Disclaimer: Given the nature of the story this review will contain spoilers for both S1 and S2 of Higurashi I would cover both seasons in this review since the story is continuous. This is S2. I would suggest you watch S1 before watching this. It gets a recommendation from me after watching the show you may read this review. Also, this is my subjective take on Higurashi. Your view could be different.
- # Introduction:
One of the reasons why people enjoy mystery shows is because it is engaging. It keeps you in dark and gives you clues one by one and you have to piece them together to make a full picture. We get to visit exotic or interesting places and connect to characters better since you have to think from their perspective and if you figure out everything before the show reveals its mystery you can pretend to be like Sherlock. Higurashi is a supernatural horror mystery show that nails it perfectly and is a good recommendation for anyone who is into mystery shows.
- # Story:
The story of Higurashi follows a group of children from a rural Japanese Town called Hinamizawa. The story has many arcs where they focus on a character from the group and the whole story is viewed from that character's point of view until the arc end that is when everyone dies. But when the next arc starts everything is reset to zero and we focus on a new character from the group. Each arc is divided into two groups, a question arc, and an answer arc. In question arc, the story begins from reset and in answer arc, you see that same story from a different point of view. The story will give you clues in both question and answer arc but once in a while, it will you a clue that will make you think whether what you were told before was true or not and on top of that the characters that are focused are usually unreliable (you'll know the reason why). Figuring out five w's is what this makes this show enjoyable.
One interesting fact about Higurashi is that it is based on Visual Novel. Usually in VN adaptation studios either adapt only one arc or take good parts out of every arc and make it into one package. Higurashi, however, adapts all arcs in VN both bad and good ones each reset is essentially one ending. After each bad ending we know what went wrong after that we fix it and something else goes wrong. This continues are all pieces are placed correctly and then we get the good ending with I believe makes the ending even more satisfying.
- # Characters:
Each character in Higurashi has a messed up past. Ranging from being tortured to death of parents etc... but despite that our characters are usually upbeat until something pisses them off after which they get cursed by Oyashiro-sama which drives them so nuts that they end up killing everyone and themselves by the time arc end that is the cotton drifting festival.
I didn't like some characters at the beginning but when their past was explained I started to like them a bit. My main issue is the villain of the show without going into major spoilers I would say I did not like its villain at all. It is fairly easy to catch villain if you know what typical villains are you just won't know why but even that is cliche.
- # Animation/Sound Track:
The animation of Higurashi is okay neither good or bad. The character design is moe like in the beginning but by the end of arc when curse starts to spread to give them a darker look character's expressions become exaggerated which has become a staple of yandere anime nowadays.
- # Final Verdict:
Overall Higurashi is a very good show it is enjoyable and keeps you engaged for the most part. The OST of the show complements it well the only downside is animation and some characters. I have given S1 80 and S2 83. Both of them must be watched to fully understand the story.
I wrote this review on 10/02/2019 since this is October I think this is a really good time to start this show. It won't disappoint you.