Anime Impressions: Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou

<p>Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is a popular Horror <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;psycho-pass-mandatory-happiness-review-visual-novel-breadsticks&sol;">visual novel<&sol;a> from 2000 that was adapted into a semi-popular horror anime in 2007&period; The anime is well known for blending both horror and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;anime-impressions-my-teen-romantic-comedy-snafu-climax&sol;">slice of life<&sol;a> elements and now in 2020&comma; a reboot&sol;alternate timeline adaptation titled Higurashi&colon; When They Cry – NEW has surfaced with updated visuals and character models&period; This new adaptation seems to be tailored towards both newcomers and old fans of the original studio DEEN series&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;anime-planet&period;com&sol;images&sol;anime&sol;screenshots&sol;higurashi-when-they-cry-gou-14416-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Higurashi&colon; When They Cry - Gou " &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">A Chilling Opening<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The first episode opens up in a similar fashion to the original anime where we see protagonist Keiichi Maebara brutally murder his friends with a baseball bat and its quite a gruesome scene to witness&period; Minutes later the tone of the anime changes drastically&comma; and we&&num;8217&semi;re introduced to the other characters in a standard slice of life format&comma; only this time with the new designs which makes it seem like you&&num;8217&semi;re watching a completely different anime&period; We see Keiichi’s normal interactions with his friend group and classmates Rena&comma; Mion&comma; Satoko&comma; and Rika as they go to a local shrine for a picnic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On his way back from the shrine with Rena&comma; they both take an odd detour to the local landfill to find some &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;treasure”&period; At the landfill&comma; Keiichi encounters Tomitake&comma; a freelance photographer that frequents the town to take pictures of birds&period; He tells Keiichi that there&&num;8217&semi;s been a recent murder in town which understandably shocks him and the anime&&num;8217&semi;s unsettling tone creeps back in&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The next day all seems well as Keiichi is inducted into to the girl&&num;8217&semi;s club and even competes in a friendly scavenger hunt with them&period; However&comma; he is still curious about the murder&comma; so he asks both Rena and Mion about the incident but is met with a cold and creepy dismissal&period; Later on he goes back to the landfill where he meets Rena yet again trying to dig out a Colonel Sanders &&num;8220&semi;Kenta-kun&&num;8221&semi; statue&period; Keiichi offers to help dig it out but is unable to&period; Rena offers to rush home to make some tea as thanks for helping&period; As she leaves&comma; Keiichi dozes off but wakes up minutes later to find a pile of magazines with information on the aforementioned grizzly incident&period; However&comma; as Keiichi searches through the magazine the episode ends with Rena standing behind him ominously with a machete in hand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All in all&comma; the first episode is quite similar to its 2007 counterpart save for the obvious changes such as the new character designs by Akio Watanabe &lpar;who also worked on the Monogatari series&rpar; and new music from Kenji Kawai&period; The episode successfully introduces the main characters while also adding some creepy undertones into the mix&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i2&period;wp&period;com&sol;www&period;otaquest&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;higurashi1&period;png&quest;fit&equals;1280&percnt;2C720&amp&semi;ssl&equals;1" alt&equals;"Review&colon; Higurashi When They Cry Gou Episode 2 " &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">New Name&comma; Slightly New Show<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Then comes episode two&comma; which dramatically changes things by pulling the wool over us and unveiling a new title for the anime&comma; Higurashi&colon; When They Cry – Gou&period; The second episode starts off in a cryptic manner with an older&comma; more matured Rika awakening to find herself in a realm filled with mirror shards where she meets a strange apparition named Hanyuu&period; The two seemingly discuss past events and Rika&&num;8217&semi;s determination to save the town from an unknown threat&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This sequence will definitely confuse some new viewers as it recalls events from the original series without spoiling too much&period; The episode then returns to normal with Keiichi playing zombie tag with the girls at school though it&&num;8217&semi;s hard to enjoy the cute scene without recalling the series of ominous events from the previous episode&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Afterwards&comma; he returns to the landfill with Rena to fetch the &&num;8220&semi;Kenta-Kun&&num;8221&semi; statue&period; As Keiichi hacks away at a piece of wood with the machete from the previous episode to free the statue&comma; he recalls the grisly event shown at the start of the first episode which supposedly never happened&period; So perhaps it might&&num;8217&semi;ve been from another timeline&quest; Meanwhile&comma; Rena is acting strangely again with cold&comma; emotionless stares&period; The next day the group attend the Watanagashi Festival where they have fun talking&comma; eating and playing games&comma; and the episode ends with an elegant ritual dance from Rika&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i2&period;wp&period;com&sol;www&period;otaquest&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;firefox&lowbar;w1lRnspIOL&period;png&quest;fit&equals;1909&percnt;2C1080&amp&semi;ssl&equals;1" alt&equals;" Higurashi When They Cry " &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Final Thoughts<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Episode 2 notably changes a few things from the original I won&&num;8217&semi;t spoil&comma; but proves this new adaptation from studio Passione is not just a reboot but an alternate timeline story as well&period; Thankfully&comma; the new adaptation succeeds in integrating the chilling and unsettling elements seen in the original&comma; and hopefully it continues to do so while introducing some of its own features as well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you haven’t seen Higurashi&colon; When They Cry – Gou it’s available to stream right now on <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;funimation&period;com&sol;shows&sol;higurashi-when-they-cry-new&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Funimation<&sol;a><&sol;strong>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Are you a fan of horror&quest; Have you seen the original Higurashi series&quest; Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;