The story of the anime, manga and video game Higurashi: When They Cry
Higurashi When They Cry , known simply as When They Cry for the North American release of the anime adaptation before 2020, is a Japanese dōjin soft visual novel series with murder mystery, produced by 07th Expansion which includes the first two entries of When They Cry . The series focuses on a group of young friends living in a fictional village and the strange events that occur in 1983.
The games are based on the NScripter game engine and the Microsoft Windows operating system. The first video game in the series, Onikakushi-hen , was released on August 10, 2002, and the eighth and final video game in the original series for PC, matsuribayashi-hen , was released on August 13, 2006. While the first four games carried the general title Higurashi no Naku Koro never and are considered the first entry in the series When They Cry , the next four video games were produced under the title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai and are considered the second item. A bonus disc for fans called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei was released on December 31, 2006. In addition to the original series, new story arcs in the form of manga and video games have been created for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS in order to expand the story. The eight original PC versions were released in English by MangaGamer between 2009 and 2010.
Two sets of drama CDs were produced, one by Wayuta and the other by Frontier Works. The novelties of the video game series were published by Kodansha between August 2007 and March 2009. A manga series adapted from the games began with eight different manga artists who worked separately from one to three of the multiple story arcs and was published by Square Enix and Kadokawa Shoten. The manga was licensed for publication in English in North America by Yen Press under the title Higurashi: When They Cry and the first volume was released in November 2008. After the manga's release in Japan, two anime television series were produced by Studio Deen and directed by Chiaki Kon in 2006 and 2007; a third anime adaptation was released as an original video animation series (OVA) in 2009. The first anime series was licensed by Geneon Entertainment in English in 2007, but the license expired in 2011. Sentai Filmworks has since licensed both seasons of the anime and the 2009 OVA. A live-action film adaptation of the series, directed and written by Ataru Oikawa, premiered in Japanese cinemas on May 10, 2008, with a sequel released on April 16, 2009. A six-episode live-action television adaptation was premiered. premiered in Japan on May 20, 2016, and a four-episode sequel premiered on November 25, 2016. A new Passion anime television series aired from October 2020 to March 2021 and a sequel premiered at July 2021.
History
Higurashi: When They Cry takes place in the fictional village of Hinamizawa in June 1983. Shortly before, the main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves into the village and befriends classmates Mion Sonozaki, his twin sister Shion, Rena Ryūgū, Rika Furude and Satoko Hojo. Keiichi soon learns of the village's annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and thank the local deity Oyashiro. Hinamizawa initially looks calm and peaceful, but shortly before the festival, Keiichi learns that for four consecutive years, people in the village have been killed or disappeared on the night of the festival. These crimes remain unsolved and have been called the "Oyashiro Curse" by the local population. The day after this year's festival, police discover the body of visiting freelance photographer Jirō Tomitake, who appears to have slashed his throat with his bare hands, and the charred body of Miyo Takano, a nurse at the village clinic. In most chapters, Keiichi attempts to investigate the Oyashiro Curse, just for him or one of his friends to become paranoid and commit a crime, often murdering someone within his circle. A few days after the festival, Rika's body is found in the family shrine dedicated to Oyashiro,swamp gas wipes out the population of the village.
The response arcs reveal that each of the previous arcs were alternate realities in which Rika sought to prevent her own death. As a priestess of the Furude Shrine, Rika can communicate with the Hanyū spirit, who served as a prototype for Oyashiro and is the ancestor of the Furude clan. After Rika's death, Hanyū transfers her to another reality so that she can change her circumstances. Rika retains her memory of all past realities except for the last minutes of her life, which prevent her from determining the cause of her fate. In chapters Minagoroshi-hen e matsuribayashi-hen, it is revealed that Miyo, who is studying a local parasitic disease endemic in the village, is responsible for some of the previous crimes and is using the Oyashiro Curse as cover. The disease manifests itself in those who move away from the "Queen of Infection", which releases a pheromone that prevents the conditions of the villagers from worsening, or in those who begin to experience extreme stress. Infected people gradually lose their sanity and eventually kill themselves by ripping their throats. The Furude clan women have all acted as Infection Queens and Rika is the only remaining representative of her clan after her parents died.
Miyo kills Rika in every reality to unleash the disease and claim the work of her adoptive grandfather, who was mocked and shamed by the scientific community for his thesis on the disease. After several hundred loops, Keiichi learns about it in a handful of flashbacks and subconsciously remembers many of his past loops, which allows him to avoid several tipping points where various characters would be killed or gone mad, and the group of friends almost overtake. outsmarting Miyo. In the final cycle, the group asks Hanyū to join them and the spirit manages to manifest a physical body. With his help, they stay alive long enough to thwart Miyo's plan. Hanyū returns to the past to save Miyo and her father and to prevent their psychotic drive from forming.
The video game: How to play
Higurashi When They Cry is a "sound novel", a variation of the visual novel with a focus on sound and atmosphere. The game is limited to reading single scenes, during which the characters are displayed as two-dimensional static sprites. Versions of the game ported to home consoles also include voice acting provided by professional voice actors. The video game narrative is divided into separate narrative arcs, called "chapters", which become accessible in a sequence strictly established by the developers. The narrative is conducted on behalf of various characters. After reading a certain amount of text within a chapter, playback ends. At this point, the player is invited to save the game, as well as reading "hints" that reveal details of the game setting that were not present in the main story. The hints can also encourage the player to deduce the reasoning behind the mysterious events of the narrative. The game chapters are divided into two categories: “question arcs” and “answer arcs”. Each question arc is a story of its own that takes place in an alternate reality, while each answer arc is based on the same scenario of a certain question arc and helps the player formulate a more accurate view of the events of the question arc. relevant questions. Each chapter is assigned a "degree of difficulty" which indicates the complexity of the mystery. After reading a chapter, all previously opened hints and images of individual scenes in the form of a gallery become available to the player from the main menu. Additionally, the player can access a feature titled "Staff Room", where writer Ryukishi07 discusses and examines the chapter, or "All-Cast Review Session", where characters break through the fourth wall and discuss the events of the chapter. .
In games Higurashi , there are several story arcs, the original eight of which are referred to as question arcs or answer arcs. Answer arches generally recap the events of the corresponding question arch, but from a different perspective, using the change of protagonist to solve various mysteries and come to a different conclusion. Each of the eight original PC games represented separate arcs of the overall storyline. Aside from the main question-and-answer relationship, the story of the arches is not directly related, although there are a multitude of parallels that allow the attentive reader to gain a deeper insight into the mystery.
Games Higurashi: When They Cry they form so-called question arcs. These first four games in the series were intended to give the player a sense of the world in which the story unfolds and introduce the mysterious circumstances surrounding the village of Hinamizawa. Since there are no concrete answers to the questions the story presents in these arcs, the question arcs allow the player to form their own opinions on the events taking place in the village. Each question arc game contains all of the previous question arcs.
