In the twenty years since the Hinamizawa disaster, the small village has become a literal ghost town. Terrible rumors about the mysterious gas leak that claimed hundreds of lives have kept even the most curious at bay. But on this night, fate has led five strangers to the abandoned mountain hamlet-among them a certain Mion Sonozaki. As the footsteps of the living echo through the abandoned halls of Furude shrine, the sleeping demons of Hinamizawa stir once again...
Ryukishi07 (竜騎士07, Ryūkishi Zero Nana?, born November 19, 1973) is the pen name of a Japanese man originally from Chiba Prefecture who is well-known as the original creator for the idea of the visual novel series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. He is the representative member of the group 07th Expansion. His pen name originated from the Final Fantasy series, "Ryūkishi" being the Japanese term for "Dragoon", and "07" goroawase for the name "Lenna". His illustration style is recognizable from the large hands he draws on people.
More than 3 stars I don't give because I didn't love it and I don't recommend it , I mean the art style isn't that bad but it's still it's something that bothers me in the whole series and idk why....
This is my least favorite arc out of the whole series for several reasons. The Beyond Midnight arc takes place well after the events from the schoolhouse answer arc which was combined with the ending of The Cruse Killing arc where everyone was killed in the gas disaster. One of the reasons I was not a fan of this arc was because I didn’t care for the mystery nor the characters. Though it is cool we get to see an old face all grown up!
20 years ago there was a disaster that wiped out an entire village. Nobody has been back to Hinamizawa since, but several people decide that that needs to change, which we in the business call ‘a bad idea’. Soon we’re in the midst of a thrown together group consisting of a lot of people who know far too little and one person who knows far too much...
Normally I save the Higarushi books for my weekend reads, but sometimes you just need a good dose of creepy foreboding in your life. This is very much a side story to the main books, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is without merit.
Everything here reads like people telling a ghost story about people telling a ghost story. By searching for the truth of the village they haven’t really thought through what might happen if the stories were true and problem upon problem begins to compound the situation, like a good horror tale should.
And the return (maybe?) of a character from the earlier stories is a nice touch, although their presence raises even MORE questions. I had gone back to an earlier volume to confirm I was right about something two pages before the other characters brought it up, so I am glad they did not skip over that detail. Honestly the couple of callbacks and new revelations are welcome, even though this story stands well on its own legs.
That character’s appearance is one of several weird wrinkles that ups the strange, supernatural side of this above its predecessors. Before you could kind of half give yourself a Dana Scully reassurance that this was all a relating of real events that just happened to end up tinged with the paranormal. Some of the events in this book have that influence writ far larger than that and it’ll be interesting to see where it goes next volume.
It’s a surprisingly bloodless affair too, but death is in the air and there’s just that wonderful atmosphere of things not being right that I love. Not to mention that the close of the book leaves these people very close to being set at one another’s throats.
3.5 stars. I won’t round up just yet because while I feel this is on pace to justify its existence, I don’t think it actually needs to exist in the first place and probably won’t add to the narrative that much (certainly the biggest overall negative). Still, as a fun little adventure taking on familiar territory from yet another angle, I am down for it.
I have to admit that I was surprised to see this side arc. I was kind of expecting to see the answer arcs start showing up, but this does make more sense to release them this way. I only mention this because some of you out there might also be surprised by this.
It's been twenty years since the sad events of the Hinamizawa Disaster. Everyone in the village was found dead via a gas leak & those who hadn't been there at the time were later discovered to have died or gone insane. As a result the town has been deserted all this time. The rumors are that the town is still haunted by the ghosts of the villagers & that no matter what, you should never attempt to visit the town- especially during the month of June. Four people have decided to ignore these warnings & visit the town, only to find themselves lost & separated from their larger individual groups. The only person that seems to have any idea what is going on is a woman claiming to Mion Sonozaki, one of the few remaining survivors of the Hinamizawa Disaster. Have these people re-awoken the curse of Oyashiro?
While this volume took me by surprise, I was delighted to see how enjoyable it was to read. The manga does start off a little on the slow side, so I'll warn people to keep reading- it gets better. The tone for this volume differs slightly from the previous ones in the series, taking on more of a ghost story-esque feel. As the stragglers all meet up in the remains of the Furude Shrine's assembly hall, you begin to realize that something is very wrong with this scenario & that not everyone is going to make it through the night.
The best of the series? No, but it's still fun to read & even more intriguing to see what has become of the town since the Disaster struck. Fans of the series will enjoy this volume, but people new to the series HAVE to & I mean absolutely HAVE to start with the first volume.
This had the more typical horror feeling, the typical scenario of people drawn to explore a haunted location, while their friends are slowly demoned away or brutally incapacitated. Unfortunately, everyone seems disposable at this point, besides Mion. There hasn't been enough build up to make us like any of the characters, and Mion is dead frightening with her singular focus. I feel like even with a 2nd volume, this story will feel too short.
The artwork on this arc is absolutely stunning, it looks so beautifully done. It's interesting how different the characters are since you only have one returning character. I think it's a unique concept to show a life where its how others view this phenomenon in the town, and how this town is seen as something of a ghost town. I think it's interesting to see so many people suddenly get interested in visiting the town, but this too me was breathtaking.
This is basically what would happen if the great gas disaster occurred, but Shion survived. Shion takes Mion's name and her place in the family, and returns to Hinamizawa years later. There she meets a man who looks exactly like Satoshi, and stuff happens. Read it if you want to know what! If you're as big of a Higurashi fan as I am, you'll snap this up right away.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This arc is okay. Not really digging the art style. It's not bad, but it's not my cup of tea, either. The story is one I don't recall seeing before, which makes it a little more interesting, but one way or another this isn't really my favorite of the Higurashi arcs.
This one was really fun! I like the theme, and the setting being twenty years later. I'm wondering what's going on though, because I thought Mion died in the accident all that time ago. Are the others seeing a ghost or a demon? I also cannot wait to find out which of them is the killer.
Can I say title arc sounds really cool? And the cover is eye catching? Anyway, this was interesting. And can't say anything other than that. But still, the arc or story whatever, is still good.