Australian anime fans have once again made out pretty well with a new license pickup that hasn’t found a home in the North American market yet as Siren Visual has announced the acquisition of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. The series is the second season to what was released in the US as When They Cry, originally released by Geneon Entertainment and then FUNimation Entertainment, only to not be followed up on due to low sales and difficulty in marketing. The show was one of the complicated releases during the Geneon collapse that suffered a lot because of uncertainty, delays and so forth. FUNimation made clear earlier in the year that they would not be pursuing more of the series, similar to how they did with Hell Girl, leading many to hope and campaign that another studio would pick it up. Siren has indicated that they are not dubbing the series, so it will be a straight subtitled only non-NTSC release. But with the pickup, it will renew hope for a US pickup by another distributor as well.
Oh yes, you’ve been demanding and here we are to provide! The sequel to When They Cry, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai provides the answers to all those questions that we were all left wondering after the end of the startling and chilling first series.
For those unfamiliar, When They Cry is based on a visual novel. It’s June 1983 in the rural village Hinamizawa. A curse appears to plague the Watanagashi Festival: every year for the past four years someone is killed and another goes missing. This year is particularly special as the characters are unknowingly forced to relive this time, again and again. It’s a twisted blend of cute and funny with a dash of brutal violence here and there and the answers to the town’s constant time loop is thrillingly revealed.
Never before released outside of Japan, this is an anime title exclusive to Siren Visual. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai is comprised of 24 episodes which shall be split into two parts. Part 1 will hit stores in March with pre-orders available after the New Year. Part 2 will follow shortly afterwards.
Due to the complicated release history of When They Cry, the second season will not contain an English dub. This is also part of the reason why the second series is sticking to its Romanised Japanese title, but when learning the answers to the mysteries of Hinamizawa we say it’s a fair trade off!
[Source: Siren Visual]
