Siren, you have made my Christmas. Higurashi Kai is the better of the series and I'm proud to know Australia will have it exclusively released. I also saw a large group of Americans planning to import the release so it appears there is a demand for it ;)I hope this goes well and that Rei and Kira can follow in the future. Umineko is my personal favourite WTC series, but I somehow doubt that being released for poorer sales in comparison. THANKYOU! Planning to purchase ASAP!

I am so importing Higurashi into America when I can!

sirenvisual or anybody can you please tell me why Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai will not be makeing a english dub when i finished watching the first series when they cry i was so excited to watch the second series so i waited for months and then on 27 december 2011 i found out that they will release it next year but no english dub and that made me very sad why why please to me why

Unfortunately patrick, we Americans are to blame for Higurashi Kai not having a dub. Apparently the series didn't do well enough here (or the release history was too complicated, whatever) for a US company to decide to pick it up and dub it... Since Siren seems to actually care about fans of series' they release, and since Higurashi probably did well enough for them, they licensed Higurashi Kai for your market, unfortunately due to its faltering over here, there was no English dub produced, and Siren isn't capable of producing it alone. I'd LOVE to see Kai get dubbed, I really would. I love the series, and hearing it in English, especially with the same cast as season 1, would be an absolute pleasure. But with the way this series has been going in the western market, I'm willing to take sub-only over nothing, and I'm very thankful to Siren for releasing it for Australia, even though I don't live there. If there're no US release plans set for the series by March, I will be importing it and getting a region-free DVD player for viewing. Thanks so much, Siren!

yer i understand but why did it not go well was it because it was to bloody or very bad dub or the series it self was crap sorry for the bad language but i really want to know why they couldn't be bothered to voice dub it please give me the real reason why sirenvisual. thanks kind regards patrick

It's not dubbed because Siren Visual is the only company releasing it, the cost of producing the dub and the size of the market it covers just doesn't add up.

Usually it's the US companies that produce an English dub, that gets carried over to the rest of the English territories, thus sharing the cost, instead of Siren Visual paying for the entire thing. It's the same when MangaUK gets PAL masters from Madman, to reduce costs.

Same as sharing a car ride, it's more cost efficient for people to split the cost. But since for now Siren is alone in this and Funimation (US) clearly stated they have no plans on releasing this (and so dubbing), there's no one to share the cost of a dub with.

ok thank you very much sirenvisual i understand but one more thing even if you sell higurashi kai in australia no disrespectful but dont you think it might be a waste of time & money because people might think well if sirenvisual is only puting it on english subs and only japanese audio why should we buy it if we can easily watch it online for free with english subs please think about that.thanks kind regards patrick

patrick- While it is true some people may feel that way (which is a disadvantage to releasing something Japanese audio only), there's really nothing they can do it about it. A US Company would have to produce an English Dub for it to exist, however no US company seems to be interested in When They Cry anymore. Siren Visual would rather just release it now and bring it to the fans, instead of trying to wait for a US release that may never happen. They clearly believe the fans would definitely accept the release, and even people overseas like me will be taking the opportunity to buy it, so it seems that they have a good plan going. Again, I'm probably the #1 person in the world that would love to see it dubbed, but unfortunately that possibility keeps looking bleaker every day... so I just got take what I can get, and I thank Siren Visual for finally putting out an English release of the show... even if there is no dub... ;_;

Theres no reason why people wouldn't buy this because its Japanese audio and they can watch it online, because they can easily watch an english dub online as well. Both Japanese and English audio can be pirated, so not having a dub isn't a reason why people would go online.

Thank you!!!!

Im so glad that you guys dont mind releasing dubless. After Funi ditched the US license I was sure we were never going to see this anywhere due to the lack of dub, but we ARE, and we get to stick it to the Americans for once as a bonus :)

The Japanese release of Kai came with a bunch of mini episodes. Any word on whether they will be included in the AU release?

One more thing. Any chance of the two OVA series (Rei and Kira)?

I can't be certain on what the market really is like as I have little research but if myanimelist.net is anything to go by Higurashi is one of the most popular non-recent A-list anime not fully released to the English speaking market (not counting OVA's). Because of this I personally suspect at least half of the sales would be to people like me, I've seen the whole series barring Kira and I want to buy it for both better viewing quality and just to have it physically in my collection, showing my support is a bonus. That said I do hope it will one day be fully dubbed and if such a day comes the 1st season would probably have to be redubbed.

Good on ya Siren!

YOU. ARE. GODS. I bought the series at a local con one at a time costing me roughly 200$ shortly after the series changed my life, been waiting years now for it to be picked up by a licenser with sense to see the glory of Kai

Oh hell yes! Guys I'm putting an article up on Twitch's main page for this. Gimme a couple of minutes...

Done: http://twitchfilm.com/news/2012/01/siren-visual-releases-when-they-cry-season-2.php

I have been waiting for Sentai Filmworks in the US to pick up Higurashi Kai and do one of their good ol' Hell Girl-style barebones releases ever since FUNi gave up on Higurashi, but it's been looking increasingly less likely. This works just as well, even if I have to fire up VLC to watch it :D. I was only a few nudges away from blowing my money on the Japanese "bargain" box set. This will probably be much, much cheaper and will have English subs to boot so that I can show it to my less Japanese-proficient friends! Won't miss the dub either - while I do enjoy most dubs, the one for this particular show was not very good.

Thank you Siren Visual! You can bet on at least one American sale :D.

Siren, I love you guys. I'm in the US, but you guys keep releasing shows that I love (Kaiba, Dennou Coil, The Tatami Galaxy, and now Higurashi Kai) but can't get in the US, and I keep happily buying them :) Keep up the good work!

Siren I can not express how happy I am that you organized Higurashi Kai for us all to enjoy I have been pestering you guys for months to finnish of the series and you have definately come to the party for everyone THANK YOU SO MUCH! as regardes the second series not being in english yes that is devestating however because the quality is so superior from a reliable suplier as Siren the pirated copys dont even rate a mention grainy as blahhh! yours sincerly Mark H

Thank you so much, Siren Visual for releasing Higurashi Kai in the English-speaking market. As a huge fan of the franchise, I hope this will encourage more people to check out this amazing story.

I've been crazy about Higurashi since I read the original visual novels, and since the anime adaptation isn't available here in the UK, I had to import the first season from the USA.

Now that Kai is being released in Australia, I'm going to try importing this as well. An English dub would have been nice, but that wasn't likely and I'm just glad that a subbed version is being made available. It's not like I actually use dubs, anyway…

To anyone who hasn't experienced the brilliant story of Higurashi, I strongly urge you to look into it. If not the anime, check out the visual novels or manga. It changed my life, and those of many others. It could well change yours, too.

Since it's just the japanese dub, how much will you be selling it for?

I'm watching through the second "part" of Higurashi, find out Kai has the rest of the answers and hasn't been released, fret, discover it's still going here, just not with Geneon... HUZZAH~!

Woohoo! Finally, we can get the whole story. Thank you, Siren Visual. You're my new favorite anime publisher :) Now hurry up the pre-orders! ;)

yes! Yes!! YEEES!!! you guys rock. I'm Keen as for Higurashi! You should do this more often, who needs English dub anyway?!

Thanks guy! ^^

!!!

Do this "more often"? We've done a lot of subtitle-only releases!