As I watched the final episode of this season, I felt I could relate to something one of the characters said:
"I tire of this." -Eua (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu, episode 15)
Going into Higurashi Gou, I decided to watch through the first three seasons made by Studio Deen (that being Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei). I'll write a review for Gou shortly after writing this one, but I will say, when I finished Higurashi Gou, I at least felt that there were some very interesting ideas at play. I'm sorry to say that I felt the complete opposite as I watched through Sotsu.
First of all, the animation this season was less than subpar. Much of it was reused, and any of it that wasn't reused was fairly ugly and far too saturated to look at. Many animation choices were questionable as well, namely the incredulous amounts of blood during kill scenes. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, especially for action shows with shounen pacing, like Jojo, but here it's just a hindrance. Blood gets spattered to such a degree that rather than being grossed out, scared, or horrified by a scene, I end up laughing in disbelief. In other words, this anime no longer classifies as part of the "horror" genre in my book.
Second, this anime is just downright boring. In Gou, the first half of the season consisted of a "retelling" of the arcs that happened in the first season of the original Deen series, but with a good number of changes to create a new mystery. In Sotsu however, we actually have to sit through the same exact arcs AGAIN, but through a different character's perspective. Unfortunately, the amount of changes we see in these 13 long episodes could've been summed up in only 2 short episodes. Believe me when I say, sitting through these episodes is more tedious than sitting through Haruhi Suzumiya's "Endless Eight". And let me remind you that this season was only 15 episodes. If you want to watch this season, be prepared for 13 episodes of waiting for a change of pace. Furthermore, the payoff that you get from the last 2 episodes is miniscule in comparison to the conclusion of the original series.
The last two episodes, without spoiling anything, could be summed up pretty easily. If I could describe it in one sentence, it would be along the lines of, "Two children have a badly animated shounen battle while two other children fight over who's going to give up first". Figuring out which pair of children is which will be the hard part if you're watching this for the first time, but I promise you that it's one of the most boring conclusions I've ever seen for a long running series like Higurashi.
Anyway, after sitting through this dumpster fire, I can avidly say that it was a waste of my time. I think I'm going to give up on any future "When They Cry" adaptations and just start reading the VNs. I hear they're pretty good.