What is “Higurashi When They Cry New”? Higurashi Then and Now.

Written July 10th, 2020

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I've been thinking a lot about the New Higurashi anime today. And there are just so many layers to the way I'm thinking about it, and the questions I have regarding what this new show is even going to BE, that I just want to pour all my thoughts out here with my keyboard and hope I make sense, lol.

So, before I get into even talking about what the heck this new series is supposed to be, let's take a step back and address what the “old” Higurashi series even was, primarily from a business perspective.

What was “Higurashi When They Cry”?

Most people know "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni" or "When They Cry" as a TV anime series animated by Studio DEEN that aired in 2006. This TV series was based on a series of sound novels produced by popular doujin circle 07th Expansion. This is extremely important to point out, because this is NOT something that happens ordinarily. Doujin products sold at Comiket are not officially produced products by a formal business, and Higurashi was just an independently written and produced sound novel that happened to pick up steam and become a hot topic amongst Japanese otaku in the early 2000's. There are tons of people that form circles and create whatever they want for Comiket, but not very many things created in that environment ever extend beyond the niche audience of the otaku attendees of Comiket. That is to say, within the scope of what kind of content the anime industry deals with, Higurashi was an outcast.

If there’s one thing that’s stayed true about the anime industry over the years, it’s that if you aren’t making popular original titles, you’re making an adaptation of an already popular manga, light novel, or video game. Higurashi was popular, but it wasn’t even a commercially published product. Anime adaptations are created to help boost and sell the original work, that’s a fundamental truth at the core of anime creation, so how or why was something like Higurashi picked up in the first place? It’s simple: Media Mix. If you don’t have a commercial product for your anime to promote, you make it. If you don’t have alternate forms of media to promote your anime series, you make it. You make it so no matter what kind of media your consumer prefers, they’ll discover your product, become a fan, and check out the rest of what’s available. It’s a very popular way to promote a series in Japan, and there were success stories present in the market at that time, such as Bandai’s .hack// franchise, which was founded on the concept of media mix.

Higurashi did not become a media mix phenomenon overnight. It was a carefully crafted slow ascent that merely culminated in 2006’s TV anime. Many Western fans may not have a perfect perspective on this, since very few people here even knew Higurashi existed until the anime, but the anime didn’t build the castle that was the Higurashi phenomenon, it was simply the doorway to let in everyone else who wasn’t already hanging around during construction.

The Media Mix of Higurashi When They Cry

So what WAS the Higurashi Media Mix? It actually began a whole year before the anime, in 2005. And the meetings and planning had likely begun before that. 07th Expansion had formed a deal with several companies that would be the ones to push Higurashi commercially. Those would be Square Enix, HOBIBOX, Frontier Works, Geneon Entertainment, Sotsu, and Alchemist.

• Square Enix would be in charge of producing manga adaptations of the Higurashi When They Cry sound novels. Due to the fact that Ryukishi’s story was written as several Chapters, the brilliant decision was made to make each chapter into its own manga series, and Square Enix would serialize them in different magazines from its large GanGan Comics branch. Onikakushi-hen (“Spirited Away by the Demon” Chapter)’s manga illustrated by Karin Suzuragi began serialization in Gangan Powered’s May 2005 issue. The following month in June 2005, Yutori Houjyou’s Watanagashi-hen (“Cotton Drifting” Chapter) manga would begin in Gangan Wing, and Jiro Suzuki’s Tatarigoroshi-hen (“Curse Killing” Chapter) would begin in GFantasy.
• HOBIBOX, under their HOBiRECORDS label, would handle production of a series of audio drama CD’s that would feature popular voice actors. This is when auditions were held and the main voice cast of Higurashi was first assembled. Soichirou Hoshi, Mai Nakahara, Satsuki Yukino, Mika Kanai, and Yukari Tamura would all play their characters for the first time in these drama CD’s. The first CD, an audio drama adaptation of Onikakushi-hen, released in May 2005, the same month that the manga adaptation began.
• The TV anime that premiered in 2006 was produced by the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Production Committee, which consisted of the companies Frontier Works, Geneon Entertainment, and Sotsu. The three companies coordinated with all relevant parties, hiring on Studio DEEN to produce the animation, where Chiaki Kon would make her anime directing debut, alongside veteran writer Toshifumi Kawase, popular character designer Kyuta Sakai, and iconic musician Kenji Kawai, among other staff. They coordinated to reunite the Drama CD cast for the anime, maintaining the cast who would soon become iconic for these characters. And booked TV slots for the Spring 2006 anime season on Kansai TV, Tokai TV, TV Kanagawa, Chiba TV, Teletama, as well as a month-late slot in May on the then-obscure premium satellite channel AT-X.
• Alchemist would be in charge of adapting Higurashi into a commercial console video game, making the original story accessible to fans who couldn’t shop online or check obscure otaku shops for the original sound novels on CD-ROM. This lead to the creation of “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri” for the Playstation2, featuring brand new character and background artwork, and a totally new soundtrack, in an attempt to give the series a more polished look for the console game market. Originally set for releasing to coincide with the TV anime, it eventually managed to release in February 2007, a few months after the TV anime concluded its first season.

It was the collaboration of these companies that would create the big hit phenomenon that was the Higurashi craze in 2006, pushing Higurashi from a niche hit into a larger success seen across the entire anime industry. The TV anime “Higurashi When They Cry” debuted on TV at the start of April, and if you weren’t already following it via the original sound novels, the manga, or the drama CD’s, you were hooked on this unique anime that was exploding in popularity amongst otaku.

Even though it was a big risk, each company doing their small part in the hopes that this little doujin game would take off, and it paid off big time. It was such a big success in 2006, that these companies were absolutely on board to keep on going, striking while the iron was hot. Square Enix would produce more manga serializations, including original stories not found in the sound novels. In July 2007, the second season of the anime would premiere, with higher production values than ever, and the same core staff that made season 1 a hit. Higurashi Matsuri was refined, and an advanced version called “Higurashi Matsuri Kakera Asobi” was released on Playstation2 at the end of the year. But they didn’t stop there, in 2008 Alchemist moved on to produce brand new portable ports of Higurashi on the Nintendo DS under the name “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna” and released it in 4 parts, featuring a ton of new interactivity and several brand new exclusive scenarios.

The Higurashi craze had just started, but the original sound novels had concluded with its final chapter in 2006. 07th Expansion had already moved on to producing its next series, Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Just like Higurashi, Umineko became a big topic, and all the companies raking in the money with Higurashi had their eyes on this new entry in the world of When They Cry as well. In January 2008, just a few months after the sound novel had launched the previous August, Square Enix was already pushing forward with a manga adaptation of Episode 1 “Legend of the Golden Witch” illustrated by Natsumi Kei in Gangan Powered, running simultaneously with Karin Suzuragi’s ongoing Higurashi manga in the same magazine. By the middle of the year, animated adaptations of both the Higurashi Rei sidestories and the fresh new Umineko were greenlit.

The End of a Boom

Despite all things appearing positive, 2009 and 2010 was the year when the craze was finally starting to die down. Hardcore fans were found and had become solid fans of the work of 07th Expansion, but generally, most other people were starting to move on from them. Umineko was a lot harder to sell overall, and its animated adaptation received a mixed response, unable to become the breakout hit Higurashi was. Add in Frontier Works’ bloated expectations, with their overzealous home video release plan that had the company pushing out 5 different product variations for each individual volume of a 13-volume release plan on DVD and Blu-ray, and they ended up investing a ton of money they couldn’t make back, even if the hardcore fans were buying. Deciding to quit while they were ahead, Frontier Works, Geneon, and Sotsu all decided to put When They Cry on the back burner. Only stepping in to handle a few re-releases and to produce the 2011 anniversary series Higurashi Kira, among other small things. By the end of 2010, Alchemist had finished developing their port of Umineko for the PS3, and released Part 1 in December, with Part 2 coming in 2011. However, even Alchemist was suffering, having cancelled their planned PSP ports for Umineko halfway through. The signs were there, and the “When They Cry boom” was over. Square Enix stuck it out the longest, keeping the manga adaptations going until Umineko’s manga adaptation finally concluded in 2015.

So, that’s basically it. Commercially, that basically described the “rise and fall” of the big When They Cry boom. BUT, that’s not the end of our story. Because in January of 2020, an announcement for a brand new Higurashi When They Cry anime was made out of nowhere.

The Modern State of 07th Expansion

So where does this new anime come in? To put it simply, this is the question that baffles me the most right now. But before we get to that, we have to discuss the current state of 07th Expansion. Despite the decline of the boom, and the height of their popularity, 07th Expansion has kept going. The group, particularly the main creator Ryukishi07, has continued to persistently write and further his career over the past decade. He wasn’t super popular like before, but as I said above, a solid foundation of hardcore fans who love his work were there to support him. I simply can’t go in-depth on everything the man has done over the past decade, but I can explain that generally, he’d moved on to writing new original stories, while still thinking fondly about his fans who loved him for his When They Cry stories. In 2014 he released a new compilation of his original PC version of Higurashi as “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hou” and included in this was a brand new scenario, making it his first new Higurashi material written in years. Additionally, he was still making connections and getting his work out there. The craze was over, but Higurashi never became unpopular, it had continued to persist and was adapted into stage plays and TV drama’s.

Alchemist folded in 2016, but Entergram continued their legacy, and began publishing new, updated versions of Higurashi on the latest home consoles. They’re currently working on a fresh Switch & PS4 port of Umineko as well, on top of a brand new original game they hired Ryukishi to write with them. 07th Expansion had finally answered the pleas of the fans and created the brand new “Ciconia When They Cry” which launched its 1st Phase simultaneously in Japanese and English in October 2019. Overall, it seemed like a good time to be a fan. It seemed like 07th Expansion had reached a sustainable state of normalcy. Popular among its fans, but not huge. Small collaborations with companies who respect their legacy, but unlikely to see anyone go out on a limb for them.

It’s not like a new anime was totally out of nowhere. A shadowed image of the key visual was teased during a Nico Douga stream of the TV anime that took place in June 2019. But it wouldn’t be farfetched to assume it could be some new anniversary special or something, made by the usual suspects of Frontier Works & co. coming in to do a quick project. But that’s not what happened...

A New Beginning? Higurashi New

On January 6th, 2020, 07th Expansion and Kadokawa formally announced the launch of a new Higurashi TV anime series. With the production being headed by the company Infinite, and animation being done at studio Passione under the direction of Keiichiro Kawaguchi, with writing by fresh face Naoki Hayashi and character designs by otaku icon Akio Watanabe, this is a brand new TV anime being handled by a completely different group of people than those involved in the original adaptation. Alongside this news, a brand new manga adaptation by artist Tomato Akaze was announced to be launching in Kadokawa’s Young Ace UP online service.

Although the voice cast is returning, and Kenji Kawai is returning to compose the music, generally speaking this is an entirely new production. Frontier Works and Square Enix from the old days are no longer involved at all. The entire production seems to be handled by Infinite alongside various Kadokawa entities.

And the decision confuses me to no end.

Not because the staff or companies are different, no by itself. But I just can’t understand what Kadokawa is hoping to achieve by doing this. Let me reiterate a point I made a while ago: In the anime industry, if you aren’t making a popular original title, you’re making an adaptation of an already popular manga, light novel, or video game. Sure, you can absolutely make the argument that Higurashi is popular. It’s still popular, and is the one thing people still remember 07th Expansion for above anything else they’ve done. But... it’s old. It’s not only old, but the story is done. The story’s been done for over a decade. If someone’s a fan of Higurashi, they’d know Higurashi inside and out. Yes it’s popular, but only in the sense of a series that had a great run from a huge popularity boom that happened a decade ago. And if any of you know Kadokawa, it’s that they’re always on top of CURRENT trends. They’re behind numerous top anime every season. They’re on top of the latest trends, and can promote things like no one else. In the anime industry, they’re huge and they know it. Higurashi was popular for what it was, sure, but Kadokawa has always had its own numerous successes, and even back in 2006 it was behind The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which overshadowed Higurashi on all accounts, and was the REAL hit anime of that year.

So it baffles me to see Kadokawa, the king of current anime trends, looking at Higurashi, something popular but practically a relic of the past, and going... “It’s time to give you another media mix. This time we’ll do it our way.”

Yes, this is ANOTHER attempt at a media mix. The existence of Tomato-sensei’s manga is proof of that. Re-adapting an anime is one thing. But to re-adapt a manga is unheard of. And it’s not like they’re trying to have a redo of something poorly received. For all the faults they both had as adaptations, the original anime and manga for Higurashi were HUGE. They were what introduced many fans to this franchise, and generally speaking there’s no real incentive to redo something that was already a hit that served its purpose in its time.

Granted, we don’t know the entire committee that has formed to fund Higurashi New, but we’re going to see Higurashi get pushed a lot come this Fall. Tomato-sensei will launch his manga in Young Ace UP. Entergram will be pushing out their new Umineko console port and their original collaboration Kaleidoscope of Phantom Prison around the same time. All while 07th Expansion is in the midst of their newest When They Cry story, Ciconia! It’s all culminating too well, and it feels like they’re trying to create a new When They Cry boom, with new people.

But, as great as that could be, the one leading the charge of going to be the brandnew TV anime, Higurashi When They Cry New. But...

WE DON’T KNOW WHAT HIGURASHI NEW IS!

Everyone is saying it’s a reboot. I’m saying it’s a reboot. The trailer, with its scenes taken straight out of Onikakushi-hen, look exactly like a reboot. But the thing is...

No official source has ever referred to it as a reboot.

The information we’ve had on this series is so vague, it’s like we’re not even really being told what this series is. The story summary is just the basic premise of Higurashi. But yeah, it’s Higurashi, of course that’s what it’s about. But is this just the same story, re-adapted? MAYBE. But how far can they possibly go? Is this anime even going to be 2-cours? And what about Tomato-sensei’s manga? What is he even going to draw? An adaptation of the TV series? Even if that’s the case, it’s not like we know what it is anyway. Will it cover several Chapters? Which ones? Will the stories unfold the same way or will they change things up? Is this anime even going to follow the original, or will it be something totally new? The new manga would make sense in that case. But then why the secrecy? Why not just promote it as “A brand new Higurashi scenario, reimagined by original author Ryukishi07!”? It’s all so VAGUE, and it’s driving me crazy!

Phew, got that off my chest... But I think you can understand, I’m really excited about this new Higurashi, but it’s just impossible to tell what to expect in this fundamentally unorthodox situation. What does Kadokawa get out of funding this Higurashi revival? Is Ryukishi doing something new with it, or is it just a straight new adaptation? What will the new manga do? How will this project synergize with the Entergram’s Umineko re-release and 07th Expansion’s ongoing Ciconia? And most of all... Could all this lead to a second, modern-day When They Cry boom?

The possibilities are limitless, and there are so many aspects to this and pieces of history I still haven’t even touched on. But I’ve already written too much, and just want to say... Please support Higurashi When They Cry New this Fall. Regardless of what this ambitious project turns out to be, let’s celebrate When They Cry and make it a success!

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