Higurashi: When They Cry-- Festival Accompanying Arc Vol. 1 TPPublisher: Yen Press
Release Date: 6/25/2013
Price: $18.99
Creator: Ryukushi07
Format: 448 pgs., B&W, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9-780-3162-2945-6
Age Rating: Older Teen
ICv2 Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
For reasons that I won't disclose here, Miyo Takano is inarguably one of the most pivotal characters of the entire Higurashi franchise. Without her many of the events leading up to the fateful summer in 1983 cannot happen and if you're at all familiar with the story, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
In this book from Yen Press, audiences finally get to know the quiet nurse Miyo and learn all about her past. From a very young age Miyo was given the short end of the stick. While she starts off in a happy, loving home she quickly loses her parents in a bloody train accident and is sent to an abusive orphanage where she undergoes terrible, horrific events.
When she is finally rescued, it is only natural that she become completely devoted to her new caretaker and take on the life that she does. By reading these pages, you'll see Miyo in the past and how it shapes her to the point of taking human lives in her future and it is bloody brilliant. And I mean "bloody" quite literally.
If you're new to the Higurashi franchise one could totally understand not being thrilled with this book. It is a lot of history and not a lot of action which could make for a very boring read. If you're even vaguely familiar with the story of Hinamizawa however, you'll find it difficult to put this book down. Page after page is filled with driving writing and development that will twist your brain. On one hand you have these characters doing horrible things for the sake of research but on the other hand, is what they're doing so horrible? You'll have to decide for yourself.
The artwork in the Festival Accompanying Arc is just as twisted as previous books. When there is blood (and there WILL be blood), it appears by the bucket load. When someone dies (and plenty of people WILL die), it is not pleasant and it's not meant to be. Higurashi is meant to challenge and practically dare you to keep going.
This is a book for those who are already fans of the series. If you've never read or watched a chapter of Higurashi before, do some research before picking this one up. Once you have however, rush out to get this one and finally learn the truth behind the seemingly quiet nurse Takano and realize that things are not always as they seem.
--L.B. Bryant
