Twenty years after it first made audiences afraid of the sound of cicadas, Higurashi: When They Cry is getting a brand-new TV anime — with the same studio and every principal voice actor from the original run.
Kadokawa made the announcement on 21 June 2026 during a live-streamed special commemorating the 20th anniversary of the franchise’s first anime adaptation. The tagline landed with appropriate weight: “Okaeri, minna” — welcome back, everyone.
What Was Announced
The green-lit production is a new television anime based on Ryukishi07 and 07th Expansion’s original sound novel franchise. Studio DEEN — which animated both the 2006 and 2007 anime seasons, as well as the GOU (2020) and SOTSU (2021) sequels — returns to handle animation. No premiere date has been confirmed, and details on episode count or cour length have not been disclosed.
A New Story — Not a Remake
This is not a retelling of Onikakushi or any existing arc. According to coverage from Gematsu and Final Weapon, the new series will tell an entirely original story centred on Keiichi Maebara and the club members confronting a new tragedy in Hinamizawa. For fans who have worked through the full original arcs and the GOU/SOTSU chapters, this positions the new entry as fresh ground rather than another lap around familiar material.
The Full Cast Is Back
All five principal voice actors are confirmed to reprise their roles:
- Soichiro Hoshi as Keiichi Maebara
- Mai Nakahara as Rena Ryugu
- Satsuki Yukino as Mion and Shion Sonozaki
- Mika Kanai as Satoko Hojo
- Yukari Tamura as Rika Furude
The teaser PV already features newly recorded dialogue from the cast, which signals the production is more than a holding announcement.
Why Singapore Anime Fans Should Pay Attention
Higurashi carries genuine cult status in Singapore — the visual novel era built a dedicated community, and the anime adaptations have streamed here via Crunchyroll, which holds the full catalogue including GOU and SOTSU. The previous modern entries (GOU debuted October 2020, SOTSU in July 2021) both streamed with same-week subtitles, and Singapore fans had full timely access. When a premiere window for this new series is announced, the same access is expected. In the meantime, the Crunchyroll library is worth revisiting if you have not seen the full run — GOU and SOTSU in particular recontextualise the original arcs in ways that make re-watching them very worthwhile before the new chapter arrives.
Last Words
The specifics — director, composer, episode count, premiere season — are all still to come. But the bones are right: a trusted studio, the complete original cast, and a story that is not constrained by having to adapt pre-existing material. For fans of horror, mystery, and the slow-burn dread Higurashi does better than almost anything else in the genre, the wait just got a lot more interesting. Stay tuned to the Manga Anime section for updates as production details drop.
