The style of storytelling is very unique. Basicly, it's a series of different "chapters." Just about every chapter ends with several people dying, many of the main characters going insane, and at least one person dying a horrible, bloody death. However, when a new chapter begins, everyone is alive and well as if nothing ever happened. This style, although original and usually intriguing, is bound to leave you confused. It feels especially jumbled and thrown together when they bring up events from previous chapters that, given the events in the [i]current[/i] chapter, make no sense whatsoever. And when they realize this, they come up with the most ridiculous, unbeleivable excuses.
However, as we've seen in shows such as [i]Junjou Romantica[/i] and [i]Hanasakeru Seishonen[/i], director Chiaki Kon has a real knack for delivering her works in such a way that you don't realize their flaws while you're watching them. I give her, and the series, props for this.
The art was really nothing special. Although the characters look pretty great when they've completely lost their minds, the animation during the happy moments is mediocre.
The voice actors were at the top of their game. I thought that Mika Kanai (Satoko) and Satsuki Yukino (Mion and Shion) were especially talented in this series. As for the soundtrack, nothing too special. The right tracks were used at the right times, but none of them really blew me away.
From what I've seen of the English dubbing, I say stick with the Japanese. Most of the English voice actors were either trying too hard, or not trying hard enough. The only person who I really thought did a good job was Jean Smart as Rina Mamiya, a character who only appeared for one episode.
As much as I wanted to get to know the characters, I never felt like I really understood any of them. Keiichi, the main character, is about as dull as they come, despite his few moments of triumph. While the rest of the main cast did intrigue me, I can't say I really got who they were and where they were coming from.
Despite all of the flaws I've listed, I can still say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching [i]Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni[/i]. It made me laugh, it gave me chills, and it pretty much satisfied my horror craving. As I said before, Kon delivers her stories very well. Even though I had seen many of the bloodiest scenes on YouTube before watching the series, they still scared the crap out of me in context.
[i]Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni[/i g]ets a bit more credit that it deserves, but definitely deserves credit. It is a very flawed and jumbled, yet very interesting and disturbing horror story that it is, overall, satisfying in the end.
