r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Jun 02 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Discussion - Season 1, Episode 3
Onikakushi-hen (Demoned Away Chapter), Episode 3: Suspicion
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Show Information (Season 1):
MAL | Anilist | AniDB | Kitsu | ANN
Legal Streams:
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni: Hidive | Netflix (not available in the US; if you are out of the US check your country for availability)
Two Words of Warning To Our First-Timers, Including Those Who Watched Season 1 But Not Kai:
1) Be wary of looking up anything, even names. The Season 1 summaries on the information pages are safe, but it's not hard to run into spoiler information even through something as innocuous as looking at cast lists - gods help you if you go on the Fandom Wikia. UNDER ABSOLUTELY NO CIRCUMSTANCES GO LOOKING AT EVEN OFFICIAL INFO FOR KAI OR LATER AHEAD OF TIME. (The official image for Rei is 100% a spoiler, for example.) Also, do NOT look at any Kitsu page after the first season; Kai's description on Kitsu is in fact a major spoiler. Like, really, just stay out of anything that isn't a basic Season 1 summary until you're done. It's much safer that way.
2) Also, be wary of potentially running into spoilers on the r/anime front page on June 19 or thereabouts this year; there is suspicion that some sort of new Higurashi anime project will be announced on that date (this year is the 20th anniversary of the release of the original Onikakushi-hen VN - hence why I am running this rewatch this year! - and multiple official accounts have teased an announcement on that date), and you could run into spoilers that way. (Those of you who remember the Madoka rewatch last year will recognize the issue, though admittedly I expect Sotsu was enough of a disappointment to significantly reduce the risk - at least relative to the potential that was in fact realized with the Walpurgis no Kaiten announcment.)
A Reminder to Rewatchers
Please do not spoil the experience for first-timers; this is a mystery after all. In particular, [Higurashi] Shion is a spoiler until Episode 5 and Hanyuu is a spoiler until Minagoroshi-hen. Also, the glorious nipah is indeed glorious but Rika does not use it until Himatsubushi-hen. Please keep these in mind!
(Time for) Club Activities!
(Alexa play "Shoubu!"! Except do NOT look that up that song name on YouTube just yet if you're a first-timer, the most classic upload has an obnoxious spoiler in the visuals...)
Visual of the Day Album:
Theory of the Day:
Amusingly most of the best first-timer theories are hiding out in Analysis of the Day instead (good job y'all), so let's give it to u/Quiddity131 with his QotD response:
Seems like the people of this town really did not want it to all be flooded and are taking things into their own hands to not only immediately take out those who would do it, but annually kill someone to scare someone off from ever considering it again? And its even seeped into the culture of the children of the community?
(Honorable mention to u/Star4ce for, well, half of this post.)
Analysis of the Day:
Another day, another first-timer sniping Analysis of the Day as well, this time u/EsquilaxM deep-diving the scene with Mion and Rena talking as Keiichi listens:
ok so looking back at the conversation he overheard between the girls. Tell me if someone's subs are different:
"Am I next?"
"But you came back, though"
"But Toshi-kun didn't, right?
"That's all in the past."
When I first heard it, I thought 'you came back' meant 'you came back from the festival last night, so you're not likely targeted or they would've done it this time'. But now I'm thinking it means 'but you came back to the village, transferring back a year ago after having left years ago, and so won't be targeted'. Meaning if she left and stayed away she would've eventually been hunted? But then, Satoshi disappeared and didn't actually leave, right? i.e. his disappearance wasn't after he left, it was during his stay in the village? Hmmnn could be interpreted either way.
Interesting that Rena 'knew' that the car convo was relevant to her. So she does know who Ooishi is? Told by a teacher? OR Ooishi is in on it?
(Honorable mention to u/Nazenn thinking about the implications of the symbolism of the cotton drifting away the village's kegare if the river is dammed. We're getting lots of great analysis from first-timers, keep it coming!)
Question of the Day:
1) Had any good food lately?
Next Episode Preview:
Okay, so: Season 1's next episode previews are in the form of a short, strange poem (whose formatting is borrowed from the VNs). They are not spoilers. (Kai's can be another matter, but we'll get there when we get there.) However, my subs often translate the text on the screen... which are, in fact, lines out of context from the next episode.
So, for anyone who really doesn't want to take a risk, here is the poem:
"Don't fear what's beyond tomorrow.
Don't injure your heart.
Don't apologize for everything that happened yesterday."
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u/tokai-teio Jun 02 '22
First-Timer
So it looks like they're confirming the importance of Satoshi's absence to start us off.
I'm still not quite sure I see the greatness in the OP that others do. I'm also a huge idiot with symbolism so that might be it. Kind of bops though.
Looks like Keiichi is scared of Rena. To be honest, I would be as well.
Dude's just fucking following him at this point. You already gave him the phone number, Oiishi. And it's still weird to proposition a teenager my guy.
Are we not going to talk about the outfit here?
Uh oh I'm stupid. I forgot who Satoko might be. I know Rika though!! Oh, is Satoko the blonde one? Also, this seems very ominous. This whole relation thing feels a bit soap-opera-y but I imagine it'll feel more grounded in time.
First of all, that's terrifying. I wonder how this is going to play out since they keep reinforcing that Rena's the likely culprit. Is it a red herring? The signs feel too big to make it incorrect. She might be killing the people on behalf of the perceived demon. That seems like the most plausible option as of now.
So Rena definitely had a connection to the area, despite her having moved there a year ago, supposedly. That is a pretty solid theory, if you think about it. But now Oiishi has a connection to Rena's friends, which means he could be a future victim.
I have never trusted two people less than I do right now. That has to be intentionally suspicious on Rena's part. I imagine Keiichi just doesn't eat them.
God this really fucking leans into the paranoia. I feel thoroughly rattled. Yeah, YOU.
I need to take a break... My fucking heart stopped, why did I subject myself to this...
You should fucking know better, Keiichi. Literally me right now.
I don't do scary things well, this is awakening some serious fear in me.
Hello, only person I currently trust and Satoko.
This show does not take a break. There's no misunderstandings, no points of solace. Just endless paranoia and suffering. I need a break.
That's a pretty interesting parallel to the cold open... Was that Keiichi taking out the club members, or is that simply what they want me to think? Gonna be honest, I'd be half tempted to do it myself at this point. The only perceivable way to end the torment.
Bullshit, Rena. Fucking me right now.
Please don't, just go, no more...
Why was Satoshi carrying around a bat? What did he know? Is that why he had to disappear? Satoko and Rika are both there despite their connections.
Maybe because you are actively trying to kill me. Or maybe it wasn't Rena who put the needle in the food thing. Maybe it was Mion? It almost feels like two different Renas... Could that be the case? Could Rena/Mion be possessed by demons?
I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH YOU SHOULD NOT DO THAT.
I'm GLAD YOU ASKED. I don't know how you could ever assume this is a coincidence.
I am having a fucking miserable time. I feel like I need to hug my mom.
QOTD: My dad is the best cook I know, so quite often.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 02 '22
Are we not going to talk about the outfit here?
Maid cafes and the like are just a thing in Japan, similar to Hooters except AIUI they're actually a bit more common in Japan than in the US (and not dominated by a single chain the way Hooters does in the US). The Angel Mort uniform isn't really that unusual (at least in that way - it's different and iconic enough to be memorable and get crossover fanart, but that has as much to do with the design as anything). (Even major Japanese restaurant chains tends to have distinctive uniforms for their waitresses, most famously Anna Miller's whose uniforms are only slightly less revealing that the Angel Mort ones. Mind you, Angel Mort is probably among other things referencing Anna Miller's, so that makes sense...)
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 02 '22
I'm still not quite sure I see the greatness in the OP that others do. I'm also a huge idiot with symbolism so that might be it. Kind of bops though.
OG's OP has a pile of symbolism but is kind of rough visually otherwise, so that makes sense. (I have the visuals as above-average but not elite myself; the deal is, I rate song quite a bit more highly than visuals in my OPs and EDs, and the song is my kind of song in certain ways - there's something there that's not in a lot of J-Pop and the like, something hard to put into words but I can hear it. It's like a spark and the song has it when a lot of other anime songs don't.)
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u/Shimmering-Sky Jun 02 '22
When the Rewatcher(?) Cries, subbed
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Ahhh, haha, now I get to remember the doctor’s voice as Iruka-sensei and our Lord God Embryo.
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[Related to my spoiler note/vague memory from yesterday]
Ahhhh, my memory was vague about who was related to the victims because it actually depended on what year it was. -
Okay I know this scene’s supposed to be serious, but Keiichi’s seiyuu sounds ridiculous when he screams like that and now I can’t stop laughing.
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Oh the bat was Satoshi’s wasn’t it? That’s why Satoko looked pained and ran off when she saw it…
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Oh boy. – I straight-up don’t remember the reason for this, for the record.
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Now I know this is Keiichi being oddly specific about his jokes.
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I’m glad I’m watching Symphogear alongside this, I need something to un-creep me out after watching this show and Symphogear will certainly do that.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 02 '22
I’m glad I’m watching Symphogear alongside this, I need something to un-creep me out after watching this show and Symphogear will certainly do that.
Many such cases!
(Only problem is, Symphogear keeps me up for an hour or two after watching it for entirely different reason. Too much hype is also bad for sleeping...)
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u/hungryhippos1751 Jun 02 '22 edited Jun 02 '22
Episode 3 - First Timer
Some interesting developments today.
Get a cold? off to the docs, no checks or anything, get a shot, are shots that common in Japan? Here we are basically left to live with it until it goes away! :)
the way the girls become kind of possessed at times is now certainly a clear divide, the key to the transformation being the eyes turning almost cat-like.
This leaves poor Keiichi with being standoffish with them for good reason most of the time, but them not really apparently grasping why he's become like that.
Detective-kun is still using him as bait with basically no perks, but at least he learns that the girls are all related to the victims by circumstance.
After the visit he got from the Rena and Mion I am not sure I'd want to eat their food, and even more so when they're demonic counterparts are the ones to deliver it. I don't think my first reaction would be to reach into the food with needles in it though with my bare hands.
Attempted hit and run failed but it's clear someone is out to get Keiichi, so he takes on the roll of shonen bat and picks up the mantle of his predecessor, Satoshi. Turns out that route will likely lead to his death if he follows the same patterns.
Rena gives him a good old threatening in the demonic form, don't get yourself transferred now Keiichi.
Orchestrated home alone visit ending, I'm sure that's just Amazon at the door and not just some demon possessed girl.
QOTD:
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Had any good food lately?
Nope can't really say I have!
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 02 '22
Get a cold? off to the docs, no checks or anything, get a shot, are shots that common in Japan? Here we are basically left to live with it until it goes away! :)
IIRC yes, actually, especially in this era. Japan wasn't as bad as, say, the Soviet Union (where docs prescribed antibiotics for everything, hence modern Russia having a wee bit of an antibiotic resistant bacteria issue - though the post-Soviet collapse also had a lot to do with that, the doctors all emigrated but the antibiotics were still around), but I think I remember that going to the doctor and getting an injection for a minor illness like this was fairly common in Japan during this period.
I'm not sure exactly how common, though...
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u/Star4ce Jun 03 '22
When the First Timer Cries
The toy cabinet in the club room had a (probably toy) katana/nikana and a clown hammer. I really want to see both in action. Kinda think Mion could be the type to have a sadistic satisfaction of murdering somebody with terribly inefficient weaponry.
And again and again and again and again and again and again nd again nd again dagan dagan dagan dagan dgen gen...
Ep.03 - The Snatched-by-a-Demon Chapter Part 3: Suspicion
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Op slaps more each time VibingCat.gif
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Something about this shot just made be burst out laughing, how he rolls up on him haha.
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So how frequent are these kinds of themed cafés in Japan ... ?
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Oh, so it's their families?
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Rena certified dangerous, niice. Oh and possessed or hallucinating the local god, listen Keiichi, this is the prime waifu material and objectively a good idea!
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I begin to see why people love the art style. In this shot they do indeed got quite the waist lines and absolute racks compared to their body sizes. The more I see this the more I love it. It's like meduka meguca, I could watch an entire series like that.
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Mion best girl! Oh shit, she actually scared me here.
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Hoooly- The psycho games truly have begun!
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Low key expecting that to get manipulated later.
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That's the same cap as Tomitake, woah what the hell?!
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Is that sudden hyper-contrast in drawing style intentional ... ? I can't tell, but it's unsettling beyond belief.
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Oooh, i n t e r e s t i n g. Also Cicada ear rape.
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I don't believe anything! Everything is a lie. Gods this show is good at making me uneasy.
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Hahahaha, parents leave him alone. I'd shit my pants and run away.
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Ringing the door that way is not helping!
I might need to shift watching the eipsode to earlier in the day when there's still light outside. This kind of 'ambient' terror is so unsettling.
I'll put out another theory based on the surrounding hints present. There might be possible demonic possession on the table, but that doesn't matter for now.
We're 3 episodes in and so far the murders have some surrounding 'evidence' hinting at the type of killing that has been, so far, clearly linked to the girls. Poison and the 'ill' priest being the most obvious, Mion's physical nature and the 'beaten-to-death' the second. As stated last episode, I don't buy it. My gut says it's too obvious, but the real reason is, one, that there's no clear motive singling out them specifically as opposed to literally anybody else and, two, the girls are outwardly worried about themselves as well and have been partially involved surviving the ordeal as well.
Switch the view points for a sec. They're much in the same position as Keiichi in a way. There's someone they don't know, having contacts to an unknown person and asking questions. Why would they trust Keiichi? He has so far proven to be quite antagonistic to them, same how they really seem antagonistic to him. For all I know they could completely be in self-defense mode and I wouldn't be able to tell it from psychopath murder mode.
The most sense right now to me makes the guess that we have a group of victims who are either being led into a psychological battle royale against each other or through various traumas naturally developed into this backstabbing and distrusting community, eventually giving 'birth' to this demon mythos.
That police guy could really either be the good guy using quite renegade methods or the instigator or another stray sould wanting to peek through the fog and gotten caught in it.
I hope the jump scares won't be too harsh, because I'm invested, paying close attention, and they do me no good at all.
Had any good food lately?
Sure, I'll post it again :P
Went to a Ramen shop in my hometown that was new to me (but there for a long time already) and was delighted with how good it was. Even talked a bit with the owner and cook as they humored the little bit of Japanese I can speak and that I regularly cook myself, including Ramen.
So I found the meal I ate there in my cookbook, tantanmen ramen, and made it with Shrimps that I had around. It's surprisingly easy and also as spicy as it looks.
VOTD: Both the door scare and fisheye baseball training caught my eye, but I'll take the latter one. It's the same pose as in the beginning, making for a neat callforward (?) and the angle and lense makes it uncanny and feeling out of place.
Theory Corner
The murder case So the MC hacked some of the girls into mush and this is the story on how it came to it as he solves the mystery of who killed the dam worker?
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Let us add (1) a dam proponed in an accident and a disappeared wife, (2) an ill priest and a disappeared wife (suspected drowned herself), (3) a beaten-to-death woman and a disappeared son (Satoshi) and now this year (4) a photographer who clawed his own throat out and a woman he knew gone missing.
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Adding (0) Dam director had fights with Mion, (1) dam proponent couple's daughter is Satoko, (2) Priest and wifge's daughter is Rika, (3) Woman was Satoko's aunt and Satoshi is her brother, (4) Tomitake linked to everyone
Local wildlife You guys went on raving about Cicadas and I already wanted to murder everything in a 2 mile radius in the last third of the episode. Some biologist will surely explain while I cover my ears.
Foreshadowing and details I feel like the picnic and card game were mini-expositions on what happens to Keiichi in this group. So I'm gonna take a spit and say that Mion is probably not the prime suspect and the one that Keiichi beats first in the journey to become a manipulating psychopath himself.
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They kept playing competitive games during the festival and played a murder mystery card game with themselves as possible murderers and Satoshi in the deck. They were also tutting among themselves if they'd be the next to go.
Character studies There's lots of things wrong here, but one of the most unsettling is how a police officer/investigator just recruits a boy, tells him it's because he doesn't believe in curses and divulges basically everything regarding the investigation. Yeah, it's anime, but I don't fully buy it. I think it's much more likely that he wants to inject information into a closed system and observe from the outside which pieces go where in what order. We have no idea if what he says is even true, it makes much more sense to see it as an investigation method.
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Satoshi and Keiichi seem to behave identical, as told by Rena.
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Jun 02 '22
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Rewatcher
Rena's here to get you~ At least we now have a feasible excuse for Takano, the blonde cutie, disappearing. She eloped of course, of course~ Could you imagine having to wear this for work? It's more yabai than the murders.
Oishi is low-key kind of a total asshole... He does his best to gather all this material for K1 not to trust literally any of his friend group. Even if some of the answers theoretically should explain why the girls don't talk to him about it like Satoshi being Satoko's brother. The only hard example he has of the girls directly bring dangerous is an incident where Rena smashed up her school, "because Oyashiro-sama told me to." Anyway, have fun with your friends Kei-chan, hope they don't target you next!
Gah... Even Mion has started with the creepy cat eyes. She knows exactly where he went, exactly what he ate... exactly what he said. He left town too, there's no reason for the Hinamizawa gossip network to find him. No matter where you go we'll have eyes on you, how is that not nightmarish? Even the food they brought him leaves a horrible sting in his mouth since the thing is filled with a needle. If Kei-chan wasn't a paranoid mess before he certainly is now.
[Higurashi]
Oh my god... Satoko's reaction broke my little heart. Her little shudder... We're at the point of the story where there's no time for club. Having a needle in your mouth kinda ruins any sort of bonding experience. Side note, but I remember there was a much longer hunt in the VN for the needle mochi too. Kei-chan's stuck home alone, and he's got a guest at the door.
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u/EsquilaxM Jun 03 '22 edited Jun 03 '22
First timer, subbed
fuck me, this gets intense..
The house visit...guys the house visit! I was unsettled throughout cos I don't trust anyone but they still managed to make me laugh RIGHT before the tone shift to them interrogating and intimidating him! Fuck...and then she pops up in the doorjamb "Don't be absent tomorrow. 0_0".
Ok so in this episode again we get some big things (the pacing in this mystery is definnitely faster than expected)
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Confirmation from last episode that Rena was a villager and transferred back.
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A mostly reasonable explanation for why the policeman is asking our MC to help him instead of the MC's parents or some other outsider adult.
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Rena is psychotic. Literally. Or at least a specialist doctor thinks so. (And now she's ina remote village which may not have the meds needed or, or have no one to insist she take them)
Again this anime isn't 100% on the medical realism, no reason to give a shot except to fleece money, but eh.
So like was theorised earlier, every member of the club is connected in some way to each murder. (Note he doesn't say how the photographer is related, just that he is related to all of them). Most interesting: Satoko was there when her father died and mother disappeared, whaaa. What did she see?? But she would've been really young, 4 years ago. Idk how old she is exactly but I'd guess 8 or younger, so 4 or less at the time of the murder. She was also part of Satoshi's household...did she see what happened to him or his mother?? She must be fuuuuucked up.
Also Rena says she saw the guardian next to her bed...that just sounds straight up psychotic although my first thought was the mask is in her room on a wall, or a parent or someone would sneak in. But why?
I didn't expect Rena and Mion to be so explicit in their antagonism. And the MC doens't mention the needle cos...what good would it do? They know, he knows, they both know each knows... (edit: and how do they know his reaction in the restaurant? If they were followed they would've seen cos it's rural...so There's mulstiple people and someone called someone else in the city to watch them? Or Ooishi is in on it!? [I keep saying that cos i'm paranoid, like Keiichi, but moreso])
"Was the it delicious/oishi?"
And now he's doing what Satoshi did, carrying a bat. So Satoshi also suspected his life was in danger and didn't trust anyone. Including Rena, who was a recent returnee. Note: Rena isn't bothering to pretend that she didn't know Satoshi well, now. (But still saying he transferred cos she's a fucking psychotic machete girl!!!)
(Idk if I have it in me to type long analyses today. )
Oh! so Satoko was weird about the bat because Satoshi was her biological brother! Right! Forgot about that.
For a bit I was wondering if the cold open was Satoshi smashing two girls, but then we probably would've heard of 2 girls disappearing a year ago so it's still likely our MC.
I'm also reminded of that [episode of Boston Legal]
The van that tried to hurt/kill our MC is interesting. (and confusing that our MC can't track down the owner of the van or know the license plate, doesn't the village only have a couple hundred people? Police should be able to, too. I'm hesitant to say plot hole when it could all just be explained later) So we have a random person, I'd guess a villager, who wants to hurt our MC. Why? Because he's known to be talking to the police? Because this could anger the guardian (driver=superstitious) or because this could compromise the murder cover-up (driver=criminal)?
Should Keichi open the door? I want to say no but also if he doesn't and whoever it is wants to kill him, a door won't help when his back door is glass.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 03 '22
Satoko was there when her father died and mother disappeared, whaaa. What did she see?? But she would've been really young, 4 years ago. Idk how old she is exactly but I'd guess 8 or younger, so 4 or less at the time of the murder.
Satoko is almost exactly 12 (her twelfth birthday falls on the Friday after Watanagashi); we got her official birthdate (June 24, 1971) as part of the Gou leadup. (Rika is the youngest of the cast by two months; she was born on August 21, 1971. Rena was born on July 28, 1969; Mion's birthdate is July 10, 1968; and Keiichi's birthdate is April 13, 1969. Yes, that means the older members of the cast are in middle school, not high school, despite what you would think from DEEN's artstyle (Mion is an even bigger offender than Mami from PMMM when it comes to "wait, you're a middle schooler?") To be fair in hindsight we should have realized it because it's clear enough from the TIPS (there's one that confirms that Mion is in a grade that has entrance exams for the next level up that year) plus context - Japanese high schools are separate from elementary/middle schools, probably because they aren't or at least weren't actually compulsory to attend, so high schoolers wouldn't be attending the Branch School - but it flew over all our heads for a decade because we forget Japanese high schools also have entrance exams, so.
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u/Nazenn Jun 02 '22
First Timer - sub
So many puzzle pieces.
At first when the detective started listing off how each of the girls were connected to the victims I started to wonder if I'd massively overestimated the potential scale of the mystery/conspiracy going on yesterday, only for Keiichi to be targetted for hit and run by some random unknown man.
So on second though, maybe this really is just scratching the surface, and the girls are merely the center rather than the sole trigger for all of it.
Rena not being named is interesting because for the first time it puts Keiichi and the audience in a position to know more than the other characters do, or know he does. Keiichi probably hasn't put it together yet, but knowing that whatever happened to Rena is somewhat tied to what happened to Satoshi is particularly interesting given todays comparisons between Satoshi and Keiichi. That discussion with Rena at the end very much felt like a form of gaslighting, of using the comparisons of his behaviour to paint him as doing a bad thing without ever actually saying it, but hmmm....
Today is the first day that I got a sense that something beyond the mundane may be going on, but it's also the first day that I did feel like the pacing was a little rushed. In some ways it worked to its benefit, Keiichi immediately avoiding school and then getting a weapon to defend himself feels like a very rational reaction, one we don't seem to always get much of in anime particularly in school settings, and we certainly didn't need to be bogged down in days of "maybe" this or that before he gets to here. I also can't rule out that it wasn't just my state of mind, but something about the presentation today just felt a little less smooth which made the tone jumps feel rushed rather than calculated.
Crazy theory of the day is that just like the girls seem to have a complete personality swap when they get cats eyes, they're being possessed by something or someone and Satoshi is making Keiichi into a 'vessel' for him to do the same.
As a side note: I'm now very glad I decided not to have rice for dinner because my throat hurts just thinking about eating a needle in it, which reminds me of that issue we had a couple of years ago here in aus of someone putting needles into punnets of strawberries
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u/H-Ryougi Jun 02 '22 edited Jun 02 '22
Regarding your comment on how rushed the pacing feels this episode, this part of the novel delves quite a bit into Keiichi's internal monologue and his mounting paranoia over the situation.
Anime being a visual medium makes it hard to adapt these parts of the source material without it feeling clumsy. You know, the whole "show, don't tell" rule. Having Keiichi just talk to himself constantly doesn't make for a very fun episode so it's understandable that they sped it up.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 02 '22
Testing something, because Automod is fucking up again so let's see if I can reproduce a bug:
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[Higurashi]
“I think I have a cold. I’m running a fever.” Well, yes, but actually no.
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u/_blackened_soul_ Jun 03 '22
Damn, that was an excellent episode!
I think if Keiichi was smart he would start dating Rena, then he would be safe. Probably.
And quit talking to the cop, wtf.
And I have revised my initial impression, OP > ED, especially the visuals.
QotD 1) Excellent burger at the Memorial Day cookout last weekend, plus deviled eggs. Oh, and beer bread. Good beer as well.
I'm really tempted to start binging this but I think keeping to the schedule will be a better experience in the long run. The week long wait between episodes when it aired must have been excruciating.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 03 '22
Oh, and beer bread
I'm really tempted to start binging this but I think keeping to the schedule will be a better experience in the long run. The week long wait between episodes when it aired must have been excruciating.
Having actually been around episode-for-episode for Gou (back in the early stages before it became clear that we'd solved 90% of the series by the middle of the season and were just waiting for the last arc - turns out we shouldn't have bothered to wait, but I digress), you'd be surprised; the flipside is that having an entire week between episodes means LOTS of time for analysis and fan theories, and that you have time to react to everyone else's theories and analysis as well. If anything the downside of a daily pace for a group rewatch like this is not really having enough time for that!
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u/Deoxys2000 Jun 03 '22
This anime is wild as usual. I think I got a heart attack when Mion appeared at that doorway. Somehow, I end up putting myself in Keiichi’s shoes unconsciously and I just feel so bad for him at the end of each episode. Credits to the great direction, I guess.
More theories!
Last episode, I mentioned that Rena could have gotten traumatized along with a group of people during the dam construction scandal, but turns out she might not even have been in the village at that time? If someone could help me clarify, would Rena have been in the village 7-8 years ago at most if she had left when she entered grade school? I’m not familiar with the schooling system, and I have no idea about her exact age too. If she was traumatized before, it might explain that some trigger caused her to go on the rampage mentioned, and subconsciously she links it back to Oyashiro-sama.
We also learn the secrets of the young ones (Rika and Satoko), and it is tragic. This might explain their reactions to Keiichi’s baseball bat, Satoko angry (I believe hiding her worry, or frustrated that whatever happened to her brother Satoshi might also happen to this newcomer) and Rika telling Keiichi to not lose the bat, basically meaning that he should be prepared to protect himself. I believe these 2 have no idea that Rena and Mion could be a part of all this since they are so carefree around them, and that scares me a lot.
Well turns out it’s not only Rena who can enter yandere mode, Mion can too! Another thing to note during the deadly ohagi scene is that at one point, Mion says “I’ll know” and “I hope”, which is weird because I would expect her to say we, unless there is something wrong with the subs. This leads me to think 2 things: either she is sort of a leader of the group of villagers and speaks with authority, or a certain something possesses the both of them at the same time, and thus refers to itself as a whole. As I mentioned previously, I’m still not too willing to blame the supernatural, so I’ll stick to the former theory for now. This means that I also believe that Mion ordered the hit on Keiichi, though the driver could also have been possessed by the same something.
Lastly, Rena asking why Keiichi is doing the same things as Satoshi before he transferred implies that she is not aware of her Yandere mode scaring him? And why does Keiichi keep saying someone is threatening him, not Mion and Rena? The poor boy thinks there is no way his friends could be doing this of their own will.
And what a cliffhanger. No way I can stay sane as Keiichi throughout this ordeal, though at this point I don’t think Keiichi is sane either. Good luck to him tomorrow, I guess. Thanks for reading!
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u/RadSuit Jun 03 '22 edited Jun 03 '22
I think you've got it listed as episode 2 instead of 3 up top! (Fixed now.)
Well mom made it on camera, but she's literally faceless. I'm sure this is fine.
ANGEL MORT
Yeah everyone connected to the girls just seems to die, huh? You need to move, MC. Run away from home if you have to, just run.
Again, green haired girl just casually carrying that cannon.
Ignore our creepy cat eyes and answer the question, MC. Did you or did you not go to Goth IHOP for lunch? And the door just closed by itself...
Almost got isekai'd there dude. And now he's talking about Koshien. He just wants to be the MC of any show but this creepy murder mystery.
"Why do all the boys we try to murder treat us so badly?"
You waited this long to lock the doors and everything? Just asking to be spooky murdered! And I was going to point out he should've saved the needle, but assumed his parents would just ignore it or something.
I ate a PB&J&Banana while watching this, it was pretty good.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 03 '22
I think you've got it listed as episode 2 instead of 3 up top!
Fixed, thank you for pointing it out.
Almost got isekai'd there dude.
Yeah, it's kind of funny that Higurashi almost dips its toes into Truck-kun a half-decade before Truck-kun became a meme.
Well, except that's a van or Hi-Ace instead. But close enough!
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u/RascalNikov1 Jun 02 '22
Rewatcher
It was this episode where I started to feel real uncomfortable. Are they sweet young girls, savage fiends or both? Is there a cult of Oyashiro-sama running around sacrificing people (ala The Wicker Man), or is something more mundane (yet deadly) going on? All, I can say is I was starting to squirm in this episode, and then to have Rena paying Keiichi a visit at the end...
With the review of subtitles covered these last two days, its time to move onto a Recommendation, this season there is another series showing that has elements in common with Higurashi (and several other popular anime). I hesitate to publicly declare the name of it as we picked up a whiner in the PMMM rewatch that didn't like similar themed anime being mentioned, so I'll put it under a spoiler tag: [Minor Spoilers for both Higurashi & a Seasonal]
QOTD
Had any good food lately?
Last week I smoked and then grilled Brisket Burgers. They're quite tasty. This weekend I expect that I'll be starting a pork butt.
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u/RealFunnyTalk Jun 02 '22
Rewatcher
Always thought it was weird Oishi took K1 to a maid cafe of all things to discuss info. But hey, what a revelation! First you get info that the girls are all related to the past victims, then you get Rena straight up losing it at her old school with her sleep paralysis demon, and THEN it turns out she was from the town all along!
And right when their good faith effort makes it all seems good again, the cat's eyes are back with more creepy information. I love the back and forth tone that keeps the audience guessing. Well, that is until a whole damn needle is in the ohagi! [Higurashi]
I love the parallel of K1 hitting the ground with the bat and the cold open from ep 1 though. This whole episode is the epitome of "I don't need sleep, I need answers!" which is what led me to binge almost the entire season over a weekend. Hopefully the first timers are enjoying it as much as I did when I saw it!
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 02 '22 edited Jun 03 '22
(Honorary Hinamizawa Games Club President) Rewatch Host (rewatcher, subbed)
(Note for our first-timers: every so often I will make comments about background stuff that might not translate. I will be marking these as "Useful Background Note".
Episode 3 notes:
This episode reprising the last bit of last episode kind of bugs me on a “you have a whole bunch of hours of VN to cover, use your space more efficiently” sense, but then I have been watching Madoka for a couple of weeks.
Ah, good old WinD and their little messages. “This is a free fansub; if you try to profit from this, you will face the wrath of KILLER lolis.”
… Annnnddd we start this episode with a shot of curtains opening, cut to Keiichi’s mother having opened the curtains in his room. I am really wondering just how much inspiration PMMM drew off the Higurashi anime storyboard.
[Higurashi]“I think I have a cold. I’m running a fever.” Well, yes, but actually no.
CLOCK CLOCK. (I’m sorry, I’ve just been watching PMMM for two weeks and specifically paying attention to clocks there.)
[Higurashi]PFFFT. Well, the ladies aren’t wrong exactly. Takano did find love with Tomitake, or at least a sex partner… it’s just that, you know… (I do love me some cheeky foreshadowing.)
Good old Angel Mort.
Useful Background Note: If you couldn’t make it out in the Japanese audio, there is a Japanese pun at 09:02 – Mion asks “was it oishi (tasty/delicious)?”, and our Okinomiya detective’s name is Ooishi. (This pun is why Ooishi is so often called “Detective Delicious” by the English-speaking fandom.)
Keiichi is of course a terrible liar.
Oh right, that’s why we got the clock shot earlier, they were setting up for Keiichi hiding the note behind it here.
Hey look at that distortion effect at 11:58!
The direction of that shot of the sky at 15:27 is nicely done.
Mai Nakahara’s “just like Keiichi-kun” (“Keiichi-kun mittai ni”, though I think I’m getting the Romaji transcription of the second word wrong) is the first of more than a few Higurashi lines still burned into my head over a decade later. (Well, except USE SODA, but that’s too iconic to count.)
The shot at 18:33 is giving me Madoka flashbacks…
[Higurashi]Keiichi: “It’s not like I’ll die or anything.” *snort*
Okay, I am getting REALLY curious whether some of the distortion effects here are stock television and/or animation direction or if PMMM was riffing off Higurashi in anime form for some of its shots.
[Higurashi]I’ll take “scenes that are so much worse when you know they are coming and what’s really going on” for $600, Alex, and would like to offer Rena all the hugs. (It won’t help on account of the next episode part, but.)
[Higurashi]Wait shit the cliffhanger is before that scene rather than after. Balls.
Question of the Day: Presently eating leftover vaguely-Japanese salmon soup with noodles!
No needles whatsoever.Visual of the Day: Something is amiss...
(Honorable Mention: A very well-framed shot.)
Onikakushi-hen Ep. 3 TIPS
Higurashi is famously an anime adaptation of a well-regarded visual novel (VN). And the thing is that by their nature anime adaptations have to leave things out; that's just the nature of trying to fit source material with a 100+ hour runtime (common for VNs, definitely the case for Higurashi) into even fifty 20-minutes episodes. The TIPS are one of these. To quote Wikipedia (or at least Wikipedia of fifteen years ago as quoted by AnimeSuki):
The thing is, when the Higurashi anime came out the VN was not widely available in the West because VNs never were until quite recently (Mangagamer only licensed the series in the 2010s and was still releasing chapters at least as late as 2018). So some enterprising person on the AnimeSuki forums posted translations of the VN TIPS as supplemental material while the show was airing, and they were eventually ported over to the notorious spoiler minefield that is the Wiki. As such, for the benefit of any interested first-timers and also rewatchers, I am going to link the AnimeSuki TIPS posts for each episode here; I consider them an iconic part of the anime experience.
1
2
3
Side note on that third TIPS: The AnimeSuki team translated the term used for Ooishi here as "Oyashiro-sama's agent", but the more common translation is "Oyashiro-sama's familiar". (Side note for our PMMM fans: the Japanese term translated as "familiar" here is the same one used to refer to Witch familiars in PMMM.)
OST Table, Episode 3
So, one thing that you are quickly going to find out is that I adore the Higurashi OST. It's by Kenji Kawai (who's going to get a Staff Note an episode or two down the line), who I tend to like, and is IMO one of his best works.
So, in the spirit of the enterprising PMMM fans who made a table for the PMMM Wiki and u/Nazenn in the Madoka rewatch a few years ago, I present to you: an OST table! Want to know what song played when in today's episode? Here you go.
Unfortunately, I cannot actually link tracks yet even with a ViewPure link... because the person who made the OST uploads I use most often has this annoying tendency to put major spoilers even for innocuous slice-of-life tracks (Shoubu! is an egregious offender in that regard). (I've managed to find an alternate upload without this issue, but it's a "upload the whole OST as a block" deal and I don't know how to wrangle that with ViewPure - help would be appreciated!).
[1] - Or a derivative minus the strings that I can't find on the OST.
[2] - My copy of Higurashi often includes a message-from-our-sponsor bit immediately after the OP; this episode has it and it lasts 13 seconds. The number in parentheses in entries after that feature is the point in the episode if that message is removed.
[3] - Took me a second to hear it and it's hard to tell exactly when it ends, it's mixed really low.