The third season of Higurashi (titled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei) will be split into five OVAs which will get released through the months of December 2008 and September 2009 in both DVD and Blu-ray format. The story arcs that’ll get animated on these OVAs are Hajisarashi-hen (a short novel that was included with the limited edition of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri), Saikoroshi-hen (the epilogue for Matsuribayashi-hen) and Hirukowashi-hen (the story arc based on Higurashi Daybreak). Here are the release dates for each of the volumes:

• Volume 1 (Hajisarashi-hen) – DVD Edition: December 26th 2008, Blu Ray Edition: January 23rd 2009
• Volume 2 (Saikoroshi-hen 1) – DVD Edition: February 25th 2008, Blu Ray Edition: March 25th 2009
• Volume 3 (Saikoroshi-hen 2) – DVD Edition: April 2009, Blu Ray Edition: May 2009
• Volume 4 (Saikoroshi-hen 3) – DVD Edition: June 2009, Blu Ray Edition: July 2009
• Volume 5 (Hirukowashi-hen) – DVD Edition: August 2009, Blu Ray Edition: September 2009

Source

So, yeah, Itou Kanako’s Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna OP theme Tsuisou no Despair single has been out for a while now, which is great considering I really like this song. Probably my favorite Higurashi opening theme so far. The other song included on this one, called Toppuu, is also pretty good, I guess.

The official site has also been updated with two new CM videos and a CM generator where you can create your own Higurashi commercial using some random character and background animations and short clips from the movie. Nothing too special, but I actually did one… which you can see below (think you need to use Internet Explorer in order to able to watch it, not sure).

I don’t know why, but lately I’ve been pretty crazy about the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series. Like, suddenly, for some reason I began listening to a lot of Drama CDs and started reading all the manga chapters I could find, and even though I’ve watched both seasons of the TV adaptation I haven’t really gotten tired of reading/hearing the same stories again.

Anyways, now that there’s only a week left until the release of the first game from the Higurashi Kizuna series (which includes the first three question arcs as well as an original arc based on the Onisarashi-hen manga), I’m pretty excited and I’ve been checking the official website daily looking for new videos and updates since I can’t really wait. So, today, it looks like the site got a redesign… and now you can play an online demo of the scene where Rena yells USO DA! for the first time, like seen above. Hurray.

Episode: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai – 24 (Finale)
Flavor: Sweet

Takano’s last crazy moment.

Uh… Rika, right?

Oh, and yes… I’ve heard about the third season. I’m not sure if they’re planning on animating the PS2 exclusive arcs or something, but if they’re going back to the cute-killer-girls days, then count me in. =)

Episode: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai – 23
Flavor: Sweet

First, it was Ooishi. Then, Akasaka. And now Kasai got his own GAR scene, yayz. I admit I miss seeing the girls kill each other/getting killed, but I guess this manly stuff is fine too. Still, without these murders, the show lately feels kind of weird IMO.

Back on topic, Shion finally found Satoshi, but he’s still weak and stuff, so no rabu reunion scene between them for now. ;_; Also WTH @ Yamainu being pwned again by the kids. Seriously, these guys just keep getting dumber every week. I was expecting them to cause more trouble for the good guys, but instead they’ve been giving them a bunch of laughs.

Wait, is this supposed to be a professional evil organization?

Overall, it was a fun episode, but I was expecting a little more since, you know, next week is the last episode. I loved last season’s epic finale so I hope this one doesn’t end disappointing me.

…we also need the help from some TOUGH GUYS!

TV series: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Episode: 22

WOAH IS THAT SHION? I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT SHE EVEN EXISTED lolz. Oh, well. The Takano side has captured Tomitake and managed to injure Irie, but that doesn’t matter in the end since they keep on losing to the good guys. This week was Akasaka’s turn to show off his manly power with an epic fight against the Yamainu to rescue Rika-chama… indeed, they were defeated by a single man. First they can’t even beat a bunch of kids and now this…. I can’t believe the incompetence of this gang. Oh, and Shion now knows that Satoshi is still alive OMG. I guess it’s time for some Nii Nii x Nee Nee action, huh? =P

Random Rika shot.

Random evil Takano shot.

TV series: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
Episode: 21

The plan of Rika’s fake death was finally executed so all we got from Takano this week was just some massive ownage despair (oh, and a pathetic fanservice scene ^^). The rest of the episode involved the Yamainu tracking down Tomitake and Oishi taking on some traitor at the police station. Other than that, not much of an exciting episode since everything’s looking bright for the good guys. Takano hasn’t given up yet, though, so I’m looking forward for more of her crazy acts.

TV series: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
Episode: 20

Not much epicness this week, although it was nice to see more people being concerned about the upcoming Hinamizawa disaster and Rika getting more support from her friends. I can’t wait to see how the events of the festival unfold this time, especially with Keiichi/Satoko’s idea to make it look like Rika gets “killed”. ^^

TV series: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
Episode: 19

So Hanyuu has joined the party, yay! So it started out as a pretty funny episode, with Rena trying to omochikaeri’d Hanyuu and Keiichi getting owned again during club activities. Then, it got kinda interesting at the end when Rika told her friends to come up with good ideas for a manga, when what she really was doing was formulating an epic plan to defeat Takano. Oh, and it seems Rika did forgot about Takano being the murderer -_-, but Hanyuu came to save the day by telling her about her true moe-killer identity, heh.

Poor Rena. First they kill her in Onikakushi-hen, and now this?!

Hauuauauaua- RARGH.

Not much of an update, but I just added my blogging agenda to the sidebar. Yeah, it’s pretty simple… but I just started this blog so I still need to see how things work here before posting stuff like crazy.

Well, so far, I’ve written posts about both Da Capo II and CLANNAD. I’m going to use this friendly-little post to talk about the other shows that I’ll be ranting about “reviewing” too: Higurashi Kai and Moyashimon.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai

Rika vs. Fate: Match of the Millenium.

Everybody’s favorite Hinamizawa Tantei Club returns with a less-gory story-centered sequel. This time, Rika appears as the main protagonist (which is a good thing for Ni-paa~ fans like me ^_^;) trying to end, once and for all, the Hinamizawa’s monotonous and disastrous destiny. I know the last arc is about to end, but I’m still going to blog the few episodes left from this show because, surely, they’ll be epic. >_>

Moyashimon

Gotta catch ‘em all!!1!1

Moyashimon (or Tales of Agriculture, whatever) is about a guy who is able to see (and even touch LOL) bacteria and other microbe-stuff. I know the premise sounds pretty weird, but the show is just 11-episodes-long so I guess I’m going to follow it too. Besides, it’s kinda funny at times… and the Honey & Clover-style OP they’re using is awesome.