Higurashi: When They Cry - GOU (2020–2021) User Reviews

Love the Gore and Storyline

[Movi3DO · 8/10 · 16 April 2021]

Don't even think about leaving Hinamizawa.

Just caught up to this Winter 2021 anime. I watched the first two original seasons of Higurashi, and I wasn't too impressed with the horror aspect of it.

The first two episodes tricked me into thinking that the new version was just a retelling of the original anime, but with better animation. However, when stuff hit the fan, I was in for a gory and brutal horror sequel to the first two seasons. I saw people reacting to each episode and there were certain gore scenes that they had to skip because of how horrific the gore was. For me, I actually enjoyed the gore, although a bit disgusted. The original version had gores, but they were nowhere near this sequel. This aspect made me liked the anime more.

Another great aspect was the story. It elaborated more on the arcs in the original version, and then diverged to a new direction that I enjoyed a lot.

Overall, after watching this new season I'm a fan of the Higurashi anime now. Can't wait for the next season in July that continued the arc. 8.5/10.

Good horror thriller without a satisfying ending

[glumski · 8/10 · 27 December 2023]

I didn't know anything about Higurashi before watching GOU, but I do see now why the series has so many loyal fans.

The series is set in the rural village of Hinamizawa in 1983, following a group of school children as their idyllic day-to-day lives slowly descend into madness. The show is divided into five arcs, each of which follow different turns in the events that lead up to the local village festival. For the first three arcs, the story follows the protagonist Keiichi as he becomes closer friends with either of the girls in his group of friends; the last two arcs are told from the perspective of one of the girls.

The high points of the series certainly are the lovable characters and the intricate storyline, which often gives rise to fantastic cliffhangers. This, unfortunately, also is the biggest downside in my opinion: act four ends with a magnificent cliffhanger that honestly is one of the best I've ever seen. However, act five does not resolve it; it's instead left to the sequel series to tell how the story concludes (and, if the ratings are any indication, it does an absolutely terrible job of it).

While the fifth arc is a terrific story in its own right, it does not work as a conclusion to the series. Similarly, the final episodes of arcs one to three often feature a scene where one of the characters tells the then-protagonist what else happened off screen; this honestly feels rushed and comes out of nowhere.

It feels to me as if it would've made more sense of combining GOU and its sequel, SETSU, into one (longer?) series. This way, I certainly don't plan to watch the sequel and am left disappointed. Oh, well.

Apart from that, the series does a genuinely good job. The animations are nice but not stellar, the (English) dub even works pretty well, and the series itself is highly entertaining.

There's certainly a content warning for gore, though. I don't really mind if anime turns violent, but the graphic disembowelling was perhaps a bit much.

This is NOT a remake, but it is in fact a Sequel

[roguishslender · 10/10 · 2 July 2021]

How to watch the Higurashi series: 1. Higurashi no naku koro Ni 2006

2. Higurashi no naku koro ni Kai 2007

3. Higurashi no naku koro ni Rei (OVA series)

4. Higurashi no naku koro ni Gou 2020

5. Higurashi no naku koro ni Sotsu 2021.

Fantastic sequel

[canasbros · 9/10 · 15 January 2021]

My most anticipated anime of 2020 live up to the hype. As a fan of the OG series, this was everything I wanted and more. This sequel proved NECESSARY and actually adds something to the franchise rather than feeling like a cash grab. I recommend this to anybody who loved the original and for anyone who are horror anime fans, or just fans of the horror genre in general. The Higurashi franchise is a prime example of horror done RIGHT!

This series is supposed to be confusing

[asentistabasilisa · 10/10 · 19 March 2021]

What people forget about Higurashi besides the "horror" aspect, is the feeling of confusion because what makes Higurashi so memorable is the aspect of "mystery" I mean a whole alooooot of mystery, which they give you time to make your own theory as to what do you think is going on, and until they will show you answers later on as the show progresses. and this is what I love about Higurashi.

Spoiled a child's candy.

[newtomek · 3/10 · 2 February 2023]

Starting off I'm quite a big fan of the higurashi series ever since I was a child, so seeing this type of execution of the show was like taking a child's candy, I am not talking about the plot, it's the same. I barely managed to watch the first episode and have this to say: please just watch the original series, I do not know who the hell thought this remake was any good of an idea. Starting with the most glaring issue: over the top visuals (comparable to that of h-word quality) not saying it's bad but in my opinion it really doesn't fit with anything in this show. The dialogue at times seems, well..... quite off (watch the og show and then this and you'll understand), and the scene where mion and Rena just sit there like npcs in the beginning before kiechi comes to them (also a moment of off dialogue) Oh and the voice acting, I personally may be very biased however the original sounded in my opinion much better.

TLDR: watch the original and never this of this again.

This is so good!

[TheGreatGreenBadger · 9/10 · 25 December 2020]

I haven't seen the original Higurashi, so I honestly came into this one blind. I was not ready. This anime has so many twists and turns, I don't even know what's gonna happen next! The adventures of Keiichi, Rena, Rika, Satoko, Mion, and Shion are so well fleshed out! This anime is fantastic!

super annoying

[cherold · 5/10 · 27 March 2021]

I watched several episodes of this because I'd heard "When They Cry" was a great anime series and I actually didn't realize that this wasn't that show but a remake. And I was really confused because what I saw was so bad and I thought, how could this be a classic?

I watched three episodes before I realized my mistake, then watched the original, which is notably better. While the first two episodes of this remake are all cutesy games and banter with almost none of the mystery and horror, the original got going by episode 2, and the card game in episode one was genuinely entertaining, unlike the more elaborate games of this sequel.

One of the big annoyances of this series is the nails-on-chalkboard voices of the girls. They are all painfully cutesy. In the original there was more variety, with Rena's cutsiness balanced out by Mion's dryer delivery. I wondered if it was just bad dubbing so I watched one episode with subtitles but they did the same thing in Japan.

The animation is also more straightforward and less wild, and I found that rather dull and conventional.

I will say that the third episode was mainly horror/mystery and was much better than the first two, but no way I could keep listening to those squeaky voices.

Even though I didn't ultimately *love* the original, which is intriguing and compelling but a bit too intense in places for me, it is certainly much better than this one.

So far, its amazing.

[szarygandalf · 10/10 · 8 January 2021]

As a fan of Higurashi series i had a worries about this new Series. But studio Passione did a really good work in keeping the soul of the original and making the story entertaining and surprising. The story is written as usual by legendary RYUUSHK07 who keeps driven characters to insane and horror as usual. If you were scared while watching gore in old Higurashi, then you will be scared here. For Ex. Satoko Panic attack scene here is really terryfying, i mean its amazing and we got a realistic PTSD scene instead of just Satoko kicking Keicchi for 5m. And yeah, pretty much every gore scene is a little masterpiece, the original did it pretty well but thanks to higher budget, experience, new art techniques we have a truly unconsious experience.

In summary, if you watch original, give it a try. And have a fun watching people suffering

Really good so far

[Morfeene · 10/10 · 9 December 2020]

I haven't watched the original so my opinion is solely regarding this series by itself without comparing it to the 2005 version. Overall I have really enjoyed this series so far; it has good character development, suspense, and does everything it tries to do really well. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror anime.

The only anime that gives me goosebumps

[aeuroneil · 10/10 · 13 February 2021]

There is just something too special about Higurashi that comes out to be very memorable, the story and the characters are so well written that it's a masterpeice at this point, I hope they make a proper anime adaptation of Umineko in the future.

Boring and repetitive...

[watersoldier · 1/10 · 8 July 2021]

I'm a big fan of the original, and it's sad to say that this new anime is way below my expectations.

underrated series. Worth watch.

[dylank-92408 · 10/10 · 8 March 2021]

Thing about Gou people think it's remake of original Gou is entirely different arc that also links to the Golden Witch it's very underrated series but understand it need watch previous arcs. You have question arc, answer arc, Outbreak and Golden Witch these events cross each other you'd say Gou is catalyst of Golden Witch arc the art isn't as bad too and still places you in these events surrounding a total disaster the first few episodes nostalgia yet changes later episodes.

...But Why?

[residentgrigo · 5/10 · 9 October 2020]

The original was nothing special in hindsight and fully ran out of steam after S2 but there was at least a gimmick. This on the other hand is about as tiered as the current Disney remakes. The old VAs even returned and the "new" character designer also did key animation on the last round of adaptions so what´s the point? Am I too stuck in a time loop? There is nothing here to judge. Same anime, different coat of paint. 5/10

Edit: It was revealed when ep 2 aired that this is both a reboot and sequel due to the time loop nature of the IP. It only shows how dry the udder is. Which again raises the main question: Who is this for? Newcomers now have over 60 eps to catch up on before starting with the non-reboot and old fans have to give up on the conclusion(s) they once saw. See you never Higurashi.

A worthy sequel of Higurashi

[rahulsharmah-54520 · 10/10 · 31 March 2021]

It is a sequel of Higurashi(2006). First three arcs feels like the reboot of original but with different conditions.

1) What if Keicchi trust his friends in first arc?

2) What if Keicchi gives doll to Mion and not Rena in second arc?

3) What if Satako's friends decide to free her from Teppei unitedly instead of murdering Teppei in third arc?(Although this has been explored in Higurashi Kai but here end twist is different)

The next two arcs is what uplift the show impressively. This arcs sort of connect Higurashi with Umineko (another When They Cry series). I am hyped for Sotsu now. I hope that series give Higurashi a good conclusion.

So if you have watched original Higurashi then this will not disappoint you.

If you haven't then also watch it. I am sure that you would want to watch original after watching gou.

Banger show!!!!

[gtamaniak-16300 · 10/10 · 18 July 2021]

At first when I heard there would be a new higurashi TV show, I dismissed it saying things like it would be a shot by shot recreation of the 2006-2007 Studio Deen anime even with its gorgeously drawn characters and scenery. Then, one day I ran out of shows to watch, so I decided to give this one a go. I saw the first episode, I said ok I'm pretty sure what's going to happen on the next episodes. But then episode 2 came and.... Boom its mesmerizing intro scene made me understand that this is a new season. And yes totally different things happen here in comparison to the 2006 anime. The gore and violence is truly shocking albeit somewhat unrealistic but the mystery of who did this so that Rika is looping again will live you thinking about what happened in your sleep. There is also Higurashi Sotsu currently airing, which is a sequel to Gou and I'm going to review it after it ends. So yeah I believe it is absolutely required to watch the 2 first seasons of higurashi (Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni and Kai) to experience this great show.

Don't listen to the dub

[HardLight · 9/10 · 17 June 2021]

If you're not going to get the original voice cast - like the Japanese had - don't dub the series, Funimation. How hard is it to get people back to do the series that was originally given?

This series is as tense and dark as the original and goes far darker than before. I want to know the secrets that's coming up in the sequel and if we can escape this hell created by the most dangerous of the group.

Why ??

[abdullahgulsen-34931 · 1/10 · 5 December 2020]

Why did not season 4 come? the old one is more beautiful

Why?

[blubeagle55 · 21 May 2021]

Stick with the original.

Let's start with Satoko: So OOC it's near criminal. And why was Teppei offered a redemption arc? NO NO NO! This is a man who was abusive, and even if some of it was because of Satoko's Hinamazawa Syndrome and it caused her to hallucinate some of her past treatment, he should have never been offered a redemption arc! And in the original he even outright suggested that it was a good thing that she was a kid because of she was older...implying that he'd either have her or worse! NOT a nice guy!

Good things do not happen to those who leave Hinamizawa, so why were Rika and Satoko at St. Lucia's, when none of the other girls in the series who attended there were happy? Shion ran away, and poor Ange, as well as Jessica, who also attended? She fared the best of the lot, but I can't imagine it was always roses for her, there.

And there is so much more, but my brain hurts just thinking of all the things I disliked.

Ugh. I just couldn't with this form of Higurashi. I'll stick with the original series.

Loved it!

[stevietegenkamp · 10/10 · 28 April 2022]

As someone who adored the original series and manga but hated the English dub I thought the English did a really good job, I see others saying otherwise but I really think the new voices are vast improvements and for the characters far better.

But why?

[henrycarlyle · 2/10 · 10 March 2021]

If you enjoy seeing cute anime children tormented, murdered or go mad, this is the series for you. Mostly, there's not even any rationale behind the violence.