Ryukishi07

I'm trying to make it a habit to review books as I finish them (and at a distressingly slow pace these days as free time seems to evaporate) and I suppose manga should be no exception.

First, for the benefit of any casual readers, let me say that _Beyond Midnight_ is not a reasonable entry point to start reading Higurashi/When They Cry if you aren't already a reader. This volume assumes that you know the basic story, and is mostly a sort of epilogue. Even describing what the manga is in a show more way that tells a fan anything is going to sound incomprehensible if you're not a fan. Think of it as a very late episode of _Lost_ or something. Given that, there's not much way to discuss it without spoilers for the _Tsumihoroboshi-hen_ (Atonement) arc. If you don't want that spoiled, read no further.

So, with that warning, what is this book?

When I picked it up, I wasn't sure where it fit in, because Higurashi, with its organization by named by plot arcs or "-hen" can be confusing to keep in order anyway. Well, it's a manga-only arc: It's completely canon, but it doesn't appear in either the VN's or the anime. It's a side story, not essential to understanding the overall series.

I wouldn't normally go for every possible little side story or backstory or epilogue for most series, whether they're books or movies or whatever, but something about Higurashi / When They Cry makes me a little nostalgic (or natsukashii, if you don't mind), It feels as if I'd spent the summer of 1983 in Hinamizawa. I've spent a lot of time in this place, and I'm a little sad it's over. Yeah, there's _Umineko_ but it's not really the same thing, is it? So, since this particular installment was obviously not retread of the VN or the anime, I was inclined to give it a try.

Turns out it's an add-on of sorts to _Tsumihoroboshi-hen_ (the one where Rena is the primary Hinamizawa syndrome victim). It takes place 20 years later in a world where Keiichi never managed to talk Rena down. She went through with the bomb, and Takano's plan went off right on schedule.

So, in this timeline, Hinamizawa has been a ghost town for 20 years. At first, occultists and conspiracy nuts wanted to swarm over it, but the government had kept it closed off. Now, 20 years later, it's a forgotten footnote, and they've just now stopped bothering to keep people away. One night soon after the village is "opened up" again, 5 people find themselves there, in a village once familiar to the reader, but now deserted and creepy. One, a tabloid writer, has a plausible reason for being there. Three are evasive about why they've come. The fifth claims to be Mion Sonozaki. But what we, and the tabloid reporter, know, of course, is that in this world, Mion should be dead. So who is this woman? Shion, maybe? And why are these people really there? This isn't an earth-shakingly great manga, but I'm curious enough to read the second volume and find out. show less

I'll warn you, if you're looking for something light, this won't be the read you're hoping for. While this is the same size height-wise as the previous volumes in the Higurashi series, it's easily just as long as the first volume of Umineko and comes in at about 500 pages. This and the second volume of the Massacre Arc are far longer than the previous volumes, so make sure to take that into consideration when you read them.

If you're familiar with the series, you'll know that this is the show more penultimate arc of the series and the one where everything really and truthfully starts to change and prepare us for the end of the main series. We're given hints in this volume as to who exactly is the person pulling the strings behind the scenes, with the identity of the killer given in volume two. This is the answer arc to the Curse Killing Chapter, and mercifully it's not as dark as CKC at times. We've still got one arc to go so we know that this probably won't end with roses and kittens, but this first volume gives us definite hope for a permanent happily ever after at some point.

What really helped set this volume apart for me was how honest Rika was during the entire volume. She's been re-living countless deaths for about 100+ years, which has jaded her and her companion Hanyu (the real Oyashiro) almost beyond the point of no return. Rika gets a new breath of fresh hope and it's really nice to see her honestly react to new situations and opportunities coming up. The artist really did an awesome job of showing us exactly how depressing it would be to die over and over again and to see your hope slowly die as you receive less and less time each time you reincarnate. What really sort of rubs salt into Rika's wounds is that she's perpetually stuck in the body of a pre-pubescent girl, meaning that odds are that Rika started the hundred years off with the outlook of a girl her age. It's amazing really, that Rika's lasted this long when you think about it. The reason I bring this up is that the artist does an excellent job of bringing all of this weariness across for the most part without resorting to showing buckets and buckets of gore. It makes it that much more interesting to see Rika really react to her surroundings for the first time, which makes me realize that we really haven't seen the true Rika until this volume.

This really is an excellent volume and I had to stop and pace myself before moving on to the next volume so I could really absorb everything. I would absolutely recommend this to fans of the series, although like previous volumes, if this is your first entry into the series then you won't want to start here. You'll be absolutely lost.

On a side note, I wanted to let you know that this volume is an omnibus of volumes 1 and 2 in the Massacre Arc. At 6 volumes long, this was the longest manga arc in the series thus far and I have to say that I liked Yen Press's decision to release the volumes together like this. It helps keep the tension going, something that I think the individual volumes would have potentially cut into. Maybe it was also to cut down on the expense of releasing each volume individually. Either way, it's less I have to wait for release-wise, which I like.

It also helps set the tone for the final manga arc, which originally comprised of 8 volumes and will be released in 4 chunky volumes. There is a slight worry about the spines deteriorating over time, but these are pretty solidly built. It's as of yet unknown if Yen Press will release any of the other side arcs such as there are 4 other arcs aside from those in the main series and the one side arc (Demon Exposing Arc). All I can say is that if Yen Press will release them, I'm guaranteed to buy them. show less

I was looking for something different then what I have been reading and decided to give this a shot. It certainly was different. It's a cross between an isolated mansion mystery and a paranormal tale. Things immediately get creepy and three quarters of the way through one third of the characters have been killed including Battler's step mother and father. Battler can't wrap his head around the idea of a witch so he's certain someone in the family must be the murderer. His cousin Maria floats show more between adorable and creepy as she seems to almost channel the witch sometimes and the other cousins fall into the background by comparison.

For the most part I really enjoyed the story and the artwork is very expressive. I am willing to admit that the faceless bodies did creep me out and I spent some time watching silly cartoons before going to bed. show less

I was looking for something different then what I have been reading and decided to give this a shot. It certainly was different. It's a cross between an isolated mansion mystery and a paranormal tale. Things immediately get creepy and three quarters of the way through one third of the characters have been killed including Battler's step mother and father. Battler can't wrap his head around the idea of a witch so he's certain someone in the family must be the murderer. His cousin Maria floats show more between adorable and creepy as she seems to almost channel the witch sometimes and the other cousins fall into the background by comparison.

For the most part I really enjoyed the story and the artwork is very expressive. I am willing to admit that the faceless bodies did creep me out and I spent some time watching silly cartoons before going to bed. show less