Higurashi: When They Cry - GOU

What people forget about Higurashi besides the "horror" aspect, is the feeling of confusion because what makes Higurashi so memorable is the aspect of "mystery" I mean a whole alooooot of mystery, which they give you time to make your own theory as to what do you think is going on, and until they will show you answers later on as the show progresses. and this is what I love about Higurashi.

My most anticipated anime of 2020 live up to the hype. As a fan of the OG series, this was everything I wanted and more. This sequel proved NECESSARY and actually adds something to the franchise rather than feeling like a cash grab. I recommend this to anybody who loved the original and for anyone who are horror anime fans, or just fans of the horror genre in general. The Higurashi franchise is a prime example of horror done RIGHT!

How to watch the Higurashi series: 1. Higurashi no naku koro Ni 2006

2. Higurashi no naku koro ni Kai 2007

3. Higurashi no naku koro ni Rei (OVA series)

4. Higurashi no naku koro ni Gou 2020

5. Higurashi no naku koro ni Sotsu 2021.

I watched several episodes of this because I'd heard "When They Cry" was a great anime series and I actually didn't realize that this wasn't that show but a remake. And I was really confused because what I saw was so bad and I thought, how could this be a classic?

I watched three episodes before I realized my mistake, then watched the original, which is notably better. While the first two episodes of this remake are all cutesy games and banter with almost none of the mystery and horror, the original got going by episode 2, and the card game in episode one was genuinely entertaining, unlike the more elaborate games of this sequel.

One of the big annoyances of this series is the nails-on-chalkboard voices of the girls. They are all painfully cutesy. In the original there was more variety, with Rena's cutsiness balanced out by Mion's dryer delivery. I wondered if it was just bad dubbing so I watched one episode with subtitles but they did the same thing in Japan.

The animation is also more straightforward and less wild, and I found that rather dull and conventional.

I will say that the third episode was mainly horror/mystery and was much better than the first two, but no way I could keep listening to those squeaky voices.

Even though I didn't ultimately *love* the original, which is intriguing and compelling but a bit too intense in places for me, it is certainly much better than this one.

I haven't watched the original so my opinion is solely regarding this series by itself without comparing it to the 2005 version. Overall I have really enjoyed this series so far; it has good character development, suspense, and does everything it tries to do really well. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror anime.