Ryukishi07 is capable of achieving profound insight on a wide variety of subjects from fresh and surprising angles. At its peaks, this is undoubtedly the most conceptually ambitious work of mystery fiction ever written. If it takes him 30,000 words of repetitive, superfluous scenery-chewing a chapter to get to those peaks... well, it's not ideal, but I guess I'll allow it.
This is a far more mature work than Higurashi in many ways, but it's also too long to feel so often like it's scrambling for meaning on the fly, shying away from its constant lofty promises with smoke-and-mirrors philosophizing about the nature of narrative. There's little value in telling this kind of story in an orthodox fashion, of course, but at one point or another you have to call the trick out for what it is and move on.
I can't call it a disappointment because it's a triumph on so many levels, but I feel the concept frequently outstrips the execution.
This is a far more mature work than Higurashi in many ways, but it's also too long to feel so often like it's scrambling for meaning on the fly, shying away from its constant lofty promises with smoke-and-mirrors philosophizing about the nature of narrative. There's little value in telling this kind of story in an orthodox fashion, of course, but at one point or another you have to call the trick out for what it is and move on.
I can't call it a disappointment because it's a triumph on so many levels, but I feel the concept frequently outstrips the execution.