Story-
Seems simple in the beginning: male character moves into town and is instantly surrounded by girls who want to spend time with him. But even before that starts, the hint at complexity is there, in the short part before the opening sequence. (This clip actually turned me off from the series on several of my attempts...I now think of it as genius). As the story unfolds, It becomes more and more complex. I actually found myself pausing the show at several points during season two to make sure I understood what was going on. It really makes you think. One of the strongest points of this anime is the ability to seamlessly put together parts that fit under the "horror/drama/romance/mystery" genres with parts that fit under the "slice of life/comedy/school" genres.
Animation-
Acceptable, for sure. Nothing really worth talking about, you can tell what everything is, size proportioning is well done, nothing to complain about.
Sound-
Excellent. As some may know, the game that this is based off of (by 07th Expansion) is described as a "sound novel", meaning it uses sound to create the right mood. Nothing is lost in the anime for sure. I've actually come to adore the crying of the higurashi bugs.
Character-
Well done. At some points, the characters seem unbelievable, unfortunately. Though everything makes sense eventually, it's not clear that their absurd actions are actually part of the "mystery" sometimes. The characters are quite original, however.
Enjoyment-
This show has kept me up much past midnight on several occasions, simply because I MUST know what happens next. This feeling of mystery keeps me very happy, even through the parts that are rather useless and could be considered filler (though they were rare).
Overall-
Superb. One of my friends actually gives movies/TV shows five-star ratings ONLY if he can't think of a single way to improve on them at all. Using that system, this series gets six stars.
