Review of Higurashi: When They Cry – Kai

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai is a much different beast from first season of Higurashi, one that is rather more accessible on multiple fronts. As a result, Kai lacks the same capacity for brutally scarring its audience, but this is a come-for-the-intestines-stay-for-the-heart sort of venture, so returning fans should still find the experience rewarding, and for more reasons than merely the promise of closure. Where the first season of Higurashi explored its premise through multiple fractured story arcs that reset the narrative frequently, offering few answers to its many questions, Kai spends the majority of its run on two closely related, much morelinear arcs that seek to untangle the complicated web. Likewise, where Higurashi's disjuncture led to the ensemble of club members sharing the revolving title of "main character" (and "villain"), Kai has an unequivocal central protagonist in Rika, whose perspective ties the events of the season together. With this stable narrative structure, Kai leaves behind much of the theatricality and wanton sadism of the first season, devoting more time to setting straight the overarching plot than to ripping off fingernails.

That's not to say that Kai lacks violence and gore altogether, but Hinamizawa's evisceration plague is more background circumstance than focus this time around. I can't say that Kai has any scenes that are particularly difficult to sit through - and if there are, they would be depictions of Satoko's abuse that aim for emotional discomfort, not the stomach-turning physical revulsion of torture or something spine-chilling from the vault of horror. Kai is more supernatural mystery than horror, which might be construed as an unfortunate step down by some, but there is no major loss; I would put Kai nearly on par with the first season overall.

Higurashi's greatest strength has always been its story, whose manifold branches and twisted tragedies make Higurashi one of the most absorbing and chilling horror enterprises of its generation; second come the characters, whose personalities become more heavily imprinted as they regress toward the mean with every new incarnation. While the story continues to fascinate and only grows stronger with the increasing clarity offered by Kai, I do feel that the series's most powerful artistic expressions came from the diabolical fantasies of the first season. You won't find in Kai any image as powerful as that of Rika stabbing herself in the head while Mion/Shion laughs maniacally over her corpse, or Rena's unceasing late-night apologies and terrifying cat eyes, or Keiichi bashing his friends' skulls in with a baseball bat.

Of course, more than simply another set of murders, I want (and feel entitled to) an uplifting ending for the characters I've gotten close to over 50 episodes, along with satisfactory conclusions to the innumerable plot threads initiated in that time, and Kai, to its credit, maintains its tension and mystery right to the last episode in the midst of all the exposition. Even with the moderated focus on action and the more deliberate pace, the unearthly presence that surrounded the first season still infects Kai, if not in nearly as strong a dosage. The charmingly bizarre friendship between these characters continues to grow, even as Rika takes the spotlight, and their proud abstention from stolid stereotypes makes them as compelling a group of protagonists as ever, perhaps more so as their positive qualities develop under these new circumstances. The addition of Hanyuu to the roster further sands down some of the edges with more opportunities for moe moments, thanks in no small part to the wonderful talents of Yui Horie.

Kai's improved production values sweep away some of the most unflattering snags of the first season, or at least upscale the quality to more acceptable levels. The performances and audio quality are stronger, the visuals much smoother; at the same time, while the animation hamstrings the presentation less often, the mildly unnerving effect of the distorting designs, off-model animation, and frequently crude illustrations added character to the first season. That wasn't always the case - sometimes it just looked sloppy - and, once again, if Kai aims for mystery rather than fright, it's probably not as necessary to be so off-putting; still, Kai looks a little more ordinary. Looking to Rei, Higurashi's first OVA series, the trend continued, with further polished designs that feel that much less unique. The same trend can be observed in the OPs and EDs. I grew to like Kai's OP a lot over the course of the series, but it's a bit of a culture shock stepping into a melancholy J-pop song after the hellish soundscape of the first season OP, which couldn't be scarier if it were performed by Anaal Nathrakh with Scott Walker.

Overall, Kai isn't quite as striking or viscerally terrifying as its predecessor, but, while it won't leave as much of an impression as a result, Kai has different priorities, so it doesn't need to be a repeat of the first season. The story and characters were more than enough to carry the first season through some rough waters and that is also true of Kai, whose long-awaited conclusion to the murder mystery/alien invasion/demon holocaust/government conspiracy/mass insanity/viral infection/hash-slinging slasher that gripped Hinamizawa will be fulfilling and enjoyable for any fan of the first season.