| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them. |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | %% |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[quoteright:288:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Higurashi_no_Naku_Koro_ni-05.jpg]] |
| 8 | [[caption-width-right:288:Welcome to Hinamizawa. [[note]] [[CuteAndPsycho Rena Ryuugu here]] [[ImTakingHerHomeWithMe would like to welcome you by taking you home with her.]][[/note]]]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | ->''"Whoever finds this note, please uncover the truth. That's all I ask."'' |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ''Higurashi: When They Cry'' (Japanese title: ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni'', which roughly translates to "When the Cicadas Cry") is a series of eight [[KineticNovel Kinetic Novels]]/sound novels by [[Creator/Ryukishi07 07th Expansion]], released between 2002 and 2006 and later adapted into both an anime and a manga series. It is the first series in the ''Franchise/WhenTheyCry'' franchise, followed by ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' and ''VisualNovel/CiconiaWhenTheyCry''. While primarily a murder mystery series in terms of genre, it also dips quite a bit into FolkHorror and PsychologicalHorror. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | The year is 1983. When Keiichi Maebara and his family move to the sleepy little rural village of Hinamizawa, everything seems peaceful and rustic at first. But Keiichi quickly learns that there is more to the four girls of the school's game club than meets the eye... and more to the town as well. Revelation follows revelation, and brutal murder follows brutal murder in this enigmatic tale told from a variety of viewpoints and scenarios. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ''Higurashi'' consists of several different story arcs with most arcs beginning similarly but [[AnyoneCanDie ending differently]]. The first four chapters, named the "Question Arcs" focus on the cycles of paranoia and death that plague the main characters. The fifth to eighth chapters, known as the "Answer Arcs" or "Kai", delve deeper into the causes of the repeating scenarios and their inevitable conclusions and the struggle to [[ScrewDestiny defy fate]] and the curse of [[BigBad "Oyashiro-sama"]]. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | While these eight games make up the main series, several bonus chapters are available, including "Rei" (a fandisc collection of three sidestories that take place after the main plot) and a fourth, anime-only installment, "Kira" (a series of light hearted {{fanservice}} laden [=OVAs=] that are outside of continuity). There are also several short, manga-only arcs, usually placed before or after the main story and introducing new characters, while retaining the typical atmosphere of the series. These arcs were adapted with some new ones for the Platform/NintendoDS under the title ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna'' (2008). |
| 19 | |
| 20 | The sound novels also had an UpdatedRerelease for Platform/PlayStation2 named ''Matsuri'' (2007), with the original final arc (''Matsuribayashi-hen'') left out and replaced by an alternate ending (''Miotsukushi-hen''), as well as two additional arcs. The ports turn the games into bona-fide {{Visual Novel}}s with choices and routes rather than independent successive arcs like the original version. Later ports to other consoles added even more extra material. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | An anime adaptation by Creator/StudioDeen aired in 2006, with a continuation, entitled ''When They Cry: Kai'' (or ''When the Cicadas Cry: Solution''), airing in 2007 and covering the last two arcs. A sequel anime by Studio Passione titled ''Anime/HigurashiWhenTheyCryGou'' premiered in October 2020, and a second sequel, ''Higurashi When They Cry Sotsu'' premiered in July 2021; they partly serve as a thematic link between ''Higurashi'' and the second "When They Cry" series, ''[[VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry Umineko]]''. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Two [[LiveActionAdaptation Live-Action Adaptations]] were made, titled ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni'' (2008) and ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Chikai'' (2009), which adapt the first and sixth novel, respectively. An OVA called ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku: Outbreak'', based on [=Ryukishi07's=] short story, was released in 2013. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | A sequel manga, ''Manga/HigurashiWhenTheyCryRei'' (shares name with a 2006 game and an OVA), was introduced shortly after the end of ''Gou/Sotsu''. Taking place in the Reiwa era some thirty years after the events of the original series, the story now focuses on the children of our protagonists as Keiichi's son Keitarou returns to Hinamizawa after five years. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | While the eight core games were translated by [=MangaGamer=] in 2009, the translation was largely considered rather poor. However, starting in 2015, the entire series (including the eight main games, the three ''Rei'' games, and the three ''Hou'' games) will be given a Western release, with updated sprites and a re-translation, from the same company under the title ''Higurashi When They Cry Hou''. The eight main games and ''Rei'' have been released and can be purchased from [[https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/709/ Steam]] or Website/GOGDotCom. Short and spoilerific summaries of each arc are available on the ''Franchise/WhenTheyCry'' article. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | In September 2020, a smartphone game with [[LootBox gacha]] elements and featuring a "sequel" story to the original visual novel, ''[[VideoGame/HigurashiWhenTheyCryMei Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei]]'' was released to tie-in with the premiere of ''Gou''. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | A manga ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri'' has been publishing from October 2021 and is a continuation/retelling of ''Gou/Sotsu''. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | '''Warning:''' Due to the [[SpoileredRotten nature of the plot]], it may be best to experience the full story before proceeding. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | ---- |
| 37 | !!Maebara-san, come into my car. The A/C is on and I have this list of tropes: |
| 38 | |
| 39 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | [[folder:Tropes # to D]] |
| 42 | * OneHundredPercentCompletion: In Kizuna, the DS adaptation, in each volume, after you finish the arcs, you can go back to complete the situation tree and get alternate endings, as well as unlocking CG pictures and music. |
| 43 | * The80s: Specifically, mostly Shōwa 58, aka 1983, as well as the few years previous to some extent, though it's not especially apparent. Also, PresentDayPast is occasionally PlayedForLaughs (such as a reference to ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', which is anachronistic by over a decade and a half), and actual PresentDay is used on a couple of occasions. |
| 44 | * AbileneParadox: Late in the series, it's revealed that, [[spoiler:despite shunning the Houjou siblings (ostensibly because their parents betrayed the village), none of the people of Hinamizawa actually hate them. However, most of them (including the village leaders) believe that everyone else does and won't even say anything for fear of also being seen as traitors]]. |
| 45 | * AbsenceOfEvidence: In Watanagashi-hen after [[spoiler:Rika and Satoko go missing]], the remaining club members visit their house to look for clues. Rena noticed that their bottle of soy sauce was missing, and with some other circumstantial evidence deduced the possibility that [[spoiler:Rika visited the Sonozaki estate to borrow soy sauce and was abducted there, with Satoko following in suit.]] |
| 46 | * AccidentalInnuendo: Invoked. In the Onikakushi VN, during the festival the club members try finding something cute to bring to Rena. Keiichi goes somewhere else to show her his, and she comes back all dizzy and blushing. She then comments on the cuteness of Keiichi's "little fur seal"; cue Mion and Satoko's violent retaliation on Keiichi. [[spoiler:He showed her a seal-shaped key holder he made himself when he was a child.]] |
| 47 | * AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:Shion's infamous RoaringRampageOfRevenge actually started unintentionally. She hits Oryou with her stun gun and drags her to the family's TortureCellar so she could extract answers about Satoshi's disappearance... only to realize that she had already died from the stun gun. Shion proceeds to [[DesecratingTheDead whip her corpse]] out of frustration that the supposed mastermind died off too quickly for her to gain anything from her.]] |
| 48 | ** In almost arcs focusing on Natsumi, [[spoiler:she initially kills her grandmother accidentally by pushing her so that she hits her head against the end of a table]]. Subsequent murders and [[spoiler:the mutilation of her grandmother's corpse]] are... less accidental. |
| 49 | * ActorAllusion: |
| 50 | ** 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 [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Black Keys]]. |
| 51 | ** And again in the final episode of ''Rei'', where one of Rena's cutaway fantasy scenes references the scarf-adjusting scene from ''Literature/MariaWatchesOverUs'', with Miyo in the role of Sachiko. |
| 52 | ** Maybe it's not a voluntary one, but in the last episode of ''Kira'', when Rena [[ImTakingHerHomeWithMe takes baby Rika home with her]] Mion screams her to PleasePutSomeClothesOn. Pretty ironic when you know that Creator/SatsukiYukino also voiced [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl Yoruichi]], who was told that a couple of times by Ichigo in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. |
| 53 | * AdaptationDistillation: The anime maintains the basic story, but leaves out enough detail that [=Ryukishi07=] requested an extra arc to fill in some holes at the start of the second season. The manga written by him do a ''great'' job at capturing the mood. |
| 54 | * AdaptationDyeJob: |
| 55 | ** Eye variation. Keiichi's eyes are blue in the manga, sound novels, and Daybreak but purple in the anime and Mah-Jong game. |
| 56 | ** The live action adaptation movies change everyone's hair colors to a natural color. |
| 57 | * AdaptationInducedPlotHole: Yakusamashi-hen from the anime breaks Rule X ([[spoiler:someone random among the circle of friends having a Hinamizawa Syndrome episode that drives them to violence]]) without Rika apparently noticing or caring. However, when it happens in Minagoroshi-hen [[spoiler:which originally was the first arc to break Rule X]] but occurs after Yakusamashi-hen in the anime), she still treats it as if it's the first time it's been broken. |
| 58 | ** The corpse found in the river in the third arc is supposed to be [[spoiler: Rina Mamiya]] but they colored the hair wrong; this was corrected in the DVD version. |
| 59 | * AgentMulder: Rena isn't the only one who believes in the Hinamizawa god Oyashiro-sama, but she's definitely the most emphatic about it. |
| 60 | * AgonyOfTheFeet: A variation on the fifth episode of ''Kai'', in which Satoko doesn't get any shoes when searching for Rika and ends up fleeing barefoot of her captors. She doesn't hurt her feet, but it still causes her to slip down a slope and wound her leg. |
| 61 | * AliensAmongUs: In ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen'', [[spoiler:Rena becomes convinced that aliens are controlling everyone and replacing them with doubles.]] |
| 62 | * AllJustADream: [[spoiler:The Dice-Killing Arc of ''Higurashi Rei'']]... OrWasItADream. |
| 63 | ** The events were as real as all the other chapters. The protagonist was told it was a dream, which she didn't believe, in an attempt to assuage her guilt over her actions in it. |
| 64 | *** Hanyuu thought to and told herself that the world was just a dream, nothing more. [[spoiler:however, Bernkastel still made a world like that, and possibly another with Akasaka bought off by Takano.]] |
| 65 | ** Also the [[spoiler:Massacre Chapter of Higurashi Kira. Then they go beyond that making it a DreamWithinADream.]] |
| 66 | ** [[spoiler:Mion's entire freaking life since the Disaster]] in ''Hinageshi-hen''. And she doesn't feel like waking up. |
| 67 | ** Subverted in the Onikakushi-hen VN and manga, where near the end, [[spoiler:Mion and Rena both apparently attack Keiichi with a syringe, then he blacks out.]] When he wakes up in his room, he begins assuming the whole thing was just a dream, [[spoiler:then he notices all the blood and Rena and Mion's bodies and fills in most of the blanks.]] The anime skips this. |
| 68 | * AllMenArePerverts: Keiichi's argument to convince a pro player into [[SeriousBusiness throwing a baseball game.]] This includes bribery. |
| 69 | ** Heck, during the same speech in the Visual Novel, he uses these exact words. |
| 70 | ** He later gets an entire cult following simply based around the fact that he got them to admit that they were perverts. |
| 71 | ** Pretty much all of the male characters are perverts, Satoshi and Akasaka aside. |
| 72 | *** And the only reason for that is that they never get any screen time. |
| 73 | * AlphabeticalThemeNaming: The Houjou kids are called ''Sato''shi and ''Sato''ko, although the kanji for each of their names are different (Sato-shi 悟史 and Sa-to-ko 沙都子). |
| 74 | * AlmostKiss: A ''very'' creepy example in Onikakushi, when Rena talks to Keiichi while holding her billhook. [[spoiler:It may be Keiichi's hallucination though.]] |
| 75 | * AlternateContinuity: Yoigoshi-hen is based on a world where [[spoiler:Keiichi couldn't prevent the explosion of the school.]] |
| 76 | * AlternateTimeline: [[spoiler:Almost all arcs are either self-contained stories set around the same time with events playing out differently, or are POVSequel. While Rika and Hanyu can travel through time, who is the current carrier of the Hinamizawa Syndrome and how the tragedy starts is randomized (described as Rule X)]]. |
| 77 | * AmbiguouslyGay: |
| 78 | ** Rika and Satoko are very close, even to the point of living together [[MinorLivingAlone by themselves]]. |
| 79 | ** It's almost funny how much Shion x Mion ShipTease there is in Meakashi-hen. Also, in the Japanese DVD release, they included an OFFICIAL ARTWORK poster of [[IncestSubtext Mion and Shion wearing Angel Mort outfits with Shion groping one of Mion's breasts.]] The anime is almost infamous for the amount of {{Twincest}} artwork they use, but still the ShipTease is there in every version of the series, especially the manga. |
| 80 | * AncientConspiracy: Or maybe that's [[spoiler:just what they ''want'' you to think. Unfortunately, belief in it provokes the HatePlague.]] |
| 81 | * AnimalThemeNaming: [[spoiler:The Yamainu, Takano and Nomura have codenames based on birds.]] |
| 82 | * AnimatedActors: "Wrap parties". To elaborate, at the end of most arcs, the character's sprites get together and discuss the events of the story. After TheReveal they make one wonder if [=Ryukishi07=] had the whole thing planned from the beginning, [[HilariousInHindsight considering some of the things they say.]] |
| 83 | * TheAnimeOfTheGame: The visual novel got an anime adaptation with two seasons and multiple [=OVAs=]. |
| 84 | * ApocalypticGagOrder: Concerning the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, and [[spoiler:in a [[HeKnowsTooMuch quite extreme]] form]]. |
| 85 | * ArcWords: |
| 86 | ** "Uso da!" ("Liar!"), considering its relevance to the theme and the fact that, whenever someone says it, the world is pretty much doomed. |
| 87 | ** Similarly, "I'm sorry." If a character hears someone else say it, especially if [[TheVoice they can't see the person who says it]], then someone is either about to snap or, more likely, already has. Indeed, the poem at the beginning of Onikakushi-hen underlines the secondary theme through the series of [[TheAtoner atonement]]. |
| 88 | ** Talk of or questions of belief also crop up a lot. |
| 89 | ** "If you are reading this, please uncover the truth… that is my only wish" (written by Keiichi, Akasaka and Shion, successively. The final statement was also thought by Rena, [[spoiler:who couldn't write it due to having been shot]] in Tsukiotoshi-hen. |
| 90 | ** There's even one occurring a handful of times that includes a TitleDrop: "Everything will be over... when the higurashi cry". |
| 91 | * ArtEvolution: Between all three seasons of the anime. Also applies for the sound novels. It's justified in the remakes since it's a different art crew, but within the remakes the Platform/PlayStation2 games different from the Platform/NintendoDS ones. In the manga, each arc is drawn by a different author, so the styles will vary noticeably. |
| 92 | * ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Akasaka's explanation of how antidepressant/anti-anxiety drugs work in Kageboushi-hen is nowhere close to what they actually do. Also, while it is very possible for a drug to make someone act out-of-character, causing a SplitPersonality like [[spoiler:Natsumi's]] drugs did to her is implausible. |
| 93 | * AssholeVictim: Several victims in certain arcs, such as Rina, who is shamelessly planning to swindle Rena's father for everything he's got. |
| 94 | ** In Tatarigoroshi-hen, Ooishi attributes Rina's murder/mutilation to the Sonozaki family for embezzling money and drugs, then dismisses it as "trash taking out trash". |
| 95 | ** Houjou Teppei, Satoko's abusive uncle, and co-conspirator along with Rina to blackmail Rena's father. |
| 96 | * TheAtoner: Keiichi in the appropriately-named Atonement chapter. |
| 97 | * AudioAdaptation: Before the anime and Matsuri we had a drama CD. Higurashi still few drama [=CDs=] coming out though. |
| 98 | * AxCrazy: Forgone conclusion when [[spoiler:Hinamizawa Syndrome takes effect]]. Special notice goes to [[spoiler:Shion]] in Meakashi-hen. |
| 99 | %%* AxesAtSchool: The end of the first season. |
| 100 | * {{Backstory}}: Characters' backstories remain the same in all scenarios, with one exception: Saikoroshi-hen. |
| 101 | * BackupTwin: [[spoiler:The major cause of confusion about the ending of Watanagashi-hen.]] Although it's subverted in that [[spoiler:both twins end up dying.]] |
| 102 | * TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:In five of the eight arcs.]] |
| 103 | * BagOfHolding: PlayedForLaughs - Mion can apparently stuff way more boardgames and accessories than physically possible in her school locker. |
| 104 | * BeachEpisode: ''Shyness-Exposing Chapter'' in the animated adaptation of Higurashi Rei, with the cast going to a water park for the day. It's a comical and {{fanservice}} heavy episode, with all the girls wearing bikinis, including Miyo in a BarelyThereSwimwear and Keichii spends most of the episode having "impure thoughs" and wishing the girls would suffer from a SlipperySwimsuit accident... only for it to [[NakedPeopleAreFunny happen to him in the end]]. |
| 105 | %%* BecauseDestinySaysSo |
| 106 | * BerserkButton: If all the berserk buttons were on a berserk keyboard, then this series is the cat that falls asleep on that keyboard.[[note]]Also, the keyboard is [[IncendiaryExponent on fire.]][[/note]] |
| 107 | ** Don't hurt Satoko in front of Keichi or Satoshi or [[spoiler:you'll be killed]]. |
| 108 | ** Don't demean Oyashiro-Sama in front of Rena or [[spoiler:you'll be stalked]]. Similarly, don't attempt to swindle her father or [[spoiler:you'll be murdered]]. |
| 109 | ** Don't insult Satoshi [[spoiler:or his death]], insult the Houjous, or hurt Satoko in front of [[spoiler:Shion]] or [[spoiler:you'll be tortured]]. |
| 110 | ** Don't do anything to Satoshi's room in front of Satoko or [[spoiler:she'll go nuts]]. |
| 111 | ** The only one that [[spoiler:doesn't result in bloodshed]] is [[spoiler:Mion's]], which is [[spoiler:don't bring the resentment against the Houjos into the school.]] |
| 112 | ** Describing Oyashiro as a bloodthirsty god will make [[spoiler: the real Oyashiro [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking throw a tantrum and call you a jerk]]]]. |
| 113 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Some of the perceived nice ones have faultier wiring than others. Though, granted, the less-nice ones go crazy at various points, too, so it's closer to [[EveryoneIsASuspect Beware Everyone.]] |
| 114 | * BigBad: The cause of the HatePlague is identified as the curse of the guardian deity Oyashiro-sama. Thier true identity is[[spoiler:-well, there’s ''two'' of them. Hanyuu Furude is the true one, [[DiscOneFinalBoss but she’s innocent]]; while [[TheDogWasTheMastermind Nurse Miyo Takano]] is revealed to be using the name as an alias to cover up the fact that she’s the true mastermind behind Rika's murder as well as the one orchestrating the Great Hinamizawa Disaster in what is a MilkmanConspiracy. Her plan is to [[AGodAmI actually become a god]]]]. |
| 115 | * BigDamnHeroes: Akasaka saving the day. Less seriously, Tomitake/Oishi/Irie (together with Keiichi, the "Heavenly Kings of Darkness") swooping in on ''surfboards'' in the middle of a PoolScene to [[ItMakesSenseInContext save Keiichi from having his swimsuit removed.]] Oishi ends up summoning a squad of [[SeriousBusiness fully-armed riot police]] to help, which storms in after their truck bursts through the pool fence. |
| 116 | %%** There's also one in ''Minagoroshi-hen'' with the club members, but it doesn't go as nicely. |
| 117 | * BigScrewedUpFamily: The Sonozaki family seems this way initially, but later arcs show that they're not quite as bad as they looked at first. |
| 118 | * BittersweetEnding: |
| 119 | ** The ending of 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.]] Even in the Matsuribayashi-hen Staff Room segment, [=Ryukishi07=] asks the reader whether or not [[spoiler:antagonizing Takano]] is the most ideal resolution. |
| 120 | ** The [=PS2=] version's ''Miotsukushi-hen'' [[spoiler:where Hanyuu is shot TakingTheBullet meant for Takano and killed by the Banken, but [[LaserGuidedKarma Nomura get arrested for her crime]] and Satoshi finally manages to wake up from his coma]]. |
| 121 | ** 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.)]] |
| 122 | ** The one-shot chapter ''Hinageshi-hen''. [[spoiler:After spending a few months in a prep school in Nagoya, Mion returns with Hinamizawa Syndrome symptoms and various misunderstandings make her think her friends have forsaken her, before she collapses with a fever. Then she wakes up surrounded by her friends, the misunderstandings are cleared and she sheds tears of relief while smiling happily.]] All is well that ends well. [[spoiler:Except she is actually [[ComatoseCanary comatose in a hospital room]] after the Hinamizawa disaster and is [[HappyPlace living happily in her dreams]].]] |
| 123 | ** [[spoiler:Regarding Satoshi, he is never revealed to have woken up, but it's strongly implied as Shion visits the Irie clinic quite often, and brings male clothes, and other male items, probably razors, etc.]] |
| 124 | * BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce: One can only guess what kind of food Rika and Satoko cook with a sauce marked "death penalty". |
| 125 | * BloodyHorror: |
| 126 | ** [[spoiler:At one point Rika commits suicide in front of Shion, by holding a knife to the wall, and slamming her neck into it. It's a lot more graphic in the anime adaptation, since the visual novel was limited to only describing it and using a blood graphic.]] |
| 127 | ** [[spoiler:Similarly many other suicides involve the victims mysteriously scratching open their own necks with their fingers.]] |
| 128 | ** In Hinamizawa there's a ghost story about an old village ritual (that's used for some of the murders) that involved the villagers disemboweling the victim as torture, and showing them their own guts on the day of the yearly festival. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that this happens to Rika in ''every'' chapter (bar Watanagashi-hen/Meakashi-hen). Furude Ouka also [reluctantly] does this do her mother, Hanyuu.]] |
| 129 | %%* BloodSplatteredInnocents |
| 130 | * BloodierAndGorier: The manga goes into much greater lengths to show the horror of the murders than the anime. That includes the datailed depiction of [[spoiler:Rika's evisceration by Takano]] in ''Minagoroshi'', as well as [[spoiler:her mother's vivisection and the punishments of the OrphanageOfFear]] (which were both only implied even in the sound novel) in ''Matsuribayashi''. |
| 131 | * BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: St. Lucia. It was [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in the original visual novels and anime since Shion escaped out of boredom. [[spoiler:Higurashi ''Gou'' brings this trope to bear in full force in ''Satokowashi-hen'', where Satoko deals with Rika's new judgmental friend group, unsympathetic teachers who effectively tell her "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen", and less capable students being forced into study hall and worse, the Special Class with zero free time. Episode 20 makes it ''worse: the academy has a literal jail to punish unruly students''. It's comparable to Takano's old orphanage, just trading outright abuse for overly demanding and punishing expectations]]. |
| 132 | * BodyguardBetrayal: [[spoiler:The Yamainu were supposed to be protecting Rika, as far as she knew, not killing her]]. And ironically, [[spoiler:Takano is betrayed by the very same Yamainu]] in the last arc. |
| 133 | * BodyInABreadbox: In the second movie ''Chikai'', like in the series, [[spoiler:Rena stuffs Ritsuko's corpse into a fridge after killing her.]] Unlike the series, [[spoiler:she kills a scared-shitless Teppei after he sits on said fridge and finds her corpse.]] |
| 134 | * BodySushi: Shion in one of Keiichi's dream sequences from the first episode of Kira. |
| 135 | * BookEnds: 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]]. |
| 136 | * BoomHeadshot: In Minagoroshi, [[spoiler:Ooishi is shot point-blank in the chest for getting too suspicious of the Yamainu, while Kumagai is sniped in the head. Toward the end of the arc, Takano caps Mion, Shion, Rena and Satoko one by one while they're restrained by the Yamainu (Keiichi was shot in the chest earlier while Rika is being saved for later disembowelment).]] |
| 137 | * BorrowedCatchphrase: |
| 138 | ** Keiichi says "I want to take it home!" in Watangashi-hen part one (episode 5) to [[spoiler:Shion (really Mion at the time) when he sees her working as a [[FanserviceWithASmile scantily clad waitress]] she responds by punching him]]. |
| 139 | ** Both Takano and [[spoiler:Hanyuu]] say Nipah at one point. |
| 140 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: In the [=PS2=] remake, all instances of red blood were censored into being dark colored or blue, due to [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications CERO]] reclassifying its rating system, requiring the change to ensure the game got a D rating (17+ ) instead of a Z rating (18+ ).(In fact, the game was partially responsible for the creation of the Z rating.) The red blood was restored for the DS remakes. |
| 141 | ** 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 ModestyTowel 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. Creator/MangaGamer, the company that releases the games translated, was going to put a towel on her due to {{Lolicon|AndShotacon}} related reasons but in the end decided not to. |
| 142 | *** Ironically, [[AdaptationalModesty the most conservative depiction]] of Satoko here seems [[TruerToTheText closest]] to the visual novel's description. |
| 143 | ** Remakes of the visual novel also made minor changes to some of the lines of the original arcs, changing some explicit sexual references to ones that were less explicit and adjusting earlier references to other works (particularly anime) to ones that were WritingAroundTrademarks. Some of the more gory references to Hinamizawa's history in Watanagashi-hen (particularly those involving [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]] were also either excised or toned down. |
| 144 | * BrainFever: [[spoiler:Hinamizawa Syndrome is a version of this. It's caused by a pathogen endemic to the village which can only be examined by dissecting a living brain. It provokes paranoia, hallucinations and one hell of an itch in the neck's lymph nodes.]] |
| 145 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: 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. |
| 146 | -->'''Mion''': Hmm... I would love to show people a movie of this technique... But unfortunately I can't do that in a sound novel!\ |
| 147 | '''Rika''': I have no idea who Mii is talking to...\ |
| 148 | '''Keiichi''': Why are you looking at the camera, Rika-chan? |
| 149 | ** Rika does this repeatedly during the visual novels' wrap parties, especially in the original versions. Keiichi wasn't included in the guests at the first four wrap parties because his sprite had yet to be drawn, and Rika repeatedly notes that's the reason (non-fourth-wall-breaking, it's ostensibly because he's getting a jump on practicing the next script). This was largely removed from the later editions for the [=PS2=], DS, and [=PS3=] (since of course, by then his sprite was drawn). However, Rika still gets in one comment in the Onikakushi-hen wrap party where she says that he can come when they finish recording his lines. In fact, the wrap-parties in their entirety break the fourth wall because they're basically the characters speculating about what happened to cause them all to die. So Rika's comments are breaking the second fourth wall. Does that make it a fourth wall squared? |
| 150 | * BreakoutCharacter: Rena became this by the time the first arc was through. |
| 151 | * BreakoutVillain: Though not a villain for most of the series, [[spoiler:Shion]] is an iconic and often referenced antagonist character, making it on a lot of "top anime villain" lists too. |
| 152 | * BreakTheCutie: They're really not picky about who they break, though. Hell, they even break the BigBad by showing us a damned flashback. Poor [[spoiler:Takano.]] |
| 153 | * BubblyWaitress: Shion Sonozaki, when she's serving as a waitress at Angel Mort, is bubbly, cheerful, and outgoing [[spoiler: at least during the arcs where she's not suffering from Hinamizawa Syndrome]]. |
| 154 | %%* BugBuzz |
| 155 | * BulletCatch: |
| 156 | ** Played for laughs in Hirukowashi. Mion decides to actually use her (BB) gun for once, on Rena too, but Rena catches the bullets. |
| 157 | ** A much more serious case in [[spoiler:''Matsuribayashi'': even though Hanyu stopped time, Rika manages to move and catches Miyo's bullet, saving Hanyu's life.]] |
| 158 | * BullyingADragon: [[spoiler:Once you know that the events of Onikakushi-hen are tainted by Keiichi's paranoia, it still doesn't change the fact that Rena and Mion take a few of their jokes way too far with him. Particularly bad in Rena's case since she's been through Keiichi's situation before, and thus knows what he's going through; therefore, by all rights, she should know the last thing she needs to do right now is feed his paranoia by reaching in the crack of the door and trying to unlatch the chain.]] |
| 159 | * ButYouWereThereAndYouAndYou: Delivered by [[spoiler:Rika after returning to her "original" Fragment]] at the end of the Higurashi Rei scenario Saikoroshi-Hen. |
| 160 | * CallBack: Happens often, which is made easier by the structure of the story. Notably, in ''Minagoroshi'', Keiichi's mom says that she was affraid [[spoiler:Keiichi would come up with a plan to murder Satoko's uncle]] and would ask her advice [[spoiler:to commit a perfect crime.]] Of course, Keiichi thinks that's stupid and he would never do that. |
| 161 | * CasualKink: 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. |
| 162 | * CatFight: Rena vs. Rina isn't so much a CatFight than two enraged lionesses jumping at each other's throats. The end result is [[{{Gorn}} not pretty.]] |
| 163 | %%* TheCavalry: Akasaka in the final Arc, and later the Banken. |
| 164 | * CentralTheme: Above all else, the series' main theme and moral seems to be about the importance of having a good [[AbusiveParents child protection program]]. The recurring theme of child abuse and the slogging bureaucratic "attempts" to fight it (and in one memorable case, actively ''ignoring'' it) are the genesis of several slaughters [[spoiler:and the main tragedy itself.]] |
| 165 | * CerebusRetcon: |
| 166 | ** So Keiichi's [[spoiler:"[[MistakenForPedophile strike zone]] ''is'' [[PaedoHunt really low]]"]]... (This CasualKink is played up to be HilariousInHindsight.) |
| 167 | * CerebusRollercoaster: Each Arc begins as a lighthearted SliceOfLife School Comedy turns DarkerAndEdgier around Watanagashi festival. Later Arcs swap hope and horror even after that crucial point, so [[SuddenDownerEnding either kind]] [[SurprisinglyHappyEnding of ending]] can be surprising. |
| 168 | * CharlesAtlasSuperpower: |
| 169 | ** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Shion when Tomitake blocks a stun grenade with his chest in the pool episode in Rei. |
| 170 | ** Many characters under the influence of Hinamizawa Syndrome gain this as well, to go with their paranoia. |
| 171 | * ChekhovsGun: |
| 172 | ** 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. She only did use it in the manga once, though as a joke, in Onikakushi-hen.]] The gun was edited out of Mion's character art in the [=PS2=] ports of the game. This is more so noticeable in the sound novels, where quite a number of her poses show it, and manga. |
| 173 | ** 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 [[spoiler:[[HatePlague what's really going on]]]]. A borderline FridgeBrilliance 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 [[GodIsGood Oyashiro]]]]. |
| 174 | ** The syringe in the Eye Opening Chapter. Namely the contents as revealed in the Festival Music Chapter. Major hint to [[spoiler:the HatePlague]]. |
| 175 | * ChekhovsGunman: Akasaka, and boy does he pull the trigger. |
| 176 | * CheshireCatGrin: Mion, Shion, and Satako, often of the cat grin variety. Often preceeds them going to mess with someone. |
| 177 | * ChildrenDoTheHousework: |
| 178 | ** Rena Ryuugu took up the household chores to take care of her depressed father ever since her mother ran off with another man. |
| 179 | ** Satoko and Rika are the youngest members of the main group, but also the most self-sufficient. Due to both of them losing their parents, they live together at their own house where they do all the chores themselves. |
| 180 | * ChivalrousPervert: Mion to Keiichi in an extremely rare female on male example. Much more prevalent in the manga. [[TheGadfly Being that this is Mion, she could also be screwing with Keiichi for amusement.]] Also threatens to ask what color [[spoiler:Hanyuu's]] underwear is. |
| 181 | * ClawingAtOwnThroat: [[spoiler:A symptom of [[HatePlague Hinamizawa Syndrome.]] Out of all known victims, Shion is the sole exception, for some reason, and there's actually a DS-only ending to Meakashi where she does, in fact, claw her own throat out.]] |
| 182 | %%* CliffHanger |
| 183 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Applies somewhat to Rena, as her thought process is often adorable but weird. |
| 184 | * CluelessAesop: In Tsumihoroboshi, the moral can be seen as "Stick by your friends, even if they've brutally murdered some adults and are now attempting to blow up the school." |
| 185 | * ColdBloodedTorture: Main reason why the Eye Opening chapter is so infamous. MO (mode of operation) for [[spoiler:Shion]] in said chapter and Cotton Drifting. Ironically, was also on the receiving end in one of the series' more infamous scenes (also shown in Eye Opening). |
| 186 | * ColorBlindConfusion: PlayedForDrama where Satoko and Satoshi Hojo are both color blind and cannot tell broccoli from cauliflower as a result, which results in a scene where BigBad [[spoiler:Miyo Takano]] asks Satoko which of the two is green while pointing a gun at her head, and after panicking Satoko picks at random. [[spoiler:She's correct, but Takano [[MortonsFork shoots her dead anyway]]]]. |
| 187 | * ColorCodedCharacters: Based on hair color predominantly and partly personality. |
| 188 | ** Red: Keiichi |
| 189 | ** Orange: Rena |
| 190 | ** Yellow: Hojo siblings |
| 191 | ** Green: Shmion |
| 192 | ** Blue: Rika |
| 193 | ** Purple: Hanyuu |
| 194 | * ColorCodedSpeech: In ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen'', Rena has her text highlighted in pink to contrast Keiichi's text, which is colored the standard white like the rest of the game's text. Rena's text slowly turns blood red over time as she [[spoiler:becomes more delusional due to being infected with the Hinamizawa syndrome]]. |
| 195 | * ComatoseCanary: Satoko in Yakusamashi-hen, and [[spoiler:Mion]] in Taraimawashi-hen. |
| 196 | * ComedicLolicon: Dr. Irie, for Satoko. [[RuleOfFunny Not taken seriously.]] Played up more in the anime compared to other mediums. |
| 197 | * CommunityThreateningConstruction: Most of the violent events in the backstory ostensibly stem from a project to build a dam that would have flooded the basin in which the village of Hinamizawa sits. |
| 198 | * CompressedAdaptation: The first season of the anime, which squeezes 6 sound novels in 26 episodes. It does cover all the important aspects of the plot, but many details, buildup elements and bits of CharacterDevelopment were left out, making the story look kind of rushed. |
| 199 | * ContrivedCoincidence: while some concidences have an actual reason to happen [[spoiler:like the murders always happening the day/night of the festival since it's basically a "safe day" to kill someone]], many situations primarily result from an incredibly bad luck. The most blatant being [[spoiler:Keiichi wishing Takano, Irie and Ooishi's death, and the Hinamizawa disaster, ''the exact day'' before they all happen]], making him think he was the cause of it. |
| 200 | * CooldownHug: |
| 201 | ** Didn't work the first time [[spoiler:in Onikakushi-hen]]. |
| 202 | ** It kinda worked in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, where the positions of the two character in question are switched. It only kinda worked because she had already cooled down for the most part by that point, or at the very least, is no longer insane. |
| 203 | * CopKiller: The Yamainu are given orders to make sure everything goes according to plan. If it means killing officers on sight, then they do it with no questions asked. In Yakusamashi-hen, a Yamainu agent assassinates Kumagai as a safety measure. He and Oishi get killed by a ColdSniper in Minagoroshi-hen once the latter gets too nosy in their business. |
| 204 | * CorruptChurch: As a subversion of ReligionOfEvil, this is what was really going on, and [[spoiler:Hanyuu aka Oyashiro is not happy about it]]. |
| 205 | * CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: 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. |
| 206 | * CovertPervert: In ''Rei'' Rena seems to have a bit of an attachment towards Keiichi's "Furry Seal". |
| 207 | ** When Keiichi unintentionally flashes the girls, Mion is flustered, however the other three girls blatantly stare at it for a minute. Satoko even has a little smile by the end of it. |
| 208 | %%* CrapsaccharineWorld: [[spoiler:''DoubleSubverted''.]] |
| 209 | * CrazyPrepared: [[spoiler:In "Minagoroshi-hen", Emergency Manual 34 is used as a last ditch measure by Tokyo, involving the Japanese Defense Agency in covering up the Hinamizawa Syndrome outbreak by getting rid of Hinamizawa. The Yamainu is taksed to do this to cover up the area by rounding up all the residents and killing them while in NBC gear. The JDA enacts [[GasLeakCoverup cover ups so that the public doesn't snoop around]] by claiming that Hinamizawa was destroyed due to a gas explosion. Anyone trying to sneak in or out of town would be shot by the Yamainu, disguised as JGSDF troops, on sight.]] |
| 210 | * CreepyBasement: [[spoiler:The Irie clinic's basement is much larger than what's visible above ground, and serves its true purpose of researching Hinamizawa syndrome. It's also where Satoshi's been the whole time.]] |
| 211 | * CreepyTwins: |
| 212 | ** Mion and Shion, at least in ''Watanagashi'' and ''Meakashi''. [[spoiler:It's really just Shion.]] |
| 213 | ** A better example would be the two twins we see briefly in the Reality Breaking arc. Sadly, since the arc was CutShort, we never learn anything about them. |
| 214 | %%* CrypticConversation: Happens a lot in the first season. |
| 215 | * CrucifiedHeroShot: Satoko in episode 21. Justified [[spoiler:since she was chained to a cross for easier torturing]] |
| 216 | * CuriosityKilledTheCast: Most strongly [[spoiler:subverted]] in Onikakushi-hen, but a few different arcs have aspects of this. Ironically, the Cat-Killing Chapter is a complete aversion. |
| 217 | * CustomUniform: The main characters wear uniforms to school, but they're all completely different; for example, Rena wears a SailorFuku while Shion wears a collared shirt and a ribbon. Since the school is a small rural schoolhouse with a single class of students from different grades, they apparently don't need to bother with a dress code and students can wear whatever they want to school as long as they at least ''look'' like school uniforms. |
| 218 | * DarkestHour: Yakusamashi-hen, where [[spoiler:Rika pretty much gives up all hope of changing her fate. Gets better right after, because the next arc is basically one big HopeSpot.]] |
| 219 | * DeadlyDoctor: Despite usually being [[spoiler:the first to go along with Tomitake, Takano Miyo]] is ''not'' harmless. [[spoiler:Well, it's not quite "despite".]] |
| 220 | ** Also [[spoiler:Irie]] used to be one of the WellIntentionedExtremist variety. |
| 221 | * DeadlyEuphemism: When referring to [[spoiler:Satoshi's being "transferred"]]. Subversion [[spoiler:She sincerely believed Satoshi and Keiichi intended to transfer out of Hinamizawa, and feared they would be subject to Oyashiro-sama's curse for it.]] |
| 222 | * DeadlyHug: Done in the ending of the Onisarashi-hen manga arc by [[spoiler:Natsumi to Akira. Akira doesn't die, though.]] |
| 223 | %%* DeadManWriting |
| 224 | %%* DeadPersonConversation |
| 225 | * DeathIsCheap: At first it seems it is played straight; however [[spoiler:since each iteration of the loop happens in a different world, that means that those dead in a previous world ''stay dead'' in that world. In other words, for one happy world at the end, [[FridgeHorror there are hundreds of worlds where everybody dies irreversibly; and those who don't end up alone and scarred for life.]]]] |
| 226 | %%* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:Keiichi, Akasaka, Shion, Rena and Ooishi.]] In that order. |
| 227 | * DespairEventHorizon: |
| 228 | ** Keiichi is a LaughingMad wreck in an insane asylum in the ending of [[spoiler:Tatarigoroshi-hen]], and all of the abuse he went through in [[spoiler:Watanagashi-hen takes a toll on him until he hallucinates himself into a heart attack]] in a horrifying scene. In addition, when [[spoiler:Mion]] is found at the end of Taraimawashi-hen, or Satoko in Yakusamashi-hen, she's practically in a vegetative state. [[spoiler:Akira]] is stated to have suffered a Taraimawashi-esque breakdown at the end of of Someutsushi-hen. |
| 229 | * DiabolusExMachina: 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.]]) |
| 230 | ** '''''Tsukiotoshi-hen'''''. In summary, [[spoiler:the club members basically kill each other until there's no-one left; Keiichi, Rena and Shion dismember Teppei, Satoko kills Shion before killing herself, Rena kills Mion and Keiichi, Rena erases the evidence by ''lighting Satoko's house (where everyone's bodies are) on fire'', Rika gets disemboweled at the shrine, and Rena gets shot by mystery men but survives. '''''Wow'''''']] |
| 231 | * DepartmentOfChildDisservices: The child consultation centre has taken a "wait and see" attitude to any accounts of Teppei's abuse toward Satoko [[CryingWolf because she once falsely accused her stepfather.]] They start out fairly apathetic to the Club's appeals and even brush them off as overreacting, only caving in after Keiichi gradually rallies the village together past their irrational ostracization toward her. At the end of Minagoroshi, the author apologizes for making them look so unhelpful. |
| 232 | * DisconnectedByDeath: Someone does die in a phone booth while trying to give the police information. Investigation showed it was suicide by clawing out one's own throat. |
| 233 | * DismemberingTheBody: [[spoiler:After killing her father's cruel girlfriend and her {{Yakuza}} lover, Rena dismembers their corpses and tries to hide them. Her friends catch her in the act. Luckily, Mion herself is [[MafiaPrincess yakuza related]] and thus was able to help hide the bodies for Rena. This happens several other times in the series as well. The first death of the series of deaths during the cotton drifting festival involved the dam foreman's body getting chopped up into multiple pieces, and in arcs involving Natsumi, she dismembers her grandmother after killing her.]] |
| 234 | %%* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Shion]] in the Cotton Drifiting and Eye Opening chapters. |
| 235 | * DistantFinale: 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''... [[MindScrew sort of]]. There is controversy over whether the woman who talks to little Miyo and thus [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong sets right what once went wrong]] is a time travelling adult Rika, or Bernkastel of ''Umineko'', or both, as per the popular theory. ]] |
| 236 | ** [[spoiler:It might even be neither. It could be Frederica Bernkastel, who might not be either Rika or Bernkastel.]] |
| 237 | * TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:Shion]] to [[spoiler:Oryou]] in the Cotton Drifting and Eye Opening chapters. |
| 238 | * TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler:The BigBad 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.]] |
| 239 | ** [[spoiler:Except that there is evidence pointing to her from the very first arc, starting with the fact that her body was found, making it two murders, when every previous time it had been a murder and a disappearance. Not to mention her bizarre behavior in Tatarigoroshi-hen and elsewhere.]] |
| 240 | * DoingInTheWizard: Only partly. [[spoiler:There is no such thing as "Oyashiro-sama's curse" and the only thing linking the mysterious deaths is a disease that makes the infectees paranoid and violent.]] However [[spoiler:the footsteps and apologies that characters hear are real, and Oyashiro-sama does exist. So do TimeTravel and {{Alternate Universe}}s.]] |
| 241 | * DownerEnding: Half of the original arcs have one, but the [=PS2=] only ''Tsukiotoshi-hen'' takes the cake and runs away with it. |
| 242 | ** Tsumihoroboshi-hen is particularly notable for the whiplash. [[spoiler:Keiichi remembers his SanitySlippage and murders from Onikakushi-hen and eventually manages to save Rena from the same fate, declaring that nothing will ever ruin their friendship again... Cut to a few decades later where Akasaka inspects what is now a ghost town after Rika was disemboweled and the village then died from an alleged natural gas leak. Frederica Bernkastel in the manga actually [[BreakingTheFourthWall scolds the reader]] for continuing past the resolution between Keiichi and Rena, and her failure to avoid dying even after all of this hits Rika's already diminishing optimism ''hard'' when she finds herself in ''Minagoroshi-hen''.]] |
| 243 | ** The [=PS2=] version has an alternate ending to ''Meakashi-hen'' where [[spoiler:Keiichi identifies the ArcVillain as Shion rather than Mion suffering DemonicPosession. Her frustration at Keiichi can actually distinguish them (unlike Satoshi) and decide that only Mion couldn't possibly be a sadistic killer leads to her clawing out her throat and dying before she can start torturing him. Mion's remaining friends Keiichi and Rena slowly help her past the emotional trauma of everything Shion did, but in the middle of what was essentially a date with Keiichi, ''someone'' suddenly kills him.]] |
| 244 | * DrivenToSuicide: Happens a fews time in the series. Pre-series, [[spoiler:Rena]] tries to [[InterruptedSuicide 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 [[AlternateUniverse 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. |
| 245 | ** [[spoiler:Shion also commits suicide in the hospital she was admitted to]] in the manga and VN versions of Tatarigoroshi-hen [[spoiler:after the gas outbreak. [[NeverSuicide Maybe.]] ]] |
| 246 | * DrowningMySorrows: [[spoiler:Rika]] drinks wine despite being underage, as seen in the second season. A TIP in the game confirms that she drinks to get drunk. Drunk on ''Bernkastel'' wine, no less, which is conveniently a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernkastel-Kues real town known for its wines]]. (Unless, in a bizarre ShoutOut, the [[spoiler:[[VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry witch]]]] [[EpilepticTrees was named after the wine]]). |
| 247 | * DubInducedPlotHole: The French dub has a pretty bad case in ''Onikakushi'' - in his dialogues with Mion in episode 4, he tells her that he [[spoiler:found a needle in the ohagi]] and near the end asks her [[spoiler:what is in the syringe.]] Originally though, he doesn't explicitly mentions the needle and only asks what they intend to do to him. In episode 25 we learn that [[spoiler:the needle was tabasco sauce and the syringe was a marker pen]]. Thus in the original version, [[spoiler:Mion's lack of reaction is due to the fact [[OneDialogueTwoConversations she doesn't get he is not seeing the same thing as her]]]]; in the French dub, it no longer makes sense. The guys who translated the anime obviously didn't watch it until the end first… |
| 248 | * DyingAsYourself: At the very end of Meakashi-hen, [[spoiler:Shion]] has a moment of genuine regret and apologizes to everyone as she falls to her death. |
| 249 | * DysfunctionJunction: Everyone has a tragic backstory and/or psychological issues, even Detective Ooshi. 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 BreakTheCutie proportions. |
| 250 | ** 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 [[ItMakesSenseInContext 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]] |
| 251 | [[/folder]] |
| 252 | |
| 253 | [[folder:Tropes E to H]] |
| 254 | * EarlyBirdCameo: [[spoiler:Hanyuu]] in the third episode of ''Kai'' (her actual appearance to the viewers is in ''Minagoroshi-hen'', and her first appearance to the cast, aside from Rika, is halfway through ''Matsuribayashi-hen'') is heard talking to Rika off-screen, and later appears in the same episode as a ''silhouette'' [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hanyuu_outline.jpg behind Rena and Keiichi]]. She appears earlier, during the Atonement Chapter, in a manga omake. |
| 255 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Hinamizawa Bus Stop'', adapted from a stage play that was the origin of the story. Keiichi, Rena, Shion and Satoko aren't characters at this point, Rika is a teenager and Mion's upperclassman, and everything occurs in one rainy afternoon in a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin covered bus stop]]. That being said, it covers a number of story points from what would later become the games, including the dam conflict, the curse of Oyashiro-sama, Hinamizawa syndrome, Rika as a queen carrier, and alludes to her GroundhogDayLoop at the very end. |
| 256 | ** For the first two "question" arcs, the Great Hinamizawa Disaster hadn't been thought up yet as the "endpoint" for the story arcs. Later, the first arc was retconned to have ended in the same way as later arcs, and the lack of a disaster in the second arc became an important plot point. |
| 257 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: Almost every individual arc has a bad ending [[spoiler:but the characters do, in the end, manage to stop the chain of deaths]]. From a longer perspective, [[spoiler:Rika has this after 100 years of repeating an ever-narrowing period of time in her life while being murdered over and over, and Hanyuu after only being able to watch human suffering while being unable to become friends with or even talk to anyone for 1,000 years]]. |
| 258 | * ElaborateUniversityHigh: Saint-Lucia academy, where Shion is sent after the dam war. The manga arc ''Utsutsukowashi-hen'' details her life there… [[CutShort or at least it was supposed to.]] It appears again in ''[[VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry Umineko]]'' though. |
| 259 | * EmptyEyes: Displayed at various points by multiple characters among the group. [[spoiler: It's a highly-reliable sign that either they are suffering from high-level Hinamizawa Syndrome... or whoever is talking to them is.]] |
| 260 | * TheEndingChangesEverything: 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 [[MindScrew screwed all over again]]. It makes slightly more sense in the original sound novels. |
| 261 | ** [[spoiler:She is actually Frederica Bernkastel. It's unknown whether Frederica and the Bernkastel from ''Umineko'' are the same person, and it's currently uncertain exactly what Frederica is, except that she is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "not Rika or Oyashiro-sama"]] and you should be ashamed for thinking so.]] |
| 262 | * EntertaininglyWrong: In Watanagashi, Keiichi assumes that "Shion" is simply a persona Mion came up with to express more femininity, and previous hints from Rena bring him to the realization that he should have given Mion the doll he won earlier instead of treating her like OneOfTheGuys. He decides to buy a doll for "Shion" and enters the toy store... only to find Mion working there. Turns out she did have a twin sister all along. However, the "Shion" he'd been interacting with up until that day was in fact Mion trying to express more femininity, and [[spoiler:not giving Mion the doll was [[ForWantOfANail actually a much bigger deal than he realized]].]] |
| 263 | %%* EternalRecurrence |
| 264 | * EverybodyLives: Oddly enough, it's an example of AnyoneCanDie and this one, the rare triple whammy! [[spoiler:But only with the Matsuribayashi ending, which is considered an ending with "no losers".]] |
| 265 | * EvilCostumeSwitch: [[spoiler:Miyo Tanako gets a fancy-looking black outfit once she's revealed as the one who's been targeting Rika. When she's not conducting the Yamainu behind the scenes, she wears her normal clothes.]] |
| 266 | * EvilLaugh: Over and over and over again, complete with creepy face contortions. |
| 267 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YlcpaAz5Ug There's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiUshBy6D1Y multiple]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHMwxRnh7zs laugh]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1hiYPLYz9c videos]]. |
| 268 | *** To the point that it is often referred to as the 'Higurashi Laugh' |
| 269 | * EvilStoleMyFaith: [[spoiler:Takano's]] backstory is a very dark take on it. Sets up the chain of events leading to [[spoiler:her megalomania and as a result the Endless June]]. |
| 270 | * EvolvingCredits: 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 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]]. |
| 271 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: |
| 272 | ** The title roughly translates into ''When the evening-cicadas cry''. Guess what sound you hear throughout the series. |
| 273 | ** Also several of the arc names- most notably [[spoiler:Tsumihoroboshi-hen (Atonement Chapter) and Minagoroshi-hen (Massacre Chapter).]] |
| 274 | ** What's interesting is that it carries a double meaning in both languages. "Naku", just like "to cry", can mean "to call" (i.e. an animal's call) or "to weep". |
| 275 | * {{Expy}}: |
| 276 | ** Chie-sensei, of Ciel-senpai in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', with permission from [[Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} Type-Moon]]. This is lampshaded in the [[BeachEpisode Pool Episode]] with Chie whipping out imitation Black Keys in the form of wooden T-squares. In fact, this is one of her weapons in the doujin game ''Higurashi Daybreak'', and she can be selected as wearing Ciel's outfit. |
| 277 | ** In one of the cast review sessions, Chei-sensei was acting like [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Ciel-senpai]] when the lights were off and no one could see the copyright infringement. |
| 278 | ** It's marginally less obvious, but [=Ryukishi07=] has himself admitted that Rena's name and appearance were based on Lenna of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' (the appearance being based on her SNES sprite). |
| 279 | * TheFaceless: The appearances 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. |
| 280 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Rika, in a particularly disturbing scene, and later, Satoko]]. |
| 281 | ** 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 [[LaughingMad 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]]. |
| 282 | * FairPlayWhoDunnit: Despite being a horror story, all of the questions can be solved before TheReveal. There are some hiccups with Knox's Decalogue ([[spoiler:Hinamizawa Syndrome not being one since its mode of action is actually quite simple]]), but the story is mostly compliant. |
| 283 | * FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Takano every time, Shion in some arcs, and later, Rika]]. |
| 284 | * FalseCrucible: Dr. Koizumi [[spoiler:pointing a gun at Miyo Takano]]. |
| 285 | * {{Fangirl}}: Rena goes nuts over anything she thinks is cute, [[{{Squee}} squealing]] and announcing her intention to [[ImTakingHerHomeWithMe take said object of her affection home]]. In the second season, the perpetually-stoned Takano [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbgxnQ5O5CQ reveals her terrifying fangirl side]] over the dark legends of Oyashiro-sama). |
| 286 | ** Takano's fangirl side also has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttP4VMnY4tI less than dignified side]]. |
| 287 | * FanDisservice: Shion's bouncing in some of the most disturbing scenes such as when she [[spoiler:repeatly steps on Oryou's corpse or screaming at Mion]]. |
| 288 | * {{Fanservice}}: Higurashi Jan, a mah jong version of the series, has quite a bit of this compared to most of the rest of the series. In [[DarkerAndEdgier Oyashiro Mode]], when a character is defeated at mahjong, you get a very strange close up of them against a wall or the floor with their [[ClothingDamage clothes really messed up]], with flushed faces and panting really hard. It's pretty clear what the designers were going for there. Heck, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy7kP3S_JOs Shion's defeat video]] actually has her skirt unbuttoned, which makes no sense even if you grant that someone could get their clothing torn up as a result of a mahjong game. If you think about it too hard, it would lead to some real FridgeHorror about what happened after Keiichi won the mah jong game, if it weren't so out-of-character for him. The other, LighterAndSofter mode still shows punishment games in all their {{Stripperiffic}} glory. |
| 289 | * FanserviceWithASmile: Shion's work uniform at the Angel Mort Cafe. There's official art with all the other girls wearing it, too. |
| 290 | * FantasticAesop: [[DefiedTrope Defied]] in the last chapter of the OVA-only Dice-killing chapter. When Rika is angsting because she [[spoiler:[[TheWrongRightThing 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 [[CharacterDevelopment made]] them better people. |
| 291 | * FeminineWomenCanCook: Rena, Rika, but also Mion and to a lesser extent Satoko, are quite skilled in cooking. They all have their reasons though. The man of the group on the other hand, is closer to a LethalChef when he tries to cook something more elaborate than instant noodles; Rena's father is also a dreadful cook, but he still tries. Actually, no man can cook in this series. |
| 292 | * FestivalEpisode: In every arc, except ''Tatarigoroshi'' and its derivative, ''Tsukiotoshi-hen'', [[spoiler:since Keiichi is busy committing a murder that night]]; things usually start to go downhill after it. |
| 293 | * AFeteWorseThanDeath: You know that cheerful summertime festival these townspeople have? Well, it wasn't always cotton that they tore up… |
| 294 | ** Doubles as Fridge Horror very much when you consider that [[spoiler:cute girl Hanyuu was the first sacrifice]] |
| 295 | * FieryCoverUp: In Tsukiotoshi-hen, [[spoiler:Rena]] sets this up by burning [[spoiler:Satoko]]'s house to the ground in order to burn three corpses - those of [[spoiler:Satoko, Shion, and Mion]], and also to dispose of her co-conspirator, [[spoiler:Keiichi]], unbeknownst to him until it's too late. |
| 296 | * FightUnscene: In the final All-Star Review, Keiichi manages to "appear" without a character sprite by [[MediumAwareness turning out the lights]], leaving all graphics in blackness. What follows is the most spectacular battle in all of VN history, narrated [[CallingYourAttacks blow-by-blow]]! |
| 297 | * FigureItOutYourself: |
| 298 | ** Early in Watanagashi-hen, Keiichi gives a doll he won to Rena because he assumed Mion was too tomboyish to want it. Rena then starts no-so-subtly suggesting that Mion is much more feminine than she lets on, and that Keiichi hurt her feelings, though she won't tell him exactly what he did wrong. |
| 299 | ** In Meakashi, as Satoshi's mood turns sour over the village's ostracization spearheaded by the Sonozakis, he suddenly starts treating Shion-posing-as-Mion like a nuisance. When Shion tearfully asks what she did wrong, he just bitterly tells her to ask herself rather than him before walking away. |
| 300 | * FillerArc: Yakusamashi-hen, the first arc of the anime's second season, is a mash up of two Visual-Novel-only arcs and various other events from other arcs left out of the first season. Unlike most examples, it was a necessary and [[JustifiedTrope justified]] use, as the author felt that information left out of the first season would cause large plot holes in the second, and wrote a short arc to fill in the gaps. |
| 301 | %%* FingerLickinEvil |
| 302 | %%* FingerTwitchingRevival |
| 303 | * {{Fingore}}: This is common, most notably with [[spoiler:the Sonozakis; the twin sisters, their mother and grandmother all ripped out fingernails for "distinction"]]. And also, the ''opening song'' has a line that translates roughly as "I'll cut off your fingers and leave them in the forest." |
| 304 | * FirstNameBasis: The members of the game club all call each other by their given names, even the LoveTriangle of Keiichi, Rena, and Mion. The fact that there is no stereotypical RelationshipUpgrade from family name to given name helps to emphasize that ''Higurashi'' is more about friendship than about romance. |
| 305 | * FlashbackTwist: In one of the latter arcs, the famous Tsumihoroboshi-hen or Atonement Chapter, it is revealed in Keiichi's flashbacks that [[spoiler:it was actually him who was the insane one in the first arc and that Mion and Rena were the sane ones. Poor Rena, offering her arms out to Keiichi even as he's about to bash her head in.]] |
| 306 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: The TIPS in the sound novel very often serve as this. For example, [[spoiler:Satoko having pushed her parents off the cliff]] is hinted as early as ''Tatarigoroshi''. |
| 307 | ** In the sound novels during ''Onikakushi'', [[spoiler:Keiichi hears someone take a breath behind him, and identifies it as a woman's. When he turns around, no one is there, but he could feel a presence. We learn later on that people who are as high as Level 3 can hear footsteps, or even someone speak--this someone is Hanyuu.]] |
| 308 | *** [[spoiler: Hanyuu actually gets name-dropped in the Meakashi-hen VN while Rika's disoriented by the mystery drug.]] |
| 309 | ** [[spoiler: In Japan the typical image of a demon known as an Oni involves a brutish ogre carrying a steel club wherever they go. Keiichi carrying the steel bat is an early warning that he is becoming possessed/infected. ]] |
| 310 | * FoodPorn: |
| 311 | ** An almost literal example. Keiichi once shamed the pitcher of a rival baseball team by saying he likes Angel Mort desserts because they are like cute girls and he eats them in a defiling manner. |
| 312 | ** Another literal example is Kira Episode 1, where one of several sexual fantasies has a nude Mion [[BodySushi coated in dessert]] for Shion to lick off. |
| 313 | * ForScience: [[spoiler:The catalyst for many unpleasant things, as Miyo Takano's main motivation for being the mastermind behind everything is to prove her late grandfather's research.]] |
| 314 | * FreakOut: Often caused by [[spoiler:high levels of Hinamizawa Syndrome.]] |
| 315 | * AFriendInNeed: The origins of the game club were as [[spoiler:an attempt to help the Hojo siblings. Only partially successful, see MyGreatestFailure below.]] |
| 316 | * FriendlyTickleTorture: Kai Episode 2 has a zombie tag game where Rika, Satoko and the Sonozaki sisters [[spoiler:who were only pretending to be zombies]] subject Keiichi to this once he's cornered in a shed. |
| 317 | %%* FriendlyRivalry: Most exemplified with Mion and Keiichi. |
| 318 | * TheGadFly: Mion gets plenty of amusement from yanking Keiichi's chain. Possibly motivated by how bad she is at expressing her true feelings for him. Also her punishment games. Shion acts like a slightly darker incarnation (favorite target being Mion and Keiichi) as her normal personality. |
| 319 | * GagDub: The somewhat infamous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5UfIRmkv28 Casey & Friends]]. |
| 320 | * GaidenGame: ''Higurashi Daybreak'', a game done in the style of the VideoGame/GundamVsSeries, specifically Alliance vs. Z.A.F.T. |
| 321 | * GameChanger: Hanyuu. |
| 322 | -->"[[spoiler:Takano]] and Hanyuu, were you listening to what Mion said? We don't play Old Maid. Just Old Geezer. [[spoiler:Takano]] laughed it off as being the same but it is a completely different game. After all, if one adds the missing card that is taken out in a game of Old Geezer, it becomes a game without losers. After adding Hanyuu, our missing card, the world became a world free of losers. It is the height of folly to purposely take one card out of the game. This world doesn't need a loser." |
| 323 | * GasChamber: [[spoiler:The Hinamizawa gas disaster is revealed to be a cover-up for the government implementing this on the village]]. |
| 324 | * GasLeakCoverup: [[spoiler: Part of the plan in enforcing Emergency Manual 34 in most arcs after Rika's killed. Some epilogues note that the supposed natural gas leak from the swamps did far too little damage to the ecosystem.]] |
| 325 | * GenerationXerox: In the manga Keiichi looks similar to his father and shares his HotBlooded tendencies. The twins, mother, and grandmother share similarly goofy personalities and [[spoiler:they all had [[FinGore finger nails torn off]].]] In looks only, Rena resembles her mother and apparently has some of her fathers personality. Satoko and Satoshi both resemble their mother in the manga. Rika both looks like her mother and [[spoiler:almost exactly looks like Hanyuu's daughter]]. |
| 326 | * GenreBlind: In "Watanagashi-hen" and "Meakashi-hen" during [[spoiler:the confrontation with Mion, the possibility of Mion's twin sister Shion impersonating Mion never occurs to Keiichi or Rena even though twin switches are a staple of TV shows and comic books involving identical twins. Granted, Keiichi and Rena falsely believe the killings are about protecting the sanctity of the Saiguden, and while it's conceivable that Mion--as the family successor--would punish those who disrespected Oyashiro, it makes no sense for Shion to commit murder in Oyashiro-sama's name.]] |
| 327 | * GenreBusting: No really, good luck explaining in a few words what this series is exactly. Slice-of-life comedy? Supernatural mystery? Psychological horror? You'll often find all three in the same story arc. |
| 328 | * GenreSavvy: In Tatarigoroshi-hen, Mion and Rika comment to Keiichi after his parents return home about typical harem visual novels. |
| 329 | -->'''Mion''': After all, a night without your parents around is the basic situation of bishoujo games!\ |
| 330 | '''Rika''': He earned many points and entered a certain route for sure. |
| 331 | * GenreShift: More like GenreRoulette! Between SliceOfLife Comedy, Drama, Horror, and Action-Adventure, to name a few. A good rule of thumb is to note what happen when a heavy object hits someone's head. If huge amounts of blood splash out of the head, it is horror. If the victim starts hilariously yelling, it is comedy. If it's bleeding a bit, and needs a bandage, it is drama, if he faints without bleeding, it is action-adventure. |
| 332 | * GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: |
| 333 | ** Keiichi attempts to do this to Rena about her whole [[spoiler:aliens-controlling-Hinamizawa-via-parasites]] theory and subsequent paranoia in the VN. It almost works too, until [[spoiler:Rena brings up what he did before coming to Hinamizawa]]. |
| 334 | ** Late in Matsuribayashi-hen, [[spoiler:the Mountain Dogs take Shion and Kasai hostage, threatening to drop them down the Sonozakis' well to their deaths if Rika and Irie don't surrender themselves. Knowing that this is her last chance to escape the GroundhogDayLoop, Rika panickedly begs Hanyuu to make a miracle happen. Hanyuu smacks her and reminds her that they've learned ThePowerOfFriendship is necessary for miracles.]] |
| 335 | %%* GhibliHills |
| 336 | * AGodAmI: |
| 337 | ** [[spoiler:Takano, who wants to achieve a sort of godhood for herself (by reviving the legend of Oyashiro-sama) and for her grandfather (by proving his theories about Hinamizawa Syndrome)]] |
| 338 | ** Especially dramatic when you contrast this with the character of the [[spoiler:actual deity in the series, Hanyuu, who is fearful and painfully shy.]] |
| 339 | * GoldDigger: Rina Mamiya sucks men dry, then has Teppei come in to further antagonize the poor sap for getting with his woman. |
| 340 | * GoldenEnding: ''Matsuribayashi'' is an ending with "[[EverybodyLives no losers]]" where [[spoiler:Rika finally lives through June 1983 with ThePowerOfFriendship]]. |
| 341 | * GondorCallsForAid: Done ''spectacularly'' in the [[spoiler:Minagoroshi-hen]] arc. |
| 342 | * GoodEyesEvilEyes: Consider for a moment the difference between the main characters' eyes and [[spoiler:Takano's]]. Also, this one may be at work on [[spoiler:Shion]] at various points. When [[spoiler:Rena]], for instance, goes insane, [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness her eyes just go blank]], and when [[spoiler:Keiichi]] does, [[HellishPupils his pupils shrink]], whereas a lot of times when [[spoiler:Shion]] has an episode, her eyes narrow to an almost grotesque degree. |
| 343 | ** Takano and Rika tend to a more ambiguous KubrickStare. With Takano it's more subtle, but usually accompanied with a musical sting. With Rika it would be subtle, except that it's so extremely out of character. |
| 344 | * GoodPolicingEvilPolicing: This becomes a major factor in the storyline that many of the console-only arcs add to the overall storyline. The Good Policing is carried out by Akasaka, a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police working together with Ooishi and Tomoe, who come from smaller local police divisions. Starting with Kageboushi-hen, they wind up facing down a conspiracy involving [[spoiler:the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office (CIRO) - the Japanese equivalent to the CIA - who is trying to cover up the truth of the Great Hinamizawa Gas Disaster.]] |
| 345 | * {{Gorn}}: There are quite a few grewsome deaths in this series, but the description of [[spoiler:Rika's suicide]] in the sound novel makes it the most disturbing of all. [[spoiler:[[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness Shion]]]] doesn't only describe it with all the [[IncrediblyLamePun juicy]] details, she describes it as the most magnificent sight on earth and finds [[spoiler:Rika's]] blood "beautiful". |
| 346 | * GovernmentConspiracy: [[spoiler:Tokyo's a secret group made up of politicians and officers from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces seeking to use the Hinamizawa Syndrome as a potential weapon. However, some of their problems come from the strong backlash if the rest of the world knows about it, especially since Tokyo covered up the reason why the Marco Polo Bridge event took place. Tokyo has factions that are trying to one up each other. In addition, they have employees like Irie who doesn't want to be a part of their schemes and seeks to create a permanent cure to the syndrome.]] |
| 347 | %%* GrotesqueCute |
| 348 | * GroundhogDayLoop: [[spoiler:The real reason why everyone constantly dies and comes back to life, and this has been going on for many, many, many years. The loops vary in length, but there could have been up to two thousand six hundred of them. Unlike the typical loop, however, these function more as alternate dimensions to be travelled between than any kind of TimeTravel]]. And yes, this is a plot point [[spoiler:in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''.]] |
| 349 | * GuessWhoImMarrying: Almost happens to [[spoiler:Rena's father and his girlfriend, who turns out to be a yakuza moll trying to take him for everything he has]]. |
| 350 | * GuideDangIt: Getting OneHundredPercentCompletion in Kizuna without a guide is virtually impossible, due to all the hidden choices, scenes, and [=CGs=] that the game only vaguely hints at. |
| 351 | ** Getting the secret bonus ending in the original game demands that you go back to the puzzle section of ''Matsuribayashi'' after you finish the game, and read the 50 fragments in a precise order. It's very unlikely you will get it on your first (well, second) try. [[http://www.jeuxvideo.com/cheats/00037014/astuces-le-sanglot-des-cigales-pc-00036377.htm More details here.]] This ending was included in the anime and the manga, though, making it less secret. |
| 352 | * HalfHumanHybrid: Traditional folklore's explanation for Hinamizawa Syndrome is from crossbreeding villagers with demons. |
| 353 | * HappyPlace: The plot of the one-shot chapter ''Hinageshi-hen'', focusing on [[spoiler:Mion after the Hinamizawa disaster.]] |
| 354 | * HardTruthAesop: In Tsumihoroboshi, the moral can be seen as "while you should certainly stick with your friends, it's okay to keep things from them that they don't need to know. Otherwise no one would be friends because they couldn't bear to tell others about the mistakes they've made". |
| 355 | * HaremGenre: Subverted: despite the initial premise making it seem like the series belongs in this category (a guy who's in a club which otherwise only consists of cute girls), it's quickly revealed that this is not the case. Furthermore, while Mion and Rena are the only girls to show any real romantic interest in Keiichi, [[spoiler:neither of them end up with him, since in the end the series' main message is about ThePowerOfFriendship and [[{{Determinator}} never giving up]]]]. |
| 356 | * HarmfulToMinors: The older children are victims. For example, a once happy child becomes withdrawn and paranoid -- even violent -- while their parents watch unable to do anything. |
| 357 | * HatePlague: [[spoiler:The other major component of the show's premise, and what "Oyashiro-sama's curse" really is. Hinamizawa Syndrome provokes paranoia and hallucinations of whatever the afflicted hates or fears.]] |
| 358 | * HellishPupils: The "cat eyes" in Onikakushi, as well as about ten other different types of iris contortions. |
| 359 | ** In the manga, and sound novels, their eyes are often (different artists draw it differently) a mix between [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness "depressed"]] eyes, and glowing eyes. |
| 360 | *** Amusingly, the girls also get the glowing eyes and ominous lighting when they're about to inflict some humiliating-but-funny "punishment game" on Keiichi. |
| 361 | ** In Episode 15 of ''Kai'', [[spoiler:Hanyu gains these when confronting Takano, making them ''heavenly pupils''.]] |
| 362 | %%* HiddenEyes: |
| 363 | * HighOnHomicide: |
| 364 | ** Keiichi in the ''Tatarigoroshi'' arc recalls no visceral reaction to [[KnightTemplarBigBrother having finished off Satoko's]] [[AbusiveParents abusive uncle Teppei]]. He notes instead a sublime comfort [[PartlyCloudyWithAChanceOfDeath beneath the heavy rain]]. |
| 365 | ** [[spoiler:Shion]] in Meakashi is elated over capturing and killing the heads of the Three Great Families who (supposedly) [[spoiler:killed Satoshi, also taking joy in reclaiming her original name "Mion" and all the power that comes with it.]] |
| 366 | ** [[spoiler:Rena]] experiences a deep fulfillment in [[spoiler:''Tsumihoroboshi-hen'']], having killed [[spoiler:the woman who had [[HoneyTrap seduced her father in a "badger game."]]]] Of course, [[spoiler:Rina/Ritsuko]] was about to kill [[spoiler:''her'']] for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]], so it was ''technically'' [[KillingInSelfDefense self-defense]]... though try gauging that from [[spoiler:Rena]]'s [[SmitingEvilFeelsGood reaction]]. |
| 367 | * HillbillyHorrors: It takes place in a rural town, specifically based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirakawa,_Gifu_(village) Shirakawa]] in the Gifu prefecture. |
| 368 | * HitFlash: used to illustrate Rena's attacks, Satoko's traps, and Keiichi's ''[[MundaneMadeAwesome talking]]''. Only played for laughs; the [[ShooOutTheClowns effect disappears]] when things get serious. |
| 369 | * HollywoodAtheist: [[spoiler:Miyo]]. Which is ironic, since she is the only one of two characters to meet a god and actually recognize it. |
| 370 | * HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Happens in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, which seems like a happy ending at first, but gets worse right afterward, leading into the DarkestHour right after that. More notably is, Minagoroshi-hen, which is chock full of them, and though it ends on a [[DownerEnding depressing note]], it renews Rika's hope and shows her how she can change her fate.]] |
| 371 | * HormoneAddledTeenager: Mion in the manga, and Keiichi...probably. Shion might also count, given that hormones aren't tied exclusively to lust, but also high emotions and bad decisions. |
| 372 | %%* HowDareYouDieOnMe: Played straight multiple times. {{Inverted}} with [[spoiler:Hanyuu to Rika]]. See ''PleaseDontLeaveMe'' below. |
| 373 | * HufflepuffHouse: The Kimiyoshi family is the only one of the three families that never plays any important part in the story...that is, if you except [[spoiler:its leader's abduction and murder by Shion]] in two arcs. We never even see any of its members other than Kiichirō. |
| 374 | ** {{Subverted|Trope}} in the Kizuna arcs Someutsushi-hen and Kagebōshi-hen, where Natsumi Kimiyoshi is the main character. |
| 375 | * HumiliatingWager: The club often hands out these kinds of penalties to the loser of the game of the day. One memorable result of this is Keiichi being forced to walk home in a maid outfit. |
| 376 | * HumiliationConga: [[spoiler:Matsuribayashi has Takano and the Yamainu being constantly outmaneuvered by the protagonists, culminating in the Yamainu leader Okonogi getting tossed around by Mion (possibly [[ILetYouWin intentional]] to atone for his failure). Takano continues to suffer this as Okonogi reveals that Tokyo never cared about the validity of her research and just [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness want her dead]] so they can make her a scapegoat.]] |
| 377 | * HyperAwareness: 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:ObfuscatingStupidity.]] |
| 378 | [[/folder]] |
| 379 | |
| 380 | [[folder:Tropes I to L]] |
| 381 | * IdenticalPanelGag: One omake in the Watanagashi manga, where the girls think "Keiichi" with totally unrelated words, for some reason. (Translation error?) Also happens during the Millionaire game in the first chapter. |
| 382 | * IdenticalTwinMistake: When Keiichi first meets Shion at Angel Mort, he thinks she's her twin sister Mion using another name out of embarrassment over her job as a waitress. To be fair, the first times Keichi met "Shion" it ''was'' Mion pretending to be her; he doesn't realize Mion really has a twin sister until he sees them both together. |
| 383 | * IdentificationByDentalRecords: How the burnt corpse in 1983's curse is identified as [[spoiler:Takano's... [[FakingTheDead but it's actually been dead for just too long considering when Takano was last seen.]]]] |
| 384 | * IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The Japanese names of the arcs all end with the syllable "shi", no exception. |
| 385 | * IdiotBall: 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. |
| 386 | ** 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. That's Website/DarwinAwards material. |
| 387 | ** Justified mostly: the characters are often aware of what they're doing, but choose to ignore the stupidity of it and proceed anyway, out of friendship, pride, revenge or so on. |
| 388 | *** Entirely justified. [[spoiler:Not trusting your friends just triggers the HatePlague and makes everything worse. Blindly trusting your friends, especially when you have every reason not to, is one of the most important keys to finally escaping June 1983.]] |
| 389 | * IdiotsCannotCatchColds: In Onikakushi-hen, when Keiichi stays home with the excuse of a cold, Mion asks if the club members can visit him. He says he doesn't want them to catch his cold, but Mion remarks that [[SelfDeprecation they're all too stupid to catch colds]]. |
| 390 | * IgnoranceIsBliss: Mercilessly subverted in Taraimawashi-hen, in which Keiichi decided to ignore everything connected with Hinamizawa's secrets and enjoy his life. It doesn't end well. |
| 391 | * IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: Between [[spoiler:Keiichi]] and [[spoiler:Rena]] in the end of the first season. |
| 392 | * IKnowYouKnowIKnow: The club games, and Satoko's traps. For example, in preparation for a squirt gun fight, Rena stashed an extra squirt gun somewhere, but when the time came to use it, it turns out Satoko had already found the hidden gun, broken it so it couldn't fire, and left it in Rena's original hiding spot. |
| 393 | * ImTakingHerHomeWithMe: TropeNamer, uttered by Rena whenever she sees something cute. She says this and then proceeds to [[spoiler:kidnap Hanyuu]] three times, and that's within a three-minute span. |
| 394 | * ImpossiblyLowNeckline: Angel Mort's [[IconicOutfit uniform]] is a miracle of physics, if anything. |
| 395 | * ImprobableInfantSurvival: Played straight in Himatsubushi-hen. [[spoiler:Akasawa's wife dies, but the hospital saved her baby.]] Averted most of the time though. |
| 396 | * ImprovisedWeapon: Weapon options in ''Higurashi Daybreak''. |
| 397 | %%* InaneBlabbering |
| 398 | %%* IncestSubtext: Shion and Mion, no thanks to the artists. |
| 399 | * IndignantSlap: During the Cotton Drifting Arc, Rena reveals to Keiichi that everyone in town knows that he and Shion were the ones who violated the ritual tool shed the night of the Festival. She's also deduced just what happened to the people who have gone missing after that night, and who is responsible, and knows that it comes from Keiichi and Shion going into the shed. Then she slaps him hard, declaring, "I don't think anyone's punished you yet." Keiichi doesn't protest. |
| 400 | * InnocentlyInsensitive: In Tatarigoroshi-hen, the club has a competition over who can make the best bento. Keiichi's is the most lacking and Mion ribs him over it but, in reality, it's leftovers from Satoko who cooked for him and Rika the night previously. Mion's jabs clearly hurt Satoko but she joins in, mocking the meal she cooked in a bit of self-depreciation. Tomita and Okamura judge the meal harshly as well, hoping to help Satoko beat him all the while unaware they're insulting her hard work. |
| 401 | * InsaneEqualsViolent: [[spoiler:The deeper one falls into the HatePlague, the more dangerous they become to [[AxCrazy others]] as well as [[ClawingAtOwnThroat themselves]].]] |
| 402 | * IntertwinedFingers: Hanyuu and Rika do this in the ending credits of ''Kai''. |
| 403 | ** There's a lot of Shmion pictures that involve this. |
| 404 | * InSpiteOfANail |
| 405 | ** As described in Minagoroshi-hen, even with [[spoiler:MentalTimeTravel]], events will play out very similarly. The main part that differs is who is [[spoiler:affected by the Hinamizawa Syndrome]] and the circumstances before then (Rule X). The backstory remains the same, Tomitake and Takano are found dead on the night of Watanagashi (Rule Y) ([[spoiler:Considering Takano is FakingTheDead and is the BigBad, the entire operation was planned in advance]]), the current protagonist [[spoiler:wrongly]] blames the Sonozakis and Oyashiro-sama for it (Rule Z), believes they'll be next and it goes FromBadToWorse as [[spoiler:the symptoms progress]]. If the mystery isn't solved, [[spoiler:Rika is killed for any reason, even in the arcs that don't show that, which triggers the Hinamizawa Syndrome outbreak, the government blows up the Onigafuchi Swamp to [[GasLeakCoverUp release toxic gas]] and LeaveNoSurvivors if possible]]. |
| 406 | ** At least [[spoiler:the first arc of]] Higurashi Gou appears to be using this trope. Rika goes out of her way to [[spoiler:talk Keiichi down from his paranoia]], leading to him letting Rena into the house when she knocks at his front door claiming to have brought dinner on request from his parents. [[spoiler:After a few minutes inside the house, Rena attacks Keiichi, leading to him still killing her in apparent self-defense]]. Later on, at the hospital, [[spoiler:Keiichi is still implied to have died by clawing his throat out]]. |
| 407 | * InTheBlood: |
| 408 | ** Remember how [[spoiler:Shion had to peel her fingernails off for Satoshi, after which Mion did likewise?]] Well, the TIPS reveal that [[spoiler:a similar situation happened earlier, except with their mother and Oryou. Expect this one ended well.]] |
| 409 | ** Also, the belief of some people (apparently including [[spoiler:the Sonozaki family]]) that the people of Hinamizawa are descended from man-eating demons. A later tip shows near the end of Matsuribayashi [[spoiler:that this is 100% true, assuming Hanyuu's horns weren't proof enough.]] |
| 410 | * InvertedPortrait: |
| 411 | ** In the opening to the anime's first season, two images of Mion appear, lying on their side, nude, and curled in fetal positions, each with her head by the other's knees. [[PinkySwear Their pinkies are interlocked]]. [[spoiler:Actually, one is Mion (a very large tattoo can be seen covering her entire back), and the other is Shion (her back is normal).]] %% Yeah, I know there's an extra twist to their names in the VN, but maybe we can leave it at this. |
| 412 | ** In the ending of ''Kai'', Rena and Mion are lying next to each other in empty space, facing opposite directions, framed by flowers. |
| 413 | ** In the visually symbolic intro of episode [[spoiler:6]] of ''Kai'', each member of the circle of friends is displayed, one by one, except Mion and Shion, who appear back-to-back, with Shion upside-down. |
| 414 | ** In the same intro, [[spoiler:Rika]] herself appears upside-down, with a closeup of her eyes opening. |
| 415 | * IronicEcho: In Onikakushi, an increasingly paranoid Keiichi snaps at Mion for keeping the annual "curse" secret, exclaiming that friends don't keep secrets from each other, so they're no longer friends. In Tsumihoroboshi, an increasingly paranoid Rena snaps at Keiichi for keeping his past crimes secret, exclaiming that friends don't keep secrets from each other, so they're no longer friends. |
| 416 | * IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: Ooishi and Akasaka write one at the end of Himatsubushi-hen as a last gambit to try to uncover what caused [[spoiler:the Great Hinamizawa Gas Disaster]]. |
| 417 | * ItMakesSenseInContext: Episode 1 of Rei |
| 418 | -->'''Rika''': We have to hurry up and pull down Keiichi's swim trunks! |
| 419 | ** 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 [[MoodWhiplash funny few minutes before the murders start]]. |
| 420 | * ItsForABook: |
| 421 | ** Keichi uses this to ask his mother (who likes mystery novels) for general advice while planning the perfect murder. |
| 422 | ** Rika uses this in ''Matsuribayashi'' to find out who's [[spoiler:behind her death]]. She outlines the story she's come up with so far (actually a basic summary of what she knows about the situation she's facing) and asks her friends for help brainstorming possible motivations for the antagonist. |
| 423 | * IveComeTooFar: [[spoiler:This is Shion's justification when she comes out of her euphoria over killing Satoko - realising she's defied Satoshi's final request - but goes right back to being a psycho; deciding that it's far too late to turn back]]. |
| 424 | * IWishedYouWereDead: Over the course of Tatarigoroshi, Keiichi wishes death on [[spoiler:Takano [[HeKnowsTooMuch to keep her mouth shut about him killing Teppei]], Irie for treating him like a lunatic (he ''is'' going crazy, but [[{{Gaslighting}} not for the reasons he thinks]]), Ooishi for treating him like crap while he's suspiciously digging in the middle of a rainy night, the entire village to put a stop to all the craziness, and an interviewer who doesn't believe his account of the Hinamizawa Gas Disaster.]] Though we find out later that [[spoiler:not only did all of those deaths have other explanations, but all but one of them were the deaths which occur in every single universe; Keiichi didn't even wish anyone unusual to death!]] |
| 425 | * JigsawPuzzlePlot: The arcs take place in [[spoiler:{{Alternate Timeline}}s instead of a straightforward GroundhogDayLoop]]. What's expected from player is noticing parts that are consistent, as most of them relate to the overarching conspiracy behind the incidents. |
| 426 | * JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Almost every arc starts with something minor or forgivable that gets worse and worse until... |
| 427 | ** Tsumihoroboshi-hen in particular, since [=Ryukishi07=] left an afterword in the previous volume questioning whether a murder can be justifiable, whether a murderer can be sympathetic. Then he answers the question by giving us a SympatheticMurderer and two {{Asshole Victim}}s. But the discourse is pretty much abandoned [[spoiler:when Rena's paranoid dementia spirals into engineering a mass murder-suicide.]] |
| 428 | * JustInTime: Happens twice, [[spoiler:The first time is in Minagoroshi-hen, where the rest of the group arrives in time to save Rika and Satoko. It doesn't end well... The second time ends better, with Akasaka arriving just in time to show how much he's been [[TookALevelInBadass level grinding]] in badass. And it was awesome.]] |
| 429 | * KaizoTrap: If you consider the sound novels as video games then the epilogue of ''Tsumihoroboshi'' is as close to this as can be. [[spoiler:Keiichi made Rena snap out of her madness, nobody dies except Tomitake and Takano, all is well that ends well! Then comes the final TIP, 20 years later, revealing that just after that Rika was killed and everybody died in the disaster.]] |
| 430 | * KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Nomura and the opposing faction from Tokyo]], who were behind supposed BigBad [[spoiler:Takano Miyo]] and were driving them on when they wavered, apparently get away without anything more than the failure of their power play, presumably by making [[spoiler:Takano]] their scapegoat for everything. This despite almost EVERYTHING being their fault and them having NO FreudianExcuse. |
| 431 | ** 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.]] |
| 432 | ** And completely averted in Miotsukushi-hen [[spoiler:where she's finally arrested]]. |
| 433 | * KarmicDeath: Satoshi's abusive uncle and Rina. Also Shion who deserved it as well, after coldly killing Keiichi, Mion, Rika, and Satoko. |
| 434 | * KickTheDog: 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. |
| 435 | * KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Miyo does this to Keiichi while Kei is delivering a KirkSummation, and does it in a way that is simultaneously [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hilarious]] and hand-over-mouth horrifying.]] |
| 436 | * KillTheCutie: There's a reason it's part of the horror genre. |
| 437 | * KnightTemplarBigBrother: Keiichi, [[spoiler:Satoshi, and eventually Shion]] towards Satoko. The last one is quite possibly motivated by [[spoiler:atonement for certain infamously gruesome acts committed in the Eye Opening/Cotton Drifting arcs when she becomes aware of them]]. Deconstructed since everytime it occurs, tragedy strikes or nearly does so. |
| 438 | * LargeHam: Dr. Irie gets some of this. Not to mention Keiichi when masquerading as Kei-kun. |
| 439 | * LaughingMad: 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.]] |
| 440 | * LaughWithMe: One of the rare moments when this trope is PlayedForDrama. See the above entry. |
| 441 | * LaxativePrank: 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. |
| 442 | * LecherousLicking: Occurs in Kira when Shion is licking cream off of Mion who is doing a BodySushi as a punishment game. |
| 443 | * LetsGetDangerous: [[spoiler:When the [[TrueCompanions best friends]] finally gets it together, what was a squabbling squad of broken children who were easily preyed upon becomes a tightly-knit unit that resists the HatePlague and completely owns a crack unit of corrupt members of government (with adult help, but even they appeared [[AdultsAreUseless useless]] at first).]] |
| 444 | * LifeOrDeathQuestion: [[spoiler:Takano]] threatens Satoko with a gun while asking her a question that has caused her trouble due to color blindness. She takes a complete guess, [[spoiler:which turns out to be right.]] [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope She still shoots her anyway]].]] |
| 445 | * LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Rena (light) and Mion (dark). The more innocent Rena is quite naive while Mion is more dirty-minded and a tease. However Mion is light to Shion's dark. Mion says she is the sweet to Shion's cold. |
| 446 | ** Hanyuu (light) and Rika (dark). |
| 447 | * LighterAndSofter: ''Dear Lord'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RaUPlVeD2E going by the trailer]], the only thing people will be dying from is diabetes from the show! Take into consideration that Kira can be translated as Sparkle and this becomes even more obvious. Just compare [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRtsIJXrhqc the first opening]] with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPLO4tnvNko Kira's]] (warning: extreme MoodWhiplash) |
| 448 | * LiveActionAdaptation: The films ''Shrill Cries of Summer'' (''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni'') and ''Shrill Cries: Reshuffle'' (''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Chikai''). |
| 449 | * LoopholeAbuse: [[LoudOfWar Loudly demanding that the dam construction workers stop?]] The police could just ask the protesters to stop. Loudly chanting Buddhist sutras? Now it's considered protected speech, and the police can't stop the protesters due to religious freedom laws. |
| 450 | * LoserSonOfLoserDad: [[spoiler:Satoshi and Satoko, because their parents supported the dam project]] |
| 451 | * LosingTheTeamSpirit: [[spoiler:Keiichi's demise]] during the penultimate arc of the second series. |
| 452 | * LostAesop: Killing is bad! Don't ever kill people, because it is a horrible thing that will scar your soul and make you go insane. But fighting a whole army using Kalashnikovs, huge falling lumbers, and the same baseball bat that used to smash people's head with a single blow? It's perfectly OK in case your story suddenly turned into an action-adventure where [[NonLethalWarfare mooks suddenly]] [[CouldHaveBeenMessy can't die]], [[TapOnTheHead just fall unconscious]]. |
| 453 | * LoudOfWar: One of the many tactics used by the Onigafuchi Guardians during the Dam War. They would park a van in front of the dam construction site and blast buddhist prayers through megaphones at an insane volume to make the police and the workers go mad. [[LoopholeAbuse And they can't be arrested for that since religious freedom is protected.]] |
| 454 | * LoveDodecahedron: So if we sum it up - Mion and Rena both love Keiichi, which may or may not be requited depending on the arc; Shion strongly loved Satoshi [[spoiler:but also develops feelings for Keiichi in some arcs]], while Mion [[spoiler:also had feelings for Satoshi, though not as strong]]. There's also Satoko's implied crush on Keiichi in ''Tatarigoroshi''. Less seriously, Shion once says that if Mion had been a guy, she might have fallen for her. She says it jokingly… or not. |
| 455 | * LoveHurts: In most arcs, yes it does. In ''Onikakushi'', [[spoiler:Keiichi mentally confesses his love to Rena… after bashing her and Mion to death while crying; Rena and Mion also had to witness the boy they loved suddenly turn paranoid and rejecting them.]] In ''Watanagashi'', [[spoiler:Keiichi not giving a doll to Mion and hurting her feelings leads her to confess to Shion and triggers the tragic events.]] In ''Meakashi'', [[spoiler:Shion's love for Satoshi and his disapearance lead her to go completely insane.]] In ''Tsumihoroboshi'', [[spoiler:Rena's father falls in love twice, and is betrayed twice—the first time by his wife, which nearly [[DrivenToSuicide drives Rena to suicide]]; the second time by a ManipulativeBitch that Rena ends up killing to protect him.]] In ''Matsuribayashi'', [[spoiler:Takano's very real feelings for Tomitake are partly responsible for her VillainousBreakdown. Although in that case, that may be what saves her actually.]] |
| 456 | * LoverTugOfWar: Shion and Mion to Keiichi. Takano and Tomitake to Rena. |
| 457 | * LoveTriangle: There's hints of one between Keiichi, Mion, and Rena is hinted as early as Watanagashi-hen in the "doll incident." Ironically, [[spoiler:it is Shion who goes crazy because of it even though it's Mion who is jealous.]] |
| 458 | * LyricalDissonance: |
| 459 | ** Shion and Mion's {{image song}}, Futari no Birthday, is an '''incredibly''' upbeat pop number with '''incredibly''' depressing lyrics. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa02dnodb38 Get some of that action here.]] |
| 460 | ** Similarly, Hanyuu's {{image song}}, Nanodesu. Fantastically upbeat, cheerful, and fun song, with lyrics that boil down to "I'm powerless, I can't do anything". |
| 461 | ** Higurashi character songs seem to be full of this. Rika has two {{image song}}s one for her childish, cheery voice and other for [[spoiler:her hundreds-year-old cynical voice]]. Ironically, the former's lyrics are depressing, while the latter's are more hopeful. |
| 462 | [[/folder]] |
| 463 | |
| 464 | [[folder:Tropes M to P]] |
| 465 | * MadDoctor: |
| 466 | ** A TIPS in the games notes that [[spoiler:Dr. Irie]] performed psychosurgery on unwilling subjects in the past, and a flashback in the final season of the anime [[spoiler:has him dissecting the brain of a living patient (albeit with persuasion from the BigBad)]]. [[spoiler:Takano]] is a little bit more literally one. |
| 467 | ** The manga adaptation of Matsuribayashi takes this further [[spoiler:and shows Takano tried to make him ''vivisect'' '''Satoko'''. Mercifully Irie and Rika were able to outsmart Takano on this one, as Rika volunteered herself.]] |
| 468 | ** [[spoiler:Takano]] ''eagerly'' planned and prepared the [[spoiler:vivisection]] days before it would happen in the VisualNovel. |
| 469 | * MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Inverted. [[spoiler:Dr. Takano was nice and unatractive, but Miyo is [[HeadTurningBeauty beautiful]] but quite insane]]. |
| 470 | * MagicalGirl: Rika and Satoko become magical girls in Episode 2 of Kira. |
| 471 | * MascotVillain: [[spoiler: Subverted with Rena. She's presented as evil in early arcs and can be CuteAndPsycho when needed but is overall a good girl, and most of her antagonistic traits are misunderstandings. ]] |
| 472 | * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A calling card of the series and the driver of much of the mystery. Is the Curse of Oyashiro-sama actually the wrath of a deity or is it just superstition being taken advantage of by people with ulterior motives? Each new arc seems to provide plenty of evidence for both cases and the first four sound novels even have a bonus feature where the characters take part in an After Party and discuss their own theories on the plot. |
| 473 | * MeaningfulName: Probably accidental, but "Rena" could be short for the Spanish word "renacimiento", meaning "rebirth". [[spoiler:Rena's old name was actually "Reina", which is a Japanese name but is also Spanish for "queen"; she changed it to "Rena" to create a new identity for herself, effectively being "reborn". [=Ryukishi07=] is also a major fan of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', and both Rena's names are possible translations for the name of the game's female lead.]] |
| 474 | * MediaScaremongering: Some of the later console-only arcs emphasize the problems this can cause to survivors of a tragedy, with the {{Paparazzi}} spinning tales about possible causes of the [[spoiler:Great Hinamizawa Gas Disaster]] and the crop of murders and suicides that occur afterward among the survivors. This only worsens [[spoiler:the stress that Hinamizawans outside the village deal with]] and makes those incidents even more common, not to mention just causing a lot of emotional pain that is bad in its own right. |
| 475 | * MediaWatchdog: PEGI was obviously sleeping when it gave the French translation 7+ rating. [[spoiler:Explanation: They only rated the minigames. It even got an ISBN number, so apparently rest of it is treated as a book.]] |
| 476 | ** ... my God, [[http://www.pegi.info/en/index/global_id/505/?searchString=le+sanglot+des+cigales&agecategories=&genre=&organisations=1855&platforms=&countries=&submit=Search it's true!]] |
| 477 | * TheMenInBlack: Beware the Janitors, for they are Anonymous, and they are Legion! |
| 478 | * MilkmanConspiracy: The mastermind behind everything is [[spoiler:some stoned-looking nurse]]? |
| 479 | * MindScrew: In general the whole air of mystery and paranoia (both of which are cleared up in the second season). A specific example - [[spoiler:in the second arc Keiichi finds out that Mion killed a bunch of people. In the fifth arc, we're shown that it was actually ''Shion'' pretending to be Mion.]] |
| 480 | ** The whole idea behind the series is this, to the point where the '''last episode ''' of the first season gives you a '''slight clue''' of what the hell is happening. |
| 481 | * MoodWhiplash: Not just the anime itself, but even some of the character image songs get in on this, particularly Rena's. |
| 482 | ** One of the TIPS in the visual novel, Weekly featured article, goes from a gruesome murder article to an advertisement for a lucky charm (even the music goes from creepy to comical). |
| 483 | ** The scene in ''Onikakushi-hen'' where Keiichi (and the viewer) first learn of the string of murders: |
| 484 | --->'''Tomitake''': Where's Rena going?\ |
| 485 | '''Keiichi''': ''(joking and oblivious)'' She's probably checking on the corpse she cut up over there.\ |
| 486 | '''Tomitake''': Ah, yes. That was a terrible incident. I hear they still haven't found one of the arms. |
| 487 | ** A less drastic example happens in ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen'' during the comedic dessert-eating contest at Angel Mort, where Keiichi is in the middle of freaking out as he tries to come up with a plan to win, only for the [[PerspectiveFlip perspective to jump to Rena's thoughts mid-scene]] for the first time in the series to reveal that, while she's outwardly exploding in "kyute mode" as she guzzles down desserts, inside she's contemplating how happy she is to have all these friends that she loves, despite knowing how much sadness there is in life and resolving to do whatever she can to make the happiness last as long as possible and minimise the sadness. The swerve from goofy comedy to melancholic introspection is accompanied by a complete 180 in the soundtrack. |
| 488 | * MotherlySidePlait: Akasaka's wife Yukie sports a rather impressive one. In the manga-only ''Onisarashi'' arc, Natsumi's mother is a textbook example... until she looses her plait as she starts to go insane. [[spoiler:Or rather, [[UnreliableNarrator as we see her go insane through Natsumi's eyes.]]]] Miyoko's mom also has one, as well as Keiichi's mom in the live adaptation. |
| 489 | * MotiveDecay: The BigBad, [[spoiler:Miyo.]] [[spoiler:She's trying to prove her foster grandfather's work is right, but she also wants to become/destroy/snub her nose at God, and she wants to create a world where she'll be loved and she wants to know how Hinamizawa syndrome works and…( See WMG for "In Tsumihoroboshi, why did Takano give Rena those documents") ]] |
| 490 | ** In the last arc, Nomura even lampshades that [[spoiler:Takano]] doesn't really know what she wants. [[spoiler:In the end, Takano realizes that far from making people acknowledge her grandfather's research, the Irie institution is only going to erase it. So she decides to cast "Oyashiro-sama's curse" to at least pretend being a god when burying the research. It would also become the proof that people actually read the research and took it seriously.]] |
| 491 | * MotorcycleDominoes: Happens a ''lot'' at Angel Mort. And it's the same three punks that get pissed off. |
| 492 | * {{Mukokuseki}}: Nobody in Hinamizawa looks Japanese. Case in point, the Sonozaki twins' green hair. Ditto the Houjous, who seem to have naturally straw blond hair. Also, the Furude family. Father: black hair, Mother: dark bluish-purple hair, Rika: same as Mother, and [[spoiler:Ancient Relative (aka Hanyuu): light purple hair]]. Not to mention Rena (light auburn) and Rina (bubblegum pink). |
| 493 | * MultipleReferencePun: The title. The "''naku''" means "to cry" as in both weeping ''and'' an animal making noises. |
| 494 | ** It also applies to the English title with the multiple meanings of "cry". |
| 495 | ** Miyo [[spoiler:correctly]] theorizes this applies to the name of Watanagashi festival; Wata means cotton and [[spoiler:guts.]] |
| 496 | ** The French version has a very dark one with the title of the seventh novel ''Minagoroshi-hen'' (Massacre chapter), translated as [[FinalSolution "La Solution finale"]]. It refers both to the answers given in this arc and [[spoiler:the extermination of Hinamizawa at the end.]] |
| 497 | * MundaneMadeAwesome: |
| 498 | ** Episode 22 of the first season opens with an intense ''water pistol fight'', complete with sabotaged weapons, traps, dramatic camera angles/music, and GlowingEyesOfDoom. It ended with a victory to [[spoiler:Keiichi and Rena, who got each other at the same time]]. |
| 499 | ** The second episode of ''Kai'' does this with a game of tag, only even more awesome. |
| 500 | ** More generally, the club activities in the sound novel are emphasised with various booms, flashes, camera shakings and other dramatic sound effects. Even for a simple card game. They are used even more liberally during Keiichi's bullshit speeches, with the text (which is complete nonsense anyway) [[UnreadablyFastText scrolling too fast to read!]] |
| 501 | * MurderBySuicide: The curse causes several people to kill themselves. |
| 502 | * MurderIsTheBestSolution: Averted hard, given MurderMakesYouCrazy below. Even if it's a case of the victim being an AssholeVictim, the character's fear of having their crime exposed doesn't do wonders for their sanity later on. Minagoroshi in particular is an organised legal effort to stop Teppei from abusing Satoko despite recognizing that the problem could be solved much faster by just killing him off. |
| 503 | * MurderMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:Keiichi and Rena, after killing Teppei and Rina, respectively.]] |
| 504 | * MustMakeAmends: Subverted when [[spoiler:Shion Sonozaki]] kills [[spoiler:Satoko Hojo]] in the underground torture chamber; she believes at first that she's helping her [[spoiler:essentially dead boyfriend Satoshi Hojo]]. Then she tries to talk to his shadow that has appeared on the wall (she's gone nuts at this point obviously), when she realizes the last words of him were: [[spoiler:Take care of my little sister [Satoko] for me.]] She literally pisses in her pants at the realization, but realizes she's already crossed the Moral Event Horizon and then goes off to brutally murder more people. |
| 505 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Numerous instances. Keiichi gets one after [[spoiler:beating Rena and Mion to death in Onikakushi-hen, and another one later on when he recalls this during Tsumihoroboshi-hen]], Rena at the end of Tsumihoroboshi-hen, and Shion gets one for all of ten seconds when [[spoiler:she remembers Satoshi asking her to look after Satoko after she murders her]], and then [[GoesMadFromTheRevelation goes on to merrily add two more bodies to her pile]]. |
| 506 | ** She gets another 5 seconds [[spoiler:after she's killed everyone and has slipped off the balcony. "I'm sorry, everyone. Next time, I'll do better." * splat* ]] |
| 507 | *** In the manga and sound novels it's played more straight. [[spoiler:Especially when she commits suicide.]] |
| 508 | *** It's also heavily implied that she had an off-screen moment in the 7th novel. She was so horrified about it that Mion was the one that had to spill the beans. Also explains why she was so protective of Satoko in that timeline. |
| 509 | * MyGreatestFailure: 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.]] |
| 510 | * NakedFreakOut: In the [[BeachEpisode pool]] OVA, Keiichi has his "lucky" swim trunks [[SlipperySwimsuit ripped off of him]], but fails to to notice and ends up standing naked in front of Rena, Mion, Rika, and Satoko who all [[EatingTheEyeCandy blatantly stare]]. He only notices it when Rena starts fawning over his [[TeenyWeenie "Cute]] [[UnusualEuphemism Sea]] [[ICallHimMisterHappy Bear"]] which prompts the others to burst into giggles and for him to [[HandOrObjectUnderwear cover himself with his hands]] while letting out a SkywardScream. |
| 511 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The names of the punishments in the OrphanageOfFear - namely, "the coffin", "the squashed catterpillar", "the duck that cannot drink" and "the dismembered pig". In the anime and sound novel, you can only guess vaguely what they are about. Then the manga decided to elaborate... |
| 512 | * NeverASelfMadeWoman: Takano, [[spoiler:whose entire motivation revolves around proving the research of her late adopted grandfather, Hifumi, whom she feels indebted to for taking her in his care.]] |
| 513 | * NewTransferStudent: Keiichi [[spoiler:and, later, Hanyuu]]. And also [[spoiler:Shion, when she becomes Satoko's CoolBigSis]] in ''Minagoroshi''. |
| 514 | * NightmareFetishist: Takano Miyo. Loves the horrifying legends about Hinamizawa and is fascinated by the actual ancient torture equipment. |
| 515 | * NoblewomansLaugh: Satoko does this a lot, and always does after pulling off a prank. |
| 516 | * NoEnding: The manga-only Utsutsukowashi-hen, which was cancelled after the first volume. |
| 517 | * NoFourthWall: The All-cast Review Session that unlocks at the end of each question arc in the sound novel. The main characters suddenly behave like actors discussing the preceding plot. Except... they're [[MindScrew still the same characters, personality-wise, and they still talk and act as if they are those characters]]. |
| 518 | * NoNameGiven: Rena and Mion's fathers, as well as Satoko and Rika's parents. |
| 519 | * NonStandardGameOver: In the "Shion's boobs" mini-game in the sound novel, she offers to let you have a taste of her breasts if you help her, and you have the choice of accepting or refusing. If you accept, the screen turns pink and you hear Rika's mewing, before going back to the title screen. [[YouDoNotWantToKnow Don't think too much about it.]] |
| 520 | * NoodleImplements: In ''Matsuribayashi'' (the Visual Novel version), the description of the punishment inflicted on [[spoiler:Miyoko after she fails to escape from the orphanage]] replaces many words with "XXX", so all we know is that it involves ''something'' being done in a restroom. The manga version shows the punishments in explicit detail. |
| 521 | * NoodleIncident: In the ''Tatarigoroshi'' sound novel, Mion tried ''something'' during the baseball match that is referred as a "suicide attack" and got her badly injured. We never know what she did exactly. |
| 522 | * {{Nosebleed}}: |
| 523 | ** Rena gets this after imagining ripping off Keiichi's swimsuit in ''Higurashi Rei''. "Keiichi's [[UnusualEuphemism furry seal]]... [[CatchPhrase I want to take it home]]!" |
| 524 | ** Keiichi also gets one in the last episode of Rei, [[spoiler:thinking of the possibilities the magatama could be used for since the one holding one half (Rena) will fall in love with the person holding the other half.]] |
| 525 | * TheNoseless: Rena, Rika and Satoko are drawn without a nose in the original sound novel. |
| 526 | * NoRomanticResolution: The story ends without [[spoiler:Keiichi's relationship with Rena or Mion having changed at all despite him getting heavy ShipTease with both girls in different arcs.]] |
| 527 | * NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: The club activities are typical tabletop or outside games, then more conditions and stakes are added, as they quickly devolve into "anything goes as long as somebody is losing". Pretty much anything can become BattleOfWits, and cheating with LoopholeAbuse is outright encouraged. |
| 528 | * NotQuiteTheRightThing: If Akasaka finishes helping out in the kidnapping case in Hinamizawa, [[spoiler:his wife dies from falling down the stairs]], something he is able to prevent if he heeds Rika's warning. In addition, Keiichi giving the doll he wins to Rena, as what seems like a kind act [[spoiler:makes Mion sad and leads to the murders in Watanagashi and Meakashi-hen]]. |
| 529 | ** Unless after watching the latter you come to the conclusion that that was a bold-faced lie and the doll had nothing to do with the murders, and the claim was just another way to [[spoiler:torture Keiichi]]. |
| 530 | *** It's not so much a lie as it is a more… indirect influence. [[spoiler:If not for the doll, Mion wouldn't have poured her heart out to Shion, in turn restoking her repressed {{Yandere}} feelings for Satoshi, leading to the events of Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen.]] |
| 531 | ** Actually, Akasaka going home mid-case isn't what saves her, mainly because he never did that. By calling home on the first night he forgot to do so and telling her to be very careful, he saves her life. In the Visual Novel for Matsuribayashi, Okonogi was the one who fought Akasaka back with the kidnapping of the minister's grandson. If Akasaka had to rush home to save his wife, the conversation between him and Okonogi in his BigDamnHeroes moment wouldn't make sense. |
| 532 | * NumericalThemeNaming: Miyo Takano and Professor Hifumi Takano. Hifumi can be written as 一二三 (123), while Miyo is written as 三四 (34), which continues the sequence. Would be a stretch, except that it's pointed out in the anime when the two characters first meet. In the VisualNovel, it practically [[{{Anvilicious}} beats you over the head with that]]. Numerous times it says that Hifumi (1-2-3) started counting, and Miyo (3-4) will keep counting afterwards. |
| 533 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: The people in the Child Consultation Center are depicted like this in ''Minagoroshi-hen''; the author even apologizes for it in the commentary, [[ShownTheirWork knowing fully well they are not that bad in real life.]] |
| 534 | * OffToBoardingSchool: Shion, as seen in her flashback arc, was sent off to St. Lucia's Boarding School once Mion was [[spoiler:erroneously]] given an oni tattoo marking her as the next family head. Her first appearance has her return to Hinamizawa after breaking out. |
| 535 | * OfficialCouple: Takano and Tomitake. And ''maybe'' Shion and Satoshi; it's never really made clear if Satoshi considered her as a lover or as a friend, and the whole TwinSwitch thing doesn't help. |
| 536 | * OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Rika is revealed to have relived the events of June 1983 for hundreds of years - she even refers to it as the "one thousand year search for a miracle" in the anime's last episode.]] |
| 537 | * OminousLatinChanting: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=t_mi9I2IPes&feature=endscreen Chinureta Chinkonka]] in ''Matsuri''. Even the title is creepy. |
| 538 | * OminousPipeOrgan: "Shirokiri no itadaki ~ Blanc pur" (Misty summits - Pure white), which plays during the most tense scenes of ''Minagoroshi-hen''. |
| 539 | * OnceIsNotEnough: In Onikakushi-hen, Keiichi shoves Rena to the ground and runs, only to be beaten down by the Almighty Janitors and be unpleasantly awakened by guess who. |
| 540 | * OnceMoreWithClarity: Meakashi-hen serves as this to Watanagashi-hen, revealing that [[spoiler:the antagonist was Shion, while Mion was the girl locked up and begging for Keiichi's life.]] Tsumihoroboshi-hen has [[spoiler:Keiichi remembering the events of Onikakushi-hen, this time sane enough to realize that he grew paranoid toward and ultimately killed his two closest friends for reasons that only existed in his head.]] |
| 541 | * OneCastMemberPerCover: Question Arcs' manga volumes have covers with a different main cast member each. ''Onikakushi-hen'' has Rena on Volume 1 and Keiichi on Volume 2, ''Watanagashi-hen'' has Mion on Volume 1 and Shion on Volume 2, and ''Tatarigoroshi-hen'' has Satoko on Volume 1 and Rika on Volume 2. However, ''Himatsubushi-hen'' features Rika on both volume covers. The Answer Arcs' manga volumes, on the other hand, feature one character on some covers and multiple characters (usually pairs) on others. |
| 542 | * OneDialogueTwoConversations: |
| 543 | ** In Onikakushi, Keiichi freaks out when he finds a needle in the ohagi Mion gave him, and gets enraged when she sheepishly passes off the surprise content as a prank, [[spoiler:because she only put tabasco sauce in ohagi. The needle is just a product of his paranoia.]] |
| 544 | ** In Tsumihoroboshi, Rika finds Rena hiding from police in her favorite garbage dump. Takano's scrapbook and various misunderstandings have led Rena to believe that aliens are controlling peoples' minds with parasites and replacing them with doubles if they figure out what's going on. When Rena accuses Rika of not really being Rika, the latter suddenly drops her cutesy tone and praises Rena for the first to figure that out. [[spoiler:Rika is actually a GroundhogPeggySue who considers herself distinct from whatever Rika existed before her MentalTimeTravel into each timeline.]] |
| 545 | * OneEyedShot: A few of the Higurashi visual novel themes make use of this shot, usually spliced into a blink-and-you'll-miss-it montage. |
| 546 | * TheOneGuy: Keiichi, a guy in the middle of four girls − later five, and eventually six. |
| 547 | * {{Oni}}: Mion Sonozaki has an Oni tattooed on her back out of family tradition. The Sonozakis and the other great families (the Furudes and Kimiyoshis) claim to have Oni blood. |
| 548 | * OnlySaneMan: Keiichi seems so at first, but actually it's [[spoiler:Mion]], despite her [[{{Yakuza}} violent heritage]], is the only club member to [[spoiler:not suffer the effects of the HatePlague]] during the course of the series. [[spoiler:Rika says it even happened to her, but she just got killed before being able to hurt anyone in those fragments.]] |
| 549 | * OnlySixFaces: The visual novel version of ''Hinamizawa Bus Stop.'' Although all the characters are in silhouette, Rika's (teenager) model is simply scaled up from her child model of the other games, and the new male characters are simply blanked out versions of Oishi, Akasuka, and Tomitake. |
| 550 | * OrphanageOfFear: [[spoiler:Miyo Takano (or Miyoko Tanashi)]] is trapped in the orphanage from '''hell''' in [[spoiler:Matsuribayashi-hen's flashback]]. The manga cranks it up several thousand notches. |
| 551 | ** In the manga, the orphanage is '''MUCH WORSE''', torture, rape, and even death are shown. You can practically call this orphanage a concentration camp. |
| 552 | * OrphanageOfLove: The plan of Miyoko's friend in ''Matsuribayashi'' is for the four of them to escape their OrphanageOfFear and find "The House of Love". [[spoiler:Not only do they fail, being tortured and for one of them being grossly raped while another (and maybe more) being ''killed'' as punishment, it's strongly implied the House of Love doesn't even exist.]] |
| 553 | * OurHeroIsDead: Almost every arc, actually, but notably at the end of Onikakushi-hen. |
| 554 | ** A better example would be more like, Our [[spoiler:lancer]] is dead, [[spoiler:Where Miyo effectively ends the HopeSpot during Minagoroshi-hen, by shooting Keiichi during his KirkSummation.]] |
| 555 | * PaintingTheMedium: Okonogi in Rei during the pool episode. |
| 556 | ** A scarier example is [[spoiler:Rena]]'s narration in the VN of ''Tsumihoroboshi'' to illustrate [[spoiler:her SanitySlippage.]] At the beginning, it's a cute pink. Then when [[spoiler:Ooishi interrogates her]] it turns into a pale orange. By the time [[spoiler:she takes the school hostage]], her text has become bright red. |
| 557 | ** In a similar vein to the Tsumihoroboshi-hen example, at least one of the anime fansubs had the subbing of [[spoiler:Mion's]] line in Watanagashi-hen, "Actually I'm taking it back," the final line in the episode, fade from white to blood-red. |
| 558 | * PalsWithJesus: Rika is the only person in the club in on the secret that [[spoiler:Oyashiro and Hanyuu are the same person]]. |
| 559 | %%* PantyFighter: Higurashi Daybreak |
| 560 | * ParentalAbandonment: 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. |
| 561 | * ParentalObliviousness: Actually somewhat ''invoked'', as Keiichi seems to go out of his way to make sure his parents are oblivious to all the freaky stuff that's going on. |
| 562 | * PaterFamilicide: Among the murders from the Hinamizawan diaspora in Someutsushi-hen, one case that Minai has to respond to is a husband killing his wife and children and then trying to kill himself when the police get there. [[spoiler:The culprit in this case is the son of the old man Natsumi had befriended earlier who killed one of the workers at his rehabilitation center]]. |
| 563 | * ThePenIsMightier: In ''Matsuribayashi'', Irie uses a mechanical pencil against [[spoiler:one of the security guards in the clinic's basement]]. [[SubvertedTrope All it does is draw the enemy's attention]]. But then [[spoiler:[[DoubleSubversion Irie lies about the pencil being filled with experimental poison]], and exploits the PlaceboEffect to force the guard into surrendering in exchange for the "antidote"]]. |
| 564 | * PervertAlliance: The Soul Brothers, Keiichi, Ooishi, Irie, and Tomitake, all try to do various things, such as dreaming up a "punishment game" where they'd have [[{{Twincest}} Shion lick whipped cream off of Mion]], or when they try to obtain a pair of swimming trunks that will make the wearer irresistible to women if worn for three hours. However, while formidable together, they often turn on each other out of their own individual self-interests. |
| 565 | * PervertDad: Keiichi's dad is a little too interested in Keiichi when he's DraggedIntoDrag in a {{Meido}} costume in the visual novel. He later can ogle Shion at Angel Mort and isn't at all deterred when Keiichi (who thinks she's actually Mion) tells him she's a friend of his from school. In a different route, he also suggests that Rena cook him and Keiichi dinner while in a maid uniform and briefly throws out the idea of marrying her after realizing that she and Keiichi aren't in a romantic relationship. |
| 566 | * PlayingWithSyringes: [[spoiler:Hinamizawa Syndrome is being tested on the villagers to see if it can create a biological weapon.]] The major irony with this trope being that [[spoiler:just about all literal instances of syringes in the series are either illusory or actually meant to help the protagonists.]] |
| 567 | * PleaseDontLeaveMe: [[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. The roles are reversed at the end of Miotsukushi while Hanyuu is dying from TakingTheBullet for Takano.]] |
| 568 | * PointOfDivergence: |
| 569 | ** The doll in the Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen arcs. [[spoiler:If Keiichi gives the doll to Mion instead of Rena, Shion won't go AxCrazy and start a murder spree. In Minagoroshi-hen, he makes the right choice.]] |
| 570 | ** Discussed in the omake for Onisarashi-hen. [=Ryuukishi07=] (represented by Akasaka) and the manga's editor (represented by Ooishi) discuss how Akira's behavior might have changed the outcome, suggesting that rather than ignore the charms Natsumi's grandmother put on the house, he might have joined in. It's played for dark laughs, but the manga artist (represented by a bear cicada) eventually points out that Natsumi's grandmother is still genuinely crazy and that even if [[spoiler:Natsumi doesn't go crazy]], something is still bound to happen eventually. |
| 571 | * PoorCommunicationKills: |
| 572 | ** In ''Tatarigoroshi'', [[spoiler: this winds up driving a huge chunk of the plot, as well as serving to confuse the player. After Keiichi kills Teppei and buries him in a shallow grave, all of a sudden a series of things occur that make zero sense. Teppei's body seemingly disappears, his friends insist that they all saw him at the Watanagashi festival when he was supposedly killing Teppei, and Satoko insists her uncle is still alive and abusing her, leading Keiichi to start wondering if he somehow hallucinated the entire thing, furthering his [[SanitySlippage slow descent into madness.]] While Satoko thinking her uncle was still alive was a result of her own growing insanity, it turns out that Mion realized what Keiichi was doing that night and had the body moved to a more secure location so that he wouldn't get caught, simultaneously concocting the story of him being at the festival as an alibi and getting the rest of his friends to cover for him. Somehow nobody thought to tell Keiichi the plan, or else a lot of stress on his part could have been avoided.]] |
| 573 | ** Subverted in [[spoiler:Tsumihoroboshi-hen]]: A long series of misunderstandings ''almost'' kills, but is averted at the last minute. In the VisualNovel, there are even more misunderstandings before it is averted. |
| 574 | * PornCreatorGoingMainstream: Keiichi understands that his father is a landscape artist, but it's implied during a business party that at least some of his commercial success has come from {{Doujinshi}} products in which the subjects keep their socks on. |
| 575 | * ThePowerOfFriendship: 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. [[spoiler:In a more serious example, this turns out to be the core of the story, since the power of friendship helps the main characters to ScrewDestiny and stop the endless cycle of violence.]] |
| 576 | * PowerOfTrust: At least as important to the solution as the PowerOfFriendship, if not more. |
| 577 | * PresentDayPast: The series is set in the earlier 1980s yet there are a couple things that really shouldn't be back there. The Sound novel seems to like invoking this trope for the lulz. In the Watanagashi Arc, the gang is playing the game Sympathy. (In which someone says a word and each player must write down what first come to mind. A player receives points by having the same answer as another player.) When the word is sakura (cherry blossom) Keiichi tries thinking like a girl in order to gain the lead. His answer? Manga/CardcaptorSakura. |
| 578 | ** Not to mention that by looking at the counter on the game shop in the Watanagashi Arc, ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' and ''Anime/DuelMasters'' packs can be clearly seen. |
| 579 | ** The anime gets in on this action too. In the OVA, the Cat-Killing Arc, Satoko is seemingly dressed up as [[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Shampoo]]. |
| 580 | ** In Meakashi Arc, Keiichi talks about the ''end'' of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar [[ItMakesSenseInContext in a lecture about porn.]] |
| 581 | ** In Tsumihoroboshi Arc, someone offers [[RecursiveCanon a Higurashi beta]] for exchange of Angel Mort event ticket--20 years early. |
| 582 | ** That doll Keiichi gives everybody in one or two arcs really does resemble a ''Manga/RozenMaiden''. |
| 583 | ** In Minagoroshi, Keiichi mentions numerous videogames that have not existed yet when he tries to convince Komura (The baseball player) to help rescue Satoko. Some of the games he mentions are Resident Evil (1996), Metal Gear (1987), A new "Dead or Alive" coming out (The first one came out in 1996, the second one was 2000) |
| 584 | ** The thin-rimmed glasses worn by Dr. Irie are of a design that didn't get common before the mid-nineties. Early-eighties glasses were quite much uglier by today's standards (The circular frames he wears in the manga are a little closer to accurate than what appears in the anime). |
| 585 | * PressXToNotDie: The "Stolling Rika" mini-game. |
| 586 | * ProlongedPrologue: Matsuribayashi, which is especially JustForFun/{{egregious}} because the previous chapter actually managed to end on a pretty epic cliffhanger. It mostly served to show the FreudianExcuse of the BigBad established in the previous arc. |
| 587 | * PromotionToOpeningTitles: Hanyuu. Also,[[spoiler:Takano, although, as she's seen as a child in the opening sequence and her face is obscured, you might mistake her for Satoko until it's revealed in the relevant arc]]. A variation occours with [[spoiler:Rika]] who is featured much more prominently in the credits of the second season, as they have run out of {{Decoy Protagonist}}s. |
| 588 | ** Don't forget Keiichi, who, for some reason, didn't appear in the first season's opening despite being the protagonist for 4 of the 6 arcs in it. |
| 589 | * PromotionToParent: Satoko's brother Satoshi, until he 'transferred out'. Now, Rika and Satoko live alone without guardians. |
| 590 | * ProperlyParanoid: [[spoiler:While Keiichi ''is'' losing his mind to Hinamizawa Syndrome by the end of ''Onikakushi,'' there ''are'' actually people after him.]] |
| 591 | * PunBasedTitle: |
| 592 | ** ''Hirukowashi-hen'' is named after ''Higurashi Daybreak'', but "''hirukowashi''" means "day-breaking" (like breaking a day into a million pieces, not dawn). |
| 593 | ** The French title of the sound novel − ''Le Sanglot des cigales'' − sort of counts. "Sanglot" means "weeping"; "sang" means "blood". So the red part of "naku" happens to be appropriate here. |
| 594 | * PuniPlush: The characters are drawn like this in the sound novel, full with hands that look more like mittens, when they are not FourFingeredHands. |
| 595 | [[/folder]] |
| 596 | |
| 597 | [[folder:Tropes Q to S]] |
| 598 | %%* QuiveringEyes |
| 599 | * RRatedOpening: One of the most iconic in anime, as the series opens with [[spoiler:Keiichi savagely beating the already-dead bodies of Rena and Mion with a baseball bat, spattering blood all over the walls]] before the opening credits, with the actual story then beginning InMediasRes. |
| 600 | * RagingStiffie: In Kai Episode 2, Rena gets cornered by everyone else in a game of zombie tag, with Keiichi in particular wanting payback for blowing his cover and then abandoning him while he was cornered. Rena proceeds to intentionally display such a vulnerable pose and tone that Keiichi ends up distracted by his own boner for a crucial few seconds before the bell rings to end recess. |
| 601 | * RashomonStyle: Watanagashi-hen, as with most of the early arcs, is told from Keiichi's point of view. Meakashi-hen revisits this arc from the perspective of Shion (although ''technically'' it's a different arc, just with similar events). |
| 602 | * RazorApples: Rena sticks a needle in the ohagi she gives to Keiichi. |
| 603 | ** [[spoiler:Or so his Hinamizawa syndrome-fueled delusions told him. The Ohagi actually had Tobasco sauce in it, but a comic he once read led Keiichi to perceive the unpleasant feeling in his mouth as a needle.]] |
| 604 | * RealAfterAll: For the first few chapters of ''Watanagashi-hen'' Keiichi is convinced that "Shion" is a fake alternate personality Mion made up to let her do embarrassing things like work at Angel Mort, and decides to "play along" with the story out of respect for Mion's wishes (not helped by the fact that Mion acts like a really BadLiar whenever Shion is brought up in conversation). He's shocked when it turns out out Mion really ''does'' have an identical twin sister who lives apart from her and goes to a different school. (What makes it even more hilarious is that, in the game, this discovery comes ''right'' after a long and touching epiphany scene where Keiichi thinks he's finally worked out why Mion is pretending to be Shion- only for Shion to [[InstantlyProvenWrong lead him directly into Mion]].) |
| 605 | * RealEventFictionalCause: The real life [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_Bridge_Incident Marco Polo Bridge Incident]] is mentioned as occurring because the missing soldier was a draftee from Hinamizawa. Since this would mean [[spoiler:Hinamizawa Syndrome]] indirectly started the Second Sino-Japanese War, [[spoiler:it's a motivation for the government to cover the disease up.]] |
| 606 | * ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Hanyuu [[spoiler:(she ''is'' some sort of god) and the physically preteen Rika]], thanks to the GroundhogDayLoop effect. Unlike Hanyuu and most other examples, the latter's maturity matches her actual age, though this is deliberately hidden so as to not freak people out. |
| 607 | ** There's also how Hanyuu [[spoiler:isn't even in her true form either (basically add +12 years to the form she takes)]]. |
| 608 | * RealPlaceBackground: Hinamizawa is based off, as in an exact copy, of [[http://punynari.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/shirakawa-go-japan-the-real-hinamizawa/ Shirakawa-go]]. Semi {{justified|Trope}} being that the original novels used photos for the backgrounds. |
| 609 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Shion did this to Satoko in a flashback in episode 16. After she began crying over her spilled lunch, Shion grabbed her by the head, threw her across the room, and began pelting her with books as she screamed that she was making things more difficult for Satoshi with her constant crying, and that it would be better for him and everyone else if she died. |
| 610 | * RecurringRiff: Dear You and all of the variations thereof in both {{Image Song}}s and background music. |
| 611 | ** To a lesser extent, "Sora no mukō" (the ending song) in the last sound novel. |
| 612 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: The red eyes should be your first clue that [[spoiler:Rina, Rena's father's new girlfriend,]] is up to no good. |
| 613 | ** [[spoiler:Hanyuu gains glowing red pupils in her god/demon form.]] |
| 614 | * RedFilterOfDoom: Used all over the place in the visual novel. Sometimes, it happens when a corpse is discovered (There, it's probably supposed to be a stand-in for blood), but it's just as likely to show up when someone's in the grip of a paranoia episode - perhaps trying to give off a bit of a [[spoiler:fever]] vibe. [[http://i56.tinypic.com/212d5eh.jpg Here's]] a good example shot. |
| 615 | * RedHerring: Two of them actually, and very well done. Both of them however, are major contributing factors to the HatePlague when pursured |
| 616 | ** 1. [[spoiler:The Sonozaki family's "connections". Pretty much innocent in regards to the chain of murders associated with Oyrashiro's Curse. The Yamainu were the ones who kidnapped the grandson.]] |
| 617 | ** 2. [[spoiler:Oyashiro's curse itself. Only the 3rd and 5th deaths (both caused by Takano) have any actual relationship to what's behind the cycles of death. The only commonality between murders 1,2, and 4 is that the resident HatePlague is behind them all.]] |
| 618 | *** The plot of the first 3 arcs are all Red Herrings. They may have had their own mysteries, but they were circumstantial variations irrelevant to the real mystery, which the characters involved would have become collateral victims to anyway. The solutions to these arcs also fail to tie together the Watanagashi Night murders, the only events these arcs had in common. |
| 619 | *** Partially true. The common tie between the first three arcs is [[spoiler:Rule X]]. Their function is to serve as clues to the fact that [[spoiler:a HatePlague]] is the cause. |
| 620 | *** Another misdirection; that was the cause of those variations isolated from the constant, overarching mystery. [[spoiler:It wasn't a cause but a means; even when the HatePlague invalidated the true [[BigBad cause]] tried to execute manual #34 anyway.]] |
| 621 | *** There's a landslide of Red Herrings when the real crime is revealed; many clues point to Oyashira-sama's curse as the cause [[spoiler:and buried in that is a journalist asking Keiichi how he could survive a heavy gas eruption when he was in a low point close to the spill zone.]] |
| 622 | * RedOniBlueOni: Multiple instances, with color being mentioned as a comparison. |
| 623 | ** Subverted. Mion ([[spoiler:blue]]) and Shion ([[spoiler:red]]). |
| 624 | ** Keiichi (red) and Rena (blue). |
| 625 | ** Keiichi (red) and Mion (blue) to a lesser degree than with Rena. |
| 626 | ** Mion (red) and Rena (blue). |
| 627 | ** Keiichi (red) and Satoshi (blue). |
| 628 | ** Keiichi (red) and Rika (blue). |
| 629 | ** Satoko (red) and Satoshi (blue). |
| 630 | ** Satoko (red) and Rika (blue). |
| 631 | ** Hanyuu (red) and Rika (blue). |
| 632 | * RedShirtArmy: [[spoiler:The Mountain Hounds]], sort of, although none of them are killed. |
| 633 | * RedSpiderLiliesOfMourning: Red spider lilies feature prominently in the OP of the anime. The series focuses around a GroundhogDayLoop where all of the main characters get brutalized multiple times over, so the OP spares no detail that a lot of death will be featured. |
| 634 | * ReflectionlessUselessEyes: [[spoiler:Rika]] is depicted with dull eyes whenever her corpse is depicted. |
| 635 | * RefusalOfTheCall: In the Platform/PlayStation2 game, if you don't have Keiichi enter any other arcs through their triggers, you end up in Taraimawashi-hen, which basically flogs you for doing this. [[spoiler:And yes, you still die]]. |
| 636 | ** Note that "taraimawashi" (literally "handing the basin around") is an expression that basically means "handing responsibility to someone else". Hence the subsequent flogging. |
| 637 | * ReligiousHorror: The worship of Oyashiro-sama is a form of anti-Shinto. Worshiping Oyashiro-sama originally involved {{Human Sacrifice}}s and ritualized disembowelment; not only is this cruel and violent, but also highly blasphemous against Shinto beliefs since shedding blood in a religious context is considered taboo. In the present day, this has been replaced by the Cotton-Drifting Festival, which involves ripping cotton out of a large futon to imitate gouging out a human's intestines. [[spoiler:Oyashiro-sama herself is not very fond of it.]] |
| 638 | * {{Retirony}}: [[spoiler:Subverted in the end, although Ooishi ''really'' pushes it with his big speech in the final arc.]] |
| 639 | ** In point of fact, though, Ooishi probably dies fewer times than anyone else in the main cast--he's almost always there at the end to make futile attempts to put together what happened. |
| 640 | * ReturningToTheScene: Subverted in Tatarigoroshi-hen; [[spoiler:Detective Ooishi is waiting at the grave when Keiichi panics and comes to check it. After supervising the exhumation, no body is found.]] |
| 641 | * RewatchBonus: A lot of things in some of the earlier arcs make sense once you watch or read them again after later ones. Such as in ''Onikakushi-hen'' when Keiichi panics when he thinks a girl followed him into his house and is standing behind him and frenziedly smashes up the entrance with his bat, only for nobody to be there; [[spoiler:in hindsight it was likely that he was able to briefly sense Hannyu]]. |
| 642 | ** ''Watanagashi-hen'' in particular is ''completely'' turned upside down after you've played/read/watched through ''Meakashi-hen.'' [[spoiler:''Every single thing'' that happened in the climax -all the pathos, tragedy, guilt and horror and all the apparent supernatural elements- is completely turned on its head when you know that the antagonist is Shion disguising herself as Mion, that ''nobody'' died for the reason you were led to believe they did, and almost ''all'' the "reveals" are BlatantLies. Literally the ''only'' thing you learned during the confrontation with "Mion" at the climax of Watanagashi that turns out to be true is that [[ForWantOfANail it all started because Keiichi didn't give Mion the doll at the start of the arc]]- and even that was for a totally different reason than you were initially told!]] |
| 643 | %%* RichBitch: Rina Mamiya |
| 644 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Meakashi-hen is this combined with JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope. [[spoiler:Shion was mainly targeting those who took Satoshi from her... in her eyes, this included Rika (for conspiring with the village head) and Satoko (for receiving the brunt of his attention), along with those who actually were responsible (most of the other people in the village). Keiichi was just targeted to torture Mion.]] |
| 645 | * RooftopConfrontation: Keiichi and Rena's fight on the roof of the school. Probably ''the'' iconic scene of Tsumihoroboshi-hen. |
| 646 | * RopeBridge: The bridge that Keiichi chases Satoko over [[spoiler:and gets shoved off of]]. In Yakusamashi-hen, this trope is used slightly more traditionally. [[spoiler:Satoko uses the ropes as a place to hide from the Yamainu. They notice her and slice the ropes, sending her plummetting into the river]]. |
| 647 | * RunningGag: Characters' feet have a curious tendency of [[MotorcycleDominoes hitting parked motorcycles]] in this series. Punks always show up screaming afterwards and are always interrupted by someone. And they are always the same punks. |
| 648 | * RuralGangsters: The Sonozaki yakuza family lives way out in an isolated country town. Why is never explained, although it probably has something to do with the absolute, cult-like control they can have in a small area like that and the family's increasing desire to go legit. |
| 649 | %%* SanitySlippage: All over the damn place. |
| 650 | * SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud: Rika will sometimes say "''pachi pachi''" (the Japanese onomatopoeia for clapping) to emphasize her own clapping. Similarly, she says the UnsoundEffect "''[[CatchPhrase Nii-pah~!]]''" when she grins. |
| 651 | * SchoolClubFront: The main cast often use their Game club for other purposes once [[spoiler:the Hate Plague sets in.]] |
| 652 | * ScrewDestiny: Theme of the second season. [[spoiler:Although Rika had long since given up escaping her death, Keiichi's]] incredible powers of persuasion and determination to destroy fate -- combined with a sequence of minor miracles -- revive her own will to fight against destiny and give both her and Hanyuu the courage to face their fears. |
| 653 | * SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil: {{Inverted}} in episode 21. Mion desperately yells "gomen-nasai" while [[FadeOut fading out]] as the camera view switches to Shion. And Shion isn't even paying attention anymore. |
| 654 | %%* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Satoko]] |
| 655 | * SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Keiichi is more boisterous and insensitive compared to the more gentle Satoshi. |
| 656 | * SequelHook: The end of the second movie. Which doesn't mean there ''will'' be a third movie though. |
| 657 | * SequencingDeception: Ending to Watanagashi-hen. Scene cuts from a woman announcing she's killed all her targets to police investigating outside the last target's apartment. [[spoiler:In fact, the last target is still alive at the time of the announcement.]] |
| 658 | * SeriesMascot: Rena. Quite [[WolverinePublicity easy to]] [[FirstInstallmentWins notice]]. Or Rika, with just as much significance to the series as Rena. And even Shion, being a signature {{Yandere}}. |
| 659 | * SerialEscalation: "Thank you very much for playing 'Higurashi When They Cry --Meakashi--'. Thanks to your support, I could bring the fifth episode to you. 'Higurashi' will increase its intensity toward the ending." |
| 660 | * SerialKiller: [[spoiler:Shion]] in the Cotton Drifting and Eye Opening chapters (the killings are over a period of days as opposed to a rapid burst of kills). The combination of various traumas and [[spoiler:how [[HatePlague Hinamizawa Syndrome]] works]] results in the Visionary type and Revenge sub type. |
| 661 | * SeriousBusiness: |
| 662 | ** The club's assorted games usually end up involving {{Hot Blooded}}ness, blackmail, and/or shameless cheating. |
| 663 | ** In the mahjong game for PSP and Arcade, winning or losing a game of mahjong is a matter of life and death in Oyashiro-mode. |
| 664 | * SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: [[spoiler:Every time Rika is killed, Hanyuu takes Rika to the past of an alternate universe to try to solve the mystery again]]. |
| 665 | ** In ''Onidamashi'', Rika tries to do this by [[spoiler:telling Keiichi to trust in Rena, knowing he will go insane and kill her if his paranoia continues. Unfortunately, it goes terribly wrong.]] |
| 666 | * ShipTease: The rule of thumb (more or less) is that there will be ShipTease between Keiichi and the main female character of the arc. In ''Onikakushi-hen'' and ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen'' it's Keiichi×Rena; in ''Watanagashi-hen'' and ''Meakashi-hen'' it's Keiichi×Shmion; in the alternate [=PS2=] final chapter its Mion; in ''Tatarigoroshi-hen'' and ''Minagoroshi-hen'' there is slight teasing for Keiichi×Satoko (in a brother-sister way). Keiichi and Rena are usually shown to have [[RedOniBlueOni some kind of complementarity]] in most arcs though. |
| 667 | * ShipperOnDeck: Shion and Ayane Sonozaki both ship Keiichi x Mion. Miotsukushi-hen indicates that Kimiyoshi and a large chunk of the village are also this way. |
| 668 | * ShooOutTheClowns: 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. |
| 669 | * ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/HigurashiWhenTheyCry See here]]. |
| 670 | * ShownTheirWork: |
| 671 | ** Whether the author is an experienced Mahjong player or just did research about it, all these details make the Mahjong scenes in the series all the more awesome ; most readers won't understand a thing about all this "pong" and "riichi" stuff though. There is even a Higurashi Mahjong game called "Higurashi Jan". |
| 672 | ** In an interview, the author's father once said that he helped his son doing research about the right amount of gasoline needed to blow up the whole classroom. This research would eventually be used for the Tsumihoroboshi-hen. |
| 673 | %%* ShrinesAndTemples |
| 674 | * ShutUpKirk: [[spoiler:Takano]] shoots [[spoiler:Keiichi]] point blank during his KirkSummation to shut him up. |
| 675 | * SiblingTriangle: |
| 676 | ** Both of the Sonozaki twins, Mion and Shion, seem to have a crush on Keiichi. [[spoiler:Subverted in most arcs, with Shion not having real interest in Keiichi, but rather trying either to hurt or encourage Mion to act on her feelings, depending on the timeline. However in some arcs she actually IS in love with Keiichi or at least attracted to him due to his similarities to Satoshi.]] |
| 677 | ** In the Meakashi-hen manga, [[spoiler:it was revealed that Mion was also in love with Satoshi, just like Shion, though she certainly didn't make her feelings for him nearly as clear and didn't seem to feel as strongly in the first place. Of course, Mion's over him now, since she found Keiichi.]] |
| 678 | * SiblingYinYang: Mion and Shion contrast each other, and Irie mentions that before Satoshi "transferred," he and Satoko also had those tendencies. |
| 679 | * SinsOfOurFathers: The Hojos were the only ones who supported the dam project that would have ended the village. The grudge against them continues to their uninvolved children even after they died. [[spoiler:Oryou doesn't actually think they still deserve it, but she's too obsessed with maintaining a ruthless image to just call it off.]] |
| 680 | ** Although during the more action-packed later arcs, their personalities don't contrast that much; they even have the exact same expression-set in the sound novel. Shion is just not as good at controlling her emotions. |
| 681 | * SkipTheAnesthetic: One character refuses general anesthesia in the hopes that pain will "lock" another character's face into memory, bypassing the GroundhogDayLoop. |
| 682 | * SleepsInTheNude: In episode 21 of "Kai", Miyo gets a HarassingPhoneCall from Okonogi in the middle of the night and we see her [[ToplessnessFromTheBack bare back]] as she sits up to answer and the [[ModestyBedsheet sheet]] slides down, showing she sleeps in the buff. The scene seems to be purely for {{Fanservice}}. |
| 683 | * SlidingScaleOfContinuity: Level 5 (Full Lockout). Ye gads, get out of order or miss a segment or two in either, and you can end up so lost. And, this is the same, whichever medium you're playing/ watching/ reading them in. |
| 684 | * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: For a series with so many violent deaths and tragic backgrounds, it is surprisingly idealistic in the end. |
| 685 | * SmiteMeOhMightySmiter: |
| 686 | ** In a flashback arc, the villain challenges God to kill them or save them. 'God' then misses with its subsequent lightning bolt, instead vaporizing the neighboring tree and apparently losing the bet. |
| 687 | ** The same situation is inverted later in the same arc, when [[spoiler:Hanyuu asks Takano to shoot her and spare the others... and a few seconds later, Takano's last and only bullet goes whizzing past her ear to the tune of a delicious karmic echo.]] A shame so many people mistook it for a {{Deus Ex Machina}}. |
| 688 | ** [[spoiler:The Deus was standing right there--Hanyuu can ''stop time''.]] |
| 689 | * SolemnEndingTheme: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPTGDWY5LrU Why Or Why not]]". |
| 690 | * SoWhatDoWeDoNow: Twisted in ''Saikoroshi-hen'', a bonus chapter for the game that takes place after the main storyline, where one character wakes up in a perfect world without any of the [[DysfunctionJunction tragic backstories]] or danger from the [[GroundhogDayLoop previous worlds]] [[spoiler:and finds that it's more painful this way]]. |
| 691 | * SplitPersonality: [[spoiler:Rika]] and Frederica Bernkastel. One of the less-clear aspects of the story... and that's saying something. It gets really bad in the anime, where it's just ''lightly'' touched upon with absolutely no explanation. |
| 692 | * SpoilerCover: In the Manga Gamer release of the games, the Steam cover of the 7th chapter (Minagoroshi) prominently depicts Hanyuu -- hinting to first-time players that there's a major character they haven't yet met ([[spoiler:and, if you notice the horns, that she isn't exactly human]]). Similarly, the cover for [[spoiler:part 8 (Matsuribayashi)]] depicts [[spoiler:Takano, hinting that she plays a major role in the finale]]. |
| 693 | * SpoilerOpening: The first anime intro. [[LateArrivalSpoiler Also]], in the case of Daybreak Portable's intro, you see Natsumi [[spoiler:sporting a bloody butcher knife and a SlasherSmile.]] |
| 694 | %%* SpoilerTitle: see HopeSpot above. |
| 695 | * StableTimeLoop: [[spoiler:The final episode of Kira reveals that the entire series is one.]] |
| 696 | %%* StabTheSalad |
| 697 | * StartOfDarkness: 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:Shion]] in arcs where she goes nuts, but not in arcs where she doesn't snap. |
| 698 | %%* StayingWithFriends |
| 699 | * StealthInsult: Hidden behind gun trivia. At least in the anime version of ''Matsuribayashi-hen'', [[spoiler:Shion]] refuses to hand over an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47 AK-47]] assault rifle to [[spoiler:Keiichi]], remarking tongue-in-cheek that they would lose a lot of time if they try to teach the latter how to use it. Considering how famous is the Kalashnikov for its simplicity and reliability, that's quite a way to speak poorly of someone's intelligence. |
| 700 | * TheStinger: Of the "TheEndOrIsIt" variety at the end of season one: [[spoiler:"All right. I'll play the game with this endless June. As much as you wish."]] |
| 701 | ** Every episode of ''Kai'''s ''Matsuribayashi-hen''. |
| 702 | * StoutStrength: Keiichi challenges one of the patrons who harassed Shion to a fight in ''Watanagashi''. Though Keiichi derides the man's obesity, his girth makes him hard to handle and adds a lot of weight to his blows. The patron further reveals that he's a martial arts practicioner and manhandles Keiichi with ease. |
| 703 | * StressVomit: When Keiichi tries to pat Satoko's head after her uncle has been abusing her, Satoko has a complete mental breakdown, and in the process vomits all over the floor. |
| 704 | ** In the manga adaptation of ''Matsuribayashi-hen'', [[spoiler:Miyoko Tanashi]] vomits upon experiencing a flashback to her time in an OrphanageOfFear, when she was forced to clean a filthy latrine with her mouth. |
| 705 | * SubcultureOfTheWeek: Surviving Hinamizawans get treated this way by the news media after the [[spoiler:Great Hinamizawa Gas Disaster]]. It leads to bullying and harassment against many, which then winds up serving as fodder for [[spoiler:new outbreaks of Hinamizawa Syndrome]], and consequently more murders. |
| 706 | * SuddenHumility: In ''Tatarigoroshi'', Keiichi starts to scream at Mion for not wanting to take Satoko in her huge house to protect her from her uncle. After he made Mion cry, Rena proceeds to scream at Keiichi, asking him why ''he'' doesn't take Satoko in his huge house. That makes him immediately realize how much he hurt Mion with his behaviour. |
| 707 | * SureLetsGoWithThat: Nastily deconstructed with Oryou's policy of making people believe the Sonozakis are responsible for bad stuff that they have no involvement with. Said policy causes lots of trouble for Hinamizawa and causes two people to become an UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom. |
| 708 | * SurprisinglyHappyEnding: The ending of ''Matsuribayashi'' is considered by some fans as ''too'' happy for the series [[spoiler:with none of the main characters going insane, nobody dying and the BigBad getting away with essentially a slap on the wrist]]; which is also why these same fans prefer the more BittersweetEnding of ''Miotsukushi'' in the [=PS2=] UpdatedRerelease [[spoiler:which takes the opposite route by making several characters go insane at once, and making Hanyū die at the end.]] |
| 709 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: In ''Meakashi-hen'', when [[spoiler:Shion knocks out first Mion, then Oryou, with her illegally-modified stun gun and carries them down to the torture cells, she talks to Mion for a bit after she wakes up, then goes to try and interrogate her grandmother- only to find her dead as a doornail, her heart having apparently been stopped by the voltage of the stun gun because of her advanced age.]] |
| 710 | * SympatheticMurderer: Most of the main characters at one point or another. [[spoiler:Satoshi and Keiichi kill Satoko's abusive aunt and uncle to protect her, Rena kills [[RichBitch Rina]] and Satoko's uncle to protect her own life and her father, and Shion takes out several village elders who tormented Shion earlier and, according to the evidence available at the time, had been arranging murders to protect their power. Shion also [[AxCrazy slaughtered Mion, Rika, Satoko, and (almost) Keiichi]], so she's a little iffy on the "sympathetic" toward the end there.]] |
| 711 | [[/folder]] |
| 712 | |
| 713 | [[folder:Tropes T to Z]] |
| 714 | * TagTeamTwins: Mion and Shion have a habit of pulling [[TwinSwitch Twin Switches]] during the club's games, confusing everyone. |
| 715 | * TheTake: Just after everyone makes it safely through a particularly rough patch of the plot, one character is TemptingFate by thinking just that. The IdiotBall falls on her hands and she decides to become reckless and race on a hill with twisted roads, which make it difficult to notice pesky things such as incoming trucks. Someone else warns her but she dismisses them. When the truth quite literally hits her, there's a take showing the utter shock on her face. Poor gal. |
| 716 | * TakeThat: |
| 717 | ** One of the TIPS illustrates the typical VN's illusion of choice by offering an example choice to fans who complained Higurashi wasn't a game due to lack of such choices. |
| 718 | ** A subtle one. [[spoiler:The main motivation for Takano Hifumi's work being rejected? It was because the Japanese Government was worried that since one of the soldiers that caused the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_Bridge_Incident Marco Polo Bridge Incident]] is infected by said disease, they in actuality ''were more worried about being blamed for the incident along with possibly starting World War 2 while letting China gain political and moral leverage against them''. This whole situation is no doubt a shot at real-life Japan's censorship of their involvement in UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo]]. |
| 719 | * TalkingIsAFreeAction: Every action scene in the sound novel. Probably inevitable, given the format. |
| 720 | * TattooedCrook: Mion has an [[{{Yakuza}} Irezumi]]. Subversion in her case. |
| 721 | ** Also [[GoldDigger Rina Mamiya]] and [[EvilUncle Teppei Hojo]] |
| 722 | * TearsOfRemorse: ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen'' has Keiichi [[spoiler:remembering his actions from ''Onikakushi-hen'']] and Rena [[spoiler:after the weight of her murders sink in and when she regains her sanity at the end.]] |
| 723 | * TemptingFate: [[OncePerEpisode Every time]] the characters talk or think about how happy they are, or wishes days like these would never end, there's about to be a [[MoodWhiplash complete change of tone.]] Subverted in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, as Rena thinks this almost from the beginning but there are still comedic high notes before the tension gradually ratchets up. |
| 724 | * ThatLiarLies: "USO DA!" Played for [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments comedy]] in Hirukowashi-hen. Also words of doom when played straight as [[spoiler:everything goes to hell in a timeline once those words are mentioned.]] |
| 725 | * ThemeNaming: The Sonozaki successors have the kanji for "oni" in their names. However, Akane had to change her kanji when she married a Yakuza man Oryou didn't approve of, and the younger of her twin daughters was named Shion without ever having the kanji at all because she was considered irrelevant compared to the first-born (in fact, tradition would have her strangled right away). |
| 726 | * ThereAreNoTherapists: Well, there is one, but if you don't believe you're paranoid... Averted with Rena, though. |
| 727 | * TheyKilledKenny: Everyone, especially [[spoiler:Rika]]. |
| 728 | ** Subverted for [[spoiler:Takano, who is really faking her many deaths]]. |
| 729 | * TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason: |
| 730 | ** In “Onikakushi”, Keiichi grows suspicious of his friends when they refuse to talk to him about the chain of murders that occurred in the town’s past, and learns more details about the incidents from outside sources. It’s clear that these issues have affected them somewhat personally, and [[spoiler:as it turns out, some of the victims of the incidents were close to or even related to the girls. Sure enough, Keiichi’s growing involvement in these issues does not end well for him.]] |
| 731 | ** In Tsumihoroboshi, an increasingly paranoid Rena rejects Keiichi as her friend because he didn't tell her about his past [[spoiler:shooting little girls with BB guns, one unintentionally in the eye.]] Keiichi later reveals his past to the rest of his friends, expecting the same disgust Rena showed him, but they surprisingly just accept it because it's in the past and he's clearly remorseful. Mion goes on to state that she wouldn't want to be friends with someone who demands to know every last unpleasant detail of your life. |
| 732 | * ThoseTwoGuys: Tomita and Okamura, two of Keiichi's classmates. They are regularly bribed by Keiichi or by Rika and Satoko in club activities. |
| 733 | * ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: [[spoiler:Hinamizawa Syndrome produces paranoia and hallucinations of what one fears or hates.]] |
| 734 | ** In-Universe ParanoiaFuel may contain: |
| 735 | *** TheConspiracy - Whether sinister or not, they ''are'' present. |
| 736 | *** TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse - Demons? Body-snatchers? Clones? |
| 737 | *** {{Hypochondria}} |
| 738 | *** {{Gaslighting}} - unintended examples, but they add mass and velocity to snowballing hysteria |
| 739 | *** MindManipulation |
| 740 | *** ProperlyParanoid - that there are things to be justifiably paranoid about makes it worse |
| 741 | * TimeLoopFatigue: [[spoiler: ''Rika''.]] On the outside is the cheerful and innocent girl everyone loves. [[spoiler: On the inside is a girl who has been broken several times over from being [[AndIMustScream stuck in a time loop for centuries, witnessing the same people around her die repeatedly, and she herself being killed in every last timeline, all the while trying and failing to figure out how to escape it.]]]] |
| 742 | * TimeStandsStill: [[spoiler:Hanyu's power. In ''Higurashi Rei'', she uses it to reposition Keiichi so that he falls into the pool, [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim instead of just pulling his Speedo off, which was the goal]]]]. |
| 743 | ** She also used it to [[spoiler:stop a bullet from hitting]] in two arcs. In one of them it didn't work out though… [[spoiler:For ''her'' nevertheless.]] |
| 744 | * TitleDrop. Happens enough times to double as ArcWords. |
| 745 | ** Once done by Keiichi in Tatarigoshi-hen. He's planning to [[spoiler: murder Satoko's abusive uncle during the cotton-drifting festival]], and he says it'll all be over "when the higurashi cry", i.e. by nightfall. |
| 746 | ** Also by Akasaka at the end of the ''Himatsubushi-hen'' arc in the game. It was the title of the book he and Ooishi compiled together. |
| 747 | ** By Rika towards the end of her second ImageSong, "S.A.G.A. ~Rinne no Hate ni~". |
| 748 | ** Once by Rena in ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen''. |
| 749 | ** At least once in the TIP "Last Night" in ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen''. |
| 750 | ** The first anime's OP song (which is also ''titled the same as the franchise'') contains two partial examples: "...higurashi ga naku akazu no mori e..." ("...to the forbidden forest where the higurashi cry...") and "...higurashi ga naku kemono michi kara..." ("...from the animal trail where the higurashi cry..."). |
| 751 | * TitleRequiem: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-kADZYnBp4 Requiem for the Disaster]] is exactly that, with the BigBad rejoicing during the whole song for a full dollop of MoodDissonance. |
| 752 | * TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Rena plays the Girly Girl to Mion's Tomboy. |
| 753 | ** [[PolarOppositeTwins Twins]] Mion and Shion. Subverted. Mions seems boyish at first, but she's actually very girly underneath. Shion seems girly, but is actually a [[{{Yandere}} violent psycho]]. |
| 754 | ** Satoko is the Tomboy to the girlier Rika. |
| 755 | ** Rika plays Tomboy to Hanyuu's Girly Girl though. |
| 756 | * TooDumbToLive: [[OnceMoreWithClarity With the benefit of hindsight,]] [[spoiler:Rena and Mion at the climax of ''Onikakushi-hen;'' Keiichi is ''very obviously'' losing his mind and sinking into violent paranoia and has already injured Rena once already and assaulted Mion while yelling threatening accusations at her, so ''why'' did they think it was a good idea to break into his house late and night to play a good-natured prank on him (that could easily be mistaken for assault) to "cheer him up"? Under the circumstances it's not surprising that he bludgeoned them to death. The scenario plays out slightly more reasonably in the original game, but then Mion screws it up again when she tells Keiichi that they're going to do the same thing to him that happened to Tomitake-san- she's referring to the FaceDoodling, which was AdaptedOut of the anime, but Keiichi in his hysteria obviously assumes she means ''killing him.'']] |
| 757 | * TortureCellar: |
| 758 | ** The Saiguden is a storage of torture devices that were used in old rituals of Hinamizawa. |
| 759 | ** Also, the basement of the [[spoiler:Sonozaki estate. Shion puts it to good use when she goes full {{Yandere}}.]] |
| 760 | * TownGirls: Satoko (Butch), Rika (Neither), Hanyuu (Femme). |
| 761 | * TownWithADarkSecret: '''"A"''' dark secret? More like a few dozen. |
| 762 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: [[spoiler:Wine]] for Rika, (not his favorite but it's a trademark food) ohagi for Keiichi, [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} curry]] for [[{{Expy}} Chie-sensei]], and cream puffs for Hanyuu. |
| 763 | * TrailersAlwaysSpoil: You see those spoiler tags by the mention of YouCantFightFate? That's in the first trailer for the second season. |
| 764 | * TraitorShot: 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 HiddenEyes 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 TraitorShot they were given was a product of [[UnreliableNarrator Keiichi]]'s escalating paranoia.]] |
| 765 | * TraumaInducedAmnesia: Complete with FakeMemories in [[spoiler:Onisarashi-hen]]. |
| 766 | * TrivialTitle: "When the Cicadas Cry". While cicadas aren't completely irrelevant (their chirping is used as atmospheric background music during some scenes and they are often mentioned as a recurring motif), the true meaning of the title is a play on words - the Japanese word for "cicadas" is similar to the Japanese word for "murderer". |
| 767 | * TrojanPrisoner: How Shion and the rest infiltrate [[spoiler:the underground clinic]] in ''Matsuribayashi''. |
| 768 | * {{Troll}}: [[spoiler:Shion]] becomes an exceptionally nasty one in arcs where she goes nuts, cruelly manipulating the village with phone calls. Especially towards Keiichi. |
| 769 | ** [[spoiler:Takano]] also counts seeing as she actively provokes [[spoiler:the HatePlague]] in at least four of the first six novels. ([[spoiler:one being offscreen but revealed in the 5th]]). |
| 770 | * TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: The oldest of the [[TrueCompanions best friends]] are sixteen though at least half are at least 15. |
| 771 | * TryingNotToCry: [[spoiler:Poor Satoko, while she's being tortured to death by Shion.]] |
| 772 | %% TwinBanter |
| 773 | * TwinSwitch: The twin sisters Mion and Shion frequently switch identities in the ''Watanagashi-hen'' and its answer arc ''Meakashi-hen''. First, Mion poses as Shion to make Keiichi acknowledge her femininity. Keiichi knows it's actually Mion, but he doesn't know Shion is a real person until he meets both at the same time. [[spoiler:After the festival, Shion is thought to go missing, but for the rest of the arc, she's disguised as Mion while killing a lot of people, including Mion.]] Then it's revealed [[spoiler:the twins switched places one time when they were children, but on that same day, the heir of the family was branded with an oni tattoo and none of the adults realized the switch. From that day, the younger twin became "Mion" and the older one "Shion" permanently.]] |
| 774 | * TwinThreesomeFantasy: Oishi suggests something to this effect after he sees Keiichi with Shion (knowing that Keiichi also hung out with Mion often). |
| 775 | %%* UncannyVillage |
| 776 | * UnreliableNarrator: |
| 777 | ** [[spoiler:Keiichi in Onikakushi-hen, thanks to the HatePlague]] |
| 778 | ** [[spoiler:And Natsumi in ''Onisarashi-hen''.]] |
| 779 | ** [[spoiler:To be honest all question arcs except Himatsubushi-hen have this.]] |
| 780 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:Ooishi spurs Keiichi in Onikakushi and Shion in Meakashi into thinking the Sonozakis are behind the annual Watanagashi murders. Takano gives Rena a scrapbook that sends her into conspiracy theories, and her supposed death shortly afterward convinces Rena that [[HeKnowsTooMuch she was in on something]].]] |
| 781 | * {{Utsuge}}: Replace "make players cry" with "scare the crap out of them". This is not to say that you won't cry at some point. Unless you left your soul somewhere, you will. |
| 782 | * VagueAge: The gang's ages are not directly said. It is said that Satoko and Rika are the same ages [[spoiler:(most likely Hanyuu too)]], and that Satoko is between the ages of 9-13. Keiichi and Rena are the same age, but since Rena was born in July, and Keiichi in April, she's younger than him. Mion and Shion are in the grade ahead of Keiichi. |
| 783 | ** [[AllThereInTheManual The TIPS]] note that April is the cut-off month for grade levels and that Mion (and by extension, Shion and Satoshi) is only a few months older than Keiichi. |
| 784 | *** In the visual novel, the ages of the characters are censored/blacked out/whatever. Rika and Satoko's ages are listed as "X", while, for example, Keiichi's age is listed as "1X". So 9 would be the logical assumption for Rika and Satoko. |
| 785 | *** Satoko has visible breasts, which would be very unusual (though not impossible) for a 9 year-old; many assume she's between 11 and 13. In the puzzle section of ''Matsuribayashi'', Rika's mother also mentions that her daughter's growth is abnormally slow, making her childish appearance plausible despite being Satoko's age. |
| 786 | *** According to at least the anime, Rena was fifteen in most of the arcs. Keiichi is sixteen and thus Mion, Shion, and Satoshi are the same age. |
| 787 | * VerbalJudo: |
| 788 | ** Keiichi's forte. His patter is dynamic enough to get fight effects. |
| 789 | ** Mion and Shion engage in this every time they meet [[spoiler:as part of their hostile cover.]] |
| 790 | ** Ooishi's is more aggressive and puts people on guard even when attempting to be disarming, but he still manages [[ArmorPiercingQuestion accurate and well-timed attacks]]. |
| 791 | * VerbalTic: Rika, if not for Creator/YukariTamura's voice, would sound just like a certain ''Manga/RozenMaiden''. |
| 792 | ** Rena has a tic of repeating words twice, as well as the non-word "hau". |
| 793 | ** Satoshi utters "muu" when something's troubling him. |
| 794 | ** Hanyuu frequently says "Auauau". |
| 795 | * VideoGameRemake: The original PC sound novels were remade as "Matsuri", which was in then made into an UpdatedRerelease. Matsuri has been ported onto the DS into multiple games but they're also [[UpdatedRerelease Updated Rereleases]] of Matsuri. |
| 796 | ** Also Daybreak to the UpdatedRerelease "Daybreak Kai". Then remade onto the PSP which was in then made into an UpdatedRerelease. |
| 797 | * VigilanteExecution: The various deaths of Teppei (Curse Killing, Atonement, and Exorcism arcs) and Rina (Atonement) are motivated by vigilantee action (either against some VERY nasty child abuse or a badger game). Given this series and the resident [[spoiler:HatePlague]], this does NOT end well. |
| 798 | * VillainProtagonist: {{Subverted}}. Most of the time, neither the character nor the audience knows this until TheReveal. |
| 799 | * VitriolicBestBuds: Keiichi is frequently subject to teasing and embarassing penalty games by Mion and traps from Satoko, but the former girl has a crush on him (Keiichi considers her his best friend) and the latter views him as a surrogate big brother in the absence of her actual brother. |
| 800 | * VocalEvolution: Compare the first episodes of the English dub to the latter. |
| 801 | * TheVoice: Hanyuu: first arc, second season. As a bonus, a faint outline can be seen behind Keiichi and Rena in the third episode. |
| 802 | * WackyMarriageProposal: Variation. There is a manga story called "Yamenaide Chie-sensei" which revolves around Chie getting a [[ArrangedMarriage marriage interview]] and part of it has to do with Keiichi and friends trying to stop it (it's their activity game). A duel follows soon after they are discovered. |
| 803 | * WagerSlave: The punishment for losing a club activity is usually to be forced to do something humiliating for the winners. |
| 804 | * WalkingSpoiler: It's nearly impossible to talk about Hanyuu without spoiling many of the series' major twists. |
| 805 | * WallOfText: This happens in Tatarigoroshi-hen. When [[spoiler:Keiichi finally breaks down and decides to kill Satoko's uncle]], he expresses his thoughts about it in a two-page spread full of text. This was kept in top-to-down style even in the English release. |
| 806 | * WhamLine: Towards the start of “Onikakushi” (about an hour in), Tomitake gives the first hint at Hinemizawa’s dark history. |
| 807 | -->'''Keiichi:''' ''[jokingly]'' Maybe (Rena)'s checking on that dismembered corpse that was out here long ago.\ |
| 808 | '''Tomitake:''' ...It was quite a disturbing incident... They still haven't found one of the arms. |
| 809 | ** In "Himatsubushi", at the end of the scene where Akasaka beats Ooishi, Ooishi's informant, and an old friend of theirs at mahjong, there's a line that ''completely'' upends the previously light-hearted scene. |
| 810 | --->'''Ooishi's friend:''' I'm going home to sleep! [[{{Foreshadowing}} My body won't last like this!]]\ |
| 811 | '''Akasaka:''' Problems at work?\ |
| 812 | '''Ooishi:''' [[DoomedByCanon Oh, he's the foreman of the primary construction site at the Hinamizawa Dam. He's butting heads with the locals every day. It's a rough business.]] |
| 813 | * WhatTheHellHero: Most of the main cast for most of the series. |
| 814 | * WhenItAllBegan: The start of the curses, and Satoshi's story both serve as this. |
| 815 | * WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: It's never said precisely where the village is located in Japan − the police reports just write "*** prefecture". The ''Watanagashi'' arc does give a few indications though: it is on the Japan Sea side and south from Tokyo; also, [[spoiler:Takano's burnt body]] is always found in Gifu prefecture, so the village must be somewhere in a nearby prefecture. The town that inspired Hinamizawa is located in Gifu, however. |
| 816 | %%* WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises |
| 817 | %%* WillNotBeAVictim: Rika, although not right away. |
| 818 | * WiseBeyondTheirYears: Rika, later revealed to be because [[spoiler:she's ReallySevenHundredYearsOld due to constant resurrection]]. |
| 819 | * WithUsOrAgainstUs: Rika's father took a neutral position during the dam conflict and faced almost as much contempt for it as the Hojos for actively supporting the dam. This is believed to be what made him and his wife the victims of the third year's curse [[spoiler:(Takano just wanted them out of the way to continue using Rika).]] |
| 820 | * WolverinePublicity: Rena is featured on the covers of most of the original CD chapters of the game. Specially in those where she isn't even a relevant character, let alone a villainess. |
| 821 | * WorldOfTechnicolorHair: Keiichi and Tomitake's hair is brown, unusual for a full Japanese person, while Satoko, her immediate family, and Takano are all blonds (more unusual). Rena and Irie has orange hair, Rika and Chie have blue hair for no adequately explored reason (though Chie is a ShoutOut to another character with blue hair), and the Sonozaki family women have green hair. Naturally, no one ever comments on any of this. |
| 822 | * WorthyOpponent: Okonogi ends up seeing the kids as this. [[spoiler:After all, it's not often that you can see an entire intelligence unit getting their asses handed to them by a group of teenagers!]] |
| 823 | * WritersCannotDoMath: When [[spoiler:Mion (actually Shion)]] explains the way [[spoiler:Keiichi]] is going to be tortured during the climax of ''Watanagashi-hen,'' it's supposed to be by having nails driven through all the joints in the fingers of his hand, starting with the top joint of the little finger and working across to the thumb, then moving down to the middle joint and proceeding until "fifteen nails" have been hammered into his hand. Unlike the rest of the fingers, the thumb has only ''two'' joints in it, so going by this method it's only possible to hammer ''fourteen'' nails into a hand. Since it ultimately doesn't end up happening, it's possible that it's just [[spoiler:Shion]] who's the one who cannot do math. |
| 824 | * {{Yakuza}}: The Sonozaki family; by virtue of Akane marrying a boss. |
| 825 | * YakuzaPrincess: Mion. Shion as well; despite being effectively disowned, she's closer to the family's actual yakuza elements than Mion is. |
| 826 | * YearsTooEarly: This line is mentioned during the credits of the last episode of Season 1 of the anime, and Satoko says something related to it in the sound novel's Tsumihoroboshi-hen when she pulls a trap on Rena. |
| 827 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Okonogi gives Takano this treatment at the end of ''Matsubayashi-hen'' when it is clear that all has been lost. One can assume that she does not fare any better in the Worlds where she "wins"]] |
| 828 | * YouLeaveHimAlone: In ''Watanagashi-hen'', Shion (actually Mion) steps in to defend Keiichi from a trio of thugs whose motorcycles he'd accidentally knocked down, getting backup from all the nearby Hinamizawans while other passersby displayed BystanderSyndrome. In Meakashi, the actual Shion first met and developed feelings for Satoshi when he stepped in to defend her from that same trio, and she'd later meet Keiichi when they antagonized her again. |
| 829 | * {{Yubitsume}}: Being a yakuza family, the Sonozakis employ something like this but their version involves ripping out three fingernails. |
| 830 | * ZombieApocalypse: Just replace "zombies" with "insane and paranoid people" and you get the general plot of ''Outbreak''. |
| 831 | [[/folder]] |
| 832 | ---- |
| 833 | ''...And it'll be over with. Everything will be over and done with.'' |
| 834 |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext VisualNovel / HigurashiWhenTheyCry
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
