History VisualNovel / CiconiaWhenTheyCry

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: The Data Fragment "Siblings' Day" focuses on politically correct language in the AOU. In some areas, swearing in public is illegal and grounds for a lawsuit due to emotional damage. Also, to hide the gap between wealth classes, it is illegal for privileged individuals to mention how great their life is while talking to less-privileged individuals. The Selcom in peoples' brains has a variety of filters that can be activated to warn them when they are potentially going to say anything forbidden. It's {{Lampshaded}} when it's mentioned that such restrictions might seem dystopian to a modern-day person, but [[DeliberateValuesDissonance it's accepted as completely normal for A3W kids]], who don't understand how people in the past could get along if they could freely say hurtful things to each other.

* CentralTheme: Much emphasis is put on how the well-meaning youth have their dreams and agency taken away by greedy adults only driven by personal or national interests. Symbolized by the climax where the Gauntlet Knights want nothing more than to celebrate Christmas and preserve peace together, while the higher-ups on all sides force them to choose between killing each other or be court-martialed for treason.

''Ciconia no Naku Koro ni'' (''Ciconia: When They Cry''), also called ''When They Cry 5'', is the third official installment in the ''Franchise/WhenTheyCry'' franchise by [=07th=] Expansion [[note]]not counting the short manga ''Manga/HotarubiNoTomoruKoroNi''[[/note]]. The first episode was released October 4th, 2019 − 9 whole years after the previous entry and the same day as the events of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' epilogue. The story is divided in four parts named '''Phases''', in the same manner as the arcs of ''Higurashi'' and ''Umineko''.

* ArcWords: "All is in the name of guiding humanity down the right path." The phrase is uttered by several characters more or less related to the AncientConspiracy; the thing is, not all of those characters seem to agree on what the "right path" ''is'', which blurs its meaning.

To be selected as a candidate for the training is already a huge challenge in itself, the number of people who actually obtained the right to wield Gauntlets being even smaller, aptly named Gauntlet Knights. The protagonist, Miyao Mitake, is already at the top of his class as a Gauntlet Knight. And so, all of these young soldiers were given the huge responsibility of fighting for their country, and protecting the future of their world forever.

* EyeScream: The prologue's propaganda video shows a Gauntlet Knight practicing "ricochet flying", rapidly changing directions while flying. The narration afterwards mentions that [[RealityEnsues this caused the capillaries in his eyeballs to burst]], as he had to use the technique for much longer than normal due to the video being filmed in several takes.

* RealityEnsues:
** The Gauntlet Knights' equipment allows them to fly at 800km/h and do sharp turns at impossible angles… but if one specific part of the Gauntlet malfunctions, they will be crushed by the insane [=Gs=] their body is submitted to. Having to fly like this over a prolonged period of time while filming a video also causes [[EyeScream unpleasant consequences]].
** The Order of the Public Bath's plan to intentionally fight badly to preserve peace works fine for a short while... until military analysts look at their movement data and accuse them of sabotage. What, did you think the higher-ups would ''really'' just sit by and let the most powerful soldiers on Earth just do as they please?

!! We must uphold the Tropes of Peace ('''CAUTION: Some spoilers are unmarked'''):

!! We must uphold the Tropes of Peace ('''CAUTION: Some spoilers are unmarked.'''):

!! We must uphold the Tropes of Peace: ('''CAUTION: Some spoilers are unmarked.''')

!! ''Ciconia no Naku Koro ni'' features the following tropes: ('''CAUTION: Some spoilers are unmarked.''')

To be selected as a candidate for the training is already a huge challenge in itself, the few people who actually obtained the right to wield Gauntlets being even smaller, aptly named Gauntlet Knights. The protagonist, Miyao Mitake, is already at the top of his class as a Gauntlet Knight. And so, all of these young soldiers were given the huge responsibility of fighting for their country, and protecting the future of their world forever.

To be selected as a candidate for the training is already a huge challenge in itself, the few people who actually obtained the right to wield Gauntlets are even smaller, aptly named Gauntlet Knights. And so, all of these young soldiers were given the huge responsibility of fighting for their country, and protecting the future of their world forever.

* ForegoneConclusion: The "other" Miyao claims that what he announces to Miyao aren't "prediction" but "prophecies", and that they are thus unavoidable − unless Miyao decides to end himself. So far, all of his predictions came true, including Miyao killing Lingji − down to the ''way'' he killed her.

** There is also "Humanely disposing of bodies", which entail injecting near-death patients with a sedative that puts them in a relaxed state. [[spoiler: Of course, human rights don't mean much when the patients are involuntarily all part of an AOU human experiment program. The narration even likens it to a lethal injection from the B3W era.]]

* WarIsHell: A central theme within the story

* AmbiguousGender: [[SplitPersonality Split personalities]] Miyao and Meow have very clear gender identities, but their biological sex remains a mystery. Despite identifying as a male, several scenes shows Miyao having discomfort with Jayden flirting with him, and the fact that he has a small and frail body is acknowledged by both Miyao and Meow. While Meow promised Jayden to reveal the truth to him during their date, the events in ''Phase 1'' prevented her to do so.

* RealityEnsues: The Gauntlet Knights' equipment allows them to fly at 800km/h and do sharp turns at impossible angles… but if one specific part of the Gauntlet malfunctions, they will be crushed by the insane [=Gs=] their body is submitted to. Having to fly like this over a prolonged period of time while filming a video also causes [[EyeScream unpleasant consequences]].

* SocialMediaIsBad: Subverted, social media allows the characters to communicate across languages and cultures and create the Order of the Public Bath − a secret society of Gauntlet Knights who swore to stop war at all costs. However, social media also are what allows the war fever to spread so quickly among the population in the first place.

** A lot of it is caused by the Selcom AI, a cute cartoonish frog called Keropoyo, which often pops up to break news − even (''especially'') terrible ones.

!! ''Ciconia no Naku Koro ni'' features the following tropes: ('''CAUTION: Spoilers are unmarked.''')

* AIIsACrapshoot: Subverted with the defence drones who attack their own country, they did exactly as they were programmed to.

* ApocalypseHow: Several methods are used in the story… ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill simultaneously.]]'' Apparenty, humanity is just that hard to kill.
** World War IV.
** Creating massive food shortage.
** Drone attacks on the whole world.
** Removing the nanomachines responsible for stabilizing the earth.
** Destroying the ocean's ability to create oxygen.
** HatePlague.

* BalkanizeMe: During the events of WorldWarIII, Japan was literally split in two following the fall of a nuclear bomb that annihilated Kyoto and the surrounding area. Afterwards, Northern and Southern Japan were eventually merged in the AOU and COU respectively.
* BrainComputerInterface: The "selcom", used by every character. Supposedly it is safe by only accessing unused areas of the brain. Miyao's generation can use it so proficiently that they can effectively live in two realities simultaneously.

* CrapSaccharineWorld: Despite huge progresses in technology, quality of life and averted environmental crises, the wealth disparity between people still exists, and many corrupted people of the generation of old routinely continue their dirty business. To top it, it is eventually made clear that the 8MS − the nanomachines spread throughout the planet's atmosphere, soil and water to prevent a nuclear winter − is the only thing currently keeping the Earth suitable for human life.

* DoomsdayClock: After the end of each chapter, it slowly approaches midnight as the plot advances, which is heavily implied to be World War IV. It then goes past midnight when World War IV starts… amongst other things.
* DownerEnding: The ending of phase 1. While World War IV is on a temporary halt, the earth is still on road for extinction if nothing is done. The heroes still have no clue for the groups trying to bring war and are forced to kill some of their friends or be killed for treason.

* {{Expy}}: The game perpetuates the tradition in 07th Expansion games of featuring an [[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Okonogi]] lookalike, just like ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' and ''VisualNovel/RoseGunsDays'' before it. MadScientist Vier Dreissig is also a spitting image of Takano from ''Higurashi'' and ''[[Manga/HotarubiNoTomoruKoroNi Hotarubi]]'' ([[BilingualBonus her name actually comes from "vier-und-dreissig", which means 34 in German]], a number associated with Takano in ''Higurashi'').

** The Central Ocean Union (COU) covers South and South-East Asia, much of the Middle East and Madagascar.
** The Africa Commonwealth Realm (ACR) covers the entire African continent.

* FromBadToWorse: Most of the drama in the first half is about the escalation of political tension that lead to World War IV. Then the second half is a cascade of increasingly large-scale disasters, happening in such an absurdly short timeframe that it becomes obvious someone is behind them − but the protagonists have no way of knowing who. It's telling that by the end of Phase 1, World War IV has become the ''least'' of humanity's problems.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: Miyao's idea of manipulating battles to reduce the amount of damage might have alleviated some of the friction between factions, but ended up backfiring horribly in the final battle of Phase 1 when the military command catched up to it and forced the characters to fight to the death.

* ImprobablyFemaleCast: The vast majority of Gauntlet Knights appearing in the story are female; justified in story by females having a larger chance for traits allowing them to be Gauntlet knights.

** A lot of it is caused by the selcom AI, a cute cartoonish frog called Keropoyo, which often pops up to break news − even (''especially'') terrible ones.
** The climax is especially riddled with this, as the Gauntlet Knights are holding a Cristmas party in a virtual room… while being forced to kill each other in the real world. They try to escape the horrible reality by treating the battle as an afterthought, even as the people in the virtual room disappear one by one.
* MonumentalDamage: During the drone attack. We can't have a massive disaster hitting Paris without the Eiffel Tower being knocked over, now can we.

* SuppressedHistory: Despite being mentioned a few times by the Gauntlet Knights, no information can be found about the exact causes or unfolding of WorldWarIII. Reseach about it is forbidden by an international treaty, explicitly to prevent countries from each creating conflicting versions of the war's history that could spark future wars.
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: Subverted, the various secret organizations in the background state their official goals and react to the immediately occuring plot.
* UnusualEuphemism: People who were conceived through sexual procreation and have biological parents are called "ciconia-born", as opposed to the "factory-born" children who get raised in instutions with dozens of "siblings".
* UterineReplicator: One method of birth used in the world following WorldWarIII, in order to restore the population to its pre-war level. How moral it is depends on the faction − the AOU and ACR now produce babies in factories and raise them in state institutions, while in the COU (South-East Asia and Middle East), ABN (Western Europe and Western Asia) and LATO (Latin America), people still give birth naturally. It is mentioned, however, than even men can technically get pregnant now.

The usual team returns, with regulars like Dai and Xaki composing the music and [=Ryuukishi07=] writing the story and drawing the character sprites in his amateurish artstyle fans have come to know and love. The English translation will be officially handled by Witch Hunt, the team who already translated ''Umineko'' and ''VisualNovel/RoseGunsDays'' − the English and Japanese versions will be released simultaneously.

All of the Gauntlet Knights competed against each other in the past in an event known as the International Battle Standard Festival, and quickly became friends, and all of them vowed themselves to preserve the Walls of Peace. However, [[WorldWarWhatever World War IV]] is steadily approaching despite their best efforts to prevent it...

''Ciconia no Naku Koro ni'' (''Ciconia: When They Cry''), also called ''When They Cry 5'', is the third official installment in the ''Franchise/WhenTheyCry'' franchise by [=07th=] Expansion [[note]]not counting the short manga ''Manga/HotarubiNoTomoruKoroNi''[[/note]]. The first episode was released October 4th, 2019 − 9 whole years after the previous entry and the same day as the events of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. The story is divided in four parts named '''Phases''', in the same manner as the arcs of ''Higurashi'' and ''Umineko''.