Higurashi – Live Action
Alternate Titles: None
Original Japanese Release Date: 2009
Episode Length/Run-time: 106 Minutes
Summary:
This live action film follows the beginning of the Higurashi storyline from the anime. The story is set in 1983 in a small town known as Hinamizawa. Keiihi Maebara moves in as the new person in town and quickly learns about the towns history and the mysterous murders that are occurring therein.
Review:
This live action film has some good things going for it but ultimately what causes it to be just a so-so film is that Higurashi is really difficult to adapt to live action. The setting of course was easy to adapt, mostly because the anime was actually set in a real life town and was modeled very closely after it. Of course, not surprising, the live action film takes place in the town as well. The part of the film that doesn’t adapt well are the characters. The characters largely are pretty poor representations of the characters in the anime. Some of the characters don’t even seem to be the same age as they would be in the anime. The psychotic moments were also very underwhelming. The crazy laughter and “uso!” moments were not very tense at all.
In terms of the story, I was both happy and dismayed with the amount of content the live action seeks to cover. It’s nice that the movie only handles the first four episodes of the anime because it covers them thoroughly, however, anybody who has watched Higurashi knows that the first season is practically fluff compared to the second season and even within the first season, four episodes just isn’t enough to really create much of a story at all. What you basically watch with this movie is an incomplete plotline. I can see how it would seem like a very bad film for those who know nothing of the anime.
That being said, I recommend this film to lovers of the Higurashi series. It will be an interesting watch at least. However, if you haven’t seen the anime, be prepared for some confusion and disappointment at the ending.
[starrater]