Higurashi When They Cry: Beyond Midnight Arc, Vol. 2

Higurashi When They Cry Manga Japanese Numbering #10

by Ryukishi07, Mimori (art)

With Mion's name clearly printed among the names of those killed in Hinamizawa twenty years ago, suspicion for the murder falls on her. But Mion isn't the only one whose story doesn't quite add up. How did the killer know Otobe's was the only phone with a signal? How could Otobe's friends have simply "disappeared"? Is it really the work of demons, or is there a murderer among them?

Genres: Manga, Horror, Mystery, Graphic Novels, Paranormal, Supernatural, Fiction

226 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2007

About the author

Ryukishi07 (竜騎士07, Ryūkishi Zero Nana?, born November 19, 1973) is the pen name of a Japanese man originally from Chiba Prefecture who is well-known as the original creator for the idea of the visual novel series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. He is the representative member of the group 07th Expansion. His pen name originated from the Final Fantasy series, "Ryūkishi" being the Japanese term for "Dragoon", and "07" goroawase for the name "Lenna". His illustration style is recognizable from the large hands he draws on people.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

With apologies to Murray Head, one night in Hinamizawa makes a hard man humble. So imagine what it does to the scared marshmallows we were with at the end of the last volume. There’s a murderer amongst them, which naturally segues into a crime caper and a scavenger hunt, backed by the voices of the dead. Naturally.

So this book really goes to some places. By far the strongest part is at the start, even if it rapidly tosses aside the budding paranoia in favour of letting Mion play detective. The speed with which she dismantles the secrets amongst the group and the logic she uses to do it are quite fun to watch, however, which makes up for it.

This is also the book at its most emotionally resonant and creepy. Otobe’s story about getting in over his head is sad and relatable, but the revelation of his companions in the car and what they were planning is rather chilling. He is, by far, the best character in this story arc.

Then things get weird. I don’t love the shift to the crime story, even if it does make sense given the history of Mion’s family. It’s just... not what I’m reading this series for. It isn’t even that bad, but I just wasn’t interested. Since this is also a side story, well, there aren’t really any stakes.

I’m also not a fan of how blatant the supernatural is in this story. I mean, there’s always been an undercurrent of spookiness in the series, heavily implying something otherworldly is afoot. Here, it’s like they just grabbed a bucket of the paranormal and dumped it over the narrative (although this leads to one last twist that I’m impressed they held on to until this story).

It’s not a bad read, but it isn’t as compelling as either the first volume of this arc or the arcs that preceded it. As I was worried about from the off, it adds little to the overall story (if anything it adds too much, paradoxically) and doesn’t really need to be here. All filler, one killer.

3 stars. Decent, but not a patch on the series when it’s firing on all cylinders. There’s the lingering question about what happened in the schoolhouse, since that’s a brand new wrinkle to the village’s overall narrative, but it’s questionable if it will actually impact said narrative going forward.

[TheBookishHobbit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the conclusion to the Beyond Midnight arc and the mystery is solved. The Mion/Shion thing was somewhat of a stretch for me towards the end. However. I will say I appreciated Mion’s little toothpaste analogy. Overall, despite being the weakest arc it was nice to see this world in a future beyond 1983.

[Reza · Rating 4 out of 5]

با اینکه این چپتر قرار بود پاسخ باشه ولی کلی سوال دیگه به وجود آورد که فقط کلی تئوری قبلی نقض کرد... خلاصه انتظار پایان اپیکی از ریوکیشی باید داشت.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those who have been following along with the series will probably be aware of all of what goes on in this volume. Those who haven't been following along, you don't want to start here. While this story arc is one of the more self-enclosed ones of the series, it still references previous events in the series very heavily. You can read & enjoy it, but you'll still be left with the knowledge that you're missing out on a lot of story.

This volume finishes off the Beyond Midnight Arc, explaining exactly why Mion is alive when a name of victims says she should be very dead. It also explains *why* she's in the town as well as a whole slew of questions that remained from the previous volume. Some of the explanations will be easy enough to figure out, others won't be. I knew the general outline of the plot from various sources, but I have to admit- I was still surprised at one or two things in this volume.

I just have to gush over the artwork in this volume. I'm really enjoying Ryukishi07's decision to have different artists illustrate the different arcs in the series. It further hammers home the idea of a summer that repeats itself over & over again, but with slight variations each time. (Different killers, different ways everything goes wrong, etc) The artwork in this one is very brooding at times, which suits the gloomy & spooky atmosphere of the story.

Next up is the Meakashi-hen chapter (Eye Opening Arc) if I'm not mistaken, which will finally start answering a few of the questions we've had in the past few volumes. It'll be an intense arc, but a good one.

[Mira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty short and simple story. It's interesting to see an arc in a post-Disaster setting, because for some reason neither fans nor official alternate universes like to explore it all that much. I do feel like the atmosphere of this arc suffered due to being a manga original instead of being a visual novel (though I do know they have an adaptation of it that I may check out at some point). And the characters felt pretty predictable/bland, but that's probably a given since they're new characters in a 2 volume arc, so they don't have the time the normal Higurashi characters get to really develop and shine.

[Eileen W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

emotionally, a 5
otherwise, maybe a 4 or lower

there were some plot holes, some things that could have been explained more, especially since this is my first time reading this series and I didn't quite understand the background about supernatural

an interesting twist, an interesting concept with the stories of why the characters were at the temple. I liked that part and the rest was okay

[Joseph Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this 2nd volume more than I expected to. Not only does it provide background for characters introduced earlier, but expounds upon the horror in a ethereal way. I enjoy the detective like adventure as each new clue leads to yet another horrible realization.

[samet]

weebing with Berfin dostumm #12

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting some gruesome death but I was wrong. I do like how peaceful this arc was compared to the rest.

[Nazish Ahmed (Nazish Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rate this 4.5 stars.

Review will be posted later.


Blog: nazreads.ca
Twitter: Naz_readsanime
Instagram: nazreads01, nazcosplay, nradesigns, charmedanimegirl01

[Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5☆ stars, I liked this story. It was sad but still wholesome somehow. I really liked the art style as well. I can't say this arc was one of my favorites, cus it lacks a lot of the creepiness that I hoped for, but it's not bad by any means.

[Logan Simpson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume was alright. I liked the direction the story was going, but then it all changed in this volume. I thought the whole volume would be about the characters trying to figure out who the killer was, but that part of the story ended within the first 70 or so pages. We find out why "Mion" has returned to Hinamizawa after twenty years, and the story ends with everyone learning something about themselves. Just an ok volume for me.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second half surprised me. While the art still isn't quite to my liking, the nice plot twists made the story far more of a pleasure to read and made this volume an improvement over the previous one. The story gained some nice dramatic impact. I couldn't really take the toothpaste analogy seriously, though.

[Jessie Radford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is gets a higher rank for me because, it deterred from the normal arcs that I had read earlier. while it did have one character from the previous series. I found this one more enjoyable.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, nice cover. Another interesting arc. And the art wasn't that bad either. Good volume.

[InfiniteLibrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLiTv...