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Higurashi When They Cry (Japanese: ひぐらしのなく頃に, Hepburn: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, lit. "When the Cicadas Cry") is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin softvisual novel series produced by 07th Expansion that comprises the first two entries of the When They Cry franchise. The series focuses on a group of young friends living in the fictional village of Hinamizawa and the strange events that occur there in 1983.

The games are built on the NScripter game engine and the Microsoft Windowsoperating system. The first game in the series, Onikakushi-hen, was released in August 2002, and the eighth and final game in the original PC series, Matsuribayashi-hen, was released in August 2006. While the first four games carried the overall title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and are considered the first entry in the When They Cryfranchise, the next four games were produced under the title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai and are considered the second entry.

A bonus fan disc called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei was released in December 2006. In addition to the original series, new stories were created in manga form and in video games for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, in order 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 Kodanshabetween August 2007 and March 2009. A manga series adapted from the 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 original video animation (OVA) series 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 by Passione aired from October 2020 to March 2021, and a sequel aired from July to September 2021.

Gameplay[edit]

Higurashi When They Cry is a "sound novel", a variation of visual novel with a focus on sound and atmosphere.^[4] Gameplay is restricted to reading individual scenes, during which characters are displayed as static two-dimensional sprites.^[5] The versions of the game ported to home consoles additionally feature voice actingprovided by professional voice actors.^[6] The narrative of the game is divided into separate story arcs, named "chapters", which become accessible in a sequence strictly established by the developers.^[4] The narration is conducted on behalf of various characters.^[7] 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 read "tips" that reveal details of the game's setting that were not present in the main story. The tips may also encourage the player to deduce the reasoning behind the narrative's mysterious events.^[4]

The chapters of the game 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 helps the player formulate a more accurate vision of the events of the pertaining question arc. Each chapter is assigned a "difficulty rating"^[8] 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 player from the main menu. In addition, the player can access a feature entitled the "Staff Room", in which writer Ryukishi07 discusses and examines the chapter,^[9] or the "All-Cast Review Session", in which the characters break the fourth wall and debate about the events of the chapter.

Plot[edit]

Shirakawa, Gifu, the village used as the basis for Hinamizawa.^[10][11]

In June 1983, Keiichi Maebara moves to the village of Hinamizawa (雛見沢) and befriends classmates Mion Sonozaki, her twin sister Shion, Rena Ryūgū, Rika Furude, and Satoko Hōjō. Keiichi soon 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 been taking 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 tried and failed to save herself and her friends. As a priestess of the Furude Shrine, Rika can communicate with the spirit Hanyū, who served as the basis for Oyashiro and is the ancestress of the Furude clan. Each time Rika died, Hanyū would move her to another reality; however, the very ending of Rika's life is not retained in her memories when she transfers, obstructing her from knowing the cause of her death. In the final two chapters, it is revealed that the village's local 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 in the 1981's incident.

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's motive is to vindicate the work of Hifumi and force his work to be recognized after he was mocked and shamed by the government and scientific community for his thesis about the disease. After several hundred loops, Keiichi becomes either vividly or subconsciously 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 go on to live happy lives afterward. In the secret ending, Rika travels back to the past to prevent Miyo's suffering from the traumatic childhood that led her to become who she was.

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

The series is the first visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion.^[12] The game director and scenario writer for the series are Ryukishi07, who also drew all of the character illustrations. Background images were taken from photographs taken by Ryukishi07, his younger brother Yatazakura, and Kameya Mannendō. Programming was worked on by Yatazakura, who worked on the main structure, 4U who worked on the intermission and Tips, and BT who worked on the mini games. The games were designed using the game engine NScripter. The music of Higurashi was provided by various music artists including both professionals and dōjin artists, including Dai, the composer of most of the music found in the answer arcs. Ryukishi07 wrote in 2004 how he was influenced by Key's works during the planning of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.^[13] Ryukishi07 played Key's games as a reference, among other visual novels, and analyzed them to figure out the reason why they were found to be so popular. He figured that the secret was due to how the stories would start with ordinary, enjoyable days, but then a sudden occurrence would happen to lead the player to cry due to the shock value. He used a similar model for the basis of Higurashi but instead of leading the player to cry, Ryukishi07 wanted to scare the player with the addition of horrorelements. In this way, Ryukishi07 wished to be in some way associated with Key who he described as a "masterpiece maker."^[13]

In an interview in the December 2008 issue of Yen Press's Yen Plus manga anthology, Ryukishi07 stated that Higurashi had its origins from an unpublished theater script called Hinamizawa Teiryūjo (雛見沢停留所, lit. Hinamizawa Bus Stop) he had written a few years before the first Higurashi game was released.^[14] When he decided to rewrite the script and release it, he wanted to build upon "the contrast between a fun, ordinary life, and something terrifying and out of the ordinary." Ryukishi07 was greatly influenced by the worlds of Seishi Yokomizo when developing the universe of Higurashi. Ryukishi07 had decided "early on to design the story so that the truth comes to light by looking at several overlapping stories," though he originally planned to release it as a single game due to initially believing he could finish the story in a single year.^[14] The word higurashi is the name of a kind of cicada.^[15] Naku means "to make sound" (鳴く), specifically referring to those sounds made by non-human organisms. According to Ryukishi07, the red Na (な) in the logo is an official part of the title.^[16]

Release history[edit]

The first game of the Higurashi: When They Cry visual novel series, titled Onikakushi-hen, was released on August 10, 2002. The second game Watanagashi-hen was released on December 29, 2002. The third game Tatarigoroshi-hen was released on August 15, 2003. The fourth game Himatsubushi-hen was released on August 13, 2004. The first four games are part of the question arcs, and the following four games, under the title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, are part of the answer arcs. The fifth game Meakashi-hen was released on December 30, 2004. The sixth game Tsumihoroboshi-hen was released on August 14, 2005. The seventh game Minagoroshi-hen was released on December 30, 2005. The eighth game Matsuribayashi-hen was released on August 13, 2006. A fan disc titled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei was released on December 31, 2006. A second fan disc titled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hō (ひぐらしのなく頃に奉, When the Cicadas Cry: Gift) was released on August 17, 2014.^[17] In January 2021, 07th Expansionannounced a remastered version with new music and upscaled graphics titled Higurashi: When They Cry Hō + in development for a Q3 2021 release.^[18] It released on January 28, 2022 and featured a new short scenario, Mehagashi-hen, originally a mini-light novel chapter included with the Higurashi Gou BD. It also included a new All-Cast review chapter as a retrospective for the franchise and featured discussion of the Higurashi Gou and Sotsu anime arcs.

The eight original PC games were released in English by MangaGamer under the title Higurashi: When They Cry starting with the first four games released in December 2009 and the last four released in monthly intervals starting in February 2010.^[19]MangaGamer's release of the visual novels does not include several background music tracks and two bonus features specific to the original Japanese version: the music room and a minigame. The eight original PC games were also released in French by Saffran Prod under the title Le sanglot des cigales, starting with the first two games released together in November 2009.^[20] The Japanese company Seams has done releases for iOS devices in Japanese and English. The Japanese version includes all eight games.^[21] The English version is based on the translation by MangaGamer and as of May 2012 includes the first five games.^[22][23] A remastered version of Onikakushi-hen from Higurashi: When They Cry Hō was released by MangaGamer on Steam on May 15, 2015 for Windows, OS X and Linux.^[24] The updates include a re-translation, previously cut music tracks and content, the original Japanese text,^[25] and alternative character art by illustrator Kurosaki.^[26]

A dōjin game named Higurashi Daybreak, based on the Higurashi series and featuring an original scenario by Ryukishi07, was developed by Twilight Frontier, the creators of Immaterial and Missing Power and Eternal Fighter Zero. The gameplay is that of a versus third-person shooter, in which most of the characters of the main Higurashiseries are playable. Higurashi Daybreak was first released on August 13, 2006, and an expansion pack followed on April 22, 2007.

A video game console port for the PlayStation 2 was released as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri (ひぐらしのなく頃に祭, When the Cicadas Cry: Festival) by Alchemist on February 22, 2007.^[27] Higurashi is the third dōjin game to be ported to a video game console; the first was Hanakisō by HaccaWorks*,^[28] and the second was Melty Blood by French-Bread and Ecole.^[29] Although Higurashi was the first to have a video game console port announced, its long development time made it the third to be released. Due to the popularity of Matsuri, a second enhanced PlayStation 2 port, known as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri: Kakera Asobi (ひぐらしのなく頃に祭 カケラ遊び, When the Cicadas Cry: Festival - Playing with the Pieces), was released on December 20, 2007. It was sold as an append disc to the original Matsuriand as a standalone game. It contains all of Matsuri's content, in addition to Matsuribayashi-hen from the original games and other bonus content.^[30]

A series of four games for the Nintendo DS under the collective title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna (ひぐらしのなく頃に絆, When the Cicadas Cry: Bond) with new story arcs are being developed by Alchemist.^[31] The first, with the added title Tatari (祟, Curse), was released on June 26, 2008 containing the first three chapters from the question arcs, and a new chapter entitled Someutsushi-hen, with its story based on the Onisarashi-hen manga series. The second, with the added title Sō (想, Idea), was released in November 2008.^[32] The third game in the series, with the added title Rasen (螺, Spiral), was released in March 2009. The final game, subtitled Kizuna (絆, Bond), was released in February 2010.

A PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita port titled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sui (ひぐらしのなく頃に粋, When the Cicadas Cry: Style) and published by Kaga Create was released in Japan on March 12, 2015. This edition features all scenarios from previous versions, in addition to full voice acting, new songs, CGs, minigames and functions.^[33] A Nintendo Switch port titled Higurashi: When They Cry Hō and published by Entergram was released in Japan on July 26, 2018. It includes the previous content covered by Sui, in addition to three new scenarios adapted from the Windows version of Hō.^[34] A PlayStation 4 port of Higurashi: When They Cry Hō was released by Entergram in Japan on January 24, 2019.

A mobile phone RPG game titled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei (ひぐらしのなく頃に命, When the Cicadas Cry: Life) and planned by D-techno, written by Kiichi Kanō and developed by Smile Axe was released on September 3, 2020.^[35] The story stars a new protagonist, Kazuho Kimiyoshi, who visits Hinamizawa in the year 1993. After gaining the power to fight monsters called "Tsukuyami" by Tamurahime-no-Mikoto, Kazuho somehow wanders into Hinamizawa of 1983.