I read

When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc vol 1 & 2

When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc vol. 1: $10.99

My biggest lament with this Arc is that it isn’t as intense as the first one. Even just flipping through the book before I read it I noticed that there seemed to be a lack of violent images. In fact, there’s barely any suspense, violence, or gore in this Arc, which, since this is the stuff Higurashi is famous for, was really disappointing.

Notice the busty Mion on the cover. This arc is primarily about her and her twin sister, Shion, so Rena, Rika, and Satako make few appearances. The first volume primarily follows the same plotline as the Abducted by Demons Arc’s first volume–Keiichi spends lots of time with Mion and Shion with the rest of the gang in tow–except it seems worse than the first volume. All the things that made the first volume of the series so suspenseful is lacking here, Keiichi not even learning the legend of Hinamizawa until the second volume. The scariest things that happen here are a few warnings from Rena to apologize to Mion and a group of villagers that chase some pervert otaku out of town under Mion’s influence.

Then the second volume, which is supposed to be the most suspenseful of the two, just seems like the first volume with a few scary images. There isn’t any really gruesome scenes, unless you count the blurry pictures of Tomitake and Miyo’s body. There are even very little yangire scenes, the worst of which are Mion threatening to torture Keiichi in front of Shion and then not going through with it. The scenes that most carry the creepy vibe of this series are not from our mentally disturbed girls but our mentally disburbed hero, Keiichi.

Even through there are few scenes scenes of Keiichi’s classic freaked out expression, the moments where he starts crying or curling up on his couch at least convey how freaked out he is. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the same way.

The other thing that struck me as odd was the girl’s personality inconsistencies from the first volume. Shion, who at first seemed like the ‘playa’ sister suddenly turns innocent and sweet, and Mion obviously has more problems than being posessed by a demon. She started going crazy because Keiichi didn’t give her a doll. I hope the girls of this series aren’t turning into the pathetic examples of yangire characters in School Days.

Also, Rena seemed to go from slightly creepy in the first volume to (pardon the Yaoi analogy) a protective, re-assuring seme for Keiichi in the second. In fact, even Rika seemed to have a seme personality in the second volume, her conversation to Keiichi that ‘Rika will take care of the dogs that are bothering the cats, sir’ seemed very seme-ish, even if she did end of dying by the end.

And, of course, the ending. Keiichi doesn’t even die at the end, all we see is Mion’s (charred?) body screaming at him that she won’t grant him another wish. Wow. I kept expecting Rena to crash through the window and slice off Mion’s head with her butcher knife. As I finished the book, I felt cheated. Where was all the suspenseful violence I loved about the first arc? The entire arc felt decidedly un-creepy, even if it did present some interesting evidence about the Truth.

Which brings me to the next volume preview. The next arc will be the first Anwer Arc, the Eye Opening arc, in which some is revealed but more is unanswered. Not only is there a kick-ass picture of Satoshi with a bat, but the next arc will be focusing on our favorite dead-bat-wielding sociopath. Oh, yeah. And, since this does involve Satoko’s brother, maybe there will be some yangire Satoko as well?

Speaking of Satoshi, does his ‘oh snap’ face compare with Keiichi? Hmmm…