Tag Archives: higurashi

Funimation license for Higurashi and Familiar of Zero expire

Posted on by

On Thursday a member of Funimation acquisitions team posted on their forums about the stats of two shows Higurashi: When They Cry, and Familiar of Zero.  Below is what was posted about these two shows:

Note: This transcript below has been edited from its original post.  Those interested in seeing the original post pleased clicked on the posted link above.

Hey, guys. I’m on the Acquisitions Team, so here’s your answer straight up. I hope this doesn’t come off as too blunt. Please understand that this is just how it is.

Whey They Cry has expired and is past the sell-off period. It was the only WTC series that was a part of the original distro deal with Geneon. We renewed the titles that were part of that deal that did sell well. We let expire the ones that didn’t. That inludes my beloved The Familar of Zero.

The WTC sequels and Umineko were not part of that agreement. We do not have the license to any of those series. Unfortunately, because WTC series 1 sold poorly, we will never buy the license to the sequels or any other title that bears even a minor resemblance.

You’re better off asking Sentai or Nozomi to do at least a sub-only of the other WTC’s. Heck, you could probably get the money together to license and distribute them yourselves. It’s probably not expensive anymore. If Umineko sold as poorly in Japan as you say it did, then go after that one. It’s not as big an undertaking as you might think especially if you pool your money.

Aside from that, the best thing you can do as fans is to buy series 1 from Amazon (so we can track it) and continue to post in the forum about how much you enjoy the show.

You can ask at cons or email Feedback, but do you know what will happen? Rojas will forward everything to me or my coworker. You’ve gotten through to exactly who you needed to, so mission accomplished. I’m aware of the series, and I love me some Sea Cats. Hell, I’ve cosplayed as Beato, and I’m playing the game. Unfortunately, I have to look at sales data, and signs point to not buying the sequels or Umineko and instead putting our money toward less riskier titles.

MasuraoTsukino and Audri are correct. #48 – well said, Audri.

Don’t worry. You guys aren’t like the Case Closed fans unless one of you has stalked Adam at a con including following him into the bathroom.

Funimation also mentioned that it would not seek out any title “that bears even a minor resemblance.”  Anime fans are quite upset about this and claiming that Funimation is being a dick by not releasing the rest of either series.

Now I write this part of the post as an anime fan and not as an anime blogger.  The news of this does sadden me since I am a fan of both the When They Cry and Familiar of Zero series both with the less than stellar dubs.  I have to give credit where credit is due and applaud Funimation for treating the fans like adults and giving an answer that is not sugar coated.  Funimation told the fans that it was not selling well for them and it is not going to get the rest.  There were no code words used or any type of industry talk, just straight up to the point used.  They respected the fans by giving the information that everyone can understand.

Now it has come from some anime fans that the “that bears even a minor resemblance” part is Funimation saying some dickish to the fans.  Now I don’t think that is the case, however Funmation should have worded this a bit better.  If this sounds familiar you might remember that Funimation had a similar situation with Big Windup where it did not sell well for them and as a result did not pick up the second season, or go after anymore sports anime.

Anime fans can scream and yell all they want about what happened with these two shows, but Funimation also has to look at the larger picture.  No company is going to dump a lot money into a show that may not sell well for them (well Geneon did but that is a story for another time.)

Visual Novel Review: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (Question Arcs)

Posted on by

This is a guest review by Alain Mendez. Alain, a.k.a. Hisui, a.k.a. Saber Fan #1, writes for Reverse Thieves and is a part time detective and otaku. He also has a podcast on Anime3000 called The Speakeasy. You can talk to him on Twitter about a wide variety of topics as he is an anime, manga, comics, science fiction, and role playing aficionado. Just mention your love for female King Arthur.

Let us begin at the beginning. There are a multitude of adaptations of Higurashi but all of the anime, manga, live action films, novels, drama CDs, PS2 games, DS games, and iOS games of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni have a common origin in the original visual novels for the PC. Higurashi is actually made up of 2 sets of 4 visual novels released at Comiket by 07th Expansion. Released as doujinshi games they were a surprise success and put 07th Expansion and the When they Cry series on the map. The first set of games is made up of 4 visual novels collectively known as the question arcs and each game has a corresponding game in the second set called the answer arcs. The question is what makes these first four stand out from normal visual novels as well as from the other iterations of the franchise.

I won’t go into great details about the specifics of the plot. If you are unfamiliar with the story of Higurashi then you should read the manga summaries by TheGinachu for Higurashi Month. They sum up the story of each arc quite nicely. Each arc focuses on a specific girl as we delve into the mystery and madness of the secrets of the town of Hinamizawa and the endless summer of June 1983. Despite the similarity in story there are two major differences between the manga and anime adaptation that make the original games stand out.

Continue reading →

Review: Shrill Cries of Summer (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Live-Action)

Posted on by

This is a guest review by Fernando Ramos. Fernando is a contributor for Otaku USA and Anime3000 and currently lives in Saitama, Japan. Feel free to check out his pictures at Flickr or on mroutside.com whenever he finally gets around to learning how to edit a proper website.

Shrill Cries of Summer (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Live-Action)
Review by: Fernando Ramos
Director: Ataru Oikawa

A great while back, I reviewed Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, released in the US as When They Cry, an anime that brought mixed feelings. It was a gimmicky mix of cutesy clichés and shock horror, but compellingly so thanks to its tightly woven narrative and high production values. Perhaps not all too surprisingly, some producers found value in the property for a live-action cash-in to sell to the J-Horror crowd. So, in 2008, we got a live action version, also entitled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, renamed to Shrill Cries of Summer.

As mentioned earlier, the original franchise takes much of its appeal from the shocking contrasts of the cute girls and the bloody murder that they create or fall victim to. Oh, but Higurashi isn’t about cookie-cutter slasher film murder. No, it’s about cruel, sadistic torture complete with pleas for mercy and maniacal laughter. It’s all about the visuals and the audio drilling into your soul driving you insane until you see the scorpions stinging you to… I digress.

Continue reading →

Manga Review: Higurashi When They Cry – Curse Killing Arc (Volumes 5-6)

Posted on by

For Higurashi Month here at JanaiBlog, I have been charged with delving into the manga version of this masterpiece. We’ve already romped through the first two arcs in this incredible story. So, let’s move on to the third arc, the Curse Killing Arc.

Like the second arc, this one seems to start the story over, with everyone alive and getting along. The story of Oyashiro-sama’s curse still holds power in this arc just as in the previous two, but rather than focusing on Rena and Mion like the first and second arcs did respectively, this arc focuses on Satoko and her tragic past.

We know at this point that Satoko’s parents fell to Oyashiro-sama’s curse years ago, but now her abusive uncle has come back into the picture. He begins to abuse her physically and mentally, and Keiichi is shocked to hear that this has happened before, and Satoko’s friends and teacher have been unable to do anything about it. When Satoko begins to look up to Keiichi as her surrogate brother, he decides to take matters into his own hands to protect Satoko, with deadly consequences.

Continue reading →

Manga Review: Higurashi When They Cry – Cotton Drifting Arc (Volumes 3-4)

Posted on by

For Higurashi Month here at JanaiBlog, I have been charged with delving into the manga version of this masterpiece. We’ve already romped through the first arc of the story. Now we shall embark on the next piece of the puzzle, the Cotton Drifting Arc.

The first thing you will notice is that everyone who died in the first arc is alive with seemingly no memory of the chilling events of the first arc. Get used to this; every arc of Higurashi starts the story over fresh, although it does keep many of the main plot points.

Rather than focusing on the curse of Oyashiro-sama right off the bat, we start with a bit of lighthearted comedy. Keiichi runs into a waitress at a restaurant who looks exactly like Mion, but claims to be her twin sister Shion. Eventually, Keiichi realizes that she is telling the truth, and Mion does in fact have an identical twin sister. Shion begins to fill Keiichi in on more of the history of Hinamizawa, which eventually leads him tumbling into the temptation Shion offers him on the night of the Cotton Drifting Festival. She drags him into an act forbidden by Oyashiro-sama.

Keiichi fully expects to be the next victim of the curse, however this year the curse does not play out as it had in the past few years. His only solace lies in Shion, who is the only one who knows the truth of what they did that night, but Keiichi must question if he can even trust Shion as more truths are revealed.

Continue reading →