That is the one word that sums up Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei. Even before I started watching this, I questioned whether the excellent Higrashi no Naku Koro ni Kai really needed a sequel. The answer is no, it doesn't.
What saves Rei from the chasm of utter disappointment is the two comedy episodes, as those serve to tell the story of what happened after Kai, when Rika finally had escaped the cycle of endless deaths. Those two episodes - the first and the last - are great in their own way, as they serve as a sort of "reward" to us viewers. Fanservice, if you will.
However, the three middle episodes, falls short. The premise is promising indeed - Rika finds herself in yet another world, where everything is very different - but the arc simply do not pay off. The majority of the time spent in this dimension is pure exposition - talk, talk, talk and very little action. In fact, when it's finally becoming serious, the arc ends and leaves us viewers filling in the holes. I feel robbed of somehting that could have been both very disturbing and very great, much like the first season of the series.
Sure, we get a nice little message in the end that serves as an ultimate ending. But the holes in between are simply too big to be overlooked, and my final impression is that Rei needed more time, as well as more balls from the creators.
What happened to the show's initial focus on insanity and violence? I really miss that.
