History VisualNovel / HigurashiWhenTheyCry

* HillbillyHorrors: It takes place in a rural town.

* TheThingThatGoesDoink: Mion's family home has one.

* PunBasedTitle: ''Hirukowashi-hen'' is named after ''Higurashi Daybreak'', but "''hirukowashi''" means "day-breaking" (like breaking a day into a million pieces, not dawn).
** The French title of the sound novel − ''Le Sanglot des cigales'' − sort of counts. "Sanglot" means "weeping"; "sang" means "blood". [[LuckyTranslation So the red part of "naku" happens to be appropriate here.]]

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 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.

** The overall message from the main eight arcs is that no [[MurderIsTheBestSolution Murder is NOT the best solution]] and it will just make things worse as we've seen in Tatarigoroshi-Hen and Tsumihoroboshi-Hen, and that there are other ways to help people without resorting to murder.

* OneHundredPercentAdorationRating: Rika is instantly liked by the other students at St. Lucia for being beautiful and having a way with words. Meanwhile with Satoko...

* AesoopCollateralDamage: Played with in-universe. Satoko wants to [[ColdBloodedTorture "teach"]] Rika that she should stay in the village by murdering her otherwise innocent friends and allies.

* 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 text slowly turns blood red over time as she [[spoiler:becomes more delusional due to being infected with the Hinamizawa syndrome]].

* FanDisservice: Shion's {{Gainaxing}} in some of the most disturbing scenes such as when she [[spoiler:repeatly steps on Oryou's corpse or screaming at Mion]].

* {{Gainaxing}}:
%%** Shion, but for only one scene in the second season.
** Mion in the first season OVA (Nekogoroshi-hen) while wearing a FurBikini for a penalty game.
** The HotterAndSexier ''Kira'' seems to be fond of it.
** Shion's mini-game in the sound novel is also based on it. You get points based on the "magnitude" of the movement.

* OneDialogueTwoConversations

* OneCastMemberPerCover: Question Arcs' manga volumes have a cover with a different main cast member. ''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.
* 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.

* QuiveringEyes

* SanitySlippage: All over the damn place.

* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Satoko]]

* WeaponOfChoice: Keiichi always [[BatterUp uses Satoshi's bat]], [[spoiler:Shion]] is often seen with a [[PsychoElectro taser]], and everyone's favorite cleaver girl, Rena, uses a billhook.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: 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 Hinamizawa Syndrome indirectly started the Second Sino-Japanese War, it's a motivation for the government to cover the disease up.

* EverybodyLives: Oddly enough, it's an example of AnyoneCanDie, KillEmAll and this one, the rare triple whammy! [[spoiler:But only with the Matsuribayashi ending, which is considered an ending with "no losers".]]

** [[spoiler:Of course, with Minagoroshi-hen, it can be assumed that most fans weren't fooled. The title essentially MEANS "KillEmAll." In English, it's literally "Massacre chapter"]]

* IgnoranceIsBliss: Mercilessly subverted in Taraimawashi-hen, in which Keiichi decided to ignore everything connected with Hinamizawa's secrets and enjoy his life. [[KillEmAll It doesn't end well.]]

* KillEmAll: ''Multiple times.''
** The [[spoiler:Tatarigoroshi]] chapter truly does Kill 'Em All - [[spoiler:starting with the gory death of Rina, Satoko's uncle Teppei, Tomitake, Takano, Irie, Ooishi, and finally Rika are seemingly murdered one by one, until the chapter finally ends with an eruption of poisonous volcanic gases that kills off [[SoleSurvivor the entire population of Hinamizawa except for Keiichi]]. And then he dies too, although that part was cut from the anime.]].
** One of the chapter titles, ''Minagoroshi-hen'', quite literally means "The Kill-Everybody Chapter". And by that point in the series, it's no surprise at all.
** What's more, once we finally know the whole story, it's clear in retrospect that [[spoiler:EVERY non-final arc (save the Watanagashi / Meakashi pair) ended with the destruction of Hinamizawa, whether we saw it or not.]] Yes, ''Higurashi'' is not content with mere {{Downer Ending}}s; it will reach back in time and ''push them farther down''.

* DenserAndWackier: In a non-comedic (or at least not intentionally) example of this, [[spoiler: the final showdown between Rika and Satoko in episode 14 was when the show turned from a relatively grounded horror mystery with supernatural into straight up DBZ-style action fantasy.]]

* LuridTalesOfDoom: 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.

* {{Gaslighting}}: A tragically non-malicious example. Believing that ''Onikakushi-hen''[=/=]''Oniakashi-hen'' was just a repeat of the original ''Onikakushi-hen'', Rika tries to prevent the tragedy of it by nudging Keiichi into believing that he's just deluding Rena becoming violent and crazy so that he won't kill her (and Mion). As a result, Keiichi assumes ItsProbablyNothing, but as we learn in ''Oniakashi-hen'', his delusions were actually ''completely correct.''

** The original story taught that miracles arise from a [[ThePowerOfFriendship group effort]] and don't simply fall into one's lap. [[spoiler:The "miracle" that helps Rika figure out that Satoko is the culprit has nothing to do with group effort (as the other club members are OutOfFocus in the main conflict) and barely even involves Rika's own efforts (as she had practically given up), instead simply resulting from Satoko's own carelessness giving herself away.]]
** [[spoiler:Despite Keiichi ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen'' expressing extreme guilt and desire for atonement over his ''Onikakushi-hen'' murders, and Rika in ''Saikoroshi-hen'' realizing that looping had distorted her values on life, the show's ending and even WordOfGod seem to side with Eua that Satoko toying with lives in other worlds is ultimately insignificant. Likewise, the "miracle" that allows Hanyuu to defeat Eua was the Onigari-no-Ryūō falling into her hand after Rika (who couldn't have known what situation Hanyuu was in) tossed it into the water.]]

** The original story taught that miracles arise from a [[ThePowerOfTeamwork group effort]] and don't simply fall into one's lap. [[spoiler:The "miracle" that helps Rika figure out that Satoko is the culprit has nothing to do with group effort (as the other club members are OutOfFocus in the main conflict) and barely even involves Rika's own efforts (as she had practically given up), instead simply resulting from Satoko's own carelessness giving herself away.]]

** And again in the final episode of ''Rei'', where one of Rena's cutaway fantasy scenes puts Miyo in the role of [[LightNovel/MariaWatchesOverUs Sachiko Ogasawara.]]

* ShoutOut: To Studio Deen's own ''LightNovel/MariaWatchesOverUs'' franchise in ''Rei.''