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Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira's 2nd Promo Video Posted

On Monday, the Saishin Anime Jōhō website began streaming the second promotional video for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira, a new original video anime series that celebrates the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni horror franchise's 10th anniversary next year. (The video plays in Microsoft Internet Explorer, but may not play in other browsers.) The site is still streaming the first promotional video.

The four bimonthly Blu-ray Disc/DVD volumes will ship between July 21, 2011 and January 25, 2012. The first volume will adapt the Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai software's Batsukoishi-hen storyline, while the remaining volumes will have all-new original stories: Ayakashisenshi-hen -Do-, Kichienshi-hen -Ai-, Yumeutsushi-hen -Raku-. Ryukishi07/07th Expansion created the original story, and Toshifumi Kawase is again supervising the scripts. Hideki Tachibana is directing at Studio DEEN.

07th Expansion's original Higurashi no Naku Koro ni visual novel software revolved around murders that coincide with an annual festival in a quiet rural village. The software inspired two television anime series, several video anime projects, two live-action films, and manga adaptations by several artists.

The game publisher MangaGamer licensed the rights to translate the original visual novel software for personal computers, and it has released them in English. Funimation took over North American distribution of the first Higurashi television anime series from Geneon Entertainment. Funimation released the first DVDs in 2008, but let the license expire due to poor sales. North America's Yen Press acquired the Higurashi manga for its Yen Plus anthology magazine and later for compiled book volumes.

Image © 2011 Ryukishi07/Hinamizawa Gosanke