LogFAQs > #976183726

9. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni OP
https://animethemes.moe/anime/higurashi_no_naku_koro_ni/OP-NCBD1080

Man, this OP is probably the scariest anime OP I've seen? The way the "camera" shakes and flickers, the seemingly innocent girls, the overall vibe of things being off and unsettling... the song itself is a banger too, with this pulsing electric energy infusing its beats. And the whole thing is still lyrical and melodic throughout, intense and beautiful and pleading.

It's all the more memorable because the anime absolutely delivers, too. It takes a very visual novel-esque format, with a time loop as its backbone. It's a horror anime, a genre that I generally dislike but can elicit strong gut reactions from me, and it's particularly effective due to the starkness of the contrast in its tones: half the story is set in an elementary school where the kawaii and slapstick are ultra-saccharine, with an actually really cute, funny dynamic. And then when those same characters start exhibiting signs of craziness, paranoia, and cruelty, it's all the more jarring and horrific. It's all present from the beginning frames of the series, where we see a kid butchering other kids with an ax - and then we flash back a few days and that kawaii-overload strikes for the first time. It's deeply unsettling and yet manages to disarm you with the charm of those lighthearted parts even as you try to stay on your guard. Oh, and as for this first season - it never actually answers your questions.

The sequel series actually begins to answer some of these questions, and it moves from horror to more of a sci-fi/low fantasy story. I love the actual story in the sequel series and the way it resolves storylines and makes you feel more involved in a serial element, but the horror mood of the first half is what really sticks with me about the show (and is what somehow got me invested in these 11-year-olds to begin with). And it all starts with the tone set by its opening.