Higurashi Kai and School Days stalled

Pending some recent news (pending a horrible crime in Japan, you can read about it in this article on ANN: Higurashi stalled due to events) the series has currently stalled.

Truly, it’s a horrible incident and I can understand why they pulled the series accordingly-my heart goes out to all of those who were affected by the incident as well as the family members of the victim. It even shook me when I read about it.

There hasn’t been any word about whether they will continue the series or even air the last episode of School Days (which I had followed as well in terms of watching). I intentionally stalled on Higurashi Kai out of respect in terms of the reported event.

Both series are considerably controversial for the level of violence they feature (actually, not so much School Days-just the final episode was the main concern, but the episode before that really showed one of the characters, Kotonoha, truly distraught and shaken pertaining to the events of the series), and I understand that a lot of people are shaken not only in terms of the tone they take on, but also in terms of its questionable influence. Higurashi’s scheduled episode was, if I recall correctly, the scheduled end of the arc that was running, and I don’t doubt that the content of the episode was considerably violent in the same vein as what fans of the series have come to expect.

So what now? I’ve decided I’ll keep blogging Higurashi up to the point I’ve seen, then it will depend on whether or not the series will continue to air, or if the series becomes licensed. I may go the latter route, but it really depends at this point.

Still, I can’t believe something as horrible as this could happen.

UPDATE: They actually have, in fact, started airing Higurashi and the last episode of School Days, but edited to some degree in terms of content. In Higurashi, they removed the bloody axe from the OP, and they edited the color of the blood scenes in School Days.

I’ll continue to update Higurashi Kai as I have the allotment of time. I have a bit to catch up with, but we’ll see how it progresses.

For the record-I’m actually disappointed with the latest news from Geneon, because it means I won’t be able to finish buying Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, the first season T_T Disappointing, definitely.

Romeo x Juliet Episode 2: Il segreto-Promise, the Scent of Memories

This is the first blog for Romeo X Juliet I’ve done since the summer, talk about a long hiatus >.<  This is what I get for writing things and then abandoning them for quite some time.  Well, I ended up scrapping my old drafts and starting with them anew, because I wanted to refresh my memory on all the episodes I watched.  And it turns out for the better.

This was a very good episode, Romeo x Juliet starts off pulling no punches, and especially not in this episode, particularly with Juliet’s sixteenth birthday coming into play and her true identity still to be told.  But not before she falls in love with Romeo.  Makings of a tragic love story? Oh definitely.

I think Romeo x Juliet has some of the best animation production I’ve seen in a recent series to date.  The iris scene was just downright gorgeous between Romeo and Juliet, I loved it. And I love the OP theme by Lena Park.  Since my last post, the ending theme “Cyclone” by 12012 has come to be one of my favorite anime endings as well.  It just took a bit to grow on me ^_^

Brief summary of this episode and reflections under the cut and picture of Juliet.

As an aside note, I wonder if I’m the only one laughing whenever Willy Shakespeare comes to the forefront, they just made his character so funny.

Higurashi Kai Episode 1: Reunion

For those of you who watch this episode and are thoroughly confused, you’re not the only ones…I think watching this episode tripped a lot of people up in the first watch. So I warn those of you who are starting this series: watch the first series FIRST! Otherwise, you’ll be completely lost.

This episode should have rightly been the ending to the last season…for the record, I didn’t like the ending to Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni-it ended with a lot of loose threads and those that they tried to tie in didn’t exactly work on all levels. Well, this episode, while not really a resolution to those events, it made things a little more tangible, and sets the stage for things to come in this series to a certain degree.

If you would like to learn more, read on below the cut. I’m only doing a brief synopsis of things and making this more my reflections on the events of the episode.

[First Impressions]Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai

Well, I have to say after waiting quite some time that I decided to finally blog Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai. Also known as one of the most complicated anime series sequels on the face of the earth.

Well…not really, but it’s pretty cursedly close.

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, the original series, was an unexpected anomaly in the anime blogsphere as well as in respective anime circles. Psychological, mystery, thriller, horror all rolled into one.

Just in case those of you who are interested in seeing the sequel, I’m going to give a brief rundown of this series schematic to those who seem confused (because I know you are, admit it.)

This is a series that progresses itself into many different senarios, and I always compare it to a game of Clue because you  have the same characters caught within different senarios with a case of whodunit in each senario.  You have similar victims, similar threads to follow, but each story depends on a specific turn of events in order to give a completely different outcome.

Maebara Keiichi is a boy caught in the wayward spiral of events in Hinamizawa.  Every year during the Watanagashi festival, a person dies, while another disappears in the small town.  The question that usually comes with each senario: who’s behind the murders/disappearances? Or is it truly a curse upon those in the town? Or is it that no one who comes into Hinamizawa can truly leave alive?

The series is presented in a set of arcs that seem to have a “reset” senario, when one set of events ends, another begins, and its a matter of how the pieces fit for a certain set of events to occur.  If you can keep that in mind as you watch the first series, it will make sense.

Things in Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai make this much more clear, as the person who takes the forefront in this series is Rika-the center girl of all of the events surrounding the group of friends.

In all aspects, Kai should have been joined with the first season to tie things together more coherently, especially with the way the series ended in the first season.  But I’m not complaining in terms of the quality of the series thus far.  The production values of the series are good, at the very least consistent with the first series. OP/ED themes are beautifully performed, and I think Eiko Shimamiya did an excellent job with the new OP.  This is actually one of the series I anticipated watching for quite some time this past summer-so hopefully in a timely fashion, I can catch up with the latest episode of Higurashi Kai and give feedback and analysis as the series goes forth.  Granted my interpretation may not be the same as those who follow the manga or the game, but if I have input along that exposure, I’ll add those in in terms of my blog.

As for the picture below, shown clockwise: Rika, Rena, Mion, and Satoko.   The primary girls of Higurashi Kai (well, save for Shion, who’s not pictured and is Mion’s twin sister)

It should very well be an interesting season.

[Maintenance] Back after a long hiatus

Things became so busy for me that I had to abandon my blog for quite some time-thesis work, school work, work in the outside realm and other activities including volunteer time and such really cut into my anime watching and blogging schedule. I won’t say that I’m not bogged down now in terms of time, but I’m actually going to make a schedule that works from now on. So this blog is far from dead, I just needed some time to regroup.

Updates to the blog tonight, a few music reviews, a first impressions blog for Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai and the first episode summary of that, and one episode review on the part of Romeo x Juliet, a series I had stalled for some time. And it’s good, but…at this point I think they should have made it a 13 episode series…it’s really dragging its feet a bit, but I’ll come to that as I move along with the series.

Nodame Cantabile will resume with episodes 8-10, but it may be later this week until I can post that with screenshots.

Gah, what a long hiatus. More than two months I think >.< But hopefully I won’t take such a long hiatus without telling you guys next time. Life is really demanding, ne?

Much love,

Rosepetals