Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni

Aired in Japan: 4/4/2006
Anime Status: Complete

Possibly one of the most frightening and amazing anime ever, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni is definitely a must see. For those of you who enjoy kawaii girls killing people its the best anime out there. With 2 sequels, countless manga, and several video games - Higurashi is AWESOME.
The best feature about this anime is it's ability to SCARE THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF YOU! That's right, better than 99% of the horror movies out today, this series makes you think and offers psychological thrills greater than many top sellers.

As usual I'll be borrowing wiki's plot summary:
"Higurashi no Naku Koro ni takes place during June 1983, at a fictional rural village called Hinamizawa (雛見沢) (based on the village of Shirakawa, Gifu, a World Heritage Site), which has a population of approximately 2,000. The main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to Hinamizawa and befriends his new classmates Rena Ryuugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Hojo. Keiichi joins their after-school club activities, which consist mostly of card and board games (and punishment games for the loser, usually him.) Hinamizawa appears to be a normal, peaceful, rural village to Keiichi. However, the tranquility abruptly ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro. Keiichi learns that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the day of the Watanagashi Festival. Keiichi himself soon becomes drawn into the strange events surrounding the Watanagashi Festival and Oyashiro. In each story arc, he or one of his friends become paranoid, and a crime is committed. Usually, the crime involves the murder of one of their own friends. While it seems impossible to tell their delusions apart from the mystery of Hinamizawa, slowly the truth is revealed."

For those of you who want to buy a copy of Higurashi (which I HIGHLY recommend), you can do so HERE.