Higurashi: When They Cry Rei (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei) is a Higurashi: When They Cry manga series that consists of the arcs Oniokoshi-hen, Hoshiwatashi-hen, and Irotoutoshi-hen.
Rika Furude and her friends have escaped June 1983, and by 2019 have settled down with families of their own. Hinamizawa is on track to becoming a World Heritage Site, but due to a declining population they allow the people of the Polaris Family Society to move in, causing strife due to their conflicting culture and beliefs. When Rika's friends are killed on the night of the Watanagashi Festival in an apparent revival of Oyashiro-sama's curse, Rika begins looping again and entrusts Keiichi's son Keitaro to discover the truth and avert a tragedy once more.
Oniokoshi is illustrated by Natsumi Kei and serialized in Gangan Online while Hoshiwatashi is illustrated by Tokiya Seigo and concurrently serialized in Big Gangan. The third arc Irotoutoshi was announced in the releases for Oniokoshi-hen Volume 2 and Hoshiwatashi-hen Volume 2 to begin serialization in Gangan Online in spring 2023. Oniokoshi-hen Volume 2's afterword also revealed that Kei would be illustrating the final arc as well.
Tropes:
- Alternate Continuity: This sequel manga is an entirely different continuity from Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou, the other Sequel Series of Higurashi.
- Cult: The Polaris Family Society are a cult who believe that misfortune comes from society forcing people to connect with each other. They act as a shelter for domestic violence victims and worship a "Holy Mother" that lives within the community.
- Distant Sequel: The series takes place in 2019, approximately 35 years after the original story.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Unlike virtually every other couple teased in Higurashi, Shion got her happy ending with Satoshi, as he makes a small cameo in the manga completely cured of Hinamizawa Syndrome and in a peaceful marriage with her.
- Generation Xerox: Unfortunately, it looks like the original gang didn't fully learn from the mistakes of their parents:
- Keiichi ends up as a politician's secretary, but like his own father isn't around often for Keitaro anymore. It's for this reason why he sends Keitaro to Hinamizawa after so long.
- Rena, like her mother, ended up a single mother after divorcing her husband.
- Ghost Town: After decades of Hinamizawa slowly dying and still not accepting many newcomers, the village was on its way out. Luckily the Kimiyoshi family started to run a campaign to get the town noticed again, and an entire community of people (500 of the members of Polaris) took residence in the town. Unluckily, their practices, willingness to keep to themselves, and a horrific incident makes many Hinamizawa residents look at this commutiy with disdain.
- Hate Plague: Along with the Hinamizawa Syndrome from the original series, there's now the Polaris Syndrome that the people of the Polaris Society carry. As a result, the locals of Himanizawa and the people of Polaris have infected each other, and the two conflicting syndromes drive both sides to get more hostile and paranoid towards each other the more they interact.
- Murder-Suicide: At the end of Oniokoshi-hen, Inori, Kururu and other extremist members of Polaris go L5, driving them to murder Keitaro's grandparents and set his house on fire with him and them inside.
- Opposites Attract: The extroverted, cheerful Keitaro and the introverted, terminally shy Inori have a strong attraction for each other.
- Production Throwback: Characters all across the WTC franchise make non-speaking cameos in this manga:
- Several Ciconia characters, such as Miyao, Jayden, and Momotake, are in the background of the summer festival the next gen kids attend.
- Ship Sinking: A good chunk of ones from the original series were dashed with this sequel. None of the girls end up with Keiichi, and seemingly not with their various interests throughout the timelines either. Most got married to a throwaway character offscreen, Satoko married into the Kimiyoshi family, and Rika was the only character shown to have not coupled off.
- Spin-Offspring: This series follows the children of the main characters of the original series, with the protagonist being Keiichi's son Keitaro.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Keitaro gets a crush on Inori as soon as he meets her and she's interested in him as well, but she's part of the Polaris Society, a cult that preaches its members to not interact with people outside their social circle. The tensions between the locals of Hinamizawa and the people of Polaris prevent Keitaro and Inori from getting closer, and the first two scenarios end their relationship in tragedy.
- Starts with a Suicide: Rika cannot help the rest of the cast this time since she is bed ridden and recovering, so she gives her remaining time loops to Keitaro before the story properly starts. She completes this by hanging herself.
- Together in Death: Keitaro and Inori die holding hands in Hoshiwatashi-hen, after they're both killed by an angry mob of L5 Hinamizawans.
- Torches and Pitchforks: Hoshiwatashi-hen ends with an angry mob of Hinamizawans, lead by Sakiko, brutally slaughtering the Polaris Family Society after being convinced they were behind the most recent "curse" of the Watanagashi festival.
