In June 1983, Keiichi Maebara moves to the village of Hinamizawa (雛見沢) and befriends classmates Mion Sonozaki, her twin sister Shion, Rena Ryūgū, Rika Furude, and Satoko Hōjō.

The day after this year's festival, police discover the corpse of visiting freelance photographer Jirō Tomitake, who appears to have torn his throat out with his bare hands, and the charred body of Miyo Takano, a nurse in the village clinic.

Hinamizawa Syndrome manifests in those experiencing extreme stress or those who move a distance away from the "Infection Queen", who releases a pheromone that prevents the aggravation of the villagers' condition.

The theory by Miyo's adoptive grandfather, Hifumi Takano, is that if there is no Infection Queen, all villagers will succumb to the syndrome, and a mass outbreak of violence will occur.

In most of the realities, Miyo kills Rika, and the threat of the mass outbreak convinces the government to massacre the village, with the release of swamp gas being a cover story.

After several hundred loops, Keiichi becomes either vividly or subconsciously aware of the previous realities, allowing him to avoid several critical points where various characters would be murdered or driven insane.

[25] The updates include a re-translation, previously cut music tracks and content, the original Japanese text,[26] and alternative character art by illustrator Kurosaki.

A video game console port for the PlayStation 2 was released as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri (ひぐらしのなく頃に祭, When the Cicadas Cry: Festival) by Alchemist on February 22, 2007.

[31] A series of four games for the Nintendo DS under the collective title Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna (ひぐらしのなく頃に絆, When the Cicadas Cry: Bond) with new story arcs are being developed by Alchemist.

A mobile phone RPG game titled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei (ひぐらしのなく頃に命, When the Cicadas Cry: Life) and planned by D-techno, written by Kiichi Kanō and developed by Smile Axe was released on September 3, 2020.

The CDs feature remixes of the games' music and sound effects and the voice cast members have been chosen by Ryūkishi07 himself, though some of them have been changed for the anime and PS2 release due to scheduling conflicts.

[40] The booklets included with the CDs contained passwords that, if entered on the official site, unlocked downloads to audio files that adapted the TIPS for each of the arcs.

Another manga entitled Kokoroiyashi-hen (心癒し編, Heart Healing Chapter) is drawn by Yuna Kagesaki and began in Kadokawa Shoten's magazine Comp Ace on August 26, 2008.

A manga adaptation of Higurashi's precursor Hinamizawa Teiryūjo began serialization in the debut issue of Square Enix's Big Gangan magazine, sold on October 25, 2011.

[49] A manga spin-off illustrated by Asahi, titled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Oni, began serialization in Futabasha's Monthly Action magazine on February 25, 2022.

The first one, Nekogoroshi-hen, was illustrated by Karin Suzuragi, Yutori Hōjō, and Jirō Suzuki, and was sent out to those who bought the first volume of the manga versions of Onikakushi-hen, Watanagashi-hen, and Tatarigoroshi-hen.

The third light novel, Hajisarashi-hen, contained illustrations by Rato, and was included with the limited edition of the PlayStation 2 game Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri.

It is directed by Chiaki Kon, with Toshifumi Kawase handling series composition, Kyūta Sakai designing the characters and Kenji Kawai composing the music.

[59] As the result of a murder case in September 2007 in Japan involving the murder of a police officer by his sixteen-year-old daughter with an axe,[63] as well as the Japanese media relating the case to anime such as Higurashi, the latest episode screenings of both Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai and another anime at the time, School Days, were canceled by a number of stations, due to excessive violence.

Originally, a bloody bill hook cleaver (as used by Rena) was shown halfway through (at timestamp 0:55) the opening; it was replaced with an image of a van from the series' fictional junk yard.

When the Cicadas Cry: Gratitude), was released on February 25, 2009,[64] and is directed and written by Toshifumi Kawase, with Kazuya Kuroda taking over Sakai's role as character designer.

[70] It is directed and storyboarded by Hideki Tachibana and written by Kawase, with Tomoyuki Abe taking over Kuroda's role as character designer and Tomoki Kikuya serving as additional music composer.

[85] A live-action film adaptation of the series entitled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に, also known as Shrill Cries of Summer internationally), directed and written by Ataru Oikawa, premiered in Japanese theaters on May 10, 2008.

A live-action television series adaptation directed by Tōru Ōtsuka and starring Yu Inaba as Keiichi premiered in Japan on May 20, 2016 on cable channel BS SKY PerfecTV!.

The first season's opening theme includes a hidden message : the unintelligible lyrics at the beginning ("hange hara harei") were generated by reversing the phrase nigerarenain da (逃げられないんだ, "there's no escape").

Hardcore Gamer stated that the "writing is incredibly eerie, and amazingly effective"[101] and concluded that "few video games make it anywhere near the skillful story weaving present within the Higurashi series.

[113] Debi Aoki of About.com stated that reading the chapters in succession as they were presented in its serialization in Yen Plus made the story "easier to follow" and built the suspense better.

[115] Phil Guie of Popcultureshock expressed that this characterization "is brushed aside" for the horror as it gave the friendship between characters "real depth" adding to the surprise of the plot twists.

"[117] Aoki described the artwork as although "pander[ing] to otaku fetishes" containing and awkward character designs, providing "overbearing cutesiness [that] makes the secrets that the girls are hiding behind their smiles just that much creepier.

"[120] The Anime Almanac similarly praised the story, as a unique method of storytelling and the art of the characters, and went to add that the "moe" design on the girls made the scary scenes special.