Higurashi: When They Cry

Higurashi When They Cry (Japanese: ひぐらしのなく頃に, Hepburn: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, lit. "When the Evening Cicadas Cry"), known simply as When They Cry for the North American release of the anime adaptation, is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin softvisual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The games are built on the NScripter game engine and the Microsoft Windows operating system. The first game in the series, Onikakushi-hen, was released on August 10, 2002, and the eighth and final game in the original PC series, Matsuribayashi-hen, was released on August 13, 2006. While the first four games carried the overall title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, the next four games were produced under the title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. A bonus fan disc called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei was released on December 31, 2006. In addition to the original series, new story arcs were created in manga form and in video gamesfor 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. The series focuses on a group of young friends living in the rural village of Hinamizawa and the strange events that occur in 1983.

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 Box between 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. Following the manga's release in Japan, two anime television series were produced by Studio Deen 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 Rei OVAs. A live-action film adaptation of the series, directed by Ataru Oikawa, premiered in Japanese theaters in May 2008, with a sequel released in May 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 was scheduled to premiere in July 2020, but was delayed to October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Plot
Higurashi: When They Cry takes place in the fictional village of Hinamizawa (雛見沢) in June 1983. Shortly before then, the main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to the village and befriends classmates Mion Sonozaki, her twin sister Shion, Rena Ryugu, Rika Furude and Satoko Hojo. Keiichi soon learns of the village's annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local deity Oyashiro. Hinamizawa initially seems calm and peaceful, but shortly before the festival, Keiichi learns that for four consecutive years, people in the village have been killed or have disappeared on the evening of the festival. These crimes remain unsolved and have been named the "Oyashiro Curse" by the local populace. 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, Keiichi attempts to investigate the Oyashiro Curse, only for him or one of his friends to become paranoid and commit a crime, often the murder of someone within his circle. A few days after the festival, Rika's body is found in the family shrine dedicated to Oyashiro, and on the same day, a cataclysmic release of swamp gas wipes out the village's population.

The answer arcs reveal that each of the preceding arcs were alternate realities in which Rika tried to prevent her own death. As a priestess of the Furude Shrine, Rika can communicate with the spirit Hanyu, who served as the prototype for Oyashiro and is the ancestress of the Furude clan. After Rika dies, Hanyu transfers her to another reality so that she may change her circumstance. Rika retains her memory of all past realities with the exception of the final minutes of her life, which prevents her from determining the cause of her fate. In the chapters Minagoroshi-hen and Matsuribayashi-hen, it is revealed that Miyo, who is studying a local endemic parasitic disease in the village, is responsible for some of the previous crimes, and is using the Oyashiro Curse as a cover. The disease manifests in those who move a distance away from the "Infection Queen", who releases a pheromone that prevents the aggravation of the villagers' condition. Infected persons gradually lose sanity and eventually kill themselves by tearing their throat out. The women of the Furude clan have all acted as Infection Queens, and Rika is the sole remaining representative of her clan after the death of her parents.

Miyo kills Rika in each reality to unleash the disease and vindicate the work of her adoptive grandfather, who was mocked and shamed by the scientific community for his thesis about the disease. After several hundred loops, Keiichi becomes aware of them in a handful of flashbacks and subconsciously remembers several of his past loops, which allows him to avoid several critical points where various characters would be murdered or driven insane, and the group of friends nearly manages to outwit Miyo. In the final loop, the group asks Hanyu to join them, and the spirit manages to manifest a physical body. With her assistance, they manage to stay alive long enough to prevent Miyo's plan. Hanyu travels back to the past to save Miyo and her father, and to prevent their psychotic drive from forming.

Characters
Voice by Yukari Tamura Voice by Mika Kanai Voice by Yu Shimamura Voice by Satsuki Yukino Voice by Satsuki Yukino Voice by Yui Horie Voice by Sōichirō Hoshi Voice by Mikiko Kurihara Voice by Sanae Kobayashi Voice by Miyuki Sawashiro Voice by Junichi Suwabe Voice by Mayumi Tanaka
 * Rika Furude
 * Satoko Hōjō
 * Rena Ryūgū
 * Shion Sonozaki
 * Mion Sonozaki
 * Hanyū
 * Keiichi Maebara
 * Children Friends
 * Princess Hakeran
 * Torien-san
 * Hanyu's Father
 * Kaoren-san