i guess i should make a pinned
I'm Earwen or sometimes Power, main is @norcani i have an art blog @inacron
Currently more active on bluesky
I've been in the wtc fandom since around 2007. Got into it via the higurashi anime and then the vns. I have read/watched most of stuff readily available to me that ryukishi has written. And what I haven't read yet I plan to.
I generally don't police my follower list here too much, I don't have the time or energy to. However If I do see suspect account names or replies I will block.
I don't tag CWs or spoilers here generally. I do rarely tag cws for something out of the ordinary for the franchise.
My own umineko art is here
My gousotsu booklet translation is here , feel free to tell me your opinion on it, it makes me happy to see people read it as it took a lot of effort
(I don't plan on making any other translations, I only took it up because it's short and no one else seemed to be interested in translating it)
liveblogs
I have several liveblogs, though some are OLD and not necessarily in line with my current opinions
gerokasu live blog
rose guns days liveblog has its own blog @notgunsnroses this also includes some story summaries early on, if you're unsure about picking rgd up
higurashi gou rewatch also includes some of the manga. this was done before sotsu and is generally positive :') my feelings have changed a lot
higurashi reiwa better than you think, probably (but also incomplete)
I have finished (in some cases re-)reading the 8 core arcs in jp. I kind of have opinions on them, as adaptations. I also read some side arcs because they were included in my boxset, but I will cover them separately.
I have Opinions on them, including some really negative ones, so you have been warned.
PS:
1. At the end of the day anyone who has written a whole manga I have deep respect for, no matter how much shit I talk it's still with this in mind.
2. I read most of these physically, which inevitably impacted my opinion sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. You'll see.
3. I have last reread higurashi vn around 10 years ago, so my memory of it is not super fresh, there might be times where things I attribute to the adaptation is accurate to the manga.
Onikakushi-hen by Karin Suzuragi
I think this adaptation is Fine. Onikakushi is one of my favorite arcs, and I read and watched many adaptations of it. My favorite versions besides the original, is the audio drama and the anime.
I think this adaptation is mostly okay, my big issue with it is that it gets real shlocky when it goes to the horror. I don't think it actaully fits with the tone it is supposed to be, but I suppose that is just my interpretation of the scene.
But like, you have to admit this rena that looks barely even human looks a bit ridiculous.
I often see people criticizing the deen anime for similiar things as I said above, and recommend the manga instead. While the anime has its flaws, some inherent to the medium like the inevitable cutting of content, it is a billion times more subtle than this.
I didn't dislike this adaptation, I love onikakushi, and it was just an okay adaptation of a story I love, which isn't a bad thing. But I *was* really concerned that this same artist had done tsumihoroboshi and matsuribayashi. Onikakushi is a relatively straightforward arc, but I felt like I didn't necessarily trust her to handle the other two arcs well.
Watanagashi and Meakashi by Yutori Houjou
Yes, I read these back to back.
Partly because I enjoyed watanagashi so much that I wanted to see more of the artist immediately, and partly because I always felt like watanagashi feels like half a story. Since this is a reread anyway, it hardly matters.
I really love the art style in this. It has a softer look, and also makes the characters look a bit older. It fits the arc, especially the first volumes of both stories where its more focused on teenage drama and relationships. I enjoyed the first half of watanagashi, which I generally dislike, because of the stellar art. But the artist is equally talented in drawing horror
This was also amazing to read physically because it does some really cool things with page turns like in this instance, where the image is mostly the same in the next page besides mions face slowly creeping up. It does a great job of pacing you through it. The paneling is used to great effect both for horror and comedy. Some pages feel rather crammed which I normally hate, but I think it works because of the hectic pace of the comedy scenes and when it does slow down and shows you a full page it feels more impactful.
I did think meakashi was slightly worse, as it had some pacing issues and some things were ordered in a strange way (might be the same as the vn but in any case it didn't work), I also think a lot of pages were too busy, probably because of how much longer meakashi is
Tatarigoroshi-hen by Jirou Suzuki
tatarigoroshi was not great, this was from what I remember my favorite arc in the vn. the manga is 2 volumes with the 2nd volume being almost twice as big as the first. the first volume is just slice of life stuff, and this has some of the worst slice of life parts of higurashi (the cake convo). the 2nd volume despite its length doesnt feel like it has much room to breathe. it doesnt feel well paced, I think the 1st volume should have cut some of the slice of life stuff. As it is, a lot of the tension doesnt translate onto the page well.
the art was hit and miss, sometimes it looks really good, but even then often it feels inappropiate. takano car scene is one of the best parts of higurashi but in this it feels cartoonish (similiar problem with onikakushi adaptation). takano DOES look great but it doesnt really fit. sataoko at least looks consistently cute andw ell drawn. mion looks atrocious. a stick with boobs. genuinely distracting anytime shes on the page.
also it's impossible for me to talk about my experience reading this manga without mentioning how physically awful it was to read the copies. This manga had the tiniest font ever, and the 2nd volume was hard to read due to its size towards the middle. In combination it was like torture designed for people whose favorite arc is tatarigoroshi and not super vibing with the adaptation and are also not that amazing at japanese and have bad eyesight. The font especially I'm still baffled by, it feels like a printing mistake. I never saw font like this in any other manga before or after.
If we ignor the phsyical issues, I would say this is on the level of onikakushi for me. Passable adaptation, but not my favorite version of the story by far.
Himatsubushi-hen by Yoshiki Tonogai
I never liked the aptly named himatsubushi-hen much. There is some interesting stuff in for sure but I feel like any of that could have been integrated to the other arcs instead. It doesn't even feel like a question arc, but more like an answer one. The story behind it is that ryukishi didn't initially plan on this arc, and I feel it shows in every aspect. It also brought us akasaka, whom I hate, and continues to stand out like a sore thumb as out of place for the rest of the series. Fuck that guy.
This adaptation itself, honestly it's hard to be disappointed by as I already don't care but I didn't care about the art, mion and rika strangely look older than their usual selves.
Tsumihoroboshi-hen by Karin Suzuragi
My worries about Karin Suzuragi were completely assuaged. This was my favorite arc in the manga. I think it does a great job depicting Rena with nuance (something the anime adaptation fails to do). Her art style also really matured, and while it isn't my favorite style, it works much better than in Onikakushi.
Minagoroshi-hen by Hinase Momoyama
Good adaptation, one of my favorite styles for higurashi. only downside is the 2 volume part where the pov switches to keichi REALLY drags. A whole volume and half is dedicated to him talking to the village elders and oryou. It makes sense to include this all in the vn but in the manga I feel we could have sped it up. All of onikakushi is 2 volumes, as is watanagashi , for reference. (tatarigoroshi is also 2 volumes but well, one of them is a behemot that really should have been split in two)
The final section with Takano killing the villages however is much less sanitized than the anime. I thought it was really horrifying.
It's depiction of Bern (which is a new addition, not in the vn, according to friends who read it recently) is also more in line with later works. I thought it was an interesting addition, I wish the postscript talked a bit about that decision but nope.
Matsuribayashi-hen by Karin Suzuragi
After Tsumihoroboshi-hen being so amazing I came into this with any worries I had before assuaged. I was excited to read Takano's backstory, a part that I love both in the vn and the DEEN anime.
It was awful. The way it was depicted was so over the top shlocky, and I felt zero investment in it. Even scenes I love in other versions just had 0 impact. Something about the art style felt hard to take seriously, I genuinely felt like it was significantly worse than her previous adaptations.
But that's fine, Takano's backstory is not the whole story after all. The rest of the manga...is mostly about Irie, Akasaka, and the other adults. Rika and the rest barely feel like they are relevant for most of the manga. I know *some* of this is from the vn, but even if so, I don't remember Rika and co ever feeling *irrelevant*. Akasaka has a whole 40 page chapter dedicated to his bad-future self that sees a phantom rika so he can transfer his wisdom magically to matsuribayashi-era akasaka or whatever the fuck WHO CARES I HATE AKASAKA.
This looks funny out of context but in context it makes it impossible to take seriously no matter how much the scene calls for it
The best part of the story is proabbly the portion of the story that focuses on the previous few years of murders. Irie is one of the more interesting adult characters when he actually, you know, isn't ranting about maids.
But overall, this felt like torture. This adaptation did the worst thing an adaptation could do: made me doubt my love for the original.
I know matsuribayashi is controversial, and while it was never my *favorite* arc I always felt satisfied and happy with it. This manga though..... I don't know anymore. Is it this adaptation, or is it me? I guess I'll find out once I reread the vn.
подборочка рисунков с повзрослевшими моими любимыми девочками 🥹🥹🥹 (там 10 лет спустя или чут меньше.........)
я недавно начала читать повернувшая стрелку и хз связано это как то иль нет но меня что-то на такое потянула
БЛЯТЬ!!! пришлось перекладывать потому что тамблер как обычно по уродски распределил мои картинки хотя я не так поставила а по другому надоел уже блин. я все время забываю сначала в черновик сохранять чтоб глянуть как выглядит а потом уже выкладывать нормально. я надеюсь никто моего позорища не увидел..... А КТО УВИДЕЛ МОЛЧАТЬ!!!! у меня на страничке жёсткая диктатура, тоталитаризм и нет правильного мнения кроме моего ❤️
I have finished (in some cases re-)reading the 8 core arcs in jp. I kind of have opinions on them, as adaptations. I also read some side arcs because they were included in my boxset, but I will cover them separately.
I have Opinions on them, including some really negative ones, so you have been warned.
PS:
1. At the end of the day anyone who has written a whole manga I have deep respect for, no matter how much shit I talk it's still with this in mind.
2. I read most of these physically, which inevitably impacted my opinion sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. You'll see.
3. I have last reread higurashi vn around 10 years ago, so my memory of it is not super fresh, there might be times where things I attribute to the adaptation is accurate to the manga.
Onikakushi-hen by Karin Suzuragi
I think this adaptation is Fine. Onikakushi is one of my favorite arcs, and I read and watched many adaptations of it. My favorite versions besides the original, is the audio drama and the anime.
I think this adaptation is mostly okay, my big issue with it is that it gets real shlocky when it goes to the horror. I don't think it actaully fits with the tone it is supposed to be, but I suppose that is just my interpretation of the scene.
But like, you have to admit this rena that looks barely even human looks a bit ridiculous.
I often see people criticizing the deen anime for similiar things as I said above, and recommend the manga instead. While the anime has its flaws, some inherent to the medium like the inevitable cutting of content, it is a billion times more subtle than this.
I didn't dislike this adaptation, I love onikakushi, and it was just an okay adaptation of a story I love, which isn't a bad thing. But I *was* really concerned that this same artist had done tsumihoroboshi and matsuribayashi. Onikakushi is a relatively straightforward arc, but I felt like I didn't necessarily trust her to handle the other two arcs well.
Watanagashi and Meakashi by Yutori Houjou
Yes, I read these back to back.
Partly because I enjoyed watanagashi so much that I wanted to see more of the artist immediately, and partly because I always felt like watanagashi feels like half a story. Since this is a reread anyway, it hardly matters.
I really love the art style in this. It has a softer look, and also makes the characters look a bit older. It fits the arc, especially the first volumes of both stories where its more focused on teenage drama and relationships. I enjoyed the first half of watanagashi, which I generally dislike, because of the stellar art. But the artist is equally talented in drawing horror
This was also amazing to read physically because it does some really cool things with page turns like in this instance, where the image is mostly the same in the next page besides mions face slowly creeping up. It does a great job of pacing you through it. The paneling is used to great effect both for horror and comedy. Some pages feel rather crammed which I normally hate, but I think it works because of the hectic pace of the comedy scenes and when it does slow down and shows you a full page it feels more impactful.
I did think meakashi was slightly worse, as it had some pacing issues and some things were ordered in a strange way (might be the same as the vn but in any case it didn't work), I also think a lot of pages were too busy, probably because of how much longer meakashi is
Tatarigoroshi-hen by Jirou Suzuki
tatarigoroshi was not great, this was from what I remember my favorite arc in the vn. the manga is 2 volumes with the 2nd volume being almost twice as big as the first. the first volume is just slice of life stuff, and this has some of the worst slice of life parts of higurashi (the cake convo). the 2nd volume despite its length doesnt feel like it has much room to breathe. it doesnt feel well paced, I think the 1st volume should have cut some of the slice of life stuff. As it is, a lot of the tension doesnt translate onto the page well.
the art was hit and miss, sometimes it looks really good, but even then often it feels inappropiate. takano car scene is one of the best parts of higurashi but in this it feels cartoonish (similiar problem with onikakushi adaptation). takano DOES look great but it doesnt really fit. sataoko at least looks consistently cute andw ell drawn. mion looks atrocious. a stick with boobs. genuinely distracting anytime shes on the page.
also it's impossible for me to talk about my experience reading this manga without mentioning how physically awful it was to read the copies. This manga had the tiniest font ever, and the 2nd volume was hard to read due to its size towards the middle. In combination it was like torture designed for people whose favorite arc is tatarigoroshi and not super vibing with the adaptation and are also not that amazing at japanese and have bad eyesight. The font especially I'm still baffled by, it feels like a printing mistake. I never saw font like this in any other manga before or after.
If we ignor the phsyical issues, I would say this is on the level of onikakushi for me. Passable adaptation, but not my favorite version of the story by far.
Himatsubushi-hen by Yoshiki Tonogai
I never liked the aptly named himatsubushi-hen much. There is some interesting stuff in for sure but I feel like any of that could have been integrated to the other arcs instead. It doesn't even feel like a question arc, but more like an answer one. The story behind it is that ryukishi didn't initially plan on this arc, and I feel it shows in every aspect. It also brought us akasaka, whom I hate, and continues to stand out like a sore thumb as out of place for the rest of the series. Fuck that guy.
This adaptation itself, honestly it's hard to be disappointed by as I already don't care but I didn't care about the art, mion and rika strangely look older than their usual selves.
Tsumihoroboshi-hen by Karin Suzuragi
My worries about Karin Suzuragi were completely assuaged. This was my favorite arc in the manga. I think it does a great job depicting Rena with nuance (something the anime adaptation fails to do). Her art style also really matured, and while it isn't my favorite style, it works much better than in Onikakushi.
Minagoroshi-hen by Hinase Momoyama
Good adaptation, one of my favorite styles for higurashi. only downside is the 2 volume part where the pov switches to keichi REALLY drags. A whole volume and half is dedicated to him talking to the village elders and oryou. It makes sense to include this all in the vn but in the manga I feel we could have sped it up. All of onikakushi is 2 volumes, as is watanagashi , for reference. (tatarigoroshi is also 2 volumes but well, one of them is a behemot that really should have been split in two)
The final section with Takano killing the villages however is much less sanitized than the anime. I thought it was really horrifying.
It's depiction of Bern (which is a new addition, not in the vn, according to friends who read it recently) is also more in line with later works. I thought it was an interesting addition, I wish the postscript talked a bit about that decision but nope.
Matsuribayashi-hen by Karin Suzuragi
After Tsumihoroboshi-hen being so amazing I came into this with any worries I had before assuaged. I was excited to read Takano's backstory, a part that I love both in the vn and the DEEN anime.
It was awful. The way it was depicted was so over the top shlocky, and I felt zero investment in it. Even scenes I love in other versions just had 0 impact. Something about the art style felt hard to take seriously, I genuinely felt like it was significantly worse than her previous adaptations.
But that's fine, Takano's backstory is not the whole story after all. The rest of the manga...is mostly about Irie, Akasaka, and the other adults. Rika and the rest barely feel like they are relevant for most of the manga. I know *some* of this is from the vn, but even if so, I don't remember Rika and co ever feeling *irrelevant*. Akasaka has a whole 40 page chapter dedicated to his bad-future self that sees a phantom rika so he can transfer his wisdom magically to matsuribayashi-era akasaka or whatever the fuck WHO CARES I HATE AKASAKA.
This looks funny out of context but in context it makes it impossible to take seriously no matter how much the scene calls for it
The best part of the story is proabbly the portion of the story that focuses on the previous few years of murders. Irie is one of the more interesting adult characters when he actually, you know, isn't ranting about maids.
But overall, this felt like torture. This adaptation did the worst thing an adaptation could do: made me doubt my love for the original.
I know matsuribayashi is controversial, and while it was never my *favorite* arc I always felt satisfied and happy with it. This manga though..... I don't know anymore. Is it this adaptation, or is it me? I guess I'll find out once I reread the vn.
part 1 is here, and is most of the evns I read (and part 0 would be my toxic yuri jam round up, which is linked in part1). This part will be mostly though not exclusively jvns.
I posted full reviews for many of the vns in this list, so I will just link to reviews where available.
I paired them into groups of 2 for fun and convenience
all female cast death games (also: peak)
Gerokasu 2 & Mahou Shoujo No Majo Saiban
I have reviews for both here and here, as well a liveblog for gerokasu2 here. They're both amazing and I highly recommend them. Sadly I'm unsure if gerokasu2 will ever be translated, but manosaba had a official translation announced.
rest under cut
dissapointments
Root Double and Flowers
I have a review for Root Double here. And while I thought root double was disappointing I flat out hated the experience of flowers printemps. I actually read most of the second game of flowers because I was told it is the best one in the series, and while it was a huge improvement I still was disappointed. I wrote a "review" but it was more like a vent so I didn't bother to post it on here. If you are curious though you can read it here . I really looked forward to both of these for different reasons, but that's how it is sometimes. Overall I did enjoy root double more, while flowers kind of pisses me off still.
Questionable Yuri
Tsui Yuri ~Okaa-san ni wa Naisho da yo~ ( Sisterly Bliss ~Don't Let Mom Find Out~ ) & Manakashi no Yuri wa Akaku Somaru.
Wrote a review for Tsui Yuri here. In short I thought it had some interesting things going for it, but kind of waffled too much on the less interesting parts. Manakashi Yuri is a yuri eroguro title I didn't write a review for. Damningly I was basically bored for most of it. There is some good tension build up but overall I didn't feel it was that interesting even when things started to go badly. Honestly I found this vn surprisingly bland and forgettable so I didn't have much to say about it. Amelie Doree has a good video on it on her her channel which includes a summary of the game, and though I am less generous towards the game, I overall agree with most of her takes on it. The video is here.
Wait is this even a Vn?
Road To Empress and Expelled!
Road to Empress is a fmv game, but I read it with my vn club so I decided it's fair game. I thought it was alright, but I have no interest in checking out the sequel. I have a review of it here.
Expelled I wouldn't consider a vn at all, but it is on vndb. I liked this one quite a bit, I have a review for it here.
Indie Darlings I couldn't get into but nonetheless had great pixel art
Endless Monday and Needy Streamer Overload
I got those games from the same bundle, played them the same day, couldn't be bothered to see most of the content, and both made me feel Too Old for the target audience. They're also similar in that they are meant to be played many times and collect endings/achievements. I didn't post the "reviews" I wrote for them on tumblr, since I didnt see all they had to offer but they're here and here
problem - i have zero ability to estimate reading speed/time. I just Read Book. So while I have a SHIT TON of books in my room (two tall bookshelves, two short bookshelves, and plenty of extras stacked haphazardly) I a) don't know how many books that is and b) don't know how long it takes to read things anyway, other than 'a lot less than it takes normal people'
I'm happy they moved away from the mei style to something more retro (yeah, mid 2000s is technicalyl retro now, sorry) and reminiscent of the original run of the anime.
My personal bet is on a proper remake this time, but we'll see what it is.
correction, according to the site it is a new story
