Higurashi When They Cry (General)

[Maypews]

Wasn't sure if I wanted to make a post for this, but I've decided to though I'll probably be a bit less thorough than with the SciADV ones. Obviously don't spoil plot details please, and also this thread will contain spoilers and later be repurposed into a General thread. Which are meant to be places for existing fans to talk about the game and post fanart and whatnot, since we have a few big fans of this one here I figured it'd be a good thread to have.

I 100%ed the first chapter on Steam, and I am really enjoying this so far. The way it portrays rural life is amazing especially, this probably goes more into that than anything else I've seen and I really hope we get moar Hinamizawa history. Love how it seems to incorporate the locale's Shinto deity prominently in the narrative. Memorable characters too and it's definitely pretty spooky, made me a bit afraid to even read it at night time.

Spoiler

Anyway, the bonus chapter made the following claim that people who read the beta were pro-human instead of pro-curse. Now it also says that the beta cut off short so I'm not entirely sure how much those readers got to see, but to me it seems pretty obvious that the curse is real. The way that Rena/Mion's personalities change on a dime hints at this, as does their ability to know what Kei is doing at all times.

20260506043612_1.jpg (334.89 KiB) Viewed 137 times

It also seems like Oyashiro's memories maybe get mixed in with theirs somewhat? I am basing this on the Rena bringing him food scene especially; it seems like she genuinely wanted to help him out and was quite sad at the rejection (happened in other spots too), but at the same time Oyashiro came back into control and tried to use that to break into the house.

The tingling sensation on his back that is mentioned at the store is likely Oyashiro, because why would a God need a physical form to travel around? Plus there's no way Rena could've been there without Keiichi's parents saying something about it. There's also the unexplainable nature of the tearing out your own throat thing. Additionally I think that scene with Rena standing outside his door while he was on the phone with Ooishi earlier on was probably a red herring, though it was very bonechilling. I love how the mystery constantly keeps you on your toes, I doubt anyone would've doubted that the string of incidents was human-related after that scene.

Anyway, on to chapter 2! Colonel Sanders is so moe. Also holy shit is that Itou Kanako I hear on the OP? I suppose it's the choice of Steins;Gate.

20260503005748_1.jpg (274.74 KiB) Viewed 137 times

[Blond]

Ohhhhhhhhhh, I'm gonna enjoy this thread. Glad you enjoy Higurashi so far, sames goes with the fact that you chose the original sprites.

[Maypews]

sames goes with the fact that you chose the original sprites.

PS3 sprites are sovlless in comparison. I adore how DIY it feels, honestly feels like I'm playing a flash game and I love it. Same for the BGs being real pictures, adds so much to the rural feel. If you read Higurashi without the light tinge of transparency artifacting around the sprites did you really read it at all?

I did decide to keep the PS3 CGs on though, even though they stylistically clash. Perhaps that makes me a poseur.

[Maypews]

Chapter 2 was absolutely incredible. The laugh over the telephone about made me jump out of my skin, and the writing never falters in all it's twists and turns. Loved all of the Hinamizawa history too as someone with an interest in the topic, the village of demons mythos is very believable while also very cool. And of course,

Spoiler

the plot twist at the very end regarding Mion having passed before the attacks threw me for a complete loop, didn't expect that at all. If she was in fact not around at that time, perhaps the demon somehow migrated to Shion's consciousness and carried out the acts before committing suicide?

Chapter 3 I am not as high on so far. It's taking way longer than the first two did to pick up it feels like, and it is continously going in circles on the same topic. One is fine, but Keiichi's 20th monologue about wanting to protect Satoko and cursing Satoshi is getting rather old. I'm sure it'll probably get better, but even if it does the earlygoing is a bit of a stain with all of it's needless plodding. Also I love Shion, best girl.

[Maypews]

I have recently completed the Question Arcs, the first half of Higurashi When They Cry's story, and have decided to write my thoughts on it. Normally I would wait until finishing the work in it's entirety to do this, but given that the All-Star Cast Review of Chapter 4 explicitly asks the player to theroise I figure I'd recognise the author's wish and do so. When I had started writing this I was firmly on the Team Curse side of the debate, but after logically considering the possibilities I have become rather split. It is funny how the human mind defaults to the supernatural as an explanation when it cannot understand things, isn't it?

First I will list all of the known pecularities so far that I have noticed in the story. This will be something of a stream of consciousness.

-The eye change (central to both theories)
From what we see of the story so far, the change in eye colour seems to signify that whatever character is being affected begins to act much different from their usual selves. In this state, characters have highly dulled emotions (thus enabling them to commit murder) and speak in flat and blunt tones. At first I had suspected some form of full-on mind control. But given what we see of Keiichi in chapter 3 still largely being himself and having his own motives, it seems more like something is edging them along so to speak by dulling their emotional senses when they enter this state. I believe this can be explained by both theories, if you are pro-human it could be explained as having been induced by the syringe, whereas if you are pro-curse it can be explained as having been induced by Oyashiro-sama.

-The syringe (Human theory)
The purpose of the syringe does not receive much explanation throughout the question arcs. We see Mion and Rena attempt to inject Keiichi with it, but he is able to fend them off and we thus never see the effects. I had initially assumed that this was some sort of psychadelic drug that would force one to claw out their own throat like Tomitake did, but given Keiichi's fate in chapter 2 that no longer seems to be the case.

In the event that all of the murders are being carried out humanly, perhaps it is the syringe which enduces the emotionally-numb discoloured eyes state. Perhaps this drug is forced upon all of the villagers, and those who are not injected with it are the ones who are killed. The main flaw in this theory is that in chapter 3 Keiichi seems to be in the discoloured eyes state and we never see him injected with it, I don't think it's impossible that it could've been forced upon him unknowingly while asleep or unconscious however.

As for what motive the villagers could have for injections, it could be some form of tradition or custom. The Hinamizawans firmly believe that they have demon blood, and perhaps the contents of the syringe are said to contain the demon blood in order to convince them to take it. A potential flaw in this arises in that we see in chapter 4 that the Watanagashi festival is but a shell of what it once was, which thus raises the question of how a village that was once so uninterested in it's guardian deity would suddenly become mass-injected.

It seems unlikely for the populace to agree to it, so it would require doing it to some 1000 people against their will which seems implausible. However there is a catalyst event which could serve to unite the villagers as one and embrace their cultural heritage, that of the dreaded dam project. Furthermore we see that the ritual sacrifices are almost always pro-Dam supporters, and this would also explain the later escalation to simply killing all "outsiders". The line of logic may follow from killing off pro-dam supporters to simply killing off the uninjected, as those who are not injected become seen as future threats due to the village's near end at the hands of the Dam project.

Another issue I see in this theory is that it does not account for Rika-chan's murder. If this injection is meant to dull the senses so that Hinamizawans can band together and resist the project by any means necessary, it would seem paradoxical to murder the village mascot. However perhaps it becomes so that their senses are nulled to a point where they no longer care about their original stated purpose and simply turn into monsters. That seems rather contrived however.

In my opinion the better explanation to this discrepancy is that Rika-chan's death is a red herring, because we receive very little information about it or who the culprit could be. Maybe it is not exactly related to the ritual killings but was instead carried out by the lone will of the Sonozaki family in order to eliminate any potential long-term threats to their strangehold on the village, something which the so-called living reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama certainly would be. This is especially given that the death of Rika Furude also means the complete elimination of the Furude bloodline. We also never see Rika enter the discoloured eyes state, so perhaps she refused the injection and was accordingly killed because of it. Perhaps the injection itself is a concoction of the Sonozaki family intended to strengthen their control over the other two families, and Rika thus refused it not seeking to cede her family's influence.

But then this runs into the problem of the Great Disaster, which obviously eliminates any motive for the Sonozaki family to kill Rika. But if we are sticking to an explanation grounded solely in reality, perhaps the given explanation for the cause of the gas eruption is actually correct and her dying on the same day is simply a coincidence, or perhaps it is as Akasaka said and the swamp was somehow manipulated by humans. Currently I am of the belief that the syringe and it's lack of explanation is probably the greatest data point in favour of the acts all being carried out by humans, but you could also dismiss the syringe as being naught but a red herring.

A thought that just occured to me is that perhaps the gas disaster was orchestrated by the politicians who sought the removal of the village in order to complete the Dam. I am unsure of how likely this is, but it does make more sense than the Sonozakis doing it. Takano is also very suspicious given that she seemed to have killed someone in chapter 3.

-Always being watched (Pro-curse theory)
This is a plot detail that not only makes for amazing horror but also throws a bit of a wrench into the pro-human theory. The way that the other characters are able to predict events in advance and see right through Keiichi seems near unexplainable. Rika's predictions in chapter 4 all being correct? The great disaster eerily matching the prophecies of what would happen if the village were to ever incur Oyashiro-sama's wrath? What about Akasaka being stared at from the bus by the locals? Even if the Sonozaki's had been informed of his dispatchment, how would random bumfuck villagers know that? Surely they would not allow such information to leak.

It is stated in chapter 3's all-star cast review that the reason Mion knew about Keiichi's talk with Ooishi in chapter 1 was because the business is Sonozaki-owned, but I do not find this explanation satisfying given all of the other instances of characters seeing right through him. Even in the slice of life scenes it's as if the characters know exactly what it is that he is thinking, which makes me wonder if that is meant to be for the sake of writing expediency as much as it is an ominous piece of foreshadowing.

Mion's explanation in chapter 2 also raises some alarm bells, with her acting as though another presence is inside of her body. In fact it is commonly remarked by Keiichi as though the characters are no longer themselves once the dreaded coloured eyes state emerges, and the characters say similarly to Keiichi when he enters that state in chapter 3. Additionally, it is also strange that it seems like the villains of each chapter vary. Chapter 1 is Rena and Mion, Chapter 2 is just Mion and Rena is as cool as a cucumber, Chapter 3 is Keiichi and this time it's Rena and Mion that are afraid of him.

If they were all under Oyashiro-sama's curse, why does Oyashiro seem to select who will carry out his deeds at random? There are other things too that in my mind that make some sort of supernatural involvement seem plausible, such as Keiichi's will manifesting in reality in chapter 3 with the deaths of Irie, Takano and likely Ooishi. It all just lines up too well with the legend to be entirely coincidental in my mind.

In the legend, it is said that Oyashiro prevents people from leaving the village so that they do not run roughshod on the other villages. Perhaps Oyashiro has been angered by how Hinamizawa is performing the rituals and treating outsiders, so he chooses to destroy the village with the disaster.

I think my current final standing point is that the whole pro-curse and pro-human dichotomy is itself a ploy by the author to throw the reader off. I think that both are happening, that the humans are not wholly devoid of agency but that they are perhaps being influenced by some higher power. My prediction for the place that the narrative is going is that it will sort of head towards a conundrum where, though the characters may be being nudged, it is ultimately their choice and their actions that have lead to all of this horror which they will struggle to come to terms with.

With that said, were I forced to not be a fence sitter and pick one, I would likely lean pro-human as of now, as I believe it requires the least leaps in logic to explain. I am really excited for best girl's chapter, and for her to be the protagonist too. Exciting!

[Amlux]

I love that you're reading this right now as I just finished reading Chapter 8, the last chapter of Higurashi!

I won't spoil any of what happens of course, but I love reading your thoughts as it helps me remember what it was like reading before I knew a lot of the answers and it makes them more meaningful on retrospect as well. All I can say is that you're in for quite a ride!

[Maypews]

I've been in this strange state where I am kind of enjoying the novel too much to actually sit down and write about it but episode 5 knocked my socks off in a way that few things ever have. I thought about it for like an hour after I finished reading it, went to bed, and then woke up still thinking about it. There are a very small quantity of artistic pieces that have rendered me into being almost in a state of shock, probably less than 5 in fact but this is now among them. I binged it for 8 hours yesterday because I truly couldn't put it down once the plot got going so I'm going to try to do this chapter justice and give it a proper review and analysis.

Overview/Summary
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was already pretty firmly on Team Shion but this chapter truly elevates her to new heights. We finally get to learn about her family circumstances, it seems she had been exiled to a rather authoritarian school in lieu of the usual family tradition which stated that twin siblings must be disposed off and that only the inheritor should remain. The beginning of the chapter showcases Shion's escape from these circumstances.

Even after escape however, the new life in Okinomiya is not all it's hyped up to be. Shion is not allowed to be seen in public places due to "family circumstances" (which is essentially a threat backed by violence) and relies on the kindness others to supply her with basic necessities. She isn't permitted to go to Hinamizawa and generally seems to be something of a recluse without much in the way of friends. It's this which makes the immediate love for and almost dependence on Satoshi all the more believable.

2026-05-21 20_09_04-Greenshot.png (157.1 KiB) Viewed 52 times

The immediate dynamic between her and Satoshi in the early going of the chapter is fantastic. Their personalities compliment each other perfectly, even if the love seems somewhat one-sided (which makes sense given that it hasn't been all that long since they met). It is also pretty cool seeing a character like Satoshi who's more nerdy and introverted playing and enjoying sports, you don't see that combination of traits very often but there are dozens of us out there!





I do wish we had gotten to see more of them together, but alas the good times come to an end rather quickly. While Satoshi is reserving Satoko's teddy bear at the toy store, Ooishi comes up and seems ready to interrogate him under suspicion of killing his abusive aunt. It seems rather cut and dry that he did it due to the fact that he was apparently absent from the Watanagashi (an interesting conflict with Keiichi's otherwise remarkably similar case), which forces Shion to have to reveal her identity since under the assumption that she is Mion, Satoshi would essentially have no alibi.

2026-05-22 01_44_36-Greenshot.png (1.41 MiB) Viewed 52 times

Although the two survive interrogation, a pecuilar vehicle is waiting outside of the station for Shion once she is done. The family pretty much immediately caught wind of the identity reveal, and as such she is taken to the main house in order to receive retribution. Kasai and presumably the uncle who runs Angel Mort were both taken prisoner, and Shion is made to lop off 3 fingernails in exchange for them being forgiven. A quite cruel punishment, although this does have the added side effect of seemingly allowing Shion to finally live a normal life in Okinomiya once complete. Unfortunately, Satoshi then goes missing shortly thereafter.

2026-05-22 15_58_54-Greenshot.png (139.11 KiB) Viewed 52 times

The banging in the storage shed when we get to see it from Shion's perspective is absolutely harrowing. I wonder how exactly that works, since we never hear of it happening outside of that specific scene. This ritual storehouse incursion unfortunately proves to be the beginning of the tragedy. Shion ends up spending the night at the main house, only to wake up in the middle of the night and incidentally end up eavesdropping on a conversation between Mion and Oryou. In this conversation they seem to somehow be aware of the incident, and Mion then catches Shion in the act and begins to behave rather threateningly.

Shion responds accordingly and ends up tasing her and Oryou, taking the two prisoner. Except it turns out that.. she actually killed Oryou when she tased her by total accident. I know a lot of people find Shion's actions in this chapter hard to justify and I don't entirely agree with all of them myself, but I don't think she was wrong at all to take the initiative here given that these people had shown they were willing to imprison those close to her and even torture her personally (though Mion later subjected herself to the same treatment in a showing of how whole a heart she has).

Had Mion behaved disarmingly here none of this would've happened, though I also understand that she was sort of forced to due to the responsibilities and whatnot of being successor. One detail though that I think a lot of people miss because the novel doesn't explicitly state it is that once she kills Oryou, accident or not, she's already well past the point of return. Even if the Sonozakis didn't actually carry out the curse murders as is mentioned later, they're still a Yakuza family with a torture dungeon and they carried out an abduction on at least one highly influential politician's grandson. If Shion were to admit her crime she'd almost certainly be killed if not tortured to death in turn, and given that she has pretty good reason to suspect that they murdered her love as well as Tomitake and Takano for entering the storehouse, I do not find what spurred her into action immoral in of itself.

With that said, the depths that we end up sinking to are truly astounding and make your skin crawl. For now though, Shion wants to get to the bottom of the curse murders and find out who exactly is responsible. Thus the killing spree begins. Shion's theory essentially ends up landing on the fact that the village itself fostered an atmosphere where if Oryou gave a vague suggestion, someone would "carry it out" for her without her direct interference. As such the blame could be said to fall upon the heads of the 3 families and the system itself, which is where her fury ends up being directed. She abducts and kills Kimiyoshi, and is then confronted by Rika acting very strangely in what ends up being a battle to the death. Rika then kills herself once she ends up on the disadvantage via using the syringe to claw out her own throat.

Something that is mentioned a few times by Shion is the presence of a demon inside of her. It's interesting because as the chapter goes on she seems to devolve more and more into being a sadist, seemingly enjoying the suffering she inflicts. I mean just look at this monologue, it's sort of wild in hindsight looking through the screenshot gallery and seeing how her thoughts develop over the course of the story and it all happens very naturally too. Impeccable character writing.

2026-05-23 06_15_01-Greenshot.png (1.61 MiB) Viewed 52 times

After Rika ends up dead at her place, this leaves Satoko hanging and she calls the residence. Shion then has to lure Satoko over and dispose of her as well, since not doing so could alert suspiscion. The scene of Satoko at the end is very touching, and sort of drives home that had Shion been able to get to know Satoko more she would have likely realised that her anger towards her in the earlygoing was misplaced.

2026-05-23 06_33_11-Greenshot.png (383.42 KiB) Viewed 52 times

2026-05-23 06_33_36-Greenshot.png (355.8 KiB) Viewed 52 times

2026-05-23 06_35_21-Greenshot.png (1.06 MiB) Viewed 52 times

We also discover that it was originally Shion who was meant to be the family head, but that during one of the family meetings Mion stood in for her and ended up receiving the tattoo instead. The two twins seem to have such a bizarre identity crisis that has persisted ever since as a result of this. Although the scene with Rena and Keiichi coming over largely plays out the same as before, Keiichi's refusal to condemn either Mion or Shion and instead blame the demon is rather touching. Oh and Mion of course unveils that the Sonozakis aren't actually responsible for anything and that it was all a big bluff shortly before her death. It was saddening that Shion could not bring herself to spare Mion, who from this episode truly does seem to have a heart of gold.

Remember how I was talking about how you see Shion devolve more and more into insanity? Past this point she becomes pretty much just a beast incapable of rational thought after finding out all of that death and revenge on people she cared about was for nothing. What a gutwrenching chapter man. We later get to see a vision of an alternate world where she had followed the promise made to Satoshi and looked after Satoko, which rubs a little more salt in the wound to end things off.


Analysis
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I said earlier, I think this is one of the best portrayals of a spiral into insanity I've ever seen. A true masterclass in character writing. Were I to critique one thing about this chapter it'd be that I'm not sure how well it would cause chapter 2 to hold up on re-read, since the whole thing is basically just a big lie.

Something I've been thinking about is the nature of Shion's relationship with Satoshi. I've seen some say online that it wasn't real love and that Shion was just using him as an excuse to do what she did. There are even monologues from Shion herself at times that halfway suggest this, but I think it's prudent to consider the context.

The one from earlier is her expressing regret and sorrow at her actions towards Satoko. It's in the context of her having essentially a mental breakdown over her failure to uphold the promise. Consequently I don't think those should be treated as wholly reliable statements of her intent. The feeling of jealously she possesses towards Satoko isn't really that hard to explain when you consider Shion's isolation due to the circumstances.

Mion states in the text that she was happy to see Shion in love with Satoshi because it was always her to had to suffer. Ooishi also states upon reading "Mion" (Shion's) diary that it was clear that she really did love him. I think in short that those monologue are from an unreliable narrator and that other neutral third parties seem to contradict them.

As for her not upholding the promise I think this was caused by her inability to cope with his disappearance and I think this is heartbreakingly symbolised by her mistaking the curse as being Satoshi. Shion had such a difficult time accepting it and then later on investigating it that it was overshadowed in her mind. There's some wisdom along the lines of how anger is a defense mechanism and how it arises out of a desire to protect something that you love. I think that applies very strongly here.

"Anger comes from love. You can not get angry unless you care about something. It is impossible to feel anger without love."

The additional unlocks for completing this episode are a bit different from the usual all-star cast reviews. This time we just get a heart to heart from Ryukishi, who asks the following questions that I will answer.


How did you feel?
I don't even really know where to begin with this. At first I was happy, it was nice seeing Shion finally have something in her life even if you knew it was going to go to shit when Satoshi gets demoned away. But once shit hits the fan I felt a rollercoaster of emotions, ranging from anger, shock, admiration (towards Satoko mainly), but by the end I was left with a pervasive sadness.

How much were you able to sympathise with her?
I will have mercy on her, because I sympathised with her a good deal. I don't know if I like the verbeage of "almost entirely" because she really does go off the hinges quite a bit, but like I said earlier I do find the initial motive for her capturing the two highly sympathetic.

This arc in my opinion is a classic tragedy. It reminds me of a certain character's betrayal in Berserk, where you find what they do to be revolting but on some intrinsic level you can also understand how that character felt so cornered that they acted in the way that they did. It may be disgusting but it also feels incredibly human and familiar, doesn't it?

I also found the ending to be remarkably heavy. I have not seen many things which touch on reflection and regret to the extent that this does. That feeling of crossing the point of no return, and knowing that you can't really go back. Then later looking up at the sky and wondering how it all went so wrong, reflecting on both the past and what could've been had things gone a little differently.

That's an emotion that I am sadly very acquainted with, being something of a daydreamer with an unfortunate background myself. It's really what caused this arc to tickle my heart in such a special way, the ending nearly made me start bawling to be honest. Even looking at these two attachments I've posted here makes me feel emotional, Shion's longing and distant gaze in the first especially. Fuck man.

2026-05-23 07_21_37-Greenshot.png (61.53 KiB) Viewed 52 times

Questions
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the meeting with Rena and Shion at the bus stop, we find out that Satoshi is also apparently afflicted with the curse of hearing an extra footstep and sensing a presence behind you. Rena herself at this point has become a very mysterious character, she seems to know a little too much about this stuff and I've heard the next chapter is her arc so looking forward to learning more. Why does she know all of this about the curse? Why is Satoshi being afflicted by it? What is that banging noise?

I still can't shake the fact that the curse might be some sort of substance or mind alteration that causes people to act on whims because none of these people seem like they'd commit murder otherwise, and I wouldn't be surprised if the "demon" is related to that. Really for an answer arc I don't think this one answered a ton of questions (not that it's necessarily a bad thing). We find out that the Sonozakis arent the ring leaders, but don't really receive any hints on who the real ones are. I assume subsequent arcs will carry the torch in this respect.

Anyway, that's all for now. Very verbose post and sorry if it's a shitty read at times, but this arc was very special to me so I wanted to give it the retrospective it deserved. I took a day's hiatus, but I will continue now that I've gotten all of this out of my system. Loving the game so far, it's entered very rare territory for me now thanks to Meakashi.

[glass]

Chapters 5-7 are very much my favorite parts of the entire story so I'm definitely looking forward to your reactions from here!

[Amlux]

If you're playing the Steam version, that means you won't be experiencing the voice acting added for the PS3 versions, which is somewhat of a shame IMO. The original art is superior enough that you should definitely play with that. But there is a version floating around that combines the original art with PS3 audio. I cannot affirm or deny any method of getting your hands on it, but it's the ideal way to play the game. The voice acting is simply extraordinary, even if there are a decent amount of censored lines where the original text version has spicier content. I guess if you've gotten this far it's not like you're going to restart it but I think it would be worth it even for just part of the experience.

[Maypews]

If you're playing the Steam version, that means you won't be experiencing the voice acting added for the PS3 versions, which is somewhat of a shame IMO. The original art is superior enough that you should definitely play with that. But there is a version floating around that combines the original art with PS3 audio. I cannot affirm or deny any method of getting your hands on it, but it's the ideal way to play the game. The voice acting is simply extraordinary, even if there are a decent amount of censored lines where the original text version has spicier content. I guess if you've gotten this far it's not like you're going to restart it but I think it would be worth it even for just part of the experience.

I'm using 07th mod, that's how I'm getting the PS3 CGs but keeping the original art. I did actually think about playing without the VA since iirc the original release didn't have it but decided that would probably be needless purism (same goes for disabling the CGs haha). But yeah unless you mean like extra lines or something I have the voice acting on, and it is indeed great.