lost on higurashi no naku koro ni
Categories: anime, higurashi
Tagged: higurashi
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By far the creepiest show of the season. And by far the most secretly entertaining.
(If you know the ending, please don’t spoil it. Just skip this post and go vote for Nina.)
Since I haven’t played the h-game or whatever that spawned this show, I’m a blank slate walking into this series. My initial impression was that this was going to be harem/murder series like Elfen Lied, but now, I’m not so sure. Whereas Elfen Lied tried to have this happy story on top of a sad story, Higurashi is nothing short of harem horror. It’s a harem all right… and instead of wanting to score with the loser male lead, they want to kill him. And if they kill him, it’s only because they loved him too much. After three episodes, I’m starting to get scared for poor K1.
For people who haven’t been following Higurashi (and I don’t blame you since the title, “Where the Cicadas Go Cry” is probably the worst that I’ve seen since “Chibi Vampire”), I offer four nuggets as to why you should watch…
- Rena’s emo face contortions. First time I’ve seen a contortion so awesome on a character so loli. No wonder K1 fears for his life.
- The contrast between harem and horror. The show glides back and forth between harem and horror elements very aburptly. The girls slip from cute and adorable to scary and possessive and back faster than I can type “nekomimi meido.” If it’s this disorienting for the viewer, K1 must be completely befuddled.
- The OP, aptly titled, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Vibes. Chilling vibes. Great vibes.
- The guessing game. I have no clue what’s really going on… is it a straightforward “the girls are bunch of murderers” or is something deeper and more sinister going on? It’s like Lost, only with a loli girl harem and a secluded Japanese town instead of a deserted island.
Though I have a few theories as to what’s really going on…
- K1 is imagining everything. Like the needle in his dessert or the van that tried to run him down, nothing is real. Maybe he’s the insane one. I think this is fairly probable given that K1 seems to be the least mentally stable character thus far. Rena seems extremely calm and collected even when K1 goes emo on her.
- All of this is a controlled experiment. Maybe K1 is the guinea pig subject, and the police chief is running him around an evil maze. Maybe the chielf killed everyone and is trying to pin it on the girls, like that one Law and Order: Loli Demon Revenge Unit episode about the stalker that turned out to be the lead detective.
- K1 is the real killer. I liked how Rena broke down the K1 and Satoshi parallel… because the first scene in the whole series is a guy who looks kinda like K1 beating the crap out of the girls with a bat. (Can you imagine this on Cartoon Network?) Was that K1? Satoshi? Premonition? Flashback? It’s the K1 is imagining everything theory only taken further.
- Oyashima controls all. Pulling the puppets that is Rena, Mion, and the rest of the killer loli harem. Most straightforward answer, and the cat-like eyes that the girls get when they go into creepy, murderous loli mode seems to back this up. Though I think that should replace Seed Mode for Gundam Seed… can you imagine Athrun developing cat eyes and popping up nekomimi during his next fight against Shinn? Who wouldn’t watch that?
I think we’re on track for this theory. The whole “demoned away” bit seems odd to me as why do only the girls disappear, but then Satoshi? Also, why do the girls end up killing so many family members? Because of the damn or because they wouldn’t raise their allowances. And killing the photographer for taking pictures of the girls at the festival seems to be a stretch to me (though what “nature photographer” would take pictures of birds without a decent zoom lens and a tripod? I should rant about this in my photoblog…) … why wouldn’t the girls kill the people running the food stands who are commercially profiting from oyashiro?
- It’s really nothing. Ends up being the premise behind a new KFC promotion for their “catfish snackers.”
Maybe I’m reading too much into the show, and maybe the girls just want to get into K1’s pants mind. Still, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni delivers some startling addictive entertainment.
25 Responses to “lost on higurashi no naku koro ni”
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Reading too much into the show? Doubtful.
Mion has a gun. ^_^
If it wern;t for the loli cuteness of the girls or the pastel color scheme, people would be talking about THIS show instead of that “Haruhi” bizzaro chick.
Hmm…scary, no Gun > Knife (even if Mion had a gun the recoil would break her skinny loli arms), mysterious yes indeed. Perhaps this thing might be like the lottery and the whole place is in on it to discourage outsiders.
Rena and Mion aren’t lolis -.-
You forgot to mention that Rena facial contortion + Mai Nakahara`s voice seriously makes her a Mai Tokiha for a split second. Lol.
This series is just pure win for me. The perfect show to complement Haruhi. I get to rack my mind trying to unravel the hidden clues and mysteries in each episode of Higurashi, while teetering on the brink of my sanity, and then I’m able to regain my senses with a good dose of comedy from Haruhi. A perfect combination and defiantly a sleeper hit of the new season!
The format seems to be like rashomon (ie more mind screwage ahead)
>> Rena and Mion aren’t lolis -.-
I thought they were in middle school-ish?
>> I’m able to regain my senses with a good dose of comedy from Haruhi.
I think Haruhi is as mysterious as this show. Nothing in either series is left to chance.
>> Rena and Mion aren’t lolis -.-
Depends on your definition of loli, I am over 18. They therefore are under aged and jail bait, thus they can constitute the object of affection for those predisposed to fanciful delusions of nymphetes.
Just one thing.
K1 doesn’t have crazy murderous lolis after him.
True, Skuld could give him a third-degree concussion, but that’s the extent of it.
To clarify, the male lead for Higurashi is named Keiichi Maebara. So I call him “K1,” not to be confused with other K1’s out there.
>>Rena and Mion aren’t lolis -.-
Regardless of age, it’s drawn with a very loli art style…
actually it should mean something like “When the cicadas cry”, which would be just before night falls … maybe now you can like the title a bit more ^^
is this only 4 episodes? oO
I’ll continue bitching about the overrated-ness of Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuuutsu: Haruhi has ZERO mystery. So far they don’t hint at anything. The show just throws various “revelations” at you, which don’t mean shit to past events. SO, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni > Ouran High Host Club > Good Witch of the West > Suzumiya Haruhi…
Easily the best mystery/creepiness show since Cossette. Hope StudioDeen can keep the mystery/mood up til the end (which they couldn’t do with F/sn or Jigoku Shoujo…) instead of relying only on music (Kenji Kawai and Yasuharu Takanashi 4TW).
@minikui, this is supposedly 26 episodes with several “chapters”
When u’ve seen all the four eps (yes it’s just four )=…) there’s still loads of questions and u’re sitting there screamin “NOOOOOOOOOOO it can’t en like this!!!” so I would say that they’ve managed to hold the tensionlever pretty high up during the whole series. actually u don’t have a clue what’s going to happend before kind of after it’s done.. really creeeeepy… but i love it Weird how thay can make a cartoon (anime) so scary….
sorry for all the typing mistakes, i wrote this at 4:40 in the morning norwegian time….
Well for there being only 4 episodes i just watched number 5??
Yes it’s only 4eps for each Chapter..
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (“Question” arc)
* Onikakushi-hen
* Watanagashi-hen
* Tatarigoroshi-hen
* Himatsubushi-hen
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (“Answer” arc)
* Meakashi-hen
* Tsumihoroboshi-hen (the TV anime will go up to here)
* Minagoroshi-hen
* Matsuribayashi-hen
So, it is very normal that you don’t understand as u just watched the Question arc..
i personaly think that they should extend the series in OVA OR A SHORT 13-14 episode “secound season to get the last ancer arcs into the anime
to many unacered questions
the mion gun’s is just a toy if you read the manga you see when she shoot to kei ^^ with plastic bullets very nice scene
i’m sorry for my english xDDD
>>i personaly think that they should extend the series in OVA OR A SHORT 13-14 episode “secound season to get the last ancer arcs into the anime
to many unacered questions
Actually, the second season is coming out later this year and it’s supposed to have the final two Answer chapters which will finally fill in a bunch of the gaps. Also, I’ve heard rumors that it will also include the extra arcs, Saikoroshi-hen and Hirukowashi-hen, but I’m not positive about that. It’d be nice though~
It’s basiclly about a bunch of diffrent stories taking place at the same time.
You know, time is reversing itself.
I just thought you’d wanna know since when people get to the 4th episode they get confused as to why he’s still alive & stops watching
actually i kno who is controlling them….
and the who is killing rika over ana over….
it’s a she…
and her name is….
T-i will not spoil the surprise….
and besides it will be shown on season 2….
i already watched the second season…
at least it had a good ending…
and i already know who is _______ rika…
and it is ______…