May 01, 2006
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
This has been a crazy season for new anime. There are so many new shows out there (as I mentioned in an earlier post). Now, after a few weeks, the real winners are starting to make themselves clear. Two in particular that stand out to me are Suzumiya Haruhi no Yutsu and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. I'll post more about Haruhi later, since I just got done watching and episode of Higurashi and it is more fresh in my head.
I'm only three episodes in (and about to watch a fourth) and this show has completely sucked me in. Keiichi has recently moved to a small town and started school. At this point the show was seeming a little silly, lots of typical school hi-jinx. After school Keiichi goes off with one of his school friends, Rena, and she shows him a junkyard where she goes to collect things. She runs off to explore and he waits for her. While waiting he runs into a photographer who tells him about a murder that took place right around there a few years ago.
The most striking thing about the show is how it shifts gears. One moment things seem all happy and cute, only to turn around and become quite dark and ominous. Keiichi begins to think someone is out to get him, and I've started to wonder who to trust in all this. Currently Keiichi looks like he's about to snap. I hope he gets some answers soon.
This show also ended up surprising me a lot. For the first fifteen minutes or so I wasn't that impressed. It felt kind of mindless and cutesy. Something which changed just enough by the end of the episode to pull me back to watch the second. And it is going to be a 26 episode series, which means we're still only barely scratching the surface of the story. Here's hoping the rest of the ride is as interesting as the first bit.