Higurashi: When They Cry - Sotsu

Alternate Titles

ひぐらしのなく頃に卒
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Sotsu

Synopsis

Keiichi Maebara moves from the bustling city to a remote village named Hinamizawa deep in the mountains. There, he makes new friends and lives an ordinary life. But when the annual Watanagashi Festival arrives, a series of tragedies begins...

Background

Higurashi When They Cry is a murder mystery visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion that was first released in 2002. The original series spans eight games in total which were released in Japan between 2002 and 2006 and would later be released worldwide. Aside from the games, the series has been adapted into several other media including drama CDs, manga, light novels, live-action dramas, and anime.

Higurashi: When They Cry - Sotsu is the sequel to the anime Higurashi: When They Cry - Gou. It is being animated by Passione and features Keiichiro Kawaguchi as director and Takashi Ikehata as assistant director with Naoki Hayashi handling series composition, Akio Watanabe handling character designs, and Kenji Kawai composing the music. The anime’s opening theme song is "Analogy" by Ayane, and the ending theme song is "Missing Promise" by Konomi Suzuki. The anime was originally scheduled to premiere in July 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will premiere in Japan on July 1, 2021 on Tokyo MX, BS11, and other channels and will be available to stream in the US through Funimation.

Characters

Keiichi Maebara (Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi (Japanese); Grant George (English))
The protagonist of the series, Keiichi recently moved to Hinamizawa from the city and is living with his mother and father, who works as a painter. He is curious and enthusiastic and has a remarkable talent for rhetoric, which has earned him the nickname "Magician of Words.”

Rena Ryugu (Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese); Mela Lee (English))
Keiichi’s classmate and best friend, Rena has a devoted personality and walks to school together with Keiichi every morning. She loves cute things and has a habit of going into “Cute Mode” and wanting to take things home that she finds are cute.

Mion Sonozaki (Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese); Megan Hollingshead (English))
Mion is Keiichi and Rena’s upperclassman and Shion’s identical twin sister. She is the leader of the after-school club and is well-liked by others. She acts like a tomboy and refers to herself as an oji-san, but hides a girly side underneath.

Satoko Hojo (Voiced by: Mika Kanai (Japanese); Jennie Kwan (English))
Satoko is Keiichi and Rena’s underclassman and Satoshi’s younger sister. She has a distinctive, refined way of talking and a boisterous laugh. She is highly competitive and has a cheeky side.

Rika Furude (Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese); Rebecca Forstadt (English))
Rika is the only heir of the local Furude Shrine. She is in the same grade as Satoko and lives together with her. In June of every year she plays the role of shrine maiden at the Watanagashi Festival. She has a mysterious atmosphere and calm demeanor and is able to calm those around her.

Shion Sonozaki (Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese); Megan Hollingshead (English))
Shion is Mion’s identical twin sister who lives in Okinomiya and works part-time as a waitress. Though the polar opposite of her sister in terms of personality, she often switches place with her sister and it can be difficult to tell them apart.

Jiro Tomitake (Voiced by: Toru Okawa (Japanese); Kyle Hebert (English))
Jiro is a freelance photographer who comes to Hinamizawa from Tokyo several times a year. He seems to specialize in bird photography, but it’s a mystery as to why he is interested in Hinamizawa.

Kuraudo Oishi (Voiced by: Chafurin (Japanese); John Snyder (English))
Kuraudo is a veteran detective who follows the series of mysterious deaths that occur in Hanamizawa every year. He is obsessed with solving the case before he retires.

Miyo Takano (Voiced by: Miki Ito (Japanese); Karen Strassman (English))
Miyo is a nurse at the local clinic who has a keen interest in Hinamizawa and is conducting her own research into its history. She seems to know Jiro.

Kyosuke Irie (Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese); Dave Mallow (English))
Kyosuke is the head doctor of the local clinic. He also coaches the local youth baseball team, Hinamizawa Fighters. He has a calm nature and is well-respected by others, even though he has a severe maid fetish.

Hanyu (Voiced by: Yui Horie)
Hanyu is a mysterious girl with horns growing from her head who wears a shrine maiden outfit.

Teppei Hojo (Voiced by: Katsuhisa Houki)
Satoko’s uncle and a hopeless ruffian. He has recently returned from the neighboring town of Kogu.

Rumiko Chie (Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa)
A homeroom teacher at Hinamizawa Branch School, which Keiichi and his friends attend. Though young, she has a strong sense of responsibility for her students. She loves curry.

Eua (Voiced by: Noriko Hidaka)
A mysterious girl with horns whose true identity is unknown.

Music

• Opening Theme Song: "Analogy" by Ayane
• Ending Theme Song: "Missing Promise" by Konomi Suzuki

• Official Site (Japanese)
• Official Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator: Ryukishi07, 07th Expansion
• Director: Keiichiro Kawaguchi
• Assistant Director: Takashi Ikehata
• Series Composition: Naoki Hayashi
• Character Design: Akio Watanabe
• Art Director: Kazuhiro Inoue (Kusanagi)
• Art Supervision: Saho Yamane (Kusanagi)
• Color Design: Arisa Komatsu
• Director of Photography: Yuichiro Tozawa (Graphinica)
• Editing: Ayako Tan (Graphinica)
• Sound Director: Hiroto Morishita
• Sound Effects: Shota Yaso (Swara Pro)
• Music: Kenji Kawai
• Music Production: Frontier Works
• Production: Infinite
• Animation Production: Passione