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Higurashi When They Cry Manga Japanese Numbering #7

Higurashi When They Cry: Time Killing Arc, Vol. 1

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When the minister of construction minister's grandson disappears amid protests against the dam project in Hinamizawa, detective Akasaka is sent from the Tokyo Police to investigate. Posing as a tourist, Akasaka becomes fast friends with Rika Furude, and the little girl almost makes him forget that he's on a mission to find a kidnapper! But the sightseeing tour takes a sudden turn when Rika delivers a grave warning: Leave Hinamizawa...before you come to regret it...

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2006

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About the author

Ryukishi07

299 books321 followers
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.

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5 stars
255 (47%)
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178 (33%)
3 stars
84 (15%)
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15 (2%)
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Shannon.
3,111 reviews2,565 followers
March 17, 2017
This arc is set during the time of the dam construction and focuses on an outsider cop investigating a disappearance. So no Keiichi yet, or Satoko, but we've got Rika with a bit of Mion and Shion. I like Rika a lot so I'm glad there's more of her in this.

This isn't the best arc but it's an important one if you want to understand more about this series. Well if you're reading this of course you want to know more about the mysteries. Obviously.

This is kind of an important part of the history of Hinamizawa so it shouldn't be skipped, even though you know the outcome before you start reading. There are hints of things to come though.
Profile Image for #ReadAllTheBooks.
1,219 reviews93 followers
October 29, 2010
If you've been following the series so far & have done a little studying of the series, you'll know that this particular arc isn't set during the same time period as the other story arcs. I'm making sure to make you the reader aware of this ahead of time so you don't read it & get frustrated that you aren't getting a look at the next parallel version of Hinamizawa.

This arc is set seven years before the events in 1985. A police officer has been sent to Hinamizawa in order to investigate the dam protest group that seems to be tied to the kidnapping of a government official's child. He immediately meets the enigmatic & adorable Rika, who seems to be harboring secrets of her own. The longer this officer stays, the more strange & dangerous the deceptively peaceful town begins to seem.

I did like this volume well enough, yet I'll admit that this isn't my favorite of the series. It's good in one sense that you get to see exactly how far back the strangeness of Hinamizawa began. However, it just doesn't seem to grab me as much as the other volumes do, perhaps because the main character of this arc (Detective Akasaka) lacks the charm of the other characters. The art in this volume is very nice & in keeping with the quality of the previous volumes, yet part of me knows that if I had my choice I'd have skipped over this arc & gone to the next arcs in the series.

I'll warn you- you'll either really like this or you'll be incredibly underwhelmed. I've never talked to anyone who rabidly disliked this arc- most of the people I've talked to online have just expressed a sense of being let down. This could've been a great look into a younger Rika as well as the mounting tensions of the town, but this volume just feels a little flat in comparison to how wonderful the tensions have been in the previous volumes. I'm going to chalk that up to the lack of action in this volume, so hopefully the next volume will improve on this.

In good news, the answer arcs should be coming up soon after the release of the second volume of this arc. (There's one more arc between this & the answer arcs!)
Profile Image for Reza.
108 reviews12 followers
October 14, 2022
این ولوم میشه نقطه صفر داستان در نظر گرفت که با عوض شدن شخصیت اصلی،دوران کودکی ریکا و میون،نفوذ خاندان سوزوکی روی هینازاوا(شاید کل ژاپن) جرقه تمام اتفاقات در سال های آینده به تصویر کشید... درکل نه در حد آرک های قبلی ولی بازم تا اینجا قابل قبول بود
Profile Image for Mark.
2,811 reviews272 followers
November 7, 2020
Keiichi... isn’t in this volume. No, we’re diving into the past - several years prior to the setting we’re used to. Some familiar faces pop up, but our guide is Akasaka, a Tokyo cop on the trail of a kidnapper. The kidnapping might be connected to a certain dam project... which connects to a certain village... which carries certain... hazards...

Having not read the description of this book before diving in, this certainly was different. I love that this series keeps finding new ways to come at the same set of events. This time we are dropped into the midst of the dam protests the last three arcs referenced and it’s no less interesting despite being a prequel of sorts.

Once again we see the mob mentality of the Hinamizawa villagers, although they’re practically a faceless mass in this portrayal. The ‘us vs them’ mentality of the community is clearer than ever and it shows the lengths they’ll go to when protecting what’s theirs.

Akasaka is an interesting change of pace. He’s more competent than he appears, but he never overcomes the outsider label that Keiichi doesn’t deal with despite the latter being a recent arrival himself. Ironically, the townspeople seem quite suspicious of him and for once it’s completely justified.

Then again, the usual creeping dread is in full effect but the story hardly needs it. With a sickly wife AND a baby on the way, Akasaka only needs to be three days from retirement and he’d be marked for death in ANY story, let alone one that has no compunction tossing people into the hereafter like Higarushi. And he’s just one guy trying to solve a crime that could conceivably involve an entire village.

Another surprisingly engaging part was the mahjong section. I can absolutely not understand mahjong at all, but they convey the stakes, develop the characters, and make it look as tense as any sports manga. It’s simply well done and easy to follow even if you lack familiarity.

If there’s a weakness to this volume, it’s the art. There’s a style to it that I don’t particularly love and even when you get the usual nice-person-segues-to-pure-evil parts, some of them don’t work quite as well as they have previously.

Rika is prominent in this volume, but they haven’t quite done enough with her character this time out. Of the four female leads, she remains the most mysterious as of this volume and flashing to her brutal end at the finale of the last book just reminds us of how much is left to uncover.

4 stars - there’s a real malevolence to this volume, amplified by the characters being in the thick of a protest we’ve only seen in hindsight previously. A lot of this hinges on how the next volume brings it all together, but this was a strong start.
Profile Image for TheBookishHobbit.
674 reviews13 followers
June 15, 2022
Power went out last night so this morning I read pretty much the rest of what I own for this series. This begins a new arc which is a prequel arc to the main Higurashi mystery. This takes place during the dam protests and allows the reader to see what occurred during these protests.
Profile Image for Denisa.
960 reviews21 followers
September 9, 2016
Another rating: 7/10 (for whole series)

Okeyish. More depth to Rika and it was very interesting, glad that main hero of the story didn't die but still it felt kind of plain.
Profile Image for Joseph Young.
914 reviews11 followers
July 23, 2019
This volume starts another arc, but does not have Keiichi, making it feel much less vibrant. Instead it focuses on a young cop with a young wife and future child beginning to investigate the village for possible murders and disappearances. Unfortunately, Investigator Akasaka is rather bland. Sure, he's surprisingly intelligent, good at mah-jong, and resourceful. But he's boring. Am hoping the tragedy to come makes him more interesting.
Profile Image for Tanisha DeBose.
7 reviews
March 11, 2025
Very interesting start to it, since we're following from the time of the Dam project. Which is interesting, this is before Keiichi and more focused on who was sort of running the project that we heard many rumors of. It was a bit boring for me, but it's still interesting to see Rika getting her focus arc, but I'm interested in seeing how this may end.
Profile Image for samet.
260 reviews5 followers
May 12, 2021
weebing with Berfin dostumm #9

pedofilik bi subtext var aşırı rahatsız ediyo ikimizi de ama onun dışında seri güzel ve gerilimli
Profile Image for Mashu.
6 reviews1 follower
July 8, 2021
This is definitely my favourite arc
Akasaka is a much better character than Keiichi 🤷🏼‍♀️
Plus small Rika and Mion are mega cute
Profile Image for Mehsi.
15.1k reviews455 followers
October 22, 2021
A new arc and new characters! Well, the cast in Hinamizawa is mostly the same just years and years younger, no Keichii or Rena. In this arc we follow a detective named Akasaka and boy I was so happy to see him again! I remember that I really liked this arc, yes the art is different and yes the story is not entirely the same, but there are enough hints to the normal Higurashi. The threats, the crazy eyes, the warnings. This is just the introduction because I remember that the next volume will go full on. Brakes are off.
OK, I was creeped out how Akasaka reacted when he first saw Rika. Imagining her in swimsuits... hoping she would call him papa. WTF dude, she is like 5? Just no.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

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