Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gaiden Nekogoroshi-hen

Information of Anime

Tsukune-chan is a witch that lives in the countryside.  Many people come to help for help & advice, while some want to challenge her to a duel.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen.  This section does contain some spoilers.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

The group enter the village & Keiichi & Rena learn more about the village's past from Mion, Satoko, & Rika on how it was abandon.  This was brought up when they were deciding if they should enter it or not.  After hearing the story, the group tries to solve the unsolved mystery that surrounds it.  The unexplained gas that left the place unlivable & the people that were at a factory that should have been not operating for a long time.  With teamwork thinking, they manage to solve it .

The show ends with Rika thinking about the incident & knowing that the incidents will appear in the upcoming festival.

After the ending credit roll, we see some scribbles of the group walking past a group of angry cats.

My Personal Review

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Gaiden Nekogoroshi-hen is a side story to the series.  Although related to the series' main storyline, it's a very short arc.

Animation

Same as the TV show.  The character designs are different from the doujin game.  They aren't loli-sized as the game & they are quite tall due to long & thin legs & arms.  The big heads don't seem to balance with the thin limbs.  Also, they seem to be cuter than the games.  I didn't like the game design ones as they were a bit chubby & short.  Also, I didn't like the face designs from the game.  But the clothing designs remain the same.  Although drawings are more cuter than the game, the designs tend to change a lot.  It's almost like kid designs when the characters start making weird faces or go into some sort of SD mode.  Overall, the drawings are really simple & quite flat.

The backgrounds are as simple as well.  However, there are some areas that as well detailed.  But most of them are in the dark scenes & they really help get you into that chilling atmosphere.  Also, the areas outside of town seem to be more nicer than the buildings in town.  I assume more work is put into the outdoor nature stuff instead.

The colours are quite dull & boring.  In fact, it's pretty flat.  This holds true mainly for the characters.  It makes them look one dimensional.  The choice of colours almost makes it look like a kid's show from the 80s.  However, it seems the studio made the right choice as the setting is set in 1983.  For the backgrounds, the colours are much better.

The animation movements are funny at times.  It's not really natural.  Most of the time, you get silly animation movements like blown up faces or legs running in a circle.  It only starts looking natural when the dark killing scenes appear.  However, they don't seem to coordinate well.  For example, the scene will Rika stabs herself in the neck with a knife doesn't aim on her neck.  It's more to the head or face.  However, people may not notice it since it's pretty gruesome to watch.  However, there are times where it goes a bit overboard.

Sound

Same as the TV show again.  The sound effects are really on the realistic side with some horror effects.  But most of the time, it's on the silly & cute side.  Problem though is that it's a bit fuzzy most of the time.  I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the source that I'm watching it from.  But from the voice side, I know it's a problem from the anime production itself.

The seiyuus for this show is a pretty good cast.  Unlike the TV show, their voices are projected & mixed into the show better.  It's stable & much clearer now.  Also, it doesn't have that mono tone now.

Same as the TV show again; right down to the opening & ending theme songs.  The music is pretty good as they set the mood well.  There are quite a lot of dark music in this show as well as silly ones.  However, it would be better if the producers set the volume right.  You can either barely heard it or the volume goes out of scale.  The opening & ending theme songs are really got my attention.  Very dark.  Although the English singing for the ending theme song isn't very good, it's still a great song.

Story

Although it's a side story, the elements that makes this series great is there.  The mysteries & the relation to the curse is present.  The possible solutions give & the holes in them are cleverly thought out & deep.

The ending of the OVA is great as it leads up to the second season of the series well.  The transaction of the series approach from season one's bloodbath to season two's thinking methods is done well & smoothly.

Overall Conclusion

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gaiden Nekogoroshihen is strongly something you should watch if you are a fan of the series or want something deep to think about.  Of course, you need to know the series' background or watch the first season to understand the village & the characters.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gaiden Nekogoroshihen gets an eight out of ten from me.  The story is very well written for an one episode OVA arc.  The gore is tuned down as the OVA is more on the thinking side of the series.

Last updated on January 15, 2008