Manga Review: Higurashi When They Cry Mixes Cute and Creepy

With its cute, saucer-eyed school girls and homeroom hijinks, the manga version of Higurashi: When They Cry starts off like your typical high school harem comedy. But new boy in town Keiichi Maebara soon discovers that there's something sinister hiding behind his friends' sunny smiles. In the tradition of creepy small towns featured in Stephen King's Children of the Corn and Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, the rural hamlet of Hinamizawa is not as pleasant and peaceful as it seems.

Higurashi: When They Cry (a.k.a. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, or "When Cicadas Cry") was originally an interactive mystery novel / game created by a doujin (amateur) game developer who goes by the name of 07th Expansion. It's since gone on to be a full-on multimedia franchise of games, anime, light novels, movies and of course, manga, which Yen Press has been featuring monthly in Yen Plus, and in graphic novel format, with this first volume that's due out on November 18.

But even though it's wildly successful in Japan, does Higurashi cute but creepy story work for American readers? Check out my review of Higurashi: When They Cry Volume 1 by Ryukishi07 and Karin Suzuragi from Yen Press and see if its combo of cosplay cutesiness and bizarre and bloody suspense transcends the culture barrier or if it's purely for hardcore otaku.

Image credit: © Ryukishi07/07th Expansion © Karin Suzuragi /SQUARE ENIX