In this case, I hope everything changes for the better as more things are explained. The third episode was probably the best one so far.

The plot seems to be more engaging than the actual characters, considering how easily they are dropping like flies. I agree Natsuhi would be the obvious killer, but that can’t possibly be so simple. Battler’s theory sounds a bit questionable too, but it’s good to see him start to take the initiative.

I think the culprit is Jessica!as for me!

I don’t suspect Maria at all!lot of comments here suspected Maria!but she’s just a child who loved fantasy!

Someone must have plan it! and through Maria’s fantasy looks like a reality to them and make it like Beatrice the witch is the culprit!

thats all!

To cad: I understand how an anime, no matter how good it is, can be a poor or insufficient adaptation of the original. The same happened with Suzumiya Haruhi no yuutsu, which was wonderful - and yet, so poor compared to the original novels.

I’m looking forward to playing the translated visual novel. Thank you so much for the suggestion.

I really recommend you all to play at least the first VN, which can be downloaded completely legally with an English Patch at witch-hunt.com.

In my opinion the anime doesn’t do the game much justice.>>
Of course it’s still good, but they overdid Maria’s creepy faces just to get that killer loli111!! vibe back, which they thought defined
Higurashi.

But that is only IF the animé gets better than what it currently is. It completely lacks the powerful atmosphere the games have, which is highly disappointing. Now, I’m aware that it is extremely rare when an adaptation can best the original, but this is no excuse really - the recent Higurashi Rei OVAs have shown that an adaptation that is as good as, if not surpasses the original is definitely possible.

And then, what it does it does okay I guess, and seeing everything animated is pretty cool. So while I don’t like the adaptation very much, it’s still pretty fun to watch.

PS: Maybe it’s just the first arc that’s confusing, but the detective story yet didn’t turn good enough. The explanations given by the guests are pretty lame after IMHO :-(

They can easily bring that up next episode when the rest of the people alive look over the scene.

Right now, the suspense aspect is good enough to keep me engaged. Though it is becoming a bit hard since it doesn’t really feel like the characters are actual characters yet but more of an object to just get the story across.

obviously you haven’t met any kids from traditional, tight-assed, christian/catholic families. they have like one hour devotion/bible studying/praying time every day or something. their parents are REALLY hard on them.

It all seems to well orchestrated. Just a theory. Looking forward to what happens with the remaining family members.

However, I do wish they didn’t rush some parts though. For instance, the anime didn’t show that Eva was an expert in martial arts (imprtant to know since it means Eva can’t be killed that easily) or Jessica’s asthma (not really important in this arc though)

Beatrice’s Epitaph should have been given to you in full near the beginning but the anime just gave you a couple of lines and skipped it. There’s also a ‘background’ page translated from the official website. They’re worth checking out:
http://witch-hunt.com/epitaph.html
http://witch-hunt.com/hist.html

“I mean, doesn’t anyone find it weird that a nine-year-old can quote and redraw exact passages on the bible?”

Also not yet covered in the anime adaption for some reason: like Kinzo, her Grandfather, she also has a deep interest in Black Magic and researching it. It serves as a sort of escapism hobby for her that helps her avoid the harsh realities of her life (of which aren’t detailed for a long time so you’ll have to wait a few months or read the novel).

Studio DEEN are taking liberties with her character in the adaption. She does exhibit a sort of dual personality in the first Episode (though not often afterwards) of the novel but it’s more like her personality becoming arrogant while displaying knowledge none of the others have. It’s a bit dark due to it’s nature (and her distinct nonchalance towards death) but DEEN are using it as an excuse to bring out the ‘killer-loli’/evil faces unfairly.

I seriously doubt it’s Natsuhi. In Higurashi, we were lead to believe that Oyashiro-sama’s curse was the cause of death, yet the second season revealed something as outrageous as a disease known only to Hinamizawa. I think Umineko’s leaning toward something we completely aren’t expecting like that.