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Thoughts on Higurashi Kai

Okay, so as you all know, I loved the first season of Higurashi. So I couldn't wait to watch the second season, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai.

I actually ended up watching the whole series in one day (O_O), which is something I've never done before. In total, I watched 50 episodes of Higurashi and the live action movie in the course of 6 days. That's crazy.

Anyways, about Kai. A lot of people claim that Kai is better than the first season. I beg to differ. Kai was actually a little disappointing for me. I was expecting more insane lolis with knives and blood, but instead all there was was an explanation of the backstory. Granted, the story is good, and although there were some points where I got confused, I think the story is told pretty well and is fairly easy to understand.

So Kai was a little disappointing, but I still liked it. If you do watch Kai, don't expect it to follow the same style as season 1. Also, needs moar Hanyuu.

Anime Full Review: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Warning: This anime contains psychopathic lolis with knives.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (known in the US as "When They Cry"; literal translation "The Moment the Cicadas Cry") is a psychological horror anime. With lolis.

However, Higurashi is NOT your typical loli anime. Plain and simple, Higurashi is SICK and TWISTED. It is a psychological/thriller/murder-mystery/horror/mindfuck thrill ride.

Higurashi is delivered in a format that's very unique to anime. The series is divided into numerous arcs. Some of these arcs are known as "Question Arcs" and some are "Answer Arcs".

Each Question Arc has a corresponding Answer Arc. A Question Arc will tell you a story, but will leave certain details out. After watching a Question Arc, you'll know "whodunit" and will have a pretty good idea why, but you won't have the full picture. In fact, the plot that you learn from a Question Arc may turn out to be totally wrong once it gets "Answered".

When you get to the corresponding Answer Arc, you'll see the same story told from a different person's point of view. Then, everything comes together, and you'll see what REALLY happened during the question arc. This was one of the biggest things I loved about the series. It's a really unique and amazing way to tell the story.

A little bit about the plot... The story takes place in the small village of Hinamizawa. Every year the town holds a festival. However, every year on the night of the festival, one person dies and one person disappears. This mystery has come to be known as "The curse of the shrine god". The series deals with the mysteries surrounding these events.

That is a very basic outline of the plot. If I told you any more, I'd be giving away spoilers. In short: if you like psychological horror and are able to stomach copious amounts of blood and gore, I would highly recommend Higurashi. If you are offended or disgusted by that stuff, I'd recommend you steer clear of it.

The first season of Higurashi is currently licensed by FUNimation (formerly licensed by Geneon) and is available now in stores under the title "When They Cry". A box set containing the whole series is due to be released on August 25 and will run for around $50. Considering the series is 26 episodes, this is an amazing deal.

There is a second season which has aired in Japan, known as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. I plan to watch it very soon. There is also a third season in production known as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei, which is an OVA-only season.

OVERALL RATING: 10/10

AnimeNEXT 2009

AnimeNEXT moved to a new location for this year's convention. Thankfully, all went pretty well at the new location, and everything was still well organized. I had tons of fun. Here are the highlights:

• The video rooms - AnimeNEXT always has the best video programming. They were showing a great selection of anime throughout the weekend.
• Dealers Room - Ended spending more than I planned but oh well... that's all part of the fun.
• Panels - Kind of lackluster compared to other cons. Not many interesting panels were going on and the ones that seemed interesting ended up being a disappointment when I actually went to them.
• Uncle Yo - He's fucking awesome. The best Otaku stand-up comedian there is. Way better than that other guy...
• Cosplay Comedian Joe - He sucks. That is all.
• Hotel - The hotel sucked. No Wi-Fi? WTF? The only way to get internet access was through an ethernet cable which cost $9.95 per day to use. Ridiculous.
• New location - It was alright. I definitely liked the old AnimeNEXT location more. My biggest problems with the new location are (1) it's further away from home, (2) there were no good places to eat nearby, and con food is expensive, and (3) the hotel sucked.

Now for the AnimeNEXT 2009 bill...

OVERHEAD
Admission: $45
Hotel: $65
Gas/Tolls: about $20
Food: about $70

STUFF I BOUGHT
Higurashi art book - $38
Strike Witches art book - $38
Hayate no Gotoku! poster - $25
Haruhi Suzumiya figma - $38
Miku Hatsune figma - $48
Kagami Hiiragi Cosplay ver. figma - $48

GRAND TOTAL: $435

Anime Quick Reviews: Eden Of The East

"The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power."
- William Shakespeare

This show is currently airing, and is planned to be 11 episodes, followed by a movie that will sum everything up. I watched all 6 of the episodes that have aired so far last night.

Eden Of The East is a mystery/sci-fi story that takes place in 2011. It is about a girl named Saki and a boy named Akira. At the beginning of the story, Akira's memories have been erased. He has a strange cell phone and has the ability to call a person named "Juiz" who will do anything he wishes within a few seconds of him asking it. And for some reason, he's in Washington, D.C., right outside the White House, and is completely naked.

We soon find out that three months ago, Japan had been the victim of several missile attacks, but that there were no casualties in these attacks. This event came to be known as "Careless Monday". Akira must work to unravel the mysteries behind these attacks, while also trying to remember who he is.

Eden Of The East is incredibly thought-provoking. I was glued to the TV screen watching this, wondering what would happen next. Everything about it so far has been perfect, and I can't wait for more episdoes.

RATING SO FAR: 10/10

Also, one thing about this show that deserves a ton of attention is the artwork. The entire series is a moving work of art. I've never seen anything like it before in my life. Just take a look at the OP & ED for examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL8LFPIF53A


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28XXAjHSu2o

Anime Boston 2009

So I spent last weekend in the land of fucking Red Sox fans. Despite that, I had loads of fun. Anime Boston was great, and I had some really unique experiences there. Here are the highlights:

• Kalafina & Yuki Kajiura: Kalafina is a group that performs the theme songs to Kara no Kyoukai ~The Garden of Sinners~, a series of seven anime movies. Their music is composed by Yuki Kajiura, who is famous for her work on Xenosaga, Noir, .hack//SIGN, and Tsubasa. I went to their concert on Saturday, and really loved it. Ernie got an exclusive interview with them, and we actually got to go into their Green Room! It was amazing; I felt so important. I also got their autographs.
  
• Other Autographs: I got Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, and Travis Willingham to sign autographs for me.
• FUNimation Panel: They announced the cast for "Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone". Also, FUNimation Channel is now coming to Comcast.
  
• Anime Unscripted: This basically was "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" with anime voice actors. It was fucking hilarious.
• Totally Lame Anime: This was a really funny panel where they showed a bunch of terrible anime and made fun of it. It also turns out that the Titanic animated movie that the Nostalgia Critic reviewed was actually an edited version. At this panel, they showed clips from the original version of the movie, which is even more horrible.
• Cosplay Comedian: This guy sucked. He's basically an Uncle Yo wannabe, and his jokes are lame. Some of his stuff was alright, but he just didn't do it for me. His anime version of "The 12 Days Of Christmas" made us all scream in terror.
• Touhou Panel: Touhou kicks ass. Enough fucking said.
• Anime Opening and Ending Themes: In this panel they showed a bunch of anime OPs and EDs and talked about how they have evolved throughout time.
• Anime You Should Watch: This was awesome for me, because I learned a lot about some great classic anime. I added a lot of them to my Netflix queue, so I will be watching them eventually.
  
• Hentai Dubbing: Always a good time, except for that lame movie they always show at the beginning.
• Dealer's Room: An OK dealer's room at best. I was kinda hoping for some Toradora! merch, but they had very little. Maybe it's too early.

Now for the Anime Boston 2009 bill...

OVERHEAD:
Admission: Free (thanks Ernie!!!)
Hotel: $125
Gas/Tolls/Parking: about $40
Food: about $120

DEALER'S ROOM:
Kalafina CD: $30
5 Valkyria Chronicles random figures: $50
"Whack A Catgirl" card game: $12
"We Didn't Playtest This At All" card game: $8
3 Magic The Gathering Playmats: $20

GRAND TOTAL: $405

Anime Quick Reviews - Shangri-La

This will be the start of a series of "quick reviews" where I review an anime after about 5-or-so episodes. Expect more of these in the near future.

So, about Shangri-La...

I have no idea what the fuck is going on in this show. Something about Tokyo being a jungle and there's a big city high up on a tower or something and the people who live below that tower want to live high up (Midgar?) and there's a pink-haired loli with a giant boomerang (no, not Sango) who's actually pretty badass and there's also a weird freaky girl who can't be exposed to sunlight, some hacker chick who's obsessed with finanaces... and 2 transvestites...

So yeah, that's Shangri-La in a nutshell. So far the story has made little sense, mainly due to the abscence of any kind of backstory. I hate having to figure things out myself! Ugh...

Despite all this, I'm enjoying the show. The animation & art is top-notch, and the battle scenes are entertaining. Also the OP and ED themes are like, totally rad.

If you plan to get into this show, read up on it first, and don't expect anything to be explained to you in the show. Wikipedia is probably your best resource.

RATING SO FAR: 8/10