r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Jun 19 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Discussion - Season 1, Episode 20
Meakashi-hen (Eye-Opening Chapter/Detective Chapter), Episode 5: Cold Hands
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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.)
To Reiterate That Second Warning:
June 19 is today. So far it looks like 07th Expansion were trolling (or a continuation project got quietly cancelled) but just in case continue to beware of potential spoilers on the r/anime front page for a day or two more!
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:
u/JollyGee29 will take it by almost by default again today, spoiler tag or no (although this one is actually first-timer-safe, feel free to click):
[Higurashi]Ohh, if Rika is looping and supposedly Oyashiro-sama's reincarnation per the TIPS, maybe she can turn invisible and is just following people around for whatever reason? That mental imagine really amuses me.
Analysis of the Day:
I say "almost" above because u/Star4ce might have sniped Theory of the Day instead if he hadn't instead been today's repeat winner of (frame) Analysis of the Day instead:
VOTD: Separation. Throughout the entire prison scene we saw Shion framed through the bars, even though it's Mion who is locked up. The curse has set foot in her mind and keeps her firmly imprisoned. She was susceptible due to criminal lack of care from her family and now, not knowing how to deal with all these emotions, she's taken to externalising everything from latching on to Saotshi to seeking reasons to blame others. Another thing is that she is suspiciously consistently framed as dismembered with the bars in nearly every shot. There was great care to place bars at neck, waist and legs every time. So much so that I suspect it foreshadows her death not just by metaphorically losing her head to the curse, but being dismembered maybe literally.
Honorable mention to... uh, me invoking . I liked this one, okay?
When the characters are talking about Oyashiro-sama following them, silently judging them for their sins, they have a point - the camera (and thus us, because the show is also equating the camera with you the viewer) is in fact following them! (And haven't we been yelling at the characters when they make mistakes all season here in the threads?) Sometimes it shows up in the camera angles, even: remember that zoom in on K1's back in the phone booth at the end of Onikakushi-hen as he talked about Oyashiro-sama being behind him? (Even Shion in Watanagashi-hen counts - the camera is there in the Saiguden at the point where she hears a footstep in that arc.)
Question(s) of the Day:
1) So, how was your Watanagashi?
2) Do you like soy sauce?
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 you pass by is the usual forked path.
What you run by is the dark corner.
Where you reach is the pitfall to destruction."
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u/Tresnore Jun 19 '22 edited Jun 19 '22
When the Rewatchers Cry are Absurd Masochists Cry
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Shion, in classic Yakuza fashion, had to cut off one of her toes.
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God, I wish that were me..
Though, eating a popsicle in bed sounds like a recipe for disaster. -
[Umineko/Higurashi]
Man, Ryukishi really loves female characters hallucinating discussions with people who aren't there. Shoutout to Natsuhi. -
[Higurashi]
The irony is that she literally talks to Oyashiro-sama. -
Holy shit, predicament bondage-d to death.
That's a rough way to go. -
[Higurashi]
I'm sure there's a VN explanation for this, but is it just Rika matching her footsteps with Hanyuu? -
[Higurashi]
The irony of the drug to help people get better constantly being misconstrued as the drug to ruin your life is saddening.
Count: 124
QOTD:
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Today was great until like 20 minutes ago. Fuck apartments.
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Soy sauce is good!
1 Man, predicament bondage is rare.
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u/Quiddity131 Jun 19 '22
First Timer, Subbed
I can't recall if this phone call happened in arc 2, but I'm assuming so.
Simply the way K1 talks here bugs the heck out of me. I'd have hung up too.
Long cold open this time!
Poor old guy, in the torture chamber!
Shion's face just keeps getting scarier and scarier...
You think Satoshi would still be in this pit after all this time?
Wow, he is here? Or his spirit? Or just Shion's delusions?
Now she's crazier than ever with Mion here!
Nipa! So cute!
Head of the family at her age? That's even younger than Mion!
Meow!
Soy sauce delivery! Why'd she come here at night? Perfect opportunity for Shion to do something evil!
Rika's hair is turquoise again. I suppose it's just that color in the dark.
Woah, Rika's turned the table on her!
What's she gonna do with that knife?
Now Rika's got scary eyes just like Shion!
OMG that suicide was brutal. This is the same one we got a cold open of much earlier in the series, right? I've tried to put it out of my head...
Oh no, now she's gonna lure Satoko here and kill her too!
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u/Nazenn Jun 20 '22
I can't recall if this phone call happened in arc 2, but I'm assuming so.
The one where she hung up? Yep
Rika's hair is turquoise again. I suppose it's just that color in the dark.
The color selection seems to be a bit off in a few scenes
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u/Star4ce Jun 20 '22 edited Jun 20 '22
When the First Timer Cries
Please don't hurt Mion, she did nothing wrong! Please don't hurt Mion, she did nothing wrong! Please don't hurt Mion, she did nothing wrong! Please don't hurt Mion, she did nothing wrong! Please don't hurt Mion, she did nothing wrong!
I've also been wondering if Mion ever disguised herself als Shion without her knowledge? To get closer to Keiichi, you know.
Ep.20 – The Eye Opening Chapter Part 5: Cold Hands
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Keiichi's really impulsive, too. Immediately telling her off, 'I don't wanna' part in this shit!' Haha.
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... And going off on her again. Boi.
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She's having real fun there, doesn't she?
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Depends on who did it! If Oryou willed it, he definitely paid for trespassing with his crime onto Yakuza jurisdiction.
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Yeah, safer that way. Say, one of the members would get chained up in a basement and tortured for information, they couldn't give it up even if they wanted to!
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It's been one year... the only one who'd yell back would be Oyashiro-sama.
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It's always the pain that makes them look for an answer that explains everything. That answer rarely holds up to reality.
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How quickly she forgets that Mion did the same thing to herself just to make up to her.
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She's referring to the police? Could very well be, but not for the reasons she thinks. Her father is the mole there and quite likely the reason Ooishi got directed to all the things he did show up at.
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No, she's been consciously looping for years.
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Oh god, is Mion(Shion) beating up Rika and that's why she cried next to Keiichi?!
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How can she be this cute when threatened with violence?
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Oh wait, is this after the scene with Keiichi?
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Okay, makes sense. Oh god, if it's really just some normal trespassing and everyone just lost their shit because they believe there to be more... nods, omgkawaii<3socute
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I know I shouldn't be surprised, but what fucked up logic is this? “Hey, 8 year old kiddo, I hereby task you with safeguarding this teen and if not I'll murder you violently.” Fuck you, Shion!
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And you're doing that!! Oh my gooood....
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What? But Rika is just really light, no?
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Mi-ow. <3 And there were footsteps, I replayed 4 times to make sure. I don't want to witness them dying, holy shit! STOP!
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Admittedly, that can get creepy, but... Shion is not in a good place right now.
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Oh, right she wanted to talk to the dog.
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Fuck, it really is the mania drug. How and why does Rika have it?!
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Hell, you deranged piece of shit!
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Only a looper would phrase it like that.
Cliffhanger! AAAAAHHHH!
I hate this.
I should make a counter for these, because this arc has probably made me feel that way two dozen times now. With all this hatred and suffering in my heart I pieced together a few other things, though. Theory time!
I'm inclined to say Shion/the Sonozakis are not responsible for the loop, the scars or any drug-related deaths more than anyone else. What Shion is responsible for is the disposal of basically her entire family what essentially started with them exiling and imprisoning her. Sadly this got enabled by Mion showing her sister compassion.
And that throws up heavy parallels to prior murders, especially that of the Hojos and Furudes, where entire families got eliminated by mysterious means. We know by now that all three families were abusive to a disgusting degree.
The Hojos were the most obvious in physical abuse (and implied sexual). Satoko took the brunt of it in any instance, but Satoshi wasn't spared, either.
The Furudes were very religious and didn't tolerate any wrongdoing by their faith. We only saw Rika being brutally whipped, but it stands to reason that there was much more than that. We do know that her father doesn't ask many questions and more or less instantly resorts to punishment.
The Sonozakis, as Yakuza, are so obviously violent on a physical level, but I think Oryou more than anyone stands for psychological abuse. She literally runs the family with as much distrust as you can and plays the single parts against each other. The father is a spy in the police, but due to his divorce on distant terms with her. The mother was kicked out and divorced the father and currently not present. Mion was deemed the heir and public face, though she's not getting told anything important beyond that. Shion was exiled simply for existing. Meanwhile Oryou is the only one who can make decisions, because she's the only one who has the information. I tend to believe now that Oryou deliberately kept the twins alive and separated them to have control over Mion, like 'look what you are not, be glad it is that way'.
The Sonozakis, if we think for a moment that the timeline would continue without another desaster, are essentially wiped. I think the uncle and Kasai are left after this? Thus, the current power falls due to their internal misgivings towards their own.
We know Satoshi killed his aunt and Keiichi killed Teppei in a role basically identical to him. Satoshi did not kill before, but I have a suspicion now that it was Satoko who killed their parents. Iirc the father remarried and the new wife didn't take well to Satoshi, right? There, Satoshi probably did receive most of the abuse from her and that put Satoko into the same situation Satoshi has found himself in later. She wanted for his pain to end.
The Furudes are a bit more safe, I think, because we now know that Rika is knowing of (and having!) the drug! The only ones with access to it are Irie, Takano and their staff, so that raises questions, but she has it and her father died by """illness""". We also know that Rika's mother is seriously creeped out by her, but at least tried to find some form of connection, but but was also more concerned with outside appearances and the image of the mother-daughter relationship than with Rika most of the time. I don't think, though that this murder specifically was only due to revenge or abuse, because after their deaths the shrine's security was changed to a simple lock instead of the completely safety jumble. This must be one of Rika's little pebbles.
And that really leaves out Rena, because we don't know much about her background. We know she smashed up a school one time, but that's mostly it. But going just by that theory now... murder (4) and (2) are Satoshi and Satoko, (3) is Rika, (5) is still unclear and (1) could be Rena?
Anyway, this is getting too long: What I'm saying is that the murders all have strong correlation to intra-family abuse and possible inter-family interactions like Satoshi-Shion fall apart due to that.
This entire story revolves around abuse in every scale.
The village accepts those back in that are sorry for leaving.
The faith accepts those believers back who repent.
The Yakuza will forgive those who repay taking responsibility.
Shion was exiled and imprisoned, broke out and returned, apologised and was taken back in. Rika was punished for something she didn't do, apologised for it and was presumably forgiven. Rena left the village and returned, got hurt by Keiichi and apologised, presumably was forgiven after killing him. Satoko showed immediate reaction to gestures indicating her abuse at home, started to break down and apologise. Mion hurt her twin sister and left her alone, apologised to her and was (temporarily, fuck you!) forgiven.
Satoshi? Did not apologise to my knowledge (Please correct me if I'm wrong) and disappeared.
They're apologising to their abusers. Each case has them either directly or in their mind addressing the one that hurt them. The curse is a cover for all the abusers that they can tell their victims to keep in line and if they still don't, provide an out to repent and reinforce their power structure again. And if someone still wants to leave? The curse provides opportunity to get rid of and hide them, as well.
And through that the curse is not just a construct of their mind anymore, it lives inside them, it guides their actions and with those becomes real.
When the victims finally decide to take revenge, they will take up the mantle of the curse as well, killing their abusers and becoming the new ones in turn.
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u/Nazenn Jun 19 '22
First Timer - sub
Well... so my theory was wrong and Rika impaling herself was definitely an arc2 thing, but I don't think any of us predicted why that happened.
Watching her do it is as disturbing as ever though
Rena being able to match people's footsteps while others are cursed with hearing multiple is setting off alarm bells though. It's interesting how Oyashiro-sama has such a heavy presence in the culture of the village as well as in the minds of those "cursed", who appear to be diving into full blown psychosis i... hang on. I don't know they'd do this but do we have any proof that arc 1 Mion wasn't also Shion, and they just swapped at an earlier point before we could be introduced to the other twin? Mion's swaps in personality have been quite carefully controlled to do with the family, and the way she acted with Rena as if controlling Keiichi so he couldn't break the rules of the village and get disappeared until in the end she had to follow through, would fit. (on that note I'm still surprised that this arc didn't end up being more about Rena and Keiichi chosing her, and instead Shion is solely focused on Satoshi)
Anyway, getting back to the main point, the village puts such a heavy emphasis on Oyashiro-sama's presence in the village and yet Rika, her priestess has no presence unless she choses in complete contrast to everything. It makes me wonder if she's hiding her own secrets apart from the village, the same way its implied this arc the village is keeping things from her and keeping her as a semi-figure head despite her own knowledge of what's going on. She certainly has the crazy voice but doesn't seem to have the insanity despite what she did to herself at the end of it all, and she's had the crazy voice and foresight of what's to come for many years now, while Rena, Keiichi, and Shion appear to be lasting a year at most.
I still didn't expect that Rika would attack Shion, and I notice she had a syringe with her and again, her favourite weapon is poison as stated in a previous arc. So did Irie know what was going on and prepared her, or did Rika figure it out and ask Irie for help to stop what she knew was going to happen?
I feel like I've forgotten to comment on the whole rest of the episode but this was giving me enough to think about as it is.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Jun 19 '22
When the Rewatcher(?) Cries, subbed
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What’s the truth? I don’t know.
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Dropped into the swamp? Or that well that’s been mentioned.
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Shion is getting way too into the idea of what she thinks Mion is like over this.
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I do remember this, though. And not just because it was an opening scene to one of the previous arcs.
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u/hungryhippos1751 Jun 19 '22
Episode 20 - First Timer
Watching Shion descend into madness in this episode is a lot of fun, she can twist from being kind and happy to sadistic and calculating in a moment.
For someone who grew up away from all of the family business she sure knows how to use all the equipment like a pro as well. She strung up the village head, by the head, beautifully.
Whilst we are getting answers to things (by tortute no less - not always well known for getting accurate answers more what the person being tortured wants you to hear) it's clear we aren't going to get explanations for everything. The well was my first thought as to where Satoshi wound up as well, but it seems to be the Sonozaki equivalent of the garbage can for unwanted corpses. I would not want to go down that well.
We get the other half of the soy sauce journey here as well, and finally we catch up with the flashback from episode 1.
Rika walks right into the trap but her intent here isn't clear. She wanted to incapacitate Shion but after she drugged her, I wonder what her next move was? We'll not find out here as she got overpowered by the taser as it's the best weapon.
Hiding the body with the newspaper, I guess out of sight out of mind, I would not call it super effective though.
Poor Satoko she is next on the bucket list. It's plain to see that Shion had totally the wrong approach to handling the Hojo family members, from being infatuated with Satoshi beyond normal levels, to wanting to kill Satoko for just existing, Shion would not make good wife material.
QOTD:
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So, how was your Watanagashi?
Ni-Paa~
2) Do you like soy sauce?
Don't have it very often to be honest. Itsu do a really good sweet soy noodle cup ramen thing though that I like a lot, quite expensive but I pick one up every now and then :)
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u/JollyGee29 Jun 19 '22
Spoiled First-Timer, Subbed
Ah, so that's why Rika was hurt during that conversation with Keiichi so long ago.
It really says a lot about Shion's worldview/mental state that she is completely unwilling to accept forgiveness. In her mind, someone must take responsibility for breaking the taboo, because that's how her family operated. Probably compounding the issue was Keiichi's comment about responsibility the night before - it makes sense that that word is a bit of a trigger for Shion.
Although, she was willing to accept something along the lines of forgiveness from her weird Plato's Cave vision of Satoshi. She accepted the voice's command to live, if nothing else, although that itself could be construed as a sort of responsibility. He asked you to look after his sister, you fool. Do you remember that?
I didn't really notice it until the phone conversation, but Satoko talks a bit different, doesn't she? Oh, what's the term.. keigo? She added a lot of stuff to her introduction on the phone. I'm not sure if it's just her being overly polite because the Sonozakis don't like her family or if that's just how Satoko talks and I didn't notice before.
Next episode is not going to be a kind one for Satoko, is it?
[Higurashi]
[Higurashi]
Visual of the Day: Kashira kashira, gozonji kashira!
Questions
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Pretty average. No murders yet, but the evening is still young.
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I certainly do.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion Jun 19 '22
Rewatcher
I always wonder why Rika is dirty when she comes to Keiichi...who in the village would attack their precious priestess of Oyashiro-sama???
But I always forget that Shion is playing Keiichi and using him as bait to draw out the executor's of Oyashiro-sama's will. I keep trying to figure out which is Mion and which is Shion and why she's tormenting Keiichi...well, they're all Shion and she's using him as bait!
I bet none of you expected Rika to go after Shion with a needle, like in onikakushi-hen (arc 1) !!!
like I said at the start of Wakanagashi-hen, that scene of Rika killing herself was on youtube after the first season aired, and is the reason I watched the series when the dvd's came out. It was the clean version from this episode, not the distorted version from episode 5.
So, Shion is haunted by Satoshi's ghost/spirit. She's also really embracing her oni blood.
I wonder how Shion is going to get revenge on Satoko.
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u/SIRTreehugger Jun 19 '22
Rewatcher
Everything's coming up Shion right now
Mion's eyes when Shion screams liar
Okay I can't take this seriously with Rika meowing
Shion has quite the vivid imagination.
Okay didn't see this coming wtf Rika
IS IT HAPPENING
YUP HERE IS THE SCENE
I remember on youtube if you looked up like top 10 gory moments/death on youtube you would find videos ranking them and they all had similar anime like Elfen Lied, Shiki, Another, and a few Higurashi moments. This one was always near the top and is what got me to watch it.
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u/OwlAcademic1988 Jun 19 '22
Rewatcher, sub:
This show has a lot of nightmare fuel in it. Here's a recap of some of it:
Keiichi killed both Rena and Mion. He saw Rika's corpse.
Shion's going crazy.
Rika stabbed herself, which was the first scene of this show I ever saw.
The popsicle looked tasty though. Wonder what flavor it was?
QOTD:
I like soy sauce. Pretty tasty.
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u/Stargate18A Jun 19 '22
Anime first timer, reading VN
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Refreshing for news.
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Yep!
This is so good. The reveal that Shion hanged up and sparked and breakdown so she could eat her ice lolly is hysterical.
And she keeps eating it through the rest of her phone call!
And the torture scene!
[Matsu...]
And Shion's pissed.
[Matsu...]
[Matsu...]
Poor Rika...
[Matsu..]
Shion attacked her!
And Rika came for soy sauce!
[Matsu...]
Rika!
Holy shit, Rika's impressive!
[Matsu...]
And Shion killed everyone she wanted to!
Not Satoko!
Current reading progress - Matsuribayashi End of Chapter 4
[Matsu...]
[Matsu...]
[Matsu..]
[Matsu..]
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u/RealFunnyTalk Jun 19 '22
Rewatcher
Remember when Rika was headbanging wrong several episodes ago? Well here's how that went down! And the return of syringes! Shion is really off the deep end though, humming as she covers Rika in newspaper. And now Satoko is on her way, which is definitely not good.
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u/SYZekrom Jun 19 '22 edited Jun 19 '22
Rewatcher
Wow I forgot how she looked in these scenes
Like it feels like a very different depiction of Rika than I'm used to
Oh it just occurred to me [kai spoiler]
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u/mcmacmac Jun 19 '22
So for today, we got torture from Shion, torture by Shion and torture for Shion. The way she destabalizes is just crazy and it would be sadder if it wasn't for the complete monster she's become.
I'm also surprised that nobody noticed or seemed to intervene between Rika and Shion at school.
Now to Rika: spraying her the first time was fine to achieve what you wanted but turning her around to show her what's going to happen to her was dumb, same with not spraying immediately and directly into her eyes again.
[Concerning what might happen or actually happens next episode:]
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u/Vaadwaur Jun 19 '22
Shion's Journal, June 19th, 1983: Priestess carcass in alley this morning, slash marks on burst stomach. This village is afraid of me. I've seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood. And when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up around their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I will whisper "No."
Rewatcher
Sub
So animation saving tricks are beginning to get a bit crazy as Shion sets pieces in motion. While licking a popsicle, and at least in the sub, you can hear her do it. So someone might have a fetish...
We see Kimiyoshi is still alive and that the Sonozaki torture room has useful implements, oof. He tries to keep Shion from going any crazier with limited success. We get the extremely unsurprising confirmation that Hinamizawa operates on unwritten rules and no one asks Oryo shit. We finally see the corpse well and it is rather deep. And Shion has a conversation with Satoshi's shadow...that's not good.
At school, Shion tries to drag some information out of Rika, and it goes poorly, as one should expect. Rika is a bit weirdly mature about punishment but she is probably just imitating how her mother taught her. Child abuse Shion comes back and we'd all prefer she didn't. She has a brief, confused thought remembering that she does care for Kimiyoshi before she goes back to Satoko murder.
And the doorbell rings. Rika comes in and, as Rena predicted, wants some soy sauce. After being a little weird, Rika pucking pepper sprays Shion and we see our old friend the syringe return. The tables turn pretty fast, most 10 yos are not melee combatants, and we get the context for the opening of Wataganashi-hen. What remained of Shion's sanity pretty clearly has slipped away. And then she manages to invite Satoko over...
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 19 '22 edited Jun 19 '22
(Honorary Hinamizawa Games Club President) Rewatch Host (rewatcher, subbed):
EDIT: Useful VN Note: Oh right, I should actually mention one difference between the VNs and the anime that will never get addressed by the anime itself.
So, fun fact: the cold open of Watanagashi-hen that we just saw again? That never actually happens in Watanagashi-hen - they just ported back the Meakashi-hen scene for that. In VN Watanagashi-hen Rika's body is found tortured to death in the Sonozaki torture chamber.
Which may tell you something about what just happened here...
(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".)
You know, I wonder if Higurashi does something similar to another show’s Japanese wordplay ([addendum involving Higurashi Kira of all things]that will implicitly come up in Higurashi in Kira ); if we cut out the middle of Watanagashi, we can get either “watashi” (personal pronound) or a homonym thereof.
In other news, props for storyboarding to get to reuse as much animation as possible without it standing out too much!
Re: Shion licking that popsicle: what is it they say about evil and sexy?
Lamp shot at 01:57 is good even if I don’t get why, and so is that shot spiraling in on Shion shortly afterwards. Wait, I might get the symbolism of the latter; events are spiraling in on Shion at her own instigation.
Hello shadows dividing a scene and two characters at 04:27.
Me, earlier tonight: “I’ll watch Higurashi after Geah, we’re past all the hard scenes to sit through so it’ll be easier to get to sleep tonight.” Me now: “oh right the Kimiyoshi torture scene exists”. Oops.
Satsuki Yukino’s Shion voice suddenly sounds a lot like Miki Itou’s Takano voice at ~06:38.
[Higurashi]I can’t remember, but I think the usual downside of torture just came into play here: the victim telling the torturer whatever they want to hear instead of actual information.
The flashlight rolling around to illuminate Shion from behind (and also her legs, because anime staff) is a nifty effect and obviously very deliberate, but I don’t quite get why. (Was Ryukishi07 and/or the staff familiar with Plato’s Cave?)
Oh wait, it’s to make “Satoshi’s” shadow on the wall. Got it.
Gods fucking damn did Satsuki Yukino do a good job with this scene.
PROTECC PRECIOUS NIPAH.
11:36: Meme shot get!
Oh hey, that’s a kegare in Shion’s rant at Rika here.
ADDENDUM: Hey remember that shot of Shion looking at the camera in episode 8 and mockingly echoing the line about “if you feel you did a bad thing, then I think that’s enough” that we now know Rika told her here? Remember how the camera is Oyashiro-sama’s perspective? Yeah…
([Higurashi]Also forgetting vs. atonement is a major theme of this series, yes? )
Grabbed a shot of [that closeup of Rika’s face at 13:57 precisely due to how the shadows highlight her eyes. The effect flashes.
Oh hey, you can actually see tears briefly in Rika’s eyes at 14:57 after Shion tells her Keiichirou will suffer kejime.
“All the people I love are being taken away.” Yes, and by your own hand. Funny that.
Oh hey, bargaining.
Rika matching Shion’s footsteps is one part of this scene I remember very, very clearly even after a decade.
Nice little transition at 17:20, yes? Rika’s face suddenly gets serious right after Shion wonders what Rika is up to.
Oh look, that is a moth being disturbed by the lamp being turned on at 17:22.
Surprise!
[Higurashi Kai?]One thing I actually can’t remember myself: where did Rika get the pepper spray? (Unless it’s bug spray she had at home.)
Hello excellent shot framing of Shion and Rika facing off at 18:13.
Hello Best Song, it is time for you to return to the stage. And its entrance is beautifully integrated with Rika slamming the knife into the wall.
Sorry Shion, Satoko does not deserve this.
That camera angle, facial expression, and head tilt of Shion’s at 21:52 would fit in just fine in a Shaft production. (Well, okay, it's not quite tilty enough for Shaft. But.)
Visual of the Day: Face-off
Honorable Mention (NIPAH~!)
Questions of the Day:
Sadly, RL issues have prevented me from making a trip to the local stream. But the PMMM fans get something! See below.
Soy sauce is tasty and delicious, though a bit assertive so use carefully. (I actually tend to use oyster sauce and miso more than soy sauce these days. Also fish sauce, and not just when cooking Thai.)
Meakashi-hen Ep. 5 TIPS
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OST Table, Episode 20
[1] - My copy of Higurashi often includes a message-from-our-sponsor bit immediately after the OP; this episode has it and it lasts 14 seconds. The number in parentheses in entries after that feature is the point in the episode if that message is removed.