Review of Higurashi: When They Cry – Kai

Often times in the world of cash grabs and continuations, the viewers of entertainment mediums are often disappointed. The next series either attempts to make bank off the success of the acclaimed first season, or it's simply made to continue the initial season's train ride until the audience reaches the end of the road with a sigh or jumps off early due to their eyes bleeding. The incredible thing about Higurashi is they fix this formula by taking an interesting approaching to sequel seasons: The 1st season of a series presents a "Question" or an overarching mystery to the audience, while the2nd season serves as an "Answer" to the mystery presented. Most anime series try to do this on the sly with cliffhangers containing as much whiplash as a disgraced Formula 1 driver trying to give you a rough ride, but Higurashi throws this method in your face, and effectively pulls it off to create a successful 2nd season.

I gave the story an 8, simply because it doesn't stand on its own as well as the initial run: Some of information about the characters' pasts gets neglected, since it was covered in season 1, so the show can veer into explaining how all this crazy 'ish from your first tour of this homicidal, rural town. The artwork has obviously improved significantly, hence the 9, and the sound remains just as powerful as before, hence the 10.

As I stated before, the characterization is what suffers this season. Props should be given to how they developed Rika (the little, blue haired girl) and her best friend Satoko. As with everyone else in Hinamizawa, Rika is not what she appears to be, and this season really delves into her psychological state concerning these events and how they affect her. However, the rest of the supporting cast (Batter-boy and the two Crazy Twins) are more stuck reacting to events instead of us seeing their thoughts and inner monologues concerning them, which I think really hurt their characterizations this time around. I'd say that was the only weakness this season, but the show tries to compensate by giving you all the answers our greedy little minds could desire ("After all, we showed ya these main characters in charge of their own arcs last season didn't we, ya ungrateful bastards?" says Studio Deen while grinning with a grill of gold).

The sacking of characters I was invested in aside, Kai did an excellent job in wrapping up all the loose ends presented during Season 1. It improved the artwork, the sound, put a neat little bow on the plot, and did all this with only a few character personalities as a tragedy. Meh, even Rome wasn't made without some cracks in the street. I'll stick by my original judgement and still give this season a 9 out of 10.