For those of you who followed Higurashi no Naku Koro ni last summer, the ending was probably pretty disappointing, because it didn't wrap up the most important questions and issues that the series posed. However, luckily enough, we found out some time ago that a sequel would be animated, to finish out the story contained within the doujin games. Well, it has started, and it seems pretty good. The initial arc appears to be "Yakusamashi-hen" (Disaster Awakening Chapter), which is an anime-original story intended to clarify, refresh, and revisit last season before we get into the true answer arcs. It's 20 years after the main Higurashi arcs, featuring the detective Mamoru Akasaka from Himatsubushi-hen, as well as Detective Oishi, and a coworker of Mamoru's. They revisit the destroyed Hinamizawa and meet with a grown-up Rena (apparently the only survivor among the main characters, in this timeline). It's serious business and seems like it'll be good stuff. But furthermore, with a new series comes a new opening and a new ending - and Higurashi has some interesting stuff in that regard. Higurashi's original OP was quite good, mysterious electronic type of song. The new song is a bit of a more laid-back, sad song, but with a bit of a techno edge. (Gee, I'm not feeling particularly articulate today, if you can't tell.) It also contains an interesting feature: parts of the original Higurashi OP, played in reverse. Though, take note, that that link ends up going into the normal forward-version of the OP about halfway through. In the meantime, enjoy the forwards version embedded here.
There's a lot more coming out this summer season, though I'm not sure what to think of all of it. Some of the shows that seem worth investigating are Moetan (based on the otaku-targeted half-joking English teaching books - so they should be a hoot), Zombie Loan (all I know is it has neat art and it's about zombies), the last two episodes of Code Geass (airing together July 27th, I believe), a Zero no Tsukaima sequel (if you liked the first one, which was..., well, it was OK). Actually, to be honest, I know very little about the summer season. There's no new Kajiura or Kanno so far as I can tell, though both Darker Than BLACK and El Cazador de la Bruja are continuing so it's not like we'll be deprived. I can tell you this: initial word on Nanatsuiro★Drops is that it's an incredibly horrible eroge adaptation. I'll keep you posted as more comes up.