Ōkamikakushi Anime is a Go

Anime News Network reports that Ōkamikakushi, the PSP visual novel that was released just last week, will be getting its own TV anime adaptation. It seems like they’re moving even faster than usual on this one, I assume because they’re anticipating that the VN itself will be a hit, and from the website it looks like we can expect more unsettling mysteries and disturbing murders in a small village where the river separates the “new” and “old” parts of town.

No word yet on a possible release date, but there’s always the possibility it’ll make it out in time for the Spring 2010 preview. Awesome.

Higurashi Visual Novels

Stumbled across some news so awesome that I actually sat up and knocked my computer off my lap yesterday – it’s been reported and confirmed that MangaGamer.com** has acquired the license for the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni visual novel franchise. Yes, the visual novels that started it all are finally going to be available in English!

The original visual novels (VN) featured over 60 hours of story, and the anime was only able to cover about 8 hours or so. Even with the length of the manga, there’s still a whole world of potential Higurashi goodness that we haven’t seen yet due to time and editing constraints. The VNs also represent Ryuukishi07′s original vision for the series, unedited for tv/manga, and character designs.