New 'Higurashi no Naku Koro ni' Anime Project Announced

Akio Watanabe for characters designs. Couldn't think of a better artist to get his works slaughtered :^)

Well obviously they didn't adapt every single segment of it but all the main arcs that were needed for the main story are covered

Anyone expecting anything more from a visual novel adaptation is being extremely optimistic. Games like Higurashi are enormous in terms of total text-amount after all; expecting people to animate literally everything from them is pretty unreasonable

Oh yeah? Then where's Minai Tomoe's arcs? Where's Natsumi Kimiyoshi's arcs? Where's Kageboushi-hen?

There's a ton of VN content that hasn't been adapted.

The image of Rena makes me think Tokihogushi-hen.

Well, i guess it will be better !

Higurashi? I wonder if it'll be received today the same way it was back in the 2000s.

remake or sequel or prequel?

if it was a remake, will i have to go through the loop again?

Well, i guess it will be better !

I want to expand on what I said in the Higurashi entry-specific sub-forum.

I have zero interest in seeing any of this if it's a remake, since the first two seasons are absolutely perfect to me not just in the script/writing, but the OST (not only OPs, but background music throughout being so scene-setting and evocative in a very specific kind of way), the voice acting, etc. All were incredible.

I love the art style of the original and the only aspect I could see being a valid widespread criticism is in the animation department - particularly of some of the animation being off-model at a few random times or not synced with the vocals (like the infamous ladder scene with Shion that's always cited). But it's personally something that doesn't actually bother me in the least, I don't care about it at all, and would take 1000% over the overly-polished looking current art style and animation which to me makes heads and faces all look more of the same and appear overly sleek and generic. To me whether the story was interesting and rich and detailed and had heart and raw emotion on full display matters 1000x over those technical trivialities. Higurashi is something that always wore its heart and what it was on its sleeve, and could be both ugly and beautiful at the same time, and in fact be beautiful and excel because it was at times ugly, and unafraid to be so.

I wasn't wild about most of Rei, Outbreak was just serviceable and decent, and what you would expect for what it was (a short standalone TV-movie or straight-to-video movie), and Kira was my least favorite offering from the Higurashi-verse by a significant margin. Yet I love this world of 80s Hinamizawa and these characters and their little facets so much I'll watch it if it's any new supplemental material (specials, OVAs, ONAs, etc.) regardless of how shoddy or rushed it may be (not saying it will be, but even if so).

But a remake of two perfect 10/10 seasons of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni/Kai from 2006 and 2007, respectively? No thank you, sir.

I think the logic driving constant remakes though not just with this if it comes to pass and ends up being one, but even outside of the anime industry, like in Hollywood, is that it's a safe bet to have some near guaranteed built-in audience under the name of previously successful material. But the creators often don't really care how it stacks up against or is seen comparatively to the original - at least to the original fans. The main goal is to attract a new audience with a perceived established formula for success in-hand.

So a remake would be great for those who never watched the original series for whatever reason (I never did when they aired, for instance, as anime was a non-entity to me back then - but only for the first time last year) or hated it because of the art/animation. If you're someone who saw the original, whether in 2006 or last week, and absolutely loved it, you'll probably inevitably end up being disappointed by this.

That's why I can understand logically why remakes are made for revenue reasons of going with supposed-to-be-sure things, but I personally have 0% interest in seeing remakes of shows/films I already loved the first version of. I feel like "What is the point?" It's never better.

No one will replicate the voicework done by Yukari Tamura or Satsuki Yukino for Rika and Mion, those ominous and melancholic tracks of the original OST, or just the fact that they portrayed 80s rural Gifu in a very particular way through a mid-2000s lens and now that may end up just feeling overly modernized or sanitized, or worse still, like a parody of itself milking the cash cow (as some can and do argue the OVAs all were, but there the content itself was new or never adapted prior).

If fortune is good and it is a sequel season though, it'd be the first new season of any show I genuinely looked forward to with such anticipation since getting into anime in 2016.



What about Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hō, released in 2014? It doesn't look like all of that was adapted.

“Calm down son, it’s just a drawing”

Niceu niceu very niceu

Higurashi was very memorable

Looking forward for this one.

I mean I just tortured myself by watching episodes 19 and 20 today. It just sprinted through the story at light speed, touching random plot points with like 1 sentence, even if the prior stuff to make that plot point sense was skipped entirely lmao. Maybe it could be decent if they had at least 12 episodes per arc, but as it stands, it feels like fragmented (ha) trash to me and completely lacking the spirit/emotion of the original material largely due to the pacing. Lol.

Just play through the games if Umineko interests you. It's well worth, especially with the 07th-mod. <3

*Stares back at you and glares* XD

I will say they're is some issues with it, but the story is so good (Probably because I like witches) where some characters are kinda like wtf. The novel and manga are of course a lot better, but you don't see a lot of horror witch anime that has a deep and interesting origins. Like myself I'm studying witches, myths, etc and it's just attractive to see such an anime that packs psychological, horror, with witches and some romance in it. Maybe if they did do a re-boot it might be better, or finish it!

I'm just hoping that eventually they do something if not it's okay we got Higurashi coming back !! XD

Honestly, I don’t see the need for this if it is a remake... Yes, the first 2 old series weren’t outstanding in terms of production values, but they did a good enough job with the key moments and psychotic-horrific scenes. I doubt this new series is going to be able to capture that same feeling from the old ones. We also have this trend of most of these remakes ending up being worse (or just slightly better) than their originals…

Anyhow, I will check it out, but I’m not expecting much out of this project right now.

remake? not particularly interested even if they improve the low budget animation the original had, that first season was soooo repetitive
the show was ok for the time but nowadays we are so used to shows about cute girls wielding knives an laughing while being covered in blood that i dont think this franchise has much to offer anymore

I've had a mixed experience with this series but I am looking forward to see where it goes.

Umineko doesn't have an anime though. What you're saying is strange Yukiato-kun. *stares at you with elongated pupils* What anime are you talking about?

Jk, but no. No, it should not. It shouldn't have even been started. I can't even bear to finish watching what they've already released of the Umineko anime, it's so bad. xD

I took a (very long) break halfway through the Umineko anime to play through the games as I heard they were much better, and I agree, they were positively amazing, so the source material isn't lacking. Just the way they chose to present it in the anime... lol. @_@

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SERIES EVER IS BACK WOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

Well I don't know if curiosity is going to kill me or not, but I'm very curious if this is going to be a re-boot like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor. Hoping that they will keep it as ORIGINAL as possible. While a friend did point out that they should do Umineko which I do agree instead of Higurashi. Umineko should be finished instead of a "maybe" re-boot of Higurashi. I do like Higurashi so I'll probably watch it and enjoy it!

Was Outbreak not enough to bury the franchise for good?

Great news, though I'm mainly glad about this since it hints the possibility of an Umineko adaptation remake. Now that's one anime that needs to be rebooted.