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Higurashi ga Naku koro ni (When Cicadas Cry) is a series of visual novels that betray the point of the medium – namely, the plot is not interactive, at least not in the original releases. The series feature a group of friends from a tiny primary school in a climactic but isolated and equally tiny village which holds many secrets. In each installment, the children play together, learn of the mysteries of the setting, become paranoid and start killing each other in gruesome ways. Every new chapter introduces new and exciting ways to go crazy and die, and then slowly reveals the clues as to what exactly is happening and why. Since the series have numerous chapters, it may be difficult to approach, which is a shame since in my opinion it’s a fantastic mystery story and source of inspiration for many stories following it. For the help of potential new readers, I made this guide of key stories presented in order that makes the story most approachable. A fair warning: the series runs on violence against children, and the violence and abuse is very graphic and very gory, which the anime tends to tone down but the manga often exploits to the full potential. The most sexual material is barely suggestive in the story proper (plus one bathroom scene that was censored in English edition), and slightly spicier in extra chapters though.( Read more... )

The genre that has for many years dominated anime timeslots is isekai (lit. another world) – stories featuring almost universally teen or preteen characters getting transported to a fantastical world with special powers and missions that make them saviours of the new reality. For about fifteen years, a new gruesome idea has dominated the genre – that the main character is actually dead and unable to return to their home reality, with their new life in the magical world being treated as a reincarnation. There is much to be said about this change of perspective and the implied extremely depressing view of reality, but I wanted to focus on my favourite subcategory of the subgenre, commonly called ‘reborn as a villainess’ plot.

When in a typical modern isekai story the protagonist becomes the hero of his (it’s almost always a boy who is a protagonist) story, in a ‘reborn as a villainess’ story, as the name suggests, the protagonist finds herself (it’s usually a story about a girl, but there are some stories with male protagonists) a villain opposed by the people of the new world. It’s a very wide definition, including stories where the reincarnator is the big bad of an epic fantasy, or has potentially extremely destructive powers, or is simply a school bully, etc. The key being the role being distinctly non-heroic, and the original fate of the character usually tragic. What ‘original fate’? A twist specific to this subgenre is that protagonist is usually familiar with her new world, having experienced it in life as a game or a book. Of course, it does not apply to all stories. Below I wanted to introduce my favourite Villainess stories, in random order.
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This entry will include spoilers to basically every entry in Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. Please read only if you are familiar at least with the original series and Rebuild movies, as those make the core of my meta analysis, and if you don’t mind learning the endings of more obscure entries such as Girlfriend of Steel or Eva Anima.
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