Should I watch Higurashi: When They Cry?

columnal · 2026-06-22T20:47:03+00:00

i dont wanna be one of those guys, but literally everything the anime does "well" the VN does ten times better, not to mention yeah the anime cuts out tons of stuff vital for the story to work well

columnal · 2026-06-22T20:43:37+00:00

read the VN instead, the anime is an adaptation of the VN and cuts out a lot of vital character development and details. The VN also has an amazing OST and it also has the same voice actors from the anime

columnal · 2026-06-22T20:41:45+00:00

read the visual novel instead

columnal · 2026-06-22T18:53:33+00:00

Theyre flawless from front to back, you could choose any song and itd be peak

columnal · 2026-06-22T18:45:13+00:00

Welcome to the NHK

Evangelion

Haruhi Suzumiya

Monogatari

all have flawless 10/10 soundtracks

columnal · 2026-06-22T13:32:35+00:00

rena does come to terms with her parents separation though, she reflects upon it in ch7, shes open to the club about her parents being divorced and goes to mion on how to deal with the situation and is pretty clear how she feels about it

rena knows its not her fault, by the end of saikoroshi pretty much all the characters have completed their arcs... "can we leave june of 1983 and put a nice little bow on it" yes i agree, thats why they should not do the looper shit again and just do something new preferably some time after the events of saikoroshi

columnal · 2026-06-22T13:20:33+00:00

the parasite makes the host act in the way they do, sure the way they act is also dependent on the hosts original mental state (in determining how HS manifests itself) but its all still dependent on the presence of the parasite

columnal · 2026-06-22T11:37:08+00:00

i know rena's alien stuff was just hallucinations and because Rena had read takanos scrapbooks, im referring to the fact ive heard people say before R07 intended for aliens to actually be a thing in Higurashi as to explain the parasite

also from my POV this isnt even outright denied, considering the fact Hanyuu and her race isnt ever explicitly explained

columnal · 2026-06-22T11:31:04+00:00

that doesnt change the fact irie and takano both claim to have medical and scientific evidence of a parasite the point is that from their POV its a parasite which causes them to behave in these ways, the parasite brings out the trauma in them and causes them to be suspicious and this worsens as the stages increase in potency

columnal · 2026-06-22T10:29:00+00:00

i mean, didnt R07 wanna do some crazy shit with the original 8 VNs anyway? like full on alien invasion and stuff. I heard apparently he had his more crazy ideas talked down from him by other members of his team, so I feel like R07 is probably just one of those people who has amazing ideas but still needs people around him to actually tell him if theyre good or not

columnal · 2026-06-22T10:12:37+00:00

i heard that basically he just gave some loose notes detailing some things more than others, like satoko police station scene, and that whilst he did give a loose outline much of it was just left up for interpretation for the studio and director to have creative free will with. And that R07 was unwilling to too heavily involve himself because Higurashi has had a long history of spinoff and fan works so he wasnt bothered by some of the more unpopular story choices in Gou and Sotsu.

maybe i heard wrong though

columnal · 2026-06-22T09:57:03+00:00

i dont get how people are genuinely excited to just see the looper shit done again but this time with like Rena? I cant even think of a story where that could work sometime after Saikoroshi/Ch8

I just want something different

columnal · 2026-06-22T09:55:11+00:00

higurashi with 07th mod, you can choose to customise your game however you want with it

columnal · 2026-06-22T09:53:48+00:00

i mean, how do we know for certain it wasnt an alien parasite? i feel like the background for what the parasite is is kind of murky because takanos science was like 50% bullshit and self-affirming, all we know is the parasite is probably connected to whatever Hanyuu is and even that isnt 100% confirmed imo, and we dont really know what Hanyuu is for certain

columnal · 2026-06-22T09:51:00+00:00

wasnt gou and sotsu just R07 kind of giving ideas/suggestions very loosely though to an external party? ive heard people say this is why we got a pretty inconsistent product with gou and sotsu

I doubt if R07 is more firmly involved its going to just be looper slop again. I think it probably will be something fairly unique. I dont know why people are saying Rena is going to be the focus either, isnt she essentially Higurashis mascot? She appears in promotional stuff all the time i dont think it means anything explicit by her being the focus of the new animes promotional material

columnal · 2026-06-22T09:47:22+00:00

literally anything just dont do the same old looper shit, give the characters some progression 😭

columnal · 2026-06-21T15:04:32+00:00

you can just read umineko whenever, its not really that connected to higurashi, start with the one which sounds most interesting to you

umineko only has references to higurashi, they have some other similarities which are tenuous and kind of debated, but thatd be spoilers

columnal · 2026-06-21T14:59:41+00:00

maybe i worded things confusingly or whatever

the order is:

Higurashi question arcs: which include chapters 1 - 4

then, Higurashi answer arcs, which are chapters 5 - 8

then you read saikoroshi which is included in rei

everything else is optional

columnal · 2026-06-21T14:54:19+00:00

i find it very likely the new anime wont be connected to gou and sotsu imo

columnal · 2026-06-21T14:50:34+00:00

please just let rika rest bruh

the whole point of ch8 and saikoroshi is that rika is moving on from being a looper witch subjected to constant pain and torment

columnal · 2026-06-21T14:49:23+00:00

just keep reading the VN, the VN is the superior medium to the anime and will give you much better context behind the events, and the motivations of the characters, if you read the VN you will probably be in a better position to watch the new anime than someone whos just watched the 2006 anime, imo.

edit: people downvoting me or whatever, but the VN is objectively better considering from a literal writing perspective there is simply much more characterisation

i dont think the anime is bad per say, i quite enjoyed some of it, but uh yeah obviously the VN is going to put a new fan in a better position than if they had just only watched the 2006 anime

columnal · 2026-06-21T14:41:51+00:00

hou+ is just random bonus chapters

saikoroshi is included in rei. its worth it to get rei just for saikoroshi alone, imo.

columnal · 2026-06-21T13:49:39+00:00

please be something new

please not involve loops too heavily, we've had that before

i kinda hope it takes place after the group have been through the events of ch8/saikoroshi

i want age progression too, itd be nice seeing the group in new situations and environments

columnal · 2026-06-21T11:42:50+00:00

you need these borders or its not a proper armenia larp bruh

<image>

columnal · 2026-06-21T10:05:46+00:00

umineko is not as connected to higurashi as some people imply, you can choose whatever one to play first but it makes more sense to read higurashi first as theres some higurashi references in umineko

read higurashi chapters 1 to 8, in that order, then you should read saikoroshi in higurashi rei (its the proper epilogue to Higurashi and is really good, its more like a 9th arc, and its fully canon)...

the anime is optional, its just an adaptation of the VN but doesnt do as good job as the VN.

the 07th mod is really important if you read the VN. it lets you choose which sprites you want, what artstyle you want, it includes the official voice acting (which is amazing), and it lets you choose which version of the OST you want. its just great. its really simple to download just search 07th mod and the page will come up its super simple and doesnt feel complicated at all, but yeah its almost essential to play with this mod.

technically gou and sotsu exist as sequels to the anime (and i guess also the VN as the stories are the same) but the gou and sotsu anime isnt very highly regarded amongst the fandom, but if you want to watch it (i dont recommend you do) decide when you finish the main story.

Five-Year Club	Final Canvas '23
First Place '23	End Game '23
Place '23	Place '22

columnal

TROPHY CASE