History TearJerker / HigurashiWhenTheyCry

** As of episode 7, it would appear that Rika, after failing to prevent the deaths of Rena and presumably Keiichi, has finally allowed despair to consume her. She drops her cute girl facade and informs Keiichi that regardless of whatever choice he made, the world will end for both of them.

** Higurashi Gou [[spoiler: continues the tradition of killing Satoko a day before or on her birthday.]]

** In the manga version, the above scene (which happens between arcs 1 and 2 instead) is even more harrowing, as it features [[spoiler:Rika in depths of despair, crying as she realizes she's once again going to be forced through her ordeal. "Were a hundred years not enough?!"]]

** And to top it off, [[spoiler: both Rika and Satoko have been found dead afterwards, as revealed by Mion, and whoever it was did it with the same knife Rena used to stab Keiichi.]]

** And it only gets worse from there. [[spoiler: Keiichi is forced to kill Rena after she goes crazy and tries to stab him to death. Made worse by the fact that he was convinced to believe in her heart-to-heart with Rika. There was no way she could've predicted the way things turned out.]]

** Higurashi Gou [[spoiler: continues the tradition of killing Satoko a fay before or on her birthday.]]

** And to top it off, [[spoiler: both Rika and Satoko have been found dead afterwards, as revealed by Mion, and whoever it was did it with the same knife Rena used to stab Keiichi, which implies she may have killed them before coming over, but considering what show this is...]]

** And to top it off, [[spoiler: both Rika and Satoko have been killed afterwards, as revealed by Mion.]]

* So you've watched the first episode of Higurashi Gou and it seems like it's gonna be a pretty good remake, right? Cue episode 2. [[spoiler: Teenage Rika wakes up back in the realm of kakera with Hanyuu. You know how Hanyuu physically entered the world in Matsuribayashi? Well now she's a spirit and says she's basically fading out. Oh, and Rika has to go back to June 1983 for unknown reasons. And in the previous episode she already had.]] After struggling so hard for the world where everyone can be happy, who knows where we're heading?

* Another Onikakushi-hen example. [[spoiler:after you know the twist behind Onikakushi-hen]], rewatch the scene at school where Keiichi yells at Mion for hiding the dam construction murders from him. It's much easier to feel bad for Mion when you know that [[spoiler:she was never actually threatening Keiichi]].

* Onikakushi is overused as an example of sadness and horror in the series...For good reason. It comprises everything that makes the manga, anime and visual novel so stupendous; but if we take a step back it also has the job of introducing people to a new world with new characters and situations to get you to care about them. This results in a truly tragic first arc that is particularly upsetting for how normal and genuine the entire first half is in comparison to the rest, especially upon a second visit. Sure, in the visual novel the prologue doesn't let you think of it as anything but horror, but then you start to let your guard down. Keiichi was a pretty happy guy with friends he loved, playful banter happens left and right and it's all so wholesome. It might trick the audience into thinking this is just a case of toying with your audience with unecessary fluff for shock value, but it's not. [[spoiler:It's because this is how it should be. You're supposed to want them to be happy. It's a tragedy through and through. And the twist that Keiichi went mad doesn't make this better; if anything it makes it worse, because he really thought his best friends had betrayed them. He killed his best friends...]]

* So you've watched the first episode of Higurashi Gou and it seems like it's gonna be a pretty good remake, right? Cue episode 2. [[spoiler: Teeenage Rika wakes up back in the realm of kakera with Hanyuu. You know how Hanyuu physically entered the world in Matsuribayashi? Well now she's a spirit and says she's basically fading out. Oh, and Rika has to go back to June 1983 for unknown reasons. And in the previous episode she already had.]] After struggling so hard for the world where everyone can be happy, who knows where we're heading?

* So you've watched the first episode of Higurashi Gou and it seems like it's gonna be a pretty good remake, right? Cue episode 2. [[Spoiler: Teeenage Rika wakes up back in the realm of kakera with Hanyuu. You know how Hanyuu physically entered the world in Matsuribayashi? Well now she's a spirit and says she's basically fading out. Oh, and Rika has to go back to June 1983 for unknown reasons. And in the previous episode she already had.]] After struggling so hard for the world where everyone can be happy, who knows where we're heading?

* So you've watched the first episode of Higurashi Gou and it seems like it's gonna be a pretty good remake, right? Cue episode 2. [[Spoiler: Teenage Rika wakes up back in the realm of kakera with Hanyuu. You know how Hanyuu physically entered the world in Matsuribayashi? Well now she's a spirit and says she's basically fading out. Oh, and Rika has to go back to June 1983 for unknown reasons. And in the previous episode she already had.]] After struggling so hard for the world where everyone can be happy, who knows where we're heading?

* So you've watched the first episode of Higurashi Gou and it seems like it's gonna be a pretty good remake, right? Cue episode 2. [[Spoiler:Teenage Rika wakes up back in the realm of kakera with Hanyuu. You know how Hanyuu physically entered the world in Matsuribayashi? Well now she's a spirit and says she's basically fading out. Oh, and Rika has to go back to June 1983 for unknown reasons. And in the previous episode she already had.]] After struggling so hard for the world where everyone can be happy, who knows where we're heading?

* Thanks to their medium, the visual novels add an extra level of tragic and terror in several instances, because in the editions without voice acting, the lines are colour-coded so the reader can tell who is speaking. The narration (in first-person) is usually in white, but for example in Tsumihoroboshi, it starts getting pink after a while to show Rena's SanitySlippage, and ends up crimson red. The red text is used in earlier chapters to indicate the narrator has gone off the deep end as well.

* The doll in itself qualifies in Watanagashi and Meakashi. The club members go to town to a toy store owned by one of Mion's relatives for a big event, and though they only have time for the first round, it's a fun day for them and a good day for the store as well, so the store owner brings out dolls for everyone ''but'' Mion, who is his relative. Keiichi considers giving his doll to her so she can have one, but decides against it because as he tells her, she is too boyish for dolls, and Rena (who already has one but likes cute things) gets it instead. Mion laughs it off, only to later cry about it to Shion. When Mion announces the store activity in Minagoroshi, Rika is already resigned to her fate/their fates, and her hopelessness is only broken by Keiichi giving the doll to Mion that time after he catches her hints that Mion might like it.

* Onikakushi is overused as an example of sadness and horror in the series...For good reason. It encomprises everything that makes the manga, anime and visual novel so stupendous; but if we take a step back it also has the job of introducing people to a new world with new characters and situations to get you to care about them. This results in a truly tragic first arc that is particularly upsetting for how normal and genuine the entire first half is in comparison to the rest, especially upon a second visit. Sure, in the visual novel the prologue doesn't let you think of it as anything but horror, but then you start to let your guard down. Keiichi was a pretty happy guy with friends he loved, playful banter happens left and right and it's all so wholesome. It might trick the audience into thinking this is just a case of toying with your audience with unecessary fluff for shock value, but it's not. [[spoiler:It's because this is how it should be. You're supposed to want them to be happy. It's a tragedy through and through. And the twist that Keiichi went mad doesn't make this better; if anything it makes it worse, because he really thought his best friends had betrayed them. He killed his best friends...]]

* Onikakushi is overused as an example of sadness and horror in the series...For good reason. It encomprises everything that makes the manga, anime and visual novel so stupendous; but if we take a step back it also has the job of introducing people to a new world with new characters and situations to get you to care about them. This results in a truly tragic first arc that is particularly upsetting for how normal and genuine the entire first half is in comparison to the rest, especially upon a second visit. Sure, in the visual novel the prologue doesn't let you think of it as anything but horror, but then you start to let your guard down. Keiichi was a pretty happy guy with friends he loved, playful banter happens left and right and it's all so wholesome. It might trick the audience into thinking this is just a case of tricking people with unecessary fluff for shock value, but it's not. [[spoiler:It's because this is how it should be. You're supposed to want them to be happy. It's a tragedy through and through. And the twist that Keiichi went mad doesn't make this better; if anything it makes it worse, because he really thought his best friends had betrayed them. He killed his best friends...]]

*** [[spoiler:At least she escaped. Eriko, Kikuko and Tomomi didn't.]]

* Plenty, notably [[spoiler: Keiichi remembering a past iteration of their GroundhogDayLoop where he went [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness insane]] and murdered Mion and Rena. Rena's [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight "Believe me"]] as she stretches out her hands to Keiichi (right before he bludgeons her with a baseball bat) makes it heartbreakingly clear that the events leading to this end were [[PoorCommunicationKills a series of terrible mistakes]].]] Luckily, the scene that follows turns it right around into a massive CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

* Episode 4 of Rei when Rika wakes up in the hospital to see Irie there. I started shedding tears believing Rika had actually done the action. The rest of that scene was [[SweetDreamsFuel so]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming heartwarming]] though.

** Hinageshi, convinced some people that doujinshi can be as good as canon. The part where Mion just breaks down, thinking that they don't love her anymore and that the village doesn't have a place for her just hits you straight in the heart. It effectively portrays what it feels like to be a leader without a group to lead and be part of. (Incidentally, Hinageshi was totally Mion's arc, calling it now.)

** The manga version of [[spoiler:Miyo's arc]] is just heartwrenching. The punches start when the recently orphaned [[spoiler:Miyo]] is dropped off at her new orphange. The anime plays this fairly ominously with the orphanage worker glaring at her as soon as the social workers leave, but the manga version decides to have a brief HopeSpot to make things worse. "Oh, oh look! He's patting her head, just like her dad used to do to! Surely this guy can't-" [[spoiler:'''SMACK'''.]]
*** But what's truely the saddest thing in this arc is seeing [[spoiler: Miyo]] trying to adjust to life with her "grandfather". After [[spoiler: he rescues her from the OrphanageOfFear]] there's a scene showing the two eating, and remembering her punishment, the girl vomits. She then ''freaks out'' and tries to clean it up, thinking he won't want her if she's "dirty". And when the man tries to comfort her like her dad did, [[spoiler: little Miyo]] can only remember the jackass from the orphange, and recoils in fear. ''This shouldn't happen to a little kid.''

* The ending of Himatsubushi-hen. [[spoiler:when Rena finally realized that her friends were there for her and helping, they all died and left her the only person alive]]

*** [[spoiler: Later on, in Kai, we find out that the Sonozakis weren't involved at all in Satoshi's dissapearance. Still, if someone empathizes with Shion, who has ''no idea about this, and never seems to find out''...]]