Familiar Names Join New Higurashi Anime Project

We have a quick update for everyone regarding the previously announced new Higurashi – When They Cry anime project today. In a report that hit the news wires on January 27th, it was revealed that the new series will see the return of Soichiro Hoshi and Mai Nakahara as the main characters of the series, Keiichi Maebara and Rena Ryugu respectively. Both actors have been playing the roles since the very first anime series and so this is good news for those of us who have been fans of their work since the start. 

Originally a doujin visual novel released at Comiket in 2002 by creator Ryukishi07, the series was first adapted into a 26 episode anime series in 2006 and then received a 24 episode sequel series in 2007. The first season was originally released by Geneon in the west before the license was taken over by Funimation. From there the series remained in limbo for a short time before Sentai Filmworks picked it back up and released the entire anime series on home video in 2016. 

Sentai Filmworks describes the story as:

Moving to the picturesque town of Hinamizawa is going to be a big adjustment for Keiichi. For all its beauty, it’s also tiny… so small that there’s only one school, one where most of the students have known each other all their lives. Fortunately, he soon meets four girls… Rena, Mion, Satoko, and Rika, who’re willing to let the new guy in town join their afterschool club. And for a while, things seem wonderful. Until Keiichi starts discovering strange things, like the project manager for a controversial dam project being found dismembered five years ago. As he digs deeper, there are whispers and rumors of other murders and disappearances, stories of a town curse, and mysterious rituals. And then people he knows start to die. What secrets have the people of Hinamizawa kept hidden from the rest of the world? And could his new friends somehow be involved?

Source: AnimeAnime