Nymera
An anime with adorable character designs... then stuff happens. Creepy stuff. This is not an anime for kids or those who do not like seeing extreme forms of torture gore... Otherwise, it's an amazing mystery anime for you. It's average in that it follows the life of a teenage boy, surrounded by his female schoolmates... but the commonness of it ends there. A horrific tale breaks out at about the halfway point of each arc, revealing a more gritty atmosphere and art style. From start to end, I found myself forming theories in my head as to what is truly going on. As stated before, the art style is not of high quality, but that was never really an issue for me. I find that its unique... "expressions" expressed by some of the characters would not have the desired shocking effect otherwise. The sound is also spot on. Constantly having the cicada chirps fill the otherwise empty soundscape creates a very unique kind of tension. I was actually surprised when I heard this was a visual novel first, given that I can usually tell by cliché elements... but there were next to none that I noticed. Overall, a beautiful show that I highly recommend to any horror/mystery/anime fan.
juan casado y barton
In the town of Hinamizawa, a group of young friends violently die shortly after the annual Wataganashi festival. For four episodes, these kids have been your eyes and ears into a World where paranoia and murder lurk just below the surface of a cute and loving exterior. And so the cycle begins again and again. Each time with different results. The story of Hinamizawa begins quite confusingly. As the chapters of each cycle develop, more hints as to what is really going on are dropped and it becomes more of a puzzle in which the audience has to put things into perspective. In almost a David Lynch manner, people are not who they appear to be, bizarre goings on are never fully revealed or solved (perhaps they never even happened) and a seemingly innocent act can descend into a massacre. I found the story to be a bit too kitsch for me in the beginning but it quickly finds its momentum and continues to build strength. When you first encounter the show it's all very scary and hard to understand. However, as it progresses, the edge of the show moves from violent horror to psychological terror. Knowing the fates of each of the young people from the beginning and seeing them struggle to survive or overcome their mistakes becomes increasingly depressing and tough to watch so even though the camera begins to look away when they're being murdered, it hurts even more.Truly disturbing at times and a testament to the strength of storytelling, I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good story or just unfiltered gore. Because there is a lot of it. Season One is by far the more violent of the two seasons so viewer discretion is advised. I'd also recommend that you source the second season for it explains fully the mystery of Hinamizawa. Also, watch it with subtitles, the dubbing is really rather poor.
arorashadow_2003
So yes this is a nice harem Anime, oh wait, this is supposed to be a horror? You sure could have fooled me. In terms of horror and suspense Higurashi is a complete and utter failure. Elfen Lied has nothing to fear now, it still probably can top this. Okay seriously I am very disappointed in this series, considering I wanted a good suspense thriller that wasn't based purely on 100% excess and shock-factoring.Higurashi is a story of several different arcs. Each arc is a different version of the same story. In 1983 a young male transfer student comes to a small town. A town with a deadly secret. Apparently after a traditional summer festival one person will be killed and another will disappear. The story repeats in the same fashion through each arc usually ending in a brutal murder or murders of some one or some people, but something.As wonderful as the plot sounds it really isn't. The series had immense potential to create a suspenseful masterpiece, but instead it's like watching a filler arc when something finally happens after 6 episodes. Each episode is as long winded and wordy as the next, until something may just happen only for it to be a classic and clichéd horror blunder trick. Oh but don't get me wrong, eventually something does happen, but when it FINALLY does it provides maybe a few minutes of fright but that's it. So yes this series seriously lack suspense, half the time you feel more like you are watching a slice-of-life comedy instead of a thriller.Until some annoying detective constantly shows up to go over the SAME mystery we heard 5 episodes ago! The series can work up it's suspense and chill level, but fails to keep it long enough for us to get remotely interested. The whole time you are just questioning should I fast-forward or not? Sure I like a talky as much as the next guy maybe even more than the next guy, but excessive dialog simply doesn't usually work well in a thriller. The series tries to build and build but the suspense just keeps falling down again. But there are a few eerie moments, (key word being few) such as the wonderful psychotic laughter from the tiny little ones. (see: http://tinyurl.com/2w5tll) and when it finally does get to the horrifying climax it can give you a few chills, before it abruptly cuts off. Other than that, the series heavily relies on it's dialog and music to give any sense of a creepy atmosphere. And that is all it has going for it.I can't express how dull of a horror this really was. Die hard horror lovers may want to stick to Elfen Lied, as for general suspense lovers (Like me) you may want to avoid this one. Apparently when cicadas cry, this horror dies.
sunabozufan
I LOVE this anime. It's my second favorite (After One Piece). The girls are all so cute(Especially Rena and Rika *Ni-pah!*). The story's original, and the characters all have wonderful personalities.However this anime does get very dark at times and may not be suitable for everyone as it DOES contain stuff like murder, child abuse, child torture, beatings, and the story keeps going back which may get on some peoples' nerves. However, aside from all this, it really is a great anime and in my opinion, is a true masterpiece in both story and horror. A must see for any horror fan.BEWARE THE KILLER LOLIS.