Higurashi is an impressively expansive franchise spanning almost 2 decades with its story brought to life in numerous different types of medium; from VNs, anime, manga, live action, games, novels, audio drama, and even a stage play. I estimate, conservatively, that a fan who exhausted all installments would have invested more than at least 250 hours into the franchise. It has over the years made itself sort of a household name in anime and VN communities alike, which is all the more reason a poor sequel detriments the fictional world to the degree it does. That's where Gou comes into picture, and does precisely that. It, among other things, breaks its characters, trivializes its predecessors, convolutes the extended universe by pseudo-linking it with Umineko—another behemoth that requires a huge investment to get into—effectively barring from entry (or at the very least barring from a profound understanding) anyone who hasn't additional 120 hours to spare, and all around wastes precious runtime with scenes that do not amount to anything meaningful

Gou, onwards from Nekodamashi-hen, skips the answer arcs and, in its haste, decides to expose whodunit and howdunit prematurely, and from that point everything turns south. A new character is introduced, whom I shall call Goutoko. Goutoko appears very similar to a certain character from the original series, but without any expression of genuine humanity, or sanity for that matter. Goutoko is ruthless and extremely tenacious, far more than anyone that remotely resembles a human being is capable of. In stark contrast to the girl whom she's assuming the position of—who was determined but vulnerable and human at nature, she has infinite mental fortitude, and therefore can proceed the plot as conveniently as she wishes to. RNG did not favor her way during her schemes? She'll just kill herself 3 million times until it does! After all, possibility of every non-zero chance event occurring approaches certainty as attempts go to infinity! Never mind one of the biggest plot events of the original being the limitations of one's mind when undergone too much suffering, Rika's concern that her soul will wither away if she does not prevail soon. But make no mistake, Goutoko isn't a snowflake like Rika is, she has the power of being based, which allows her to condemn her best friend to excruciating pains in the hellhole where she was tortured a whole lifetime and stay mentally unscathed. The motivation? "She's kind of a meanie and I don't really like studying lol" Right...

A good transition from there would be the clear undoing of Satoko's character progression as well as a prevalent theme that existed in the original: "That seeking help is something to be celebrated, enduring alone not to be proud of." From Tatarigoroshi to Minagoroshi, Satoko manages to grow as a person and reach out her hand for a miracle to occur. This is a really touching moment and goes to show that, through cooperation, most hopeless of predicaments can be overcome. Yeah... that idea is now scrapped. Satoko becomes a little baby who cannot ask for aid. She instead wallows in self-misery, gets very spiteful, and loses her humanity somehow?? It's a blatant departure from the strong girl who steels her resolve and gets ahold of her future in the beautiful culmination that is Minagoroshi-hen. As someone who really appreciated Satoko's character, this utter disregard for pre-established characterization is intolerable to me; ergo, my choice of wording: "Goutoko".

Since it's Goutoko's time to shine, the main villain of all the previous installment, Miyo Takano, is to naturally be stepped down. But this poses a difficult problem: Takano, whose sheer iron will and lifelong efforts has precluded Rika from besting her for countless attempts in which her conviction stayed consistent, will need to be removed from the proactive role in a sufficiently understandable manner. That... doesn't happen. She just conveniently happens to remember her demise in a previous fragment, finds a letter that she apparently hasn't came across by chance in any of those possibilities, and has a change of heart, preventing a nigh-certain occurrence. This is a gross minimization of the combined efforts of everyone we rooted for, of the flesh and blood sacrifices that've been made across multiple timelines, all to ruin another character.

The last of my complaints would be the many instances of scenes that seemingly don't contribute much to this new tale the show is trying to tell, eating away precious time. These can either be Gou-original scenes like a reformed Teppei going on with his life, or scenes we're all too familiar with like petitioning the child welfare services for redress, debating the Onigafuchi Defense Alliance to request their aid with Satoko's situation, or Miyo's defeat and the subsequent happenstances. While it's not the worst thing in the world to see them unfold yet again in different art-style, when you have a brand new story to tell, I can't help but feel there's a mismatch of priorities to divulge a lot of time to parts the viewer will be intimately familiar with, leaving the real meat of the discussion unbaked. Sotsu may have a better shot in that respect, but the damage is incurred.

'Higurashi: When They Cry - Gou' is a clear blemish in the franchise, throwing the hard-earned lessons of the past to trash and resetting its characters to build them from scratch, it does a disservice to the fans of the original who'd rather keep their fan favorites intact, and their stories not trampled upon.