New 'Higurashi no Naku Koro ni' TV Anime Debuts in Summer 2020

by Vindstot
Mar 20, 2020 11:25 PM | 35 Comments

Production staff, cast, and the first promotional video for the new Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (Higurashi: When They Cry) anime project were revealed during Kadokawa's Spring special livestream program on Saturday. The voice cast from the original anime series will reprise their roles. The new television anime will premiere in July 2020.

Staff
Director: Keiichirou Kawaguchi (Minami-ke Tadaima, Island)
Series Composition: Naoki Hayashi (Flip Flappers, Citrus)
Music: Kenji Kawai (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Mob Psycho 100)

The new anime series is being produced by animation studio Passione (Rokka no Yuusha, Joshikousei no Mudazukai). Akio Watanabe (Bakemonogatari, Grisaia no Kajitsu) is designing the characters. Infinite is credited for production.

Cast
Keiichi Maebara: Soichiro Hoshi (Mekakucity Actors)
Rena Ryuuguu: Mai Nakahara (Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita)
Mion Sonozaki: Satsuki Yukino (Babylon)
Satoko Houjou: Mika Kanai (Choujigen Game Neptune The Animation)
Rika Furude: Yukari Tamura (Katanagatari)

Studio Deen produced the first television anime in Spring 2006, which was followed by a 24-episode sequel in Summer 2007. The five-episode Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei (When They Cry: Rei) original video anime ran between February and August 2009.

07th Expansion published the first chapter of the psychological horror visual novel, Onikakushi-hen (Demoned Away Chapter), in August 2002. The eighth and final chapter in the original series, Matsuribayashi-hen (Festival Accompanying Chapter), was released in August 2006. Three extra chapters were released in a fandisc in December that year. The latest installment in the franchise, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hou (When They Cry: Gift), was published in August 2014.

PV

Source: Dengeki Online

20 of 35 Comments Recent Comments

I've watched it and I like it

May 4, 2020 11:45 PM by Vivien76

Cauli....Broccoli!

May 4, 2020 10:02 PM by KuroNekoAlchemy

Ah shit here we go again.

Apr 20, 2020 5:29 AM by eyatOs

If this is a remake, I'm definitely watching it. But... I'm afraid there will be a lot of censorship involved. I hope not, but I don't know..

Apr 18, 2020 1:10 PM by Shy

Eh, I'll watch it. I won't have massive expectations, though.

Apr 16, 2020 2:41 AM by ArcFloof

Is it quality?
Tho it seems a bit strange

Apr 10, 2020 3:32 AM by talortoo

Are they in a hurry? In view of the problems now, they will salt the project to hell. I understand, money, but can money+quality?

Mar 26, 2020 4:27 AM by Verdandy

I am REALLY really excited for this!!

Who else blasted through ALL of Higurashi and the sequel? I never played the games (I don't own them on Steam) but ... I want to!

Mar 23, 2020 9:05 AM by watercolorsanime

"Akio Watanabe doing Higurashi" would have made 14 year old me jump with joy, but alas, his art style has changed immensely since then so she would be disappointed with how this looks. I do think it looks better than the first season of the Deen version, but Kai looks better than this.

I still think Umineko deserves the remake treatment more, if only because the Deen Higurashi was still enjoyable on its own even if it wasn't perfect.

Mar 22, 2020 8:28 PM by removed-user

It doesn't look scary anymore.

The new art style is better imo

Mar 22, 2020 8:25 PM by removed-user

I won't watch it if it's a remake since the original is about as close to perfect as an anime gets for me and already offers me everything, so I'd rather just rewatch it the next time I'm in the mood rather than see a remake.

I would definitely hope for this to be a sequel like Higurashi Rei or some other form of supplementary content to the main story. I'd rather see a sequel which makes reference to the chain of events from the main story and establishes succession rather than a more non-canon side story as well.

The appeal of remakes though may in large part be not even for the original fanbase, but the potential for a whole new fanbase since it's now 14 years on from 2006.

The only remakes I typically watch though are ones I happened to see growing up before being aware of the existence of or having a chance to see the original version, or ones where I heavily dislike the original version for whatever reason.

Mar 22, 2020 5:45 PM by WatchTillTandava

If they are going to reboot the original anime, then I agree. The animation seems to be sufficient and the preservation of the original cast inspires some hope. The original anime was one of the most influential anime fan in my anime fan's "career", so that means a lot to me.

Maurict99 said:

JanPri said:
If this is really a remake how do they plan to adapt this compared to the original anime?
No matter what people say I think the 50 episodes produced by Deen were pretty good...
So what is Passionate planning to do? 72 episodes to adapt even the things that had to be originally omitted?

50 episodes are enough, that's not the problem. And no, the Deen anime was not good, it was adapted like just an horror and the visual novel is much more than that.

The choice of time of the year suggests that this anime will also be positioned as horror.

Mar 22, 2020 4:01 AM by RobertBobert

Really bizarre to see Watanabe's art in Higurashi. It's slowly growing on me, though.
Also will it be a new adaptation of the visual novel, or a remake of the anime?

Mar 21, 2020 8:57 PM by ChartTopper60

Wow! It's good to see,it's gonna happen now.Though it's not Umineko.

Mar 21, 2020 11:14 AM by _aLiez_LIN

Users thinking that this will end up being 50 episodes (25 episodes split cour, like the original) should keep those expectations in check... the possibilities of that happening are quite low.

Frankly, I have low expectations for this as most of today’s remakes (with a very few exceptions) end up being below-par their originals (being this a remake of a VN makes all this even worse). There is also the director which doesn’t inspire confidence as he has never worked/directed series within the genre of mystery, thriller, and/or horror before. Production values are decent, but not exceptional. I was at least expecting more in that department, but it is what it is.

Anyhow, the best thing about the series' first adaptation was its dreadful atmosphere and the way characters’ decent to madness as each arc reach culmination. If this doesn’t reach and/or improve that, then this will be a pass/drop for me.

Mar 21, 2020 10:59 AM by zero-r

Ottes said:

HaXXspetten said:
Still don't get why they decided to remake Higurashi (which already has a good adaptaiton) instead of Umineko (which desperately needs a reboot)

I can get the Umineko part, but saying that Higurashi has a 'good adptation' is very suspicious. The amount of people that played the VN that absolutely hate it is pretty big. The production values don't look too good either.

Nah the adaptation is just fine. Yeah the anime has terrible visuals but let's be real, the VN has even worse visuals originally lol. Hence why everyone plays it with the sprites imported from the Playstation port

But anyway more importantly it's a totally fine adaptation story-wise. The only arc I think is a bit sub-par compared to the VN is Tsumihoroboshi-hen which was excellent in the game, but other than that it's pretty spot on

Visual novel adaptations in general are usually pretty terrible compared to their source materials but Higurashi is widely considered to be among the better ones

Mar 21, 2020 10:40 AM by HaXXspetten

I don't know why peoples are angry with that. MAN, EVERY NEW PIECE OF HIGURASHI IS A GAIN OF MAGNIFICENCE IN THE WORLD!

Mar 21, 2020 10:09 AM by ABRAHAN_NIPAH

This is going to be a disastah, cant wait

Mar 21, 2020 9:42 AM by Accelerator10

HaXXspetten said:
Still don't get why they decided to remake Higurashi (which already has a good adaptaiton) instead of Umineko (which desperately needs a reboot)

Mar 21, 2020 8:22 AM by Ottes

50 episodes are enough, that's not the problem. And no, the Deen anime was not good, it was adapted like just an horror and the visual novel is much more than that.

Mar 21, 2020 7:19 AM by Maurict99

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