Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Houseki no Kuni Recommendations
Firstly, I'll bring up the locale. The Country of Jewels, just like Hinamizawa, is an isolated community with very few notable people and a small area that the protagonists will explore. Occasionally, some outsiders will come and go, but the insiders cannot move out for fear of being attacked by some sort of external or internal force. In Houseki no Kuni, the outsiders usually attack the insiders though, whereas Higurashi's protagonist is an outsider himself.
Now, speaking of the protagonists, both Keiichi Maebara and Phosphophyllite are people who do not have many natural talents, but have a crucial, information-related task assigned to them by one of
their elders. At first, they try to fulfill this task, but abandon it for some particular reason, finding new purpose somewhere else. They both also stand out amongst the crowd, being uniquely suited to the missions given to them in one way or another.
Both Keiichi and Phosphophyllite try to help their friends the best they can, but they seem to only end up hurting them as a result. Keiichi's friends end up alienating him though, whereas Phosphophyllite's friends continue to support her despite her incompetence. It's a different story in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai for Keiichi, but I can't give you any specifics for fear of it being spoilers.
In the end, both Keiichi and Phosphophyllite develop directly and indirectly due to their past experiences hurting the people around them, and they must unravel a mystery they noticed while observing their peers. Phosphophyllite becomes suspicious of Kongo-sensei, whereas Keiichi starts to become suspicious of everyone and develops a sort of persecution complex because of it.
Houseki no Kuni and Higurashi also deal with some nifty pseudoscience, the former in chemistry and the latter in biology, although mentioning any specifics would lead to spoilers. The final thing I can't forget to mention is that plenty of people die in both series. Both shows even share the ability to kill one of their characters repeatedly and in many ways, the former due to narrative reasons, and the latter due to structural reasons.
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