Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni is a horror/murder mystery series with a deceptive beginning that seems to be a slice of life comedy/high school harem situation until the first troubling signs of madness and violence enter the story.

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Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni anime series has unfolded in several stages. The original Higurashi anime ran for two seasons in 2006 and 2007, followed by additions in 2009, 2011, and 2013, and then restarted in October 2020. A live-action series was broadcast in Japan in 2016. Unfolding in story arcs, it's a series that took many fans to catch on to and make sense out of.

10 What Causes The (Seemingly) Immediate Restart To The Story?

Anime Higurashi When They Cry Cast Happy

In Deceived by Demons Part Two (2020 edition), Rika begins in the plane of time fragments, and after crossing paths with Hanyū (figuratively speaking) she ends up right back in June 1983. Why would that happen, when she just got herself and everyone else in the town free of the curse?

In fact, Hanyū changed the past so that Miyo Takano's father never died, leaving her no reason to go on her murderous rampage. Other than an obvious way of rebooting the story, the way the story simply gets dumped right back at the beginning doesn’t make a lot of sense.

9 Rika’s Partial Memory Loss

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Through the first anime series and its sequel, Rika is the one thread that runs fairly constant through the madness and violence that eventually engulf every end of each story arc. Eventually, fans realize that Rika can remember each of the past realities and everything that happened right up to the final moments of her own life.

But, why would she remember everything except the one thing that would help her? In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gō, she seems to have a full recollection of what has already happened.

8 Is Rika Really The Furude Infection Queen?

Rika Higurashi

Rika is eventually identified as Furude Rika, the Queen Carrier of the parasite. It is she who is suppressing the symptoms of Hinamizawa Syndrome in its residents by her presence. That's why they often develop symptoms of the disease only after leaving the town. But, this does not always seem to be the case.

In a couple of the story arcs, Rika is killed by Shion, and in one, kills herself – but the villagers still don't develop the Syndrome. If the Infection Queen is gone, wouldn't they all get it immediately?

7 The Hinamizawa Syndrome Is Confusing

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

In Higurashi, a lot of the details surrounding the Hinamizawa Syndrome don't add up – certainly not to any science that exists in the real world, and no other explanation is offered. Just how does a parasitic infection attack only the residents of a specific town of only 2000 people?

Why are Takano and Keiichi the only outsiders who seem to have developed the Hinamizawa Syndrome? How do they get it? In one episode, it’s suggested that it is airborne, but it can only be extracted from living cells, meaning that can’t be true.

6 Just How Do The Vaccine & Medications Work?

shion sonozaki laughing maniacally after committing murder

Takano Miyo, Irie Kyōsuke, Tomitake Jirō, and others take a vaccine to prevent and also lessen the symptoms and status of the Syndrome. They have to take it three times a day, which isn't the way vaccines typically work.

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It also doesn't really seem to impart immunity, or only on a sketchy basis, because Takano eventually seems to be coming down with the Syndrome anyway. Other variations of the medicine are created, including C-120, which takes L5 level symptoms back down to L3 – but in an odd twist gives anyone who doesn't have the L5 symptoms.

5 Can You Remember If You Just Try Hard Enough?

The way that memory works for Rika is confusing enough. The way it works for others is... inconsistent at best. After a few story arcs, Keiichi begins to have flashbacks and subconscious memories that clue him in to the fact that he’s been through the time loop before.

It leaves him sure enough to be able to avoid some of the pitfalls and crucial turning points where things have slid downhill in previous loops. But... why him? And, why does it only occur after a while?

4 Takano Miyo's Plot Seems Unnecessarily Violent To The Wrong People

Miyo's basic revenge motive is understandable. Her adopted grandfather was ridiculed because of his theories on Hinamizawa Syndrome. And, she understands that Rika's death will bring about an upsurge in symptoms. Ergo, kill Rika to prove he was right. But, how do all the other deaths figure into the plan exactly (other than giving the series its dark horror tone)?

She also wants to wipe out the whole town, but then the incident is covered up, grandpa still gets no recognition, and the people who laughed at him are still in charge.

3 How Does Oyashiro-sama Get Mixed Up In The Disease?

In the 24th episode of the original anime (Atonement, Part 3: Document 34), the emergence of demons from the Onigafuchi Swamp and the Oyashiro-sama curse is theorized away as parasites and the Hinamizawa Syndrome.

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But, how did the disease get mixed up with the bizarre legend of the deity? The legend itself, where the villagers end up taking pity on the demons after all and letting them live in the village, is its own mystery.

2 Hanyū's Origins Make No Sense

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The Legend of Oyashiro-sama is revealed to be just that - a legend. It's not a god or goddess, or demons who have cursed the village. But still... there is a purple-haired goddess, and apparently, demons who were allowed to live among humans.

Hanyū, as it turns out, was one of the demons who were given human form by Oyashiro-sama. But there's no explanation that makes sense - and even Rika complains that she can't understand where Hanyū comes from.

1 Satako Made A Booby Trap She Couldn’t Have

higurashi satoko

Through the series, it becomes clear that Satako’s quirk is making traps. In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gō, the 2020 continuation of the anime, her skill becomes apparent in the first episode when she sets an elaborate trap with a chalkboard eraser.

Near the end of that episode, there is a scavenger hunt, and somehow Satoko has set up a booby trap that sends pans tumbling on Rika's head. But – how would Satoko have known the exact spot to put it beforehand??

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