This series really surprised me. I didn’t think I would like it, but a lot of my older students were really into it so I decided to give it a go. All they would tell me was that it was about a bunch of kids that die over and over again. When I finished, I was surprised that my students’ parents even let them watch this show!

I think the reason I warmed to the show so fast is that I mistakenly watched second season first. The second season has all the plot and character development. It also clues everyone in to the fact that the show is actually a murder mystery. First season is really only about a bunch of kids who die horribly, get reset to “alive” again, and then die horribly once more. If I had watched the series in order I think I would have lost patience with it, quit halfway through, and would have really been missing out. I don’t like gore just for gore’s sake. If there is a reason for it, I can put up with it. Honestly, second season is all you really need to watch. It does a good job of recapping, has better animation quality, and an actual PLOT. It also cuts down on the violence a lot. There are still some cringe-worthy moments, but they do a better job of turning the camera away and leaving it to the viewers’ imagination.

I don’t really know how to best sum up the plot. If I tell too much about second season, then I’ll ruin it for those who want to start from the beginning and might actually like cluelessly wading through horrific episodes that seem to be trying to outdo the previous ones by how squicky they can be. The series is kind of like a dating sim game; in fact, it did start off as a series of computer games. The boy “ends up” with a different girl depending on his actions, only instead of dating her at the end of the scenario, she kills him (or he dies because of her) in some gruesome way. The only connecting theme throughout all the scenarios is the local legend that the mountain village is cursed and every year on the town festival one person dies and one goes missing. Seriously, just watch second season. It brings everything together in an amazing fashion and actually has good storytelling. It’s haunting and heart-in-throat and you actually feel for everyone in the story.

If you don’t like horror movies or overly graphic suspense thrillers, this is not for you. Even if you are going to follow my advice and only watch the less graphic second season, it’s still not for the squeamish. I should warn that some scenes involve violence directed at children as young as ten years old. I am a horror movie aficionado, but being a teacher has made me overly sensitive to such things, so just a friendly heads up.