It has been 3 full months since we started the weekly recommendation stuff. Here I am with another anime recommendation for you. This week’s recommendation may not be for everyone but, man it still remains one of the best horror/thriller – mystery anime.
You have read the title, this week we are talking about Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Not the new ones (Gou and Sotsu) the OG ones, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Kai. Before we begin a quick reminder that this is a recommendation and not a review hence, I won’t be pointing out any negatives. So let’s start.
Introduction
The OG Higurashi came out all the way back in the spring of 2016 with Kai following it in summer 2007. It was animated by our very dear Studio Deen. The original Higurashi has 26 episodes and Kai has 24 episodes making it a total of 50 episodes. The Higurashi series is an anime adaptation of visual novels of the same name.
There is a good reason why OG Higurashi is still one of the horror/thriller anime for a lot of people including me. Part of the reason is the sheer unpredictability of the series. Let’s dive further into the details.
Plot
The plot is hard and simple to explain at the same time. I can explain it really well but I am not sure how to do it without touching high spoiler territory. Put it simply, the whole series literally revolves around strange murders and disappearances happening in the small village of Hinamizawa. A lot of crazy things are happening in the background.
The plot pacing of Higurashi is very unique as each arc is set in a parallel timeline and builds upon the incidents of the previous arc. There are 2 types of arcs in Higurashi “Question arcs” and “Answer arcs” the question arcs generally follow the protagonist, Maebara Keichi, and present a particular mystery. The answer arcs change perspective to some other character that knows the answer to that mystery and shows how different incidents lead up to the ending situation.
Higurashi’s way of storytelling is very unique and you literally can’t say what the next arc will throw at you. I love the way how each answer arc keeps on building upon the knowledge of the previous arcs until we reach the last answer arc at the end of the series in Kai.
Characters
Because of the unique way of storytelling, characters in Higurashi are quite well done. The basic traits of a character remain the same throughout the series but depending on the arc, the plot focuses more on the negative or positive traits of that character. Since quite a few arcs are set from a perspective of a different character, it helps in expanding their personality and even world-building.
The series uses this different perspective stuff to familiarize us with all the main characters and even a few new characters. Introducing new characters this way is very effective since we learn about them quickly.
Animations
The animations of OG Higurashi were really bad. They were still better than the new Higurashi though that is for sure. I mean, the Higurashi managed to mess up the infamous “Higurashi Face”.
The one thing really good about old Higurashi animations though was the fact that they effectively had 2 modes of animations “moe mode” for all the fluff and “serious mode” for well, all the serious things. You could literally tell by looking at the animation mode change that some shit is coming. Studio Deen was even clever enough to use this mode change for fake-outs, keeping you on the edge at all times.
Why you should watch old Higurashi?
Some quick pointers on why you should check out this anime
- Crazy plot
- Lots of plot twists
- A unique way of storytelling
- Great world building
- Good characters
Conclusion
That is it for this week. Let me know your thoughts and recommendation down in the comments. Stay tuned for more content and I will see you later. See ya!
