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Higurashi: When They Cry - Watanagashi Chapter

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Higurashi: When They Cry - Watanagashi Chapter
ひぐらしのなく頃に 綿流し編
(Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Watanagashi Hen)
GenreHorror, mystery
Created by07th Expansion

Higurashi: When They Cry - Watanagashi Chapter (Japanese: ひぐらしのなく頃に 綿流し編) is a sound novel produced by the doujin circle 07th Expansion and is the second episode and titled story in the Higurashi: When They Cry franchise.

This sound novel is played by clicking the mouse to reveal more text and continue reading the story. The player is not asked to make any choices or afforded any autonomy within the story.[1]

Summary

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The subtitle is "most possibilities~".

The protagonist from the previous work Higurashi: When They Cry - Onikakushi Chapter continuously was Maebara Keiichi. In the continuation sequel, chronological continuity was lost because the same timeline was progressing in a different manner than it previously had done so. Throughout the series, the games follow multiple timelines to represent different worlds which all revolve around the same basic plot elements but follow different narratives.[2] This chapter is one of the original "question arcs" that leaves the viewer with questions answered in a following "answer arc" chapter.[1][3]

In this chapter, the story is still revolving around the legends of Hinamizawa Village, as shown in Higurashi: When They Cry - Onikakushi Chapter, as well as the relationship that shows both love and hate between the twin sisters, including the previous game's club manager, Sonozaki Mion. Each chapter installment in the series continues to examine the legends that are contained within the secular village, a specific local festival, and the local religious and familial politics that impact the core cast of characters.[1]

Such as with the previous game, there are two extra elements unlocked after clearing this title: the character's having a congratulatory discussion for your good work in completing the story and a mini-game that is entitled "Sufi Fairy Bomber." This is only available in the Windows version of the game.

This is included in the PS2 version of the game as "Festival" in Higurashi: When They Cry - Mennagashi Chapter. It is also included in the Nintendo DS version of the game as "Kizuna, Volume 1" within Chapter Two: Higurashi: When They Cry - Mennagashi Chapter.

In the series, there are many lengthy depictions of direct violence and cruelty that are strongest represented within the horror genre. This is specifically a horror game series with mystery elements as it is following the murders happening within the village in each chapter.[2]

Sufi Fairy Bomber

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After clearing the Windows version of the game, this additional minigame is made available to the player. Within the minigame, the Sufi army corps are driven back from their assault on the Angel Mort food warehouse with a hit that is reminiscent of Whac-a-Mole.

Sufi is Leaf's adult visual novel video game entitled Magical Antique's entrance character. This minigame was a secondary creation to it. Unlike the minigames Rena*POW* and Strolling Rika-chan within Higurashi: When They Cry - Onikakushi Chapter (the mobile app was sold separately from the main version of the game), there is not a port of this minigame to Watanagashi Chapter's mobile app version.

Story

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The protagonist Maebara Keiichi enters an restaurant and sees his friend Sonozaki Mion working a part time job there while wearing a sexy outfit.

Keiichi starts a bit of banter and makes fun of this. He finds out from her that this employee is not Mion, but is actually her twin sister that introduces herself as Sonozaki Shion. In the beginning, Keiichi did not actually believe that the twins existed and thought this was a lie, so he was surprised when he saw both Mion and Shion at the same place.

Several days later, during the festival, a history-loving woman named Takano Miyo and her partner Tomitake Jirō are invited by Shion to sneak into an off-limits Furude shrine’s storehouse with ritual equipment for religious ceremonies with both herself Keiichi. Inside the shrine, there is an old torture instrument, which Takano states was used in the village's custom of ritualistic murders.

The next day, a rumor circulates that there were four people who entered the ritual hall, and Takano and Tomitake are found dead. Subsequently, the head of the village is missing, and Shion informs Keiichi that this could be due to him confessing to the head of the village that he had entered the shrine.

Keiichi remembers that he confided to the Furude Shinto shrine's maiden priestess Furude Rika that he entered the shrine, hurriedly he goes to Rika's house, and he finds that Rika and her housemate Hōjō Satoko are missing.

Keiichi is told by the police officer Ōishi that Sonozaki Shion is missing, and Ōishi and Keiichi's friend Ryūgū Rena deduced that Sonozaki Mion was the one behind everything and the crimes.

Rena and Keiichi visit the Sonozaki family home where they inquire about Mion. Mion reveals herself to be the head of the yakuza, as well as that her goal is to protect the ancestral pride of her family as they are said to have been descended from demons.

Mion admits to the murder and requests to have thirty minutes alone with Keiichi (she wants it to be just the two of them) before turning herself into the authorities. Rena and Keiichi consent to this and Mion then wants to enter and show Keiichi the place she calls the "secret room."

Keiichi and Mion enter the basement where there is a torture room and Mion says that here is where the ceremonial murders were performed. Shion was in the basement's jail being tortured as her punishment for entering the shrine.

Mion suddenly changes, saying that she has a demon dwelling within her, hits Keiichi so he falls unconscious, and tries to begin torturing him by securing him within the torture room. However, as a result Keiichi reminiscing and offering sympathetic words to Mion and Shion, which gives the police time to arrive, Mion consequently puts Keiichi to sleep with a stun gun without torturing him and escapes from the basement.

As a result of the police rushing into the area, Keiichi and Shion are rescued, but Shion is traumatized and becomes like a hikikomori shutting herself away in her home, and Keiichi is stabbed by Mion with a kitchen knife when she visits his home one day.

Keiichi narrowly escapes with his life. Ōishi comes and visits him in the hospital where he reveals that Shion had fallen from her apartment building to her death, Takano had already been dead the night that he had sneaked into the shrine, and that Mion had also already fallen to her death at the bottom of a well after she had knocked Keiichi unconscious.

Finally, after this, Keiichi is tormented by hallucinations of a bloodstained Mion attacking him. The story ends here.

Characters

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Main article: List of Higurashi When They Cry characters

Other than Maebara Keiichi, the main characters within the game are all women.[4]

Theatrical production

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During the second half of the play, there is a scene along the lines of "after a bizarre event took place, we remained in contact every night since we thought we were on the same side" in which only an eye is visible other than the background. This eye is from a photo of 07th Expansion's friend Naruse Tsubaki (なるせ椿) that he believed was extremely fitting, so he borrowed the "eye" of the photo without asking for permission. This is why the role of "eye" is listed in the staff roles and attributed to them.

Manga

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Main article: List of Higurashi When They Cry chapters

Square Enix publication Gangan Comics released the manga adaptation and was serialized in their June 2005 issue through their May 2006 issue.

Written by Ryukishi07. Illustrated by Yutori Hōjō.[5]

  1. ISBN 4-7575-1591-X, released January 1, 2006, First Edition[5]
  2. ISBN 4-7575-1710-6, released July 22, 2006, First Edition[6]

English edition translated by Alethea Nibley and Athena Nibley. Published by Yen Press.

  1. Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc, Volume 1: ISBN 978-0-316-23759-8, released April 22, 2014.[1]
  2. Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc, Volume 2: ISBN 978-0-316-23760-4, released April 22, 2014.[2]

Anime

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Main article: List of Higurashi When They Cry episodes

During the first season of the original anime entitled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に), episodes 5 to 8 represent the Watanagashi chapter, which Funimation translated as the "Cotton Drifting" chapter.

  • Episode 5: Jealousy (Chapter: Cotton Drifting, Part 1)
  • Episode 6: Takano (Chapter: Cotton Drifting, Part 2)
  • Episode 7: Lies (Chapter: Cotton Drifting, Part 3)
  • Episode 8: Wish (Chapter: Cotton Drifting, Part 4)

In the opening part of anime, a scene from the Meakashi Chapter is used, but this scene does not take place in the original version of the Watanagashi Chapter. The Meakashi Chapter is similar to but different from the main story and unfolds in a different way. Also, during the second half of the sixth episode, Keiichi's face appears and something akin to a subliminal effect production is used.

Drama CD

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The Drama CD contains 4 discs. It has a total of 39 tracks for total length of 5:15:19. It was published by HOBiRECORDS under the parent label HOBIBOX and released by WAYUTA. The barcode for this CD is 4520424190034.[7][8] The sales cooperation for this release was Geneon Entertainment.[8]

The voice acting cast was the same cast as the anime.

  • December 22, 2005. Catalog number WACD-002. It was on sale for 3990 Japanese yen at the time of release.[7][8]
  • After November 15, 2006, it became available to purchase on the Japanese iTunes Store.[9]

Novels

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Main article: List of Higurashi When They Cry novels

Author: 07th Expansion. Illustrator: Tomohi.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Wheeler, John (2011). "The Higurashi Code" (PDF). Cinephile. 7 (1): 26–30 – via Google Scholar.
  2. ^ a b Hack, Brett (2015). "Ominous Images of Youth: Worlds, Identities, and Violence in Japanese News Media and When They Cry". Mechademia: Second Arc. 10: 236–250. doi:10.5749/mech.10.2015.0236. ISSN 1934-2489. JSTOR 10.5749/mech.10.2015.0236.
  3. ^ ひぐらしのなく頃にブースターブック [Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Booster Book] (in Japanese). Japan. December 11, 2004.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ Andrews, Dale K. (2014). "Genesis at the Shrine: The Votive Art of an Anime Pilgrimage". Mechademia: Second Arc. 9: 217–233. doi:10.5749/mech.9.2014.0217. ISSN 1934-2489. JSTOR 10.5749/mech.9.2014.0217.
  5. ^ a b "ひぐらしのなく頃に　綿流し編 1 | SQUARE ENIX". magazine.jp.square-enix.com. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  6. ^ "ひぐらしのなく頃に　綿流し編 2 | SQUARE ENIX". magazine.jp.square-enix.com. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  7. ^ a b "WACD-002 | Drama CD Higurashi no Naku Koro ni ~Watanagashi-hen~ - VGMdb". vgmdb.net. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  8. ^ a b c "ドラマＣＤひぐらしのなく頃に 商品概要【HOBiRECORDS】". www.hobirecords.com. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  9. ^ "‎ドラマCDひぐらしのなく頃に(綿流し編)". Apple Books (in Japanese). 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
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