List of When They Cry episodes

When They Cry is a Japanese anime series. The English titles for the first season are according to the names used by Funimation Entertainment. English titles in the other seasons are not official.

The first season, produced in 2006, was entitled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に). It was produced by the Japanese animation studio Studio Deen and directed by Chiaki Kon. It was released in English by Geneon and then Funimation, under the title When They Cry – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. The series contains 26 episodes which aired between April 4 and September 26 on a number of Japanese television networks including Chiba TV, Kansai TV, and Tokai TV. The story follows a group of five young friends and the strange events that occur in their village of Hinamizawa. A string of unexplained murders have plagued the town for the past three years during the annual Watanagashi Festival in June, and with the next Watanagashi approaching, things start to take a turn for the worse. The series is divided into six chapters which are based on the first six chapters in the original visual novel series. The first chapter is Onikakushi-hen (episodes one to four), followed by Watanagashi-hen (episodes five to eight), and Tatarigoroshi-hen (episodes nine to thirteen). Next is Himatsubushi-hen (episodes fourteen and fifteen), the shortest of the story arcs. The last two chapters are Meakashi-hen (episodes sixteen to twenty-one) and Tsumihoroboshi-hen (episodes twenty-two through twenty-six).

In 2007, the second season began and was entitled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (ひぐらしのなく頃に解). It was produced by the same team as the first season and contains twenty-four episodes. The series aired in Japan between July 6 and December 17 on several Japanese television networks, such as Sun TV, TV Kanagawa, and TV Saitama. The story is similar to the first season, and what was left unexplained in the first season is explained over the course of three separate story arcs. The first story is an anime-original arc called Yakusamashi-hen, which is followed by the last two arcs from the original visual novel series: Minagoroshi-hen and Matsuribayashi-hen. On September 18, 2007, a sixteen-year-old girl killed her father with an axe in Kyoto, Japan. The similarities between Kai and the incident were too strong. In response, Tokai TV replaced episode twelve on September 21, 2007 with a cooking show.

In 2009, the third season, entitled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei, was released as an original video animation series. It consists of two arcs taken from the fan disc of the same name and another arc that was adapted from a light novel released with the PS2 game.

An extra episode, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gaiden Nekogoroshi-hen (The Cat Killing Chapter), which was not released in the US, can be viewed alongside season one.