Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW is very much a different story all while having its own identity. What we’ve noticed is that while it clearly is sharing a universe with the original Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni story, Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW is an entirely different beast. That’s evident from the first arc's ending which had different deaths than the original series but in a similar setup. It might seem confusing but this new reality of sorts means newcomers to the franchise can enjoy the story without being too lost and returning fans can see where the parallels of the story are beginning to form.

Another theme we love with this new Higurashi is the art style, which is vastly different than the early 2000s series. Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW still has a cute—and deceiving—art design but now we can see our favorite characters fight for survival in a fresher animation style! We commend studio Passione for doing such an incredible job with Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW and keeping true to the original’s art design.

Lastly, even if you’re confused about the story, Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW is pretty straight forward in the sense of dread that it presents. By now you’ve seen how Higurashi can go from calm and almost comical to dark and maddening. One minute Keiichi is playing jokes on his friends Rika, Mion, and Satoko and the next minute he’s wondering if Rena is ready to kill him or not! Even if you’re not a die-hard fan of Higurashi you can’t deny this level of switch keeps Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW constantly engaging and entertaining.

Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW biggest weakness at the moment is the reliance on older set ups to get towards its newer content. Basically, if you’ve seen the original Higurashi then the first several episodes have probably felt very familiar. While the ending of the first arc has been done vastly different, the setup—aside from episode 2—hasn’t really felt new. That worries us going forward as the newer episodes might do the same thing which ultimately would mean fans are re-watching the series for only a few minutes of different dialogue/events.

The other concept we aren’t digging too much from Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW is the confusion of if this is a sequel, remake and/or reimaging. Going online, we’ve seen numerous videos about what Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW is but many are still not convinced the words from the creators can be taken seriously. That is kind of understandable seeing as how they fooled us all originally when the series first released. As time goes on we feel this issue will become less prominent but for now, it's causing a lot of unnecessary debates in the anime community and this could have been avoided if they would just admit what Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW really is.