The controversy surrounding the recent Higurashi GouSotsu series was amusing to watch because I purposefully chose not to watch them. I’ve always felt that Higurashi is the type of series that shouldn’t have had any side stories or direct sequels that take place after the last episode—because of how conclusive it was.

For those who don’t know, Higurashi Rei was the first set of side stories following the main story of Higurashi and Kai. Episodes 1–8 of the Higurashi visual novel and their anime adaptations (Higurashi Season 1 and Kai, or Season 2) were overall great psychological murder mysteries with a Groundhog Day-like scenario, and the way things built up toward the end was excellent—even if the pacing was a bit slow at times.

Higurashi Rei was clearly the first of many attempts to cash in on Higurashi's legacy and squeeze more money out of the franchise. Unfortunately, for the most part, I wasn’t really a fan of these OVAs.

The best way to describe them is that they’re half slice-of-life fan service and half a brand-new side story that focuses on Rika once again.

The slice-of-life segments are more or less what you’d expect from Higurashi—a lot of characters playing games and trolling each other. But this OVA leans more into generic fan service, with some harem teasing for the main male character, Keiichi. These moments are mostly inoffensive, but since I was never super into the slice-of-life aspects of Higurashi, I just found them whatever.

The main selling point of Rei, or its "serious" story arc, is Saikoroshi-hen (Dice Killing Chapter).

Without getting into spoilers, this is a direct sequel to the serious events of Higurashi Kai, where Rika is put in a situation that forces her to reconsider the choices she made regarding fate and everything that was built up in the first two seasons. Essentially, she is given a chance to live in a supposedly "perfect" world—one without all the drama, murder, and suffering. However, this comes at the cost of losing all the camaraderie, sacrifice, and character growth she and the others went through. Rika herself would also be a stranger to many of the people she once knew.

In theory, I like this idea. But in execution, it just felt like a cheap way to bring back drama. Higurashi Kai had a perfect ending for the serious parts of the story, and this side story felt unnecessary—arguably even insulting—by forcing Rika through melodrama again. The entire point of Seasons 1 and 2 was for her to develop beyond this struggle, yet this arc drags her back into it. The fact that the "serious" part of Rei happens because of a convenient mistake on Rika’s part makes it feel like an even bigger slap in the face.

Overall, the plot of Higurashi Rei isn’t a terrible idea—just something that honestly didn’t need to exist in a standalone entry like this. Given how bad nearly every Higurashi spinoff has been, I highly recommend sticking to Higurashi Seasons 1 and 2 by DEEN and/or the main eight chapters of the visual novel. Don’t bother with the spin-offs—unless you want to lose some brain cells.