Ookamikakushi/YMMV

• Alas, Poor Villain: Sakaki in episode eleven of the anime. Even the very person whom he had been antagonizing throughout the second half of the show looked on in pity at his demise.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Those who didn't find his fate pitiful found it less than satisfying.
• And the Fandom Rejoiced: A VN by Ryukishi? And he's not doing the art? And it's not getting adapted by Studio DEEN?
• Angst? What Angst?: At least in the end of the anime. According to Hiroshi, how do he and his friends move on from discovery of dark secrets regarding Nemuru, the New Town nearly being destroyed, battling someone trying to destroy the village, and witnessing said destroyer falling into a lake at the end of the day? They simply act like it never happened and was just a dream.
• Better by a Different Name: I liked it better when it was called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.
• Non Sequitur Scene: The guy in the antarctic who gets eaten by his dogs.
  • Non Sequitur Scene Episode]]: Episode 12. Largely played for comedy, yet still manages to be scarier than the entire rest of the show.
• Ear Worm: Hassaku, hassaku, Jouga no hassaku~
• He's Just Hiding: More than one fan has theorized that Sakaki somehow survived his fall with Kaori. Then again, his body was never actually shown, so...
• It Gets Better: Both the anime and the VN start off painfully slow, but after three episodes and around five hours respectively of slice-of-life scenes with the occasional oddity here and there, the plot finally gets moving after Hiroshi witnesses someone being killed by Nemuru Kushinada.
• Jerkass Woobie: Sakaki becomes this by the end of his arc in the Visual Novel. The case is struck up in the anime as well.
• Misblamed: Ryukishi takes a lot of heat for over half of the less-than-beloved plot details in the anime, especially the ending, mostly from those who have seen its more popular counterpart and claim he didn't even try...not realizing the ending is almost entirely different from the Visual Novel's, and that, unlike Higurashi and Umineko, Ryukishi wasn't even consulted for over half of the changes in this adaptation.
• Moral Event Horizon: Sakaki's attempt to open the dam and destroy the village at the end of the anime.
  • Shooting Isuzu was likewise meant to be this just in case he still had any sympathy after the above-mentioned attempt at destroying the village, but it ended up coming across as a Kick the Dog moment.
• Narm: Spider-Issei, in episode 5.
  • From the same episode, Issei's raep face.
  • Issei likes to move it, move it. Link contains spoilers, just to warn you.
• Nightmare Fuel: After 11 relatively scare-free episodes, we get some in the mostly-comedic BLAM episode, of all places. Particularly bad is when Hiro opens the box meant for Mana-chan... and has a horrible vision immediately before the commercial break, which is NEVER EXPLAINED.
  • It's explained as being a spell that Nemuru cast. What I don't get is the thing that bites his neck just before the cut to commercial.
• No Yay: Issei's actions towards Hiroshi are downright creepy in episode 3 - which is obviously the point.
• The Scrappy: Hiroshi. To a lesser extent, Isuzu, though the hatred towards her lightened up after she was temporarily Put on a Bus. Depending on whether you thought Issei's scenes with Hiroshi were either the best scenes in the series, or the creepiest, he is either also this, or an Ensemble Darkhorse.
• The Untwist: Nemuru is the scythe-girl.