Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni
Encyclopedia
, subtitled The Unforgiving Flowers Blossom in the Dead of Night, is a Japanese manga
written by Ryukishi07
of 07th Expansion
and illustrated by Ichirō Tsunohazu. It began serialization in the May 2010 issue of Fujimi Shobo
's Monthly Dragon Age
magazine. 07th Expansion adapted the manga into an ongoing dōjin
visual novel
series starting with the first game released on August 13, 2011 at Comiket 80
.
, each told from the perspective of a student or staff member from the school. These stories feature bullying as a major overlying theme
, as each story's protagonist
is depicted as being either a victim of bullying or a bully themselves. Higanbana revolves around a series of urban legend
s caused by supernatural
beings called yōkai
, each of which claims ownership of a particular "mystery" and kills anyone who tries to investigate it. There are a total of seven "mysteries" at the start of the series, with numerous yōkai fighting each other in an ongoing turf war
for ownership of these mysteries, which is granted to the seven yōkai who emerge victorious in the conflict. The stories' protagonists interact with at least one of the school's resident yōkai, who force the protagonists to deal with the consequences of their actions regarding bullying.
light novel
titled , with illustrations by Nishieda. The novel first appeared in the third volume of Fujimi Shobo's Dragon Age Pure
magazine on November 29, 2006. Two more chapters were serialized in Dragon Age Pure before it was discontinued: chapter two in volume four sold on April 20, 2007 and chapter three in volume five sold on June 20, 2007. The novel was adapted into a manga illustrated by Rei Izumi
titled . A short preview of the manga appeared in the fifth volume of Dragon Age Pure, and was discontinued after the first chapter appeared in the sixth volume of Dragon Age Pure on August 20, 2007.
written by Ryukishi07
of 07th Expansion
and illustrated by Ichirō Tsunohazu. The character designs were originally designed by Nishieda. The manga began serialization in the May 2010 issue of Fujimi Shobo
's Monthly Dragon Age
magazine. The first tankōbon
volume was released on November 9, 2010; as of September 9, 2011, three volumes have been released.
is producing dōjin
visual novel
s based on the manga. The first game, titled , was released on August 13, 2011 at Comiket 80
. Unlike 07th Expansion's previous game series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
and Umineko no Naku Koro ni
, each Higanbana game contains about five or six novellas, with each game being about the same length as an Umineko game.
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
written by Ryukishi07
Ryukishi07
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...
of 07th Expansion
07th Expansion
07th Expansion is a Japanese dōjin group that specializes in the creation of visual novels known as sound novels. They started out drawing for the trading card game Leaf Fight, but they are most famous for creating the dōjin game series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni...
and illustrated by Ichirō Tsunohazu. It began serialization in the May 2010 issue of Fujimi Shobo
Fujimi Shobo
is a Japanese publishing company that specializes in the publication of light novels, manga, role-playing games and collectible card games. The company started in 1991 as a subsidiary of Kadokawa Shoten.-Magazines published:Light novel magazines...
's Monthly Dragon Age
Monthly Dragon Age
is a Japanese manga magazine published by Fujimi Shobo. The magazine began as a combination between Monthly Comic Dragon and Monthly Dragon Junior, two former magazines published by Fujimi Shobo. The first issue was published in April 2003, and the magazine is sold on the ninth of each month. The...
magazine. 07th Expansion adapted the manga into an ongoing dōjin
Dojin soft
, also sometimes called , are video games created by Japanese hobbyists or hobbyist groups , more for fun than for profit; essentially, the Japanese equivalent of independent video games. Most of them are based on pre-existing material, but some are entirely original creations...
visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
series starting with the first game released on August 13, 2011 at Comiket 80
Comiket
, otherwise known as the , is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people....
.
Plot
Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni takes place in an unnamed school setting and is composed of numerous self-contained short storiesShort story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, each told from the perspective of a student or staff member from the school. These stories feature bullying as a major overlying theme
Theme (literature)
A theme is a broad, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character,...
, as each story's protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
is depicted as being either a victim of bullying or a bully themselves. Higanbana revolves around a series of urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
s caused by supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
beings called yōkai
Yōkai
are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...
, each of which claims ownership of a particular "mystery" and kills anyone who tries to investigate it. There are a total of seven "mysteries" at the start of the series, with numerous yōkai fighting each other in an ongoing turf war
Turf war
According to Wordnet the definition of a turf war is "a bitter struggle for territory or power or control or rights". For example: a turf war erupted between street gangs; the president's resignation was the result of a turf war with the board of directors. In larger companies Turf wars could...
for ownership of these mysteries, which is granted to the seven yōkai who emerge victorious in the conflict. The stories' protagonists interact with at least one of the school's resident yōkai, who force the protagonists to deal with the consequences of their actions regarding bullying.
Main characters
- Marie is the main protagonist of the first short story, titled Mesomeso-san. She is introduced as a student who is constantly bullied by her classmates and molestedChild sexual abuseChild sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
by her homeroom teacher at an abandoned school building neighboring the school. While despairing over her predicament in the public toilet of the building, she becomes the subject of an eighth urban legend involving a yōkai named Mesomeso (derived from the Japanese onomatopoeiaJapanese sound symbolismThis article describes sound symbolic or mimetic words in the Japanese language. Most languages have such words; for example, "bang", "zap", "ding", "slither", "pop", etc. in English. Sound symbolic words occur more often in Japanese than in English—they are found in formal as well as vernacular...
for weeping and sobbing) that haunts the toilet. The school's yōkai offer her the chance to become a yōkai in order to fill the new rank in their hierarchy, which she does after being strangled to death by her teacher. As Mesomeso, she appears before the series's other protagonists to support them if they are victims of bullying, or to confront them if they themselves are bullies.
- Higanbana is the third-highest ranking yōkai in the school, also known as the "Dancing Higanbana". She is a girl who takes the form of a WesternWestern cultureWestern culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
dollDollA doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...
that sits in the school infirmary and, according to her associated legend, dances on its own at night. She is the yōkai who directly offers Marie to become Mesomeso, and treats her as her personal assistant. She regularly torments cruel or weak-willed students, and is depicted as either an antagonistAntagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
if she targets a story's heroHeroA hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
, or as an antihero if she targets a villainVillainA villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
.
Background
Higanbana no Saku Yoru nis origin dates back to 2006 when Ryukishi07 started writing a serialSerial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
light novel
Light novel
A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
titled , with illustrations by Nishieda. The novel first appeared in the third volume of Fujimi Shobo's Dragon Age Pure
Dragon Age Pure
was a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by Fujimi Shobo. It was first released on January 30, 2006 and was initially sold quarterly. Starting with the sale of the fourth volume on April 20, 2007, the magazine was sold bimonthly until its final issue, the fifteenth volume released on February...
magazine on November 29, 2006. Two more chapters were serialized in Dragon Age Pure before it was discontinued: chapter two in volume four sold on April 20, 2007 and chapter three in volume five sold on June 20, 2007. The novel was adapted into a manga illustrated by Rei Izumi
Rei Izumi
is a female Japanese manga artist. She is well-known for being the artist to the manga .hack//Legend of the Twilight, and Hibiki's Magic. She is also notable for being the character designer for the visual novel True Tears.-Works:Manga...
titled . A short preview of the manga appeared in the fifth volume of Dragon Age Pure, and was discontinued after the first chapter appeared in the sixth volume of Dragon Age Pure on August 20, 2007.
Manga
Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni began as a mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
written by Ryukishi07
Ryukishi07
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...
of 07th Expansion
07th Expansion
07th Expansion is a Japanese dōjin group that specializes in the creation of visual novels known as sound novels. They started out drawing for the trading card game Leaf Fight, but they are most famous for creating the dōjin game series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni...
and illustrated by Ichirō Tsunohazu. The character designs were originally designed by Nishieda. The manga began serialization in the May 2010 issue of Fujimi Shobo
Fujimi Shobo
is a Japanese publishing company that specializes in the publication of light novels, manga, role-playing games and collectible card games. The company started in 1991 as a subsidiary of Kadokawa Shoten.-Magazines published:Light novel magazines...
's Monthly Dragon Age
Monthly Dragon Age
is a Japanese manga magazine published by Fujimi Shobo. The magazine began as a combination between Monthly Comic Dragon and Monthly Dragon Junior, two former magazines published by Fujimi Shobo. The first issue was published in April 2003, and the magazine is sold on the ninth of each month. The...
magazine. The first tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
volume was released on November 9, 2010; as of September 9, 2011, three volumes have been released.
Visual novels
07th Expansion07th Expansion
07th Expansion is a Japanese dōjin group that specializes in the creation of visual novels known as sound novels. They started out drawing for the trading card game Leaf Fight, but they are most famous for creating the dōjin game series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni...
is producing dōjin
Dojin soft
, also sometimes called , are video games created by Japanese hobbyists or hobbyist groups , more for fun than for profit; essentially, the Japanese equivalent of independent video games. Most of them are based on pre-existing material, but some are entirely original creations...
visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
s based on the manga. The first game, titled , was released on August 13, 2011 at Comiket 80
Comiket
, otherwise known as the , is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people....
. Unlike 07th Expansion's previous game series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
, known simply as When They Cry for the North American release of the anime adaptation, is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft sound novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The games are built on the NScripter game engine and are playable on Microsoft Windows PCs...
and Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The first game in the series, Legend of the Golden Witch, was first released at Comiket 72 on August 17, 2007 playable on the PC; the game sold out in thirty minutes...
, each Higanbana game contains about five or six novellas, with each game being about the same length as an Umineko game.
External links
- Higanbana no Saku Yori ni at Fujimi ShoboFujimi Shobois a Japanese publishing company that specializes in the publication of light novels, manga, role-playing games and collectible card games. The company started in 1991 as a subsidiary of Kadokawa Shoten.-Magazines published:Light novel magazines...