Deviation Actions
Description
Higurashi When They Cry (ひぐらしのなく頃に Higurashi no Naku Koro ni?, lit. When the Higurashi Cicadas Cry), 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 the Windows operating system. The first game in the series, Onikakushi-hen, was released on August 10, 2002, and the eighth and final game in the original PC series, Matsuribayashi-hen, was released on August 13, 2006. While the first four games carried the overall title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, the next four games were produced under the title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. A bonus fan disc called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei was released on December 31, 2006. In addition to the original series, new story arcs were created in manga form and in video games for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS in order to expand upon the story. The original eight PC releases were released in English by MangaGamer in 2009 and 2010. The series focuses on a group of young friends living in the rural village of Hinamizawa and the strange events that occur in 1983.
Two sets of drama CDs were produced, one by Wayuta and the other by Frontier Works. Novelizations of the game series were released by Kodansha Box between August 2007 and March 2009. A manga series adapted from the games began with eight different manga artists working separately on one to three of the multiple story arcs and were published by Square Enix and Kadokawa Shoten. The manga was licensed for release in English in North America by Yen Press under the title Higurashi When They Cry and the first volume was released in November 2008. Following the manga's release in Japan, two anime television series were produced by Studio Deen in 2006 and 2007; a third anime adaptation was released as an original video animation (OVA) series in 2009. The first anime series was licensed by Geneon Entertainment in English, but the license expired in 2011. Sentai Filmworks has since licensed both anime seasons and the Rei OVAs. A live-action film adaptation of the series, directed by Ataru Oikawa, premiered in Japanese theaters in May 2008, with a sequel released in May 2009. A six-episode live-action television series adaptation premiered in Japan in May 2016, and a four-episode sequel premiered in November 2016.
Takano Miyo is a nurse at the Irie Clinic. She was one of the victims of the curse in 1983 , and according to the police was found to have been burned to death in a canister in the mountains. However, the autopsy later revealed that she had died twenty-four hours before the Watanagashi Festival had even occurred. During Tatarigoroshi-hen, she shows up to give Maebara Keiichi a ride after he finishes his business with Satoko's uncle, and the revelation of her 'death' prior to this incident throws him badly.
She has somewhat long, blonde hair, and eyes that are distinctively more droopy than other characters, making her easy to distinguish (she somewhat resembles Ryūgū Rena in her thirties). She is very popular at the Irie Clinic where she works. She is very interested in the history and mythology of Hinamizawa, and in one story arc gives Rena her research on the matter prior to her own death.
Her personality is quite twisted, as she seems to derive pleasure from frightening people with tales of Hinamizawa's past. She also sees people as guinea pigs for her research, and only truly cares for her grandfather and his friends. She is infamous for being an occult maniac, almost to the point of being considered a joke, as Sonozaki Mion mentions to Keiichi that Takano tells a different interpretation of Hinamizawa's mythology to every person (the version she once told Hōjō Satoko supposedly claimed that Oyashiro-sama originated from sea creatures). She has many scrapbooks containing all her different theories about Oyashiro-sama's curse, and she sometimes lends them to people for fun, such as Sonozaki Shion and Ryūgū Rena. The one she gives Rena, file 34, contains the theory about parasites controlling people's minds, and seems to be loosely based on the Hinamizawa syndrome theory, making it the theory closest to the actual truth (save for the part about aliens). She also talks in a very condescending and patronizing manner, sometimes causing people to hate her. In the visual novels, she has a distinct laugh (くすくす, which translates to "kusu kusu", though the MangaGamer version translates this as "Hee hee hee") which is used very often.
