their role in story. It also will occasionally switches the main character and we get to see events unfold from other perspectives.
Enjoyment 8/10- Another downside in the series was how poorly executed some of the scenes that were supposed to be creepy were, the music would go all dramatic yet there would be no tension because of the way it was presented. But that and the art were the onle problems. As some scenes weren't creepy didn't mean there weren't ones that were downright terrifying. Each episode confused me more and more and the tension in some places was so high I had to pause and go get a snack to calm myself down.
With pyschological content that will disturb you and near impossible to solve mystery's. I reccomend this to any fan of horror or mystery.
