When They CryVolume 6 Review (Anime DVD)

When They Cry, otherwise known as Higurashi When They Cry, is an anime tale of a small town with some very interesting secrets. The anime itself is based off of a visual novel first released back in 2002 for the PC and then later on Playstation 2, and Nintendo DS.

In 2006 the final visual novel following the original storyline was released for the PC. Additionally, the manga version added to the original story after the last visual novel, and several video games also expanded the storyline even farther for fans.

Storyline

When They Cry revolves around a group of friends (Teens/Preteens) and the strange events that occur around them in their small hometown. During the course of the series, almost every character dies after around three or four episodes, and then the story just start's over.

After starting over, viewers learn more about what is happening in the town, and from there you can begin to guess what is happening to these youngsters. Think of it as a video game that keeps getting reset and the characters are stuck in a never-ending loop. That is until one of the characters named Keiichi realizes it.

When They Cry can be broken down into Arc's, which are a series of episodes before the storyline resets. Each Arc is composed of Question and Answer episodes, so viewers can know what's going on. Episodes 23-26 are included in the Vol. 6 DVD, which adds up to 100 minutes of anime goodness.

These particular episodes center on Rena, one of the group spoken of earlier. She discovers that her father is being black mailed by a man named Teppei Hojo and his girlfriend Rina. Even after confronting the pair, Rena starts to distrust everyone around her, and things take some what of a bad turn for the town; once again.

DVD Features

When They Cry doesn't have any special features; it only has the option to change between Japanese and English voices or subtitles. This feature is great for those that primarily enjoy watching anime with Japanese voices compared to English ones.

The DVD itself has a rating of 16 and up, and is distributed in partnership between Funimation and Geneon. Its release date was December 23, 2008.

Conclusions

Overall, When They Cry Vol. 6 gets a four out of five. This DVD is almost perfect, considering everything about the anime itself is perfect. The only thing that sets this DVD back is the lack of special features; even some random fan drawn pictures of Higurashi characters would have been nice.

Looking to purchase When They Cry Vol. 6? Check out this Amazon.com link.

Final Score

4/5 - Above Average - (5 Being Perfect, 1 Being Horrible.)