When They Cry Vol. 1 Review

Originally published on otakureview.net

Intro



This is quite possibly the cutest creepy anime I’ve seen in many years!



The Story



In this new anime, the hero is named Keiichi and he has just moved into a new village named Hinamizawa. He’s managing alright, especially after making friends with four cute girls but then things get weird when he learns the recent history of the village that he now calls home.



The first episode opens with a grisly murder that took place in 1983, flash back how these murders took place and we meet Keiichi in his village after one month and two of his female friends: Rena and Mion. Rena is the quiet one of the bunch and Mion is the outspoken one and then while on a tour of the city, we meet the other two: Satako and Rika. It’s that night that Keiichi finds out about a murder that took place earlier. After joining the club that his friends run (which basically is a club that plays games and tries to win at all costs), Keiichi goes back to the dump to help Rena with something and finally finds out the real details of the murder that took place there.



During the village’s annual Cotton Drifting festival, Keiichi hears some more about the history of the dam construction that never happened and an odd curse that seems to haunt the city. Every year during the Cotton Drifting festival, someone from the village who was a proponent of the dam being built has died and someone connected to them disappears and it’s happened every year since the bloody murder that took place a few years earlier. It’s the next day at school that Keiichi discovers who the latest victim of the festival was. After being questioned by the police, he is let go and told to keep what he was told a secret from even his friends but when he learns more about the previous festival murders, he has to question the true intentions of his friends and what they might be hiding.



The fifth episode of the volume starts a brand new story arc. It starts with Mion witnessing a brutal suicide and then moves into an earlier date close to another Cotton Drifting festival that begins with a club meeting taking place in town. Everyone is competing in a game tournament and afterwards Keiichi goes into town and meets Mion’s twin sister working as a waitress in a restaurant but Keiichi believes that it’s Mion just pretending to be her own twin to hide the fact that she’s working in a restaurant in a sexy uniform. There’s certainly more to this story than it seems though.



The Good And The Bad



The storytelling is incredibly innovative with how it switches back and forth from a typical cute harem anime with a boy and his four gal friends into something much darker and dramatic. It’s so interesting to me how one second someone will be giggling and dramatic and then a second later they will be absolutely stone cold and dramatic.



After watching the entire volume, it’s become very apparent that this series is going to follow a very general pattern with the first episode of the story arc starting with a brutal murder or scene of some type before moving us into a fun and light hearted atmosphere with these characters before it becomes continually darker and creepier until it leads to a climax that the audience didn’t consider and won’t see coming despite the opening scene that began the chapter.



That is certainly what makes this series one of the more innovative that I’ve ever seen. While I won’t use adjectives like ‘ground breaking’, it is certainly already in a class all by itself in terms of sheer suspense and interest drawing abilities.



The animation in this series lends itself well to the story that it is telling. While I did find that the level of brightness on my screen during the first couple of episodes was a little overpowering, it eventually worked out as the series got darker and the animation changed to match this dark mode.



The character designs and animations were stellar as well. I think one of the biggest reasons why this first volume of anime was so incredibly creepy was because the characters were so well designed. All of them were designed in such a cute fashion; you would expect to see them in a typical comedy or harem anime. With so many bright colors and adorable outfits, there is no way that you could expect something bad or bloody to happen to any of them but then it does and you’re left with a gaping void inside of you as though you’ve seen something that no anime fan should be seeing.



The pacing in this series really did well. With episodes on this first volume, once you hit play you’re looking at about two hours worth of anime viewing and with every episode growing continually darker, I had no idea how they were going to pace this but it never felt like it dragged. Despite all the continually darker story and so much new information constantly being thrown out there for the audience to absorb, it never felt like it dragged. The series always moved at a very firm pace keeping the audience engaged at all times with no real issues. This is one of the few animes that I’ve seen where the midway eye catch actually distracted me more than anything because it broke up a story that was moving along at a seamless rate.



A primary concern that I had before I wrote this review was that the first chapter of the series ended after four episodes and then the second chapter making the volume end one episode into the new chapter. At first I was really concerned about how this would be taken by the audience and why Geneon would decide to do this but it became obvious in my mind very quickly. Some audience members might complain about how this is done but then I’m sure most of them will realize that after the first chapter ended, if the volume had ended there most of that audience wouldn’t have bothered to pick up the second volume. With the new chapter beginning, there is yet another reason for the audience to continue though I seriously believe that even if that fifth episode had not been included, I would be making absolute sure that the next volume of this series was shipped to me as close to street date as possible.



Music



Both the opening and closing themes of this series were very well done and really set the proper mood for the series. I really enjoyed listening to both themes and thought that it was a fun touch to hear the closing theme sung in English by the Japanese artist, Hiroyuki Oshima.



The background music in this series also did a fabulous job of helping the mood along. With the music in the first couple of episodes being very lighthearted and fun and the music in the later episodes being very dark and foreboding, I always felt like I was in the right frame of mind for this series.



Dub vs. Sub



Both casts did a great job with these performances but the dub cast really did a great job of creeping me out. Kelli Kassidi as Mion and Mela Lee had their work cut out for them with these roles but they did them perfectly going from zero to nut jobs in .6 seconds and making me believe it the entire way!



Never once did I question one of the performances coming from anyone in either the dub or sub cast. Always I always completely wrapped up in the performances without ever wondering about who the actor behind it. It was always the character that I cared about.



The one thing about this volume that I saw that really bothered me more than anything was the lack of any English language credits. I have a strong feeling that this is going to be normal for this series which I’m sure is going to lead to some annoyance but other than that, there is really nothing to complain about here.



Extras



None.



Overall



I’m hooked on this series. Flat out hooked and make absolutely no qualms about it. I had heard a few things about this series before I started it but really very little and so I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into when I started it but now I’m absolutely shocked that I had heard nothing about this series before I began it nor did I hear anything about it since it had become licensed for release. Originally airing, this series is certainly not old but it certainly has enough behind it that it that I’m very surprised there wasn’t a bigger fan buzz among the communities about this series.



Told in a very complex fashion, this series is dark, bloody and will grab you by the neck and force you to pay attention. While it may not be for everyone, those who look for something dark and suspenseful are going to get their full money’s worth with this title. The only question is can they keep up the incredible momentum that they’ve built up with these first five episodes? My money is resting on they can and they will. Very recommended!



Final Grade: 91% - A