[Sushi-Y]

Originally Posted by kj1980

It seems 07th Expansion is largely a family done effort! Wow!!!

That's probably the biggest revelation, isn't it? Everything from programming to marketing are all handled among family members, it's really something.

As I read the various, er, revelations, I got the feeling that this was the "my mind was totally blank" thing that Ryukishi07-san was talking about in his 12/14 diary entry. ^^;

Originally Posted by arias

Eh, what is this game/series about? Can anyone provide a lowdown on the story?

Anyways, you guys who've played the game should try to keep your posts and stuff spoiler free, because they're all sprinkled with clues to potential spoilers.

It's hard to give a proper summary because the game isn't cleanly wrapped into one game, one story. But rather one game, split into many chapters, each chapter taking place with the same setting, but with totally different outcomes.

But if I were to give a general description, it would be something like the following, it's impossible to write a summary without spoiling things, but I'll try to keep it at a minimum:

Spoiler:

The story takes place in a small Japanese rural village called Hinamizawa, the year is the 58th year of Showa (1983). The primary main character, and also the primary narrator of the story (that is, the "player"), is a young boy named Maebara Keiichi. Keiichi has only recently moved from the city to Hinamizawa together with his parents, the move was considered a good change of environment for the family.

Away from the convenience of urban life, Keiichi felt a little uncomfortable with life in the countryside at first, but as he attended to the local school branch (which didn't even have it's own building, instead, a section of the local forestry office building was borrowed, even then, there was only one classroom and one teacher in the entire school, with children of all grades in the same classroom), Keiichi soon met some individuals who soon became his close friends and helped him learn the ropes around this new environment.

One of them was Ryuugu Rena, a classmate who also moved to Hinamizawa recently herself, and lives close to Keiichi. With a bright and cheery personality, Rena is a honest, straightforward, and reliable girl who always actively offers her help to others. Rena was a great help to Keiichi in teaching him the way around town on their trips together to and from school. Rena loves cute things, although her taste can only be said to be eccentric. However, when Rena spots something she think is cute, she tends to fall into "Kaaii-mode" (a degeneration of "Kawaii", cute), and would say "Omochikaeri~" (take home~) while attempting to bring the said object home (regardless of what it is, even if the object is another human being), anyone attempting to stop Rena while she's in "Kaaii-mode" will be floored with an unblockable lightning fast jab called "Rena-pan".

Another was Sonozaki Mion, the class president of the only class in Hinamizawa. Mion is an active and energetic girl who always takes charge in decision makings. A leadership type who gets along with everyone well, Mion was the first person to greet and become friendly with the newcomer Keiichi. Mion also joins Keiichi and Rena on their trips to and from school and offers a good source of jokes and fun gossips compared to the slightly more quiet Rena. Mion loves all types of games and plays (except videogames), and formed a club specifically for members to gather and play out these games (all of our main characters are in this club). The kicker of this "club activity" is that the loser of the game must accept the "punishment game" imposed on him/her afterwards, no matter what kind of request it may be. As the club leader, Mion rarely loses (and hates losing), and always have embarassing punishments waiting for the her next unfortunate victim.
Mion is the daughter of the Sonozaki family, one of the three main houses of Hinamizawa, which appears to be quite a big presence around the area, although Keiichi doesn't seem to notice it yet.

Next is Houjou Satoko, a young classmate who loves to play pranks on others. Satoko is always trying to get someone to fall into one of her traps, and nobody suited that role better than our new transfer student, Maebara Keiichi. Always speaks in a polite manner, but perhaps because she's still young, her grammar is odd in places. Unlike her manner, Satoko's actions can only be described as "brat-like". Against a girl like Satoko, Keiichi takes no reservation. However, most of the time when Keiichi trys to give Satoko a good whopping, she falls back to crying, which in turn triggers Rena's "Kaaii-mode", who promptly knocks out Keiichi with renapan while comforting Satoto, who is now enjoying the view of a splayed-out Keiichi on the ground. Satoko's parent both passed away in an accident 3 years ago, and she and her brother, Satoshi, were taken in by her uncle's family. But an event last year saw to the death of her aunt and her brother going missing, and her uncle leaving the village. Satoko currently lives with her close friend, Furude Rika.

Finally, we have Furude Rika, a girl similiar to Satoko in age. Unlike Satoko, Rika is very quiet and calm for her age. Although she doesn't speak much, her behaviours always leaves a lasting impression in people (that is, the reader), from her favorite phrase "Mi----" (like a little kitten), to her wall-shatteringly cute smile complete with her own sfx "nipa~☆", and from the fact that Rika seems to KNOW the powers of her own cuteness, we can say that perhaps she's the scariest one of the bunch. Rika seems to enjoy providing consolation to suffering people by petting them on the head. If there aren't anyone around who's suffering, she goes to find people who are and offer consolation to them. Rika is the sole survivor of the Furude family, operator of the local shrine and also one of the three main houses of Hinamizawa. However, since the death of her parents 2 years ago, Rika has been officially taken under the care of the village head and lives together with her friend Satoko. Rika also works as a miko of the shrine.

The happy times continue until one day, by chance, Keiichi learned of certain stories about this village of Hinamizawa. A dam construction project years ago that threatened to sink the village underwater, the "war" that broke out between the villagers and the government, and the dismemberment murder incident 5 years ago that forced an end to the project.

Not only that, but in June every year after, on the day of the local festival "Watanagashi" that honors the local god, Oyashiro-sama, one person would die, and another disappear. Some villagers calls it "Oyashiro-sama's Curse", while others refer to it as the "Hinamizawa Serial Mystery Death Case".

Keiichi just remembered, isn't this year's Watanagashi festival only a few days away...?

As I wrote that, I realized how impossible it is to write a proper "general" description of the story (because I know so much now). Anyone who played through the game would say "there is SO much more to it than that", and I agree, what I wrote is no more than the tip of the iceberg (and there would be multiple icebergs, mind you). This sound novel, like all great novels, isn't limited to a single genre. On top of the advertised "horror", "suspense", "mystery", Higurashi also contains just as much comedy (oh boy the comedy), drama, action, and even some romance (more specifically, just how powerful "love" can be, as demonstrated in the Meakashi chapter). It's a story that makes you laugh, cry, angry, scared, confused, and, most importantly, it makes you think.

At first, perhaps most people would step into the story thinking their ultimate goal would be to "figure out who the murderer is". But as one become more and more attached to our characters through all the events that can make one laugh-out-loud, burn with passion, stunned with shock, or moved to the point of sheding tears, and then faced with an uncertain but unavoidable outcome, the sense of powerlessness is true. As each new chapter releases go by, we see the same characters in the same setting, but with the story unfolding in a totally different direction, the readers will have to discover what similarities and differences that all these "alternate universes" share, think about the possibilities of events happening, and truly, not to find out "who did it", but to find a way to "avoid the tragedy".

Or as the catch phrase on the game package would say: "Challange the Tragedy"

Oh, other than that, it's just a bloody good game, I'm so happy I learned Japanese.