Rokkenjima.org's Higanbana Bookclub is underway

Hello everyone,

It's been a long time since my last post, but in case anyone still reads this blog, you may be interested to know Rokkenjima.org has started a Higanbana Bookclub.

Rokkenjima is a community for fans of 07th Expansion's and Ryukishi07's works. Over the course of four weeks (from 21st August to 17th September), members will read Higanbana and post their thoughts on the forums. There will also be a podcast based on topics raised on the forums.

We at Spider Lily Translations are pleased to see people enjoying Higanbana for the first time, and encourage those interested to take part in the Higanbana Bookclub.

Full details of the Higanbana Bookclub are available at the Rokkenjima website.

Rokkenjima's website also provides regular updates on the latest developments in the world of 07th Expansion. You'll be able to find details of 07th Expansion's upcoming works there, as they emerge.

By the way, I'm pleased to report that the total number of downloads of our translations has exceeded 10,000 since we started counting in October 2012. Spider Lily Translations would like to thank everyone who has supported us over the years.

Until next time~

Higurashi now available on Steam

Just wanted to let you all know that the first chapter of Higurashi When They Cry, Onikakushi-hen is now available on Steam! Featuring a brand new translation, new artwork, the original soundtrack and dual Japanese/English language support, this is the definitive version of the story.

In other news, 07th Expansion have announced their upcoming visual novel, Trianthology. Details are scarce at present, but it has been described as a collaboration between Ryukishi07, Tanaka Romeo and Tonokawa Yuuto.

Ryukishi07 himself visited the USA this month and attended the Anime Central convention. There, he gave three panels where he described how he started writing visual novels and how he goes about writing stories. He also revealed some details about Trianthology. The panels were covered by the website Sea of Fragments:

• Panel 1
• Panel 2
• Panel 3

Ryukishi07 also gave a press conference, where he was interviewed by APGNation. You can find a video of the interview on their website.

Weren't able to attend Anime Central? He'll also be attending Anime Expo in July where he'll be singing autographs and also making an appearance at MangaGamer's panel.

Also, if you haven't already, be sure to check out John Szczepaniak's book The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers, which features an interview with Ryukishi07 with lots of interesting details such as information on an unreleased visual novel he worked on.

Lastly, just a brief note on Higanbana. Some of you may have noticed that the Japanese version is no longer available from MangaGamer.com. This is due to contractual reasons and hopefully Higanbana will be returning soon.

We at Spider Lily Translations would like to thank the many thousands of people who have used our translations to read Higanbana. We appreciate the support hugely, and will continue to look into ways to make Higanbana more widely available for English speakers.

Hou's ready to revisit Hinamizawa?

“Welcome back!” —Rena

Terrible pun in the title aside, I'm back, Rena's back, and so are you (we hope).

It's been a while since I last posted, but there's some great Higurashi news to share!

First are new details on the upcoming release Higurashi When They Cry Hou. As most of you probably know, 07th Expansion first released Higurashi back in 2002, before moving onto Umineko When They Cry, Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni and Rose Guns Days. Now, 12 years later, you will be able to get your hands on a new instalment in the series.

Higurashi Hou combines re-releases of the previous entries in the series with new stories. Here are the full contents:

• Question arcs "Higurashi When They Cry (Onikakushi-hen, Watanagashi-hen, Tatarigoroshi-hen, Himatsubushi-hen)"
• Answer arcs "Higurashi When They Cry Kai (Meakashi-hen, Tsumihoroboshi-hen, Minagoroshi-hen, Matsuribayashi-hen)"
• Fan disc "Higurashi When They Cry Rei (Saikoroshi-hen, Hirukowashi-hen, Batsukoishi-hen)"
• All the original extras and minigames
• Sound novel version of Higurashi Outbreak, a story which was originally included with the first press limited edition version of the soundtrack to Twilight Frontier's Higurashi Daybreak.
• A brand new story: Higurashi Outbreak ~Kamikanshi-hen~
• Sound novel version of Hinamizawa Bus Stop, the original playscript prototype for Higurashi When They Cry

As you can see, that's a lot of content, which is evident by the fact that it comes on two DVDs!

Higurashi When They Cry Hou will be released on 17th August at Japan's Comiket Market. The official website is now up, and you can already preorder this release from AmiAmi. There are only limited quantities, so be quick!

(Note: Higurashi Hou is only available in Japanese. There are no plans to release a translation at this time, official or otherwise.)

Onto the second piece of news…

Yesterday (3rd July) marked the start of Anime Expo, a big… anime expo in Los Angeles. Attended by all the big players in the anime industry, I'm surely not the only one who considers it the E3 of anime, and by extension, visual novels!

Visual novel publishers JAST USA, MangaGamer and Sekai Project each held panels showcasing their upcoming releases and making exciting new announcements.

The one announcement that is relevant to this blog came from MangaGamer, and concerns their upcoming Steam release of Higurashi. A while back, it was announced that it will feature a completely new translation. Well, that's not all that's new!

MangaGamer announced that this Steam release will feature completely new sprites drawn by artist Kurosaki from visual novel studio Caramel-Box!

I'm sure a lot of you will agree with me when I say the artwork looks absolutely kaii~. Full details currently aren't confirmed, but those who wish to play Higurashi using the original sprites will also be catered for.

Higurashi will be released episodically on Steam, expected to start later this year.

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That's all the 07th Expansion news. …For now, anyway. Spider Lily Translations will have some announcements to make in the coming months, so stay tuned to our blog.

Also, do check out the other great Anime Expo announcements from JAST USA, MangaGamer and Sekai Project. There are some good ones, including a Steam release of Key's kinetic novel Planetarian (I know, we can't believe it either!).

We would also like to draw your attention to Sekai Project's Kickstarter projects for Steam releases of two awesome visual novels: WORLD END ECONOMiCA -Complete- and fault milestone one -director's cut-.

I think that's all for today. Until next time~

The unforgiving flowers have bloomed… The Second Night patch and digital downloads are out!

Over two years since Ronove made that first introductory blog post, the project has finally reached completion. Yes, that's right. It's been a long time coming, but Higanbana - The Second Night can now be enjoyed in English with our translation patch, available to download from our homepage.

Not only that, but the original Japanese versions required to play Higanbana are now available as digital downloads from MangaGamer.com! A lot of effort has been put into making these games available for you all, so please check out the product pages for The First Night and The Second Night!

I'd like to thank everyone who has been a part of this project, from the translators to the beta testers. Big thanks also go to those of you who have supported us on this long journey. We have completed our mission and are happy to be able to call it a job well done.

Even so, we are aware that although we pride ourselves on the high quality of our releases, there is still room for improvement. Therefore, if you do encounter any problems (bugs, typos, etc.), please let us know in the comments or via our email address below so that we can address these in future versions of our translation.

contact (AT) spiderlilytranslations (DOT) com

For now though, please enjoy Higanbana - The Second Night!

Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni trial

Hello again,

Spider Lily Translations are proud to announce that the free trial version of Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni is now available in English!

The trial features the first three chapters of The First Night, which will offer you a couple of hours' worth of content to help you decide whether you wish to purchase the full version.

Speaking of purchasing, we realise it's not easy for those living outside of Japan to acquire copies of Higanbana. Therefore, we are currently working on providing a simpler means to do so. We'll have more news on this in the coming weeks.

As for The Second Night, we are very nearly ready to release our translation patch and are still hoping to do so by the end of next month.

For the moment though, we hope those who haven't yet experienced Higanbana will enjoy reading the free trial version, now available from our homepage.

Happy Halloween for Marie! (Editing complete!)

「とりっくおあとりーとぉー」by「桜沢いづみ」

It's that time of year again when ghouls, zombies, vampires, skeletons and other horrid creatures roam the streets in search of sweets and chocolate. If you encounter one of these beings, your best option is to give them a treat. Otherwise you may be in for a nasty prank.

But don't fear, for these are rather lowly spirits and do not pose much harm. Indeed, the most fearsome are the youkai that inhabit the school. They come out at night, when the children have gone home. But they are hungry, and they so desperately want to meet you…

Good for them, then, that you'll be able to encounter them soon, in Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni - The Second Night. I'm pleased to announce that editing is complete! Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be making changes based on feedback from our wonderful beta testers.

Other than that, there are a few minor adjustments to the user interface to be made, and then the patch can be bundled together, installers can be created from them, and then it can finally be released!

Now as some of you may be aware, Witch Hunt have encountered a few issues that have prevented them from releasing installer versions of their Rose Guns Days Season 2 translation (more on that later), and naturally, this affects us, too. However, we will attempt to ensure the patch's release is not held up unnecessarily (even if it means releasing the patch before the installers).

Please bear with us until the release of our translation. We're nearly there!

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A few pieces of recent 07th Expansion news, just to keep you updated:

Higurashi When They Cry has been Greenlit on Steam! Meaning you'll be able to purchase the original murder mystery story in English, right from the Steam store. In fact, MangaGamer are considering using this opportunity to do a re-edit of their translation before it hits the marketplace. Either way, it looks to be an exciting new opportunity for people to discover 07th Expansion's works.

Not only that, but Umineko no Naku Koro ni is now easier to get hold of. Digital download versions of both the original Umineko and Umineko Chiru are now available to purchase from MangaGamer.com. They're the Japanese versions, so you'll still need to use the free English patches, but I think we can all say that the situation is a lot better than it was before. The French versions of Higurashi and Higurashi Kai are also available from the website.

Finally, as you may have guessed from what I said earlier, Witch Hunt have released their translation to Rose Guns Days Season 2. Only a manual patch is currently available, with Windows and Mac installers forthcoming.

That's all for now. Until next time~

Beta testers are go!

Hi everyone! I have just sent out emails to everyone who applied for the beta programme saying whether their application was accepted or not. Since we opened signups a little under a month ago, we received over 100 applications. Here's what that looks like on a graph:

Anyway, for a variety of reasons, we sadly weren't able to accept everyone who applied into the programme, but we'd like to thank you all for your support.

Those who were accepted will have received a special download link in their email to get the beta patch. While we hope you enjoy using it, if you encounter any issues while using it, please let us know via the form provided or by email, so we can fix things for the final release.

We don't yet have an estimated release date for the final release, and it depends on a variety of factors. For the time being, the editing stage is still ongoing, concurrent with the beta programme.

I'll keep you posted as things progress. …The end of this long journey is in sight! :-D