Xebek’s Blog

The OVA begins with a lighthearted pool episode where the goal is to retrieve Keiichi’s ‘magical’ swimming trunks.

Impressions:

Have to say it is good to have Higurashi back. When I saw that the OVA had come out it wasn’t a difficult choice to make an entry about it. Higurashi remains one of my favourite anime so will definitely cover the OVA episodes as they become available. It was nice to start things off in a light hearted pool episode. Really fits with the Higurashi pattern of things starting off nicely before everything starts going bad.

The OP for this was really quite nice visually and in terms of the music. Really does fit Higurashi and so I’m pretty happy with it. Getting to see some memorable places like the ritual shrine. It really does remind you that Rika is the heroine of this story and one that has gone through many tragedies. Still seeing everyone get their moments does send the message that she isn’t in it alone by any stretch. Even Satoshi got to appear in the OP so will be interesting to see how he will fit into things. Really was just a beautiful song and lines like “you’ll swallow a thousand needles if you lie” give off a completely different meaning after seeing this series.

The ED was a pretty soft song and definitely lets you know it won’t be a journey of all laughs. It showed some really nice images slowly from Rika to Satoko and Satoshi. Definitely was a peaceful song that carried a hint of sadness to it. Hopefully things will work out for the group no matter what the challenge ends up being.

I couldn’t help smiling during this as everyone made it their mission to recover the ‘magic’ swimming trunks from Keiichi. Was just hilarious as Takano and Chie got pulled into it and Keiichi soon found himself in a ridiculous amount of trouble. Even Hanyuu got involved with the promise of cream puffs. The way to Hanyuu’s heart is most definitely through her stomach. Guess Keiichi should count himself lucky that she only used time manipulation instead of those swords she had. Really Rika was a key piece in getting everything going. She really was taking one for the team in promising a school swimsuit for the Angel-Mort fanclub. For some reason I wonder about Rena’s motivations in trying to get the trunks off. At any rate it was a pretty funny event.

Personally can’t completely blame Keiichi’s perverted thoughts at the start of this. Is in a club with some cute girls and they definitely went all out for the swimsuits. Of course he ended up paying for his thoughts with a nice hip check from Rika down the slide.

Oddly enough I was surprised at the ‘allies’ he managed to gain to help turn the tide back to his favour. Even brining a riot squad into play, though I have to wonder what they thought about the bizarre situation. Of course Keiichi made the mistake of underestimating those girls and thus it turned into a loss for him. He is a man that can create miracles, but when all the forces turn against him there is little that can be done.

It was nice to get a fun episode since you know things are going to be much more serious in the next one. Hard to predict the story from that preview, but Rika’s expressions don’t seem to make it a pleasant one. Still she managed to overcome fate in a massive struggle so have faith she can make it through this as well. Honestly looking forward to this since it should be one amazing event.