Higurashi: When They Cry - SOTSU

Higurashi Sotsu is perhaps one of the most disappointing anime I have watched in recent memory. It is far from the worst anime I have seen, but it is apparent that Sotsu is a lazy final season for a cherished series. Be aware this review will contain spoliers for all Higurashi seasons, both old and new.

One of the most pervasive arguments surrounding the prequel to Sotsu, Gou, is that the very existance of a new series of Higurashi was entirely pointless from the beginning. The original story of Higurashi was completed many years ago, and really it did not require any more new material. While this is an argument I agree with to an extent, I don't think that Gou and Sotsu were destined to be pointless sequels to an already complete story. In fact, I found many aspects of Gou interesting and I believe the basis for a good second season were laid in Gou's 24 episodes.

However, Sotsu dropped the ball, in a big way. To begin with, the first 11 episodes of Sotsu are essentially re-animated versions of Gou's first 11 episodes, but with a few extra scenes added in order to present these episodes from Satoko's perspective. These 11 episodes are perhaps Sotsu's biggest flaw. Realistically, these episodes could have been quite easily condensed into 3 or 4 episodes at most. Having to drag through these almost identical episodes ripped from Gou detracts from any of the interesting content added to these 11 episodes. If you thought Haruhi's Endless Eight was bad, this is even worse. Worse still is the fact that much of these 11 episodes in Gou are reanimated versions of the events which took place in the original Studio Deen series. This makes the bulk of Sotsu's content boring, repetative and lazy.

For the last 4 of Sotsu's 15 episodes, we do get some original content! Of course, we focus on the conflict between Satoko and Rika in these episodes, as well as Hanyuu and Eua. Even then, it takes until episode 14 to reach the point where Satoko pulls her gun on Rika and friends, a cliffhanger we received far back in Higurashi Gou. It is at this point where the new content were receive can perhaps be best described as out of touch with the rest of the Higurashi series. Satoko and RIka's fight scenes quickly evolve into something more suited to Dragonball for no real reason. Coming from a series known for its brutal and intense interactions between characters, this feels like a terribly tone-deaf conclusion to the series. What's more, the events of Gou and Sotsu seem to have very little consequence for the development of any of Higurashi's characters, even Satoko and Rika.

It is such a shame that Gou turned out the way in which it did. I am a big fan of the new Higurashi artstyle and character designs. I think every one of the re-designed characters look fantastic, and both Gou and Sotsu look fantastic from a visual perspective. However, this does not make up for the fact that Higurashi Sotsu let down the Higurashi series in a big way.