One series that I am looking forward to almost above all others is the brand new television adaptation of Higurashi: When They Cry. First announced back in January, we’ve only gotten little trickles of information regarding this new adaptation until very recently.
On Saturday, March 21st, a brand new promotional video was released which reveals more returning cast members, the primary crew putting this series together, and a scheduled premiere month (by the way, make sure you watch the promotional video all the way to the end, it’s worth it).
We already knew that Soichiro Hoshi and Mai Nakahara would be returning to the main roles of Keiichi Maebara and Rena Ryugu. According to the promotional video, we can now also confirm that the other main roles of Mion Sonozaki, Satoko Hojo, and Rika Furude will be voiced by their original voice actors as well.
In terms of the crew, this new adaptation will shake things up considerably. Keiichiro Kawaguchi will direct this series at studio Passione. Naoki Hayashi is in charge of series composition, Kenji Kawai will return to compose the background music, and Akio Watanabe will design the characters.
Originally a doujin visual novel released at Comiket in 2002 by creator Ryukishi07, Higurashi: When They Cry 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 Higurashi: When They Cry 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: Anime.Eiga
