TRianThology Official Site Updated

07th Expansion’s official site for TRianthology has just updated, with story descriptions, characters, and more.

We now finally know the official name of all three stories:

Vespio 2438: A far-future science fiction war story. Most likely written by Ryukishi07, since its character art is clearly by him.

Country Girl: A story about high school friends who went on a school trip together, eventually dispersed, but then came back together. Written by Romeo Tanaka and currently being serialized as a manga online.

Gakuen Renai: Set in a galge-like world, with a protagonist who’s very popular with the ladies (incoming trope inversion?)

One other piece of excellent news: the staff page includes musicians from previous 07th Expansion games like Dai, Pre-holder, xaki, and M. Zakky (though still no zts). Because really, these games wouldn’t be half as good without their soundtrack.

It’s interesting how the different stories use totally different character artists (unless Vespio’s outlines are just a placeholder?) I’ll probably be the only person disappointed that Ryukishi07 isn’t drawing all of it. It makes me wonder how all the stories will end up coming together, though. I did notice that the protagonist of Country Girl has a shirt with a stopwatch and rabbit design,  clearly related to the whole Alice in Wonderland theme the game hints at.

Cast Finalized for Higurashi’s new Live-Action TV Show

To the readers, sorry it’s been so long since this blog’s last post! I’m just now surfacing from a brain-addling haze of Fire Emblem: Fates. 150+ hours in, and still more routes to go…

But in news that actually matters, the cast for the previously announced live action TV show of Higurashi has now been finalized. The show will feature:

• Yuuma Ishigaki as Tomitake Jiro
• Yū Inaba as Keiichi Maebara
• Minami Katō as Rena Ryūgū
• Rika Nakai as Mion Sonozaki, Shion Sonozaki (they’ll have to be clever with camera angles when both characters appear in the same scene).
• Reina Seiji as Satoko Hōjō
• Hinata Honma as Rika Furude
• Rie Kitahara as Miyo Takano
• Moeka Takakura as “the mysterious girl”…I’d assume this is Hanyuu. Which is interesting, considering the theory that the show’s 8 episodes will only cover the Question arcs. Although she could still be worked into the Question arcs for some extra hints to the audience.

The names for the female actors, all from the NGT48 idol group, link to a video of their audition. They’re all multi-character scenes, and I can’t tell which girl is which. But still, it gives one an idea of what the acting will be like.

This Japanese article also has side-by-side comparisons of these and other male characters, some of which are perfect.

As you can see, at least they got the show’s most important character right, so I can rest easy.

The show is still set to air in May, on Fridays at 9:00 PM. I’m looking forward to the inevitable fansubs.

Yet Another New Manga Written by Ryukishi07

The manga magazine Monthly Shounen Sirius has announced that Ryukishi07 will be writing a new series for them in 2016. Yukari Higa will be illustrating it. The title is currently unknown, and details on the story are scarce, but we can at least tell it has plenty of bishoujo.

It’s possible that this also adapts a TRianThology story, like the just-announced series Country Girl. The art does make me think of that “galge-like” setting. But Country Girl specifically mentioned TRianThology in it’s announcement, whereas this manga doesn’t.

So in total, Ryukishi07 has 4 projects that will be (or have been released) in 2016, including 2 VNs and 2 original manga:

• Iwaihime
• TRianThology (hopefully, unless it ends up releasing next year)
• Hotarubi no Tomoru Koro ni
• This series

It’s almost hard to keep track of it all! Of course he’s been working on Iwaihime and TRianThology well before this, but there’s a lot of stuff coming to fruition this year.

Chapter 0 of Hotarubi no Tomoru Koro ni Translated

Chapter 0 of the Hotarubi no Tomoru Koro ni manga has now been translated, and can be downloaded here. The translation was done by Tarable Translations, who also did an excellent translation of the prologue short story. I scanned the raws and did the typesetting…so if something is screwed up, just let me know and I’ll fix it!

It’s basically like the trailer for a movie, with a very cinematic feel. On one hand, I find it rather intriguing. On the other hand, it doesn’t get into the story proper at all, and the series won’t be continuing until 3/25/2016. So for me this is a teaser trailer, with emphasis on the word “teaser.”

Disclaimer: If you enjoy reading these scanlations, please consider supporting the official English releases of 07th Expansion manga! Yen Press has published the manga for Higurashi, Umineko, and Rose Guns Days, and they’re all fine adaptations. Hopefully they’ll continue to get enough sales to release new series and spin-offs from Ryukishi07 in English.

First Chapter of Iwaihime Manga Scanlated

The Iwaihime manga adaption has been picked up by the scanlation group Hot Chocolate Scans. They just released the 1st chapter, which you can read here. I won’t give any spoilers, but the end sure takes an interesting turn…

For those who can read Japanese, the Iwaihime VN was also released on Friday, and can be downloaded from DMM’s site. They also have preview CGs, a demo, a free 20-page guidebook PDF, and desktop and mobile wallpapers. The question for me is whether I read the manga, or wait for the VN to be translated.

Hotarubi no Tomoru Koro ni Prologue Translated

The short story prologue of Ryukishi07’s new manga series, Hotarubi no Tomoru Koro ni, has finally been translated! Big thanks to the translator, because it’s quite well done.

The short story was released earlier in December as a bonus of the book Umineko no Naku Koro ni ~The Last and First Gift~, which collected previous Umineko TIPS.

After reading it, my first thought is “more, please!” On one hand, I worry about Ryukishi07 retreading the same ground too much. Once again we have the setting of a remote Japanese village with bizarre customs (remember Okamikakushi? That didn’t go so well). On the other hand, I’m loving all the fanservice in form of meta connections to Higurashi and Umineko. My main questions are:

1. If this is an alternate timeline for Miyo(ko), what happened to Hinamizawa?
2. Is this a world where the supernatural just plain exists, like Higanbana? (And you might say that the supernatural already exists in Higurashi, but I prefer a naturalistic explanation for it, which makes more sense after reading the God Violating chapter released with Higurashi Hou).
3. Will Miyoko be the protagonist or antagonist of this story? Right now she reminds me of Erika Furudo, coming in to this isolated world of fragile emotions and just upending everything.

So There’s A Free Online Manga of TRianThology’s First Story

I just learned today that 07th Expansion is releasing a manga adaption of a story from their upcoming game, TRianThology, for free online. It’s part of a collaboration between 07th Expansion and Nico Nico Seiga, the manga side of Japanese website Niconico, which is better known for online videos and tons of bizarre memes.

As we learned at last year’s ACen Panel, TRianThology will be made up of three linked stories:

• School friends from the country drifting apart after moving to new places, and then coming back together.
• A science fiction war story.
• A galge-like setting ala To Heart.

It looks like this manga, titled Country Girl, is based on the first story. Despite Ryukishi07’s other forays into manga, it’s clear that TRianThology will definitely still be a game, since the artist’s comments hope we can “look forward to the game while reading leisurely.”

The 1st and 2nd chapters are posted now on Nico Nico Seiga, and it says that new chapters will be posted on the third Thursday of each month. Unfortunately, it’s only in Japanese so far, though it’s just begging for a fan translation. Skimming through the 72 pages posted so far, it reminds me a bit of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. Sort of an “alas, the care free innocence of our youth has been replaced by such jaded cynicism” sort of plot. This is the story written by Tanaka Romeo, so maybe it’ll get as a dark as A Drug That Makes You Dream did (not the best VN out there, but a nostalgic gateway drug for me!).

New Higurashi Live-Action TV Series to Star NGT48 Idols

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.

Voice and Graphics Patch Released for Higurashi’s 2nd Chapter, Watanagashi

Higurashi fans got a little Christmas present yesterday, with the release of a voice and graphics patch for the 2nd chapter of its new release from MangaGamer. Just like with the 1st chapter, the patch adds voice acting and changes the sprites to the PS3 versions by Alchemist. There’s also a voice only patch, for those who’d prefer to play with the original sprites (like me!). You can download the patch here, after getting the game from Steam or MangaGamer’s site.

I want to pause a moment to consider all the wonderful work done by modders and translators, given freely just for their love of the series. Where would we be without people like that?

Art by ８０８ on Pixiv

Enjoy, readers, and Happy Holidays!

“When the Firefly Lights Burn” Story Explicitly Connected to Higurashi/Umineko

Art by 塩素 on Pixiv

I was already intrigued by Ryukishi07’s new manga series, but now I’m approaching a critical mass of hype. Turns out it will be explicitly connected to the When They Cry series, through the antics of our favorite fragment-hopping voyager witches. Check this translation of background text on the book’s product page, kindly emailed to me by Isae (who has an excellent Higurashi blog and tumblr, check them out!):

“The way to play with this Fragment is very easy. And the conditions for winning are also very simple. If you can escape alive, you win. See? Even for you, this should be easy to play, right?”

“Ah this is nostalgic. The stage of this is the Japanese countryside. Reminds me of Hinamizawa.”

“In that case, I’ll go with this piece. Let’s go, my other self.”

Also, a Japanese fan who’s read the prologue tweeted that the story is a challenge between Bernkastel and Lambdadelta. Takano Miyo is the main character. Higanbana and Rose Guns Days might have had expy characters, but nothing on this level of explicit connection.

It might not be a sprawling epic like the VNs, but I’m glad to see that the When They Cry story isn’t over yet! The meta-fiction setting it’s established has so much untapped potential. I can’t wait to see what new characters get caught up in their immortal struggle against eternal boredom. My question now: can we only expect short VNs and manga in the immediate future, or is this just an interlude before WTC5?