Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Season 3: Premiere Date, Plot, Characters

From its cover photo and even its trailer, anyone would simply assume that ‘When They Cry’ is a typical harem anime with cute characters. However, only when you watch it, you realize that it is unlike any other anime out there and is indeed worthy of being called genius. It has an extremely dark story that portrays murder and mystery with an incredible setting and atmosphere. Adapted from a visual novel, the credit for its amazing story goes to the game designer. Even the execution of the story has been done perfectly and all the dark mysteries that are involved in it make you think and interact with everything that is going on in the anime.

The characters are very well written and have also been perfectly developed throughout. Each character seems to have a fixed motive that impacts the overarching plot in one way or the other. The only reason why this show fails to be perfect is its subpar animation. The art style feels very dull and the animation quality is just not consistent. But the sound and the voice acting pretty much make up for the bad animation and there are times when the background scores might even send shivers down your back. Overall, ‘Higurashi no Naku Koro ni’ is a great anime that literally hooks on to you tighter with each new episode. Make sure that you don’t judge it solely based on its animation as it has a lot more to it than that.

When They Cry Season 3 Release Date: When will it premiere?

‘Higurashi no Naku Koro’ season 1 premiered on April 5, 2006 and with a total of 26 episodes, it ended on September 27, 2006. Season 2 of the anime, which aired from July 6, 2007 to December 18, 2007, has a total of 24 episodes with each one of them being 24 minutes. After season two, a five-episode OVA sequel of the show premiered on February 25, 2009 and went on till August 21, 2009. The entire anime series has been adapted from a visual novel and also remains loyal to most of it. Because of time constraints, the overall plot of the anime is less dense compared to the game but otherwise, it covers the entire basic story of its source material. So for obvious reasons, with no more source material, the renewal of the anime cannot be expected.

Unlike most other visual novel adaptations, the entire ‘Higurashi no Naku Koro ni’ was well received by most anime viewers and that’s probably the reason why it lasted so long. But now, more than a decade has passed since its last OVA was aired and the whole hype around it has also faded a little. So as of now, another season seems very less likely but even then, if we get any confirmations regarding When They Cry season 3 release date, we will surely update it here in this section.

When They Cry English Dub:

The English Dub of ‘Higurashi no Nakh Koro ni’ is available on Amazon Prime.

When They Cry Plot:

Keiichi Maryada, who is the main protagonist of the anime, moves to a tiny peaceful village named Hinamizawa in the year 1983. He is soon able to make some very close friends who are from the same school as him. Out of these friends, he is simply inseparable from Rena Ryuuguu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude and Satoko Houjou. But soon his perfect life is gradually drowned by the smoke of darkness.

The village prepares for an annual festival and almost everyone seems to be really excited about it. Meanwhile, Keiichi starts to learn about the local legends around it and gets to know that in recent years, several deaths and disappearances have occurred in the village that are all somehow linked to the festival. Things get even stranger when he tries to discuss this with his friends who refuse to say a single word about it. Soon the world around him starts to change as bizarre unpredictable events start to occur and as this happens, he begins to wonder if he can still trust any of his friends or not.

And as the madness all around him amplifies, his paranoia towards everything increases and he is left with no choice but to face these changes head on to unravel the mysteries that all these strange events hold.

When They Cry Characters:

Rika Furude

Rika studies in the same school as Keiichi and is in the same classroom as Satoko. She is great friends with Satoko as the two of them also live under the same roof. She is the heir of the local shrine and plays the role of Mili at the annual festival of the village. She never really talks much and even when she opens her mouth to speak, something very nonsensical usually comes out. She likes describing situations using sound effects and even announces “Clap! Clap!” instead of actually using her hands for doing so.

Satoko Houjou

Satoko is Rika’s best friend and is known for having a very distinctive style of speech. She has a weird habit of ending all of her sentences with “wa”. She is quite smart for her age and enjoys setting traps for others. A lot of times, she practices these traps on Keiichi. She has short blond hair with big deep purple eyes and she is always seen with a big smile on her face. But despite her cheerful and energetic personality, she hides the pain of her extremely traumatic childhood. She is also colorblind and fails to differentiate between cauliflower and broccoli.

Keiichi Maebara

Keiichi is the main protagonist of the first 3 arcs of the story who is the son a very well known artist and is forced to move to the village of Hinamizawa after a series of unfortunate events in his own hometown. He is cheerful, lively and is also great with his words. These traits allow him to fit right in with the people of his new village and he is able to make close friends very easily. He has short light brown hair with dark blue eyes and is often described as a charming young man.

Rena Ryuuguu

Rena is the main female protagonist of the show who has recently returned to Hinamizawa. She studies in the same grade level as Keiichi and takes care of him whenever possible. She has an obsession with things that appear to be cute and calls them “Kaaii” which is more like a slurred version of “Kawaii”. With her reddish hair and big blue eyes, Rena herself is very cute but she can be very scary if someone pisses her off.

Mion Sonozaki

Mion is the only one in the entire school whose social skills are as good as Keiichi’s. She is the oldest kid in Keiichi’s class and almost everyone looks up to her a leader. She really respects Keiichi but also looks at him as her closest rival. She portrays herself as a tomboy but has a secretive girly side.

Shion Sonozaki

Shion is Mion’s twin sister who often switches places with her. Their personalities are completely different but they look exactly the same. In most of the arcs, she studies in an entirely different school from the other characters and appears less frequently.

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