Well, this is certainly something I did not expect this year, oddly fitting too since this series kind of deals with pandemic, also, I will find it really hard to not spoil this series for what happens in the future. Anyway, I am back, to review stuff again. This time I am reviewing the remake of one of my favorite series, Higurashi. I know a few years ago I was planning on reviewing the original, kind of glad I did not since now I can watch it and talk about it over time. I also have no idea how long this is, seeing that the original anime is 50 episodes long, so, I might be here for some time, which I am fine with. Enough about that, time to get into the show.

The Plot:

Well, the first few seconds of the episode certainly give a taste at what is to expect in this series, well, this episode anyway the double M, Murder and Moe. Yeah, so, I really want to say more, but I will explain at a later date for those that never saw this series before.

Anyway, Keiichi, he is the main protagonists, or one of them anyway. The main protagonist tends to change in this series, but it is always someone in the group of characters that appear in this episode. Anyway, he is still new to the town and has made a group of friends with the older kids, Rika, Mion, Satoko, and Rika. Despite their different ages, their school is small and only one classroom big. This series all takes place in June 1985. Anyway, the groups hijinks ensue.

The following day, after Keiichi was taken for a tour of the town, him and Rena go to the junk yard so Rena can find something cute to take home. While he relaxes a photographer shows up and just casually mentions how a dead body may or may not be hidden in the junk yard. Of course, this catches Keiichi’s attention and he starts to investigate. Upon asking Rena, she quickly denies it with a serious tone of voice, snapping away from her typical cute demeanor.

As the following day he continues his investigation, this time asking Mion, but again, her cheeky demeanor is quickly replaced by a serious one. Clearly something is up about the murder that took place, as Keiichi did learn that the whole town was against the government who was trying to destroy their town to build a dam, while it happened someone mysteriously died.

Later that same day back at the junk yard, Keiichi helps Rena find the statue buried under the junk. While Rena goes to fetch something to cut the wood. Keiichi discovers a magazine that talks about the murder.

The episode ends with Rena watching Keiichi with a serious look in her eyes and a blade, all while Rika’s eyes glow blood red watching the two of them from afar.

Overall Thoughts:

Okay, a few things before talking about the episode. First, I love how the brought back the original music. I wish they brought back the creepy cicada sound though. Second, and most importantly, I love how the characters still have the same voice actors as the original. It made it a lot more enjoyable. I did not have an issue with the art style, nor the design for the characters, as they all stayed virtually the same except for Keiichi, who changed a tiny bit.

 Now, as the episode, it was like watching the first episode of the original series all over again, in terms of the mystery, the goofy moe parts were different. So, if you are watching both episodes at the same time you would have seen basically the same thing for the most part, except the ending with Rika’s eyes turned red. This is really what is getting me to question exactly what will change in this series and exactly how long it will be, one cour will certainly be too short, that I can say without second thought. This episode was still enjoyable, gave some character development and really started to lay down the mystery and horror aspects with proper build up and suspense. Which is another thing I loved about the original, it knew when to keep the horror and humor nicely separated and knew exactly when to blend them together, this series at least from this episode, gives off the same feeling, so I am excited to see what is to come.

Overall Enjoyment: 90/100

This series is licensed by Funimation in North America. The original is still licensed by Sentai Filmworks.

I will do my best to only talk about this series and keep my future references to the original to the best of my ability. I make no promises that I won’t bring it up, thankfully I forgot a lot about it as it has been 6 years.

Try not to spoil the series, I certainly will try not to, but, feel free to comment your thoughts on the series, both the original and this one.

Now, the Tower of God reviews, while I did stop watching it, I think for this series, at least to start off, I will be going about with my original way of doing reviews, if there is an episode I think would work better as a live reaction like review I will do it that way. I think while I did enjoy writing the reviews as a live reaction, it also hindered me from wanting to watch the show as well, and this way I know I won’t stop watching this show.

As always I hope you enjoyed.

The Reviewer’s Corner has an Official Twitter. All updates, polls, and information on posts and future posts can be found there.

Again, I hope you enjoyed and see you next time.

– Joe