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About
When They Cry is a series of highly acclaimed murder mystery/horror sound novels written by Ryuukishi 07. The series is in four installments: Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai, Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, and Umineko No Naku Koro Ni Chiru.
Story
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni (When the Cicadas Cry)
Higurashi is about cycles of madness and death that occur in June 1983 in a villiage called Hinimizawa (based on a real villiage called Shirakawa). It is divided into question arcs and answer arcs (Kai).
Onikakushi-hen (Spirited Away by the Demon Chapter): Keiichi moves into Hinimizawa and suspects Rena and Mion of the murders. Asks the questions about who or what is responsible for the chain of murders called Oyashiro’s Curse and what is the true nature of Oyashiro.
Watanagashi-hen (Cotton Drifting Chapter): Introduces Shion Sonozaki. Raises the possibility of demonic possession being involved and asks the question of what is going on with Takano’s body.
Tatarigoroshi-hen (Curse Killing Chapter): Satako’s abusive uncle causes trouble. A grisly discovery is found in the Furude Shrine.
Himatsubushi-hen (Time Wasting Chapter): Akasaka investigates events five years ago. Reveals the possibility of a time loop being involved and the idea that a “Villain Prime” is involved in the murder of Rika. Presents the theory that the Sonozakis are behind the chain of murders. Who is Villain Prime?
Meakashi-hen (Eye Opening Chapter): Solution to Cotton Drifiting Chapter. Goes into detail regarding Shion’s past and the events of 1982. Asks the question of what caused Satoshi to disappear. Infamous for being one of the darkest, nastiest arcs in When They Cry. It is a polite act to warn new fans about this arc.
Tsumihoroboshi-hen (Atonement Chapter): Solution to Spiritied Away by the Demon chapter. Reveals multiple theories about the events. Rena becomes more and more paranoid, starting with events that threaten her father. This is the first arc that indicates that the cycles of death and madness are defeatable. It is possible to figure out who Villain Prime is and the cause of the 5 years murders is at this point.
Minagoroshi-hen (Massacre Chapter): Solution to Curse Killing Chapter. Reveals who Villain Prime is.
Matsuribayashi-hen (Festival Music Chapter): Explains the dark and tragic past of Villain Prime, explains what is the true cause of the 5 year murders, and reveals the true nature of Oyashiro.
Umineko No Naku Koro Ni (When the Seagulls Cry)
Umineko is about a mass murder that occurs on an island called Rokinjima. The murders are suspected to be caused by a witch, but it is Battler’s mission to disprove such a thing. Known for being much more violent/gruesome than Higurashi. Nick named “Sea Cats”.
Legend of the Golden Witch: An introduction to the legends of Rokkenjima and to the Ushiromiya family. Functions like the Spiritied Away by the Demon chapter above. The first twilight is but a mere warning as to the horrors contained in this series.
Banquet of the Golden Witch: The family is revealed to have a dark history relating to black magic. Focuses on the cousins and their interactions with various characters. Introduces the Red Truth.
Turn of the Golden Witch: Focuses on Eva and some of the past regarding Beatrice. introduces Eva-Beatrice, a psychotic witch symbolic of the outside world (in universe) believing that Eva was the culprit.
Alliance of the Golden Witch: Focuses on Ange, with much of the arc being 12 years after the mass murders. Introduces the Blue Truth. Bernkastel starts showing her true colors, thus beginning “Trollkastel”
End of the Golden Witch: Focuses on Natsui and introduces Erika Furudo. Lambadelta is the new game master.
Dawn of the Golden Witch: Introduces The Gold Truth. Focuses on Shannon and Kanon.
Requiem of the Golden Witch: Features solutions to many of the scenarios in the previous games. Intentionally worded to have multiple meanings.
Twilight of the Golden Witch: The final chapter that attempts to show Ange the truth.
In Popular culture
The series is very well known in Japan and has a decent following among western audiences (considerably less so with Umineko as of this time). Both series have anime and manga adaptations. As of 7/30/2012, Nis America announced that the anime for Umineko would be localized (not dubbed) for an American release in 12/2012. On a side note, there is a considerable movement to localize the visual novel, which interestingly enough, has its origins in the Nippon Ichi fandom.
The popularity of Higurashi caused a sizable surge in tourism to Shirakawa, the village that Hinimizawa is a near perfect replica of. The shrine there had to replace their shrine wall after the previous one was loaded to the brim with Higurashi related things.
Sub-memes
Uso da.
See the entry on this site. The phrase (translates to “That’s a lie” or “Liar” is a phrase of doom as it means that the world is about to go to hell as Hinimizawa syndrome takes effect.
Best Mom Ever.
Reference to Rosa’s parenting of Maria. This abuse comes to a head in Alliance of the Golden Witch in one of Umineko’s most memorable scenes. Also used sarcastically to describe abusive parents.
Small Bombs
Reference to an absurd solution Battler had for the 1st twilight of Banquet of the Golden Witch.
Nipah!
Verbal tic for Rika Furude. See entry.
OH DESIRE/ Kinzo Shop.
See entry for more details.
Umineko Screen Generator
See entry for more details.
Characters (canon)
- Rena Ryugu (Nick named Cleaver Girl for her trademark weapon, actually a bill hook. Origin of Uso Da and I’m taking it home with me.)
- Shion Sonozaki (Twin sister of Mion. Nick named That Psycho Yandere Chick Who Tortured Everyone to Death for her infamous/horrific actions in Watanagashi and Meakashi hen)
- Bernkastel (Witch of Miracles. Cruelest Witch in The World. Nick named “Trollkastel” for being one of the most infamous, malicious trolls in all of fiction. Only Terumi Yuuki from Blaz Blue is comparable to her in this regard. Is actually a splinter persona of Rika Furude, symbolic of all the bitterness and rage of the Rikas that did not survive. released from Rika’s subconscience after breaking free of the June 1983 cycle. )
- Rosa Ushiromiya (“Best Mom Ever” due to her very abusive treatment of her daughter Maria. Strong evidence in favor of her having Split Personality Disorder. There is a popular alternate theory going round that she is the culprit of the mass murders.
- Rika Furude (Main character of Higurashi in the last two arcs. Is the origin of the Nipah meme. Voted most moe character in 2007.)
- Kinzo Ushiromiya (Origins of the OH Desire/ Kinzo Shop meme. Is already dead.)
Other phrases
- Trolls Trolling Trolls Trolling Trolls. (Nic name for Umineko due to the LARGE number of trolls in the cast i.e. virtually all the witches, whose trolling varies wildly in terms of maliciousness. Best explemlified by “Trollkastel”.)
- Repeat it in red. insert phrase in red text (A request to confirm that something is true by writing the response in red. Red statements are a language of truth in Umineko.)
- Multi-colored text debates. (Spawned as the result of the addition of “blue truth” and eventually “Gold Truth”
- DEEEEEENNNNNNN! (Based on Studio DEEN’s reputation for bad adaptations. Especially holds true for Umineko, which was voted “Worst Anime of 2009” by 2 chan.)
- Umineko ruined Christmas (Phrase that refers to the December 24 release of the final episode of the Umineko anime.
- I’m taking it home with me (Catch phrase of Rena whenever she sees something “cute”. She seems to gain super strength upon this trigger and is known to kidnap people if they’re the target as Hanyuu found out. In the Atonement chapter, this quirk is revealed to have dark origins i.e. essentially “marking her territory” which developed after a betrayal of her trust by her mother.)
Relations to other works./fandoms.
Nippon Ichi:
The When They Cry and Nippon Ichi fandoms tend to get along very well, with much intersect (there are a reasonably decent amount of Nippon Ichi fans that are also fans of When They Cry). One of the influencing factors in the localization of the Umineko anime state side was a movement within the Nippon Ichi fandom.
Puella Madoka Magi Magica.
Due to the work being very dark and copious amounts of tears being shed by the cast, the show is jokingly given the nick name “Shouen Magica No Naku Koro Ni”. Due to the many common circumstances between Homura Akemi and Rika Furude, Homura is given the nick name, “Homurika” as a joke.
School Days.
The same events that triggered “Nice Boat” also affected Higurashi, resulting in episodes of the Higurashi Kai anime to be temporarially pulled. There is speculation that the Nice Boat incident may of actually been out of fear towards Higurashi, since the murder weapon in question is very similar to Rena’s weapon of choice.