When They Cry, also known as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に). is an anime series that aired in 2006. It is based on a visual novel produced by 07th Expansion.
It was animated by Studio Deen, and produced by Frontier Works, Geneon Entertainment and Sotsu. The series was directed by Chiaki Kon, with Toshifumi Kawase handling series composition, Kyūta Sakai designing the characters and Kenji Kawai composing the music. It was released in English by Geneon and Funimation, under the title When They Cry – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. The first season contains 26 episodes and aired from April 4 to September 26, 2006 on a number of television networks, including Chiba TV, Kansai TV and Tokai TV. The story follows five friends solving the case about unexplained murders occurred for three years in the village. The series is divided into six chapters which are based on the first six chapters in the original visual novel series. The first chapter is Onikakushi-hen (episodes 1 to 4), followed by Watanagashi-hen (episodes 5 to 8), and Tatarigoroshi-hen (episodes 9 to 13). Next is Himatsubushi-hen (episodes 14 and 15), the shortest of the story arcs. The last two chapters are Meakashi-hen (episodes 16 to 21) and Tsumihoroboshi-hen (episodes 22 through 26).
Cast[]
Image | Character | Seiyū | Dub Actor |
---|---|---|---|
Main Characters | |||
Keiichi Maebara | Sōichirō Hoshi | Grant George | |
Rika Furude | Yukari Tamura | Rebecca Forstadt | |
Rena Ryūgū | Mai Nakahara | Mela Lee | |
Mion Sonozaki | Satsuki Yukino | Megan Hollingshead | |
Shion Sonozaki | |||
Satoko Hōjō | Mika Kanai | Jennie Kwan | |
Secondary Characters | |||
Satoshi Hōjō | Yū Kobayashi | Darrel Guilbeau | |
Kuraudo Oishi | Chafurin | John Snyder | |
Jiro Tomitake | Tōru Ōkawa | Kyle Hebert | |
Miyo Takano | Miki Itō | Karen Strassman | |
Kyosuke Irie | Toshihiko Seki | Dave Mallow | |
Mamoru Akasaka | Daisuke Ono | Patrick Seitz | |
Minor Characters | |||
Akio Maebara | Naoko Matsui | Barbara Goodson | |
Ichirō Maebara | Yasunori Matsumoto | Dave Mallow | |
Rumiko Chie | Fumiko Orikasa | Sam Carr | |
Teppei Hōjō | Katsuhisa Hōki | Steve Kramer | |
Katsuya Kumagai | Takuo Kawamura | Kyle Hebert | |
Oryo Sonozaki | Shizuka Okohira | Barbara Goodson | |
Kiichiro Kimiyoshi | Masaaki Tsukuda | Kyle Hebert | |
Tatsuyoshi Kasai | Fumihiko Tachiki | Steve Kramer | |
Suguru Okamura | Fujiko Takimoto | Barbara Goodson | |
Daiki Tomita | Megumi Matsumoto | Karen Strassman |
Episodic Characters[]
Image | Character | Seiyū | Dub Actor | Episode |
---|---|---|---|---|
Old Ladies | Eriko Matsushima | Karen Strassman | 3 | |
Kun Fuzuki | Barbara Goodson | |||
Yoshiro Sonozaki | Eiji Miyashita | Dave Mallow | 5 | |
Delinquent #A | Atsushi Kakehashi | Kyle Hebert | 5, 16, 18 | |
Delinquent #B | Takashi Ohara | John Snyder | ||
Mr. Ryūgū | Gen Nakano | Kyle Hebert | 7 | |
Landlady | Kujira | Barbara Goodson | 9 | |
Tsubaki | Kentarō Tone | Kyle Hebert | 10 | |
Nurse | Akane Tomonaga | Megan Hollingshead | 12 | |
Mr. Sonozaki | Kosei Hirota | Steve Kramer | 14 | |
Sato | Naoya Uchida | Mike McFarland | ||
Makino | Shoto Kashii | Steve Kramer | ||
Hondaya | Keiichi Sonobe | Dave Mallow | ||
Toshiki Inukai | Aki Kanada | Mela Lee | 14 - 15 | |
Yukie Akasaka | Risa Mizuno | Karen Strassman | ||
Kidnapper #A | Suzune Okabe | Jason C. Miller | 15 | |
Kidnapper #B | Riichi Nishimoto | Steve Kramer | ||
Delinquent #C | Eiji Miyashita | Mike McFarland | 16, 18 | |
Tamae Hōjō | Kujira | ? | 17 | |
Yoshiro Sonozaki | Nobuyuki Kobushi | Jason C. Miller | 22 | |
Mrs. Ryūgū | Miki Suga | Karen Strassman | ||
Rina Mamiya | Misa Watanabe | Kirsten Potter | 22 - 23 | |
Akane Sonozaki | Kikuko Inoue | Megan Hollingshead | 25 |
Additional Voices[]
- Sam Carr
- Rebecca Forstadt
- Grant George
- Barbara Goodson
- Darrel Guilbeau
- Kyle Hebert
- Megan Hollingshead
- Steve Kramer
- Mela Lee
- Dave Mallow
- Mike McFarland
- Jason C. Miller
- Patrick Seitz
- John Snyder
Trivia[]
- The first season is the only one dubbed while the rest of the original show, until Gou and Sotsu, went undubbed. This is very likely due to the series being dubbed before Geneon Entertainment closed their American branch, and the rest of the series was likely unlicensed during their partnership with FUNimation Entertainment.
- The role of Tamae Hōjō is often misattributed to Lori Petty.
External Links[]
- When They Cry (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- When They Cry at the Internet Movie Database