Ranked #26
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai

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Alternative Titles

English: The Moment the Cicadas Cry 2

Synonyms: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 2, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 2nd Series, Higurashi no Nakukoro ni 2nd Season, The Moment the Cicadas Cry 2, When they Cry 2

Japanese: ひぐらしのなく頃に解

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 24

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jul 5, 2007 to Dec 15, 2007

Producers: Geneon Universal Entertainment, Studio DEEN, 07th Expansion

Genres: Mystery, Drama, Psychological, Thriller

Duration: 24 min. per episode

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

^L represents licensing company

Statistics

Score: 8.69¹ (scored by 18048 users)

Ranked: #26²

Popularity: #64

Members: 29,999

Favorites: 1,231

¹ indicates a weighted score

² based on the top anime page.

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Popular Tags

drama horror loli mystery psychological

Synopsis

Continuing from the first series, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai begins to shed some light on the dark mysteries prevalent in the preceding season. The young group of friends in the town of Hinamizawa continue to enter terrible conflicts with one another in their never ending summer of 1983, often ending with the brutal murder of one of their numbers. Furude Rika, with the help of her spiritual friend Hanyuu, tackles challenges over and over, trying her best to keep their lives from coming to a tragic end. With no end to the torture in sight, Rika must call upon the bonds of friendship and trust among her friends to discover the true villain of this eternal June.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

Furude, Hanyuu

Main

Horie, Yui
Japanese

Furude, Rika

Main

Tamura, Yukari
Japanese

Houjou, Satoko

Main

Kanai, Mika
Japanese

Maebara, Keiichi

Main

Hoshi, Souichirou
Japanese

More staff
Staff

	Kon, Chiaki Director
	Kawase, Toshifumi Script
	Shinohara, Toshiya Storyboard
	Furuhashi, Kazuhiro Storyboard

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Jan 3, 2008

BakaOnna

122 of 162 people found this review helpful

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24 of 24 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

I will say this now, if you have not seen the anime called Higurashi no Naku koro ni, then this review will be as useful as the dust that lies under your bed.

With that said, most of what I have to say about Kai will be a rehash of what I said in my season 1 review; therefore, I will not be giving a detailed review. Instead, I will say what I thought were the stronger aspects in Kai compared to that of the first season. No doubt, both seasons of Higurashi were wonderful and one cannot exist without the other. Because of this, it is not exactly fair for me to use the same criteria I use with a stand alone season series or a stand alone anime. Thus, I rate and review Kai based on what was different, whether it be an improvement or not, from season 1.

Story: As said earlier, Kai is a direct continuation of where season 1 left off. Kai shows the last two answer arcs of Higurashi plus an anime-exclusive arc to fill up the holes to answers that were missing from season 1. Every mystery or question posed in the first season is answered nicely. The way everything falls together is very well thought out. The solutions provided to the mystery leaves very little things unanswered.

Art/Animation: Vast improvement in the art department from the last seasons. Animation, however, while it is much better, can still be inconsistent. Well, Higurashi was never known for its animation, and it does its job fine without KyotoAni, Bones, or Madhouse quality animation.

Sound: One aspect of Kai that was the same as the first season. The first season had an OP that matched very well with its atmosphere and mood. Kai was no different. Instead of the creepy, unsettling feeling, Kai uses an OP the shows the drama and desperation of Rika's struggle. The voice acting is still superb, and besides the major theme that is used in Kai and some new tracks, the music remains the same.

Characters: I found the character development to be better and given more time in Kai. While the first season introduced and partially developed the characters, they are fully fleshed out in Kai, especially Rika. Even the characters that you think played minor roles in the first season, Akasaka, Tomitake, Takano, Irie, and Ooishi, gets a good deal of development.

Enjoyment: While I had a lot more fun brainstorming theories and (sometimes, not always) being confused, I enjoyed Kai for other reasons. Firstly, I loved Minagoroshi-hen. It is, no doubt, my favorite Higurashi arc. While some people might enjoy watching psychotic girls beat the hell out of a certain, horrible uncle (I mean, who does not?), I had just as much fun watching Keiichi give his epic speeches. After all, Keiichi is called the Magician of Words for a reason. I also enjoyed watching as everything unfolded.

Overall:This would average out to a 9.4. I did think there was improvement of pacing, being a lot more consistent, quality wise, than season 1, and the awesome ending. The pacing in season 1 felt rushed at some parts and caused certain facts to be left out. Thankfully, most of that was rectified in Kai. So yes, in some ways, I did think Kai was superior to the first season. The first season did really well in setting up the mystery and atmosphere. While Kai's atmosphere may seem too different from that of season 1, it is actually a lot closer to its original source material (the VN). Of course, I will not be going into this, but overall, the way the story unfolds is wonderful, especially if some of your theories turns out to be correct. Even with all that said, this series is not perfect. While the ending itself and final episode was brilliant, the lead up to that ending was weak and could have been executed better. Even with that said, Higurashi, as a whole, is a series that I would definitely recommend. Final verdict: 9/10 read more

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May 12, 2008

UchihaItachi6660

52 of 75 people found this review helpful

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24 of 24 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

In this review, I am including both Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni and Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai in my comments. I will be calling the anime simply "Higurashi" in my review to save time. During the few times that I do choose to differenciate between the two seasons, I will refer to "Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai" simply as "Kai".

Story: Higurashi's storyline is stellar. It starts off as a horror/thriller anime where numerous mysteries arise in the small town of Hinamizawa. These mysterious storylines are filled with tension and suspense as the viewer fears for Keiichi's (the main character) life. Since Keiichi is a righteous character who means no harm, the viewer sympathizes with him and fears for his well-being- which is constantly at risk due to the seemingly murderous girls he befriends. Several story arcs arise as we experience Hinamizawa through Keiichi's eyes. Although these storylines may seem slightly confusing and seemingly unrelated at first, the second season of Higurashi ties them all together extremely well (I won't say how because of spoilers, of course). This ability to keep the viewer in suspense and tieing so many intriguing stories together makes Higurashi's storyline extremely engaging, and is my favourite storyline out of every anime I have seen to date. This intricate storyline also carries a heart-warming underlying theme of the importance of friendship and continually shows us extremely hyperbolic possibilities of what the world may become without trust and friendship. I find it particularily interesting that such a theme exists under Higurashi's superficial hack-and-slash plotline.

Art: As I read other people's comments on Higurashi's art, I noticed that people generally preferred the second season's artwork more than the first. While the second season's art did seem more well-rounded and fleshed out that season one, I had no major complaints with the first season's artwork whatsoever. Both seasons' art tricks most people into believing the anime essentially a typical harem or shoujo. The shock that people recieve when they see such cute characters are actually involved in an intelligent horror/mystery story is priceless. This is the primary reason for which I feel that Higurashi's artwork is extremely effective.

Sound: Higurashi's soundtrack suits the anime extremely well and the only reason I did not give it a 10 is because I cannot remember any specific background music besides Rika's theme. But just because the soundtrack is not memorable does not necessarily mean it is bad. The undertoned, haunting soundtrack is suited so well to Higurashi that it does not interrupt the flow of the anime's plot whatsoever. It only increases tension and suspense as haunting melodies are quietly played on a piano or violin in the background. As for opening/ending themes, Higurashi's openings are extremely catchy and memorable. Both are definitely worth downloading onto an ipod or mp3 player (along with "Dear You", a song from the original Higurashi videogames). The first ending however, did not do anything for me while Kai's ending (Taishou.a) was a lot more pleasurable to listen to. I enjoyed it for it's graceful melody juxtaposed against its rather gruesome lyrics which essentially served as a parallel to highlight the main concept of Higurashi's storyline. This fact alone made Taishou.a an excellent choice for Kai's ending song.

Character: Character development in Higurashi is also amazing. The characters interact with each other in a very natural, human manner and their personalities are not sterotypical in the least. In the first season, Higurashi's character personalities are also quite complex and can keep the viewer guessing at characters' true personalities and motives for episodes upon episodes because of how mysterious every character is (with the exception of Keiichi). During Kai, the characters often adopt a more optimistic or positive outlook on everything as a result of their efforts to work together against a common enemy.

Enjoyment: If you cannot tell by now, I thoroughly enjoyed both seasons of Higurashi and am definitely going to re-watch them both at least a few more times in the future. What is not to love moe girls that have a murderous streak to them? ^^

Overall: My favourite anime series. If you have not seen this, please watch it IMMEDIATELY! The world needs more Higurashi fans. Also, I am aware that a third season of Higurashi will be released sometime this year and I am anxiously anticipating its release. Hopefully, it will explain what happened at the very end of the second season, since I was left feeling fairly confused... but that might just be because I was too stupid to interpret the ending accurately O_o Thanks for reading, I hope it helped! read more

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Recommendations

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni add

If you never quite understood what was going on in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and often found your self saying wtf? Then I recommend the second season. It's just as good and it makes you understand the first one more.

For those of you who never saw the first one. Why the hell are you watching the second one?

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Elfen Lied add

It has a great storyline and is full of gore and blood!

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Make a recommendation for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai

Edit
Opening Theme

"Naraku no Hana (奈落の花)" by Eiko Shimamiya

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Ending Theme

"Taishō.a (対象.a)" by anNina

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Higurashi DS Game in Summer ( 1 2 3 )
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Recent Forum Discussion

	Poll: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) MarthX	126 replies	by camj4f »» 11-15-09, 10:05 PM
	Really Dissapointed With This Series (Spoilers) Jax	8 replies	by DarkIceXIII »» 11-11-09, 1:59 AM

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Fansubbing Groups

Which fansubbers do you like the best? Click + to approve of their subs for this show. Click - if you don't think they did such a great job.

Hauu~ [Hauu~] 104 of 111 users approve

Subtitling including OP ED themes and cast credits.

Fast and Efficiect unlike shitsen

Their typesetting is nice and clean, I didn't catch any grammatical/spelling errors, they're fast, AND the subbed the preview which you have to get off the show's official site. ((The preview doesn't actually air on TV as far as I know.))

Fast and accurate.

Fastest and good quality.

They are fast and have good quality.

Good sub, good encoding.

Timely, well-edited, accurate

Np. Could be a little faster though.

In some places there are misspellings like "It it okay?" in episode 11. You can notice them in other episodes too. Grammar isn't my strong side but at least I can tell where they miss hit keyboard keys.

Bad encoding, lyrics blink or flash after introduction subbed credits. Excess, very unnecessary cuss words. Cuss words are not part of the anime, aired on TV, or part of the language. Rushed bad-quality subbing.

good grammar, pretty fast subs. overall a very good group to do this series.

Fast and pretty good subbing.

While you may argue with small nomenclature choices based on your own preferences, the grammar and flow of the dialog is fine. They're also quite accurate with how they choose to adapt the dialog as well. As good as any other localization, if not better.

Good quality, excellent translation.

undefined

Speedy in comparison to other groups, translation seems fairly good, next episode preview is included and translated.

Because they subbed the most of Higurashi no naku koro ni kai,

They try to keep it the most "higurashi-like" they can

Fast, and good quality and TLs seems right

First group.

Fast subbing; great quality. Few to no errors.

Good translation, systematic releases, previews appended

Softsub :), they're fast.

It's subbed well, and overall a very good job.

Fast.

Very nice subs, very clear. Quick subbing. Thumbs up

fast subs, good quality

The fastest subs out there by far, with pretty good quality aswell. They also include the preview, which i dont think any of the other groups do.

found missing subs

Use of the .mkv format makes for troubled playback.

High quality video. Great translation and beautifully styled subs

the ones that continue the series to the final xD

undefined

Always thought their speed and quality was quite good. Though not an expert did think the translations were good and they made Higurashi more enjoyable to follow.

Great quality. Removable karaoke subs. ... But the fact they finished subbing the entire season is good enough, really...

nice work

Do these guys speak English? o_O'Do not touch; try WinD version instead.

Softsubs! That and pretty good translations.

Are people idiots? These subs are great. Not even a mistake from what I've seen. Watch this group.

These people are freaking retarded idiots. Hauu~ are simply perfect subs, I can easily compare them to m33w's or SS-Eclipse's quality. Grab them, now.

Overall pretty good.

nice subs

hauuauuauu. great subs I really love the softsubs!, pretty decent video quality. The sound quality could be higher. =]

Good sub job, but could have done faaaaaaarrr better with the h264 encode

We are IN Denial [WinD] 71 of 77 users approve

Best quality, accurate subs.

Excelent video quality and accurate subs.

great job! color coding! funny comments!

I understand japanese and found their translations to be accurate and good to read.

null

Great sub, they just need to catch up.

accurate translation, color coding, witty comments in the eyecatch parts. no other higurashi fansub has this many features !... it's just that they haven't finished the series, yet !

weeee

Great quality.

Best video quality of the ones I've seen so far. No timing issues. Also have a good website.

Although they're falling behind currently, the sub quality is very good

Good quality

null

Best of all the groups. They play the games too. Better detail.

Quality translation, few spelling/grammar errors. Slow as fuck, though.

Nice subs ni-pah.

Not worth watching. No effort put into the subs.

The writing is just the right size and I liked how the colour of it corresponded to a character's hair colour.

Great quality subs, each character is color-coded by their hair, witty comments put in the eyecatchers etc.

You know, there are good subs, there are bad subs, and finally there are ABSOLUTELY WINNING SUBS. WinD's Higurashi is in the last group. Superb.

Liked the colour coded fonts and loved the funny comments

Great quality, font color changes to character speaking (sometimes hard to read Takano's dialogue)Personal comments are in the eyecatch commercial breaks so theyre not getting in the way of anything important.

Released both hard and soft subs, great work!

Best fansub work out there. Good quality timing, always translated in the spirit of things, simple.

Very good subs! Sometimes a small error.

Wow! Colour subs XD

Best group ever

Character's speech is shown in their hair colour, making it much better to watch

Best quality of the one's I've seen. :D

Colored the subtitles according to the characters, almost perfect translation, did the entire season. The only complain would be the amount of cursing used in the last few episodes, but it gets the severity of the situation across nicely.

Perfect language and coloured subs

Because they include little comments in the commercial screens that make me lol.

Anime No Sekai [ANSK, AnimeNSK] (Brazilian Portuguese) 12 of 13 users approve

Ayu [Ayu] 12 of 13 users approve

Shinsen-Subs [SHS] 34 of 50 users approve

Philanthropy / Otacon Fansubs [Philanthropy / Otacon] 8 of 33 users approve

Tanoshii Fansub [Tanoshii] (Spanish) 9 of 9 users approve

Ni-paa~ [Nipaa] 5 of 5 users approve

Eternal Animes [EA] (Brazilian Portuguese) 2 of 5 users approve

S.E.E.S. Fansubs [SEES] 1 of 1 users approve

OpenSea FanSub [oki] (Italian)

Tsuki no Kishidan [TNK] (French)

Akatsuki-Subs [AKA] (German)

BinKan Team [BKT] (Italian)

hELL uNLEASHED [huFansub] (Italian)

Ushi-Ai (Finnish)

Batsu-Geimu

Caso & ioGoo [CASO&I.G] (Chinese)

SumiSora 澄空学园 [SumiSora] (Chinese)

W-zone [WLGO] (Chinese)

AnimeAdvent [] (Hungarian)

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