Umineko is my favourite thing ever. I liked the original Higurashi anime a lot, and I've read much of the sound novels. But I don't love it like Umineko. Still, I keep tabs on it.
It feels like Higurashi Sotsu was made for people like me. This series is...fine. There's enough here to entice hardcore Umineko/R07 fans like me with all the Witch parallels. I can't imagine it's much fun for the uninformed. You'd be better off with the original anime.
If you've seen the original anime, I can't imagine you'll get much out of this. Maybe if it's been a few years, but even then...it retreads old ground far more than it brings anything new to the table.
That said, Gou/Sotsu do the SoL scenes a lot better than the original. Maybe it's just the fact that I care so much more about every character, but none of those scenes are boring. The Teppei moments are great, although there are a few too many of them.
There isn't a single real St Lucia scene in this season, which is great, because that was the weakest part of Gou.
Still, I found the series lacking. As the credits rolled and I watched the video timeline creep toward completion, all I could think was, "is this really it? After all this?" I don't even disagree with the ending, though I'm disappointed there are no true Lambda/Bern moments - just a tease, really, though what we got was good - and that Satoko + Rika isn't...an actual ship. Despite Lambda/Bern being a ship and Satoko making some very...telling proclamations throughout the series. And even
No, no, they're just really good friends. Friends cup each other's cheeks while staring into their eyes with a smug smirk all the time.
But again, I agree with the ending. I think Mion and Keiichi have some good lines about friendship. That's what Higurashi has always been about.
Hey, wait, I think I'm remembering something from a previous fragment... you see, I had this really weird dream—
Oh, right, we already saw most of this scenario with Higurashi Rei. Which was able to get its point across in 6 episodes without retreading anything and it added to the lore of the series. People actually remember that fondly for the one chair scene that Sotsu reprises for a few seconds here. It even has some witchy stuff at the end.
Yeahhhh, Rei was better. I do appreciate this series for examining Satoko and Rika's relationship, but goddamn, it did not need to be this long. And I can't believe I'm saying that in an era where shows are constantly cut short with 1 cour seasons and never renewed. What a waste of a runtime.
And the epilogue to Sotsu just feels weak, after everything. Satoko does some very unforgivable stuff. And while we know from the original Higurashi that forgiveness is the way forward, Rika and Satoko's fight deals more in implications than dialogue. Probably because they were running out of time with their incredibly strange 15 episode count. It is still, by far, the the high point, but I wanted more, damn it! Why spend so much time on things we've already seen and cut the original content short?
Ryukishi could have touched on so many more things. The lack of significant Witchy stuff makes the whole thing feel pretty pointless. Like it's all a metaphor for having a falling out with your best bud.
Which, it is! But Umineko and Higurashi are more than metaphor, and they make you feel that. Sotsu doesn't. Most of it is a retread of the previous season. The last two episodes are the clear high point.
I do absolutely love how this series connects Bern and Lambda to the game board, finally. That's why I think Umineko fans who also like Higurashi will get the most out of this series. It won't have nearly as much meaning for Higurashi-only fans.
So, it's fine. I can't recommend it to anyone I know. I don't consider it time well spent. Really, it has just made me want to re-play Umineko and Higurashi. Or finally play TRianThology. I hope people don't end up confusing the newer series for the older, better series and avoid the original Deen anime like with Kino's Journey.
Higurashi has finally returned to the anime world nearly 20 years later, but it's rather disappointing despite my expectations being low to begin with. Ironically, I probably enjoyed it more than most because I'm a bigger Umineko fan than a Higurashi fan. The inverse will likely be true for big Higurashi fans.
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