I've watched the Higurashi anime series (Higurashi no naku koro ni, kai & rei) and am currently collecting the manga series in English to my book collection. I've read the wikipedia article about the series but I still have some questions regarding the arcs.
If I have understood correctly the main series goes like this (marked the ones that have been released/will be released for sure in English with italic writing):
Higurashi no naku koro ni is the “question” part of the series and consists of these four arcs:Abducted by Demons Arc (Onikakushi-hen)
Cotton Drifting Arc (Watanagashi-hen)
Curse Killing Arc (Tatarigoroshi-hen)
Time Killing Arc (Himatsubushi-hen)
All of these have already been released in English.
Higurashi no naku koro ni Kai is the “answer” part of the series and consists of these four arcs:Meakashi-hen (Eye Opening Arc)
Tsumihoroboshi-hen (Atonement Arc)
Minagoroshi-hen (Massacre Arc)
Matsuribayashi-hen (Festival Accompanying Arc)
All of these have been released in Japanese except for the last volume of Matsuribayashi-hen. Both Meakashi-hen and Minagoroshi-hen have gotten an English release date (some volumes are already out) and supposedly Minagoroshi-hen and Matsuribayashi-hen are going to be released afterwards.
Higurashi no naku koro ni Rei is an extra part of the story and consists of these arcs:Saikoroshi-hen (Dice Killing Chapter)
Batsukoishi-hen (Penalty Loving Chapter)
Hirukowashi-hen (Daybreak Chapter)
Out of these three arcs only Hirukowashi-hen has been released as a manga version in Japanese but if the wikipedia entry is correct there’ll be a manga version of Saikoroshi-hen in the future. These arcs might be released in English much later.
Then there are some manga only arcs that are extra stories:Onisarashi-hen (Demon Exposing Arc)
Yoigoshi-hen (Beyond Midnight Arc)
Utsutsukowashi-hen (Reality Breaking Arc)
Kokoroiyashi-hen (Heart-Healing Arc)
All of these arcs have been released in Japanese. Onisarashi-hen and Yoigoshi-hen have been released in English. It’s unknown if the Utsutsukowashi-hen and Kokoroiyashi-hen will be released in English.
+ there's a number of exclusive arcs for DS,PS2 etc. that will most likely never meet a manga version more unlikely an English translation.
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So if Yen Press decides to release only the most vital arcs (even though they have released already two extra story arcs) are Minagoroshi-hen & Matsuribayashi-hen the only arcs that do not have an official release date?
Are the Utsutsukowashi-hen and Kokoroiyashi-hen a good add to the story or do you think these arcs will never be released in English?
Has there been any news about the Saikoroshi-hen or Batsukoishi-hen being made into manga versions?
After Matsuribayashi-hen gets the volume 8 the arc should be complete? This means that the main arcs (question and answer) are complete (manga versions)?
Thank you for answering and sorry for the troublesome questions
