Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, is a continuation of the Higurashi series. This is the second series, notice the slight difference in names. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. This new series adds a new story arc or two and some answers to the first season arcs, maybe a few questions too.
Here you get more mystery than horror but you do get kills so don’t worry. You get a lot more answers here than you do in the first one including some surprises. I don’t want to go into too much detail because a lot changes from the first series. A LOT. Friends become enemies, enemies become friends. So much of what you saw in the first series gets flipped upside down. If you watched the first series then you need to watch this to get the answers that are missing, even if for some strange reason you didn’t like the first series.
The characters pretty much remain the same from the first series but here you get a new character and also a lot more depth on some of the characters. All the unanswered questions you may have had from the first series are just about answered here with possibly one or two new questions dur to the new character and some new circumstances.
At the time this show was out in 2007, there were a few things going on in Japan where they pre-empted the show and some stations even stopped broadcasting in the middle of the season. A 16 year old girl actually killed her father who was a cop at the time. With this show and School Days on at the same time, you can see why they decided to go the route they did. Some a few of the stations just stopped airing the show. They even had to alter the opening sequence because Rena’s bill hook cleaver was in it. If you watch it now, you will probably see the edited version without the cleaver. Look for it at about :55 in the opening, you will see the cleaver or a van from the junkyard in the edited version.
Art is different, the eyes are still big but not like 50% of their heads like in the first series. The art is cleaner and doesn’t look like maybe a kid drew the kids. The music and everything else has changed but they’re still fitting for the atmosphere of the show.
If you haven’t seen the first one yet then check my review here. If you saw the first series then you owe it to yourself to watch this one and figure out all the mysteries left open in the first one. The two series really do go together and as you watch, you’ll see why. I’m giving this a 4 and can say I enjoyed the series, even without the gore of the first part.
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