This season, I have seen one too many anime series which started out really good but ended up really lame. One of the hugest disappointments of this season was Zero no Tsukaima Futatsuki no Kishi. Apparently the sequel follows in its predecessor's footsteps in creating one huge jumbled mess of the few ending episodes. Very disappointing indeed.
However, all is not lost. In my bid to become the true otaku I have always aspired to become, I obtained Higurashi no naku koro ni and higurashi no naku koro ni kai. I was a skeptic at first, but now I'm a believer. Higurashi is not just about mindless killing and psychotic murderers. It is a mystery, and one that deserves an applause at that.
For those of you who do not know, Higurashi is a story revolving around a group of friends. One of which is Maebara Keiichi. He moved into Hinamizawa, a small village this year and learned about a very strange occurrence in the village. Every year since the past 5 years, a mysterious death occured during the festival of Watanagashi. This is a story of how the friends lived through the ordeals. This is one anime which really makes a mystery novel look simple. It has an excellent plot, compared to most other anime, and the second season is even more exciting to watch, since its where the mystery is finally unravelled.
Few anime catch my eyes like this, and deserves to be written on to my gold 16x DVD-R media for the benefit of generations to come.