That does it, one more news like this and I'm going Shion-mode! It wasn't enough that they chopped down the third Higurashi anime - which we were hoping to be a full-length season - and cramped into a tiny OVA. It wasn't even enough that they prolonged our agony by streching said OVA's release from this December and all the way to August 2009. But now... Now they have the nerve to say that the first episode from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei won't be released until February 2009.


They even went through the trouble of updating the OVA's preview trailer to reflect the new release dates on the freshly renewed website, but they left everything else as it was - meaning still no footage from the anime. As it stands now, the new dates for the DVD and Blu-ray releases are listed below, and of course let's hope this was the last "minor adjustment". I really don't know how much I can take, without Rika's epic "ni-paa" and some Hanyuu hawtness!

OVA 1 - February 25 (DVD), March 25 (Blu-ray)
OVA 2 - March 25 (DVD), April (Blu-ray)
OVA 3 - May (DVD), June (Blu-ray)
OVA 4 - June (DVD), July (Blu-ray)
OVA 5 - August (DVD), September (Blu-ray)

According to AnimeNation, the first OVA will adapt the "Hajisarashi-hen" storyline from the 2006 game's Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei fan-disc. OVAs 2-4 will consist of "Saikoroshi-hen" parts 1-3. And finally the fifth OVA will adapt the "Hirukowashi-hen" story.