With a brightly colored collector's box covered with cute big-eyed young girls, most people seeing When They Cry Volume 1 on a store shelf would think it's a girls anime, filled with cutesy stories and happy fairies.  Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is a horror show that can be just as violent as Elfen Lied and as disturbing as Gantz.  It's a schizophrenic show, with many parts as innocent as Cardcaptors Sukura, but just as soon as you decide that this is just a simple program about a small town in Japan, the show gets dark and scary.

Keiichi Maebara is a teenager who has just moved to the small rural village of Hinamizawa, and is having just a bit of trouble fitting in.  The school is very small and everyone who attends has known their classmates for years.  He soon makes friends with Rena, who is Keiichi's age and might have a small crush on him, Mion the head of the school game club and a year older than Keiichi, and Satoko and Rika, a pair of younger girls who are too cute for words.

Rena's a bit strange, but Keiichi hangs around with her mainly since she's the only kid his age.  She likes to go to the local dump and look for things, and on one such trip the new student accompanies her.  While he's there he meets a photographer from Tokyo who comes to the village every once in a while to photograph the local birds, and talking to this man Keiichi learns of the city's deep dark secret.  Five years ago a damn was going to be built that would have flooded the city.  One night a man working for the company that was going to put up the damn was murdered and dismembered, and parts of him were never found.  Every year since then during the Cotton Drifting festival, the anniversary of his murder, another person turns up dead.  The locals say it's the work of a demon named Oyashiro, but who believes in demons in this day and age?

As Keiichi learns more and more about the past murders, his new friends start acting stranger and stranger.  It's like they have a secret that they are hiding from him, but these four young girls who enjoy playing games after school couldn't be involved in murder, could they?  Keiichi rejects the idea until Rena and Mion bring him dinner one day and he discovers a needle in his food.
 
The show is divided into different stories, each one lasting four episodes.  This disc has the entire first story as well as the introductory episode to the next story arc.  The opening scene to the first episode, a shot of Keiichi bludgeoning two girls to death with a baseball bat, lets you know that this is a violent series.  That's a good thing because the horror aspect takes a backseat for a while.  The program unfolds like any kiddy show with four cute girls playing games and possibly having a crush on the new boy.  Slowly small details are unveiled that let viewers know that this is no ordinary village and that the girls may or may not be all that they seem to be.  That's the show's strength.  It's unexpected and different.  One minute Keiichi is walking home with a girl chatting, and the next he's not sure if the person he's talking to is sane.  The way the show can switch gears suddenly is a strong point and it works very well.

Geneon was smart when they authored this disc.  In addition to the first story, Spirited Away by Demons, they include the first chapter to the next story, Cotton Drifting.  The first chapter to the second story again opens with some horrific violence, but the innocent scene that takes place after the credits, of someone waking up late for school, will startle viewers and suck them into the series even more than the first story did.

The only real complaint I have is that the story takes some time to get rolling.  There's a bit too much time spent on cute girl activities, and if it wasn't for that opening scene many viewers would write the show off before they got to the good parts.
 

This premier disc includes an ample five episodes.  It comes in a clear keepcase with reversible cover.  There is an insert that lists the episodes and opens up to a mini-poster of Satoko, and Rika.  There is also a limited edition version of this disc that includes a thick cardboard slipcase that will hold all of the discs in the series.  I'd recommend spending the extra money on the LE version, the box looks nice, even if it is deceiving, and this is a series you'll want to keep for a long time.

Audio:

This disc comes with the original Japanese soundtrack as well as an English dub, both in stereo.  I alternated between languages while watching the show and enjoyed both tracks a lot.  The young girl's voices in the English dub are high pitched and squeaky, which is annoying, but when the girls change to scary mode it's very effective.  The voice changes aren't so different to be silly, but they are very eerie. The sound quality is very good, with the dialog coming through loud and clear and the effects coming in at the right levels.  There isn't any distortion or other common audio defects.  Subtitles are available in English and for signs only.

Video:

The 1.78:1 picture is anamorphically enhanced and looks great.  The image is sharp, the colors are solid and strong, and the level of detail is fine.  There is a small amount of aliasing in the background, but this is pretty minor and doesn't interfere with enjoyment of the show.

Extras:

The only extras are previews to the Hellsing OVA, Disgaea, and Ego Proxy.

Final Thoughts:

One of the best new releases I've seen so far in 2007, When They Cry is an intelligent, unique, and eerie show that had me yearning for more when the disc was finished.   Though there aren't any extras to speak of, the content of the discs is more than enough to make it worth a purchase.  Though it's not for children, this is an excellent show that comes Highly Reecommended.