Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Difference between revisions

''Higurashi'' consists of several different story arcs with most arcs beginning similarly but [[Anyone Can Die|ending differently]]. If watched or read out of order, it can raise many questions about what [[All There in the Manual|is going on]]. See [[The Other Wiki|The Other Wiki's entry]] for ''Higurashi'' get the order the manga are supposed to be read in. The anime can be watched in order (episode one first), with ''Higurashi no {{color|red|Na}}ku Koro ni Kai'' being season two.

 

 

 

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=== [[Trope Namer]] for: ===

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=== Provides examples of: ===

* [[Absence of Evidence]]: Rena noticed that the bottle of shoyu in Rika and Satoko's house was missing, and deduced the possibility that they had visited the Sonozaki estate that night with an empty shoyu bottle and been kidnapped.

* [[Actor Allusion]]: In the first episode of ''Rei'', this is combined with [[Expy]] and invoked in the form of Chie-sensei pulling out wooden T squares which look a lot like [[Tsukihime|Black Keys]].

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The manga does a ''great'' job at capturing the mood.

* [[Adaptation Dye Job]]: Eye variation. Keiichi's eyes are blue in the manga, sound novels, and Daybreak but purple in the anime and Mah-Jong game.

* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Arguably, [[Fan-Preferred Couple|or not]], Rika and Satoko.

** Rika, specifically, if her [[Almost Kiss]] with {{spoiler|Hanyuu}} in the second season ending is any indication.

*** The anime is almost infamous for the amount of [[Twincest]] artwork they use, but still the [[Ship Tease]] is there in every version of the series, especially the manga.

* [[Ancient Conspiracy]]: Or maybe that's just what they ''want'' you to think.

** Keiichi has pulled off the "[[Bishie Sparkle]]" trick a few times. Notably in the first Picture Drama which came out before the anime.

** What about Irie? [[Lolicon|So what if he has a little bit of an]] obsession with [[Token Mini-Moe|Satoko?]] He's still pretty hot.

** The DS exclusive ''Kageboshi-hen''. {{spoiler|Unlike Someutsushi-hen, Natsumi manages to snap out of her Hinamizawa Syndrome thanks to her friend Chisato and marries Akira some time later, but Tomoe is dead, Natsumi`s family is still dead, and Natsumi is still recovering from the trauma.)}}

** How about the ending to ''Matsuribayashi-hen''? {{spoiler|The main characters survive, but Satoshi is still comatose and we don't know whether he'll ever recover, though Irie does believe there is some hope.}}

* [[Bonus Episode]]: Accompanying the first season DVDs was Nekogoroshi-hen (Cat Killing Chapter), a single episode scenario based on a light novel.

* [[Book Ends]]: Well, not exactly. The series is divided into chapters, with the first scene referencing back not to the final scene but the climactic scene of that chapter. (For instance, {{spoiler|Keiichi loses it, and starts swinging the baseball bat, killing Rena and her friend}}.

** Both Takano and {{spoiler|Hanyuu}} say Nipah at one point.

** The scene that leads to the one where Satoko {{spoiler|pushes Keiichi over a bridge}} is different in the different adaptations. In the original sound novel, she's stark naked. In the remakes and manga, she has a towel on. In the anime, she has a towel on for most of the scene then goes and gets clothing, thus changing the way the scenes after it play out compared to the other adaptations. [[Manga Gamer]], the company that releases the games translated, was going to put a towel on her due to [[Lolicon]] related reasons but in the end decided not to.

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: In ''Minagoroshi-hen,'' Mion and Keiichi break the fourth wall to explain some mahjongg stuff, and Rika says that Takano "lost them a lot of viewers" by not putting on a cat costume.

* [[Bug Buzz]]

* [[Bullet Catch]]: Played for laughs in Hirukowashi. Mion decides to actually use her (BB) gun for once, on Rena too, but Rena catches the bullets.

* [[Campbell Country]]: Hinamizawa is pretty much a Japanese version.

* [[Cash Cow Franchise]]: Higurashi, and the whole ''[[When They Cry]]'' franchise, is slowly becoming on of these. With the ever increasing fanbase in both Japan and the States, the manga, the anime and its OVAs, the drama CDs, and the overdose of merchandise.

* [[Casual Kink]]: The punishment game the kids play sometimes becomes kinky with the loser(s) having to submit to the winner(s) in a recognizable fetish way.

** The last is lampshaded in the anime's ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen'' during the watergun fight, where her [[Evil Laugh]] is {{spoiler|1=''KAAAAAnakanakanakanakanakanakana!''}}

* [[The Cavalry]]: Akasaka in the final Arc, and later the Banken.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Protagonist Mion constantly carries around a gun in a very visible holster, and, {{spoiler|in a subversion, never, ever uses it. The manga reveals that it's an airsoft gun.}}

** {{spoiler|She did use it in the manga once, though as a joke, in Onikakushi-hen.}}

** More so noticeable in the sound novels, where quite a number of her poses show it, and manga.

** Three very important ones are in the Cotton Drifting chapter. The whole "demon inside me" dialogue at face value is just complete BS'ing (she says it with face value intentions as well). However, if the viewer interprets it as a metaphor (not her intention), it's actually one of the biggest clues as to [[Hate Plague|what's really going on]]. A borderline [[Fridge Brilliance]] grade example. The second important "gun"? Ooishi's findings about the body in the barrel. The third "gun" is what Rika says about those who enter the ritual shrine. Its a big hint about {{spoiler|the true nature of [[God Is Good|Oyashiro]]}}.

* [[Diabolus Ex Machina]]: The alternate ending of Meakashi-hen, found in the DS remake. ({{spoiler|In this version, Keiichi realizes Shion is disguising herself as Mion, which causes her to go L5 and claw out her throat, killing herself. Mion and Keiichi recover, and decide to move away to Tokyo together to escape the pain, and are at ease. Happy ending? ''Wrong''. As Keiichi sits at a park bench while waiting for Mion, someone comes up to him, and when Mion comes back, she finds Keiichi's dead body.}})

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: {{spoiler|Takano kills God.}} This is '''not a good thing.'''

* [[Disney Villain Death]]: {{spoiler|Sh}}ion in the Cotton Drifiting and Eye Opening chapters.

* [[Distant Finale]]: Both subverted twice ''and'' played straight. {{spoiler|The first episode in the second season is a "bad end" distant finale; the very end of the final episode has a 'distant finale' that takes place in the ''past''... [[Mind Screw|sort of]]. There is controversy over whether the woman who talks to little Miyo and thus [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|sets right what once went wrong]] is a time travelling adult Rika, or Bernkastel of Umineko, or both, as per the popular theory. }}

* [[The Dog Bites Back]]: {{spoiler|Sh}}ion to {{spoiler|Onryu}} in the Cotton Drifting and Eye Opening chapters.

* {{spoiler|[[The Dog Was the Mastermind]]: The [[Big Bad]] was in every single arc, and as far as the viewer was concerned, seemed to have no chance of being the villain. After all, it is extremely difficult to suspect a victim.}}

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Happens a fews time in the series. Pre-series, {{spoiler|Rena}} tries to [[Interrupted Suicide|commit suicide]] by ''slashing her throat open'' (she slit her wrists in the anime though). Outside of the anime, instead of simply falling off of a roof, {{spoiler|Shion}} in Meakashi-Watangashi fell onto a roof but decided to fall off after rethinking what she had done. In the same arc, {{spoiler|Rika}} decides to drive a knife into her neck. In [[Alternate Universe|Yoigoshi-hen]] {{spoiler|Akira}} was driven to suicide by his overwhelming debt, but couldn't go through with it. The group he was with did.

** {{spoiler|Shion also commits suicide in the hospital she was admitted to}} in the manga version of Tatarigoroshi-hen {{spoiler|after the gas outbreak.}}

* [[Kick the Dog|Drown The Dog]]: Just in case you had any doubts that Natsumi's grandmother had gone completely off the deep end when you see the paper charms in the front yard, once Natsumi goes into her house, she finds her grandmother ''drowning puppies'' in an effort to create a scapegoat onto which Oyashiro-sama's curse could be directed. Granted, this is right around the point where {{spoiler|Natsumi herself snaps}}, so it may or may not be narrated accurately, but the omake at the end of the manga seems to suggest that it did indeed happen.

* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: {{spoiler|Rika}} drinks wine despite being underage, as seen in the second season. A TIPS in the game confirms that she drinks to get drunk.

* [[Dummied Out]]: The English version of the sound novel has several songs, the Music Room, a mini-game, and the Staff Room cut out due to copyright issues.

* [[Dysfunction Junction]]: Everyone has a tragic backstory and/or psychological issues, even [[Fan Nickname|Detective Delicious]]. Satoko and Rika lost their parents (or more). Rena and especially Satoko have psychological issues related to their families; Shion's are related to losing someone she loved in a very torturous experience. There's a reason Keiichi's family had to move. Detective Ooishi lost a close partner and vows revenge. And so forth. Most of these characters reach [[Break the Cutie]] proportions.

** And what about Irie? It goes into more detail in the manga, but in short {{spoiler|his father suffered a brain injury and started beating his wife, then got into a fight with a gang, which ultimately got him killed. This inspired Irie to become a brain surgeon, and started [[It Makes Sense in Context|dissecting people while they were still alive, to prove his father's innocence.]] Takano uses this to blackmail him into dissecting their first Hinamizawa Syndrome victim's brain, and later on Satoko, but this was averted with the help of Rika}}

* [[Evolving Credits]]: At first it seems that Rika waves at the viewer in the opening of ''Kai'', but it turns out to be {{spoiler|Hanyuu}}. A somewhat [[Nightmare Fuel|nightmarish]] shot of Hanyuu is added as well.

** Also, after the revelation that {{spoiler|Takano was the one out to kill Rika, the low angle shot of a blonde woman wearing a dark cape is highlighted by the moon, making it clearer who it is}}.

** Also several of the arc names- most notably {{spoiler|Tsumihoroboshi-hen (Atonement Chapter) and Minagoroshi-hen (Massacre Chapter).}}

** The series name also fits. "When They Cry". "When They Cry Higurashi" is more or less what "Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni" means.

* [[The Faceless]]: The appearanced of Keiichi's parents aren't shown in the novels at all, and in the anime we just get their faces from the mouth down. The manga do show their entire faces, but they conflict with what little we see in the anime; for example, nothing is really notable about the bottom half of Mr. Maebara's face in the anime, but in the manga, he's got a beret and a Frenchy goatee. And is in much better shape.

** Plus their voices and personalities don't seem to match.

** Not to mention {{spoiler|Rena}} in the end of Minagoroshi, though slightly less "dignity" and more "laughing in your murderer's face about how her plan is stupid and she's stupid". {{spoiler|She even uses the same [[Laughing Mad|crazy laugh]] from season one, for the only time in season two. The fact that Takano put a bullet in Rena rather quickly gives the implication that Rena struck a nerve}}.

* [[Faking the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Takano every time, Shion in some arcs, and later, Rika}}.

* [[False Crucible]]: Dr. Koizumi {{spoiler|pointing a gun at Miyo Takano}}.

** Takano's fangirl side also has a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttP4VMnY4tI less than dignified side].

* [[Fan Nickname]]

** Rena Ryuuguu to "Cleaver Girl" for her iconic [[Weapon of Choice]].

** There's a small group of fans who refer to Tomitake as ''Tommy Tucker'' as the pronunciation sounds similar to the Little Tommy Tucker nursery rhyme.

* [[Fantastic Aesop]]: [[Defied Trope|Defied]] in the last chapter of the OVA-only Dice-killing chapter. When Rika is angsting because she {{spoiler|[[The Wrong Right Thing|chose what might be the worse world]], Rena tells her about how choosing the kind of world she lives on is something beyond her choice}} and then goes off to deliver a different, valid [[Aesop]] about how the multiple tragedies they faced have [[Character Development|made]] them better people.

* [[Festival Episode]] (repeatedly)

** Rika's mom too!

*** Hell yes.

* [[Hyper Awareness]]: Rena. She figures out exactly how Satoko and Rika got kidnapped because there was an empty bottle of soy sauce on their table, for crying out loud.

** In the game, the empty bottle is stashed away. She still figures it out based on that and their dinner for the day being in the fridge.

*** It's implied and then eventually confirmed that she's {{spoiler|[[Obfuscating Stupidity]].}}

* [[Idiot Ball]]: Often carried by Keiichi, as at the end of the second arc when he knows one of his friends is crazy and out to kill him, and the cops have warned him to look out if he ever sees her again... then he just walks outside and chats with her when she's standing creepily outside his house.

** In the anime at the end of second arc, he goes into a creepy dungeon filled with torture implements with a murderer AFTER she explains to him that she murdered a bunch of people, including two kids. Thats [[Darwin Awards]] material.

* [[I Know You Are in There Somewhere Fight]]: Between {{spoiler|Keiichi}} and {{spoiler|Rena}} in the end of the first season.

* [[I Know You Know I Know]]: The club games, and Satoko's traps.

** She says this and then proceeds to {{spoiler|kidnap Hanyuu}} three times, and thats within a three minute span.

* [[Improvised Weapon]]: Weapon options in ''Higurashi Day{{color|red|b}}reak''.

{{quote| '''Rika''': We have to hurry up and pull down Keiichi's swim trunks!}}

** The anime had a habit of opening each new Arc with a random scene from later in the arc (or from a different one entirely). Such as the Cotton Drifting Arc, which starts with {{spoiler|Rika stabbing herself in the neck while Shion watches}}. Then the theme song plays, then they cut to the [[Mood Whiplash|funny few minutes before the murders start]].

** Rika's a lot more subtle about it.

* [[I Wished You Were Dead]]: To a near-superpower extent in one arc.

** The last episode of Kai hints that the scapegoat plan might fail {{spoiler|because Okonogi lets Takano live, and Tomitake intervenes by arranging her to receive treatment instead of being transported to Tokyo. It is still likely that the faction escapes, leaving Nomura as the new scapegoat. It is also likely that Takano was successfully made the scapegoat in other cycles where the sterilization operation failed.}}

* [[Karmic Death]]

* [[Kill'Em All]]: The Tatarigoroshi chapter truly does Kill 'Em All - {{spoiler|starting with the gory death of Rina, Satoko's uncle Teppei, Tomitake, Takano, Irie, Ooishi, and finally Rika are seemingly murdered one by one, until the chapter finally ends with an eruption of poisonous volcanic gasses that kills off [[Sole Survivor|the entire population of Hinamizawa except for Keiichi]]}}.

** {{spoiler|Shion and Kasai also survive the volcanic gases in the manga adaption of Tatarigoroshi-hen, but all three of them died later in hospital; Kasai died 2 months later, shortly after he dies, Shion commits suicide and 3 months after that, Keiichi died from a high fever of an unknown cause, making it even more [[Kill'Em All]]}}

* [[Killed Mid-Sentence]]: {{spoiler|Miyo does this to Keiichi while Kei is delivering a [[Kirk Summation]], and does it in a way that is simultaneously [[Crowning Moment of Funny|hilarious]] and [[Nightmare Fuel|hand-over-mouth horrifying]].}}

* [[Kill the Cutie]]: There's a reason it's part of the horror genre.

* [[Large Ham]]: Dr. Irie gets some of this. Not to mention Keiichi when masquerading as Kei-kun.

* [[Laughing Mad]]: Rena and Shion get to this point pretty quickly when it's their turns to snap. {{spoiler|Keiichi descends into this in the epilogue of Tatarigoroshi-hen.}}

* [[Laxative Prank]]: In the Cotton Drifting arc, Satoko uses this as part of an elaborate prank against some punks who are trying to take advantage of Shmion during the Angel Mort dessert fest.

* [[Lecherous Licking]]: Occurs in Kira when Shion is licking cream off of Mion who is doing a [[Body Sushi]] as a punishment game.

* [[Loser Son of Loser Dad]]: {{spoiler|Satoshi and Satoko, because their parents supported the dam project}}

* [[Losing the Team Spirit]]: {{spoiler|Keiichi's demise}} during the penultimate arc of the second series.

* [[Lover Tug of War]]: Shion and Mion to Keiichi. Takano and Tomitake to Rena.

* [[Love Triangle]]: Keiichi and the ''twins''. Oh yes. {{spoiler|Though it's revealed to be a subversion. Shion was never seriously interested<ref>If she does become interested, she goes crazy and her motivations are still about loving Satoshi, not Keiichi</ref>, and she was either doing it to hurt Mion or encourage her to act on her feelings, depending on the timeline.}} In later arcs and ''Higurashi Day{{color|red|b}}reak'', Shion is replaced by Rena.

* [[My Greatest Failure]]: The manga adaptation of the Festival Music chapter reveals Mion's reason for not wanting to talk about Satoshi's disappearance. {{spoiler|It was her inability to save/help him before his disappearance.}}

* [[True Companions|BestFriends]]: ''"{{spoiler|Anyone could have realized this. All we had to do was something this simple! If something awful happens, or if we start doubting each other, or if something painful happens...}} Your [[True Companions|best friends]]! You have to talk to your[[True Companions|best friends]]"''

* [[New Transfer Student]]: Keiichi {{spoiler|and, later, Hanyuu}}.

* [[Nightmare Fetishist]]: Takano Miyo. Loves the horrifying legends about Hinamizawa and is fascinated by the actual ancient torture equipment.

* [[Panty Fighter]]: Higurashi Daybreak

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Satoko's parents are dead, and her sometimes-appearing uncle is an abusive alcoholic. Rika doesn't have ''any'' surviving family; the two live together by themselves. Rena's mother ran off with another guy. Shmion's mother is on bad terms with their [[Yakuza]] family and seldom shows up, while their father makes one appearance in the second season.

* [[Please Don't Leave Me]]: {{spoiler|Hanyuu says this to Rika once Rika tells her she doesn't want to repeat another world}} {{spoiler|Rika}} is {{spoiler|Hanyuu's}} only source of comfort and friendship. If she {{spoiler|died without repeating a world then...She's dead.}}

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: The events of {{spoiler|Onikakushi-hen}} as a whole and the last third of {{spoiler|Tatarigoroshi-hen}} are a result of this.

* [[Power of Friendship]]: If there was ever a show to which the saying "Friends help you move, best friends help you move bodies" applied, it's this one.

* [[Power of Trust]]: At least as important to the solution as the [[Power of Friendship]], if not more.

** The anime gets in on this action too. In the OVA, the Cat-Killing Arc, Satoko is seemingly dressed up as [[Ranma One Half|Shampoo]].

** In Meakashi Arc, Keiichi talks about end of [[Cold War]]- In a lecture about [[It Makes Sense in Context|porn.]]

* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: {{spoiler|Every time Rika is killed, Hanyuu takes Rika to the past of an alternate universe to try to solve the mystery again}}.

* [[Shoo Out the Clowns]]: Any given arc generally gets serious (and scary) after the shrine festival. Until then it's usually a chance to show the characters at their cutest.

** The sound novels have a few as well. During Onikakushi-hen, Keiichi gives a [[Rousing Speech]] with referances to both [[Mobile Suit Gundam]] and [[Space Battleship Yamato]].

** Either a translation error or a [[Shout-Out]] to translation error by Mangagamer: {{spoiler|[[Ace Attorney|The miracle never happen.]]}}

* [[Stab the Salad]]

* [[Start of Darkness]]: Two of them. The first part of the Festival Music chapter details this trope for {{spoiler|Takano}}. Subverted with the "distinguishment scene" serving as one for {{spoiler|Sh}}ion in arcs where she goes nuts, but not in arcs where she doesn't snap.

** Every episode of ''Kai'''s ''Matsuribayashi-hen''.

* [[Surprise Creepy]]

* [[Surprisingly Good English]]: The ED "Why, or Why Not" features English lyrics that, while spoken with an accent, reproduce the structure of the language quite faithfully, save for a few spelling slip-ups.

** Subverted because {{spoiler|Takano is really faking her death. And is possibly the only one of these who don't die}}.

* [[The Red Stapler]]: The town Hinamizawa is based off had to make a new wall in their shrine because fans put too many things on theirs.

* [[The Thing That Goes Doink]]: Mion's family home has one.

** So does the Sonozaki residence, apparently - it can be heard in the last episode of the anime's Watanagashi arc.

* [[Torture Cellar]]: The Saiguden

** Also, the basement of the {{spoiler|Sonozaki estate}}.

* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: You see those spoiler tags by the mention of [[You Can't Fight Fate]]? That's in the first trailer for the second season.

* [[Traitor Shot]]: In Watanagashi-hen, closeups are used in the first episode to make Mion and Shion ''both'' look suspicious to the audience, although one of them is completely innocent. Also applied to Mion and Rena in Onikakushi-hen, with [[Hidden Eyes]] combined with dangerous smiles to tip off the audience before Keiichi has any reason to suspect them. {{spoiler|This turns out to be a subversion, as Mion and Rena really were harmless, and every [[Traitor Shot]] they were given was a product of [[Unreliable Narrator|Keiichi]]'s escalating paranoia.}}

* [[Unwitting Instigator of Doom]]: Two of them.

* [[The Ending Changes Everything]]: The final scene of the anime, which introduced a character who either had never been seen before in the show before or {{spoiler|was a grown-up, time-traveling Rika}} just to make sure your recently unscrewed mind gets [[Mind Screw|screwed all over again]]. It makes slightly more sense in the original sound novels.

*** Actually, not quite. {{spoiler|She is actually Frederica Bernkastel. Its unknown whether Frederica and the Bernkastel from Umineko are the same person, and its currently uncertain exactly what Frederica is, except that she is [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|"not Rika or Oyashiro-sama"]] and you should be ashamed for thinking so.}}

* [[Utsuge]]: Replace "make players cry" with "scare the crap out of them".

* [[Wacky Marriage Proposal]]: Variation. There is a manga story called "Yamenaide Chie-sensei" which revolves around Chie getting a [[Arranged Marriage|marriage interview]] and part of it has to do with Keiichi and friends trying to stop it (it's their activity game). A "[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]" duals follows soon after they are discovered.

* [[Wager Slave]]

* [[Weapon of Choice]]: Keiichi always [[Batter Up|uses Satoshi's bat]], {{spoiler|Shion}} is often seen with a [[Psycho Electro|taser]], and everyone's favorite cleaver girl, Rena, uses a billhook.

* [[We Could Have Avoided All This]]: Even if the characters don't figure out how, they still seem to realize that there was a way, since most of the arcs end with the main characters lamenting how pointless all the fighting feels like it was.