Getting Started:Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Difference between revisions

 

== Understanding the story ==

''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni'' is a story that follows a small group of friends, informally called [[the club]], as they experience the dark underbelly of their rural village, [[Hinamizawa]]. This story is divided into '''EIGHT ARCS''' which were released as part of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (sound novel)|Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' and {{kai}}. Seven of these eight arcs, {{onikakushi}}, {{watanagashi}}, {{tatarigoroshi}}, {{meakashi}}, {{tsumihoroboshi}}, {{minagoroshi}}, and {{matsuribayashi}}, cover roughly the same period of time in June 1983. '''AT THE END OF EACH STORY ARC, THE NARRATIVE RESTARTS TO THE BEGINNING OF JUNE.''' As such, any event that occurred in one arc is not guaranteed to happen in another. These are ''not'' different perspectives on the same story. Rather, they are all different possible "what if" outcomes to the same initial premise. This is tied together through [[Rika Furude]] and [[Hanyuu]], who possess a limited ability to time travel via the method of "fragment hopping". When Rika dies, Hanyuu is capable of transporting her to [[w:Many-worlds interpretation|another realm of existence]], called "fragments", as well as sending her back in time by several weeks so that Rika has an opportunity to prevent her own death. The single outlier arc, {{himatsubushi}}, takes place in 1978, five years prior to the events of any other arc. It is important to note that, while the events of the seven other arcs are variations of the same period of time, there are no potential variations to the story of ''Himatsubushi-hen''. This is because the "fragment hopping", as portrayed in the stories, does not begin until Rika first dies in June 1983, thus every event that occurred before June 1983 is a set part of history (at least as far as Rika and ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni'' are concerned).