This is an adaptation of the Mirage of Blaze novel, and so far seems to follow the original source material closely. The complex plot incorporates a large number of elements - including romantic melodrama, historical politics and supernatural fantasy. Japanese history predominates the heavily structured story-line, which mainly involves the continued aggression between power-wielding guardians ('possessors'), and the denizens of a 'feudal underworld'- a group of restless souls belonging to long-dead samurai from the Sengoku era who are attempting to re-ignite those age-old wars in present-day Japan.
Every day in Japan, 2500 people die due to any number of causes. Do you think you'll be one of the ones to die? No, of course not. Do you think you'll win the lottery? You'd like to think so, we all would. But Sumida is different. He wants the status quo to remain in every way; live a normal life, get a normal job, have normal kids, never to be anyone fortunate or unfortunate, content in normalcy. Anyone who doesn't agree is foolish, doomed to live their life scraping up a mountain that they can never conquer, fated to die in despair wishing things had been better. When his mother kicks his father out of the house and onto the streets, he thinks he'll be fine. When his mother leaves him to live with her boyfriend, he makes the best of it. When he realizes that he's no longer average, he strives to make his life worthwhile the only way he knows how. When the demons in the back of his mind speak to him, he tries his best to ignore them.
Detective Mamoru Akasaka is used to catching criminals and solving fast-paced cases in Tokyo, but he has never imagined that his job would send him to the quiet village of Hinamizawa. Disguised as a tourist, Akasaka decides to take in the sights, all while gathering information for his true mission: to find a kidnapped child. The dam construction project in Hinamizawa threatens to decimate the village, and a group of villagers has kidnapped the grandson of the Minister of Construction, holding him ransom in exchange for the project's cancellation. Akasaka must find the boy before things get too out of hand, all while trying to keep his cover. Taking place a few years before the main storyline of Higurashi, Himatsubushi-hen follows Akasaka as he navigates a village where enemies abound. However, he finds a friend in a young girl named Rika Furude, who knows far more than she should about their present situation, and about what might happen next... The story of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is divided into a total of eight chapters: four "Question" arcs and four "Answer" arcs. Each chapter keeps the same main characters, but ends in a different way. However, each chapter gives valuable answers, hints, and clues to the previous one, while at the same time bringing forth even more mysteries. The question arcs are: 1. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Onikakushi-hen 2. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Watanagashi-hen 3. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Tatarigoroshi-hen 4. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Himatsubushi-hen The answer arcs are: 5. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai - Meakashi-hen 6. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai - Tsumihoroboshi-hen 7. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai - Minagoroshi-hen 8. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai - Matsuribayashi-hen The side story arcs are: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Onisarashi-hen Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Yoigoshi-hen Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai - Utsutsukowashi-hen Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Hirukowashi-hen Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Kokoroiyashi-hen Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Kataribanashi-hen Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei - Saikoroshi-hen Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan
Juvenile criminals are sent to a prison called Carpe Diem, which is located in a virtual reality. The prisoners are promised with release if they behave well, but behind the system lies a tragic secret…
Quiet, sweet story of an emotionally shuttered university sempai and his conversationally clumsy junior. Sharing the same last name and a love for classical music brings them together a little. But will this be enough to bridge the gap between the sempai's secret sorrow and the junior's awkward naivete?
Mitsuki is a high school student who works hard to support his sick sister. However, without parents, money, or any form of specialty, he falls into working for an illegal business, ends up getting devoured by the strong as someone who is weak, and is ultimately mugged. Deep in despair from the cruelty of this world, a beautiful women who calls herself a detective appears. With her help, it's possible Mitsuki can turn his life around...!
A young woman, by some strange occurrence, was left to die alone in the former building of the Academy for Sincere Teachings. Mysteriously, there is one person who can see her in ghost form: Niiya Teiichi, a freshman. Now they both seek to find out the reasoning behind her death, and what could have caused it.
This manga's story is based on a thriller by Keigo Higashino. The main protagonist, the shy Jun Naruse, is a rather average guy who works for a electronic company and loves to draw. He falls in love with Megumi whom he met at a shop selling drawing materials and an intimate relationship develops. A few days later the office gets attacked and when the criminal tries to shoot a little girl he saves her by jumping in front of her. A month passes until he wakes up again and is told that half his brain got destroyed and he only survived because someone donated half a brain. Everything seems to be fine, he quickly recovers and is happy, however he begins to change...is the donated brain the reason for that? Or is it just a side effect of the medicine?
Contains 4 short stories: Under Execution, Under Jailbreak - A man in jail and his attempts to break out of his cell. Dolce and His Master (2 chapters) - A man and his cat are stranded on a small sinking ship. Their supplies of food and water are dangerously low - almost non-existent. Who will go over the edge first? And who will emerge victorious in the frenzied battle that follows? Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan - At a Confessional, Kishibe Rohan listens to the life story of a rich and successful man. Deadman's Questions (3 chapters) - A man (or it is a ghost?) wanders around town struggling to accomplish his mission.
Meet Sakai Hiroaki, a high school teenage mastermind with a genius-level intelligence and a lack of interest in anything that is easy to him.During one unlucky day, in an attempt to stop a student from committing suicide, he ends up committing suicide himself.After he awakens, he finds himself not in the real world, nor in heaven, but in purgatory, along with a group of others who did the same: commit suicide.Sakai discovers that he and his peers are subjected to never-ending intense death games in this world for reasons unknown to him, and he tries to find a way to escape.
From MangaHelpers: As Japan's population grows older and smaller, and murder rates sky rocket, the Japanese government began to implement stricter laws against the worst criminals. With even the death penalty lacking the deterring force to stop the most violent criminals, Japan brought back to life a law from the 19th century: the "Revenge" law. This law will now allow victims and their related parties to employ a government special forces agency to capture the murderer and reenact the exact same methods with which the victim died onto the murderer. Yamagishi Yuji is the 7th member of the Special Forces "Sukedachi-nin." Each of the members of this special forces have been chosen to enforce the Revenge law because they too have been a victim of past crimes. [DrCoke]
