I kinda spoiled myself on this one this isn't the 1st series of the Higurashi but the Second Series through Rika's side of the story. This is one of the best animes out there right now and is a must watch for all animetards not just Higurashi Naku Koro Ni Kai but the whole entire series which I still have to watch.

 If your not familiar with Higurashi  it's about a village called Hinamizawa with the population of 2000 people. In this version of the story it follows a little girl named Rika that has been reincarnated several times to relive her summer up until the time she is murdered. She has tried many times in the past to live past the date in which she is murdered but has failed countless times. She has been murdered by different people each time but mostly by a strange group of people who she doesn't know anything about, or who they are affiliated with, or why they want her dead. Not only does she die but the whole village along with her best friends is wiped out by a mysterious "volcanic gas". Not only does she want to save herself but all of her friends but that proves to be harder in many ways then trying to save herself because her friends end up killing each other in very brutal ways.

 The story has you on the edge of your seat and delivers the thrills and chills you so yearn of a good mystery horror story. I was seriously impressed with this anime I don't think I have ever been into an anime like this since I watched Death Note. The murders are brutal lemme tell you torture, stabbed, bashed over the head all that stuff happens it may not be as graphic as Elfen Lied(If you haven't watched this anime it's probably the most gorey anime ever) but it's still pretty sick. You really get attached to these characters  you get a somewhat emotional attachment to them as the story builds them up but when they are killed off you can't help but to feel sad. I know my heart sank a couple times.

 The animation is decent nothing amazing. There were some mistakes I noticed in some scenes you hear the character talking but the lips weren't moving it only happened a couple times in the anime it wasn't a reoccurring problem .

 The soundtrack is sweet. The opening theme for this anime is awesome I loved it it's hard for me to like an opening video cause I hate every single one usually unless it's rock besides that I skip it but this is one of those I just had to watch before the anime check it out!



 IF you looking for a mystery in this month of October look no further then Higurashi it has an unbelievable amount of content not only the anime but the manga and the game which i'm trying to get my hands on at the moment.

The series begins with a city set ablazed with two badass looking swordsman dueling it out and each are about to take the finishing blow causing a massive explosion like they just nuked the fucking place. After such a badass scene to start things off they give you the reason why the fuck those two swordsman were fighting. Apparently God decided to make a war for the Holy Grail with 7 people who are wizards and 7 servents. I thought this is BLASPHEMY! THIS IS MADNESS!

Madness?

This is Anime!

*bangs head*

Why the hell would God decide to make a war for the holy grail using stuff such as wizards? Which is supposly blashpemist to bible throwers such as harry potter? I mean it didn't bother me but when I put it in a religious perspective I thought if God would ever do such a thing I want in i'll even start donating every sunday. Back on topic so these 7 wizards have to summon their servents in order to participate in this war and kill each other or kill each others servent in order to summon the holy grail.

The story follows this high school kid Shiro who managed to survive a huge fire that engulf his city being its only survivor when he was but a boy and was rescued by his soon to be adopted father Kiritsugu Emiya. Eventually Shiro soon learns that his father is a wizard and wanting to follow in his fathers footsteps he ask Kiritsugu to teach him magic but he proves to be talentless and the only type of sorcery he could do is tracing which gives him the ability to manipulate items to become a sword, reinforce objects, and the ability to become a tv repair man. With his one ability in sorcery he gets plunged into the Holy Grail war by somehow summoning his servent, Saber, an invisble sword(get to see her swords true form later on) wielding women and ask's "Are you my master?" .


The plot starts out pretty slow because Shiro is reluctant to call upon Saber when he is in trouble which could make up to be a good fight but he makes it pretty boring because he has this "I must protect you" cliche like Raki from Claymore he is always screaming "Saber!!!". Also I think Clare from Claymore looks alot like Saber or it's probaly just me I get this whole Clare aura, cold, but caring. As the story developed I start finding out that their servents aren't even biblical heroes but, heros from old legends things were starting to get out of context yet again. I thought Saber was Joan of Arc when I found out she wasn't I was like wth? Even fucking Hercules appeared wanting the Holy Grail for God who knows what?


Even though it was adsurd I still kept on watching it because the fighting was getting pretty epic. Saber vs a Samurai, fighting on skyscrapers, and Shirou getting f'd up it was getting good. The fight scenes were really slow paced or fast paced at time and everytime Saber yelled out Ex-Caliber! I got chills! What I liked alot about the fighting is each Servent had their special attack called Noble Phantasms all of them are were unique so you never saw the same Noble for each of them.


All in all this anime really is worth the watch if your looking for something that involves badassdery you'll be compelled by the story to the very end and to be honest I was getting a little sad that it was going to end because I grew attached to the whole Shirou, Saber comrades in arms deal and I didn't want it to end I wanted the story to keep gong on and on but that didn't happen. The ending was very sentimental and probaly one of the best endings I seen to an anime they really build up the drama to the bitter end leaving you wishing for more.