Kurogane's Anime Blog

First part of my 2009 in Review article. Only shows I’ve completed watching are in this list, divided in to four tiers of descending “accumulative entertainment value”.

Continue ->

Happy ending all round, yay for Rika and gang for managing to alter fate.

Still, Higukai manages to end with a bang, with that short sequence of an adult resembling Rika appearing before a young Takano and possibly altering her fate as well. Coupled with the announcement of a 3rd season for Higurashi… looks like the mysteries of Hinamizawa will continue.

Frederica or Furude Rika?

Still on the past events arc, which is proving to be quite an insightful look at the origins of Takano, the disease and the reasons leading towards the tragic future that has been repeated countless times. Takano Miyo is proving to be the most intriguing character ever, as even though she has some cruel and extreme thoughts, but I simply cannot hate her fully for all her actions. Well, her life is just a big series of plus and minuses.

Most importantly, who is this mystery woman that appeared at the end of this episode? Argh, they called Rie Tanaka to voice her and, damn, I kept thinking “Suigintou” all the while she was offering her proposition to Takano. Rie Tanaka has one awesome evil voice.

Oooh, evil!

P.S. Gotta love the HiguKai previews. “Disembowelment lover Furude Rika” XD.

A short clip from the first HiguKai DVD APPEND Disc. Basically, it depicts and hints of adult Rena being an insurance agent, and trying to sell it to Oiishi-san.

God, that was so LOL.

Oh wow, Hanyuu looks menacing and GAR during that faceoff with Miyo at the end.

So, Miyo’s past is revealed and we finally know from where her strong will came from. I can’t deny I pity with her past, especially when she was thrown in to that hellhole of an orphanage…. god, how can this places even exist? I really felt terrible for all those poor kids thrown there.

But still, it does not justify Miyo from taking such drastic actions just to prove the existence and her research about the Hinamizawa Syndrome. While I cannot deny her determination, but I guess her absolute determination has finally led her down a twisted path.

Uh, apparently due to the recent murder cases, HiguKai has been banned from TV.

Did I mention this is just not my day?

T_T BAD END.

Oh well, they’re restarting the game with Hanyuu and Rika’s hax anyways. But I must say, Rena is pretty damn awesome. She managed to laugh in at Takano, while she was being pointed at with a gun. Respect points +10.

Ahh~ can’t wait for Matsuribayashi-hen. Hauauauauauauauau~~~

Yes! Despite some of the other stations cancelling the show, apparently Sun TV aired it, albeit with one minor edit to the OP sequence, which was the removal of a shot of Rena’s blood-stained cleaver. Not that noticeable anyways, unless you did a side by side comparison. No screencaps due to the fact I watched it on a less clearer source. Anyways, tons of spoilers in this episode.

Continue ->

More bad news comes in the form of this week’s HiguKai episode getting cancelled as well and replaced with… of all things, a cooking show.

/me cups face and cries

Axe girl is soooo going to be remembered.

“Save Satoko” mini-arc continues with Keiichi attending the village Watanagashi preparation meeting, where he finds out that the villagers are unwilling to cooperate with his efforts to save Satoko as they still perceive the Houjou family as “cursed”, even though no one hates them already. Spurred by this, Keiichi disrupts the meeting and manages to persuade the villagers and Kimiyoshi, the village chief, to join in their efforts, but one obstacle still stands in their way, the Sonozaki family.

Keiichi and gang then confront Sonozaki Oryou, and after a round of intense negotiation, Keiichi manages to get Oryou to support their efforts to save Satoko. With that said, the villagers start to campaign outside the Child Services office to help Satoko, but however, the Chief decides ignore the situation. As the battle starts to seem to become a long one, the intervention of the Sonozaki family manages to overturn it and the Chief finally appears to help Satoko, who is getting abused more and more by the day by her uncle.

Well, looks like the “Save Satoko” arc is coming to a conclusion. Many interesting things appeared this episode, with Sonozaki Akane, Mion and Shion’s mom, getting a nice share of airtime, as well as the first introduction of her husband and Mion & Shion’s father. The Sonozaki family definitely has some really strong political clout as well, as they really helped speeding up the process and even brought in a bigshot as well.

This week’s yokoku is worth a mention too, as it’s pretty funny with the narration about Hanyuu getting a postcard from a viewer concerning Rika’s age, due to her claim of living for over a hundred years already,.