Oct 15, 2023
Oniokoshi-hen has justified its existence, unlike a few other adaptations of Higurashi that shall not be mentioned.
The art is alright, although I'm not really an art guy, if it were to look absolutely terrible I might not even notice until its pointed out to me. But I don't think a reader is going to be put off by this art so...
The characters:
WHATS UP WITH KEITAROU'S MOTHER??? WHY DOES SHE NOT EXIST?! We have seen her but we don't know anything about her, at least with the other missing parents they aren't present in the story but whats up with this one, at least give us
...
a name.
Kihiro is probably the most like his parent but also the least like his parent out of all of them in this arc if you get what I mean, although he does not offer too much now, he is amazing in Hoshiwatashi and the parts of Irotoutoshi that exist whilst this review has been created. I don't really have much to say about him in Oniokoshi.
Tamaki is more of a 2D character than every other main character during this arc, honestly she can barely be called a main character, she has 2 running gags and a motive of wanting to get married so she can have kids to give the Sonosakis another boy, there is some hyperbole here but Tamaki really could've been more involved or at least been a bit less jarringly brushed aside after she is introduced.
Sakikio, unlike the other children of the OG cast, has two named parents (well done).
Keitarou is unfathomably based, he is very confident and well spoken, like his father but with a unique twist and better in every single way. He has a massive "K" necklace, probably a hand-me-down from his father, I think this detail alone should give you a good idea of how he's like. Whenever we see Keitarou and Keechi together in a flashback or something throughout the entirety of the Reiwa arcs, it has never been lacking in anything. "I have never seen a character be more consistently based than Keitarou," - Someone that wasn't me.
We don't get much of Inori in this arc, but it is funny to see Keitarou freak out about how a singular person won't talk to him (little does he know). Don't have much to say about her here, she kind of just exists until Hoshiwatashi.
Isshiki (Kururu) Keitarou needs this outspoken, well-versed challenger though otherwise theres no way he can be controlled, possibly the only other character as extreme and hyper as him.
Now when talking about the story.
IT DID THE THING. It started off with the characters dying and Rika using her power to loop. This was VERY foreboding, I was afraid that the manga was going to go down a very different path with next to zero slice of life elements, thank goodness I had the assumptions of a mere foolish child not being able to comprehend the grand master plans of Ryukishi07 and it waits until the end to kill off the characters (again), as all Higurashi stories should. Although, I did not like the thing, the thing was O.K. this time and acceptable, at least it had a reason unlike the first season of the Higurashi Anime.
An issue I have with this is that most of the characters are very similar to their parents, even the OG cast (Rena gets divorced and is a single parent, Keechi has work in Tokyo and leaves the family alone). The characters being mirrors of their parents makes the story seem bland except for Keitarou (as mentioned earlier). the OG cast features less than they should. Honestly, this manga would benefit from just having a few more chapters to flesh out the characters and focus on the OG cast some more.
This really does slam you in the face with "I'm not about the OG cast!!! Look at these cool new characters,". There is much room for improvement, even if its just more content.
MASSIVE STEP UP FROM GOU-SOTSU, THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE IN COMPARISON. BASICALLY THERAPY THAT WORKS UNLIKE MEGURI. (I just want to clarify, that this was made BEFORE the second half of the third of Irotoutoshi was released, and erm... just read my review there)
Would easily recommend this to a Higurashi fan though, and the next arc is fantastic. Not a big fan of Higurashi? (well why're you on this page and have found yourself to the end of this review if you're not... You're probably just lying to yourself) Read this so you can read the next arc.
7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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