Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai:
Story:
Higurashi became quite a goddamn mess because Ryukishi07 tried to incorporate too many new ideas into his series without the proper execution or build-up.
First of all, it loves being really dark and edgy, but at the same time, it doesn't know when to fucking give it a rest; it has an annoying penchant for dragging out the torture of its characters, as if more suffering and pain = higher quality of writing. As a result, the story sometimes becomes too edgy and takes itself way too seriously to be enjoyable. Whatever comic relief the writer shoehorned in is usually unfunny, sometimes cringy, or even downright annoying.
Don't get me wrong, it's completely fine - cool, even - to be edgy. Some of my favorite series are extremely edgy. The problem with Higurashi is that it just doesn't know how to have fun. Sometimes I feel as if it just loves to torture and create a pity party for its characters for the sake of it.
In contrast, look at something like Umineko: it rolls around in the puddle of blood, shit, and guts that it creates, smears brains all over its face, and chases after the reader with its bloody hands like a little kid playing tag. It downright invites the reader to laugh at the atrocity along with it. Despite doing these edgy things, at its very core, it understands extremely well what compassion is; it knows how to pull its characters up by the hand. It knows how to be a complete monster without alienating or boring its audience with the same shtick over and over.
Furthermore, Higurashi has made me suspend my disbelief one too many times . For instance, during many chase scenes, the characters just suddenly stop and start talking to each other, forgetting how to run until the enemy catches up with them. The time loop mechanic, along with Hanyuu, are shoehorned into the story with no context to try and explain away the resetting story arcs. While the writer, Ryukishi07, does explain this mechanic in a way that makes perfect sense in Umineko, it came completely out of the left field in Higurashi. And here, you see, is where Higurashi suddenly makes a leap into fantasy territory when for the entire first half it has been trying so hard to come across as a mystery. This mechanic will always feel off because it's been introduced so late into the story.
Also, a major suspension of disbelief and one of the biggest gripes I have with the story concerns a certain character's actions. If they have been in a time loop for hundreds and hundreds of years, shouldn't they have tried anything and everything under the goddamn sun? Why haven't they ever tried to explore the option of talking to their friends about it, if it works so well to break through this tragic fate? Did they just hold back for a few hundred years because the plot demands it? As a result, all of their struggles and suffering after the multi-verse reveal just seem artificial and unrealistic somehow. At some point, I became completely detached from the story, apathetic towards whatever happens to these characters who I feel have been overstaying their welcome in this drawn-out story.
At the end of the day, it feels as if Higurashi tried too many ideas without the proper writing prowess to back these ideas up. As a result, it fumbles the fuck out of the plot, pulling aliens, diseases, and organizations out of thin air and cooking up unbelievably cartoonish villains to mastermind a very forced and drawn-out tragedy that's edgy just for the sake of being edgy.
Art:
At least the characters' facial proportions don't look like those of deformed polio victims like in the 1st season.
Sound:
The opening is ok but not as good as the 1st season. The voice acting and sound design are mediocre at best and fucking annoying at worst i.e Keiichi's voice.
Character:
I don't even care anymore tbh
Enjoyment:
Ehhhhh It was just ok.
Overall:
6/10 Satoko did nothing wrong.
TLDR forget Higurashi go play the Umineko sound novel it's lit af tbh lmao it's amazing how much the writer improves after writing one mediocre series.
Story:
Higurashi became quite a goddamn mess because Ryukishi07 tried to incorporate too many new ideas into his series without the proper execution or build-up.
First of all, it loves being really dark and edgy, but at the same time, it doesn't know when to fucking give it a rest; it has an annoying penchant for dragging out the torture of its characters, as if more suffering and pain = higher quality of writing. As a result, the story sometimes becomes too edgy and takes itself way too seriously to be enjoyable. Whatever comic relief the writer shoehorned in is usually unfunny, sometimes cringy, or even downright annoying.
Don't get me wrong, it's completely fine - cool, even - to be edgy. Some of my favorite series are extremely edgy. The problem with Higurashi is that it just doesn't know how to have fun. Sometimes I feel as if it just loves to torture and create a pity party for its characters for the sake of it.
In contrast, look at something like Umineko: it rolls around in the puddle of blood, shit, and guts that it creates, smears brains all over its face, and chases after the reader with its bloody hands like a little kid playing tag. It downright invites the reader to laugh at the atrocity along with it. Despite doing these edgy things, at its very core, it understands extremely well what compassion is; it knows how to pull its characters up by the hand. It knows how to be a complete monster without alienating or boring its audience with the same shtick over and over.
Furthermore, Higurashi has made me suspend my disbelief one too many times . For instance, during many chase scenes, the characters just suddenly stop and start talking to each other, forgetting how to run until the enemy catches up with them. The time loop mechanic, along with Hanyuu, are shoehorned into the story with no context to try and explain away the resetting story arcs. While the writer, Ryukishi07, does explain this mechanic in a way that makes perfect sense in Umineko, it came completely out of the left field in Higurashi. And here, you see, is where Higurashi suddenly makes a leap into fantasy territory when for the entire first half it has been trying so hard to come across as a mystery. This mechanic will always feel off because it's been introduced so late into the story.
Also, a major suspension of disbelief and one of the biggest gripes I have with the story concerns a certain character's actions. If they have been in a time loop for hundreds and hundreds of years, shouldn't they have tried anything and everything under the goddamn sun? Why haven't they ever tried to explore the option of talking to their friends about it, if it works so well to break through this tragic fate? Did they just hold back for a few hundred years because the plot demands it? As a result, all of their struggles and suffering after the multi-verse reveal just seem artificial and unrealistic somehow. At some point, I became completely detached from the story, apathetic towards whatever happens to these characters who I feel have been overstaying their welcome in this drawn-out story.
At the end of the day, it feels as if Higurashi tried too many ideas without the proper writing prowess to back these ideas up. As a result, it fumbles the fuck out of the plot, pulling aliens, diseases, and organizations out of thin air and cooking up unbelievably cartoonish villains to mastermind a very forced and drawn-out tragedy that's edgy just for the sake of being edgy.
Art:
At least the characters' facial proportions don't look like those of deformed polio victims like in the 1st season.
Sound:
The opening is ok but not as good as the 1st season. The voice acting and sound design are mediocre at best and fucking annoying at worst i.e Keiichi's voice.
Character:
I don't even care anymore tbh
Enjoyment:
Ehhhhh It was just ok.
Overall:
6/10 Satoko did nothing wrong.
TLDR forget Higurashi go play the Umineko sound novel it's lit af tbh lmao it's amazing how much the writer improves after writing one mediocre series.
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