Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou

Rika Furude and her group of friends live in the small mountain village of Hinamizawa; in June 1983, they welcome transfer student Keiichi Maebara into their ranks, making him the only boy in their group. After school, they have fun playing games and spending each day living their lives to the fullest. Despite this seemingly normal routine, Keiichi begins noticing strange behavior from his friends, who seem to be hiding the town's dark secrets from him.

Elsewhere, a certain person watches these increasingly unsettling events unfold and remembers all the times that this, and other similar stories, have played out. Using that knowledge, this person decides to fix these broken worlds. However, when certain variables change, the individual is faced with a horrifying realization: they have no idea what to expect or how to stop the impending tragedy.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Furude, Rika Main

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Ryuuguu, Rena Main

Nakahara, Mai Japanese

Sonozaki, Shion Main

Yukino, Satsuki Japanese

Sonozaki, Mion Main

Yukino, Satsuki Japanese

Maebara, Keiichi Main

Hoshi, Souichirou Japanese

Houjou, Satoko Main

Kanai, Mika Japanese

Hanyuu Supporting

Horie, Yui Japanese

Takano, Miyo Supporting

Itou, Miki Japanese

Ooishi, Kuraudo Supporting

Chafurin Japanese

Houjou, Satoshi Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Kaneko, Hirotaka Producer

Nakamura, Makoto Producer

Reviews

Dec 27, 2024

MidniteAndBeyond

Recommended

This is a review of both Gou and Sotsu

THIS IS A SEQUEL, NOT A REMAKE! WATCH THE ORIGINAL FIRST!

OHHHHHHHH MYYYYYY GOOOOO- you know the rest. So ya, this may be a bit of a shock, but Higurashi has been in my Top 10 favorite anime series ever since I saw the original back in high school. I had NO idea what to expect from this new series and was really worried it might've just been another whatever after story like Rei and Kira were. But HOOOOOOO BOY, NOPE! THEY HAD A PLAN WITH THIS ONE! As soon as I started, I got completely locked back ... into this world. I remembered how much I missed these characters. I remembered how brilliant this story was and how it was executed. This may sound crazy (especially coming from me) but I was actually questioning if they were holding back on showing too much violence on screen because we're in a new era and its a new demographic watching, so maybe they wanted to be a bit more abstract with what was shown to us.... NOPE! DON'T WORRY! ITS BLOODIER AND GOREYER THAN EVER BEFORE!

I'm completely in the dark on what lies within the visual novel/manga of this series. Was this anime plot completely new? Because I really wanna know what the pitch was for this series. Did the original creator always intend to take the story in this direction and at this time? Or was this a new idea that came later on after the original series had long since wrapped up? I can see people not being happy with where the story in this one went, and I'm still a bit mixed on it, myself. But one thing's for certain; Higurashi did its job in making me feel as scared and uncomfortable as humanly possible. Not just with the violence, but in all the fear paranoia that came with unearthing the truth and being mortified by what I found....

I don't know how else it could've ended, and the ending in general for something like this feels SUPER difficult to nail perfectly. I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but I can't think of a different ending without uprooting the entire story they were trying to tell. So I guess I'll try my best to make peace with it.

Higurashi is NOT for everyone and I completely get it. But its truly and sincerely some of the most fun I've ever had in any story I've ever experienced. It was a brilliant execution of adapting a multi-route visual novel, and done in a way that hasn't really been done before or since. Its writing remains brilliant all throughout and the acting is some of the best and most haunting I've ever heard. Also THANK GOD the entire original voice cast returns for this new show! At least in the Japanese version. That's a huge plus for me. If you need something spooky to sink your teeth into this Halloween season, I can't give you a higher recommendation than this series. There's truly nothing else like it.

10/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Nov 3, 2022

ShiroFox2

Mixed Feelings

So even though people say its a reboot, it is kind of a sequel to the original series
by kind of i mean its technically necessary to see the original series to fully understand but not really.
its a lot of fun and takes a nice twist, but its a lot more mellow than the original in the plotlines

overall, i really recommend for you higurashi fans, but not for first time watchers who want to start off from the reboot. start from the original series. trust me, its so much better and will give context. and yes, i do recommend seeing it after you finish the original, ... as i said, i see it as a sequel.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 21, 2025

wndfllfr

Not Recommended

Let me summarize my thoughts on the cash cow proudly named "Ryukishiverse".

You should watch this adaptation if:
- You enjoy seeing your favorite stories *reimagined* and ultimately turned into garbage.
- You love contrived conflicts.
- You enjoy killing realism in the mystery aspect.
- You appreciate a lack of logic and motivation.
- You’re a fan of falling chandeliers.
- You love watching your favorite characters devolve or turn into complete jerks.

... About Satoko:
Satoko has a "genius" motivation, and she spends hundreds of years watching fragments, casually dropping chandeliers, sneaking out of her dorm under cameras, and essentially pulling a night shift as Bob the Builder at St. Lucia's. Oh, and Featherine gave her King Crimson powers. It doesn’t hurt her to commit questionable acts, and she even gets a whole episode dedicated to her ridiculous suicides!

About Keiichi:
Keiichi was turned into an idiot who can’t tell the difference between a ladle and a spoon. Apparently, he’s now against cheating (even though he constantly cheated in games throughout the original). Thanks, got it. Also, he headbutts a metal gate and gushes like a massive ketchup bottle stabbed with a knife. Episode 4 covers this spectacle perfectly.

About Rena:
Rena has been relegated to a background character. Her screen time is less than that of a chair Rika used to beat Satoko in Saikoroshi.

About Oishi:
The issue here isn't with the top-tier waifu of the series, but rather with a gaping plot hole: Oishi shows up at the festival just to get a dose of H-173 from Satoko (hilarious, right? I can just imagine Ryukishi scrambling to explain why Satoko injects people unnoticed, yet instead of attacking her, they rage at Rika. What a joke.) Oh, wait, he explained it with Featherine. Expect her to patch every plot hole moving forward! Enjoy the episode where Oishi has infinite ammo, a goat-like neck, and heaps of JoJo-style flair.

About Satoshi:
Satoshi has been forgotten by the author, and Satoko only "finds" him when her fingerprint scanner magic activates. Deus Ex Featherine has gone wild, justifying every idiocy and change with her intervention.

About Teppei:
A completely negative character is suddenly made a sweetheart. Hello? He’s supposed to be entirely negative character, but a tiny flashback redeems him instantly? Of course, it’s explained away as Featherine randomly influencing the world.

- If you love watching sequels destroy the values and essence of the original, this adaptation is for you.

The Original's Themes and issues raised:
- Arc 1: Hiding information from a friend caused distrust and tragic outcomes.
Lesson: Don’t hide things from your friends that they might discover later, or they’ll be angry. Trust your loved ones.
- Arcs 2 & 5: Jealousy, broken promises, and neglecting Shion’s feelings.
Lesson: Trust those close to you, don’t envy others, and keep promises you make. Don’t abandon your loved ones.
- Arc 3: Resorting to murder instead of peaceful solutions.
Lesson: Don’t grab a knife when the issue can be resolved without bloodshed.
- Arc 6: Distrust among friends and blind trust in strangers led to disaster.
Lesson: Trust your friends more than strangers who feed you lies.
- Arc 7: Lack of unity to achieve a common goal.
Lesson: Strengthen old bonds to overcome challenges that can’t be tackled alone.

The Sequel’s Themes:
- Kill your friends because they’ll betray you.
- Crush the desires of your loved ones and think only of yourself.
- Ignore the suffering of those close to you.
I won’t keep listing them, but trust me, there’s a lot more.

A word about Rika's memory flashback:
- Satoko opts to watch Rika’s century-long memories, and we get a scene where the village is poisoned, and for some reason, a corpse truck is parked at the clinic while bodies are carried out of it. How did they get there? In the original, people were poisoned in the forest or storage-like buildings, and soldiers carried the bodies. And why are there bodies without bags? Does Tokyo want to make its enemies look even worse politically? Whatever.

As for the plot, there’s nothing to say.

I adore the When They Cry universe. I’ve read Higurashi and Umineko, read the manga, and watched the anime adaptations. While mediocre, they at least succeeded in some areas. Gou only stands out graphically compared to Studio DEEN’s 2006 adaptation. This treatment of sequels is unacceptable.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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