Note that this was a post from my blog at an older location: Posted July 2 2008
Well, it is now July and so I think that the Watanagashi of 2008 was the same as Watanagashi of 1983. Anyway, I have recently just finished “Higurashi no naku no koro ni Kai” (”ひぐらしのなく頃に解” in Japanese, “When the higurashi cry – ‘Counter of Occurrences’” as English translation.), which is the name of the sequel to “Higurashi no naku koro ni” – See “Happy Watanagashi”. Higurashi Kai (for short) was not quite as gory or horror-y as the prequel, which I know some viewers were disappointed with.
In Higurashi Kai, the chain of bizarre and gruesome deaths continue on, along with the forever repeating June of 1983. Rika is stuck in an endless cycle of rebirth, thus she is the only one who has witnessed every single death in each realm and she tries desperately to find a way out of June, avoid her death, and move to see the world ahead of June 1983. Problem is, can you change fate? Rika has witnessed the same events over and over again and always ends up being murdered in the end. She feels that there is no way out of this fate. Are all her efforts pointless? Or can fate be changed?
Higurashi Kai focused more on answering questions from the prequel, and focused more on Rika and the reasoning behind the ever-repeating June of 1983. I found that this sequel was a lot less confusing than the first mainly because I’ve kinda figured out how the first season was structured and that Kai gave me the answers to some of the questions, especially why June was continually repeated… New questions have been raised in this season and an epilogue that certainly raises an eyebrow and asks whether there will be a sequel to this season.
Now, this season certainly hooked me in when the whole “changing fate” thing came in and if it was even possible. Once again, a very appropriate soundtrack was used. I very much enjoy the opening theme and the end theme song was easier to understand compared to the prequel’s, even though it was in Japanese and the prequel’s was in “English”. There is notable improvements in animation (notably the eyes) although it was still a rather poor standard… I have heard from other sources that there is some form of sequel to be released/produced sometime this year, although it does seem unrelated to the “Higurashi” series. This is definitely not to be watched unless you have seen the prequel.
Next on my anime watch list – “Vampire Knight” and “Death Note”.
Story – 10
Animation – 8
Music – 10
Characters – 9
Enjoyment – 10
Overall Rating – 9.5 out of 10
More info on “Higurashi no naku koro ni Kai”: Wikipedia ||| Anime News Network ||| My Anime List
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