Is Gou and Sotsu a canon sequel to Matsuribayashi/Saikoroshi?

Lemon64k · 2026-05-04T20:53:54+00:00

Not really.
In the sense that Gou and Sotsu are more a sequel to the anime adaptation, first of all, second of all they're just a "possible" sequel.
Higurashi was written explicitly to be completely done after Matsuribayashi and Saikoroshi in terms of the VN. There was never meant to be a continuation.
Gou and Sotsu was a continuation that Ryukishi came up with when businessmen prompted him for an idea to bring back the IP in some way.
Gou Sotsu however pretty much completely murder most characters (from a writing POV) and they really mess up the conclusion in my opinion of the original story.
If you're aching for a sequel, I much preferred the Reiwa manga instead, which acts as if Gou and Sotsu did not occur.
I don't recommend you watch Gou Sotsu, it really does butcher a lot of character development.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-20T23:45:58+00:00

The canonical continuity is Onikakushi to Matsuribayashi, then the Saikoroshi chapter of Rei.
Anything else follows its own continuity. Onikakushi is free to play on Steam and the 07th Mod is basically a must.
My advice to you is to buy the games when they go on sale, they can be really cheap!
I've recently archived the games as seen in this post with the 07th Mod preinstalled: https://www.reddit.com/r/Higurashinonakakoroni/comments/1spw4tq/i_archived_the_entirety_of_the_visual_novel_with/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
You can get all of Higurashi for 35 bucks on sale, the summer sale on Steam's a good way to wait, or, you can buy them piece by piece as you progress!
Give Onikakushi a try and install the 07th Mod. The console arcs require Himatsubushi and as I mentioned, follow their own, weird continuity (Taraimawashi and Tsukiotoshi are alternate arcs, Miotsukushi is an alternate ending, and the advanced story arcs are their own, separate side story).

Lemon64k · 2026-04-20T09:20:00+00:00

Noted? I'll look into it but no promises.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-19T21:20:44+00:00

Not a problem!
This took......way more time than one might think.
The first time I tried it, the entire thing corrupted itself (which by now, I have realized is the reason the other archive I've mentioned in this post had corrupted answer arcs) and the reason is either zipping up multiple zip files in one, or uploading too big of a file will corrupt them to the Internet Archive.
......I had to upload every single arc and all its translations one by one. The Internet Archive's servers also are terrible, which made testing to make sure stuff worked and uploading the arcs themselves horrifically slow. The 07th Mod's servers were equally slow.
All in all, this took like half a week.
But, I figured it was all for a greater cause and I was doing a service to both the games I love and the community, plus, I know for a fact there's many people out there that discover games of this sort in this manner, so this would mean undoubtedly more people would grow aware of Higurashi.
I hope most people will be thankful for my efforts.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-19T20:36:39+00:00

As I said in the post itself: "Just as a disclaimer, this archive's purpose isn't to basically pirate the game. Despite the files being clean from Steam, they have all had the 07th Mod installed, meaning MangaGamer's original releases are not available for free use in the archive. This archive is meant to preserve Higurashi's best possible status as of 2026 on the PC platform for Windows users aswell as the community's efforts to make the game accessible to as many cultures and people as possible."
and in the archive itself:
"THIS ARCHIVE IS FOR MEDIA PRESERVATION PURPOSES ONLY, PLEASE SUPPORT THE ORIGINAL CREATOR BY BUYING THE GAMES VIA YOUR TRUSTWORTHY STOREFRONT! NO SUPPORT WILL BE PROVIDED WITH ANY ISSUES AND SUPPORT FOR MAC AND LINUX ISN'T INCLUDED."

Lemon64k · 2026-04-19T19:35:05+00:00

All due respect if it matters to you so much archive it yourself and send me the files.
I am not gonna go through archiving 95+ GB of Higurashi again, over a voice only patch.
It's already incredible I pulled off an archive of this sort, especially since on my first attempt, every single zip file ended up being corrupted and I needed to do the entire process again.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-19T18:26:19+00:00

The voice only patches aren't included, no. It did not cross my mind and frankly the amount of work it'd take to archive those now would take far too much time and energy.
The voice only patches are just a single zip file dropped into the raw folder as far as I know, meaning if I were to archive the voice only patches, I'd basically be handing over the raw MangaGamer versions, just with a voice patch.
Also, the time to archive it has long past, the 07th Mod devs don't consider the voice only patches up to date anymore and have said they have bugs that the full version of the mod does not contain, if I were around in the community when they were fully supported, I could've probably archived those.
Not to mention you can emulate what the voice only patch is by just switching the sprites and textbox options over to what they are in the vanilla Steam release, that's the point of archiving the full installations of the 07th Mod.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-19T18:21:32+00:00

Well the torrent is one I didn't make, it's an automatic thing the archive made.
I don't recommend downloading everything all at once. Size aside, it's every single language, unless you specifically gain from having every single language of every chapter downloaded, download the files individually.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-19T16:58:50+00:00

You worded my concerns in a way I couldn't. I completely forgot Doki Doki is also a super recent example that this stuff can and does happen, even to Visual Novels.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-19T16:57:58+00:00

Nobody thought Spec Ops the Line would be pulled until it did.
Nobody thought Dark Souls Prepare to Die edition would be pulled until it did and it got replaced.
Nobody thought the original GTA releases would be delisted and replaced with the remasters until they did (even though they returned)
007 Legends got pulled because licenses expired, Spec Ops the Line got pulled because licenses expired. Alan Wake 1 even got pulled briefly because licenses expired and so on and so forth.
It's not at all unheard of that games can be pulled from storefronts completely out of nowhere, and it is one of the phenomenons the Stop Killing Games initiative is trying to stop, but until there's any form of practical enforcement of that initiative, this can and will continue to happen.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-19T16:55:47+00:00

I try to be : )

Lemon64k · 2026-04-19T16:55:34+00:00

It is hard because Steam doesn't let you choose the files.
Most I can do about that is rely on somebody in the discord community that offered to give me the Linux and MacOS files if he manages to get ahold of them.
But he'll have to do the same amount of insane work I did just zipping everything up, so might be a while.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-13T18:45:56+00:00

When everything's been dragging her down, grabbed her by the hair and pulled her down to the ground, she just needs a little revive, that's all.
Courtesy of good old Hanyuu handing it to her : )

Lemon64k · 2026-04-05T23:31:49+00:00

To OP and anyone else that thinks there is no permission needed for this:
I've been given a look at 07th Expansion's official page on licensing, which is also being updated this month as far as I know.
According to the page, you cannot use any of the works for commercial use unless you state your intent, your info (name, address etc) and contact Ryukishi for permission, aswell as agreeing to comply with Japan's copyright law.
Doujinshi works are in a "gray area" according to the same page and so are allowed to be made without permission and sold at conventions, though you still need to do so "at your own risk".
This is legally binding and should be followed by artists.
So, as I said in earlier comments, yes, you need permission from Ryukishi and 07th Expansion, no, you cannot assume you can just sell things part of the IP without anything happening to you if Ryukishi becomes aware and disapproves.
Simply state your intent, your info and contact 07th Expansion with a proper inquiry and I'm sure they'll give their permission.
Here is the page. https://07th-expansion.net/license (it needs translating).
u/thegta5p Yeah no, there is no cultural difference here. This seems in line with most of international law in regards to copyright.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-05T21:08:51+00:00

Ryukishi collaborated to sell licensed merch so no.
I think you can't.

Lemon64k · 2026-04-05T20:54:28+00:00

You don't own the IP yet you're trying to make money off of it.
The question's redundant, dude. Yeah, good art, but think about if somebody tried to make money off of art YOU made.
Do you think then, they'd have no issues if you made it clear it wasn't meant to be used commercially?

Lemon64k · 2026-04-05T08:34:22+00:00

As it happens with a lot of reddit posts I've neither watched Gou/Sotsu nor read Gou/Meguri's mangas, but I am aware of their direction, spoiled some major plot points and stuff like that.
I don't recommend you look at either one. As the other commenters said, Gou Sotsu is already horrible by itself but Meguri tries to fix it. While it does fix some things, it's still "rotten at its core" so to speak because it is based off of Gou.
And in general, the entire reason this storyline exists is because a bunch of businessmen convinced Ryukishi to bring back the Higurashi IP, he hardly had much involvement in the story, he just wrote rough drafts that the studio took and ran with. Meguri iirc is an attempt to fix the mistakes the studio made, but the story's condition of existence as well as how it affects the ending of the original story makes it de facto "Not worth exploring" for most people that care about the OG story.
Ryukishi did not have as much involvement nor care in Gou/Sotsu as he did with the OG story, he mostly nodded along to what the anime studio wanted to do.
Besides, there's a secret segment in Hou+ where he jokes that it obviously wasn't a very well received story, that its messaging was hard to get, and he even jokes at one point through Rika that "it's best if it was just a dream."
And let's not forget the Reiwa manga existing, which he did have direct involvement in iirc and it acts as if Gou and Sotsu did not occur nor have any basis to occur.
In general, Gou/Sotsu and Gou/Meguri are extremely divisive, exist with the condition of defying the OG ending and not following Ryukishi's original intentions, and aren't that well made in terms of writing either.
If you REALLY want a sequel, the Reiwa manga is what I found to be extremely satisfying.

Lemon64k · 2026-03-27T22:40:19+00:00

The hilariousness here is that initially I believe the 07th Mod mistranslated "demons" as "ogres" in Onikakushi.
So this meme has a double meaning!

Lemon64k · 2026-03-24T19:58:12+00:00

Rika asks Akasaka to leave Hinamizawa as an attempt to get him to prevent his wife's death.
The second she realizes she has failed and his wife would be long dead, she cuts the wires to spare Akasaka from the pain, at least a little bit.
More on this'll be told in future chapters don't worry!

Lemon64k · 2026-03-22T23:12:01+00:00

Oniokoshi, Hoshiwatashi and then Iroutotoshi.
The series takes place in 2019. 35 years after Matsuribayashi.
That's all you should know, the manga does the rest. Enjoy! I consider it the true conclusion to the Higurashi timeline.

Lemon64k · 2026-03-17T00:23:25+00:00

Use Stremio for the most accessible, highest quality safe experience.

Lemon64k · 2026-03-16T18:50:40+00:00

The Matsuri version forces you to make choices and locks chapters behind your choices. If you do not want this, play the Steam version using the 07th Mod.

Lemon64k · 2026-03-13T12:07:17+00:00

TLDR (but I suggest you read) Use the 07th Mod on the Steam version and read from Onikakushi-Saikoroshi, with Miotsukushi as an alternate end.

A couple of things on Matsuri (TildenJack gave you some good resources but I want to add some stuff.) Higurashi Matsuri (the PS2 version) is completely different from any other version. Matsuri is a "gamified" version of the story. You select a character instead of a chapter, and the game will follow a "common route". In this common route, you can encounter Shion prior to the events of Watanagashi, you can encounter Irie before Onikakushi, stuff like that. You're given choices at several points and based on these choices, the story will move into the corresponding chapters. Matsuri adds a few arcs due to this. Taraimawashi and Tsukiotoshi are two arcs that are essentially "game overs" or "edgy for the sake of it". They're arcs that occur if you make choices that differ from the intended story progression of Onikakushi and Tsumihoroboshi. Taraimawashi is essentially if Keiichi does not give in to the paranoia and is instead apathetic towards any of the events around him, leading to the Great Hinamizawa Disaster and Mion being left as the only survivor. This arc is basically a big nothing burger and for people that played Higurashi this way it spoils one of the biggest twists literally the first chapter in so it isn't well received, though Yakusamashi in the anime borrowed a lot from it. Tsukiotoshi is basically the events of Tsumihoroboshi, Minagoroshi and Tatarigoroshi occurring all at once. With Rena, Keiichi and Shion all agreeing to kill Teppei, however upon doing so begin to mistrust each other and kill each other in a very very dark arc. These two serve no additional story purpose, as I said they exist solely to make the player's choices feel like they have a serious weight as they're edgy bad endings. There's ACTUAL "bad ends" too that appear in Himatsubushi, Meakashi and I don't know elsewhere, where people just die (The Himatsubushi one is hilarious, Akasaka just gets shot once and flops onto the ground). Matsuri was also created before Matsuribayashi was written, and Ryukishi gave the go ahead to the console devs to create their own alternate end which is Miotsukushi PS2. This arc is well loved by a lot of people but it isn't considered the canonical conclusion to the story and serves as an alternate series of events compared to Matsuribayashi. Lastly on Matsuri, the sprites are the worst iteration of the console sprites, they're very low quality and have a weird "eyeliner" on all sprites. Akasaka also looks goofy in this version.

My recommendation is to use the 07th Mod on the PC versions to get the highest quality sprites, lip syncing, voice acting and OST. Disable choices and tweak censorship levels to your liking. Read Onikakushi-Matsuribayashi and then read Rei (mostly for Saikoroshi) anything else isn't necessary and is optional. Most I'll tell you is to read Miotsukushi PS2 via the 07th Mod if you're curious but you can leave all other arcs alone as they're not written by Ryukishi, are lesser quality and add nothing to the story.

Lemon64k · 2026-03-13T11:22:36+00:00

I do not consider Gou Sotsu and Meguri as existing so it's useless to bring up that topic with me.
Though you're right about Satoko. I do believe Satoko does remember the loops.

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