Getting Started:Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni can be difficult for newcomers to understand due to the sheer number of story arcs, inconsistent adaptations, incomplete translations, and confusion regarding canonicity. This page is an attempt to clarify the story of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and how its various arcs work.
How should I experience the story?
What should I read?
Understanding the story
 | THIS CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL OF THE ARCS LISTED IN THE ABOVE SECTION. While the spoilers are marked, we still recommend that you experience all eight of the above arcs before continuing. Read at your own risk |
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 and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. Seven of these eight arcs, Onikakushi-hen, Watanagashi-hen, Tatarigoroshi-hen, Meakashi-hen, Tsumihoroboshi-hen, Minagoroshi-hen, and Matsuribayashi-hen, 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 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-hen, 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).
A majority of the canon Higurashi no Naku Koro ni experience exists solely in these eight arcs. There does exist a ninth arc, Saikoroshi-hen, which begins immediately after the ending of the eighth arc, Matsuribayashi-hen. Regardless of its potential canonicity, Saikoroshi-hen ends with its protagonist, Rika, in the world of Matsuribayashi-hen and no fragment-hopping takes place. There are two possibilities for how this occurs: Rika escapes from the world of Saikoroshi-hen and returns to the world of Matsuribayashi-hen or the entirety of Saikoroshi-hen was a dream that Rika experienced while in a coma. It is not made clear in the text or in any interviews which of these is accurate.
Something to keep in mind, especially if you've only read through the main arcs one time, is that the story actively lies to you. Re-reading early arcs such as Onikakushi-hen with the context of later arcs provides an entirely different understanding of the truth of what is happening. If you are, at any point, confused by the literal events being presented, keep the following factors in mind:
- Every single member of the club (except Rika Furude) is infected with Hinamizawa Syndrome and is prone to extreme paranoia. This results in unreliable narrators who will mistakenly present paranoid delusions to you, the reader, as if they were facts.
- While Rika is incapable of being paranoid like the others, her nigh-immortality and mental stress drives her to do things that may be considered extreme in normal circumstances, especially if she feels that she has already failed her mission in a particular fragment and needs to move on to the next one.
- Shion Sonozaki and Mion Sonozaki can and will try and assume the other's identity if they feel the need to. Reasons for this can be relatively benign, such as romantic manipulation, or more serious, such as attempts to cover up the death or disappearance of one of the sisters. The story will not be explicit about when this happens.
Bonus content
There have been several arcs since the release of Matsuribayashi-hen that exist as side stories adjacent to the events of Hinamizawa and several arcs that are intended as non-canon fan service. None of these stories are required to understand Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, however if you enjoyed the main story arcs and want to further explore the world presented then these are valuable additions to the franchise.