Higurashi (Umineko) no Naku Koro ni (Kai) (not PG?)

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Fri May 28, 2010 10:21 pm

I'm at Episode 9 of Season 2 right now, and apart from Arc 1 (Arc 7?) - which is technically non-canon - it's nowhere near as violent as the first season.

I'm kinda disappointed with the new intro and ending that Season 2 has, though. Doesn't have the same impact as Season 1 did.

(lol two pages)

EDIT: Nowhere near as violent, and I don't find it as scary, but holy crap it's full of surprises

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sat May 29, 2010 12:03 am

(DP)

Just finished S2EP12/Episode 38.

I was not expecting that. At all.

There are two ways I can describe this episode:

"HOLY S*bleep*"

or:

I... Just...

Oh my god.

LittleZbot · Post by **LittleZbot** » Sat May 29, 2010 12:29 am

If anyone told me the plot, I'd probably either faint, or hide under the bed for the next week. Never mind. I'd just get scared of the monster that lives under the bed.

BTW, could you tell me what it's rated? My best guesses: V(Violence) or PG13(Parental guiding at thirteen). I would say R but I don't know what that means.

Nobody · Post by **Nobody** » Sat May 29, 2010 12:34 am

R is Restricted. T is Teen. W is Beware of the Giant Blue W's! L is Lame. I is awesome! *ego*

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sat May 29, 2010 12:36 am

As far as I can tell, all the anime adaptations of the When They Cry series are rated R (Ages 17 and up) due to its content (violence, coarse language, and being scary as hell).

In unrelated news; What I said about S2Ep12... My reaction to Ep13?

Take that Psyduck, put it in photoshop, and make the picture at least 20 times bigger.

Really. That's how I feel.

I... Just... Wow.

DEEMAN223344 · Post by **DEEMAN223344** » Sat May 29, 2010 2:07 am

Qloof234 wrote:As far as I can tell, all the anime adaptations of the When They Cry series are rated R (Ages 17 and up) due to its content (violence, coarse language, and being scary as hell).

In unrelated news; What I said about S2Ep12... My reaction to Ep13?

Really. That's how I feel.

I... Just... Wow.

so i herd u leik psyducks.
*Shot*

Emerald141 · Post by **Emerald141** » Sat May 29, 2010 2:15 am

*changes zoom level to 50%*

TheoX · Post by **TheoX** » Sat May 29, 2010 4:03 am

On "season 2": I was referring to Kai as season 2. Sorry about causing you confusion, Qloof.

On Kai intro: I forget if I mentioned this before, but I didn't like the second intro very much either... until I finished Kai.
The imagery is actually very relevant in retrospect. Also I just like the song a lot now, maybe its an acquired taste.

On episode 12: Yeah, a lot is revealed in that episode. I wouldn't give such a big psyduck face though.
I thought that was just for being scared-out-of-your-mind in the first 26 episodes.

On the rating: Qloof234 is right - Higurashi would be rated "R" in all circumstances.
It's not something to watch if you're scared easily... it deserves the recommended age requirement.

EDIT: omg that image is huge. It's making all the text go off the screen.
Can you shrink it or remove it please? xD

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sat May 29, 2010 4:21 am

TheoX wrote:On episode 12: Yeah, a lot is revealed in that episode. I wouldn't give such a big psyduck face though.
I thought that was just for being scared-out-of-your-mind in the first 26 episodes.

It wasn't that so much as it was the events at the end (re: Ouishi).

Episode 13 was worse in that regard though.

TheoX · Post by **TheoX** » Sat May 29, 2010 6:38 am

I realized that when I re-watched episode 12 (Kai), I had forgotten to watch the very end, and that's when it gets menacing. And then you have ep13 of course, for a very frightening turn of events.

Also, are you actually watching the first season again right away? You are brave. xD Actually, I often wait a while before watching anything twice, just to keep things fresh. But Higurashi is quite a good watch. I've seen season 1 and 2 twice each, and Rei only once (short and not as interesting, but still worth seeing).

Other things that have seriously disturbed me besides Higurashi:
- Yume Nikki (a game filled with unsettling imagery)
- 5 Days a Stranger (and subsequent games. Best point-and-click series ever.)

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sat May 29, 2010 6:45 am

I was planning on watching Season 1 until knowing what Kai actually ways, but now that I know it's Season 2, I'm going to finish that off.

I'm at Episode 23 out of 24 now... The end is nigh.

Is Higurashi no Naku Koroni Rei the third season or something?

TheoX · Post by **TheoX** » Sat May 29, 2010 7:04 am

Wow! You're close to the end, and quickly!

I guess you could say Rei is a third season, but it's only 5 episodes long. They're kind of like OAV episodes, with no real relevance to the main plotline. Kai finishes it with a bang.

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sat May 29, 2010 7:09 am

So... Rei is almost like a spin-off kind of thing? I see.

Starting episode 24 right now

I was pretty surprised at... a certain character's presence in Episode 23. While I don't think Kai is as scary as the first season, it's full of a lot of twists.

Like the real mastermind. Oh god.

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sat May 29, 2010 7:43 am

(DP) Done Episode 24.
What do I think? Umm...

... I... That... I mean...

Uhhhh... Just... I think...

...That... What... I...

That... That was the second time an anime has ever had me in tears. Just... I...

Wow.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Sat May 29, 2010 2:10 pm

Just started watching the second season. The first episode is apparently an "epilogue" to arc 6 from the first season, and is an anime-only (from what I've read about it) short-short arc to provide some plot-important information that was missing in the first season.

Second episode, I only had time to watch the first half of it so far, but wow, when Higurashi wants to be a school comedy, it's a really good school comedy.

I lol'ed at the question about 1/5th, 1/6th and 1/7th of cake.

~Ni-pah~

TheoX · Post by **TheoX** » Sat May 29, 2010 4:49 pm

Qloof234 wrote:So... Rei is almost like a spin-off kind of thing? I see.

Yeah, episode 1 and episode 5 are completely stand-alone. 2-4 are a new mini-story that may surprise you, but it ends quickly (obviously, it's only 3 episodes).

Qloof234 wrote:I was pretty surprised at... a certain character's presence in Episode 23. While I don't think Kai is as scary as the first season, it's full of a lot of twists.

Like the real mastermind. Oh god.

Doesn't everything tie up so nicely?

Qloof234 wrote:That... That was the second time an anime has ever had me in tears. Just... I...

Wow.

Yeah, quite a powerful ending. I won't mention any details here since Muzo isn't done, but I almost cried too. I guess my tear threshold is a little higher. xD

What was the first time? For me, the only anime that has actually made me cry was Elfen Lied - another good one to check out if you liked Higurashi. It's less creepy and more depressing, and still very violent. It's worth it though. (Higurashi still beats everyone because of its horror & genius)

Muzozavr wrote:Second episode, I only had time to watch the first half of it so far, but wow, when Higurashi wants to be a school comedy, it's a really good school comedy. I lol'ed at the question about 1/5th, 1/6th and 1/7th of cake.

~Ni-pah~

Ni-pah!

Yeah, Higurashi is so many elements of awesome. I can pretty much say with confidence that it's my favorite anime. I've seen a bunch since Higurashi, but I still like it the best!

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sat May 29, 2010 7:37 pm

TheoX wrote:
Qloof234 wrote:So... Rei is almost like a spin-off kind of thing? I see.
Yeah, episode 1 and episode 5 are completely stand-alone. 2-4 are a new mini-story that may surprise you, but it ends quickly (obviously, it's only 3 episodes).

ReiEp1 is kind of immature, isn't it?

The mini-story part of Rei was an interesting moral dilemma, too. Episode 5 is actually based off of a game, entitled Higurashi Daybreak.

TheoX wrote:
Qloof234 wrote:I was pretty surprised at... a certain character's presence in Episode 23. While I don't think Kai is as scary as the first season, it's full of a lot of twists.

Like the real mastermind. Oh god.
Doesn't everything tie up so nicely?

Haha, yeah. I feel really sorry for the true culprit - trying so hard to accomplish their goal after so many hardships...

TheoX wrote:
Qloof234 wrote:That... That was the second time an anime has ever had me in tears. Just... I...

Wow.

Yeah, quite a powerful ending. I won't mention any details here since Muzo isn't done, but I almost cried too. I guess my tear threshold is a little higher. xD

What was the first time? For me, the only anime that has actually made me cry was Elfen Lied - another good one to check out if you liked Higurashi. It's less creepy and more depressing, and still very violent. It's worth it though. (Higurashi still beats everyone because of its horror & genius)

First time I cried at an anime was a loooooong time ago... I was bored out of my mind so I started watching Sonic X in Japanese - the second-last episode had a pretty sad ending as well.

The English version, on the other hand, was completely devoid of emotion.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Sat May 29, 2010 8:35 pm

Check the "Tricky Puzzles" thread for instant lulz: I did the cake question and someone (I think it was dlcs18) actually counted it!

(Bonus lulz: he counted wrong)

TheoX · Post by **TheoX** » Sun May 30, 2010 4:42 am

Qloof234 wrote:ReiEp1 is kind of immature, isn't it?

Yeah, I guess it's the fan service episode.

I don't really know what to think of it, but it is still quite funny.

Qloof234 wrote:The mini-story part of Rei was an interesting moral dilemma, too. Episode 5 is actually based off of a game, entitled Higurashi Daybreak.

I knew about Higurashi Daybreak, but didn't realize it came out so long ago and that Rei ep5 was based off of it, and not vice-versa. Interesting.

Qloof234 wrote:I was bored out of my mind so I started watching Sonic X in Japanese - the second-last episode had a pretty sad ending as well. The English version, on the other hand, was completely devoid of emotion.

I used to watch SonicX on FoxBox, before it was called 4KidsTV (ew). Unfortunately it was the english version, and the voices were not top notch. I liked Knuckles' though, for some reason. And I think Chris and his family should not have even existed. The show would have been a lot better without them.

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Sun May 30, 2010 7:42 am

TheoX wrote:
Qloof234 wrote:I was bored out of my mind so I started watching Sonic X in Japanese - the second-last episode had a pretty sad ending as well. The English version, on the other hand, was completely devoid of emotion.
I used to watch SonicX on FoxBox, before it was called 4KidsTV (ew). Unfortunately it was the english version, and the voices were not top notch. I liked Knuckles' though, for some reason. And I think Chris and his family should not have even existed. The show would have been a lot better without them.

You have summed up my opinion quite nicely.

My issue with Sonic X is how little effort was put into the english version. All their effort was (pointlessly) spent on making it "kid-friendly", which just led to a gaping contradiction, named Shadow the Hedgehog. Anyone who watched the whole series in english will get it.

(my DSi is broken

)

EDIT: On my laptop now, sooo...

What happens to Shadow in the last episode just creates a huge paradox with the -- oh right there is no official Sonic timeline.

On-topic: Is there anywhere I can download the English subbed version of Higurashi somewhere? I wanna have it on my laptop so I can watch it even if I have no internet.

TheoX · Post by **TheoX** » Sun May 30, 2010 6:43 pm

Download it? Hmm, I have every episode downloaded, but I forget where I got it. I'll go search.

You'll need about 8GB free space on your hard drive, btw.

EDIT: PM'ed some info.

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:16 pm

Thanks again.

Re-watching Kai right now while waiting for Higurashi to download...

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 4:30 pm

So, I had time to continue watching... just finished S2EP6.

Even though it was funny, the hyperactive "animeschoolcomedy" stuff in S2EP2/3 made me tired (I mean, S1 was never THAT hyper) and I almost dropped Kai right then and there. It's not that I thought they were bad... I just get tired of this type of humor very quickly.

Luckily, I decided to continue watching anyway and I'm glad I did! S2EP4-6 were awesome and Keiichi defying fate twice in a row was just EPIC.

(Here's a possible reason why Kai has somewhat better, more fluid animation: the plot seems to demand a lot of repetition, so they just take the scenes directly from the first season. Less stuff to draw.)

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 2:49 pm

S2EP9:

EPIC SPEECHES, BURNING PASSION, ROCK ON! Seriously, I half expected Keiichi to put on Kamina's epic glasses from TTGL and scream something epic at the top of his lungs.

Daaaaamn... so epic...

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 9:50 pm

S2EP13:

THINK YOU'RE HOME SAFE AND DRY AFTER SEASON 1??! WROOOOONG!!!

They do horror less often because the arcs are longer and more stretched out, but when they do it... oh god. They do it just as well as they used to. It's less gory, but the plot, the "unfortunate implications"... oh god.

When Rika explains what her death will lead to... I almost screamed.

Not to mention the chilling cruelty of the murderer. Russian subs, my quote is unexact:

"-- Which one of those is green? Broccoli or carniflower?
-- Carni... broccoli.
-- That's right. *gunshot*"

It's even worse in Russian, because in Russian (and presumably in Japanese as well, but I wouldn't know) it's actually a trick question:
In Russian, carniflower is called literally "colored cabbage" and when you hear "cabbage" the normal green cabbage is the first thing that's on your mind. She gets the question right and still gets shot. Psychological nightmares are still well done when they do them... daaaamn.

EDIT: Apparently it's not a trick question in Japanese, it's a failure of the anime to mention a fact from the original VN games: Satoko is colorblind. Still, a lucky translation is a lucky translation -- in Russian this scene makes sense even without that little bit of knowledge.

EDIT 2: This is how the scene could've been done to make more sense and be even more horrific. Spoilers for that scene as well as for the identity of the murderer in my version of the scene:

Shion: But let Satoko live! If you want to, you may kill me... but spare Satoko! I BEG YOU!
Takano: *small evil giggle* Well, Satoko, since she asked me so nicely... what should I do now? Which one is green, carniflower or broccoli?
Shion: THAT'S NOT FAIR! SATOKO IS COLORBLI-*shot*
Takano: *evil giggle* I know, that's why I'm asking. It wouldn't be a riddle otherwise, would it? ... so which one is green, carniflower or broccoli?
Satoko: C... B...Broccoli. *shot*
Takano: Correct.

TheoX · Post by **TheoX** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 5:11 am

Oh yeah, that scene is psychologically brutal. The horrific stuff definitely keeps up in Kai, as you said.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 8:41 am

How's my version of the scene that I wrote up in the spoiler?

But yes, after the past few episodes, especially when Keiichi managed to convince the whole village to help... I knew this arc wouldn't end well, otherwise it would be a really short season... but I did not expect what happened and was not prepared for it.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 10:42 am

On the rating: Qloof234 is right - Higurashi would be rated "R" in all circumstances.
It's not something to watch if you're scared easily... it deserves the recommended age requirement.

Would you believe that an online DVD rental used to have the whole first season in the category "Kids and Family"? Not now, AFAIK, but it was there for some time, begging the question if they even watched the show. They didn't even have the "not what it looked like" excuse -- the very first scene, before the opening, should've been enough.
I pity the poor kid who just happened to stumble upon this by the boxart and didn't read member reviews.

TheoX · Post by **TheoX** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 5:32 pm

Muzozavr wrote: Would you believe that an online DVD rental used to have the whole first season in the category "Kids and Family"? Not now, AFAIK, but it was there for some time, begging the question if they even watched the show. They didn't even have the "not what it looked like" excuse -- the very first scene, before the opening, should've been enough.
I pity the poor kid who just happened to stumble upon this by the boxart and didn't read member reviews.

LOL!

Oh my god, that's terrible, haha. I sincerely hope no kids accidentally watched that first scene and were scarred for life. That's not something I would wish on any child.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:52 am

Found this recently:

Higurashi Lullaby (confusion)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oRNgVvrUw0

It's an AMV. And it ROCKS.

Warning: epic spoilers for first season if someone hasn't finished it yet... and epic scaryness. Somehow in grayscale (the whole AMV is in grayscale) psycho!Shion from arc 5 looks even MORE demonic and evil than she was in the actual anime!

Also: love the manipulative editing at the end, where black and white (because of which you don't see the hair colors) allowed him to do something epic.