Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Anime Series

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Anime Series

Higurashi When They Cry (ひぐらしのなく頃に , Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, lit. When the Cicadas Cry) is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel serial produced by 07th Expansion. The story is divided into eight primary arcs. The beginning four arcs of the series are referred to every bit Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Question Arcs to distinguish information technology from the full serial. It is succeeded past Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai , which consists of the last iv arcs.

The first entry, Onikakushi , was released at Comiket 62 on August 10, 2002. Successive arcs were released at other Comikets, with the final entry, Matsuribayashi , being released at Comiket 70 on August 13, 2006. The eight main arcs take all been officially translated into English by MangaGamer nether the championship Higurashi When They Cry Hou and may exist purchased individually on MangaGamer'south website, GOG, or Steam.

Official Introduction

June, 1983.
The summer heat has arrived earlier than information technology does most years.
Past day there are cicadas, and by night, the higurashi.

Hinamizawa, a small-scale village in the Japanese countryside.
While there are fewer than 2-thousand people in that location,
every year, 'something' happens.

For the by 4 years, someone has died,
and some other has gone missing.

This series of deaths and disappearances is connected
to the local resistance against a now-abandoned dam structure project. A murder during the construction,
covered up past the local regime, is existence re-enacted
twelvemonth later on yr.

Is it a conspiracy?
A coincidence? Or perhaps a expletive?

Someone who was supposed to be there...isn't.
Someone who wasn't supposed to exist in that location... is.
Someone who was live last night is now dead,
and someone who is hither right now isn't alive.

There is no way to avert this tragedy.
There is no pick only to surrender trying.
Only even so... delight don't requite up. [i]

Gameplay

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is a mystery visual novel, and every bit such conveys its story primarily through text-based narration and dialogue supplemented past visual and audio elements such every bit graphic symbol sprites, background music, and audio furnishings. It is described as a "sound novel" by 07th Expansion, owing to the game's greater focus on creating atmosphere through audio elements rather than visual aspects. The original releases contain no vocalism acting for the characters.

Besides advancing text, players may besides admission the TIPS Fashion, allowing them to view extra scenes that include new information regarding the characters and story. The Question Arcs capacity each have an epilogue called an All-Cast Review session, a comedic skit where the characters of the story volition discuss the chapter and may also provide some hints. The Answer Arcs each take an epilogue called the Staff Room, where the writer Ryukishi07 talks well-nigh his idea process for writing the chapter. While it is non necessary to view these scenes, they can provide greater insight on the story overall.

Despite the lack of interactive gameplay elements, Higurashi is framed as a game between the writer and the reader, with difficulty ratings given in the descriptions for each episode. This refers to the difficulty of the mysteries in each episode, which the reader is intended to actively try to solve.

Story

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni takes place primarily in June of 1983 in the rural Japanese village of Hinamizawa. The main protagonist is Keiichi Maebara, a young boy who moves to Hinamizawa with his family unit and starts attending the school there, making new friends and having fun with club games.

As Keiichi gets closer to his friends, he gets more involved with the village's culture and learns they worship a god known as Oyashiro-sama and concur an annual festival defended to him. Keiichi also discovers that the annual festival has a curse associated with it, where someone mysteriously dies and another disappears. Keiichi's search for answers leads him to acquire dark secrets about his friends and of the hamlet itself.

Concept and Development

Inspirations and Early on Concepts

Ryukishi adult an involvement in novel games due to works such as Otogirisou and Kamaitachi no Yoru and wanted to make 1 of his ain. Using the game maker Sound Novel Tsukuru 2, he created a game similar to what would become Hinamizawa Bus End but lost all of the data 1 twenty-four hour period. He later rewrote Hinamizawa Omnibus Stop as a stage play script and submitted it to a contest but it was rejected. [ii] Later on the release of Tsukihime , Ryukishi's brother Yatazakura convinced him to try again with making audio novel games using NScripter, the same engine that Tsukihime used. Ryukishi took his original stage play script and rewrote information technology. [three]

There were many ideas for the title of this new story. Ryukishi wanted the championship to evoke the prototype of evening cicadas and wanted to employ the higurashi (蜩) kanji, simply he thought people would recollect the story featured a lot of insects. Another working title for the story was "Strange Tales of Hinamizawa" (雛見沢奇譚 , Hinamizawa Kitan), nevertheless Ryukishi decided against it when his give-and-take processor was unable to type the 譚 character. He then idea most scenes with characters namedropping the championship and mused to himself "information technology will all be over when the higurashi cry (higurashi no naku koro ni)" and finally settled on that. The na (な) graphic symbol in the title was made cerise because information technology can have many meanings, like "weep" or "weep". [4]

Ryukishi intended to release Higurashi all as ane game, just instead decided to split it into multiple releases due to how long the story would turn out to be. [v] Information technology was going to be a game with choices and routes named later on characters, and each chapter would focus on a different character with 6 total. [6] In the end that was changed also. [7]

The setting of 1983 was called because "1983 is a little more than than 20 years ago. I call back most Higurashi readers are young people, effectually college age. So information technology becomes a kind of ambiguous time, when the reader may or may not have been built-in. Now, for example, if a story was set more than a hundred years ago, it might enter the realm of fantasy, considering no ane who's alive was nowadays at that time—not the writer, not the readers, not anybody. No matter how advisedly they may take studied books on the subject, information technology won't change the fact that they are depicting their imaginary vision of something they've never seen or heard. But if it takes identify just barely effectually the fourth dimension y'all were born, it'due south not fantasy. And withal it might be a time when y'all could believe in the fairy tales your parents told yous when yous were small. I recollect this puts information technology on the boundary where reality and illusion blend together. That'south why I chose the cryptic date of 1983 as a setting. I think it's considering information technology takes identify in that time that there's a delicate balance between murder cases and curses." [five]

Role of Ryukishi'southward inspiration for Higurashi came from several works such every bit the picture show The Blair Witch Project and the works of Seishi Yokomizo, most notably The Hamlet of Viii Graves. [5] Ryukishi peculiarly praised Blair Witch Project for seeming realistic due to it having in-universe documents, diaries, and police force reports released before the movie came out. He adopted a similar level of realism with Higurashi's TIPS, presenting many of them as police reports and news manufactures. [vi] Ryukishi was also inspired by Central's works, which were known for starting with happy, ordinary scenes before transitioning to distressing scenes; Higurashi follows a similar theme in starting with ordinary piece of life scenes earlier transitioning to horror scenes. [viii]

Real-life inspirations included the Miboro Dam development project, a plan to build a dam that resulted in the relocation of over one,200 people and the submerging of many houses. Villagers in Shirakawa-become opposed it with an system, the "Defense Lodge For the Absolute Opposition of Miboro Dam" (御母衣ダム絶対反対期成同盟死守会). [nine] Ryukishi had seen a news report about information technology when he travelled to Shirakawa-get and named Higurashi'south Onigafuchi Defense Brotherhood after it. [x]

When the start chapter Onikakushi was released, it was originally released as an alpha version and was intended to be rereleased at the next Comiket with added choices and scenarios. Some players wondered how they could get unlike endings, and Ryukishi told them it was unfinished. Yet, Ryukishi instead chose to write the side by side chapter Watanagashi rather than add choices to the commencement. He got similar feedback after Watanagashi, merely he wrote and released Tatarigoroshi afterwards. By then, Ryukishi decided he wasn't going to add together choices to Higurashi, thinking it set the work apart from other novel games since choices and branching routes were customary to the genre. [2]

Artwork and Sound Development

The Shirakawa-go Hachiman shrine (elevation) and the Furude Shrine (bottom). (Photograph by Morry's Box)

All of the backgrounds featured in the original version of Higurashi are filtered photographs taken past Ryukishi and his friends, with the majority coming from the Japanese village of Shirakawa-go. [11] The character sprites were drawn and colored by Ryukishi, nevertheless the famed "scary eyes" were originally created past Yatazakura. [7]

For the music, Ryukishi at first relied on royalty-gratis music tracks as many composers he reached out to refused to work with him, as they believed he was working on an erogame and didn't want to exist associated. [12] Ryukishi frequently received comments accusing him of stealing music from other games, or comments where people idea other games stole his music. Ryukishi decided to limit the use of royalty-free music from then on and communicated with a fellow member of the doujin grouping GameMusicLibrary for advice, who told him to crowdsource composers on the website mixi. [13]

Ane day, a fan by the proper name of dai sent an electronic mail to Ryukishi criticizing the music mastering, and though Ryukishi believed he sent a dismissive respond asking him to send some of his own soundtracks, dai really complied. The 07th Expansion staff was impressed and brought dai on board. [12] dai'due south music would be featured in Higurashi starting with Meakashi .

Promotion and Release

Initial Release and Reception

The start affiliate Onikakushi was start sold at Comiket 62 for just 100 yen (United states equivalent: approx. $i). Due to the very low price, many people mistook it for a demo version. [3] At the time, Ryukishi was besides selling custom cards for the Leaf Fight game and put free copies of Onikakushi into card packs mailed to customers, passing it off as a mistake whenever people asked. [ii]

The back cover of Tatarigoroshi advertizement "correct reply rate: 1%".

Out of the kickoff 100 people who played Onikakushi and sent theories to Ryukishi by email, only one of them managed to solve the mystery. Ryukishi decided to use "Right reply rate: 1%" equally a tagline and put it on the back of new chapters. [14] Ryukishi promised to send gratis copies of later installments to people who gave feedback. [2]

After the release of Tatarigoroshi , Ryukishi's friend BT suggested they put up a complimentary trial version of Onikakushi to encourage the series' growth. Ryukishi agreed, and information technology helped contributed to the series' growing popularity due to widespread support and recommendation from fan blogs. Prior to Himatsubushi's release, Ryukishi sold copies of Higurashi at a berth at Comiket. He had tried to make deals with a doujin shop to get them sold there, however he was rejected due to Higurashi being an orignal, all-ages work and having poor artwork. Although Himatsubushi was unplanned, Ryukishi notwithstanding made 2000 copies of it and had all of them sell out. Himatsubushi was later sold at many doujin stores in Akihabara. [2]

Controversy Surrounding Influence on Real-Life Murders

In September 2007, a news report of a Japanese teenager murdering her male parent with an axe made headlines in Japan [15] , resulting in the Telly broadcast of Higurashi When They Weep Kai existence halted for a while. KBS Tokyo stated that they did it out of consideration for the incident and that the anime showed scenes of a girl holding a weapon, and would "right the visual expressions" and resume dissemination later on. [16] In January 2008, an xviii-year-sometime Japanese boy murdered his family, and several violent manga he owned were confiscated past police force, including an unnamed one strongly suggested to exist Higurashi. [17]

This apparent controversy surrounding Higurashi'southward influence on real-life murders was such that Alchemist acknowledged information technology during their 33 Mysteries entrada advertising Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume 3, where one of their mystery videos asked, "Did Higurashi actually influence real-life killings?". [18] On the follow-up "34 Mysteries Kai" microsite, this question was answered with a linked article featuring a discussion with University of Tokyo professor Masataka Yoshida, who asserted that Higurashi was non to blame for any violent incidents and opposed the concept of ecology determinism. [19]

Story Arcs

Question Arcs

Solution Arcs (Kai)

Ports, Adaptations, and Spinoffs

Ports

  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna is a series of Nintendo DS ports by Alchemist that include new fine art and several new arcs. Four games were released in total.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sui is a PS3 port past Alchemist and Kaga Create that includes all content from Matsuri and Kizuna with updated fine art, vocalisation interim, and an adaptation of Hajisarashi.

Manga

Main commodity: Higurashi WHEN THEY Cry (manga)

A manga serial was serialized from 2005 to 2012, consisting of the Question Arcs, Answer Arcs, and many original arcs. Information technology was licensed for English release past Yen Printing.

Drama CDs

Master article: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (drama CD)

A drama CD series covering the master arcs was released from 2005 to 2012. Notably, this is the first piece of voiced Higurashi media, predating the anime.

Anime

Studio DEEN created an anime adaptation of the chief serial which originally aired betwixt 2006 and 2007. The first season adjusted the Question Arcs, Meakashi and Tsumihoroboshi. Named after Kai, the second season adapts a Tsumihoroboshi TIP, Minagoroshi, and Matsuribayashi alongside an sectional arc Yakusamashi-hen . Rei was adapted into an OVA series of the same name in 2009. An OVA series of 4 episodes named Kira was released between 2011 and 2012. Later, a standalone OVA adapted Outbreak in 2013.

Light Novel

Main article: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (novel)

A light novel series was illustrated by Tomohi and published past Kodansha from 2007 to 2009, covering the Question Arcs, the Answer Arcs, and Saikoroshi-hen.

Live Action Movies

A live-action moving picture was released in 2008, featuring elements from Onikakushi and Watanagashi. It was released overseas with the title Shrill Cries of Summertime.

A sequel titled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Chikai was released in 2009, featuring elements from Tsumihoroboshi. It had the overseas title of Shrill Cries - Reshuffle.

Alive Action Drama

Principal article: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (2016 drama)

A alive-activity TV show adaptation aired in 2016 with two seasons.

Stage Plays

Main article: Hinamizawa Bus End (stage play)
Chief article: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (stage play)

The theater grouping Shingidan has produced two stage play collaborations: Hinamizawa Jitney Stop, an adaptation of the Higurashi prototype story; and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Naga and Aka , adaptations of Watanagashi and Meakashi .

Sequels

At that place are many anime and manga series that are considered sequels to the original story:

  • Higurashi Gou and Sotsu , 2 anime serial produced by Studio Passione and ofttimes referred to collectively as "GouSotsu".
  • Higurashi Gou and Meguri , two manga series illustrated past Tomato Akase. Despite having a similar name and plot details as the to a higher place anime, they are considered a separate work.
  • Higurashi Rei , a manga series prepare 35 years afterward the original story, centered on the children of the original main characters.

Spinoffs and Misc

Gallery

Trivia

  • Higurashi has many casual similarities to the 1997 manga Haruka Refrain (はるかリフレイン). During the release of Higurashi, many Japanese fans pointed out the similarities between the two, and Ryukishi has stated that if he knew about Haruka Refrain from the get-go, then Higurashi may take been much different or may not take been written at all. [20]

References

  1. Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 1 Onikakushi Shop Page (Mangagamer) https://www.mangagamer.com/item.php?product_code=132
  2. ii.0 2.1 2.2 2.iii two.4 Higurashi 15th Anniversary Dengeki Online Interview
  3. iii.0 three.1 07th Expansion Toratsu Interview
  4. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri Official Consummate Guide Special Interview
  5. 5.0 5.ane v.2 Alone in the Dark: An Interview With the Creators of Higurashi When They Cry
  6. half dozen.0 six.one Higurashi no Nakasekata Part i
  7. vii.0 7.i Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Official Grapheme Guide/Interview
  8. July ix, 2004 forum postal service on the 07th Expansion bulletin lath by Ryukishi07 (archived)
  9. Miboro Dam on Japanese Wikipedia.
  10. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Famous Scene Investigation File 100 Interview, page 106
  11. Ryukishi07 Interviews (Epitanime 2012)
  12. 12.0 12.1 ACen 2015 07th Expansion Panels
  13. Higurashi no Nakasekata Part 2
  14. Production Diary Entry on Baronial 25, 2003. (English translation by rockmor)
  15. Nihon Times September 19, 2007: Teenage girl admits killing dad with ax (archive)
  16. J-Bandage News, September 27, 2007: "School Days" and "Higurashi When They Weep Kai" Anime Suspension An Overreaction?"
  17. J-Bandage News Jan 16, 2008: "Doll implanted in female parent's abdomen? The relationship between "baroque murders" and manga" part 2
  18. 33 Mysteries Part 1: Did Higurashi really influence real-life killings?
  19. J-Cast News, February 12, 2008: "Did Higurashi When They Cry Influence Murder Cases? UTokyo Associate Professor Masataka Yoshida Inquires."
  20. "Haruka Refrain" Reprint Commemoration, Interview with Ryukishi07: https://natalie.mu/comic/pp/harukarefrain

External Links

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Anime Series

Source: https://07th-expansion.fandom.com/wiki/Higurashi_no_Naku_Koro_ni_(series)

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