Anime Review: Higurashi no Naku Koko no Kira Episode 1

Posted on October 13, 2011 by matthigh

Anime Review:
Higurashi no Naku Koko no Kira Episode 1

What this is about: Watching all of the anime shows so you don’t have to! For more information about me and my reviews, click here for details on what I am reviewing.

Series Premise: Higurashi no Naku Koko ni, or “Higurashi: When They Cry” is a long-running dark horror manga, game and anime series; Higurashi no Naku Koko no Kira is the latest sequel, a four-part Original Video Animation series starting in July, 2011. The basic story centers around a high school student, Keiichi, who moves to a small school, makes friends, and joins a club that mostly involves playing various games. However, he soon learns that the games may not be as innocent as they seem at first.

Click on the thumbnails below to view the picture in full size in a new window:

ep. tl;dr review: Low-grade fluffy fan service from beginning to end; I thought this was supposed to be horror anime, not horrible anime.

Episode Summary: Keiichi is suffering a “punishment” of wearing a policewoman’s uniform when he cries out for revenge, and three of his buddies crash into the empty classroom to the rescue. Together, the brainstorm all sorts of different punishments for various girls in the series, starting off by imagining one of the girls feeding him yogurt without using any hands. Then another punishment involves cleaning windows with her butt, another involves twins licking whipped cream off a food-covered body. There’s also a bubble bath, chasing a girl in paper clothing with water pistols, dressing in a playboy uniform, and posing for an art class. Soon, however, Keiichi begins to question what is real or unreal, realizing he is trapped in a hallucination where he cannot escape.

My Impressions: What the freaking hell is this shit? To be fair, I know absolutely nothing about Higurashi, but when I was doing previews online a month or two back I was under the impression that this was some sort of extremely dark horror-porn series involving pain, torture, and lots of blood.

This was totally NOT what I was expecting. Not only that, but apparently it was NOT was the collective fans were expecting either, because reading the reviews online…let’s just say they were pretty harsh. This episode is nothing more than an endless parade of low-grade, juvenile fan service scenarios one after another, as they imagine the assorted characters in compromising situations. Some of them slightly erotic, some of the lightly titillating, some of them just plain weird. This is another one of those “Oh, Japan!” moments. (Squeaky glass sounds of a ten year old girl cleaning windows with her butt, and a pervy old guy excitedly snapping photos of it? Pedobear would be proud.)

Just various repetitions of four horny guys thinking up unusual “punishments” for different girls, then getting all nose-bleedy in the process. Over and over and over again. To be honest, I literally started to fall asleep in the middle — you know the fan service is BAD when you can’t even stay awake to watch it.

There seems to be some weak-ass attempt to develop a plot towards the end, when it is hinted that Keiichi has fallen under the spell of some sort of disease where he can’t distinguish between hallucination and reality, as he keeps snapping out of what seems to be a dream to reality only to realize that reality is not quite right, either. But by that point, the damage had already been done, this OVA series was already dead.

Oh, and I know that this abortion of a show is not representative of the series itself, but this was so inconceivably moronic that it certainly throws a bucket of cold water on any desire I might have had to find out more about earlier Higurashi anime.

The verdict: – I was on the internet within minutes expressing my displeasure.

For more information:

Sampling of Online Reviews:

  • “IT’S UNFORGIVABLE TO TURN MASTERPIECE INTO ANOTHER STUPID ECCHI. Yes, weak, unoriginal, boring, full of cliché, copying the most common schemes of low-budget so-called comedies aimed for showing boobs, stupid ecchi!…Everything is stereotyped, and in addition made in the worst possible quality. During the show I didn’t smile even once. But my desktop has gained some new dents! I did it myself, with my forehead! Grade: 1/10. ” – My Anime List top review
  • “This episode was an insult. It wasn’t about the characters having fun. It ENTIRELY consisted out of IMAGINATION. This episode just kept going on and on with Keiichi, Irie, Ooishi and Tomitake imagining the female cast in sexy situations and drooling over it. And it just kept going ON and ON, it’s unbelievable. Imagine that this episode was half an hour long! Grade: 5/10.” – Star Crossed Anime Blog
  • “This, however, was just…an abomination. I will live the rest of my life forever unable to unsee that image of Rika wiping windows with her ass as Tomitake snaps pictures like a sick lolicon. For like 20 minutes straight it was nothing but fanservice, nosebleeds, and more fanservice, and it just seemed to drag on and on. At the very least though, I give DEEN props for not discriminating.” – Sekijitsu
  • “If you enjoyed Higurashi, then it’s worth checking out this OVA. It’s not as dark or as frightening as the series, and it’s completly lewd, but it’s fun and enjoyable to watch.” – Meeping Anime Blog
  • “d place it at the bottom of all the anime projects in terms of quality. It’s played 100% for comedy, and while that’s not the first time a Higurashi anime has done that, it’s the first time so much of the humor has flat-out missed.” – Lost in America
  • “Let me say this now: Kira is not going to be a fitting tribute to the Higurashi series. Higurashi fans wanted a serious story like those of the first two seasons, not a fanservice-filled romp like the first and last episodes of Rei. With the first episode of Kira, what we got transcended even fanservice. What we got was pure, unadulterated filth. Filth, I say!” – Anipulse
  • “Disappointment doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling right now. IF I WANTED TO WATCH TWINS LICK WHIPPED CREAM OFF EACH OTHER, I SURE AS HELL WOULDN’T BE WATCHING IT FROM STUDIO DEEN DAMN IT… Not that I would be watching that in the first place, but an entire episode dedicated to fanservice? Really now?” – Metanorn

ROUND ONE RESULTS FOR SUMMER 2011 SHOWS:

Thumbs-up for Round One: Busou Shinki: Moon Angel, Blood-C, Mawaru Penguindrum, Kamisama Dolls, No. 6, Dantalian no Shoka, Uta no Prince-sama, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Thumbs-down for Round One: Double J, Morita-san wa Mukuchi, Mayo Chiki, Nyanpire the Animation, Carnival Phantasm, Copihan, Yuruyuri, The Idolmaster, Sacred Seven, Manyuu Hikenchou, Blade, Higurashi no Naku Koko no Kira

Coming up next: Kamisama no Memochou, Nekogami Yaoyorozu, Nurarihyon no Mago Second Season, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi, Twin Angel Twinkle Paradise, Baby Princess 3-D, Natsume Yuujinchou-san, Usagi Drop, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Second Season, Rou Kyuu Bu, R-15, Oretachi ni Tsubasa OVA, Astarotte no Omocha EX, Touhou Project: Gensou Mangekyou, Kid the Phantom Thief Special

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1 Response to Anime Review: Higurashi no Naku Koko no Kira Episode 1

  1. Pingback: Anime Review: Recap of the Summer 2011 (after the 1st episodes) | This Euphoria!

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