Genre: Adventure Mystery Horror Visual Novel

Developer: 07th Expansion

Publisher: MangaGamer

Release Date: Apr 28, 2017

It is no surprise that one of my favorite horror visual novel series is the Higurashi series, and it is justly so as it takes this deep, mysterious plot and draws you closer in until you can not get out. So when they announced the start of the next arc for the Higurashi story, the answer arc, I was ready to dive back into it with the next installment: Meakashi. Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch. 5 Meakashi is an dark and gritty anime visual novel developed by 07th Expansion, later released by MangaGamer, that aims to capture the same spirit as the question arc with its visuals, music, and story – but leaves a few things undesired.

Like a thief in the night, the story of Meakashi plays off the events of Watanagashi, but not before we are given an ever so brief history lesson about one of my favorite characters, Shion. We, the readers, follow Shion as she makes an attempt to break out of what we are told is a fancy boarding school for girls outside of the town of Shishibone city, which she was forced into at the command of her grandmother. However, no gate or guard holds her back as she escapes out to be greeted by a car with a man in a suit inside of it. After what seems like a long drive and multiple naps, Shion arrives back home – but due to no one knowing she is free as a bird from the school, she takes residence in an apartment, with the man from before helping her out. However, Shion quickly meets Satoshi, the brother to Satoko, and a dangerous bond begins to form between the two. I will end the synopsis here as much of the story is spoiler from here on out, but I am happy to say that we finally get some backstory to Satoshi, who was a big puzzle piece in the question arc, while still adding new questions as we go.

As much as I felt the story was good in Meakashi, I did run into a few story issues that dampened some of the impact the story had for me as a reader. The first one was some minor pacing issues in various places in the story, mainly in areas where new characters were introduced, as it left an odd gap of information that had to be filled. My other issue was how many questions we get left with towards the end of the chapter. Many of these question do not seem so much open ended as they do just lacking an answer currently, but there were a key few that left you scratching your head and asking yourself what was going on. Getting to see Shion’s backstory, though, was something I was happy to see get explained as prior to Watanagashi, we had no idea about her past aside from some few snippets.

To be frank, I did not find much of Meakashi to be different in terms of the presentation, but the things we do get added in, in the form of new scenes and a few new tracks to the soundtrack, add just enough change to keep this novel fresh. Visually, Meakashi focuses more on photographic style backgrounds that get blured out, while relying on a dual art style for the characters, each representing a different style for the time period which can be switched at any time. The backgrounds are one of the reasons you get such a chill in some scenes of the novel, as they add to the mood the novel is trying to convey. With the character models, you get your choice which is something I always did like as if you preferred the rustic, more freeform style of the original release then you could use it, whereas if you enjoy the anime style with the later released anime and manga, you have that option as well. Regardless of which art-style you preferred, the characters models still reflect their emotions very well and animate fluidly, which is a bonus as many older art-styles do not show that too often.

With the music, you can feel the chill of the atmosphere based on the track used for the scene with a few new ones as well to add to the mix of the prior novels. Musically, Meakashi is a step up from the prior chapters as they added two or three new soundtracks to enjoy, alongside the sound effects being a little more effective than prior novels. The soundtracks still stick to the classical vibe, with many of the track sporting piano and wind tones, but they added a rock and roll style tone to it for some scenes, something I have been wanting to see for a while and it does not feel out of place. The sound effects are put to better use as we do not have too many added in, but they are put in places that made sense, something the previous chapters tried to do but did not succeed at it.

Overall, I found Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch. 5 Meakashi to be a good start storywise to the answer arc with its tale and change of pace with characters, but falls back a notch with pacing issues and a few story missteps. The change of characters, strong story, use of the photographic art-style, options for readers visually, great additions to the soundtrack, and well used sound effects made the novel a strong contender in the dark visual novel field.

Pros:

The change of main characters was a good pace changer

A strong and well written story for the most part

Use of the photographic art-style to help set the tone of the scene

Two different art-styles for readers to choose from

The new additions to the soundtrack makes the novel feel fresh

The sound effects are well used

Cons:

Pacing can be all over the place at times

Some story segments felt segmented and confusing

Some questions are left wide open with no answer

The photographic art-style can feel archaic at times

DarkLunarDude gives Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch. 5 Meakashi a Drastik Measure 7.8 out of 10.0 (78)

For the price of $7.99 USD on Steam or $7.95 USD on MangaGamer, I can recommend this novel to those looking for a good dark and gritty story that is not afraid to some risk, even when they are not the best choice. It is recommended that you read the first four chapters, however, as the story for Meakashi does rely heavily on past information.