So you've finished Higurashi Ch.1...

[PAN]

So you've finished this first chapter of Higurashi and want to know what to do next.

Here are your options:
* Read the rest of the sound novels (old versions or wait for steam versions)
* Watch the Anime
* Read the Manga

All of these have their merits so heres some suggestions and info on each of them.

Sound Novel:

The sound novels are arguably the most common suggestion for enjoying the series. Being the original source material, the tone matches exactly what 07 wanted to convey that are noticeably absent from the other mediums. The visual novels go far more indepth to the decision making and motives of the characters because you read their every thought. There is alot more challenge presented onto the reader as they try to figure out what is happening. The chapters also contain far more content that the anime/manga couldn't fit into its run. What affected me most about the novel was the atmosphere and music that gave me goosebumps on multiple viewings, even after knowing exactly how everything is happening.

However, the visual novel is painfully slow in its more lighthearted sections at the beginning of most of the arcs. While its absolutely vital that these scenes are there, they become annoying to spend 3-5 hours on what feels like filler and its easy to become impatient waiting for the mystery to begin. Close to half of the reading of each arc are these segments that the other material doesn't spend nearly as much time on.

tl:dr
Pros: More detailed, atmosphere is fantasic, insight into the minds of the characters.
Cons: Slow start for each arc, takes massively more time to finish the series, thus high barrier of entry

You can wait for all of the chapters of the game to come onto steam or buy yourself one of the older versions. If the visuals are too distracting, there is a ps2 patch that replaces the sprites with the ones from Matsuri

Anime:

The next produced content for Higurashi is the anime. The anime is from Studio Deen, which doesn't have the greatest reputation for their adapations (this and fate stay/night), but it is not a dismissable option. This was the first way I got into higurashi and is way easier to get into then the novels. The anime covers all the main question and answer arcs of the visual novels and has their own ova arcs aswell. As it covers the entire story, yes, it will spoil you the visual novels.

The reason alot of people don't suggest the anime is because it cuts down alot from the visual novels and what we get is poorly animated and there are some mistakes. For example, the beginning of the second arc teases you with a part of the fifth arc, which doesn't even occur in the second. The english dub is laughable, and the sub is okay. While major events stay the same, they don't have the same atmosphere as the visual novels.

Despite these problems, you can enjoy higurashi from the anime and its alot easier to get into. I've shown quite a few friends the anime and they've enjoyed it without having to commit many hours to the games.

tl:dr
Pros: Easier barrier to entry, complete story is present, much shorter than VN.
Cons: Poorly animated, lacks the intrigue of the main character's thoughts, 'teasers' at the beginning of each arc ruin alot of the mystery.

If you want to watch the anime, know that you must watch Higurashi and Higurashi Kai for the full story. Its not like having season 1 and season 2, its a contiuation of the same story.

However, purchasing higurashi is more expensive then other series, so be mindful of that.

Manga:

The manga was actually the last form Higurashi was produced in. It is essentially what is present in the anime version, but obviously in manga format. However I prefer the manga to the anime in many respects, enough to own the entire series in book format.

It does alot of similar things to the anime. The manga cuts down on alot of the slice of life content at the start of each arc. It contains much more on the thoughts of the characters as they can slip the dialogue that goes on in the characters' heads much easier than the anime. The art looks much more detailed than the anime and I rarely feel taken out of the story. The manga contains probably the most visually graphic and scary images out of the 3 versions and the scary faces the characters tend to make are quite creepy. The manga tends to lend its visuals to be far more freaky.

I have some gripes that are very present in the manga. A minor annoyance is the switching of artists in many of the arcs. A majority of the arcs are by one artist, but some arcs take a different artist which is an odd transition from arc to arc. This isn't too significant though as its pretty easy to adjust. Whats more a problem is that the manga seems to not be alligned with the intentions of the source material when the characters are wondering what is behind the curses. Alot of the time a character would ask who is the culprit and it will illustrate many of the pottential villians, including the actual villain, which i think ruins the curse vs people debate. Despite this problem, I believe that the manga follows the gist of the sound novels pretty well.

tl:dr
Pros: Accessable, arguably better adapation than the anime, most visually freaky.
Cons: Artist swapping, potentially spoils itself.

The manga is available translated by Yenpress, but as it is manga, is quite expensive to get the whole series.

FINAL VERDICT

My suggestion:

If you like to read visual novels and can put time into this series
- read the visual novels
If you like to read manga and don't want to put as much time in as the VN
- read the manga
If you don't prefer either of these options, the anime will give you the complete story
- watch the anime

These are my opinions and may very well be not correct.

[MOW]

Well as for my history.... I watched the higurashi anime (all of it) watched some of umineko but switched to the visual novel, that was a somewhat long time ago. then in recent times when this got realeased higurashi had faded from my mind mostly so playing the vn is really fun. I'll just wait for the rest I know what happes anyways. I also bought 07th expansion's other game rose guns days but havn't really gotten into it much. I'll probably go back to it when it gets all translated..... maybe....

Also just cause I can now lol

[silverknight444]

Yeah, I really think since I have watched all of the higurashi anime, I may as well try and find more of the games. Or at least try and get into umineko.

[Mr. Snrub]

¿por que no los tres?
I have access to all three mediums, sans knowing Japanese, so I'm left with the manga and the translated rest. Sucks because I really wanted to get into the DS Kizuna series.

[Black Hammer]

A lot of people dump on the anime, but to be dead honest, the VN really needed a better editor. And I don't care for manga.

At the end of the day, the anime is really not a bad option. Pity it wasn't better done.

[Alice]

Originally posted by Black Hammer:

to be dead honest, the VN really needed a better editor.

Are you basing this on the MangaGamer translation?

[ashleymon]

I watched the anime too as a jumping off point. I loved it, but as I learned what wasn't in there, I felt desperate for more and rather sad at some of the reveals I could have learned in-story instead of out.

Basically my recommendation is either wait for the VN to finish or if you're impatient read the manga and then keep going with the VN. Then watch the anime. I still really love it, it is one of my favorites despite some adaptation decisions that I don't agree with. However, it overall fits the tone and theme of the story, despite some of season 1's devotion to shock factor vs. story.

[Yirba]

The anime may be worth watching after reading all the VNs, but watching the anime first would somewhat spoil the experience, imo. The manga is decent, but the VN is the best (official) way to experience the story. Why settle for anything less than the best?

[SuperVolcano]

The fact that there are people alive who think the anime is acceptable saddens me.

[Black Hammer]

Originally posted by Oriental Western Magician:

Originally posted by Black Hammer:

to be dead honest, the VN really needed a better editor.

Are you basing this on the MangaGamer translation?

I'm basing it on the content of the story itself. Onikakushi has about two more tediously long sequences of club games than needed, and the scenes themselves badly needed to be pithier.

Originally posted by SuperVolcano:

The fact that there are people alive who think the anime is acceptable saddens me.

Acceptable is a suitably vague word. It could certainly be better, but much like the original anime version of Fullmetal Alchemist, it does the job.

[景叔叔]

好吧