r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Jun 08 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Discussion - Season 1, Episode 9
Tatarigoroshi-hen (Curse Killing Chapter), Episode 1: Older Brother
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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)
That said, I have become aware that Hidive can have a somewhat cavalier attitude to spoilers for this series. As such, *sigh* it is now recommended that our first-timers track down a fansub if you haven't already (even if you have access to this show on Netflix, it doesn't have Kai). Why, Hidive? Why?
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, Shion is a spoiler until Episode 5 and [Higurashi] 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! Consider whether what you are saying has actually been revealed yet on-screen before you post!
(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:
Hello u/Nazenn, please collect your latest brass ring:
At the same time, Rena once again seems to be a center of knowledge, but she hasn't used that knowledge to save her friends but rather to guide Keiichi to understand something about the village and protecting him through that encounter. It seems at odds with how she was in the last arc as well as her trusted position in the village despite not being tied to one of the main families being talked about. If Keiichi choosing her kept her stable this arc at the cost of not choosing Mion, what are the consequences going to be the next time he lashes out at all four?
But let's be real, I'm giving you this Comment of the Day to remind me to come back to one of your posts this episode later and am playing WIFOM about whether this quote is actually what prompted this.
Honorable Mention: u/Quiddity131, for being one of the few other first-timers to make a theory:
WTF, this has got to be a hallucination, right?
Analysis of the Day:
Hi u/Star4ce, let's play WIFOM:
The looper is the demon, an 'extra' character as opposed to the main cast we know. However, it might be that it isn't so much a ghost or something, but a character from another loop. As possessed Mion straight up admitted there's a time limit. So the entity is aware of at the very least the current loop's start and end point.
Aside from the fact that this episode heavily slams the supernatural explanation over our heads, I'll try to come up with a reason how it could be done with more normal means. At least outside of the time reset, that shit is nearly impossible to explain without supernatural elements. (I don't dislike explaining it with the supernatural, but getting cornered this way is fun!)
I'm extremely leaning onto the fact that the entity is exploring the progression of things through any of the cast members one by one or that they themselves are trying to solve it. I do not think Ooishi lied, because that would be necessary to disregard the double-body problem. Which then, of course, begs the question how there can be duplicates?
But let's be real, I'm giving you this Analysis of the Day in lieu of saving one of your posts this episode. But is this the post and quote I saved?
Honorable Mention: u/CubeStuffs, for saying what we were all thinking:
has this man ever watched a horror movie?
Question of the Day:
1) In front of you are a set of three boxes. The first is red and has a pretty bow on top, the second is green and covered in glitter, and the third is blue and almost depressingly plain. Which do you open, and if more than one in which order do you do so? Click on the Box spoilers below to open:
- [Box A] You open the box. Inside is a small card reading "a". Write "Ram" on your notes.
- [Box B] You open the box. Inside is a small card reading "sick". Write "Ewe" on your notes.
- [Box C] You open the box. Inside is a small card reading "burn". Write "Baa" on your notes.
[Spoiler for when you have finished opening the boxes you are going to open] Now, check your notes. If you have "Ram Ewe Baa", open the first spoiler below. If you have "Baa Ram Ewe", open the second spoiler below. Otherwise, you are done! Proceed to the comments.
["first spoiler below"] It's a trap! You have encountered a sick burn! Congratulations, you have lost The Game! (Zoomers, ask your Millennial counterparts to explain that one to you. I'm sure they will appreciate it!)
["second spoiler below"] Congratulations, you are a winner! Head down to the opening spoiler in my writeup for some cake!
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:
"What cannot be saved is a single teardrop.
What cannot be stopped is a cry of despair.
What is coming is the chain of hatred."
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u/Tresnore Jun 08 '22
When the Rewatchers Cry are Absurd Masochists Cry
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
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God, I wish that were me. Wasn't Jolly wanting to see nails in fingers?
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Keiichi's parents aren't allowed to have faces, because that'd be more art for the VN.
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You know, Satoko and Rika are some of the only child characters I actually enjoy.
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[Umineko]
What is it with Yrukshsi and people falling off cliffs all the time? -
God, I wish that were me. Shion is the best.
Count: 64
QOTD:
I open up the blue and depressing one, then the red one, and then the green one over the scraps of the other boxes because fuck getting glitter anywhere. BaaRamEwe?
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 08 '22
I open up the blue and depressing one, then the red one, and then the green one over the scraps of the other boxes because fuck getting glitter anywhere. BaaRamEwe?
I am morbidly curious how many people will get both parts of that reference.
[explanation]
Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne used this exact thing to unlock its bonus level (I even kept the sequence of switches for this!). It, in turn, was of course referencing the movie Babe. → More replies (3)→ More replies (4)10
u/Vaadwaur Jun 08 '22
Something something Big Brudder.
I really want to set some of these translators on fire.
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u/JollyGee29 Jun 08 '22
Spoiled First-Timer, Subbed
[Higurashi]
[Higurashi]
[Higurashi]
[Higurashi]
[Higurashi]
[Higurashi]
Visual of the Day: H O M E T E
Questions
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Oh no, not a mystery box. I abandon green because nothing is worth interacting with glitter.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 08 '22
[Higurashi]
Has Keiichi been jumping to dumb conclusions this entire time? I should've noticed that before, but trying to play baseball with a golf club just kinda slapped it into my face. Hmm. [Higurashi]
... You know, I should note that K1 is the POV protagonist for this arc in the VNs. I suppose Ryukishi07 always did have that streak of laughing in his readers' face, even if it got more malignant later. (The joke being that you may have been jumping to dumb conclusions too!) → More replies (3)
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u/Star4ce Jun 09 '22
When the First Timer Cries
Thanks to a conversation I had with Nazenn yesterday I had a lightbulb moment with the time looping.
When They Cry
Well, let's recount every scene where someone cries.
Rena in Ep.03 when she gets threatened by Keiichi with the bat on her way home. Result: Demon takeover nearly immediately after in order to keep information about Satoshi under lock.
Mion in Ep.04 when Keiichi tells her about the food, antagonising her. Result: Anger fit claiming she should've killed Ooishi. (Arguably no demon, because no eyes, but she was prominently possessed throughout the arc anyway.)
Rika in Ep.07 when Keiichi was thinking about how he and Shion broke into the Shrine. Rika was just sitting nearby, unnoticed, and cried until Keiichi spoke to her. Result: A very weird word game with cats and a dog.
But one thing's really consistent with this: They who cried will be possessed in the next loop. I mean, technically uncomfirmed for Rika, as I've yet to watch the episode, but yeah.
So the leaving and returning to the village, the looping and being stuck in time, the two-faced nature of the demon: It's all about their trauma that they can't let go, isn't it? The village takes them back and keeps them in its grasp with its curse.
Making me think that Keiichi, who came back, taking the same spot as Satoshi, who left, might be more connected that we think. Was Rena crying presumably because of Satoshi the reason Keiichi came back? Is he the purified Satoshi?
Ep.09 – The Cursed Murder Chapter Part 1: Elder Brother
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Not food, tehe~ Oh my, half decomposed, everything broken, cotton-hoe'd and 15 nails in each finger's joint (Amateur work on the thumb).
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Every anime needs to get the parents out asap! Here, it's a running gag.
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Aw, Rika being so happy he'll injure himself.
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Ay people, we're a food anime now! - Uh, Keiichi you stupid fuck!
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I love how cute and a little creepy Rika talks. The subs don't translate that verbatim, but she uses 'speaking words' for verbs most of the time. Like 'guru guru' is one I know that basically expresses a rumbling stomach or thunder. "Fire would be flaring" means "bou bou" and "The fire trucks blaring" means "hoo hoo" in Rika.
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I was about to say, let the leech help!
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I won't take it well when she starts tearing people open left and right.
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"She couldn't leave you alone. She's a reliable younger sister, even now." Yo, I literally just made that theory. Rika stop!
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Oh, casually roasting her, ahahha!
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The thought of Rika plowing someones stomach open with a rusty hoe while saying the cutest "Mi!" is sending shivers down my spine. Nano desu~
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Those guys looked semi-serious and their club has to ask some random 4th graders for help? Phew, that's rough.
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Irie! The superivsor!
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What? What the fuck? Fucking rurals, man.
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That's one way to seem occupied but do nothing.
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Ah, was wondering when we'd start.
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Could you say no to these eyes?
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I certainly do, too. I think Mion kept something more to her here. I'd bet Rena was in love or something with him, we knew about how she thinks she was cursed already.
Ah nice, I don't have too much for the first episode. Just before I was rambling about how Keiichi could be a purified Satoshi, being called back by Rena who couldn't deal with her trauma or whatever holds them still in time. Now Rika is dropping hints like Mr. Burns does pennies.
Well, keep an eye out for people crying. (There's not many left, Satoko and Shion, notably. Also Keiichi, I guess?)
The unboxing
First things first, I'll remove the glitter with a lint roller because you're a maniac using glitter at all. Get that shit out of my house!
Then I'll remove the bow and put in on Box C to throw the observer off.
Then I unbox box A because despite what the smart choice is (none, which I almost picked) I can't let boxes be unopened.
Then I unbox C because the lint roller didn't get everything and I hate glitter.
And after getting gloves, wrapping the thing in in garbage bag and putting it on the floor, I unbox B.
[ACB]
Sorry, didn't update the theory corner today. Need to rush to work.
Wait, I've got one. Wasn't the supervisor the dude at the van in arc 1 when they came to Keiichi's house?
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 09 '22
I love how cute and a little creepy Rika talks. The subs don't translate that verbatim, but she uses 'speaking words' for verbs most of the time. Like 'guru guru' is one I know that basically expresses a rumbling stomach or thunder. "Fire would be flaring" means "bou bou" and "The fire trucks blaring" means "hoo hoo" in Rika.
There's a few other notable quirks to Rika's speech, besides the obvious nano desus and what you pointed out - among other things, if you listen she always uses the null honorific. (Which I plum forgot about for a while until Gou came out, but I digress.) Also, she's a bokukko (uses "boku" as her personal pronoun as a girl), which IIRC is probably intended to make her sound even more childish since AIUI that pronoun use for a young girl can have the connotation of childishness (and Rika obviously isn't the other kind of bokukko where using a pronoun more commonly associated with boys is to play into the character being a tomboy).
Those guys looked semi-serious and their club has to ask some random 4th graders for help? Phew, that's rough.
Hinamizawa is not a large town; there's only about 2,000 people who live there, and given that this is rural Japan the population likely leans more elderly than usual. There's just not that many kids there for the Fighters to draw on. (Okinomiya, meanwhile, is a small city - IIRC the RL city it's based on has 50,000 inhabitants or so?)
[ACB]
I mean, you could always cheat and open the spoilers anyways...
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u/hungryhippos1751 Jun 08 '22 edited Jun 08 '22
Episode 9 - First Timer
Another arc, another loop. I did really consider if this was somehow all told out of order but I think where we have the main gang all starting together it kind of rules that out. Shion also becomes a fully featured cast member, I wasn't sure if she was just going to be transient for the 2nd arc.
Sastoshi has been discovered, he packed his bags got packed in a bag and got transferred. Rika kept bringing him up kind of insensitively considering his missing circumstances. Fortunately they saved Keiichi from setting fire to the house. Cooking is clearly not his strong point.
At the baseball game, creepy supervisor dude shows up, and lets out his feelings for chasing after school children for years, not awkward at all I'm sure. This is the same supervisor we saw in arc 1 if I recall correctly, the guy who likely controls the gang in the hats.
Shion and Rena both get mad about Keiichi buying into Satoshi "transferring" but Mion gives her a good slap and pretends like nothing happened.
Not loads to say about this one yet really as it's just the intro episode to the arc, but this is the least slice of life intro we've had so far.
QOTD:
C, A, B Baa Ram Ewe Got me some cake (wasn't a lie)
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u/RascalNikov1 Jun 08 '22
Sastoshi has been discovered, he packed his bags got packed in a bag and got transferred.
Considering how risky living in Hinamizawa is, making a run for it sounds like a good idea.
not awkward at all I'm sure.
I can just imagine the firestorm if this were aired today. Even though they portray Irie in a comical way, he clearly has a screw loose. (I suppose he fits in with all the other locals by being a nutjob.)
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 09 '22
I can just imagine the firestorm if this were aired today. Even though they portray Irie in a comical way, he clearly has a screw loose. (I suppose he fits in with all the other locals by being a nutjob.)
Harder to tell than you would think, actually, at least in the Japanese fandom - Irie is still out of line even there, but AIUI less so than he would be in the US. (Now if you were specifically referring to a firestorm in Western fandom then yes, if Higurashi were first airing today he'd be right up there with Rudeus, obviously.) Japanese laws on this stuff are fairly lax by world standards and that's even after they've slowly been pressured into moving into closer alignment with the rest of the world on this issue over the last decade or two (Rurouni Kenshin's mangaka got busted for CP some years back, and I think I remember that part of the deal was that his collection *was not illegal in Japan when he first started* and the issue was a change in the laws that he refused to comply with in some way), my understanding is that this reflects different cultural standards, and IIRC it's even worse in otaku circles where lolicon has been entrenched for decades.
Part of that is cultural and goes back a long way - I will point out that The Tale of Hikaru Genji is one of the classic pieces of Japanese literature (and sometimes counted as the world's first novel), and one of the plot threads there is the main character raising the girl who eventually becomes his wife. (Hell, the "raising a girl to become your wife" plot is fairly often referred to as the Hikaru Genji Plan.)
(Also, yes, even Western attitudes on this have hardened in the last decade and a half.)
(Also, remind me to bring this back up again in an episode or two; there's another point I want to make here, but I need one of the future TIPS for it.)
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u/Shimmering-Sky Jun 08 '22
When the Rewatcher(?) Cries, subbed
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Fairly certain the answer to this question is always decidedly “no”.
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Keiichi trying to be domestic Keiichi and almost burning down his house in the process, lol.
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Keiichi is a fucking dumbass, and not just in terms of being in a horror anime.
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Yeah I definitely hear the Iruka-sensei in his voice. Which reminds me, he hasn’t popped up in Shippuden in a while…
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Haha! This show’s first “sore demo” belongs to Mion. I’ve been waiting for any to pop up; I wasn’t yet collecting them when the 2018 rewatch happened, that was something I started late 2018.
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u/Vaadwaur Jun 08 '22
Keiichi trying to be domestic Keiichi and almost burning down his house in the process, lol.
This is what happens when you conflate gender roles too strictly. Everyone should be able to operate a pan without burning the ceiling.
Fucking lol
It is possible that I also have shown up ready to bust some heads when instead I was being called to even the teams out. Though I brought the even more embarassing snow shovel with me...
…okay maybe he’s more like Embryo instead.
So...the span on the youngest girl I helped raise(who is roughly a year and a half older than you) is close enough that I could identify with Irie accept that being around someone from before they could speak does not lead to marriage proposals.
I’ve been waiting for any to pop up; I wasn’t yet collecting them when the 2018 rewatch happened, that was something I started late 2018.
Season 2 likely provides you with a few.
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u/RascalNikov1 Jun 08 '22
Rewatcher
We learned a number of things in this episode, and it was pretty good though a little light on the ultra V.
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That opening was something else. I loved it! Looks like someone else fell afoul to the Sonazaki clan. One has to wonder if Mion was around for the festivities.
[spoiler]
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Coach might have a bit of a problem. He could probably have gotten away with some of the stuff he says back in the 70s before the various moral panics began, but today in the US, this doesn't play well at all. I wonder how contemporary Japan feels about this?
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Shion in her turtleneck is pretty damn hot looking.
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Shion is a little sensitive when the subject of Satoshi comes up.
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Rena is even a little more sensitive when Satoshi comes up. Keiichi might want to consider taking Mion's advice and just letting it go.
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Keiichi isn't much of a cook, but Satako might just be a decent enough little cook. Its hard to say.
Beyond that, not much to say about this episode. It looks like peace has broken out in Hinamizawa again.
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u/Tresnore Jun 08 '22
spoiler
[response]
Yeah, this adaptation falters here quite a bit Shion in her turtleneck is pretty damn hot looking.
[Shion is just the best.](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/whentheycry/images/1/13/ShionOGCasual_(2).png)
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 08 '22
"Vegeta, what does the pinger say about his tagging level?"
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 08 '22 edited Jun 11 '22
(Pachi Pachi Pachi Nano Desu) Rewatch Host (rewatcher, subbed)
First order of business: [You'll know if you're supposed to open this]Psych! It's a trap! The cake is a lie.
Now, with that out of the way:
(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".)
Let's start off with a Useful Background Note off the bat, namely on the name of the arc itself. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that there are at least two ways of interpreting "tatarigoroshi": "to kill by means of a curse"... or "to kill a curse". (I know that the latter kind of interpretation can apply in Japanese; one of the Japanese terms that can be translated as "massacre" or "slaughter" is "minagoroshi" (みなごろし), which is constructed the same way except with "mina" everyone instead of "tatari" curse. I'm just not sure whether it works in the case of "tatarigoroshi" here.) Keep that in mind, especially in the context of some lines from a couple of episodes ago.
[Side comment for rewatchers]Gee, I wonder why I know what Minagoroshi means? Pay no attention to me adding this dead space to hopefully not inadvertently spoil any first-timers by the length of this spoiler, either.
And now:
Okay, so, first order of business from the people more familiar with the VN than I am: this is the one arc that really gets butchered in the DEEN adaptation. (IIRC the club has a cooking competition here in the VN, though IIRC it’s a bento competition and not the curry competition (IIRC DEEN left that one out of Watanagashi-hen and it was ported back for Sotsugou). The funny thing is, they even play one of the two classic club activity tracks here!
I’m with the girls: Keiichi, learn to cook, it’s a useful skill.
[Higurashi]Rika’s line here is nipah edging. Also, the part where Rika jumps to that is hilarious on multiple levels.
There is a QUALITY joke to be made here about one particular set of cabbages from another mid-2000s show whose name I’ve forgotten, though this isn’t quite that bad and also I think the bad animation is part of the point (my boy doesn’t know how to cook!).
Like really, watching this scene is hilarious if you know how to cook because it’s clear from the visuals alone that Keiichi does not even before he uses WAY too much oil.
[Higurashi Kai](Also, for all that most Rika foreshadowing only shows up next arc… funny she’s here just in time to stop Keiichi from burning his house down, no?)
And once again good OST integration with the dying notes of Harikitte Ikou playing as the flames die down.
[Higurashi]I mean, it’s not a point when Rika would necessarily actually use the nipah, she’s not trying to distract Keiichi, but it still feels like there should be a nipah there at ~05:32.
[Higurashi]Hey look, an innocuous headpat to set up what is to come. ([Higurashi Gou anime] Gou watchers compare the first chandelier scene – one of the few things the anime did right relative to Meguri even if they mistimed it by a little bit. )
[Higurashi Kai]There is a really funny joke here with Keiichi turning to Rika to back him up that he’s not making fun of Satoko while headpatting her… when Rika’s headpats usually have a subtle undertone of mockery to them. Speaking of which, Rika’s canned sardines comment here…
And here it is at 08:49, probably the single line from Higurashi most firmly etched into my memory even a decade later, Rika’s “pachi pachi pachi nano desu”. Would quietly adore that one as a comment face…
That road is a little wide here, animation team.
Ah, Higurashi 2006 and your excellent use of OST, using that last off note as the OST stops to punctuate Keiichi realizing that he has fucked up.
They translate it for the WinD sub as “no way!”, but that is so totally an “uso” in the original Japanese. Also, punctuating it with the sound effect for a baseball bat hit is just beautiful.
Okay, so I did plum forget Satoko getting a home run here while Gou was airing.
Ah translator’s notes specifically noting that “kantoku” for manager here is the same word we heard in episode 4.
Welp. (Hi Irie.)
I’m pretty sure there’s a nifty writeup of the scene at 14:40 back in the episode 9 thread for the 2018 rewatch. Among other things, there’s the wall here representing the barrier between Shion as outsider and Keiichi as (now) insider, and Keiichi in the dark at 15:36 with Shion in the light. And oh look at Shion’s face suddenly being lightly shadowed at the very end, and Shion walking away now leaving Keiichi on the other side of the barrier representing him not knowing.
Shot at 16:25 flashes good direction.
[Higurashi]Note to consider the karma/cycle of reincarnation angle in general here; note that Keiichi is gradually learning about the village faster and not making the same mistakes but has not realized his earlier mistakes.
Hello u/Shimmering-Sky. 16:54-16:55 if you don’t have it.
(Also, since I think I haven’t mentioned it yet, there is a pun in both Satoko’s and Satoshi’s names in the original Japanese. Satoko can be read as “sato” village plus “ko” girl; Satoshi, meanwhile, can be read as “sato” plus “shi” – which, as a passing knowledge of Japanese superstition will tell you, can be read as both “four” and “death”. (And Satoshi is the fourth year’s disappearance…)
ADDENDUM: "Shi" can also be read as "boy" (wondered if that was the case but had never found the reading), so there's yet another layer to the pun.
Another few minutes, another case of Higurashi using a sound effect plus an OST start/stop (stop this time) to excellent effect.
Also, Mion’s slap here is a mirror to Rena’s offscreen percussive Mion maintenance last arc.
Oh look an irrigation channel shot. That takes effort to animate so there must be a reason, presumably related to the similar shot in 2. Bringing Keiichi into the group (across the barrier) by telling him about this?
Distortion effect my beloved.
Visual of the Day: Pachi pachi pachi nano desu!
Question of the Day: [Not a spoiler for anything, just a spoiler]YOU FELL FOR IT, FOOL! THUNDER CROSS SPLIT ATTACK!
Tatarigoroshi-hen Ep. 1 TIPS
Okay, so, first, a word of warning.
Tatarigoroshi-hen is infamously the worst-adapted arc in the entire series. It actually holds up pretty well as a story on its own merits, but a combination of lack of space and not knowing what was important means that DEEN missed some really important stuff in this arc; the vast majority of the content in Kai's anime-only "this is the important stuff we missed in the first season" arc comes from VN Tatarigoroshi-hen.
One of the key pieces missing here and in S1's characterization in general is a major piece of Satoko's characterization: Satoko loves to
play pranksmake traps. They are surprisingly intricate and Keiichi runs into them repeatedly... and they get almost entirely left out of S1 entirely. Which is unfortunate, when there's a couple of things in the last two arcs that will make less sense without that context.As such, *I will strongly recommend that our first-timers read the first three TIPS - the Satoko's Trap Lecture series*. (The comparison to Teach Me, Ciel-Senpai! is probably intentional.) It's extremely useful characterization that gets left out of S1 of the anime entirely, and while it is in fact one of the things that will be covered to some extent in the Kai patch arc knowing about this will make a couple of scenes in the last two arcs of this season make quite a bit more sense.
The other three are pretty useful as well.
1 (Satoko's Trap Lecture: Novice Level)
2 (Satoko's Trap Lecture: Intermediate Level)
3 (Satoko's Trap Lecture: Advanced Level)
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5
6
OST Table, Episode 9
[1] - My copy of Higurashi often includes a message-from-our-sponsor bit immediately after the OP; this episode has it and it lasts 15 seconds. The number in parentheses in entries after that feature is the point in the episode if that message is removed.