Well, I finally got around to watching HnNKn-Kai. It sucked me in like a vacuum cleaner and had a rather satisfying end.

Anyone else watch it?

BTW, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, be sure to watch Higurashi no Naku Koro ni first before watching Kai, otherwise Kai won't make sense.

I guess I need to get my hands on Rei and see how that stacks up.

Also, I wanna take Hanyuu home.

 

I've seen it, it blew my mind away. Funnily enough, I watched Kai before I watched the first season, and it still made sense to me. In fact, on seeing both I like Kai better then the first season.

It has a fantastic way of building tension that the first season didn't do as well.

Have you seen Umineko no Naku Koro ni? The anime is okay to mediocre, but the Sound Novel is also awesome. It's not a sequel, but it's When They Cry 3. Grab Rei as soon as you can as it is AWEEESSOME, and the connections it makes to Bernkastel from Umineko make it even better.

 

The Higurashi series is one of the best out there IMO. It encompasses so many genres, and is just generally addicting. I watched both seasons when I first discovered it in a few days. I went on an anime binge and watched like 12 episodes in a row.

Higurashi is quite a bit better than Umineko though. That's not to say Umineko is bad, in fact, it's actually better than mostly everything else. It just doesn't stand up well compared to Higurashi.

And Higurashi Rei is very good too. It provides some great insight into Rika's character, and the main conflict/situation presented in that short series is quite wtf (in a good way).

 

When Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni first came out, I was shocked because it was the first time where everyone was killing everything left and right. But then at the same time, I got interested in the whole mystery and wanted to know who the true killer behind everything was. The first season was gory, mysterious, and just plain fucked up at some parts.

The second season was alright though I still liked the first more. It just focused mostly on backstory and finally answering most of the questions. Could of had more graphic deaths but the story made up for it.

 

Are you referring to the Anime or the VN? The Higurashi Anime is a lot better then Umineko's, but with the VN's it's the other way around. I highly recommend trying them both sometime, you can buy the first 4 arcs of Higurashi in English here and Umineko can be imported and then patched over at Witch Hunt.

 

What do you men by VN? I know both series are based off a series of computer games and then adapted into manga and anime formats. Are you talking about the game?

 

I loved the first series but Kai was painful to watch.

I think the entire Kechii is god got tiring fast enough.

 

VN stands for Visual Novel. VN's aren't quite computer games, more then anything they are like the half way point between Animation and a Novel - The text is given over the top of static images with Sound/BGM. It isn't a common format anywhere except Japan.

So yes, if anyone refers to them as a game, they are referring to the VN, although I don't consider them games, as they usually have very little interactivity except maybe the occasional choice.

 

I have only seen the first season, and at first was put off when the first reset happened. Over all it was great. While the questions, why everything happens isn't answered in S1, I was pleased by the end.

I never got around to watch the second season because the reviews I read weren't that great.


If anyone looks for something similar, go for Kara no Kyoukai, a movie series with 7 movies. Boy and girl, girl with a trauma, boy doesn't know if girl is a mass murderer.

It's written by Type-Moon (the one which made Fate/Stay Night), with more violence than "When they Cry" and with an awesome soundtrack.

 

I have all 7 movies sitting on my HDD, finished 'getting' them yesterday.

Even if reviews don't usually like Kai, I found it one of the few anime I watched and steamrolled through without sleeping during one night, so give it a chance! =)

 

Dude, you're really doing yourself a disservice by not watching the second season. Most of the big answers and reveals come in the second season. If you just watch the first series without the second, it would be like reading the first 100 pages of a mystery novel and then skipping the remaining 200 pages.

And what reviews are you looking at? Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai is one of the best rated anime series on animenewsnetwork.com

 

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai was terrible though. I couldn't watch like the last five episodes due to the overwhelming power of love and hope and that crap.

 

You didn't watch the last five episodes? While Rika does get all sappy towards the end of the season, the next episodes are very dark and are probably some of the best in the whole series!

Oh, and further up you said -

Umm... what? They never say anything like that, what is discussed is that all the kakera without Keiichi always have the Hinamizawa Disaster, and usually a lot quicker then the ones where he is present. The only 'god' in the series is Hanyuu, who is the real spirit of what the villages call Oyashiro-sama.

Spoiler

Although of course Takano wants to usurp that title for herself - which is what you miss by not watching the finale.

 

this does not mean this:

It's terrible because you disagree with some of its most basic themes?

Shit, I can disagree with the particular themes of an anime while still objectively recognizing that it is quality. I hope that is not the extent of your criticism.

 

I watched Rei. It should have lacked the first and fifth episodes. It seemed inconsistent and ill-thought-out:

1. Spoiler

   When did Loli!Hanyuu have kids?
2. Spoiler

   Are they seriously suggesting that in all the shards Rika's visited, that never once, before this one, did she jump into one where her mother, and not Rika, was the incarnation of Oyashiro-sama? Of course, Hanyuu just says its a dream, but . . .

Also,

Spoiler

What is it with Japanese people and diseases? Ring was caused by Small Pox merging with a psychic, and now this?

 

...internet piracy powers, go!

 

lol, you don't even have to download most anime or use torrents. You can find streaming sites that stream both licensed and unlicensed anime; it just takes a minute or two on google trying out different search combinations. I'm pretty sure that Higurashi is still unlicensed in America, and you can find both seasons on megavideo.com

 

While you can find Kai on streaming sites, the first season is licensed by Funimation, so Kai being licensed may eventually happen. I have the season 1 box set =).

 

That is my fault. You can't call anyone god if there is a God in the series. I just got tired of Keiichi being hope and dreams and win and that stuff.

I know it got dark. In fact, the reason I hate it isn't because of the theme.

I said it a sentence ago, but I say it again anyways with MORE detail. I am fine with hope, it was just Keiichi, and the fact everyone lived. Satoshi Hojo lived, and with it, all of a sudden everyone was big family love time and the entire thing felt so contrived it was stupid. I don't mind hope, but I do mind when the story starts to feel like a fic fix ending. I didn't say that correctly the first time due to me just noticing what time it was when I was posting. I had to get moving.

 

Keiichi was merely a catalyst for Rika to realize that she's not bound to the same fate.

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I've been watching Umineko. It's alright, I guess. Not really my style.

On the one hand, you have a bona fide witch killing people in front of Battler (what cruel parent names their kid that?!?!) and him insisting that she doesn't exist. He's fucking talking to her. Seriously? If you don't believe she exists, then don't talk to her and just dismiss her as your own schizophrenic hallucination! And then she accepts. Seriously? If you really have that kind of power, just kill the little puke and be done with it.

So far, the only thing that's perked my attention is adult-looking Rika, or Berkenstal, as she's called in this.