is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel produced by 07th Expansion that comprises the first two entries of the When They Cry franchise. The games are built on the NScripter game engine and the Microsoft Windows operating system.
A bonus fan disc called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei was released in December 2006. Apart from the original series, new stories were created in manga form and in video games for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, to expand the story. The original eight PC releases 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. Novelizations of the game series were released by Kodansha between August 2007 and March 2009. A manga adapted from the video games began with eight different manga artists working separately on one to three of the multiple story arcs and were published by Square Enix and Kadokawa Shoten. The manga was licensed for release in English in North America by Yen Press under the title Higurashi: When They Cry and the first volume was released in November 2008.
Two anime television series, also known simply as When They Cry prior to 2020, were produced by Studio Deen and directed by Chiaki Kon in 2006 and 2007. A third anime adaptation was released as an OVA (original video animation) 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 anime seasons and the 2009 OVAs. A live-action film adaptation of the series, directed and written by Ataru Oikawa, premiered in Japanese theaters in May 2008, with a sequel released in April 2009. A six-episode live-action television series adaptation premiered in Japan in May 2016, and a four-episode sequel premiered in November 2016. A new anime television series produced by Passione aired from October 2020 to March 2021, and a sequel aired from July to September 2021.
Format and structure Higurashi When They Cry is a "sound novel", a variation of visual novel with a focus on sound and atmosphere. The story is conveyed via narration and dialogue presented in on-screen text during its scenes, during which characters are displayed as static two-dimensional sprite images. The versions ported to home consoles additionally feature voice acting provided by professional Japanese voice actors. The narrative is divided into chapters, each of which covers a separate story arc, which become accessible in a sequence strictly established by the developers. The narration is conducted on behalf of various characters. After reading a certain amount of text within a chapter, playback ends. At this point, the users are invited to save their progress, as well as read "tips" that reveal details of the story's setting that were not present in the main narrative. The tips may also encourage the audience to deduce the reasoning behind the narrative's mysterious events.
The chapters are divided into two categories – "question arcs" and "answer arcs". Each question arc is a self-contained story taking place in an alternate reality, while each answer arc is based on the same scenario as a certain question arc and is intended to help the audience formulate a more accurate vision of the events of the pertaining question arc. Each chapter is assigned a "difficulty rating" that indicates the complexity of the mystery. After completing a chapter, all previously opened tips and images of individual scenes in the form of a gallery become available to the user from the main menu. In addition, the user can access a feature entitled the "Staff Room", in which writer Ryukishi07 discusses and examines the chapter, or the "All-Cast Review Session", in which the characters break the fourth wall and debate about the events of the chapter.
Plot
In June 1983, Keiichi Maebara moves to the village of and befriends five girls: Rena Ryūgū, Rika Furude, Satoko Hōjō, and the Sonozaki twins Mion and Shion. Keiichi learns of the village's annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration dedicated to the local deity Oyashiro. Hinamizawa initially seems calm and peaceful, but shortly before the festival, Keiichi learns that for four years in a row, murders and disappearances have taken place on the day of the festival. This chain of incidents remains unsolved and has come to be known as the "Oyashiro Curse" by the superstitious villagers. The day after this year's festival, police discover the corpse of visiting freelance photographer Jirō Tomitake, who appears to have torn his throat out with his bare hands, and the charred body of Miyo Takano, a nurse in the village clinic. In most chapters of the game, Keiichi or one of his friends attempts to investigate the mysteries of Hinamizawa and the Oyashiro Curse, only to succumb to paranoia and homicidal rage. A few days after the festival, Rika's body is found in the family shrine dedicated to Oyashiro. On the same day, a cataclysm befalls the village and wipes out the population, which is explained by the media as a release of swamp gas.
The answer arcs reveal that each preceding arc is an alternate reality in which Rika fails to save herself and her friends. As a priestess of the Furude Shrine, Rika can communicate with the spirit Hanyū, who serves as the basis for Oyashiro and is the ancestress of the Furude clan. Each time Rika died, Hanyū would move her to another reality, but the end of her life is not retained in her memories when she transfers. In the final two chapters, it is revealed that the village clinic is secretly a government institute investigating a mysterious parasite in the village that causes Hinamizawa Syndrome, a disease that induces paranoia, delusion, and homicidal rage in its victims before pushing them to tear out their own throats. This disease is responsible for instigating the characters to commit murders in the previous arcs, and some of the incidents in the earlier years were caused by it. The rest of the incidents were caused by Miyo, who had killed Tomitake and faked her death, using the Oyashiro Curse as a cover. Hinamizawa Syndrome manifests in those experiencing extreme stress or those who move a distance away from the "Infection Queen", who releases a pheromone that prevents the aggravation of the villagers' condition. The women of the Furude clan have all acted as Infection Queens, and Rika is the sole remaining member of the line after the death of her parents.
The theory by Miyo's adoptive grandfather, Hifumi Takano, is that if there is no Infection Queen, all villagers will succumb to the syndrome, and a mass outbreak of violence will occur. In some of the realities, Shion, succumbing to Hinamizawa Syndrome, kills Rika. However, life in Hinamizawa goes on, showing that Hifumi's theories have been exaggerated. In most of the realities, Miyo kills Rika, and the threat of the mass outbreak convinces the government to massacre the village, with the release of swamp gas being a cover story. Miyo aims to vindicate Hifumi's work and force it to be recognized after he was shamed by the government and scientific community for his thesis about the disease. After several hundred loops, Keiichi becomes aware of the previous realities, allowing him to avoid several critical points where various characters would be murdered or driven insane. In the final loop, the group asks Hanyū to join them, and the spirit manages to manifest a physical body. With her assistance and all of the knowledge and allies they have formed along the way, they thwart Miyo's plan, and Keiichi and his friends attend the festival to move on to live happy lives afterward. Eventually, Rika travels back to the past to prevent Miyo's suffering from the traumatic childhood that led her to become who she was.
Characters Main characters
Played by: Gōki Maeda (film), Yu Inaba (TV series) Keiichi is the male protagonist of the series.
Played by: Aika (film), Hinata Honma (TV series) Rika is one of Keiichi's friends and the main protagonist.
Played by: Airi Matsuyama (film), Minami Kato (TV series) One of Keiichi's friends, Rena is kind and takes care of her friends, but is also naïve and usually subject to light teasing.
Played by: Rin Asuka (film), Rika Nakai (TV series) One of Keiichi's friends, Mion is Shion's identical twin sister and the leader of the after school club.
Played by: Rin Asuka (film), Rika Nakai (TV series) Mion's identical twin sister living in Okinomiya.
Played by: Erena Ono (film), Reina Seiji (TV series) One of Keiichi's best friends, Satoko is Satoshi's younger sister, and Teppei and Tamae's niece. She has a distinctive style of speech, ending all of her sentences with ~wa.
The true identity of "Oyashiro-sama".
Secondary characters
Satoko's older brother as well as Teppei and Tamae's nephew. He disappeared a year before Keiichi moves to Hinamizawa. He is introduced in the question arcs as a student who had 'transferred', which the other club members refuse to elaborate on until later arcs. He and Satoko cannot distinguish the differences between cauliflower and broccoli as they are both colorblind. Satoko calls him nii-nii, a childish form of the Japanese word . It is later revealed that he had been taking the brunt of the siblings' uncle and aunt's physical and emotional abuse, often stepping in to save Satoko from suffering. This becomes mentally overwhelming for him, and he ends up killing his aunt with a metal baseball bat. Soon following the murder, he is abducted by Irie and the Mountain Dogs, and remains sedated in the secret basement of the Irie Clinic; the Mountain Dogs also frame a drug addict for the murder of his aunt.
The village's tutelary deity whose sacred shrine is full of ancient torture equipment.
() A veteran police investigator learning to solve the case about the murders and avenge the first victim who he was friends with.
Played by: Masashi Taniguchi (film), Yuma Ishigaki (TV series) A freelance photographer who occasionally visits the village three times every year. He gets along with Miyo Takano, because of their similar interests in photography.
Played by: Ayako Kawahara (film), Rie Kitahara (TV series) A nurse at the village clinic who takes a keen interest in Hinamizawa's past and culture, recording all her speculation in notebooks.
A cheerful head doctor of the clinic. Despite his young age and the fact that he has a severe maid fetish, he is highly respected in the community.
Played by: Hitomi Miwa The school teacher of Keiichi.
Mamoru is the main character in Himatsubushi-hen and a police investigator at the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo.
A secret agent of the Sonozaki family and Shion's caretaker.
Satoko and Satoshi's abusive uncle, Tamae's husband, and Ritsuko's boyfriend living in Okinomiya.
Satoko and Satoshi's abusive aunt and Teppei's wife.
Mion and Shion's grandmother, and the head of the Sonozaki household. Oryō seems to be a harsh old woman and is considered the most powerful person in Hinamizawa.
Masaaki of one of the Three Families and the official village chief of Hinamizawa. He seems to be a kindly old man, but is vehement in his hatred for those who oppose the villagers.
The girlfriend of Rena's father and Teppei, Rina is also known as by her real name, "Ritsuko". She is first seen when her mutilated body was found flowing down a storm drain in Tatarigoroshi-hen.
The mother of Mion and Shion, Oryō's daughter, and the leader of the Sonozaki household.
The leader of the Yamainu mercenary working for Takano. They plan to destroy Hinamizawa, but the group betrays her.
A mysterious woman who represents "Tokyo", an organization plotting the whole murder and massacre of Hinamizawa.
An omni-present being appearing in the universe. She is the writer of the poem about Rika's struggle to escape the fate of June 1983, giving hints about each arc.
Mamoru's wife who appears in Himatsubushi-hen.