Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri
Higurashi When They Cry: Meguri

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(The followin is my review 12 chapters in. At the end I'll write my update whenever the manga finishes)

This is the alternative manga sequel to Higurashi Gou, and OH BOY is it better than Higurashi Sotsu.

Higurashi Gou anime's sequel had the following problems (which this manga totally fixes):

SPOILERS (anime)

-The answer arcs didn't reveal anything, they were almost entirely recycled scenes from Higurashi Gou

-The last 2 chapters, which were the only original content of the anime and the canonical conclusion to the whole Higurashi series, didn't make any sense and didn't close anything. The only good thing about them is that the conection between Higurashi ... and Umineko (the other VN from the creator which is in the same universe) is vaguely implied.

-Satoko acted totally out of character. Normally, she was a caring and loving girl, even more with Rika who is her only family. Despite of this and for some reason I can't come to understand, in Sotsu she sees that her friend has suffer the pain of thousands of deads and not only she doesn't care, not only she decides to torture her and THEIR dear friends even further, but her only reason to do it is that SHE HATES STUDYING but wants to stay with Rika in Hinamizawa. After getting the power to go back in time as much as she wants, what would she do?
Use the infinite time to study so she can then spend her time peacefully with Rika? Nope, she first tries a few times to convince Rika to not leave Hinamizawa, kills herself inmediatly after failing and then proceeds to horribly torture her so she gets so traumatized that she surrenders. They could have used Hinamizawa sindrome, an insane mental ilness that she has as an excuse for her crazyness, but they made sure to explain that she had completly cured. Omg...

-Also, milf Hanyuu is a joke and Keichi and the others never get to help them with their conflict (and one of Higurashi's main messages is to let your friends help you)

This manga, just within it's first volume, fixes ALL OF IT.

SPOILERS(from this manga)

-Rika doesn't want to leave Hinamizawa, she appreciates the happy memories she made with her friends. She only wants to go to St. Lucia because Hanyuu, the only one who was knew and was with her while she suffered for a hundred years, told her in what looked like her deathbed, asked her as her last wish to explore the world now that she can. When Satoko tells her she doesn't want to go to St. Lucia, she understands. When Satoko asks her to stay for a little longer, she does.

- Satoko isn't now evil just because. She came into a similar situation to Rika's and after trying a lot, she couldn't endure the mental charge and became crazy, probably also because of her dormant Hinamizawa sindrom. Also, she didn't give up that easily about talking to her, she just failed because Rika's new friends and milf Hanyuu were the worst.

-There's been little about the answer arcs to date, but for know the first one is being a lot better than in Sotsu.

Also, the art is SO FREAKING CLEAN

The only real downside to this manga is that it's published monthly, I advice you to follow it by arcs or it'll be a torture (chapters are really short)

Overall, a perfect conclusion to the Higurashi series and all that the anime should have been: 9/10 objectivly, 10/10 personally.

UPDATE:
So...they screwed up real hard at the end, with quite a few plotholes and wraping up things in a very anticlimatic way. Still better than Higurashi Sotsu, but what a shame.

OK, let's go. You're a fan of When They Cry, right? And decided to watch Gou/Sotsu thinking it would be a good experience. And then you felt that Sotsu gave very bad answers to Gou's problems, maybe because of Passione's budget limitation in the number of episodes, or because of bad choices in the characterization (or rather, mischaracterization) of all the characters.

And then you arrived here. And sees Akase Tomato simply solving everything satisfactorily. From delving into the original story to avoid the flaws of the animated Gou/Sotsu ensuring you recognize the characters (making tragedies much more painful while recreating expectations in an infinitely superior ... way), to simply looking to build a different ending, which by all indications has the true soul of the Higurashi franchise that we all love. After the last chapter, all I can say is: read, enjoy and be sure this work redeems what was spoiled in animation. I know I should wait for the work to finish but after what I've read, I can't see the author fail, because what he gave was basically everything I wanted so far. And I'm sure it's exactly what you, long time WTC fan, want too!

Well, akarigurashi is really really good, one hell of a solution for the whole gou/sotsu/ problem, but overall its still a pointless spin off to a problem that shouldn't be there to begin with.

I still hate how satoko became some crazy yandere bitch that is just not what she would do, she's rika best friend and the last person that would kill her.

Everything else is the exact same as the anime, so i wouldn't raise the score more than this, it doesnt change enough to make it worth an 8 or a 9, the original story is still perfect and there was no need ... for a "sequel"