Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に?, lit. When the Cicadas Cry) is a Japanese
murder mystery dōjin soft sound novel series produced by
07th Expansion. The games are built on the
NScripter game engine and are playable on
Microsoft Windows PCs. 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 games for the
PlayStation 2 and
Nintendo DS in order to expand upon the story further. The original eight PC releases will be released in English by MangaGamer with the first four games in October 2009 followed by the last four two months later. The series is focused on a group of young friends and the strange events that occur in the rural village Hinamizawa where they reside.
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 is 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 TV anime series were produced by
Studio Deen in 2006 and 2007; a third anime adaptation was released as an
original video animation series starting in February 2009. The first anime series was licensed by
Geneon Entertainment in English, but became unavailable due to Geneon's decision to stop sales and distribution in the American anime market. In July 2008, Geneon and
Funimation Entertainment announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America, which includes
Higurashi. 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.
Characters
n Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, there are seven main characters who appear in almost every scenario. The main protagonist is Keiichi Maebara, a young boy who has recently moved to Hinamizawa with his family, and begun to adapt to life in the countryside. Keiichi has a natural charisma which allows him to make friends easily. Since Hinamizawa is a small town of about two thousand people, with only a single school, there are not many children around his own age; he easily meets the others his age and becomes friends with them.
One of these good friends is a girl named Rena Ryuugu. She, like him, is new in Hinamizawa, having only returned from
Ibaraki a year before the story begins. She has an obsession with things she considers to be cute—generally, others do not agree—and will often scavenge for such things at the local dump and bring them back home. Before she met Keiichi, Rena became friends with a girl one year older named Mion Sonozaki, who is looked at as the leader of the group and is the president of their club. Mion has a tomboyish personality, a façade for a girlish side she keeps hidden from the others. Mion has a twin sister, Shion, who lives in the nearby town of Okinomiya. Although their personalities are quite different, she and Mion have switched places in the past, and the change is nearly indistinguishable.
There are other girls in the club younger than Keiichi, Rena and Mion. One is Satoko Hojo, a clever girl who is quite skilled at setting traps when playing games with her friends. She usually has an energetic and mischievous personality, but this hides a past full of trauma. Satoko also had an older brother named Satoshi. Her friend, Rika Furude, is revered by the villagers as the heir of the local shrine and plays the role of a
miko in the annual Watanagashi Festival. Despite her young age, she sometimes expresses a type of wisdom which would normally be beyond her years, and is quite fond of
sake. Rika is also the girl who becomes the central figure, so that Hinamizawa can avoid a tragic end. Helping her is Hanyū who appears late in the story but in fact has been with Rika for a very long time, though only Rika could see her.
Of the remaining cast, there are those such as Kuraudo Oishi, a veteran police officer who is dead set on solving the mystery of the yearly murders that occur in Hinamizawa before his retirement. A freelance photographer, named Jiro Tomitake, comes to Hinamizawa occasionally; he seems to be friends with Miyo Takano, a female nurse at the local village clinic who has a keen interest in Hinamizawa's past and culture. She works with Kyosuke Irie, the head doctor of the clinic and "coach" to the village children. Irie feels a strong connection to Satoko and cares for her deeply.
