Ask John: Will Higurashi Season Two Ever Hit America?

Question:
Is there any talking or plans to do a “When They Cry” season 2 dubbing, or do the fan forever have to go [fan]sub if they want to see the rest of the series?

Answer:
With my very limited “insider” knowledge of the present American anime industry, I haven’t seen any evidence of a future for 07th Expansion anime adaptations in America. However, similar example proves that evident appearance may not equal certainty. Geneon acquired and released the original HIgurashi no Naku Koro Ni television series on domestic DVD under the title “When They Cry.” The series was then picked up by FUNimation, although FUNimation’s current distribution may be approaching its finale as well. FUNimation’s distribution license to several Geneon “license rescues” appears to have expired already. While the original 2006 “Higurahshi” television series has been released on domestic DVD, its anime sequels, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nekogoroshi-hen, Higurashi no Nako Koro ni Rei, and its spin-off Umineko no Naku Koro Ni have not been licensed for official American distribution.

“When They Cry” doesn’t appear to have been particularly successful for either Geneon or FUNimation, which may explain why FUNimation has made no moves to acquire distribution rights to any of the later anime series. The anime franchise was originally launched for fans of the 07th Expansion computer games the anime is based on, and the show largely alienates viewers that aren’t fans of the original games. The narrative construction of the original franchise is confusing. The animation quality of the original series is rather poor. The atmosphere and tone of the franchise parody harem and moé conventions by depicting seemingly typical tropes then violently undermining them. In effect, the Higurashi franchise requires a deep understanding and appreciation for established anime conventions, and a tolerance for seeing those conventions twisted and manipulated. As a result, the show is simply not for everyone. The original series is not especially accessible, and the “Higurashi” spin-offs and sequels are even less accessible for new inductee viewers. If the original series had difficultly finding a significant paying consumer audience here in America, the sequel “Higurashi” shows are even less likely to be commercially viable in America.

However, while FUNimation apparantly didn’t consider Hell Girl commercially sustainable in America and didn’t acquire distribution rights to the second and third series after releasing the first series domestically, Sentai Filmworks did acquire and release the remaining anime. So a possibility does exist for another distributor to seek and acquire the domestic rights to the later “Higurashi” and “Umineko” anime for American release. I, honestly, don’t anticipate further “Higurashi” or “Umineko” anime getting licensed for domestic release, but I also didn’t anticipate more Jigoku Shoujo anime getting licensed after FUNimation seemingly met with disappointing sales of the first series. I’m very well aware that “Higurashi” fans are quite devoted and would certainly like to see most of the remaining – if not all of the remaining – anime reach America. However, there seem to be very few loyal American “Higurashi” fans willing to invest in buying domestic “Higurashi” anime DVDs, and too few American consumers interested in the franchise to justify the investment of bringing more of the anime to America.

On a personal side-note, although I did buy all of Geneon’s domestic “When They Cry” DVDs, I don’t actually like the “Higurashi” franchise. I consciously stopped watching the original TV series after the second story arc, and I merely sampled episodes of the later series. I did, however, watch all of Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, and I’d be masochistically amused to see it get an official American home video release just to see something so utterly absurd and ridiculous get a substantial treatment.