Blog of Nuke

Keiichi Maebara seemed to have no trouble fitting in when had moved to the quiet rural village of Hinamizawa, quickly befriending his classmates Rena, Mion, Rika, and Satoko and becoming a member this informal “club.” Life seemed good until one day, a facetious remark by Keiichi to his friend, Rena, inadvertently reveals a dark, bloody secret buried in Hinamizawa’s past. And upon uncovering that secret, Keiichi’s friends suddenly weren’t acting quite so… right.

Keiichi’s determination to find out just what happened in Hinamizawa several years ago would inevitably draw him into a world of brutal homicide, fear and paranoia— and possibly the paranormal. So begins Higurashi No Naka Koro Ni (”When Cicadas Cry”).

This series turned out to be a complete shocker for me, right from the brutal opening sequence that starts off the first episode. On the surface, it looks like a lighthearted, cutesy, slightly “harem-esque” story about a boy and his circle of female friends. This only makes Higurashi’s dark side even darker and more disturbing.

It might seem like an odd thing to do for a spotlight article, but I won’t go into detail about Higurashi. I feel that because it is a psychological horror story as much as it is a conventional, visceral horror story, it’s important for the viewer to experience and absorb details themselves as the story unfolds. Dropping too many details, especially with screenshots would degrade the viewing experience.

But if you thought anime was all about mecha, wide-eyed cute schoolgirls, skin-deep storytelling and general silliness, Higurashi is the kind of slap in the face you need.

I highly recommend you check out this series.

…or else!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 9th, 2006 at 8:43 am and is filed under Animation, Anime, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.