Reviews for Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou

--- The review contains spoilers --- "Oh Rika, I told you to pick one, didn't?" ~ Satoko Houjou 24 episodes, a dream: to continue a franchise of almost 20 years at the height of visual novels and anime. Higurashi no Naku koro ni returned in 2020, with a surreal season. In the first season, we saw crazy, disturbing scenes and a shocking story. Higurashi Kai softens and resolves the disruption and brings a great ending to the entire series. Higurashi Rei is shorter, only 5 episodes, serving as a sequel after Kai. Now, in 2020/1, Higurashi Gou is broadcast and a new information clash is used inorder to create two more cours for the show. "14 years have passed since the original broadcast, will they still like the anime?", That question has bothered me since the first of October, but today I can finally understand who liked it and who hated it, after all, it is not common in the days of today having an anime like this.

To begin with, it is visible the work and the high effort of Passione studio and the director, Keiichirou Kawaguchi, in making episodes without any reference to games and bows different from what we already knew before. Of course, the first thirteen episodes brought many impactful scenes and managed to recreate iconic moments (like Rena's "USODA !!"). It was definitely surprising how the first half of behaved positively as being a sequel, after all, Rika is already tired. A hundred years in loopings ... I must admit that this reference to Higurashi Kai may seem confusing at first, but it managed to bring up a new hypothesis: what if she leaves Hinamizawa, after a happy ending in 1983? Well, that's what happened. Rika enrolls at St. Lucia College and begins her journey. Obviously, we don't know how the end of this world was, since she herself doesn't have all the memories herself (even Hanyuu offering everything she has in Nekodamashi). It is incredible this change of perspective, in which Rika goes from being a simple and not very important character, to the protagonist of every anime. "But, wait, what? What's going on with Satoko ????". Yes, now we have a situation where Satoko knows more than the viewers themselves and even Rika herself. You know, I had some problems with the first two seasons. Interesting characters, like Oishi and Satoko, were not fully utilized. In most cases, they were more like a character group that is only important to be quoted or used specifically in some episodes. But look at how we are doing: Oishi has gone mad in Tataridamashi and Satoko finds Eua, an entity, like our dear Hanyuu, who also has creative powers from other worlds. It is difficult to say and explain all the points and relevance of Eua without mentioning Umineko (another series in the When They Cry franchise), so much so that it is understandable to see people disgusted by this introduction of a sudden character, but I must say that it was a great choice of scriptwriter for this fourth season. He brought a continuation with material shortened by the Ryukishi07 series limits and transcended the limits for something big.

Rena, Shion, Mion and Keichi are the ones that were most "forgotten" during the second part of the anime. In fact, this is unpleasant. It is not the same impression of character development that they had, compared to the old anime. My favorite Shion (even Higurashi Gou), was practically nonexistent in the entire show. Rena again became the "yandere" character of the show, maintaining many climaxes and iconic moments, especially in Onidamashi. Keichi, on the other hand, became the protagonist of the entire first half, but again presented some construction flaws with the show in the sequence. I don't say it was bad, since the outcome was purposely focused on Rika, Satoko and Hanyuu. Speaking of Hanyuu, she finally had more explanations regarding her limits as an entity that personifies Oyashiro-Sama. She did in fact become a fundamental piece for Rika during the final events, but I was sad to see that she apparently had a not very good and even melancholy fate.

And how can we not mention the masterpiece that was episode 16? Among all that we've seen, this moment was much more exciting and cathartic than anything we've seen before. It was a promising entry from a different Satoko. It seemed that she was the villain of the series, and in fact, she comes to be. When Eua offers part of its powers to Satoko, it uses it to normalize the problems that Rika leaving Hinamizawa would leave forever marked in these infinite fragments. It is not common, nor usual to see Satoko being a scary character in Higurashi. The cases always involved Rena, Shion, Keichi and Mion as the biggest protagonists and cursed. Satoko has never been so prominent before, and I loved it. Her personality having a little change, experiencing everything that Rika lived, was a great narrative to follow the story forward. I like alternating postures and psychological dualities in Higurashi, but Satoko's perspective has outgrown much of what has already been brought up. She starts from a child who loves her friend as her only family to a young woman unsure about the upheaval that changes in her friendship with Rika could change Hinamizawa's course. And even though this seems to be a spook on Satoko's part, her side of concern for her home village is visible, after all, even if there is a perfect destination, Higurashi always contains tragedies and plot twists, where some moments are not predictable. Higurashi Gou was like that and knew how to use his elements very well.

Another issue to be valued is the production of the show. Of course, Higurashi was never an anime to be praised for its animation, that I confess, but the Passione studio brought a much better look than the art of 2006 and brought it much closer with the version of the games. This aesthetic is reminiscent of the Monotagari Series (of course, the show's designer did direct work on this series), in addition to appropriating more up-to-date environments. Again, some episodes are not well used even with this improvement, it is not easy to accept the Kimiyoshi scene in episode 15, for example, but it was the best they were able to do in its entirety. Many moments had a very good and above average graphic, which made me happy from the beginning. In addition, the songs again are one of the strongest points of the franchise. The opening was very good for the situations that the anime was in with the time, besides the endings were absurdly good. Irregular Entropy and God's Syndrome are songs that will mark me forever, because in addition to adding well to the message that Higurashi wants to convey, he promoted a great artistic style in the images that composed them throughout the show. The plot? As already said, he was creative, innovative and brought a different posture. It was a perfection made by the show's screenwriter, who knew how to take advantage of many of Higurashi's details, in addition to his references to the old one and the game, which are huge. The director was also impeccable at many times (episode 16 was, for me, the best of all anime in 2020, easily). The franchise can surely celebrate with the result obtained. When They Cry and 07th Expansion must be happy.

Many are wondering if Higurashi Gou can continue with a sequel. I feel like yes. At times, the show has convinced itself that it has more to show. It's not like everything that happened was empty, there are already 3 other seasons that show that clearly. But it would be great to see other strands and attempts in history, to continue the series seriously. Particularly, Hinamizawa has a lot of content to be explored, that is a fact. So, continuing with a few more episodes and a new sequence would bring new chances and adaptations to the show as a whole.

(And look what a surprise, before sending the review, Higurashi will have a sequence confirmed by Funimation.)

Finally, if you've made it this far, you should realize that it's not just any anime. Higurashi marked generations (me too) and broke many paradigms of horror and suspense, something that has not been seen for a long time. 2020 was a difficult year, the anime obviously suffered from the bad reception of many fans and newcomers with the show. I must say, it is normal and I respect the position of these people. Nobody imagined that these more controversial versions and changes in history would be chosen by Kawaguchi. However, I loved everything that was proposed. Higurashi has entered my favorites because of this season, which, for me, is nothing short of great. I really hope for a possible reinterpretation of people with the show, in fact, we are talking about a unique and exclusive content, the beloved of Ryukishi07, a little commented masterpiece. Congratulations to everyone who pledged to make this anime. Congratulations to Passione, for taking such a good title and continuing with great originality. To those who didn't watch the first few seasons, I highly recommend watching it, if it pleased you. You will certainly have no regrets about this.

NIPPAH <3

A REVIEW AND WARNING FOR EVERYONE WATCHING OR PLANNING TO WATCH: > Higurashi no naku koro ni: Gou I see a lot, and i mean A LOT, of negative reviews for this show... and i think this is clearly because most people came into this show with the wrong mindset. THIS. IS. NOT. A. REMAKE. THIS IS A SEQUEL! A THIRD SEASON! This should have been clear from episode 2 and the opening alone. (Slight Spoiler Warning if you haven't seen/read the original) Episode 2 immediately jumps into it and shows you Hanyuu (who wasn't even introduced in the first season of the Deen adaptation) with Rika talking about the timeloops and how they "returned once again" while they supposedly finally escaped that hell.

(Slight Spoiler End)

When it comes to the opening I'd like to make one more thing clear:

THIS SEQUEL WILL MOST CERTAINLY HAVE CONNECTIONS WITH UMINEKO IN SOME SHAPE OR FORM, SO IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE UMINEKO VISUAL NOVEL, THEN I ADVICE YOU DO THIS BEFORE CONTINUING OR STARTING THIS SHOW.

Why am I so sure? In the opening we get to see Featherine's silhouette and a shot of the Ushiromiya mansion.

In case you have seen Higurashi Rei, remember Rika talking about "Bernkastel"?

Shes also a character from Umineko.

Anyway, because they clearly show this in the opening, we can probally except some twist that will be better understood and more enjoyed with knowledge about the Umineko franchise. Ofcourse even I dont know what this twist will be, which is making me (as a fan of both Higurashi and Umineko) very hyped up and excited! But ofcourse for people unaware of Umineko this will probally be misunderstood/vague or just straight up confusing.

I'd like to go into more detail, but to avoid spoilers for Umineko, I'll be brief about this part:

The Higurashi story is a game to the witches, just another fragment they decided to play with, i also speculate that the "Rika" with the red eyes is actually Bernkastel.

And the fact that the mansion is shown and not just Featherine, who is another witch, gives me the feeling this won't just be a little cameo...

The main reason for my review is clearing up confusion about the show and make people realise this hate/dissapointment is undeserved (at this point in time, episode 14)

When it comes to the pacing of the show, its a little faster then season 1, but if you already know about the original arc that the new one is another "route" of, then its understandable... because most of us already know what happened in that arc, until ofcourse the parts where it changes.

This is also another confirmation that this is a sequel, every arc goes into a completely different direction while Rika uses the tactics she learned from the previous time she experienced this arc, but instead of it going smoothly by already knowing how to handle the situation.. it somehow ends up going horribly wrong anyway. This is in my opinion intriguing.

This is the mystery we are trying to solve with this new season: what changed, why is Rika back and why are things not going the way they're supposed to.

UPDATE: The current arc, Nekodamashi-hen (episode 14-15-16), is an arc that hasn't been in the Deen adaptation OR the visual novel. From here on out, everything will be freshly new content.

IN CONCLUSION, I'll say it in red, this is the best way to experience Higurashi Gou

1. Read the Higurashi VN OR Watch the Studio Deen adaptation (VN is recommended)

2. READ the Umineko no naku koro ni visual novel, DO NOT watch the incomplete rushed anime.

3. Change your mindset of what you're expecting this show to be. Keep an open mind and make sure your knowledge about the franchise is up to date.

Just by having prior knowledge and an open mind, this level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika. What do you think, everyone? ಸ‿ಸ

To turn a remake into a failure, you simply have to make it worse than the original, and to turn a sequel into a failure, you have to make it contribute nothing of value to and be so significantly worse than its predecessors that watching it actually dilutes the quality of the entire series as a whole. In an effort to be simultaneously accessible to newcomers and satisfying to long time fans, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou tries to be a remake and a sequel at the same time, but it manages to only have the failures of both, so the resulting mess shouldhardly pander to either demographic at all. While I’m not going to spoil anything specific, it's worth mentioning this show begins exactly where season one does, but it also immediately exposes secrets from season two before finishing a single arc or even establishing the fact this series is a time loop, thus it dismantles everything good about the original mystery by revealing what's inside the mystery box before you even knew it was there. Newcomers won’t appreciate or even comprehend the significance of certain knowledge without fully understanding the time loop and will also fail to recognize principle characters when so much focus is being shifted to those who shouldn't even be introduced yet, and fans of the original will be confused as to why any of this is appearing so soon and in such a jumbled fashion. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou consistently miscalculates how it plans to cohesively rearrange major fixtures of the plot so often, it fails to even feel like the same story any longer.

Before I even criticize the writing in depth, however, I first must decry the aspect of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou which turned me off to it even before fully comprehending its horrendous narrative structure and other fundamental problems: and that is its art style. Studio Deen has been well known in all the wrong ways for all the right reasons for the last twenty five years, and the original Higurashi no Naku Koro ni was no exception to their sometimes disastrous animation production values. That said, as much as the community wants to make memes out of awkward looking screenshots, the scratchy hand-drawn look of Deen’s linework combined with the simple colors and thick retro shadows Chiaki Kon used to juggle the show’s two very different tones made the general atmosphere feel extremely artful and visually cohesive, and when it came to the true horror and gore, the disregard for the anatomical integrity of the character art really did contribute to the demented feeling of the already shocking scenarios. The animation quality of Studio Passione’s Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou is consistently and clearly higher than that of the original Deen projects, but the actual art design and visual style is inarguably uninspired, and in my own personal opinion, just downright ugly. Everything looks so uncannily shiny and clean despite the naturalistic setting of Hinamizawa, and the glossy, digital coloration on all the character art just makes everyone look inhuman. It’s impossibly unimmersive.

It’s almost a shame the original voice cast did such a good job reprising their roles, because the writing is so dull, it turned a thriller into a slog. While season two definitely slowed down to unpack the mystery and finally work towards a solution to stop the loop and save the day, season one was absolutely nail-biting, fiercely memorable, and filled to the brim with clues and hints season two would eventually come around to piece together. Every episode had it’s own twists and turns, and even some of the dialogue found in the saccharine scenes at the beginning of each loop was meant to imply something important to the plot, and this tight script never failed to keep you so far on the edge of your seat, you’d nearly fall off when the excitement went up to eleven. However, this ability to remain engaging throughout has been entirely lost. The same meandering conversations and pandering diversions from the story at hand which are so common in anime nowadays have now penetrated a franchise as famously intoxicating as this one, and the resulting show is honestly boring to sit through. The worst part of it all, though, is the caveat of expanded universe. It turns out a lot of the alterations that make no sense even to those who’ve seen the original are actually elements from the Higurashi AND Umineko visual novels, so if you want the full experience, you have to venture outside the franchise and outside the entire god damn medium of animation which you came to enjoy in the first place to do so.

Being the cynical bitch I am, my original conception of this project was one of pure skepticism and dismissal upon first seeing the key visual with Reina’s new generic moe design. If anything, I figured they were just bringing the series back to milk it for the gore and call it a day, but they didn’t even deliver on that. The death scenes are paltry when compared to the legendary originals, and I think it all just comes down to a misguided vision for what the series was or, frankly, just bad directing. To even do the whole remake-but-also-a-sequel thing at all, they had to make the first episode essentially a one-to-one copy of the original to mislead everyone into thinking they were starting from narrative scratch, and even though the show slowly but surely crashes and burns, I think this was a good decision to begin with because it gives the audience a perfect and immediate opportunity to directly compare the two iterations. Say what you will about Chiaki Kon as a creative, and say what you will about Studio Deen as a production company, but you simply must recognize how well the original team captured the foreboding ambiance 07th Expansion manifests within the core of all their works, and you also must appreciate how electrifying the tension was in Kon’s sporadic direction, sporadic direction which itself demonstrated how expertly she was able to capture Ryukishi’s whiplashing tone shifts. Basically, it’s a matter of artistic inspiration, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou has absolutely none.

Thank you for reading.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS The entire time spent watching Higurashi Gou, I found a pair of questions plaguing my mind: who is this for and why does it exist? Unfortunately, two cours later I still lack any satisfactory answers. As much as I’d like to believe this exists for reasons beyond plugging a gacha game and lining the creators’ pockets, I’m struggling to say otherwise. I can only hope the upcoming sequel Sotsu will be able to build off of Gou’s foundation and take this story anywhere interesting or meaningful; as is, the only things I can credit Gou for are its extreme lack of respect forthe viewer’s time and mental capacities, and its incessant desire to subvert the viewer’s expectations and stomp over everything the original series stood for.

Let me start by reiterating the question of ‘who is this for?’, because I think it’s a key point to criticizing Gou. As many viewers unfortunately found out the hard way, Higurashi Gou is not a remake -- despite being initially marketed as such. The only possible explanations I can come up with for this decision are a) getting more viewers by baiting people unfamiliar with the franchise to watch it and b) Ryukishi07 having a lot of fun messing with people. Given statements that Higurashi Gou would be welcoming for these new viewers, I’m inclined to believe there’s at least some truth to the latter.

Of course, Gou spoils the original series pretty significantly and I think everyone acquainted with it would agree that this isn’t a good starting point for newcomers. Therefore, Higurashi Gou must be targeted towards the existing fans of the series, right?

Well… sort of?

See, one of Gou’s biggest issues is that it spends its entire runtime hedging the interests of both groups. This fundamentally doesn’t work; it only succeeds in confusing newer viewers while ruining many twists of the original story. Meanwhile, this only makes the story drag on and on for experienced viewers, who have to sit through recap after recap that add virtually nothing to Gou’s new story.

The entire first cour falls heavily into this trap. (Spoilers ahead because I can’t really criticize Gou without discussing its one significant plot twist.) It’s essentially 13 episodes of accelerated rehashing, except the endings to the arcs have changed in an effort to capture experienced viewers’ interest. The arcs don’t work anywhere nearly as well because they’re built to have very different payoffs; in fact, they mainly serve to introduce newer viewers to the cast. That being said, I’m critiquing this as what it is: a sequel and not a reboot -- so I don’t really care about that.

What I do -- or rather /did/ -- care about was the new mysteries the first cour set up. It seemed to build up some grand web of mystique in the vein of the original. I was curious; what was up with the Sonozaki sisters -- was it Mion this time who’d gone L5? What was up with Satoko, or Ooishi, or Takano? Why was Rika merely sitting back and watching things go awry this time after the lessons of the original series?

The aforementioned subversions of expectations had already begun. A quick reveal that this was a sequel, a gradual reveal that someone new was likely pulling the strings, and twist endings for each rehashed arc of the original Higurashi -- all providing just enough interest through a lot of dry reused content to keep me wanting to push through. Little did I know anything interesting about this first cour was just another subversion, as the second cour makes it all pointless.

(Re)acquainting the viewer with the original cast? None of them have any plot relevance aside from Rika and Satoko. Setting up a grand sense of mystery with all the twists and moving parts? Too bad, the only purpose to any of it was the obvious things. Someone was deliberately making the arcs that should be going right go horribly wrong in new ways (and yes, that someone was Satoko, who everyone and their dog was suspicious of by the end of the cour. More on her later, of course.) Characters acting suspiciously out of character (such as Rika conveniently deciding to ignore her friends when confiding in them was what saved her in the first place)? Either a result of Gou changing arc endings for the sake of changing them or of Gou deciding to make them out of character (which certainly wasn’t about to stop).

Anyways, moving into the second cour we get our first arc, Nekodamashi-hen. The first two episodes of Nekodamashi-hen exist to convey one point: being Rika Furude is suffering. In particular, the second one begins to make it clear Gou just wants to spin its wheels and waste time -- a theme that only gets clearer across the second cour (just in case a cour of rehash to foreshadow one or two meaningful points didn’t get it across). It finally addresses Rika’s lack of seeking help by flash-forwarding through a bunch of outright comical gore scenes (more on that later as well) where everyone betrays her. Any sense of mystery created earlier on evaporates as the show bashes into your head ‘someone is clearly trying to mess with Rika’.

After this, the third episode decides there hadn’t been enough pointless gore/torture porn and spends ten minutes having Satoko drag out Rika’s intestines. It was at this exact moment that I gave up on expecting Gou to be clever or meaningful.

Let’s compare the Deen adaption for a moment -- something that (regardless of any of many fair criticisms levied at it) tried to be legitimately unsettling instead of purely relying upon cheap theatrics. Deen adaption? Realizes that describing Watanagashi is already enough to rattle a viewer. Gou? Spends half an episode dragging out showing it in excruciating detail. Deen adaption? Certainly goes extra with the gore/violence aspect at points, but is purposeful with them and usually wraps them in enough meaningful mystery or character/plot-related intensity to make it captivating. Scenes like that time Keiichi and Satoko stumble upon Rika’s mutilated corpse build an atmosphere of mystery and tension, scenes like Shion butchering Satoko and having a mental breakdown further the extremely messed up character development at play and have significant payoffs later in the series, etc etc. Gou? Mindless drawn out violence for the sake of mindless drawn out violence. Blood splatters the size of a small tsunami attached to a bright, lively art style that both combine to make it impossible to take anything seriously. Bonking people on the head with a baseball bat and having their eyes comically bulge out. At one point, a character throws themself in front of a bus just to comically blood splatter another character. It’s impossible to take any of it seriously.

Anyways, back to the episode. Ignoring the comically bad torture porn, this is also where Gou begins to completely break down in portraying the characters. Rika at this point is down worse than she was at the beginning of Kai. She curses her cruel fate, wants nothing more than to leave Hinamizawa and all of the horrible memories she has attached there, and has basically given up on trying to fight against it. (It’s already rather strange that Rika wants to leave behind Hinamizawa and most of her friends given the message of the original series. It’s even stranger given Higurashi Rei (which completely contradicts this motive), but wanting to leave behind a century of awful memories is rationalizable so I digress.)

Satoko (who Rika at least thinks has gone L5 and completely insane from Hinamizawa Syndrome) says some mumbo-jumbo to her about how Rika is cursed by Oyashiro, and Rika’s character motives built up through the last arc almost entirely evaporate. Never mind that Rika is even intimately familiar with ‘Oyashiro’ -- that’s all it takes. She goes from literally wanting to commit suicide to ‘Actually, I wouldn’t trade my time for Hinamizawa in the world’ because of a bit of gaslighting.

If you thought that character moment was nonsensical, the next arc then tops it with an outright butchering of Satoko’s character. We’re lead to feel sympathetic for Satoko because Rika “abandoned her” (emphasis on the quotation marks), which is supposed to make us feel bad for the character who’s time-looping to torture and gaslight her supposed friend into staying with her forever and in general massacring her friends and village over repetitive timeloops.

This abandonment consists of Rika wanting to leave Hinamizawa, going to a fancy boarding school, and making a bunch of new high society friends while Satoko struggles academically. She offers to help Satoko, Satoko refuses, and isn’t capable of keeping up with the school. This causes her to fall into a state where she wants to loop back and change everything, and is somehow granted that power by a new, suspiciously Umineko-like Hanyuu equivalent.

Reasonable enough progression so far, right?

Satoko then loops back, gets persuaded by Rika to go through essentially the same loop again because Rika says she’d never abandon her friend, refuses Rika’s help again, and ends up in the same situation. This causes Satoko to become so mad and distrustful of Rika she goes insane and turns into a cartoon villain obsessing over making the perfect timeline where Rika stays with her forever.

I can only believe there’s some sort of modified Hinamizawa Syndrome at work here, as Satoko from this point onward makes no sense with the original depiction of the character (or in general for that matter). However, given the show spends an entire arc establishing her motives -- along with multiple episodes that add nothing to the story beyond ‘In case you didn’t notice the last ten times we said it, yes Satoko is bad now’... it’s hard for me to say that with conviction.

(Seriously, in case I haven’t conveyed how ridiculous this becomes, here’s an example. There’s a point where Satoko’s given access to the timelines Rika suffered through over a century, and Satoko’s response is “I must watch them all to understand her”. The show then tells us she spends a century watching timelines of everything going wrong, comes out of it with zero change to her motivations (if anything she’s more gung-ho to manipulate Rika and feels less sympathy for her ‘friend’), and carries on as if this is a completely logical response to a friend growing more distant from you.)

The subversions of expectations only continue to grow in the final arc -- I can only imagine R07 is having a lot of fun messing with us. The plot stops moving entirely after Rika’s arc after leaving off at a cliffhanger and never comes back, even after a very in-depth flashback of Satoko’s motivations. With three episodes left, it slows to an absolute crawl with no meaningful progression. The first of these three episodes is another episode that adds literally nothing to the story -- it’s just Satoko and ‘Eua’ talking and plotting with more establishment that Satoko is acting completely out of character… just in case we couldn’t realize Satoko has become bad? She also finds out about Satoshi and doesn’t seem to particularly care, which outright makes no sense given her obsession and complexes towards him in the original, but whatever -- why start being in-character now.

The second decides to throw in a random Teppei redemption arc. While this episode does at least try to do something interesting, I unsurprisingly don’t feel particularly sympathetic for an abusive father who beats and abandons a young child just because he realizes he’s going to die alone. Perhaps the sequel will build off of this in useful ways, but it adds nothing to the story so far (not to mention it feels like an appalling narrative given the character’s previous depiction). Otherwise, the episode seemingly exists just to demonstrate characters can learn things over the course of loops (something we already knew about).

The next episode (and finale for the series) also exists for the same reason. It tries to explain some of the mysteries of the first cour (Takano’s motivations and how Satoko acquired the virus), but a) the concept has already been established many times over, b) the viewer can infer how Satoko’s looping powers could gain her access to the virus without an episode dedicated to it (if anything the idea that ‘Satoko has to codebreak to get the virus and does it by manually attempting and resetting every time she guess the wrong password’ is stupider than any way I would’ve imagined), and c) resolving the random mysteries of the first cour means nothing if they don’t matter whatsoever to the plot -- you’re just adding content for the sake of adding content. Half the episode is also spent as a flashback to Kai -- even during the season finale Gou still attempts to cater to new Higurashi viewers by exposition dumping the plot of the original series.

I’ve said it before, but Gou really feels like it has no respect for the viewer’s time. Having completed the series, I feel like I watched about 3 episodes of content stretched across 2 cours. The entire plot can be summed up as follows: Rika is returned to June 1983, and this time everything is being directly manipulated against her. It’s eventually revealed that this is being done by Satoko, who feels betrayed by Rika and wants to create a timeline where Rika and her are happily together.

That is the entire plot of two whole cours. Any attempted sense of misdirection feels like just that -- misdirection for misdirection’s sake to pad for time. Any revisiting of anything else feels like it’s just there to pad for time. Any usage of other existing characters feels like it’s just there to pad for time.

Even now, I’d still like to believe there’s more to this story -- I still hope in vain for Sotsu to redeem some of this drudgery. Unfortunately, all I can say for now is I came into Gou wanting to revisit both the deep web of mystery and beloved cast of the original Higurashi, and found a distinct lack of either. Instead, I found a sequel that only serves to trample on everything I loved about Higurashi. The messaging of the value of trust and friendship are gone, replaced with dreary cynicism and misery. Instead everyone has been quietly broken apart -- I can’t help but think of one background point where the show mentions Mion’s been ignoring her old friends for months now that she’s a college student. Shion completely disappears and Rena and even Keiichi -- the one who Rika once viewed as the key to changing fate -- have stopped mattering entirely. Any of the hidden depth of the characters feels forgotten in favour of dumbing them down to the repeated jokes, and any of the heart the series has disappears with it.

Any mysteries show in Gou feel like they’re just there to spin their wheels pointlessly, and any cleverness and subtlety in the show feels like it’s been thrown out the window in favour of repetitively shoving points down the viewer’s throat to convey their importance. Any genuine sense of tension or psychological unease has disappeared in favour of cheap theatrics befitting a c-list horror movie. Any meaning to these varied timelines has also disappeared; Satoko even literally says in the final episode that all her failed timelines don’t matter, and they only feel like some combination of dead space and misery for misery’s sake. The pacing drags on at a snail’s pace, and it doesn’t even matter because nothing matters anymore -- this new hellbound Satoko can simply snap her fingers and undo it with her new ridiculously broken powers.

Higurashi Gou has either intentionally or unintentionally deconstructed basically every strength of the series. While some fans seem to find that entertaining, I simply cannot understand why anyone would want that. I don’t even possibly know where it’s going anymore, and I’m not even sure I want to find out. I’m sure I’ll end up watching Sotsu regardless, hoping in vain to recapture some of the magic that made me love this series in the first place, and I suspect I’ll end up back here again venting my absolute disappointment. Maybe it’ll turn out better and redeem some of Gou’s failings for me, but I can’t see any world in which this wasn’t a huge letdown.

Oh boy. This is a review I wish I didn’t have to write. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou was my most anticipated show from the Fall 2020 season, but in its current state it’s shaping up to be a disappointment to fans of the original, and confusing to newcomers to the series. Disclaimer: this show is still ongoing. All of my thoughts are subject to change as the show progresses. With that out of the way, let’s dive in. I’m not sure if Passione ever officially said this would be a remake, but that’s definitely what everyone thought it was going to be. Google “Higurashiremake” and you’ll see what I mean. Well, turns out that they pulled a fast one on us and instead of giving the original series the Fruits Basket treatment, this is actually (kinda?) a third season! I’m not marking that as a spoiler since it’s obvious from episode 1. The way they’ve done this is weird though. Instead of all new content, they’re remaking the arcs from the original show but giving them different endings. I’m sure as the season progresses it’ll deviate more and more from the first season, but the unfortunate consequence of that decision is that it leads your brain to make direct comparisons to the original show. So, how does the new one stack up to the old one? So far, not so well.

The first issue I have with Gou is the animation. Let’s think back to the original show; we all know Studio Deen is famous for… ahem… “subpar” animation. And the old Higurashi definitely suffered from that, mainly in the first season. Characters were often drawn off-model, backgrounds were simple, character proportions were kinda off, movement was stiff. But the one thing Deen did right is they basically had 2 “modes” for the show: moe mode, and horror mode. During the majority of the show when characters were acting normally, everything had a bright moe look. But when the horror started, everything about the art style changed. Lighting got darker, camera angles went askew, and character proportions changed. You could tell just from the stylistic changes that some serious stuff was about to go down. Sometimes they’d even use that as a fake-out—they’d change to “horror” mode, but the scene would pass and nothing would happen. That added suspense and tension, and kept us as the audience from ever getting too comfortable in this world.

The new show is bright and moe all. the. time. Even during the kills. I’ve seen people try to defend that as being some kind of deliberate contrast. “It’s supposed to be shocking seeing these cute characters covered in blood and killing people!” Yeah, that’s shocking, but it’s not scary. The worst change has probably been to the famous “Higurashi face”. You know the one, it’s been imitated in almost every horror anime since. In the original show, characters’ faces would become heavily distorted during the intense horror scenes, sometimes to an almost unrecognizable extent. In the new one, they stay too moe. They eyes are still too soft and round and the expressions aren’t as intense. I was really excited to see the Higurashi face updated to 2020 animation standards, but from its first appearance, I’ve been disappointed.

The second issue I have is with the writing. The original Higurashi was, in my opinion, a masterclass in tight writing. Every episode flew by; 24 minutes always felt like 5. This is because every line mattered. Every conversation mattered. Every scene mattered. You couldn’t take anything away from the original show without losing something. That’s how a good show should be, it keeps you engaged by always feeding you relevant information. The way a show starts to drag is by having lines of pointless dialogue, characters repeating themselves, or having filler scenes that go nowhere. That’s the trap (pun intended) the new show is starting to fall into.

For example, in the original show, we establish early in the second season that the character Satoko makes traps. It’s established quickly in one scene in episode 2, it’s played for laughs in episode 3, and it isn’t brought up again until it becomes relevant to the plot. And in each of those instances, we’re taught something about the other characters, too; it doesn’t JUST establish Satoko’s trap-making skill. In the new show, we establish her trap-making skill in the first 10 minutes of episode 1 in a new scene where she hides a blackboard eraser in a doorjamb. Keiichi falls for it, and then the characters practically mug to the camera and go “Hey, did you know, SATAKO MAKES TRAPS???” And then again, at the end of the same episode, Satoko wins their scavenger hunt for a marker with a trap which, this time, makes no sense how she could have set one up without knowing ahead of time where the marker was. A throwaway line like, “Satoko has traps set all over the school!” could have explained it away, but we get nothing. Instead, it just re-establishes what we already know.

There’s an even worse example in episode 4 where Keiichi ends up in the hospital after being attacked by a certain character. Ooshi walks into his hospital room and asks him to explain what happened, and Keiichi basically tells him he doesn’t know what happened. Ooshi says “I’ll visit again soon. Feel better.” and walks out. I still don’t understand what the point of that interaction was. We already know Keiichi is confused, that interaction didn’t teach us anything we didn’t already know about the characters or the plot.

One other thing that bothers me is how early they’re revealing an important aspect of a certain character. I won’t get into detail on that one because it’s major spoilers if you haven’t watched either show, but suffice to say that if you’re a newcomer and you start with Gou, you will have certain elements of the original spoiled for you if you do decide to go back and watch the original show. That wouldn’t matter if this was a direct remake, but like I said before, it seems like it’s a third season, meaning you still have to watch the original to get the full story.

Overall, I think it’s still too early to tell how good this show will ultimately be. But as of episode 6, there are some early warning signs that this season might not live up to the legendary status of its predecessors. Here’s to hoping they manage to surprise us.

If you stumbled upon this article because you're curious about Higurashi and think you can start from here. This is the place for you. Don't worry. I won't include any spoilers at all. Now let me tell you, this is not a remake, a reboot, a spin-off, or any of that. It's a bonafide sequel. Whoever told you otherwise is a liar and should be ashamed of themselves. When it comes to the haters. Are there what seems to be what you call plotholes, or simply that things don't make sense? What did you expect? If you have watched the prequel and not wandered intoGou just cause, you'd know these things. I want to say I am honestly disappointed in those who dare call themselves fans of the visual novel. Did you even realize that Gou is by far the most consistent Higurashi to date that follows the style of the visual novel to the teeth and Ryukishi's writing? It's answering questions that only true fans are aware of from the prequel, expanding on topics hinted at in Higurashi, all the while establishing a proper connection to Umineko and even the newly WTC (When They Cry) visual novel Ciconia. On top of all that, while building upon the finer details from previous Higurashi. It's giving us a new story that still manages to retain the mysterious and other aspects we love from Higurashi. In other words, if you are a Ryukishi07 enthusiast. It doesn't get any better than this.

I have seen all kinds of nonsensical reasons to justify the hate. If you are talking about production being a hit or miss or other inconsistencies. I get where you're coming from, even if I don't entirely agree, but having seen all of Higurashi, followed by Gou. All this should have at least told you from a writing point of view that Ryukishi's the kind of writer that likes to confuzzle the audience, make them feel utterly lost, give them a reason to use the mind. Hence leave enough evidence and clues to give them a crack at solving the puzzle pieces. The WTC franchise has always been the kind of story where you have to go through the entire story to genuinely appreciate it because it's designed that way. We only got parts of the pages in the book, but many are still missing, though it will be filled by Sotsu when it rolls around 2021 07/07. Bless you, for that reference, Ryukishi07. Higurashi Gou is first and foremost a sequel. In which case, it means we got five seasons of Higurashi (Rei and Sotsu included). I cannot even begin to express my happiness at the thought of that. Ryukishi is known to write his story in a way where each work influences the other, making the experience richer and even savourier. Hence, reading another work from WTC might give you a completely new perception of what Higurashi as a whole is about.

It might make things even easier to follow or hard, depending on how you take it. Regardless, if you're done with Higurashi, I highly suggest checking out Umineko's visual novel or the manga (not the awful anime adaptation). Another masterpiece by the hands of Ryukishi. It'll definitely clear your mind and give you a completely new comprehension. Let me throw this out there the "origin of miracles" and the "origin of certainty." If you've read Umineko already, then you should know what I am hinting at here. I won't include direct spoilers as I want everyone the joy of figuring it out for themselves. After all, part of the fun about any entries of WTC (When They Cry) is being able to predict and theorize to your heart's content. Oh, not to mention witnessing how completely off the mark you are when your ideas fall flat as Ryukishi sneers at you. I will admit it was not cool of Ryukishi to introduce Gou as a remake or a reboot. That even the newcomers can watch it. Considering it spoils major chunks of Higurashi in the second episode. In contrast, in the first episode, things are not as clear. Sadly, not everyone knows that Ryukishi is a major troll that lies as naturally as he breathes. But you have to be lying to me if you said nothing felt off by the second episode. It's true Higurashi is meant to give you a sense of feeling lost, things not making sense, but Gou took that to another level. If you watched it without having seen previous installments, you could tell it was clearly not friendly to newcomers even for a bit, suggesting it might've been a sequel, which it happened to be.

There's no denying the new art's more lighthearted than the previous Higurashi, which might ruin the atmospheric tone for some. In my case, I love it. Why? Because it's the most faithful style to the visual novel, we've received yet. I adore the good old art-style from the Deen adaptation, too, but when it comes to expressions and comedy, it hits far stronger with this new style. The characters have never been so expressive without looking all messy and off-modeled, which is a recurring issue in the Deen version. Even voice-acting has been absolutely top-notch and cleaner, as you would expect with upgraded software and hardware. No, the production and direction are not perfect, but would you seriously call it terrible? Not even close. I have nothing but praise for Akio Watanabe's gorgeous and rich art-style and Keiichiro Kawaguchi's strong direction, which never made me wonder if I was watching anything but Higurashi. One specific episode was a genuine masterpiece, from the direction to the voice acting, to the shot composition, to the way the colors were used to emphasize the severity of the situation. Oh, let's not forget about the gore and the sound effects, which make you so uncomfortable that you have to turn away or cover your eyes. It was gruesome, but it also illustrated the unstable mind of a certain someone.

And Most of the few animation inconsistencies here and there can easily be fixed in the BD release. Studio Passione didn't even shy away from gore by giving us an early release of few uncensored episodes. Sadly, haters somehow found a way to insult it even that, failing to notice how good the effects, the tone, and brutality were. Trust me, this was gore without any limitations whatsoever. I was cringing like mad, had to even cover my eyes since it was truly a visceral spectacle. Don't get me wrong here. I loved it, even if it made me hold onto my gut as my life counted on it. Gou also got a manga adaptation that was released at the same time as the anime. It includes more details that anime cut out. The art-style of Tomose Akase is absolutely gorgeous, as is the execution of the tone and paneling. Think of the manga as a supplementary to the anime. It's amazing so far. Chapter comes out on a bi-monthly basis.

Did you know Higurashi has always been more of a mystery than a horror story, but not many seem to not understand that? Sure, the first part clearly had lots of jumpscares and other terrifying moments that made you jump out of your seat. But Higurashi always has been a circle of tragedies with a big dash of mystery to make you feel lost, question things, and so on. The unfamiliarity of Hinamizawa and the things going on there had us under the influence of paranoia. But at the end of the road, we got our answers, and we knew where and how to connect the dots. In Gou's case, it's trying to sell itself even more as a tragedy than horror. That might be why you don't feel as frightened, but you're straight out lying if you said you're not feeling lost either. An example of this is the iconic main theme of Higurashi. The original version has a more scary and paranoid vibe, while the Gou version sounds sad and emanates a feeling of loss and suffering. In other words, tragedy. Hopefully, you see the point I am trying to make here. Gou is a completely new take on our beloved Higurashi without losing key elements of the prequel. On another note, the soundtrack in Higurashi Gou is phenomenal and nails its relevant themes Gou is trying to showcase. We had Asaka on the opening, blessing us with a bopper track. Ayane returned again with more striking and beautiful tunes. Mind you, both songs include heavy symbolism, foreshadowing, context. Even the dialogue is super important. You can tell Ryukishi was there with Passion supporting them and instructing them as clearly, his fingerprints are everywhere.

Yes, I loved Higurashi Gou as if it was not obvious already, plus evidently, I am biased with it, but that's fine. I am not forcing you to take things I am writing her for granted. If I can offer you a new perspective and give you some value, then that's enough for me. I don't like seeing one of my favorite writers being insulted when haters aren't even able to provide logical reasoning to support their rant. So here I will state who Higurashi and WTC franchise as a whole is truly meant for. Are you on the lookout for a puzzle that might seem hazy not make sense at first, but gradually as the pieces get revealed, it falls in places? Do you love the idea of been giving the room to theorize and predict events? Then there you go. It's also worth noting, you need to patient, have your brain on at all times, be open-minded, able to think outside of the box. Higurashi is not meant for your average watcher or reader. What's so good about Higurashi? It's the fact Ryukishi utilizes details from his enormous WTC collection to build upon and expand the story further. Plus, he somehow makes things always connect when it seems impossible and does a wonderful job of explaining it. He writes the works to also gives out a very meaningful and emotional message that is relevant in the current day and even the past. If you are curious about more of those takes, I suggest reading my first Higurashi review, which also includes no spoilers and delves into characters, among other things. You can find it on my Anilist. I mainly wanted this review to show you why Gou was always meant to be a thing, should you watch it and dispel some of the hate it's been received by others.

In any case, Higurashi Gou is my favorite anime of the 2021 Spring season, and with Sotsu right around the corner. This new installment of Higurashi most likely will be my AOTY of 2021. My hats off to Ryukishi-sensei and the entirety staff off Passione. They killed it. If you have not already started Higurashi. I highly recommend it. Whether it be the superior visual novel, solid manga adaptation, or the a-okay but not even close to terrible anime. Sure, it's low-cost, but Deen nailed the atmospheric tone, even if many details from the manga and especially the visual novel got cut out. It's completely worth your time and a good way to dip your toes into WTC verse, even if it's not the best way and definite way to experience Higurashi. I didn't include any spoilers since Gou is so fragile that slipping some can ruin it completely. I want everyone to watch Higurashi and the second part of Higurashi, starting with Gou, ending with Sotsu. As blind as possible, you don't want to ruin this unique gem's once-in-a-lifetime experience. By the subtext, hints, even the writing, it's clear a lot of time and effort went into writing Gou. If you go ahead and reread Higurashi, you could see that it was even planned.

It should be noted, my score encompasses my enjoyment and the faith I have in Ryukishi when everything is complete, that's why it's already so high. Despite so, I also had moments where I was not entirely on board and failed to understand things in Gou, but in the last two arcs, I was completely absorbed into the story. I should've expected as much since I was lost during the very first Higurashi. Still, I was addicted the deeper I went into it. It tells me on a new rewatch, I will be able to appreciate it far more since now some key things do make sense. We know whodunnit, whydunnit, howdunnit, but clearly, there is a lot more story to tell. We have some of the keys to grasp certain details and comprehend them, even if the puzzle got holes left to fill. That's what makes Ryukishi such a brilliant writer since you know it's all intentional. There are hints of the events of Gou in the prequel even before it was a thing. You'd most likely only realize it first now since your perception will once again increase, alongside your passion for WTC. After all, this franchise is the kind of story that revisiting would be much more rewarding than the first time. Plus, reading other WTC works will again influence your feelings about other products from the WTC franchise.

At last, I want you to know Higurashi Gou (karma) is playing out like Kai because it answers parts of the questions but leaves the rest for a sequel. You might be confused about what's going on, but this will clearly be answered in Sotsu. All your worries will be laid to rest. The anime adaptation of Kai had two answers arc, so does Gou. But like prequel Higurashi, we might have eight arcs in total. Four of which are questions and the remeaning being the answers. In other words, Sotsu is the answer to all our questions. Plus, it will be the graduation, the ultimate closure to the whole Higurashi franchise. It's been going for over 20+ years, but Ryukishi can finally complete the whole puzzle at last. This is again hinting at Higurashi Gou always being planned. Don't even get me started on how Gou might be the segue into the events of Ciconia. If my words were able to pique your curiosity even slightly, take this chance to dip your toes in WTC, starting with Higurashi. Welcome to Hinamiazwa.

EDIT: (April 17, 2021): I actually disagree with the number I gave here but I can't take this down; it's the first time I got 70+ upvotes (T_T) lemme just say I don't like this anime enough to give it an 8 now...it was sort of okay in the beginning and got really bad in the middle but got just a little better later. ----------------------------- The creators tried to find a balance which both newcomers and revisitors to Higurashi can enjoy. In the first 2 episodes, the attempt is evident by the inserting of novel cutscenes of Rika, made short for newcomers but nevertheless done for thesake of revisitors; and alongside the cutscenes, the usual progression of the storyline continues keeping it newer for revisitors as much as it is altered. I’d like to emphasize that the revisitor can feel positive elements subtracted from the original.

The creators’ balancing is an attempt that feels appreciable but not largely successful in the eyes of a revisitor. The revisitor feels it is a pity the newcomer will miss out on starting Higurashi believing that 'magic' doesn't exist as the 'magical' aspect of Higurashi is awaiting him at the beginning of season 2 for his fine tasting of 'plot-twist.' One of the ingenious aspects of Higurashi was this surprising holy conversion to being magical themed from being non-magical themed.

The new anime fails to outdo its predecessor in making him invest his emotions and concerns for the characters. In the original, the moments of sloppily drawn characters which gave some moments of laughter induced by good “tsukkomi - boke” comedy (Rena’s ‘Omochikaeri’ is sort of like this), and the melancholy dim orange gleam of twilight which would transport you back in time to a day that you saw that light without a worry in the world were factors in making the watcher invested and that this newer anime doesn’t have so far. The intermittent cartoonish art of the original allowed more creativity for scripting the character’s interactions to make them feel more playful, naughty, and caring for each other, which, in turn, are also such factors. Despite having watched only up to episode 6, I can still say with some confidence that such emotion-investing factors will be much weaker in this anime because of its short length, 24 episodes, compared to the lengthy 50 episodes of the original (season 1 and 2 combined), and I will continue to explain why below.

There is a problem with this slightly newer plot that might come from a subjective viewpoint and is only noticeable to a revisitor. While we're thankful for another season of Higurashi, it just feels all too imprudent to cast Rika down the pit again right after her salvation from it. This plot decision expands the rift between reality and the fictional by its inhumanity; for the revisitor, the reality is that this plot change (or plot addition) doesn’t exist and the fictional is this plot change itself. What normally follows salvation is a time of rest and comfort, but to give her no time to rest only accomplishes the reinstating that Rika is damned to Hell for eternity and removes a 'Happily Ever After' which many of us have now falsely believed in for over a decade. Not only is Rika thrown down the pit again, the spirit of Hanyuu hovering in front of her is now only a remnant of her actual self. So that's more than adding just a bit of garnish to that undesired plate of suffering there. (Rika cooly accepts Hanyuu's image as a remnant without much agitation though) - the creators just seem to be shouting at the pit, “Just burn in hell a little longer for us, Rika, so we can earn more money!” - This inhumanity confirms the suddenness and rashness of the plot change that had no foreshadowing failing to shrink the rift that is key to pulling the revisitor back into the anime. It may not be so for the newcomer because nothing is sudden and rash about something that is new!

However, after episode 4, the revisitor will feel that the newer plot additions are surprisingly admissible to at least a “B-” in his criteria of “good remakes.” He will go like, “Ah, so this is the path they are taking!” The creators are taking the path that has been in the back of the mind of a fervent ponderer of Higurashi’s plot, someone who spends a lot of time loving the story: “What if Keiichi were to have done ____ than that? What if that happened instead of that?” He can start to foretell what left of this anime is going to be solved, assuming that there was anything left unsolved in the first place. He may also feel a little optimistic about the future and eager to find out the greater happiness this newer anime may beget than the happiness achieved at the end of season 2 - this may be the driving source of the revisitor to continue watching.

While my next line of criticism I have isn't one that the creator is largely responsible for, I have to mention it. It is a problem for me that this new anime doesn't facilitate your reminiscence of June of 1983, a time long before many of us were born, by forgoing the normal artstyle: the old colorings, old anime hairstyles which bangs of great sizes were drawn in, (Rika's bangs used to be so much bigger), weird head-to-body ratio in cartoon scenes, cute cartoony Rena, and the recordings of cicadas' cries from what feels like the summer of 1983. The somewhat fuzzy and older artstyle itself seemed to testify that it came from that year. The mesmerizing sound of teeming bugs on trees varying in volume and always humming in the background made it feel like life undoubtedly exist in this world of Higurashi, a world whose main theme is so contradictory to that very idea; this sound transported you to the past, in which wildlife was actually more abundant due to less pesticides and environmental damage done by humans. One of my prime reasons for loving Higurashi was this nostalgic reminiscence, but this may not matter to most people.

This Higurashi is in a newer artstyle, with refined characters, and with less sloppy artwork, but I wish they kept the same character design and art style as from Higurashi Kira... Their hair always has gloss; like, is the sun really shining from that direction? I think I am seeing gloss not only on their hair but on their cheeks as well…

I highly recommend the newcomer to watch the original first and then this. The more I progress, the more this opinion gets solidified because the newcomer will miss out on some hints and turning points so subtle the newcomer would never imagine was a hint. The faster pace of this newer anime may be an advantage because the original first season felt like it was going nowhere at times due to the lack of a “solution” and the redundancy felt in season 1. Watching the original required some patience, which is not required for this new anime, but the way the original drags you into their world is of another level, which this anime can’t do with its fast-paced dialogue and the less artistic scenes for the lack of time. Indeed, the dialogue is sometimes so fast-paced (noticeable in episode 6) that I feel like I am more in a theatre watching live actors and actresses speak their lines than a motion-picture with smooth sequences.

Overall, the balance isn't mastered, but will most likely be effective to produce its desired result: to entertain both newcomers and revisitors. For the moments of shock and the shivering tension pulling the newcomer to the edge of his or her seat still seems to remain in this new anime.

In all categories: 8 out of 10, but when viewing it with the eyes of comparison to the original, 7 out of 10 in all categories except the semi-new plot, which I haven’t finished.

Death, taxes, and…reviving older franchises? Higurashi isn’t some ancient artifact but it’s been nearly 15 years since its TV anime debut. Higurashi is destined to get a new anime series and is here to make a statement. The new Higurashi takes place 13 years since the last proper Higurashi anime. Originally, viewers thought the new show was a remake but soon realized that it’s actually an entirely new story. How about that? A new Higurashi with mystery thriller themes that fans have been anticipated for after all these years. Even for new fans, Higurashi demonstrates its ability to tell a suspenseful story through its complex charactersand themes. Do you want to relive the Higurashi experience again?

To quite frank, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou has been somewhat of a niche show although it is popular among the visual novel community. It has even recently gained traction with its games on Steam and other gaming platforms. The anime had been planned out as a 2-cour (24 episodes) although was delayed for a full season. Helmed by studio Passione, you’ll quickly notice the visual change, especially the character designs. It’s been modified to fit more with more modern standards although the script is still handled by the one and only, Ryukishi07.

Yes, it’s a brand new story so to get the obvious of the way, can you watch this show without any knowledge of the franchise? The answer is both yes and no. While it does offer a new story experience, some of the recurring plot elements would be more enjoyable if you’ve seen the previous series. The new show is divided into 5 different arcs each telling a different story although with recurring elements. We start off with the first episode reintroducing the familiar cast including the iconic Ryuugu Rena. From this arc, we learn of the Curse of Oyashiro, a prominent recurring element of the overall franchise. We also learn of suspicious circumstances of mysterious deaths and disappearances in the fictional village Hinamizawa. From this arc, viewers will experience the darker secrets of the village and how each character roles is played. There’s also memorable moments such as Rena’s infamous door scene, her iconic ‘usoda!”, or Rika’s signature miko performances. To be honest, watching this new arc felt no less different than the old Higurashi. We have the familiar mood of a normal day that takes a 180 degree turn as unsettling secrets are revealed. Furthermore, it all leads to a climatic showdown complete with blood and gore. It’s the Higurashi way of selling its product and hits the right marks with what it does.

Following the sinister events of the first arc, we enter the Watanagashi-hen arc that features the prominent presence of Sonoaki Shion. In this arc, Shion is featured as an important character and plays an important role along with main protagonist Keiichi. The two develop a closer bond than ever although gets more and more complex as startling revelations begins to unravel itself. There’s also more characterization on Shion herself. In fact, it’s safe to say that Higurashi is well known for showing different sides of the main cast. Some characters desperately tries to hide their façade on the outside. For Shion’s case, she displays a level of vulnerability. And of course, you can bet that mystery plays a deep role again with the Oyashiro curse.

Unfortunately for some characters, they can’t seem to escape fate or the reality of abuse. Hojou Satoko is one such example as she is victim of abuse at the hands of her own uncle. In later chapters of the season, we see how mentally broken she is due to the effects. It’s a dark reality that highlights the sensitivity of the show. Given Satoko’s age, she’s the victim of child abuse and for someone so young, experiencing trauma will likely have life-long consequences. Luckily, she has friends and they lend a willing hand to help. Keiichi in particular plays a prominent role to try and bring Satoko out of the darkness.

By the time you’ve reached over half of the show and into the fourth arc, you’d have a general overall impression of this new season, right? Well, not entirely especially with how Rika’s motivation to change fate. In fact, fate itself seems to be an important theme of the show as characters try to fight against it, namely Keiichi in previous arcs. In the Nekodamashi-hen arc, we also find out Hanyuu’s role in relation to the supernatural and Rika’s connection to her. I won’t spoil it but do expect to see significant events that impact the Higurahshi franchise. In the final few episodes, there is even an entity with influence throughout the entire series. It’s especially important with everything that connects the season together and to see how far one entity goes to antagonize our beloved main cast.

Higurashi is an anime with psychological and thriller elements that tells a bold story with each arc. Who would’ve thought there’s also moments for comedy? If you’re a new fan of the show, do be prepared for lighthearted moments in the form of character chemistry. Keiichi is the frequent target of jokes as the girls loves to make fun of him. Whether it’s simple card games or putting on a lewd outfit (thanks Shion), there’s room for laughs this season. But make no mistake, Higurashi didn’t make its return to humor the audience. It came back to make a statement and that is to sell horror, thriller, and psychological contents. There’s blood, gore, and psychological breakdowns. Most of this is expressed through the human reactions of the cast, sometimes with extreme level of insanity. I’m sure older fans are also pleased to see old characteristics of the cast return such as Rena and Rika. I mean, who can ever forget Rika's adorable “nipah”?

And it takes a talented crew to portray the roles of the characters. I give praise especially to Rika’s VA this season for demonstrating the ability to play such a young child but also being able to quickly adapt into a more mature voice. The soundtrack and music also adds more suspense to the overall vibe of the show, something that Higurashi is infamous for doing. I sure hope you get used to the sound of cicadas because there’s plenty where that comes from.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou may feel overwhelming at first but with each episode, it’s important to know what the anime wants you to experience. Do you want to be surprised by the plot revelations or are you interested in seeing character development? It’s at some point in the series where you need to decide on how to approach this new season. To be quite honest, Higurashi is still mostly targeted a niche audience. And if you decide to be part of that audience, you’re in for a treat.

Higurashi Gou is a perversion of everything Higurashi was and aspired to be down to its characters, story and very themes, and it is a shining example of why we need to popularise Death of the Author when talking about media. It is astounding to me that Ryukishi actually wrote this. I don't know if he bumped his head a little too hard or he's suffering from lockdown induced depression like all of us, but it's hard for me to believe this is the same pen that wrote the original visual novel, which I hold so so dear to my heart. Perhaps he should never touchHigurashi ever again and focus on that other visual novel with the seagulls and murders. It's for the best.

"It’s not that hard to write a sequel, expand on characters and story in meaningful ways, and try to make it as good or better than the original. For most people, the standard was the original Deen anime from 2006-2007, and for a sequel to not even begin to reach the quality of that, let alone the original VN, is… well… maybe it just shouldn’t have been made in the first place. Gou is unique in that, if you’ve consumed any Higurashi content before it, it will actively hinder your experience while watching it. Yes, you will have a worse time watching a sequel if you'vealready watched the original. I am not joking. A massive reason for this is the fact that half of Higurashi Gou is glorified recap; the first three arcs are adapted straight from the 2002 VN with detailed differences and a changed conclusion to serve the new narrative. This is why, if you’ve consumed Higurashi in any shape or form before this, it’ll likely bore you half to death. The episodes add absolutely nothing of value to the characters and even trivialize their arc and development from the original, making them somehow less of a character. These arcs only exist to serve the new narrative and to make sure newcomers aren’t too confused… which is so… completely backward.

Promotional material is mostly harmless; it’s literally just advertising, and that’s what it should be. I can’t decide whether I love the trailer for Gou or detest it. On one hand, it was a decently funny bait-and-switch, advertising the show as a remake of a beloved VN to then be revealed as a sequel in episode 2, and on the other hand, it would’ve been much better as a remake. This isn’t even mentioning the swarm of first-timers to the series starting off with Gou, partially due to the fact that the original Higurashi has become rather hard to watch legally. The original Higurashi Deen anime was… good, I guess, but to say it was totally faithful to the original and used its time wisely is just wrong. I was so hyped for a remake because of this, so you can imagine my dismay when I found out it wasn’t.

Shock factor in place of depth and horror.

If you’ve ever seen the original, I should hope that you came to the conclusion that the “horror” of it came from the artistically crafted plot and impactful death scenes. Taking the beginning of the original VN as an example, it starts with an ambiguous, repetitive bashing sound over Keiichi’s inner monologue as he commits an atrocity we have yet to see. It’s insightful, it’s mysterious, and most of all, it’s impactful. Then we come to Gou, which throws all meaning out the window and replaces it with unsettling images and sounds. Sure, it’s more in line with the traditional idea of “horror = scary,” but it’s such a poor choice considering the themes of the original. I’m not even saying it did the unsettling images and sounds particularly well either; they’re not thought out or even scary, really. Most of the death scenes result in the entire room they're in being absolutely covered in blood, no matter what weapon they’re using, and even ignoring the blood, everything from the characters to the animation falls in line with your typical slasher, rather than the psychological horror it’s supposed to be. And that’s the one thing anime does incredibly poorly; slashers succeed in scaring their audience due to it being live action and therefore relatable to an extent. Anime can’t do that, for obvious reasons.

It’s just not scary. In any sense of the word.

I honestly feel bad for the voice actors, who continuously put up a stellar performance no matter the quality of the Higurashi content they’re featured in. They’re one of the shining stars that I got from scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of compliments to give the show. It’s astonishing how they can put up this good of a performance even after 14 years of voice acting for the franchise, and I have endless praise for all of them. Though when it comes to the new coat of paint the sequel got, I’m not so kind. I really, really thought about this, and I prefer the original art and animation. Intentional or not, the bad art and questionable animation definitively set a tone that matched the narrative of the show. Gou’s just feels so bland and basic; it doesn’t change to match specific tones presented by the plot, nor is it good (This does NOT include the EDs, which were amazing). It’s “good,” don’t get me wrong, but that’s all I can give it, and it links back into my argument about the lack of depth the show has, and I think the animation is a rather nit-picky example of that.

I’ve held off talking about the main issue of the first season so far, which is undoubtedly the story and pacing. The pacing is so incredibly inconsistent in the worst places. Take, for example, the first 13 episodes. I know I’ve mentioned them a lot, but I cannot stress enough just how bad they are, and I will keep talking about them until I’ve convinced you. As I said before: “half of Higurashi Gou is glorified recap.” This by itself isn’t a bad thing; however, none of it is cut. Despite being a sequel, it goes out of its way to explain almost every single thing we should already know by this point. And as a result, it just feels like you’re watching the original Deen anime again. This isn’t even contained to the first 13 episodes; parts of Sotsu and later in Gou we get Matsuribayashi-hen recap when plot should be taking place.

In a post-episode 13 world, the plot does actually happen, and the story makes meaningful progress for the first time in 4 hours. It arguably gets worse. The pacing goes into overdrive to the point where major character development is cut down into 4 episodes. It gets worse. Out of those 4 episodes, only roughly 2 of them (2 halves of 2 episodes put together and 1 good episode) have any meaning, while the others are relegated to padding and murder scenes. The murder scenes in particular could’ve been done well; all they would need to do is portray Rika’s active thought processes and mental deterioration in a meaningful way as she was being killed, but all they gave us were a few lines of dialogue from her each scene, most of them being completely irrelevant.

Funnily enough, Gou’s peak was when it was acting as it was meant to be from the start, a sequel to the original. The main characters get nice development, and the story that ended from the original is directly continued.

The second half of the arc is where the actual answers are revealed to us, and most importantly, we get to see one of the best characters from the original go down a dark spiral called bad writing. Some of the decisions made here are so bad and frankly disrespectful that I couldn’t take any of them seriously. It also clearly shows that the writer has no understanding of human emotion, with many events that should’ve at least put a strain on the main character's mental state just further fueled their questionable motivation for their even more questionable goal.

Now I have no doubt that the higher-ups at studio Passione had some influence in how this was written. Considering the general outside perspective of Higurashi, especially the anime, being along the lines of a murder-thriller with lots of gore and violence, they likely pushed the people actually making the show in that direction because they thought it would make a decent profit.

Overall, this show is really bad; I hate it from the bottom of my heart, and nothing is likely to change that.

Remember: It’s not canon if you don’t like it; just forget it existed and move on with your life. - Me, when this first aired."

This "3rd season" per se, is a long shot from its previous entries. My main concerns is its presentation although the story does have its problem in comparison to the original too. Story(6) More or less covering the same arcs as in the first season almost verbatim but with slight changes here or there. Maybe a different character does a thing slightly differently for the fanbase to theorize obsessivley over as to what it means, but so far, only the ending to each arc changes where a different character does the killing. I've seen people say "its good for both newcomers and OG viewers" but at mostI would think new viewers will think the story is fine while OG viewers will be bored by the same story and off put by the visual/audio presentation. The OG had amazing direction that allowed the story to be told through visuals, but gou always either comes off as too flat or too tacky with its direction. Somewhat of an uncanny valley area where they didn't commit enough to the intensity so as to just look awkward.

Art(3)

FLAT. Artwork is too bright and makes everything look really flat. Hinamizawa has never looked more boring and the character designs are a mixed bag of mostly really bad, to a few characters who dont look half bad in this style(lookin at you Chie). Keicchi's design drives me insane. He looks way too babyish and his jacket is shit, I miss assault jacket keicchi... I think the arts biggest problem is that its just too clean. Clean artwork in most cases means animators take next to no risks trying to do something interesting and just try to make a servicable product, which this comes off as, a product. say what you want about even the first season, there was a lot of visual stylistic flourishes in those 2 seasons that made them the cult classics they are today unlike gou which will definitely deminish the shows rep imo.

Sound(4)

Voices are wierdly obnoxious in this. even though its the same voice actors(JAP), they are way too shouty for a lot of it(mainly keicchi). Also the characters quirks through dialog like rikas nipahs or satokos laugh are abused to hell and back as if to say that is the entirety of their character Renas voice is probably the standout performance. she does a solid job and still feels like Rena.

The ost isnt noteworthy, like the OG i guess, but the OP and ED are letdowns being kind of generic "horror/thriller" anime songs but some may like it. The first 2 OPS and the 2nd ED of the OG series are all legendary imo.

Characters(3)

I feel like the characters personalities are all stripped down signicantly in gou. Keicchi seems like a purely reactive character who can't do anything unless someone tells him to, taking away the moments where people recognise him as K is a diservice to my boi. He really is the character that gets the worst treatment in all of gou. All the other characters have there most obvious quirks inflated and abused, take Shion for example. She has serious anger issues in this and is constantly flipping her shit at any moments notice, while in OG, she would get pissed but her personality would actually fluctuate like a normal human being rather that just going from blissfully happy to batshit angry the next moment. Most side characters are insanely flat and one-note.

Also fuck that cat mouth thing they keep doing with all the characters, it is hideous as fuck and only serves to distract at every moment.

Overall, Gou is kind of a pointless entry as far as a I see it, a merchandising cash cow even, shoving as many recognisable elements from the orginal with reckless abandon just to make us go "duh, I remember that, duh, I cant wait to get that Rika in a septic tank figurine". As far as Im concerned, Higurashi finished with the OVA's after the second season. If they wanted this to be a continuation, they should have maybe written one or two completely new scenarios for the characters seeing as they can be endless with Rikas whole situation.

I have watched the Higurashi anime, read Umineko, and recently just finished Ciconia Phase 1, I am a WTC fan. What I am not a fan of is this steaming pile of garbage called Higurashi Gou, all I want to say here is that if this was actually, for real, written by Ryukishi, maybe he should give up writing since it seems clear that he does not even understand his previous works, from characters (who are completely butchered, cut down to one-dimensional NPC's with one-liners, ignoring their complex personalities and motivations) to even the story and its themes (which are ignored for the sake of continuingthe story, nullifying everything our protagonists went through and fought for; long story short, it completely misses the point of its own story), and basic elements of a mystery show/novel, such as tension and suspense, which feel extremely poorly done compared to Studio Deen, nothing of what made the original good is in any way, shape, or form shown to have been understood in this "sequel", which R07 claimed to be a good starting point for new viewers (lol). I'm using "sequel" in quotations because this was a completely unnecessary anime. The original Higurashi ended just fine, we had a satisfying conclusion, so, I'd like to know, who asked for a new season with a plot this downright stupid compared to the source material? I'm not sure what counts as a spoiler and what doesn't so I won't get into it, but other reviews do a better job of summarizing the plot. The art is okay, not the best, not the worst (though it has a large amount of gore compared to Studio Deen's adaptation for absolutely no reason other than shock value) and the soundtrack is pretty mediocre, but these two are the least of Gou's problems.

I do not recommend this to fans of Higurashi, it feels like a very cheap cash grab, meant to just milk money out of the fans of this franchise (and a majority of fans seem happy with this blatant fact) and not something written out of passion and love for the When They Cry universe. I am however hoping to be proven wrong, at least story wise, with Sotsu, though I am not holding my breath for that.

When this was announced, most people assumed it would be some sort of remake. I would have liked that to be honest. But this is actually a sequel, which kinda makes things…. Not work as well. Long story short, I enjoyed this a bit, but there are some big issues that would make me tell you to avoid watching this if you are a fan of the Higurashi series, since this may ultimately ruin it for you. Seeing as I'm telling you it's a sequel, I'm hoping anyone that hasn't watched the original will stop reading by now (I do recommend you to watch the originalif you want to watch a really good horror series).

So we all know how this series works, so if I'm telling you this is a sequel, yet it was being confused for a remake, we can all figure out what happened. For one reason or another, Rika is going through these loops again (this is made clear very early on, and is as much as I will outright 'spoil', don't worry). As I said before, I still enjoyed it a bit for what it was. Being able to enjoy higurashi again was nice for a bit. But why? Why is this happening? How was this able to happen? We had a pretty good resolution to the story, and forcing it to happen again doesn't really make sense to me. I will say, the actual story this time (which more or less starts 2/3 into the season) is different to before. However, I also feel as though it ruined many of the characters. As an addition to the series, this doesn't work too well. It only really ruins the series. If this would have actually just been a remake, it would have been nice. Bit unnecessary, but still nice. Instead we have a weird mix of sort of remake and sort of sequel for the first two-thirds of the show, and then an odd choice of actual outright "sequel" material for the last third.

So should you watch this? Well… Maybe? But probably not. Though I was able to enjoy the beginning of it for 'nostalgia' (I've only been watching anime for 2 years but still), if you want to go through some nostalgia, then just rewatch the original series. This doesn't seem to provide any actual benefit, and just ruins certain characters. Don't get me wrong though, if you don't completely mind, you may be able to think of this as an alternative path (that still requires knowledge of the originals), and this could provide some decent entertainment, as I got. But realistically, this is probably something to pass on.

First of all, I just want to be fully transparent by saying that although I've used myanimelist for quite a while now in order to find anime to watch, I've never made an account let alone made a review until today because of how absolutely livid I am that an anime of this level of quality has such an abysmal and, in my opinion, COMPLETELY inaccurate score. Story: 10/10 So first off, I'm sure you've heard this from multiple reviews already, but I want to nevertheless reiterate that this anime is NOT A REMAKE; it is a sequel, and despite being briefly mentioned as something newcomerscan enjoy, I highly recommend that you watch the original Higurashi anime by Studio Deen before watching Higurashi Gou.

Whereas the theme of the original Higurashi is all about overcoming inevitability by reaching out to your loved ones and not putting the entire burden on yourself, Higurashi Gou, without spoiling, is about what happens when you become too attached to the past without accepting and adapting to the reality that people and places change over time. It's a relatable story about the need to move on and live for yourself that's roughly the opposite (but not mutually exclusive) of what the original Higurashi anime is all about.

The horror and mystery of the original Higurashi is still very much present in this series. It's a slow burn during the first half - especially for Higurashi veterans - for a reason, but the payoff for said slow burn was VERY much worth it.

Art: 8/10

This time around, Higurashi Gou is animated by Studio Passione rather than Studio Deen. The art style is much more clean and "shiny" compared to the original, which some fans of the original will enjoy and some won't. Ironically, the character-model inconsistency in the original Higurashi was a strength as it gave an element of "distorted horror", especially with facial expressions; as a result, Higurashi Gou lacks that distorted horror element of the original series.

I personally find this completely understandable for Gou because questioning reality was a key part of the viewer experience as it relates to the mystery of Hinamizawa Syndrome and empathizing with its victims in the original Higurashi; Gou assumes that you are a returning viewer who's fully aware of its nature.

However, that's not to say that Gou doesn't do a good job of conveying its own brand of horror through its art. Its more realistic and fluid animation compared to the original makes the murder scenes hit much harder, and, without spoiling anything, one particularly fluid piece of animation in the first half of Gou has an amazingly horrific payoff around episode 14 (not the exact episode to avoid spoilers).

On a final note, the OP and ED are absolutely stellar, the OP being my favorite of all the Higurashi OP's.

Sound: 7/10

The sound is what I'd consider the weakest part of Gou. There's nothing exceptional or lackluster about it; the background music and silence compliment their respective scenes well, but nowhere near as well as the melancholic and spine-chilling BGM that made the original Higurashi such a well-known classic.

With that said, the music for the OP and ED is absolutely amazing and, rather than spine-chilling horror, conveys high-tension desperation more along the lines of "why do I hear boss music?" Shikura Chiyomaru completely blew it out of the park.

Characters: 9/10

There really isn't much for me to say here. The characters are the same as they were in the original Higurashi; if you liked them then, you'll like them here.

Enjoyment: 10/10

As someone who's into good mysteries, I can confidently say that I'm enjoying this anime more than any other anime currently airing this season, which is saying something since this season is stacked with amazing and understandably hyped anime like Re: Zero and Attack on Titan. With that said, if you aren't into detail-oriented mystery, graphically symbolic horror, or any of Ryukishi's previous works, you most likely will not like this anime. However, if you fit into any of these and have watched the original Higurashi, please give Higurashi Gou a shot.

EDIT: Just another note. For those of you who are turned off by the censorship in one of the early episodes, don't worry; later episodes are very much uncensored.

* MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD * A word of advice before entering this series, this show will give you trust issues, you will start suspecting everyone and will never make friends again. And with that in mind let's start this review. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni gou(referred to as gou) is your average harem with one dude in a school with 4 of his female friends. 1 tsundere, 1 girl overly obsessed with cute things(questionable definition of cute) and two lol... I mean young girls. How could thins show ever be interesting in the mountain of the harem that comes out every season, right? WRONG This show is anything butcute, well there are some cute moments and all, but the main themes are never lost, which is of suspicion and fear of everyone. gou is a remake, or a better word would be reimagination, or a sequel(basically it does not follow the same story or outcomes) of the original Higurashi series which has 2 seasons and the 3rd season of 5 episodes, back in the 2010s. This show can be watched by new viewers, but I think it is more fun to watch it after watching the original series as some events occur earlier then the original and the ending are completely different from the original series.

STORY-9(spoilers)

Gou is a show which takes place in the small town of Hinamizawa, which is a mysterious town in which every year on the cotton drifting festival, 1 person dies and 1 disappears, the protagonist Maebara Keiichi moves to hinamizawa from the town due to undisclosed reasons, where he meets 4 girls and becomes friends with them. All seems fun and happy, till the cotton drifting festival, where the shit goes down. And it goes down like hell, with various unprecedented situations occurring one after the other with no apparent reason. I really like the story of Higurashi which is not too much of horror(I am not very good with horror), but more phycological and suspenseful, so you should definitely give it a try.

ART-8

I find the art to be better than that of the original series, not sure if this is my personal opinion cause I like newer animations. the character designs are done so well that they can adapt both for the cuteness of the characters as well as the scary faces and expressions.

SOUND-8

The sound seems better and more diverse as compared to the original series, with perfect timing for the serious scenes and the fun scenes and a good cut for when they get serious. The series is much scarier with the changing sounds and silence.

CHARACTERS-9

There is no point in talking about the characters since that would ruin the fun, so rather just expect unique character traits.

ENJOYMENT-9

I am really enjoying Gou and can't wait to see how this series changes and grows from the original series.

OVERALL-9

Whether you are a newbie or an old viewer of Higurashi, you should expect some good scares and chills up your spine, cause this is a show that will make you look out your window to see that no one is spying on you.

Higurashi Gou was originally marketed as a remake that could be enjoyed by newcomers just as much as existing fans of the series. However, in its attempt to please both audiences, it fails at doing both. I would instead recommend that any newcomers go and watch the 2006 anime, and only watch this one if you have a strong desire to see everything you liked about the old one get ruined. The animation is not bad on its own. However, Higurashi is about horror and mystery, so the bright colors and moe character designs fit poorly here. There are also some scenes that could have hadbetter direction, such as the "uso da" scene (compared to the original 2006 anime). Other scenes made poor use of lighting (the inside of the shed in Watadamashi was too dark) or just left some things to be desired, but those are just minor nitpicks.

The soundtrack is actually lifted straight from the original anime, so it fit well with most scenes. Although I do enjoy the new OP and ED songs, I don't think they fit Higurashi as well as the original ones, but they are good to listen to on their own.

Now with the good parts out of the way, let's dive into the absolute trainwreck of its story.

The first episode is almost a shot for shot remake of the first episode of the original series, and if the rest of the season had played out this way, I think Gou would have done quite well. But starting with the second episode, there was an immediate divide in the fanbase, and that divide only became stronger with each passing episode. We learn that the story takes place AFTER the original had already ended. So it cannot be a remake -- it is truly a sequel taking place after the events of the original anime, which goes against all of the marketing material leading up to this moment. A major plot twist (from the SECOND season) of the original anime is also revealed immediately, which is fine if the story is a sequel. But again, this was advertised as a remake, and so now anyone who watches this anime BEFORE going back to the old one is going to have the original experience ruined.

The 2006 anime was a story of horror and mystery, so spoiling a major plot twist does significant damage to the overall experience. Unfortunately throughout the season, Gou continues to spoil these major plot elements, but without giving them enough context for anyone new to the series to actually appreciate (without going back to watch the old series). So Gou is not enjoyable because you don't know enough, but the original is no longer enjoyable because you know too much. That is primarily why I can't recommend any newcomers to watch this anime.

So how does Gou's story hold up to viewers who have seen the original anime? Well if you were expecting Gou to be anything like the original, you would be mistaken. There is not much horror or mystery here, and what is present is done so poorly that it can't ever be taken seriously -- a fight scene early on results in massive pools of blood that make JJBA's blood splatter look realistic. There are so many contrived plot conveniences that I can't even list them all here.

The first half of Gou is a pseudo retelling of each arc of the original anime, with a few subtle differences and then a big spin on each ending. Unfortunately, these twists make the arcs significantly worse from the viewer's perspective. The underlying themes and messages of each arc are destroyed in favor of creating a "mystery" to try and solve. Who is behind these changes, how are they doing it, and why? Although each arc was once an engaging and thrilling story in their own rights, for veteran fans it is mostly stuff we've seen before but with a worse ending. So the whole experience is painfully slow and boring to watch.

The second half of Gou is actually new content, but it completely ruins everything that came before it. It spends much of its time giving away the answers to the questions from the first half, but those answers are incredibly disappointing. They also contradict the themes of the original story: "trust your friends and work together to overcome fate". It's likely that was an intentional subversion of the theme (because Ryukishi likes to do that kind of thing) but I think it ruins what was otherwise an incredible story with a positive message. What exactly is the message of Gou? "Nothing is sacred?"

What really bothers me about all this is the fact that everything is so shallow. The first half only exists because of the second half, which doesn't really need to exist at all. The original story was resolved, but suddenly people start acting out of character to cause really petty drama which results in a re-telling of the original story... I just don't understand the point of the show. Who are we supposed to be cheering for? It seems like the point of the story is to find a way to end the story, which is kind of a silly story to start telling in the first place. It all seems like a waste of time.

I know that when Ryukishi wrote visual novels, the pacing was always terrible, but I guess this is that kind of thing in anime form. Scenes are unnecessarily long and most of the time show you things you already know. Much of Gou's time is spent re-telling parts of the original series, so it seems like not only a waste of time but also the animation studio's money and efforts. If you're going to have 24 episodes, there was plenty of content that could have been animated instead. Creating new arcs like the ones only briefly shown in Nekodamashi were more interesting and could have actually entertained both old and new fans. Or focus on the St. Lucia school and actually expand more on that setting and its characters. Almost anything could have been better than how Gou actually turned out.

The characters in the original story were all deeply expanded upon and relatable, but in Gou they are all extreme caricatures or just forgotten as the plot demands it. The antagonist's motivation is so childish and petty that it's not just unbelievable but also totally out of character. The way they go about causing mayhem is also horribly contrived, and while technically it is feasible for someone to pull off, it is massively out of character for that particular person. The culprit is not a human, but an exaggerated caricature who can plan and pull off crazy tricks like something out of Tom & Jerry.

It was also painfully obvious from the second episode that most of the story is only happening to "connect the dots" between Higurashi and Umineko. This was so obvious that I can't consider that to be any part of the mystery. It also seems like every aspect of the plot is trying to force this end result to happen, rather than organically occur based on the characters' original personalities. As much as I like Umineko, I don't think it was worth destroying Higurashi to make this happen. Or at least, it could have been done in a better way.

The final episode of the season resolves nothing, and we must wait for Sotsu (the next season) to air before we get an actual conclusion to this disaster of a story. I will still probably watch it because I want to see where this goes, with a small bit of hope that maybe this story can be saved somehow, but I'm not getting too excited, either.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Higurashi Gou, or how to artificially extend a series at the expense of its themes and characters. 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 sequeldetriments 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 Nekogoroshi-hen, skips the answer arcs and, in its haste, decides to expose whodunnit and howdunnit 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, absent 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 sould 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. 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 moments and goes to show that, through cooperation, most hopeless of moments 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 depart 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 about 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 artstyle, 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. Satsu may have a better shot in that respect, but the damage is incurred.

'Higurashi: When They Cry - Gou' is a huge 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.

Umm yeah, i Re-Create this review after i see the 7th eps of this anime. now here we go... my review-style about this anime First. THIS IS NOT HIGURASHI NO NAKU KORO NI REMAKE! i should underline this things... because if you guys come here to see, the remake of 2006 higurashi, i think you absolutely wrong, because this anime have some kind of "different arc" to the higurashi back to 2006 Second, is when you haven't see higurashi series yet or maybe the early "higurashi 2006" i think you SHOULD and MUST see that first, to understand how this anime going, because i see, so much people talking"this is bad anime" after they watch the next day of the story which is have a time loop (i dont understand how to explain this but what i mean is, they just dont understand why this anime comeback to past and starting from begining again)

Third, IF YOU THINK YOU UNDERAGE OR YOU LIKE ANIME LIKE... KNY, AND DONT UNDERSTAND HOW Steins gate, and other anime that have complex story... PLS DONT WATCH THIS ANIME... YOU WON'T ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THIS....

Now go to the core... Why you should and shouldn't watch this anime....

this anime when i about to describe... this have

Psychological, Horror, Gore, Story Heavy, Small amount of comedy and school life... the type of horror is not about the ghost or anything like that... but the "ghost" is that player itself...

And remember my word... if you doesn't like something that horror, or gore (killing and others), and also anime that have story... you shouldn't watch this anime... this not about a ninja that kill any enemy... but the core of this anime is inside the conversation between the character and some of visual...

Next is why this anime should not be called "remake of the higurashi"

that's because you never find the exact keyscene on the original version....

and also when you watch this anime, and already have the original ones.... i think you will be realize some of the aspect that no explained on the original version.... like who guys that on the white fan... etc...

you can says... this anime is expansion of the original ones... so yeah... this worth for you that need something to watch on this season... especially horror-Psychological-Gore anime...

and like what i said earlier... if you doesn't like anime that have complex story, horror or something like that... you shouldn't watch this anime...

and like i said... if you think "KNY" is the best story ever on anime world, and you think "steins gate" or some anime that have heavy story is "weired" i think this Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou (2020) is not for you :)

that's my review and also answer for you that find this anime "weired" so yeah... if you need other anime... you can search the other anime that suit to you...

thanks for read my review

sorry for my bad english

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou (2020) People will run and defend this show like the last stand in a war but is it really worth it this time around? Honestly, this isn't bad for me because I had the wrong mindset of thinking it is a remake I did not. I took it as something on its own or as a new season in a newer format or whatever. Honestly, though I just cannot fathom the hype with the show in the first place, it just sucks with how dragged out it is and how silly and convenient many things are. As far as the storygoes that is what let it down. The first sequence was really interesting and well done and then from there it just went further downhill with more dragging out stories much longer than they needed to be. The final episode was good, I guess? It leads to further showing from July 2021 which is expected with how it ended but also a bit like why? It is just dull and dragged out.

The art I give credit to being a modern take on the old style and is nicely done and crisp throughout the most part of it.

The sound is pretty good too if not sometimes annoying with Rika's catchphrase making me want to skip it every time I hear it. The ED of the first part was really good I will say. General the soundtrack is pretty well done.

The characters obviously change a lot during this which is expected and it changes all the time and that is easy to follow. The characters however are just not all that interesting. They are developed but at the same time, I could barely tell you anything about anyone since they all have such vast personality differences. IF not for this village I honestly doubt they would be so close in a different setting. Also, the goddess is just so boring its ridiculous.

The show is just not very exciting considering the show should be. It should be a deep, complex and masterful story that the show could be but just isn't. It holds no right to say it comes from the original show at least that had substance behind it and you could really get into the show and its characters. Maybe I will watch the next part to see if my mind can be changed, though it probably won't be this year. Hopefully, unlike this season I won't find myself begging my body to fast forward.

3/10. Pretty generous considering.

Remember when a new Higurashi Anime was announced and advertised through PVs, CMs, and visuals, which looks pretty much a remake. Surprised it isn't, classic Ryukishi07 trolling his audience. Higurashi Naku Koro ni Gou is certainly a sequel as it presents the arcs in a similar structure that parallels with the earlier arcs from the original Higurashi. This could work as entry Higurashi for new watchers, but the problem is they showed supernatural powers or scenes earlier on, as opposed to Original Higurashi, which was only revealed later. Watching or reading earlier arcs of Higurashi, we're supposed to think as a mystery horror. But since supernaturalpowers were revealed earlier in Higurashi Gou, people will think through supernatural and real perspectives to deduce what is going on. The ending arc of this new Higurashi pretty much gives us the background of what is going on, why Rika is repeating the loops almost the same as her experiences back in the original Higurashi, even if she did something to prevent the tragedies. So if you feel like your not getting something new, bear with it and go watch it till the ending arc, there's something new there. I like the Higurashi series, so I hope this new entry to the Higurashi series will be worthwhile.

The studio working with this new Higurashi is studio Passione, which is known for animating ecchi shows like High School DxD Hero and Interspecies Ishuzoku Reviewers. Akio Watanabe did the character designs. He is known for the Monogatari and Grisaia series character designs. For me, I'm not used to its too moe design and shiny palette to the characters of Higurashi anime. The lighting is a hit and miss. Mostly a miss, when they do a dark scene. When it's dark, it's certainly dark, you can barely see, which to me is not a problem back in the original Higurashi anime.

The iconic Cicadas sounds are still present, it gives me a nostalgic feeling. As opposed to the original Higurashi or the prequel, Higurashi Gou has less of an eerie atmosphere and is more lenient to Slice of Life. It's not a bad thing, but if you're expecting more of a tense feeling similar to the Original Higurashi, you'll only get enough to shiver. The OP and ED are good in their way, they are upbeat but still gives a tense feeling, compare to Original Higurashi OP and ED, which are mellow and eerie.

Higurashi Naku Koro ni is one of those prime examples of anime that is successful horror anime done right. It could frighten you or at least give you a suspense feeling. Hopefully, the sequel will give us satisfying answer arcs and be as a successful piece of entertainment as its prequel.