Higurashi Kai (second season) - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating
 

This thread is to be used for discussing the entire 24 episodes of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (second season)... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, expectations and hopes about the DVD only footage etc.

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:

• General impression of the series.
• Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
• Thoughts about the animation quality.
• Characters/Character Design
• Which kind of footage (DVD only) you feel you'd really like to see.
• What the show meant to you.
• What could the creators/animators/writers have done better.

And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Editing: 1-10
Emotional Involvement: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.

My Humble Opinion
 

Animation Quality: 8
Voice Actors: 9
Script: 9
Editing: 8
Emotional Involvement: 10

Average = 9½

Hm, so Higurashi Kai.

It was a good series overall, and an ending deserving to the Higurashi name. I felt the first episode of Kai was needed, but quite dull, however the Adult Rena did spice it up a little. The anime only arc was good, and showed off the new art/animation style of season 2 quite well. The ending to episode 5 was very emotional for me. Overall, it was a great start to hype up the real meat of Kai.

Minagoroshi, on the otherhand, started off strong, but had a weak middle. It had it's moments, but overall, I felt it was much too dragged out. I feel explaining Satoko's abuse and saving her was an important part, of course, but it was dragged out for 4 episodes or so, and sometimes I was wondering when they'd finish this plot point. After that though, it got very good, with the revalation of Takano being the villain and Tomitake's death, up do they great fight in episode 13, a very emotional end to Minagoroshi for me, and very effective.

Matsubayashi was mostly good thoughout, though I feel there could've been more episodes for this arc, and less for Minagoroshi. It needed way more Hanyuu! XD
The final episode was excellent, however, some questions were still not answered. ( Like Shion and Saotshi, and what happens from there) But I guess that's what season 3's for!~

One thing about Higurashi Kai that I really liked was how all the characters seemed closer, and the team work aspects really made me smile, as it was mostly non-existent in Higurashi; What, with everyone going crazy and all. xD

The Animation was a big step up from the first series, I dont think I saw one contorted facial expression! The animation however, really varied. You had the top-notch animation of episode 24, and then you had the 'budget' episodes, such as episode 12. Heck, even episode 13, while good in parts, still had flaws, such as the limbs, etc. I think DEEN has an erratic way of doing things, spending time animating smaller scenes well, while not doing it for bigger, more important ones. Also, I really liked the new eyes DEEN gave the characters; whenever I see Higurashi season 1 now, I always notice the different eyes! XD

The soundtrack was mostly forgettable, as with season 1. It to me had nothing that was really memorable, and alot've the pieces were quite bland. Also, they re-used alot've tracks from season 1, which doesnt up the mark much. The OP and ED seemed great at first, but seemed to grow old quite rapidly. Maybe that's jsut because I've listened to them so much, though.


I felt the TIPS, section of Kai was really rushed, though, and some of them seemed really jumbled together in a mishap kind've way. The writing was msotly good though, and I;m glad they didnt miss out NEARLY as much as they did from the first season.

The Voice actors were perfect, as in season 1. I had no gripes with any of them, infact. Rika's VA did a great job of conveying all Rika's emotions, and Dark Rika. Yui Hori ( I think that's her VA) did a brilliant job as Hanyuu, and her 'Auau' was just great. Takano's VA also did a great job of getting across the pure evilness of the character. But for me, it has to her to Mion/Shion's VA; as in the first season, I feel she did an excellent job portrying both of the twins. All the cast did superb, though.

Extra DVD scenes for me would have to include more scenes from ep 13 ( more action please ^^;)., and to see a Satoshi/Shion REAL reunion, or to see them all a few years after the events of Matsubayashi.


Higurashi to me is one of ThE best anime's out there, it was my first real anime lvoe since Sailor Moon, when I was 8. And the first anime i'd really gotten into for years. When I went to Japan, I got so much merch, it was unbelivable. Also, I rewatched the first season 5 times (no joke). I just LOVED the mystery and suspence, not to mention the characters.


All the chaarcter's are real idols, as Lanner Falcon said. Shion was also my favourite, with her love for Satoshi, and just even her crazy moments from S1; she had many endearing qualities. Also, props go to Rika for being a true heroine, and not giving up even at the worst of times, she is really someone to look up to. I also loved Rena, and her cute-ness; however, unlike most 'cute' characters, she could be deadly serious and very intelligent.

In some parts of Kai, I missed the mystery of the first season, and the crazyness, but it was to be expected. But for me, season 2 probably wont grow on me as much as season 1 did.

Furthermore, ( I just realised how long this is x_x;), I think DEEN could've but more of a budget into Kai, with the animation and such, and moved the story on at a better pace, but hey, hopefully more luck with season 3!~


Overall:

Animation: 7/10
Voice Actors: 10/10
Script:8/10
Editing: 7/10
Emotional envolvement: 10/10

7.5/10

Can I have the .5? ;-;

Animation Quality: 8
Voice Actors: 10
Script: 8
Editing: 7
Emotional Involvement: 10

Okay, let's see here.







All in all, I enjoyed Higurashi Kai quite a bit, but the first season still remains on top as far as I'm concerned. I hope they decide not to do a third season.

Animation Quality: 7, i prefer the old style.
Voice Actors: 10
Script: 9
Editing: 9
Emotional Involvement: 10

Overall- 9/10.

Wow... I didn't think I'd be sharing my thoughts here since I thought I'd just be redundant with most of the opinions, but after seeing two posts exposing the very same view I've been trying to dispel on several places, I think I'll just throw my two cents.

Overall, Higurashi is a series that turns around three essential themes: friendship, trust and hope. Every arc of the series, from Onikakushi to Matsuribayashi are just different presentations of these three themes, and how things can only work when they are all present. All the gore, all the violence, all the mistery, all the suspense where nothing but secondary themes that helped to highlight the different happenings one one or more of these elements were missing.

As such, it is only natural than in Kai, where the characters have suffered, and yet learned from the results of their actions, these themes start being more and more prominent, and as such the mystery, the gore and the horror return to their rightful second plane. Kai is not a tone down of the violence. It represents an evolution of the plot in the direction the original author wanted. Not only the characters or the plot, but the whole ambiance changed to represent how we were moving in a direction where all the missing pieces, and over them the three themes fell into place.

Being a series about friendship, it is only natural that we see the every day lives of the main cast, and how joyful their normal days are, since it is only through these moments that we can fully comprehend the horror that represents the loss of trust in your friends, and the loss of the joyful days. This is something that Studio DEEN had forgotten to fully adapt in the first season, and yet, they redeemed themselves in the second by dedicating more time to this section of the story. The original game was full of these little moments, from the very first arc. It is only normal, even necessary, to allocate an important time of the story to showing these.

The loss of the horror is only normal, because horror was never what the story was about in the first place, it was a prominent secondary theme in the first arcs, however now in the second season as the story grows to a conclusion the main goal of the characters becomes their struggle against fate, and hope.

Higurashi is a story whose characters have truly grew on me, who showed real development throughout the series. A story whose plot was slowly, yet masterfully unveiled. Whose ambience and setting was beautifully woven. Whose characters were not only cardboards representing a dialogue, but greatly explored souls, from the protagonists to the antagonists, whose goals, motives and needs were carefully presented. This, from my humble point of view, is a nice example of how a nice story should be presented. I was absolutely captivated by the storytelling. I may be biased, but this is enough reason for me to grant a 10/10 to this series. Previously I had only granted such mark to Haibane Renmei, Figure 17, ARIA and Simoun, just to show that I don't throw these marks like candies :p

Alright, here I go...

Fine. Studio DEEN misrepresented the series. I wish they hadn't, so I could just say, "This show sucks" instead of explaining why I like it and having you asshats blast me for it.

I never played the original games. Maybe that's why my perceptions are skewed. I hate this sappy friendship crap; from the moment I heard the OP theme, I was just hoping the show would completely destroy my mind and totally mess with my head, and it did.

But apparently that was an accident, a mistake on the animation studio's part. The story apparently should not have been scary, but sad and tragic.

You know what? That sucks. I would have never watched it if it had been that way. Is that so wrong? I don't get why I have to like the series the way the rest of you do. I don't get why every time I point out that Kai wasn't scary enough and I get blasted for it.

This is stupid. So I blame Studio DEEN for lying to me and wasting my time. It seems like every story genre I'm fond of is dying out, in both movies, anime and games. Everyone wants happy-cute-funny, nobody wants dark and twisted, and it's making me ill.

I think I'll go watch Jacob's Ladder to make myself feel better. ><

To make it short, the only one thing, i missed are the actions from keiichi, like in the first season. I will rewatch soon all episodes at once and i think, a good half is about other people, than Keiichi, Mion, Shion, Satoko, Rika and Rena. It doesnt feels like, those kids are the main chars in this season, for me. [Just my opinion.] :)

The thing is when people hear Higurashi Kai they think it's going to be exactly like Higurashi there is a reason the Kai (solutions) is there instead of just Higurashi 2. The mistake deen made IMO was adding Meakashi-hen and Tsumihoroboshi-hen to the first season as they are not a part of Higurashi but of Higurashi Kai.

Though I also think that when Umineko gets an anime people will think "OMFG more Higurashi type shit" when they are completly different in mood and tone

I totally agree in that the Question and Answer arcs should have been in their own seasons.

And I do not mind character buildup. You can't be disturbed when a character gets tortured to death if you never liked the character to begin with, but a lot of the character development just seemed too much like filler.

DEEN tried to squeeze 6 arcs into 26 episodes. As a result, scenes had to shorten or completely cut. DEEN decided to focus on the horror and suspense side while cutting most of the slice of life and character development. That's one reason why season two feels so different. It has a normal pace and doesn't cut nearly as much.

You also have to keep in mind that season one and two are the same series. Neither is complete without the other. The mind screw goes down in Kai because it's the last few chapters. In a mystery novel, the mysteries are always solved at the end. It's best to ignore that they're separate seasons and just treat it as one huge 50 episode series.

Animation Quality: 7

While Higurashi Kai was a step up from season 1 in this sense, it still had it's faults. While I can't point out any specific examples, I can only say that while it was great, it could've been better in parts.

Voice Actors: 10

You really can't get much better than this. The voice actors just felt so in tune with their characters that they felt quite believable.

Script: 9

What can I say? The script had me drawn in from the bgeinning of the first episode to the ending of the last. While the focus on Satoko was dragged on a little bit, I really don't have much to complain about besides that.

Editing: 8

I honestly can't say too much here.

Emotional Involvement: 10

One word: WOW! Just like the first season, Higurashi Kai involved my emotions from beginning to end. Just absolutely perfect (or close to it, anyway).

Note: I've only watched both series all the way through once, and it was just recently. I'll likely be watching the whole series all the way through eventually so as to get the full picture once again.

Overall, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is a FINE anime series. While it does have its faults, there ar emore than enough positives to make the negatives seem insignificant.

Overall: 9.5/10.:)

I'm thinking I probably would have enjoyed Kai a bit more had it used Miotsukushi-hen instead of Matsuribayashi-hen as the final chapter.

It's prudent to note that I'm a somewhat disturbed individual. I honestly dislike happy endings. They feel way too contrived and forced. Escapism isn't about getting away from reality for me, it's more about immersion, the whole "what if this actually happened" deal.

And no, it's not about meaningless violence and gore. Look at any of the horror stories I like and you'll see none of them are plotless gorefests. While disturbing imagery plays a significant role, it's only half the package.

I agree with most of what's being said.

One other thing I also missed was the shift of characters POV from Higurashi season 1, and the overall tones that were in S1l, it added spice to the formula. Also, I could watch the arcs in quick bursts, which was nice. I felt some character's completley got the shaft ( AKA Rena) While some got too much (Rika). I understand that it is her struggle, but soemtimes it got tiresome seeing it from her eyes.

Though, of course, It was bound to get less and less this way as the anime drew to a close and the mysteries were revealed.

Overall and looking at the series as a whole, the anime is probably still the worst out of all forms of media (ie. game, manga, drama cd, novel) that you can expose yourself to the world of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (unless you also count the TMA movie, then it's not. :heh:). This is unfortunate as the other forms aren't fully translated into english. Alot of the problem is generated from the first season, which dragged onto season 2. As season 2 has shown, giving the story more time to develop, and having a higher quality of artwork, can improve the series as a whole. Some of the stuff that was alright to be cut, but some elements are so essential that it's still makes me wonder why they took them out.

The anime is going to be the worst to the people who went in expecting the same story presented by the other forms of Higurashi media.

I've not played the games myself, but I know a huge otaku nerd who has, and she assures me that I'd be bored to tears by it, so I'm not going to go through the massive hoops that one has to jump through to play these since no official translated versions exist.

It's not fair to call the anime "worst." It's better to say it was misrepresented, or merely different. I don't understand why the psychological horror focus of the first season is so maligned, especially in a time where the horror genre is filled with endless piles of absolute crap.

It's hilariously funny that the Higurashi anime comes out as an awesomely disturbing and mind-blowing horror gem. By accident.

Seeing what they did with the first season, I didn't except much from the second season. It started good with Yakusamashi-hen, but then it went downhills again. I won't say much about it because people pointed the bad points already out.

The only thing that I want to say is, that I didn't like Matsuribayashi-hen(novel) from beginn with. I like Miotsukushi-hen from the PS2 version a lot more. So maybe there is a small hope for those of you, who aren' satisfied with the ending.

Honestly I really enjoyed the second season. Luckily had only seen the first season in a rush only seperated by sleep before this one got started. Horror and strange deaths wasn't quite what things meant for me. Was an odd feeling to get attached to the main characters and then watch as they were taken towards their demise. Odd combination of smiles then sadness that was for sure.

Really got drawn to Rika as things began to be revealed. Could only feel for the pain she had to endure to be even closer to the characters and to see them fall under the syndrome and at times kill each other. Could understand the feelings of despair and futility that had become part of her after so many failures without the success she had hoped for. But she started to find hope and courage to stand up against a massive force that had lead to her death so many times.

Really enjoyed following the story as it went along. Getting a more complete understanding of what exactly has been going on. Was of course important to find out that Takano was the enemy who was behind all of it. A season of discovery and understanding the dangerous and monumental task that was before Rika to overcome. But also a story about friendship and trust. When characters like Keiichi, Rena, or Shion didn't have faith in the others they had the potential to fall closer to L5. Even Rika was trying to carry this burden with only Hanyuu beside her. Only when they could finally work together and combine their resources was it even possible to come close to winning.

Really liked about this series was the cast involved. A lot of great characters especially the club. Keiichi continued from the end of last season as being a catalyst for breaking fate. Having the strength to change things that Rika had seen as inevitable and even being able to rally a village for Satoko. Always a nice combination of likability, but those friends also have useful skills that helped in getting through it all. Like Satoko's ocean of traps that showed they were more than just for laughs at Keiichi's expense.

Will of course be people who enjoyed and didn't like the series. In the end I really loved watching each episode and hoping the characters could make it. So will give this show the 10. Not because it was perfect in absolutely every way, but because it was a great show that told an excellent story.