Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Review
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – When the Cicadas Cry
You can read my full review by clicking the link below:
http://www.cheshirecatstudios.com/reviews/higurashi-no-naku-koro-ni-when-cicadas-cry/#LaughingMan
I can’t remember exactly how I came across Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. I believe it was one of those acts of fate where you stumble upon something that, while not ‘life changing’, still manages to leave an imprint. I was browsing one of the written posts for an online comic I used to read and my eyes stumbled upon the writer’s ecstatic remarks regarding what he called ‘one of the best stories’ he ever came across. Since I was bored at the time, I began downloading the WIND fan subbed series to kill time. What I found was an anime that I not only liked, but an ingenious story that literally shook me to the core.
I’ve made my negative opinions of anime very well known in my prior Devil May Cry and Demonbane reviews, but anyone who knows me knows that I praise a well-told story. Complex stories and character development are my cocaine, regardless of their medium, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni provided me one hell of a fix.
After the dreaded Demonbane review -in which I lampooned for being the WORST of everything anime after their complete bastardization of the works of H.P. Lovecraft- I was presented with a second challenge by ONOE: To finally review the one single anime that I honestly enjoyed.
To quote ONOE:
That is why I wanted you two to review Higurashi because I have a feeling that Demonbane gave you negative impression of anime as a whole and I wanted you both to see that there are some good ones that people in the states and elsewhere never see. I hope your reviews of Higurashi changed your minds about the anime stereotype.
It probably won’t. Stereotypes are never 100% conclusive, but without a common trend among a demographic, there wouldn’t be a stereotype. Hence, I still think that 99% of anime is pure bullshit. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is the pleasant exception.
Still, along side Kenny Farino and ONOE, I’m accepting not only this challenge, but this privilege.
It will be hard to praise everything about Higurashi no Naku Koro ni without giving away too much of the plot, but I will try to keep this review relatively spoiler-free with the exception of some MILD SPOILERS involving character motivations that will be required to explain just how ingenious Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is.
The storyline of the first season of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is divided into six chapters, or ‘story arcs’ each consisting of an average of four episodes. During the course of an arc, the story seems to follow one of the main characters up until the day of the Watanagashi Festival. Normally the character and his or her friends are depicted simply as children enjoying their childhoods by playing games, riding bikes, and whatnot.
…Then something goes horribly wrong.
Each of the children has a dark and troubled past, and, as the story progresses up towards the Watanagashi Festival, a single event or a slight disturbance that disrupts the friends’ lives will snowball into paranoia, madness, violence and murder. The inevitable conclusion is no less than a violent tragedy for both the character in focus and his or her friends.
This is considered a MILD spoiler.
When one arc ends, the story repeats, but the next time with another character in focus, and a different chain of unfortunate events are played out specifically for that character. And, with the closing of each arc, a mystery from a previous arc is answered, but yet another mystery is left in its place. At the end of the series, it is up to the viewer to play detective and attempt to solve the mysteries of Oyashiro’s Curse.
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