Psychosis from mystery drugs and moeblob turned lethal – Higurashi Arc 1

I’ve been watching a little more of Higurashi: When They Cry today and I have just finished the first arv of the first series. While it seemed to almost be the ‘introductory’ arc, the narrative was well paced and set the scene for what I’m guessing will be a chilling series to come.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar, Higurashi: When They Cry  is a horror/suspense based anime series which has achieved much of it’s fame/infamy due to some highly graphic depictions of torture, violence and gore.

Honestly, I’m yet to see much influence of this, with the first arc placing far more emphasis on intrigue and a sense of dread than simply being a gorefest akin to Deadman Wonderland.

At this stage my biggest points of confusion are the seemingly dualistic natures of most of the characters; it almost seems as if the entire cast is suffering from dissociation identity disorder. I assume more information regarding that will come, but currently all I really know is, when you see a girl with cat-eye pupils, run. run far, run fast.

From a technical standpoint, I’m not the first to point out how lack lustre the animation and art is, even for it’s time. That being said, unless your hyper sensitive to animation and visuals, I would highly suggest giving this series a try, as in terms of narrative, particularly narrative structure, Higurashi: When They Cry is sizing up to be a largely enjoyable series.

Anyway, that’s all for now everyone, I hope you have a great day!

[Neon Lotus Plays] No One But You (Part 1)

Despite having owned Unwonted Studios’ No One But You for a good few months, and starting it once before, this poor little thing has sat on my desktop with very little attention paid to it.

I’ve decided to rectify that, and have booted up Nobody But You with the intent of playing it over the next couple of weeks – while juggling life and other commitments. I figured I may as well also turn this into a little blog series, so that I have some more regular, and possibly shorter content here on Neon Lotus. So check back here from time to time to see much luck in romancing some waifu, if there is any luck to be had.

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No One But You: Part 1

Despite starting off in a way that may seem a little tired or cliche (pictured below), No One But You seems to sport some solid writing, a nice tone and a general level of finish that is honestly impressive — especially for an inexpensive indie title. I take my hat off to Unwonted Studios in this respect, you can tell No One But You is a labour of love.

A few minutes in and I feel like there is one thing that must be acknowledged. The art. I don’t think I’ve ever seen art this good on an indie VN. I mean, the characters have a unique style that isn’t exactly anime, or at least, not the mainstream anime style. It’s undeniably taking inspiration from it, but whatever the case, it looks great.

And then there’s the scenery. Honestly it’s pretty impressive how aesthetically pleasing Unwonted managed to make 2D background graphics. I’ll throw in an example here to show what I mean, but wow, between the particles and the light effects, this is some top tier BGCs.

Anyway, that’s all for now, I’ll keep this blog updated as I potter through No One But You. I may be going in blind at the moment, but Unwonted Studios definitely do not disappoint.

 

Descent in Madness – Diving in the deep end with Higurashi: When They Cry

I’d be lying if I said I was a fan of horror, or a fan of gore, so naturally Studio DEEN’s Higurashi: When They Cry wasn’t exactly at the top of my ‘to watch list’. Despite this, friend’s assertions that Higurashi is well worth a watch, and a habit of watching things on the basis of “I’ll try anything once”, I thought I would give Higurashi a try.

Over the next few weeks I’ll keep this blog updated with my progress, which is more than likely to vary between shades of intrigue and disgust. Currently onto episode 3, the series is faring far better than I thought it would, despite some, shall we say, unusual animation and a lot of expressions of horror with little to no explanation.

It should be an interesting ride, considering this is my first foray back into anime after over a year and a half with nothing. Have I totally thrown myself off the deep end? I guess I’ll find out!