Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 「ひぐらしのなく頃に 」 Higurashi: When They Cry (2006, 26 episodes) + Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai 「ひぐらしのなく頃に解 」 Higurashi: When They Cry – Kai (2007, 24 episodes)

Complex and complicated emotionally traumatising horror.
Two seasons tell complete story in a very strange way. Without any explanation, first season shows several versions of the story that begins at the exact same date in June 1983, each time focusing on different character. Through that viewers learn background of the story where it is a 5th year since "dam war" when villages saved their village from dam construction project through all sorts of methods including sabotage and even kidnapping son of Japan's minister for development. (Surprisingly realistic scenario since in reality, there have never been a case when petitioners were able to scrape national project without non-violent resistance anywhere in the world). Every year after dam war, on the day of summer festival, one villager dies and another goes missing. ("Some people half-jokingly call them the 'successive Hinamizawa mystery murder incidents'.") A curse is suspected, and two sacrifices presumed to be a price of saving the village.
Story develops around group of children in school and viewers slowly learn that despite innocent appearance, every child is somehow involved with village situation.
Each variation of the story gives different tragic ending that is intensely psychopathic, with a different person caring for someone so much that (s)he succumbs to madness and murders someone. (I wish I knew that before I started watching the show as it would help me to understand it better and avoid confusion.) Then, in the second season, there comes a really creepy and powerful moment (that is easy to miss) when viewers realise that characters have residual memories of different versions of events, and one character who did not kill anyone in this version of events is having dreams of murdering someone (that she knows she did not do) so she returns to the crime scene from her dreams, being influenced by alternate versions of events. Viewers then learn about non-supernatural cause for madness but supernatural is introduced anyway, to stage the scene for the final struggle to break terrible fate that seems to be inevitable, and to finally explain why there were different versions of events. Strangely enough, it is a story of friendship and struggle against fate.

Complex and engaging setup of the story, as well as unique storytelling, makes the show watchable despite hyperbolically dark, gory and psychopathic drama. However, due to overwhelmingly dark story it is hard to recommend the show. Also story features vaccination propaganda, of course, in both seasons... :-(

https://myanimelist.net/anime/934/Higurashi_no_Naku_Koro_ni https://myanimelist.net/anime/1889/Higurashi_no_Naku_Koro_ni_Kai

Fate changes through small things.

By nature, it is absurd for a man to decide over another man's life or death.

In kendo or rugby, once the match is over, there are no allies or foes anymore.

Sins of man cannot be forgiven by man.

---

#GrownUpAnimeReviews