7th Day of Christmas: HiguNi’s End and HiguKai’s Beginning

Higurashi was a hot topic in the aniblogging world. And why shouldn’t it be? The blend of light comedy and violently straightforward plot was nothing out of the ordinary…the distant settings and diverse character involvements, however, is definitely something you don’t see everyday. Granted, they tend to follow typical moe stereotype (Rena specifically), but there’s always something to balance it out. The quality that gives this anime its absolute best value isn’t in the gore, cute lil’ Rika, or even the explosive suspense. What makes it truly come to life is how the integration of every detail comes into place to make a stunningly surreal ending. Spoiler Warning, to all who care.

Shameless Shipping 13 – Esther/Abel

Trinity Blood has to have one of the best animation qualities in all anime. The art style is fantastic, and only adds to the great storyline. The series sports a whopping amount of lead characters, but the ones that get the most screentime have to be the hopeful couple-Abel and Esther.

Shameless Shipping 8 – Saya/Haji

 

Saya and Haji of Blood+. We all know they have to be together. Though they may not be the most romantic couple in all of anime, they have quite the history. Even if Saya can’t remember that history.

Shameless Shipping 6 – Eureka/Renton

Eureka Seven is a mecha series, for those who haven’t heard. There are several things that set it apart from other mech series, however. The main difference would have to be the character development, which goes very deep and gets very creative. Another thing would be that the fighting style of the mechs are intuitive. Eureka has a ‘friend-like’ relationship with the Nirvash, and they can communicate. There are other differences, but this is a moment for Eureka and Renton. Let’s give it to them, shall we?

[Review] Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Higurashi is one of those animes’ that leave you scratching your head, biting your nails, and…wetting your pants? I can’t really review the series on an episode by episode basis, as the story resets itself approximately every five episodes. Fans of Paranoia Agent will feel right at home. It’s all about suspense and mystery.

The story always revolves around a central character, named Maebara Keiichi. He has recently moved to a village by the name of Hinamizawa. There, he befriends Rena, a girl who loves cute things and goes completely insane when someone mentions Oyashiro-a spirit/demon that won’t let people leave the village. He also befriends Mion, a competative green-haired girl who inherited a large estate and is possibly from a lineage of ogres, and her calm twin sister Shion. Also joining his friendship is Rika, a very young blue-haired priestess, and Satoko, a girl about the same age as Rika with blondish hair.

Take note, all of Keiichi’s friends are girls (and I say ‘girls’ because they really are girls…none of them probably exceed 15). Now, there is almost always a change in storyline. But there are also some things that stay the same. Such things are:

On the day of the Cotton drifting festival, at least one person dies

Everybody says that Keiichi reminds them of Satoshi-who died

Someone always kills someone

The precursor to everything is that people were trying to build a dam, but those who tried were killed.

My personal opinion: This is a great series, but those of you who are faint of heart, be warned. The amount of murder makes me give this a 15+ rating. The storytelling and plot twists make this an amazing anime.

Alex’s rating: 9.5 out of 10 yogurt bars

~Alex

About Alex-kun

To summarize Alex, he’s a huge reading fan, and will probably end up mugging Barnes&Noble. He enjoys anime/manga very much, his favorite series being Inuyasha, Eureka 7, Blood+, or Trinity Blood. He loves to read, and is one day going to ninja-rob a Barnes&Noble. His favorite genres are fantasy and suspense, and favorite anime genres are mechs/feudal Japan/vampires. He happens to have a slight obsession with shojo…Don’t say a word>:3

If you would like to see more about alex-kun, visit his blog: alexkun.wordpress.com

He is looking forward to writing for CJ. Without further ado…

ja ne~