When the Cicadas Cry #01 — Profoundly Unnecessary

October 1st, 2020

 

Why does this exist again?

Impressions:

I gotta say, I was pretty exhausted of this by about five minutes in. Yeah, I know that it was a bit subversive fifteen years ago to have a bunch of nonsense spewing moeblobs turn into murderous lunatics, but when the twist is not just gone from the merciless passage of time, but spoiled in the opening seconds of the show, all that we're left with is getting barraged by the onslaughts of ni-pah, hau, and other catchphrases. It's like walking into a retro party and having someone scream in your face "WHERE'S THE BEEF" and "WAZZUP" for about five minutes straight. 

There are no surprises here, and that's kind of the whole problem. I'm not a purist when it comes to adaptations, and this adaptation choosing possibly slightly different things to adapt does not intrigue me in any way and this made no case that it should. This isn't a new take using the characters, nor is it trying to twist the known tale in any way. It doesn't have the shock or surprise value of the original, so what is the point? That it will adapt a few random scenes from the source that the other adaptation left out? We didn't even get to the ostensibly 'fun' part of all the murdering! It was just the shrieking of catchphrases! It fails to justify its existence to me. I'm sure it's targeted towards the SUPER FANS, since most anime generally is, but is Higurashi even really still A Thing? If so, why?

       

Posted in Higurashi | 11 Comments »

11 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • sage says:
    October 1, 2020 at 11:57 am

    To be honest, I’m just in it for the Watanabe character designs. Could think of worse ways to spend 20 minutes of my time. And I don’t watch anime that much nowadays, and would rather watch this than whatever flavor of isekai, MMO or idol show that’s airing at the moment.

    Could always drop it if the novelty wears off of course.

    As for why adapt it again? Sure, fans might be part of the target demographic, but new audiences that would not bother to watch the older series probably are as well.

    • Aroduc says:
      October 1, 2020 at 1:53 pm

      Re-airing it, or remastering it would be 0.1% the cost and all the same benefits. It’s not like the multitudes of Scooby Doo or Spiderman where they have a framework and constant set of characters/dynamics but telling their own stories. Hell, Tatsunoko was doing that wit a bunch of their old franchises a few years back. That I can understand. But anime ‘adaptations’ virtually always sell themselves as and claim to be ever approaching the most exact adaptation of the original.

  • ZakuAbumi says:
    October 1, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    This was pretty bland but I highly doubt it’s gonna be a remake anyway. Too many indications, both inside the episode and outside of it, pointing towards R07 messing with expectations here. I’d be all for that.

    Doesn’t help that this thing has no atmosphere to speak of and feels like a VN script rather than a proper anime though.

    • Aroduc says:
      October 1, 2020 at 1:55 pm

      I’m not familiar enough with the VN, or the original to be honest, to really be able to tell if there were hints or signs that things might diverge in some way, but even if it did, the episode took far too long to get there, particularly if they’re trying to subvert things. If we know the characters and story, then a whole episode of intro is unneeded. If we don’t, then, well, bloody nothing happened.

      • ZakuAbumi says:
        October 1, 2020 at 2:21 pm

        Rena being kinda out of it/sick after their club activities was new. As was Rika glaring at her post-credits. Might be just foreshadowing but I doubt it.

        Couple that with the fact that you have a Higurashi remake with Watanabe designs announced alongside the new gacha (‘member, this is the day and age of multimedia projects and Higurashi was way ahead of the curve with that stuff) also with Watanabe designs, with the remake ending on the OP song of S1 even though remakes usually pretend the original never happened, the premise of Higurashi lending itself to fucking with established arcs (they’ve done this before) aaaaaand the fact that they reaired the original right before this one and are now heavily promoting the latest BD release of the original and I think this might be a safe conclusion.

        I just don’t see a point in cannibalizing the sales of your new product by heavily promoting the original otherwise. The cynic in me thinks this a new roll-out marketing stunt to cash into the Higurashi craze of the olden days through gacha.

  • gedata says:
    October 1, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    I don’t care. If folks who didn’t watch the original anime or read the vns get something out of this deal, then cool. They didn’t change much but they didn’t make it substantially worse either so there’s no reason why it can’t serve as a replacement

    All I can say otherwise is that I guess prefer the character designs but that’s about it.

  • The Phantom says:
    October 1, 2020 at 5:27 pm

    I have the original, especially the first three episode in VERY high regard, among the best opening arcs of any anime ever.

    I dont think this is better or worse, it looks slightly different? It certainly does not look better than the old one, neither worse, so yea I kind of agree what is the point, I do rather watch this than anything else from this season though.

  • residentgrigo says:
    October 1, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    That was even more pointless than expected and the audience is long gone for this IP. Why?/10

  • Delaware says:
    October 1, 2020 at 11:09 pm

    Imagine thinking that only the dame people from the previous two decades will watch this.

    Why do people love to deny the existence of stuff others like?

  • residentgrigo says:
    October 2, 2020 at 10:03 am

    Even the dolts at ANN undestand that Passione is wasting everyone’s time: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/preview-guide/2020/fall/higurashi-when-they-cry-~-new/.164591

    The VNs got a string of anime till 2013, endless manga, a 2016 TV drama and even game remakes. Umineko also got an anime and manga but were are going back to the well with nothing new to show for which reason? OP´s Spider-man comparion is spot on and we just got Amazing Spider-man The Anime.

  • Random Toxy says:
    February 23, 2021 at 9:20 am

    Seems as pointless as endeavour when they decided to redub over Gundam Seed/Destiny with a New York cast. Why only this series? What on earth for? Was Matt Hill really that hard to listen to?
    Money to burn and nothing to show for it.