Tag: higurashi when they cry

Posted on
by
Liked Higurashi: When They Cry mahjong game from 2009 is getting a remaster for PC and consoles. Life-or-death matches where even cheating is allowed by Carlos "Zoto" ZotomayorCarlos "Zoto" Zotomayor (automaton-media.com)
Fans of Higurashi: When They Cry and mahjong will be interested to know that Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jong, a 2009 riichi mahjong game for the arcade and PlayStation Portable (PSP), is being remastered for PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, with a planned release in 2027.

I have played and reviewed many little-known and niche visual novels. But I am also familiar with some of the classics. For example, I am a fan of the much-esteemed Higurashi: When They Cry series, which I was in the process of completing in the early days of The New Leaf Journal. Since completing the core eight-novel story, I have learned new things about the series. For example, last year I learned that way back in the early days, creator Ryushiki07 helped spread awareness of his work through an unsolicited mailing campaign. I also learned that there was a Higurashi phone game. Thanks to a September 15, 2026 article on Automation West, I now know that back in 2009, a Higurashi-themed mahjong game called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jong was released in arcades and for PlayStation Portable. The Higurashi mahjong game is being remastered and re-released for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch in 2027 (unclear whether there will be an English game). I appreciate that Higa mahjong exists because there is some in-world justification for the idea, but I will be very disappointed if someone tells me that Kurado Ōishi is not the final boss.

Posted on
by

I am a bit late today because I just spent about an hour troubleshooting why I was not receiving calls on my Ubuntu Touch-powered Google Pixel 3a XL. I think I fixed the issue. With that aside, on to our daily Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. New Higurashi When They Cry interactive chat content allows you to talk with characters and progress the story with your own self-insert (Carlos “Zoto” Zotomayor for Automation West. April 9, 2026.)

Higurashi: When They Jump the Shark.

2. LPC Landmarks Historic Boerum Hill Public School Building (Anna Bradley-Smith for Brownstoner. April 8, 2026.)

I don’t recall having thought much about this building (perhaps because it is in the middle of a construction zone). But it’s a nice building. I approve.

3. ⏜ Our radical plan to replace the NBA draft ⏜ (Nate Silver. April 1, 2026.)

My eyes glazed over while reading this. It should have been an April Fools joke. Let’s think about normal reforms. Thank you.

4. Samsung is officially discontinuing its native Messages app in favor of Google Messages (Mauricio B. Holguin for AlternativeTo. April 6, 2026.)

I only use the UBUNTU TOUCH messaging app (until I get around to replacing the battery in my Pixel 6a).

5. YouTube Shorts Are Like Crack (Kev Quirk. April 4, 2025.)

I don’t understand the whole rapid-fire short video thing or what the appeal would be.

6. Secrets of the Super Mario RPG Shaman (Drew Mackie at Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games. August 28, 2025.)

While this article is primarily about Super Mario RPG, I appreciated the Paper Mario nostalgia.

7. Anthropic Races to Contain Leak of Code Behind Claude AI Agent (Sam Schechner for The Wall Street Journal (via Yahoo! Finance). April 1, 2026.)

I’m late to the Claude code leak. But I want everyone to know that I have suffered many sleepless nights thinking about the horrifying possibility that someone could take Anthropic’s copyrighted work and use it in their own AI projects. Anthropic would never! Perish the thought!

Posted on
by

Ryushiki07’s Higurashi: When They Cry is one of the better-known Japanese doujin visual novel (or “sound novel”) series, with the original eight main entries having been released from 2002-2010. On November 25, 2025, Ryushiki07 posted on X from the account of 07th Expansion (the studio behind Higurashi and subsequent projects) about the novel’s very humble origins (quote and translation courtesy of Automation West):

We sold 50 copies of Higurashi When They Cry at Comiket. We shipped 50 more to mail-order customers pretending it was a mistaken order, offering to mail them the next work for free if they sent us feedback. We were desperate to get even one or two more people to read it.

Higurashi ultimately spawned multiple anime adaptations and a universe of games by 07th Expansion (notably Umineko: When They Cry). Ryushiki07 is now writing the new Silent Hill f game (other people who worked on the “When They Cry” novels are also part of the project). They have come a long way in just over 23 years.

While I have yet to review a When They Cry novel in article form, I posted about learning about a Higurashi phone game here on ECS. Over on The New Leaf Journal, I wrote a vocabulary-focused post prompted by a scene in chapter 7 of the Higurashi novels, syncing my Umineko saves using Syncthing, and a post on the often misguided tendency to diagnose fictional characters with autism prompted by Umineko’s Maria. If you happen to be reading through Umineko, I linked to a good resource listing the novel’s “red” truths. Finally, if you are interested in indie Japanese novels from the 2000s, you may be interested in my reviews of the al|together visual novel localizations, most of which were published in the same period with the same scripting engine.

Posted on
by

From Anime News Network:

The official X/Twitter account for the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei smartphone game in the Higurashi: When They Cry franchise announced on Friday that the game is ending service on February 27.

I read all eight chapters of the main-line Higurashi: When They Cry series (I read the last two after starting The New Leaf Journal). I was not aware that there was a Japan-only smartphone game. According to Anime News Network, the soon-to-be-defunct Higurashi phone game was first made available in 2020 and features an original story. Customers will have a three-month window to request refunds after the game is taken offline. There is probably a good game preservation angle to this story, but I am content for things I learned purposes for noting that I learned the game exists (soon-to-be existed).

[Source: Anime News Network]