Even though the Higurashi franchise is well over 13 years old by now, it’s still getting new adaptions and content. The latest one, just announced today, is a live-action TV series. The main cast will all be played by members from the NGT48 idol group (a Niigata sister group of AKB48), who are in auditions for it now. It’s planned to begin broadcasting on May 2016.
You might remember that Higurashi was previously adapted into two live-action movies, which covered the 1st and 6th visual novel arcs. They weren’t critically acclaimed by any measure, but can be a fun watch. This new adaption will be aired in eight 1-hour episodes. I’d assume each episode will cover one of the VN arcs, finally telling the full story in a live-action form. It’ll be tricky to stuff all the VN’s content into such a short run-time; the anime had more than twice as much time, and it even it couldn’t do the job perfectly.
Either way, I’m optimistically neutral on this. Will it probably be bad? Yes. Could it possibly be wicked awesome? Also yes.
Sea of Fragments 
Hmm, the site only says ‘Higurashi no Naku Koro ni’, so it’s possible that this is only an adaption of the question arcs (and maybe they’ll do Kai if it does well). Here’s hoping–I don’t see how they can possibly squeeze each arc into just one hour.
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Yeah, that’d be way better! And it doesn’t do well, it’d probably be because it was bad, and nothing of value would be lost.
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That makes a lot of sense, especially when considering that an hour of run time dissected into twenty minute slots ends up equaling around the episodes of the anime series, just in eight, one hour episodes instead. Two episodes could cover one arc, but I’m hoping it’s only the questions arcs like you said, because the story of Higurashi doesn’t benefit in the slightest from being abridged.
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If I were optimistic, I would say that this is an effort to reach a larger market, in order to bring them to the core material, but Im not, so, yuuuuck.
by the way, have you heard Matsuribayashi drama cd? its the only one that Im missing.
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There’s also an Umineko and new Higurashi pachinko machine coming out recently. My speculation is that Ryukishi07 is relatively easy to deal with in terms of licensing rights, for a franchise that’s still relatively popular/influential among otaku. In contrast, it makes me think of the rumors of Key asking for absurdly high prices to license their games for English release.
And nope, I haven’t. I only speak English, unfortunately…there isn’t a fan translation for it, is there?
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Contrary to my feelings for the anime, I really love the drama cds, you can easily notice how talented the voice actors are, when they let them do their work, specially in Meakashi.
I dont know that much japanese, but knowing the story and with that, Im able to enjoy it.
Nice blog, it is necessary to get the news :)
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True that, I just couldn’t hear the characters talking in any other voices! Even less important characters like Oishi are so damn good.
Do the drama CDs have more of the music from the VN? That’s the one thing i missed the most in the anime.
And thanks, I always appreciate it :)
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Seconding au au
Keep up the blog, you have your group of followers that eagerly await news.
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The drama CDs have a lot of music from the VN (as well as their own music). The drama CDs are also the Higurashi adaption closest to the original, so it’s a shame there isn’t a fan translation (as far as I know).
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Yeah, Oishi sounds great, and the character is very good, its pretty much impossible to have someone else doing him now.
The music is the same from the game, as far as I remember.
I really recommend them, its a very good shape of the original story.
Certain someone made a bunch of torrents in a while ago, I checked but got deleted, though Im sure someone will reupload them when not busy.
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The possibility of a wonky adaptation is all too real when I consider it. A bit of blind optimism on my part lets me get excited for the moment. The writing of the original series VN is very cartoonish -in a good way of course- but I can’t quite imagine how some of the more comedic scenes translate over to live action, and in Ryukishi’s work, comedy is incredibly vital to the overall tragedy of the story (he explains as being a sort of “roller-coaster” of emotions in an interview). I agree with AuAu that this might be an effort to reach a larger market, but I don’t believe it will work as well compared to the other adaptations, especially if someone is already shying away from the original VN and Anime because those mediums don’t accentuate their preferences. If that’s the case, then the series might not be for them.
Don’t get me wrong though, even if it’s a disaster, I’m just excited that it’s still this relevant after so many years! I want to watch it!
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I completely agree with everything you said. I’m excited that Higurashi stuff is still coming out, even if this drama does turn out to be terrible.
Not only that, but there’s still something 07th Expansion-related that hasn’t been announced yet, according to their twitter. Probably not Higurashi related, but still, I feel like I’m being spoiled with all the 07th Expansion stuff lately!
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Me too! I think we’re all being spoiled!
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1st and 6th arcs*
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You’re right, thanks for correcting me. Slip of the tongue on my part…I was even thinking of how, if you could only adapt two arcs, those were the perfect pair to do.
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You’re right, that’s the best choice they could have made considering that they would only “adapt” two arcs.
They still could have done the first movie a lot better but I didn’t dislike the second one.
I don’t know why but I’m also looking forward to this series.
P.S. By the way I haven’t really commented here before but I love your blog, keep up the good work!
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Yup, they don’t tell the whole story of Higurashi, but they do tell *a* complete story (and a pretty darn satisfying one, too).
And thanks a bunch, I appreciate the encouragement!
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Aidoru Oishi? Sign me up.
But uhhh, yea. I’m not holding my breath for an idol groups acting abilities.
Just so you guys remember, rika is in the age 10 ball park. Kind of the iconic loli of the show. Do any of them look 10 years old? Am I going to cringe when one of them goes nipaa~?
But oh well, might as well embrace the madness.
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Apparently the youngest NGT48 member is 12, so they miiight be able to make Rika and Satoko work. I’m definitely working out my cringe muscle in preparation, though.
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