Reviews VisualNovel / Higurashi When They Cry

Beggars Can't Be Choosers, So Try Not To Be A Beggar

Here's the deal on this one. The anime is... acceptable, especially if you don't know what the series originally was. However, compared to any of the game versions and the manga version, the anime is but a pale replica. It's not incredibly noticeable to someone just wandering into it, although even though I watched the anime without knowing what was coming, I found Tatarigoroshi-hen to be incredibly rushed and felt that the way Keiichi was portrayed didn't follow any kind of thought-pattern whatsoever. This is largely because of cut-out character development in the first two arcs.

Good:

• The psychological drama is beautifully fleshed out and for the most part, realistic given the circumstances. The parts where it isn't are usually pretty forgivable thanks to the Rule Of Drama.
• Scenes are never violent just to be violent. All gore serves a larger purpose of displaying the depravity that given characters have sunk to.
• Characters are for the most part genuinely likable with good flaws that aren't ignored when inconvenient.
• Artwork of the first season, although frustrating in a lot of other places, during the horror scenes, looks genuinely terrifying.

Bad:

• The exceptions to the first good. Usually are in the anime adaptation only and due to Adaptation Decay. Best way to avoid is to go for the manga or V Ns first.
• The endings. If there is one place Your Mileage May Vary, this is it. Most people have one ending that is their favorite, and the other tends to be written off as poorly done, with varying degrees of venom. Only Matsuribayashi has been animated, and so that will probably be the ending most will see. Shame, because I personally think Miotsukushi is the better of the two. ^^
• Artwork of the first season. Where the artwork isn't terrifying, it is really, really bad.