Post by himiko on Mar 26, 2010 3:00:45 GMT
For any anime-fans on the board, a place to share some excellent titles.
I'm going to start with Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Both are based on games/ visual novels written by the same guy.
Higurashi... takes place in a small village called Hinamizawa in the summer of 1983 (I think... it might have been 1984), and is sort of a psychological horror/ thriller, at least its most often labelled as such. It's also got a strong element of mystery in it. It follows the same group of friends over the same summer as disappearances and possible murders occur repeatedly- it's laid out quite oddly, with each "story arc" taking up a few episodes, before time and events are reset for the next arc. The first series has a lot more of the horror/ thriller aspect, and there's a fair amount of blood and gore in some story arcs, and focuses largely on specific characters within the group of friends who become suspicious of the odd happenings. The second series is more focused on solving the mystery behind the happenings in Hinamizawa.
Umineko... is set on Rokkenjima Island, at the home of Ushiromiya Kinzo, the head of the wealthy Ushiromiya family, and the focus is largely on Battler, Kinzo's grandson by his younger son Rudolf. It keeps the same layout as Higurashi, in having several short arcs which are then reset. Each arc takes place at the annual family conference in 1987, where Kinzo, his four children, their spouses and most of their children (one grandchild, Battler's half-sister, Ange, is ill and not present) are present, along with 5 servants and Kinzo's doctor. Kinzo is set to die soon, and his four children are battling over the inheritance. When mysterious deaths begin to occur, and there are no obvious culprits, some begin to suspect Beatrice, the legendary Golden Witch of Rokkenjima to be behind the deaths.
The series focuses very heavily on the mystery aspect- as well as watching the events of the family's deaths being repeated in each arc, we see the over-arcing plot of a "meta-world" version of Battler and Beatrice battling it out. Beatrice is determined to prove the existence of witches by making Battler admit that the murders cannot have been committed by human means, and in turn force him to recognise her as a witch, whilst Battler is determined to prove that all the events can be explained by non-supernatural means, and thus destroy Beatrice and free his family. Meanwhile, two even more powerful witches are watching the game progress.
I'm going to start with Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Both are based on games/ visual novels written by the same guy.
Higurashi... takes place in a small village called Hinamizawa in the summer of 1983 (I think... it might have been 1984), and is sort of a psychological horror/ thriller, at least its most often labelled as such. It's also got a strong element of mystery in it. It follows the same group of friends over the same summer as disappearances and possible murders occur repeatedly- it's laid out quite oddly, with each "story arc" taking up a few episodes, before time and events are reset for the next arc. The first series has a lot more of the horror/ thriller aspect, and there's a fair amount of blood and gore in some story arcs, and focuses largely on specific characters within the group of friends who become suspicious of the odd happenings. The second series is more focused on solving the mystery behind the happenings in Hinamizawa.
Umineko... is set on Rokkenjima Island, at the home of Ushiromiya Kinzo, the head of the wealthy Ushiromiya family, and the focus is largely on Battler, Kinzo's grandson by his younger son Rudolf. It keeps the same layout as Higurashi, in having several short arcs which are then reset. Each arc takes place at the annual family conference in 1987, where Kinzo, his four children, their spouses and most of their children (one grandchild, Battler's half-sister, Ange, is ill and not present) are present, along with 5 servants and Kinzo's doctor. Kinzo is set to die soon, and his four children are battling over the inheritance. When mysterious deaths begin to occur, and there are no obvious culprits, some begin to suspect Beatrice, the legendary Golden Witch of Rokkenjima to be behind the deaths.
The series focuses very heavily on the mystery aspect- as well as watching the events of the family's deaths being repeated in each arc, we see the over-arcing plot of a "meta-world" version of Battler and Beatrice battling it out. Beatrice is determined to prove the existence of witches by making Battler admit that the murders cannot have been committed by human means, and in turn force him to recognise her as a witch, whilst Battler is determined to prove that all the events can be explained by non-supernatural means, and thus destroy Beatrice and free his family. Meanwhile, two even more powerful witches are watching the game progress.