Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai

Synopsis:

In the small village of Hinamizawa they celebrate the Watanagashi Festival every year and give thanks to the local god Oyashiro-sama. But, for the last four years, with the festival also comes a terrible curse in which one of the towns people is murdered and one goes missing. One young girl named Rika Furude is forced to live this nightmare time and time again as she remains in a constant cycle of time that repeats itself with the same outcome that ends in the same result no matter how many times she's seen it... her own death. Rika, decides to fight destiny and change the very fate she's been resigned to with the aid of her friends that believe in her.

Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 24

Review:

First and foremost people, watch Higurashi no Naku Koro ni which is season 1, or you may find yourself scratching your head wondering what's going on. With that said, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai is the second season and a continuation of the bizarre story from season 1 and it picks things up and gets it moving with the element of mystery and brings in a few characters you may remember and shows you what's been happening since you left. Alot of the plot holes are now being filled in explaining what really happened and why and links the two seasons together remarkably but while doing that also changes the overall tone of the entire series.

While season 1 consisted of eerie situations, some extreme violence, backstabbing, and a general aura of creepiness... season 2 (Kai) changes this and shows you a different outcome had things been done differently for a given scenario and displays a bond that strengthens amongst friends and it's actually a nice change in pace by doing a complete turnaround of events. You'll see how friends trust friends no matter how strange the consequence and in doing so face a bleak destiny and change it to something that they all look forward to.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai is a story that relies very heavily on character development and done so in the amazing sense that while you may despise a particular person you almost begin to feel for their plight as you watch their background story unfold. However, Kai never let's you lose focus on it's protagonists as you'll be cheering when they manage to work together to overcome an obstacle that seems next to hopeless.

I'll commend Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai for changing it's violent upbringing into a very powerful story about friendship and showing the audience that you don't have to accept the fate you think you've been assigned. Although the animation is a bit on the average side, the fantastic story more than makes up for this and as such gets a very high recommendation.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (opening)

Recommendation: |Very High|