HIGURASHI NO NAKU KORO NI - DAI 1-WA: ONIKAKUSHI-HEN
STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
2
RELEASE
September 4, 2007
CHAPTERS
Not Available
DESCRIPTION
After recently moving to the rural village called Hinamizawa, Maebara Keiichi joins a club and makes new friends. He soon learns about the village's dark secret, Oyashiro-sama's curse, where one person dies, and one person disappears every year, and he also learns that his friends might be behind it...
CAST
Rena Ryuuguu
Mion Sonozaki
Keiichi Maebara
Rika Furude
Satoko Houjou
Miyo Takano
Kuraudo Ooishi
Satoshi Houjou
Jirou Tomitake
Rumiko Chie
Aiko Maebara
Ichirou Maebara
Kyousuke Irie
CHAPTERS
RELATED TO HIGURASHI NO NAKU KORO NI - DAI 1-WA: ONIKAKUSHI-HEN
REVIEWS
mynki
What's the meaning of friendship?Continue on AniList
Before starting this review, i'd like to explain that i am talking about the visual novel of higurashi, and that this review is only about the first arc known as [Onikakushi-hen ](https://whentheycry.fandom.com/wiki/Onikakushi-hen), since i haven't experienced the rest of the series yet, **this review will only contain spoilers from this arc**, and my opinions about some things might change along the way. With this being explained, i'll now start the review.
The story is about a boy named Maebara Keiichi, who ends up moving to an isolated village in Japan, and after a month there he starts to uncover a series of murders that happen anually, and since then he grows more and more suspicious of his friends.
Although i kinda hated the slice of life sections, the way the story is told is truly interesting to me, you have no idea if you should trust the protagonist and the things happening around him, or if he's already completely delusional. This was a really refreshing and cool way to present a horror story in my eyes (i hate most edgy horror movies and anime), and despite being kinda boring, the slice of life sections made me enjoy all the characters! The contrast between the first chapters of the arc and the end of it are clear.
Since this was the first arc of the series, i thought that i wouldn't know almost anything about the characters, but the story presents a lot about the main trio (and even a little bit of Satoko, but she ends up being kinda forgotten in this first arc), the only one that's still shrouded in total mystery is Rika.
Keiichi was a specially entertaining protagonist to play on this first person perspective, specially since he's one of the only Visual Novel protagonists i know that doesn't act like a blank paper for self-insert, and i really liked his personality in the slice of life sections of the game, i also liked a lot of his "quirks" (idk how to say this in a better way) during the horror section of the game.
As keiichi slowly started to break bonds with all of the girls, i felt really bad for the situation, and it even made me relate to him in a way, the struggle he felt while having to distance himself from the people he cared the most was really the real horror of the story for me (but yeah rika's bizarre laugh still made me have some nightmares lol). The way he tried his best to pretend like they were only demons, or false versions of his friends was interesting to see.
In resume, the first chapter is an introduction to all the mysteries of Hinamizawa, as well as a really well structured tragedy of it's own, making you care for all of the main characters, just to then see them slowly breaking apart and eventually killing each other.
lewka
Demonization - Juxtaposition caused by the friction of real and idealContinue on AniList
"...Somebody has been apologizing for a while now I wonder what she's apologizing for. It felt wrong to eavesdrop, so I tried to ignore it. ...Somebody is still apologizing. Who is she apologizing to? She's apologized so much, so just forgive her already. There's no reason anyone should ever need to apologize so much. I started to feel a bit annoyed at whoever was refusing to forgive her. No matter how bad the mistake, there's nothing that can't be forgiven. There's no such thing as an irreparable mistake. You just need to be more careful next time. ...She's still apologizing, even now. Then... has she really done something that can't be fixed? I have no idea what she's done, but if it can't be fixed, then that's all the more reason to forgive her. No matter how much she apologizes, nothing will change. But even so, she keeps apologizing in such a heartbreaking voice... Hey, you. The one she's apologizing to... Why don't you just go ahead and forgive her? She's apologizing... in such a pathetic voice..." --- #_A review for '__Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Onikakushi-hen__'_ _Disclaimer: This review is for the first chapter of the Higurashi visual novel, not the novel, manga or anime. The first chapter of the visual novel is available for free on Steam [here](https://store.steampowered.com/app/310360/HigurashiWhenTheyCryHouCh1Onikakushi/). This review does not contain any plot spoilers, but it does contain a lot of thematic spoilers. Higurashi is meant to be experienced entirely blind, so even small thematic spoilers could have an impact on your experience. Read this review at your own discretion._
Ah, yes. The famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) slice of life, mystery and psychological horror series, Higurashi. A strange combination of genres and themes that you don't often see that is becoming increasingly more popular as the mainstream standards for horror shift from shock horror, cheap jumpscares and thrill inducing slasher films to the utterly mind bending and sometimes even life altering, psychological horror sub-genre. You may have seen clips on the internet of anime middle schoolers brutally assaulting and killing each other, and well, those are probably of Higurashi. But is that all there is to it? Is it really just blood and guts, as edgy and pointy as the chin of Lelouch Lamperouge? Well my friends, in my most honest opinion, there is indeed more to it.
My opinion may be slightly biased because as of the time of writing this I am more than half way through the second chapter, Watanagashi-hen. That said, I will try to not let that interfere with my opinion of Onikakushi-hen and I can at least guarantee, if nothing else, everything written here will apply to Onikakushi-hen. And as the wise Kaiki Deishuu once said:_"I can't guarantee honesty, but I can at least guarantee quality---and I hope that when we reach the conclusion of their tale, every one of you reading at home thinks, 'Serves them right.' From the bottom of my heart."_
First off, what about the misconceptions? The misconceptions are derived from improper adaptation of the source material. The anime cut out a lot of the visual novel, specifically for this chapter, it condensed around twenty hours of playtime into four episodes, less than two hours. You realize how ridiculous that sounds, right? It feels more like a compilation of all the best moments from the visual novel, all the key plot points and literally nothing else. None of the build up, none. Hence, the misconceptions. I wouldn't blame it all on the studio since they were probably given a limited episode count and did the best they could do with what they had. They didn't have enough time to properly develop the characters or set the atmosphere, so they focused on making it on entertaining at least, if nothing else. The anime is a valuable viewing experience, but only as bonus content to be watched after you're done with the visual novel and should absolutely under no circumstances replace the visual novel, as elitist as it may sound.
What sets apart Higurashi from it's peers in the horror genre is how it takes it's time setting it's tone and atmosphere. Contrast and juxtaposition is everything in Higurashi. It has little to no jumpscares, almost no scary imagery by the classical definition and there are no scary monsters hunting you. Instead, what makes Higurashi terrifying, is how realistic it is. All of this could really happen to anyone. It makes you slowly get close to the characters, learn about them, talk with them, have fun with them and most importantly, in a natural way, as
real humans would, instead of jumping straight into the fire. It wants you to fall in love with the characters before terrifyingly making you realize that you knew nothing about them in the first place.I'm not a big horror guy. Nothing really scares me, no matter how terrifying or disturbing it is. Higurashi is no exception, well at least in this chapter. I'd be happy to be proven wrong in the future though. What I'm trying to say is I'd be obviously more interested in the psychological part. The main character's psychological state, as it transforms as a response to certain events in the story, plays no small part. Throughout the slice of life parts, or even before the story even started, our main character, Keiichi, develops a certain ideal way of viewing his friends and his life in Hinamizawa. His ideal is in no way perfect, life isn't perfect nor are his friends, but they are the way he wants them to be. Eventually, when this illusion is shattered, as a means to cope, he instantly sees everything as if it were on the flip side of the spectrum. "This isn't the (insert name) that I know, they'd never act like that". Instead of seeing his friends as the flawed people they are, as is reality, he sees them very black and white. They are either the ideal he has in his head or otherwise they are all evils of this world. In otherwords, very two dimensionally. When reality contradicts an idealized image of someone or a situation, it can be psychologically distressing. Therefore, he demonizes them to protect the idealized perception by vilifying the person or situation that threatens it. This creates paranoia, by which he ends up hurting his friends. A situation in which he learns that one of his friends has a mental illness, he chalks it up as improbable and as a result of a supernatural phenomenon. This person tries to help out Keiichi but due to his paranoia and feeling betrayed due to that idealistic image being shattered, he ends up betraying his friend and hurting them.
And the worst part of it all is, I don't really blame him. The situations he finds himself in are avoidable, sure, but it's not like his actions are stupid. They are carefully thought out and in most scenarios, he would indeed be correct. However due to specific circumstances, it ends up being very tragic.
By the end I even ended up telling myself that no matter what happens, I don't blame him and I'm proud of him. By the way, I almost never feel "proud" of fictional characters.Oh, and also, the mystery is absolutely phenomenal. I can't say anything in order to not spoil anything, so you'll just have to believe me.
__Go play "[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni](https://store.steampowered.com/app/310360/HigurashiWhenTheyCryHouCh1Onikakushi/)", NOW. I couldn't recommend it enough and best of all, the first chapter is completely free on Steam.__
__At first I was a bit anxious.__ __Hurting someone was something I never even considered.__ __Nevertheless, the anxiety then gave place to loneliness, doubt and more.__ __And then... that wicked murderous intent eventually took over my mind.__ __The boy took the first step towards an unrecoverable daily life,__ __Not even realizing he was walking into the abyss.__ #__Onikakushi__ __A tragedy born from the desire to believe.__ __Are those tears of repentance or tears of resentment?__
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Ended inSeptember 4, 2007
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