Originally planned to be aired on August 21, 2020, the series premiere had to be delayed to October 1, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike previous animations, Higurashi no Na ku Koro ni Gō is being animated by Studio Passione, instead of Studio DEEN. The anime has the same voice actors and original soundtrack as the first season, but with improved animation and character redesign by Watanabe Akio and Kawaguchi Keiichiro as the director. Like always, Ryukishi07 is providing the script to the series.
The idea of a new Higurashi series started after the release of the final OVAs and the remaster upscale of the original anime series done for the anime series' 10th anniversary. In 2017, the producer of Gō and Sotsu, Okamuta Takema, talked to Ryukishi07 about the remasters. Ryukishi07 stated an opinion, saying how he'd love to remake the first few Higurashi arcs instead of having them only remastered. Upon hearing this, Okamura Takema decides to consult a familiar acquaintance of his who worked in an animation studio Infinite, Takayuki Nagatani.
Hearing their proposal about a remake of the first series, Takayuki tells Okamura to "take the idea and approach it in a different direction", since the animation studio that they proposed the idea to insisted on not doing remakes for shows, but rather creating original new content instead. Okamura consults Ryukishi07 about Takayuki's proposal, until they come up with an idea for a series that looks like a remake, but as it goes on, it takes on a completely unfamiliar turn. In the span of one month, Ryukishi07 wrote the entire script for both Gō and its sequel Sotsu. The script was 2~3 centimetres in length when printed out. Upon proposing the script to Takayuki and Okamura, the production committee for the new anime began assembling. Infinity was in charge of management, Passione was in charge of animating, and KADOKAWA was in charge of advertising.
According to Ryukishi07, who wrote and supervised the scenario and storyboards, he was pleased to see the animation committee understanding the "feel" of Higurashi, leading to fewer revisions in the scenarion/storyboards than expected. In an attempt to keep the "feel" of Higurashi present at all times during the animation process, the producer Okamura advised the animation committee not to worry about any "restrictions" or "censorships" needed in order to broadcast the show, stating to them that any changes regarding gore or similar elements can be taken care of later.
As the anime was slowly getting completed, production manager Takayuki heavily advised the advertising committee to be careful, so that the new work is passed by as a "remake" of the series, and in his own words, "to keep the new Hinamizawa hidden". Despite the idea of misleading the audience receiving positive reception, Takayuki has reflected that the team shouldn't have maybe been so 'rough' with it.
The production committee also expressed concerns during the making of the four new arcs, mostly regarding foreshadowing. They didn't want the viewers to be able to solve the mystery of the new Hinamizawa so quickly. This was incredibly challenging in Tataridamashi-hen as what actually goes on in that chapter is completely different from Keiichi and Satoko's perspective.
The original voice actors and actresses for the series returned and had to record new lines every week without fully knowing the entire context of the scenes or be given any clues regarding the new "Gō" and "Sotsu" instalments. There was a small exception to this with Mika Kanai, Hōjō Satoko's voice actress, who was told in advance that Satoko would be getting major character development in this new instalment of Higurashi. Apart from knowing that, she didn't know much about the series herself. During recording for the series, there were times where Sotsu episodes were voice acted first and then the Gō episodes, leading the cast to be confused at some points during recording regarding consistency and familiarity. The voice directors, who had to hide spoilers from them, had trouble explaining the scenes to them.
The animators also had to make small details so that it's clear to viewer that the show takes place in the Showa era of Japan. However, this has caused some confusing with younger animators, who have claimed to have spotted and fixed "animation errors" during the production of the show, which weren't actually animation errors at all, but just how things worked and looked like in the Showa era of Japan. These "corrections" and call-outs done by younger animations often surprised older ones.
