Finished watching Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei

Finished watching Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei (2009, Studio Deen, 5 OVAs) on 01/07/2015.

With the Hinamizawa murder mysteries solved, Furude Rika and her friends are finally able to enjoy peaceful lives without worrying about watching their backs. But suddenly things turn sour when a horrifying accident sends Rika yet again back in time to another timeline. However, something is very different from the usual time travels she's done before. Rika finds herself in a world with no conflict or conspiracy to be solved. But when presented with a choice, she struggles to choose between going back to her own timeline or to stay in the new 'perfect' one.

7/10 - This was an interesting little side story. However, I don't feel it necessarily contributes much to the series as a whole. The first episode is very out of the left field considering the story for the rest of the episodes, but I suppose they were just trying to show how Hinamizawa is peaceful again, albeit in a questionable way. The animation quality has improved, and the soundtrack didn't quite standout that much. I'd say Rei is not a necessary watch. Just interesting.

Finished watching Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai

Finished watching Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (2007, Studio Deen, 24 episodes.) on 12/29/2016.

The Hinamizawa mystery murders of 1983 continue to take place over and over again from the same point in time as Furude Rika struggles to break the endless cycle of death that keeps sending her back in time to save the village. But this time, light is shed on the darkness of these events as we and Rika herself learn more about the sinister minds that pull the strings from the shadows. Is this the chance she's been waiting for?

8/10 - I LOVED this series! And I like to think I should've just skipped the original series and just watched this one, but I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this one as much if I hadn't. Either way, it really sheds a lot of light on everything that wasn't explained in the original series, and I really liked that. The animation quality is a lot better with a lot less weirdly distorted facial features and body anatomy. No more stick legs. And the soundtrack is good too with some returning tracks.

Finished reading Mushishi

Finished reading Mushishi (1999) on 9/10/2014.

Story and art by Urushibara Yuki.

50 chapters.

Ginko is a wandering doctor. And the ailments he treats are that of a supernatural nature caused by tiny, shy, spirit-like beings known as mushi, which despite their size can be the cause of large-scale, devastating phenomena.

7.5/10 – This manga has a very interesting concept and is presented in a magically nostalgic and melodramatic way that connects with me in a weird, scary, yet gentle manner. However, even though I'm happy with getting into Ginko's past and how he became a mushishi I still think the story had a lot more potential for a deeper complexity that it never really reached aside from some exposition. Most of the stories were self-contained and at one point they got really repetitive to the point where I almost gave up. The final story was also a sort of self-contained two parter that almost made me think that Ginko was going to become something more. But he didn't, and I wasn't aware that that was the end of the manga until the last page where the author says 'farewell'. Still, this is one of the best manga I've read so far and the idea is very original. I just really wish the story would've gotten more interesting.