Review of Higurashi: When They Cry - Outbreak
In short : Higurashi fans, run away !!! I've been a fan of this fiction for a long time : anime, manga, visual novels.... I love them all and am probably biased toward them, but I don't care. Little did I expect to one day come across something related to it that would be this horrifying. Because under this pretty design mimicking the Anime, this is very far away from the original material, in an awfully negative way. Story : Did you ever come across an original fiction that seemed like a fanfiction to you ? I did : The Knights of Emerald, Akame ga Kill, ZenbuChoudai, The Witcher (novels), Fire Tripper (OVA), etc. Oh, I stop you there, just because something is "fanfictionish" doesn't make it remotely bad, Knights of Emerald for example remained entertaining despite that. After all, some fanfictions are really well done. When it comes to this OVA, though, we're among the bad fanfictions.
To me, it looks like the product of a fan : he/she took his favourite elements of the show/manga/visual novels and tried to bring to life some of his/her phantasms. Even if it doesn't fit the Higurashi universe.
Do we have the implication of the virus ? Yes, right from the start it's thrown into our face without any type of introduction, which, I would have accepted if there had been a counterpart for making it right retroactively, but, nope, cross that. This OVA may be long, but it didn't have the time for that, instead, it took plenty of time showing us how absurdly epic Keiichi and Rena are. The others you ask ? Who cares !? Let's find an excuse to have them as little as possible on-screen. Show the build-up insanity from the villagers ? (because this time around it's their turn to become mad) Who cares ? Keiichi's parents are present....even if they aren't really important in the end, considering the lack of care Keiichi shows overall of their....disappearance.... Er....what happened during that ellipse ? (oh and they are very, very understanding parents, or incredbily irresponsible...I hesitate....) which matches Rena's reaction perfectly when it comes to her own loss.
I could rant and piss about this story for ages, make a fuss about close to every elements, but I should cool down a bit, so I won't. Let's just say it focuses on everything that matters the least and avoids sharing with us, viewers, the most important information ON-SCREEN. It could also pull the various elements in better ways. All in all, even though the story is easily understandable, it has many pieces missing to bring a decent continuity to the plot, you just have various fragments brought together with poorly done transitions.
I would like to add a word about the end however.... Is it me....or is it suggesting Mion, Keiichi, Rena and Satoko (and Rika) are the only surviving beings ? Or are living in a post-apocalyptic world with "zombies" killing each other and only them as "normal" humans ? .....Well, Adam will have three wives this time, how lucky !
To say a word about the dialogues....they mainly sound off or forced, like they weren't put in appropriately.
Characters :
Aside from the story, the characters are also very fanfictionish.... They look like the one of Higurashi, they share traits with the one of Higurashi, but everything feels off or incomplete.
Irie kills himself ? Ok, why not ? But you have to develop it, not throw it into our face.
Keiichi and Rena are perfectly ok from a second to another to kill people and have thorough FUN with it. Isn't there some middle path first ? Usually, between point A and point B there's something to develop. Oh and also, they are....ninjas ? Don't know, but they are really good at killing many opponents on their own, and yes, they tend to show these types of qualities in the "every day" life, but in case you didn't notice, these absurdly awesome moments are purposefully restricted to the "fun days", while the more psychologically hard moments make them more human....again for a reason. Something this OVA seems to have completely forgotten.
Mion ? Useless....with her weak self being specifically worked out so you're sure to get she won't be of any (real) use.
Satoko ? Damsel in distress, we know close to nothing about her, because telling us how this virus is behind every religions and everywhere in the world is much more important.
Hanyu ? She turned evil. Because it was decided so !
And to come back to Keiichi's parents, for once that they had a minimum of role to play, I do not understand the choice of avoiding to show us their face, it just increases the lack of empathy for them.
The only one I could praise, to some extent, is Rika, even if during the last part of it, she was also of.
All in all, none of them react as they would normally, even their "insane" self. There are in-betweens missing to justify said attitudes.
Art & Sound :
They are the best part of the show. Well, the soundtrack is mainly what we had already, but it still nice to hear them again. Nothing to say about those two elements all in all. The seiyuus did a good job, overall, but there was some lack of...."soul" ? "Heart", "implication", however you want to put that.
Overall :
....Wait ? I've just been told it was based on a short story written by Ryukishi07 ? ...................Without further information about it, it may be wiser to turn yourself toward that version, at worst, it'll be as bad as the anime, at best, it'll be better............................
Now I shall go back into my horrified corner again.