Originally an early 2000s visual novel series, Higurashi has become an even more successful anime and manga franchise. Building off of the games and the manga's different arcs, the anime has spun off into multiple new seasons and movies since it was first animated back in 2006.
Higurashi will soon be getting a fourth season titled SOTSU this summer, continuing the long-running anime's sprawling story not long after the most recent season, Higurashi GOU, finished airing. To get caught up before Season 4 drops, here's a brief primer on the story of the series and all of the manga and video game's plots the anime has adapted.
Higurashi: When They Cry and Nekogoroshi-hen
The first season of Higurashi: When They Cry aired back in 2006, beginning what would become an incredibly long-lived horror and murder mystery series. The main protagonist is Keiichi Maebara, who moves to Hinamizawa in 1983 and befriends several young adults his age. Unfortunately, as the town prepares for an annual festival, a mysterious curse begins to unravel. The townspeople are increasingly tight-lipped about this ordeal, which results in equally as mysterious and murderous events taking place. Keiichi descends into madness as the curse of the town's patron god draws closer and closer to everyone who lives there.
The 26-episode series' arcs each adapted different chapters of the game. Season 1 was further bolstered by a 27th episode titled "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gaiden Nekogoroshi-hen," which adapts a short story involving a haunted quarry. Though it's placed in the continuity of the first season, it utilized the designs of Season 2.
Higurashi: Kai and Rei
The next series, Higurashi no Koro ni Kai, took place a few decades after Season 1's, though it returns to the village of Hinamizawa. Concluding the dangling storylines of the original cast, the new protagonist is young Rika Furude, who finds herself in a similarly macabre set of events as she desperately seeks to unravel the town's mystery.
This season spanned 24 episodes, while its follow-up, Higurashi no Koro ni Rei, was only five episodes. The tumultuous events of the first two seasons are seemingly prevented, with Rika now living in a comparatively perfect world. Unfortunately, she finds herself questioning if she belongs there, with her departure bringing disaster to this saccharine existence.
Higurashi: Kira
The four-episode Higurashi no Koro ni Kira was developed to honor the franchise's 10th anniversary. Doing away with many of the nail-biting elements in previous seasons, Kira acts as a parody of its predecessors. This involves focusing on humorous romances and even an episode where Rika becomes a cliche magical girl to save the others from the town's curse.
Next was an OVA film titled Higurashi no Koro ni Kaku: Outbreak. The movie's narrative has the village dealing with a mysterious pandemic in a plot that also adapts a short story.
Higurashi: Gou and SOTSU
The first new full-length anime series came in 2020 in the form of Higurashi: When They Cry - Gou. The series is at first a sort of retelling of the original, once again following Keiichi as he settles into life in the village of Hinamizawa. Elsewhere, however, an unknown figure begins noticing -- along with Keiichi -- that certain events are not only extremely peculiar, but also seem to have already happened. Pushed back from its initial July 2020 release date, it aired from October 2020 until March 2021.
The upcoming Season 4 is titled Higurashi: When They Cry - SOTSU, and will be a sequel to the previous show. It will be to Kai what Gou was to the original -- albeit with Hojo Satoko as the protagonist instead of Rika. It's already been announced that Funimation will stream the series for Western audiences when it premieres in July, so those wanting to catch up still have some time.
