When A Higurashi Cries Out Alone In The Forest…
January 30th, 2009, by
Posted in Release, Translation
, Tagged: 07th Expansion, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Sonozaki Futago-tachi
Today the Sonozaki Futago-tachi release their full translation of Onikakushi-hen, the first chapter of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. The translation project was announced in November 2007 and has seen progress steadily increasing as the months passed. Over the past few weeks the translators have been fine-tuning the project as a whole, fixing inconsistencies and translation errors in the early parts of the chapter and adding extra features such as in-game translation notes.
Most well known for its anime adaptations, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is an extraordinarily successful doujin franchise, comparable to TYPE-MOON’s success with Tsukihime. It has sold over half a million copies, seen many spin-offs and ports and has even been adapted into two live action movies to date. It is most acclaimed for its suspenseful and horrific story and how the player is often long kept in the dark about what is going on.
Onikakushi, which roughly translates to ’spirited away by demons’, is the first out of four Question Arc chapters. The entire Question Arc can be bought with Himatsubushi-hen, the fourth chapter of the arc. The patch translates the entire first chapter of the game and is released in two versions: One works with Himatsubushi-hen and the other works with the standalone version of Onikakushi-hen, which is available for free download from the maker’s site.
January 31st, 2009 at 10:44 pm
>> comparable to TYPE-MOON’s success with Tsukihime
Huh? Tsukihime? I thought FSN would be the more appropriate comparison here. Tsukihime got neither a voiced re-release nor an all-ages console release nor the anime treatment. FSN got all three.
January 31st, 2009 at 10:48 pm
FSN also got more sequels and spin-offs.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:34 am
But FSN was always a professional product. The comparison is because Tsukihime was a doujin game which was popular enough to get an official anime and manga, which is the same as Higurashi (except Higurashi got more stuff).
…and they haven’t said if it will be voiced, but Tsukihime WILL be getting a remake.
February 1st, 2009 at 4:45 am
…also,
“Tsukihime got neither a voiced re-release nor an all-ages console release”
Why count those as two separate things? The all-ages console release is the only official version of F/SN that has voice-acting.
May 27th, 2010 at 1:49 am
[...] Sonozaki Futago-tachi, who released their translation of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni’s first chapter, Onikakushi-hen, in January, [...]