Tsumihoroboshi-hen Manga Volume 1

Volume 1

Atonement Arc Vol. 1 is the first volume of Karin Suzuragi's manga adaptation of Tsumihoroboshi and the 15th overall volume of the manga adaptation of Higurashi When They Cry. The volume was released in English by Yen Press.

Publisher's Summary[]

Japanese[]

English[]

Rena Ryugu has made a lot of great friends since returning to Hinamizawa a year ago. But the happiness of playing with her classmates can hardly make up for the sadness she feels at home. Her father's new lover spends more and more time at their house, making Rena feel that she is no longer as needed as she was when her mother first abandoned the family for another man. Rena thought that coming back to the village would end the curse that tore apart her family and her mind, but she can't shake the feeling that more heartbreak is in store...

Chapters[]

Chapter 1: Happy Rena[]

Chapter 2: Twisting World[]

Chapter 3: Rena's Fight[]

Afterword[]

Ryukishi07[]

A Girl and Her Kyouki

In the world of the "Atonement Arc," one of our heroines, Rena Ryugu, is portrayed as the main character. The girl Rena is the character who truly embodies the world of Higurashi with its intense ups and downs, and I don't think anyone could represent Higurashi as well as she does.

The girl Rena really does have a lot on her mind. After thinking seriously about so many things, she deliberately creates a persona that doesn't seem to be thinking anything at all. It's precisely because she is that way that she is able to consider the possibility that other people, like her, have created their own outward personas after thinking seriously and agonizing over things. In that sense, I hope that you will understand how much it hurts her when, in the story, Keiichi irresponsibly envies Rena for being so carefree every day.

I think that it's because Rena represents Higurashi that she is the one featured most often in Higurashi illustrations. And when she is, she can never be without her trademark item, the nata cleaver. If you pay careful attention while reading the original, it's true that she does have the cleaver in a lot of shocking scenes. But if you look at it more generally, it doesn't actually show up very much. She has it in all of the illustrations, so I suspect people might get the impression that she walks around with it every day.

Incidentally, the cleaver is a dangerous weapon. Dangerous weapon is kyouki, which leads us to a different kyouki, madness—the madness of an ordinary girl. So Rena's always holding the cleaver hints at the madness hidden in daily life. ...In that case, if she loses that madness, will all the world's problems be resolved...? Rena is on the box of the last arc of the original series, the "Festival Accompanying Arc," but there is nothing in her hands; her weapon is gone.
...The weapon kyouki leads to the madness kyouki.
...Do you have any kyouki in your pockets...?

Karin Suzuragi[]

Thank you very much for picking up Volume Ane of the "Atonement Arc." I was really happy to be put in charge of the manga version of the "Atonement Arc," which is said to be the most intense of the original arcs.

Kana kana kana kanata nata nata nata ta ta ta ta ta.
I will do my best to convey to all of you, through the manga, the excitement I tasted in the original. The "Atonement Arc" is going to get more and more intense, so if you like, please join me for the next volume too...!

—Special Thanks—
Ryukishi07-sama, BT-sama, Yatasakura-sama, Koizumi-sama, Kouno-sama,

Hikaru Uzaki-sama, Tana-sama, Niwako-sama, Mutsumi Banno-sama, Moyomoso-sama,

And you!