Ryukishi07

Ryukishi07 is the pen name of a Japanese writer and artist best known as the creator of the When They Cry visual novel series, including Higurashi When They Cry and Umineko When They Cry, which he self-published with the doujin circle 07th Expansion. His real name has never been made public.

He studied at an art-focused vocational school and wrote doujinshi, and tried manga and novels before concluding that passion alone was not enough without skill. A play he wrote, Hinamizawa Bus Stop, lost a contest. After failing to land a job at a game company, he worked briefly at a menswear store and then took a civil service job. The pen name comes from Final Fantasy: Ryūkishi means dragoon, and 07 is a pun on the character Lenna.

In 2001 he launched 07th Expansion, which first sold original cards for the trading card game Leaf Fight at Comiket. His younger brother Yatazakura learned the NScripter engine, and together they turned the Hinamizawa Bus Stop script into Higurashi When They Cry, a psychological horror sound novel. Its first chapter, Onikakushi, debuted at Comiket in August 2002, and new chapters followed at each Comiket until 2006. Ryukishi07 wrote the scenario and drew the character art himself.

Higurashi became a doujin phenomenon, adapted into anime, manga, novels and console games, and he went on to write Umineko When They Cry, a murder mystery released in eight episodes at Comiket from 2007 to 2010, and later Ciconia When They Cry (2019). MangaGamer publishes English versions of the series on Steam.

His independent success led to commercial writing work: he contributed to Key's Rewrite and wrote the scenario for Konami's Silent Hill f (2025), chosen because Konami wanted a writer who understood Japanese horror. He remains the leading member of 07th Expansion.