Karifean's Blog of Visual Novels

(Original Post on the Forums)

#7
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Developer: 07th Expansion
Availability: Localized by MangaGamer (Episodical Steam release, starting May 15th)
Adult Content: None
Length: Very Long (~80 Hours)

To whoever may read this: Please find out the truth. That's my only wish.

This one may be a bit more well-known, given that it has a fairly successful and quite good anime adaptation.

The main character of Higurashi is an adolescent by the name of Keiichi Maebara. Due to various circumstances he and his family move to the rural town of Hinamizawa. He quickly gets along with the locals, especially Mion and Rena, two girls around his age. However, even as time passes he still has that feeling that he's not really a part of their community at all; that everyone's hiding things from him that he ought to know as a fellow resident of Hinamizawa. By chance he gets a glimpse of Hinamizawa's dark past involving a repeating 'curse' phenomenon that claims two lives every year, and when it hits once again Keiichi starts realizing what's going on... and what's going to happen to him...

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, or Higurashi: When They Cry in English, is best described as a supernatural mind-screwy horror mystery with great emphasis on the latter. As confusing as the plot can get at times, it really tries to get its readers to solve its core mystery. This is something I feel was lost in the anime for the most part, as it put more focus on the gory murders and people going insane instead of actually getting people invested in trying to figure out what's happening. Which made for a quite enjoyable series in its own right, but quite a different experience compared to the sound novel.

Unlike most other visual novels Higurashi is entirely linear, and is divided into eight episodes. The first four are dedicated to presenting the situation and posing all the questions, while the latter four focus on giving clues and answers that ultimately come together to form the big picture and have everything make sense. The latter four are technically considered the 'sequel' to the first Higurashi, forming "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai" as the second entry in the When They Cry series, but they really are two halves of one story.

Higurashi calls itself a "sound novel" because it focuses more on its sound and plot rather than its visuals to create an enthralling atmosphere, although really I always felt that was just an excuse to justify their, ahem, aesthetically questionable character sprites. Seriously, while they didn't bother me reading through it myself - in fact they make for some great contrast when the sprites suddenly turn extremely creepy - I can't call them good by any means. If they bother you there are ways to give the game a graphic update, and the upcoming Steam rerelease has new sprites as well, so yay!

Original sprite on the left, PS2 version on the right.

What Higurashi certainly succeeds at is creating an incredible atmosphere that just draws you into it completely. Its storytelling is some of the best I've ever seen, and the first story arc is a great example of that. At first it's incredibly lighthearted and silly, but that only serves to set up the mindscrew that comes after. It intrigues you yet leaves you hanging just enough so that you really want to know what really went down, and going back to it later and putting all the pieces together is satisfying as hell.

My favorite arc is easily the first answer arc, Meakashi-hen (Eye Opening Chapter). It's the first time things really start coming together, giving a deep insight into the actions and motivations of one particular character, who promptly ended up being my favorite character as a result. Although really, just about all of Higurashi's cast is great. Keiichi, Mion, Rena, Rika, Satoko, Tomitake, Ooishi, Irie, Takano, Akasaka... so many good characters.

The soundtrack of Higurashi, especially in Kai, the second half, does a great job supporting the series' atmosphere and overall feel. Although there are few tracks I would listen to outside of context, the OST always reminds me of why I like Higurashi so much. The one standout track it has is "You" with its many variations. Love that piano.

The series does have very graphic descriptions of violence at times, so be warned, but of course being a novel it's not nearly as graphic about it as the anime was. If you can stand it, I certainly recommend at least checking it out.

Original Novel Description