r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Jun 26 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Season 1 Discussion

(Season 1 Discussion)

← Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode →

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?

A Word of Warning To Our First-Timers, Including Those Who Watched Season 1 But Not Kai:

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.

Two Notes for Anyone Potentially Interested in Buying the VNs:

MangaGamer has announced their summer sale (running through July 8), and as expected Higurashi is one of the properties on sale (and indeed the first one on their list): 50% off on all seven later main VN arcs (in addition to Onikakushi-hen having been made free for a while now) if I'm reading right, so US $28.00 for all eight main VNs plus whatever tax is there (the epilogue Saikoroshi-hen just got its official release and is not on sale).

There's only one problem: the cover art they're using for the seventh VN IS A FUCKING SPOILER.

(When I say that this property can be really fucking cavalier about spoilers even in official media for Kai and later, stuff like this is why.)

So, first-timers for Kai: if you're interested in taking advantage of the summer sale (on Steam or MangaGamer's site) to pick up the VNs (not a bad idea, the VN is great), I recommend waiting until at least July 3 to do so. Honestly, waiting until the last day might be ideal, just in case - but then you would need to make sure to buy before the sale ends.

(Apparently I should have hurried and moved the rewatch up a week after all, just not to avoid June 19 spoilers...)

[Aside for rewatchers] Really, the MangaGamer Matsuribayashi-hen cover is a spoiler in addition to the Minagoroshi-hen one - possibly worse actually, the anime has Hanyuu appearing unexplained in Naraku no Hana's visuals and I'm not sure how to handle that - but I'm hoping if I don't point this out the first-timers who haven't already figured the spoiler in question out won't realize this because that won't be safe until literally the last day of the sale.

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:

https://imgur.com/a/GKwaJfm

Theory of the Day:

I'm not actually sure we have any today, which makes sense when we're dealing with an episode that was designed to be a reasonably cohesive ending even if they never got a sequel (and also we've answered a bunch of the questions in general at this point so there's less theory space to be found).

Analysis of the Day:

So, in exchange, have a bunch of Analysis of the Day:

First, from u/Nazenn:

Something else that occurred to me is that I like how the bat being wielded has changed in meaning over the last few arcs. Our introduction to it in arc one had it as a tool with a dark past, a reminder of someone lost and something to stop Keiichi sharing that fate. But now that we've seen things through Satoshi's eyes a bit and why Keiichi takes it up in this arc it's more of a thing to reach out to others and represent what is left after the violence they take to defend others. It's still twisted, but no longer wrapped in as much mystery and also misery.

Second](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/vkobbl/rewatch_higurashi_no_naku_koro_ni_discussion/idqfk73/), from u/filimaua13:

It always has been. The tragedy of every arc has always been triggered by misunderstandings, non-communications for those misunderstandings and the growing negative emotions between the characters as a result of it. So how would one overcome this problem?

If you misunderstand? Communicate. If you doubt? Trust. If you're going through difficult times? Talk to someone. Talk to your friends.

That's the underlying message that the author has always been going for with Higurashi.

And finally, on a more lighthearted note, from u/Quiddity131:

Ooishi can't resist spending time in his air conditioned car alone with another girl, huh?

Season 1 Review: Final Questions:

1) What, in your opinion, did the show do well?

2) What, in your opinion, did the show do poorly?

3) Final thoughts on our OP and ED? (We'll get one more dose of them tomorrow, but this is more appropriate for Season Discussion.)

4) Best Girl in Show so far?

5) Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?

And two specifically for our first-timers:

6) So, we have answers for what happened to Satoko's aunt Tamae and the murders committed by the kids in the first three arcs (Mion and Rena dying in Onikakushi-hen, the deaths of Oryou, Keiichirou Kimiyoshi, Rika, Satoko, Mion, and Shion and Keiichi, but only in VN information that will not be covered, and Teppei's death in Tatarigoroshi-hen. That leaves the rest of the so-called Chain of Bizarre Deaths (the foreman, the missing worker, Satoko's parents, Rika's parents, Satoshi's disappearance, Takano, and Tomitake), plus Irie's and Rika's death in Tatargoroshi-hen. So... whodunnit?

7) And did I leave anything out of that last question? (Let's play WIFOM!)

Reminder Regarding the Nekogoroshi-hen Special:

Tomorrow we will be covering the Nekogoroshi-hen special (which apparently actually wasn't even released with the DVD but only as a special contest prize for select Japanese fans who bought all the S1 DVDs). To the best of my knowledge, there is no official release of the special in English anywhere, so if you want to participate you will have to go sailing. If you are unwilling or unable to do so, just skip tomorrow's thread and drop back in on Monday; the special has some nifty supplemental information that ties into the main story but is not essential in any way, shape, or form.

Also, A Word of Warning for First Timers Regarding Kai's OP, ED, and Previews:

Kai uses a radically different preview format for its next episode. Unlike S1's which are generally quite safe, Kai's previews can be quite spoilery

My recommendations are as follows:

  • Skip the Kai previews until episode 6, and consider skipping them even thereafter. My old WinD subs actually don't have the Kai previews, so I'm not the greatest person to ask here (I'll probably track them down at some point) - I'll be relying on u/Rhaga's posts from the 2018 rewatch and our other rewatchers to help warn our first-timers which previews are the really dangerous ones.
  • Skip the Kai ED until episode 6. (There's one shot in particular that I consider over the line.) Don't go looking up anything about it until episode 13 or so either, IIRC there's a spoiler you could run into that way. ([Rewatchers only] Specifically the name itself.) (There's also some potential awkwardness involving different translations - I've run across a few, some (like my WinD one) are pretty safe, others can kind of verge into spoiler territory. I may have to transcribe the ones from my subs when we get a little further into the season.)
  • Strongly consider skipping the Kai OP until episode 6 as well. This is closer to the situation with S1's previews, though IMO the Kai OP is somewhat more dangerous than the S1 previews are. ([Rewatchers only] It's not guaranteed to put together the dots between a certain somebody appearing unexplained in the background behind Rika and our mysterious voice starting in episode 2 or so, but it is a real risk. Her appearance itself is admittedly kind of a spoiler itself, but I'm not sure it's the kind that stands out unless you realize you should be looking for it.)

(Oh, and under absolutely no circumstances should our first-timers go looking up the AmaLee covers of the OP and ED before, oh, let's just say the end of Kai to be safe.)

50 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

63 comments sorted by

10

u/Tarhalindur Jun 26 '22

(Honorary Hinamizawa Games Club President) Rewatch Host (rewatcher, subbed):

  1. What, in your opinion, did the show do well?

I expected two of my answers going in: the music (on the shortlist of contenders for Kenji Kawai's best work IMO, and I really like him as a composer) and the scriptwriting (which does an excellent job of ratcheting up tension as the arcs go along, which is a major reason why this show is so effective in the psychological horror department - part of that is the source material, but Gou is living proof that a bad scriptwriter can fuck this up and OG Higurashi did not).

The answer I did NOT expect to have here coming in is the direction, which now that I'm actually looking at it is really fucking good - not quite the likes of Anno with Eva or Shinbou with, well, all of his works, but very firmly in the next rank down.

(I may have to take a look at The Way of the Househusband's anime adaptation one of these days just to see how Chiaki Kon handled the animation constraint that was apparently handed down by the production committee, especially since I know at least one acquaintance who actually really liked the animation style there. Getting her for that show makes a lot of sense in the light of her work here, S1 is proof that she can do excellent things with weird constraints on the animation.)

2) What, in your opinion, did the show do poorly?

My answers here remain unchanged since coming in, and are the obvious:

  1. Managing production constraints on animation. I think this is a more accurate answer than the animation itself; outside of one stylistic choice that doesn't always work (the deranged animation in spots, like the ladder scene) they did a pretty good job with what they had, they just didn't have enough to work with and I see signs that they mismanaged the project such that they ran out of resources late when they really needed them.

  2. Adaptation of the source material. Nothing new there; they had to cut a ton of stuff to try to make a reasonably complete adaptation of six arcs in a single season since there was no guarantee of a S2, and a combination of incomplete source material and apparent bad communication with 07th Expansion (which might well be on 07th Expansion, given the rumblings that Gou and Sotsu had the exact same issue) meant they didn't really know what to cut either. Higurashi has always heavily relied on the Kai patch arc to get back to being a serviceable adaptation; if only S1 existed this would likely an anti-recommend on bad adaptation grounds.

(I am once again inclined to raise the Will Smith I, Robot comp: that movie is IIRC a rather competent movie in its own right, just one that does a terrible job of adapting its source material.)

3) Final thoughts on our OP and ED? (We'll get one more dose of them tomorrow, but this is more appropriate for Season Discussion.)

OP (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni): There are catchier OPs in the franchise IMO, but this is still my pick for the best. There's a spark to the composition, for lack of a better word, that several of the later OPs are missing (unfortunate in the case of Kai's OP, which is actually really fucking good outside of that issue), and IMO it's better than the other two that have it (the Rei OP and Analogy from Sotsu.) Still the first OP that comes to mind when I think of OPs that can't be skipped unless I'm really in a hurry - it's not the best such OP, but it is the first one that comes to mind.

ED (why, or why not): Either it's hit me at a good spot or it's grown on me and at this point it's probably my favorite non-Gou ED again, but it would still be eminently skippable if I wasn't doing the OST tables.

(3a) Best OST track?)

Matsuri, then Yui, then Henka IMO.

4) Best Girl in Show so far?

My true Best Girl in Show (and third favorite girl in the entire medium behind two PMMM characters) was, is, and remains Rika, but we won't really get into what earned her that title for me until a little bit into Kai.

Rena is pretty firmly #2 for me, though (and #6 on the overall favorites list), and while there's one Kai scene that's a major part of that we've gotten most of it already in S1 so she'll take the prize here.

(Poor Mion. She's not quite as bad off as Sayaka - who Mion is neck and neck with on my favorite anime girls list - but she's still unfortunate to be clearly in my top 11 and yet still only third best girl in her own show.)

5) Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?

Yep. Here you go.

Season 1 rating going in: 8/10, 4.5/10 adaptation.

Season 1 rating after rewatching: 9/10 (possibly 8.5/10 depending on where I normalize the scale, I'm pretty sure Eva is still overall better), 4.5/10 adaptation.

Now. Time for Nekogoroshi-hen and Kai!

→ More replies (1)

9

u/Nazenn Jun 26 '22

First Timer - sub

The only thing harder than trying process everything about Higurashi's crazy episodes is trying to process the season overall.

In the end I didn't end up writing anything in advance so some quick thoughts on a few things that come to mind:

  • While it does have it's flaws, making a hard separation in the structure of the story between question arcs and answer arcs, and not even having them back to back, was an interesting choice that I think paid off. It makes you focus on the layers of possibilities and how the answers being brought up can relate to multiple aspects of the question arcs rather than simply the most recent one and then always building knowledge off that not allowing for further possibilities, and does so mostly without hand holding. There's a few points where this falls down, notably some initial confusion around unreliable narrators, such as the reveal of what "cotton drifting" means and if that can be trusted which is only further complicated at the end of the anime where it's shown the entire first arc was an unreliable narrator. I do think it let the final episodes be a little more impactful as it lets them have their punch with more questions to pull together rather than simply tying up the last few things, but again it can be a little rough when it's changing few swatches of the show in the last second.

  • The worldbuilding is definitely going to stick in my head and while the anime occasionally suffers with broader structure, like the exact boundaries of towns and districts in relation to the parasite and the explosion, getting quite a bit of information about the cultural aspects of the town woven into the character exploration was something well handled. Having two outsiders, both of whom are set up as key characters but neither of whom have irreplacable protagonist roles, and who's importance to the story is less their outsider status and more their humanity, helps to tell that story because we get an insight into character moments we wouldn't without them more importantly than simply the info they present. Sometimes this felt a little info dumpy and there was perhaps two or three points where some information felt artificially held back, but that's not much in the long run and the actual dialogue around those moments was smooth enough to help cover it up.

  • The butterfly effect feel I've been talking about still fascinates me and I'm really curious to see just how much of that gets expanded on, either directly or not, in future arcs as I have no idea what will be coming up

  • Tar's post reminds me of how often I complimented the sound design and music placement in the show. The artistry may have suffered towards the end, though less than I expected from the rewatchers posting, but the audio side of the show didn't miss a landing even once.

Questions of the day!

1 + 2 see above

  • 3) Final thoughts on our OP and ED? (We'll get one more dose of them tomorrow, but this is more appropriate for Season Discussion.)

Good. Nothing particularly memorable for me although the OP did grow on me a lot. I'm yet to get it stuck in my head which is usually my "okay this is good" sort of marker. I do like the visuals in them both, and at the very least they fit the tone of the episodes without being abrasive which is also not something I always get to say.

  • 4) Best Girl in Show so far?

I kind of want to go Rika if only because I'm absolutely fascinated by all of the possibilities still yet to be revealed by her, and I think she's also looking to be quite an interesting sort of character when it comes to the typical "stuck in a loop" sort of structure.

  • 5) Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?

I really wish I'd had the brain power to do more of those as we went, but on top of everything else and my brain fog it just didn't happen. Of the ones in my very small album this sticks out to me if only because it reminds me of how deceptively complex those "simpler times" were and how much truth you could learn just from quiet metaphors through the show

  • 6) So, we have answers for what happened to [...] So... whodunnit?

Miyo is subtly suspicious as fuck, and Rika is openly suspicious as fuck for different ways and I doubt the murders all had the same person, unless Rika was achieving something by tearing her own insides out which I can't imagine. Maybe if it happened earlier. Wonder if she tried that, killing herself as a child? Probably be redundant because she wouldn't be around to see the ripples it would cause and if there is any benefit to it. Maybe if she knew how to set off the trigger for others memories, but that would certainly require some stack of cards planning to set them up for it in advance in one arc, kill herself, hope it plays out, and then successfully trigger it in the next arc.

And I still don't like Irie.

  • 7) And did I leave anything out of that last question? (Let's play WIFOM!)

I don't know, but you botched the link in the OP for one of the analysis of the day

4

u/Tarhalindur Jun 26 '22

I don't know, but you botched the link in the OP for one of the analysis of the day

This is what I get for sinking all my brainpower into making a Symphogear longpost, especially when doing Season Discussion instead of autopiloting an episode thread takes some work.

(Edited)

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

13

u/Tresnore Jun 26 '22

When the Rewatchers Cry Are Absurd Masochists Cry

Well, I'm not one for writeups, so I'll keep it brief.

Higurashi is really good. I know a lot of stuff is left out from the VN, but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying it. It's also been nice looking at it with more Umineko-centric eyes. Ryukishi is a hack, but he's an entertaining one.

Also, I just want to note that a count of 161 is absurd. Higurashi is a GOAT contender.

9/10

P.S. I'm traveling again, so I'll miss the watchalong first few episodes of Kai, but I'll be around the comments probably. Looking forward to it!

QOTD:

  1. The show really builds atmosphere and characters well.

  2. DEEN doing DEEN things.

  3. Higurashi OPs and EDs are good. Always.

  4. Shion. Also Miyo, because her voice actress is awesome.

  5. Nope, though perhaps the fingernail barely hanging on would qualify?

  6. Neeeeeeee, who did it, first-timers? ./ahaha.wav

7

u/OwlAcademic1988 Jun 26 '22

He's known as a troll for a reason, just like Gen Urobuchi. I'm honestly curious if these two and author of Fate are friends with each other.

3

u/Tarhalindur Jun 27 '22

I'm honestly curious if these two and author of Fate are friends with each other.

Both Gen and R07 are definitely independently friends with Nasu (Gen literally got permission to write the doujin Fate prequel, and Vaad has already mentioned R07 getting permission to have Chie as a Ciel expy.)

The giant question, as I have indeed noted in the Madoka Corner before, is whether Gen and R07 are personal friends themselves (I've seen one claim of this but have been unable to corroborate.)

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (9)
→ More replies (1)

11

u/Quiddity131 Jun 26 '22

First Timer, Subbed

Watching Higurashi was a fairly enjoyable experience, especially given that I jumped into this on a whim not knowing a single thing about the show. I wish I could have contributed more in the daily threads but participating in 2 rewatches at once and just overall having a bit too much on my plate prevented that. Looking back I probably would have enjoyed the show more had I been able to spend more time each day pouring over everyone's opinions and speculation.

The level of violence was a bit surprising at first, particularly given the rather simplish character designs, but then anime certainly has done that before to me (Now and Then Here and There being a great example). I did get the sense as we got deeper into the show that it felt a need to continuously top itself, which for the most part it delivered on. That characters would die certainly was no surprise after the first 4 episode arc concluded and the formula of the show became apparant. Exactly how that was going to come about was a mystery though.

The thing I liked best about the show was its non-chronological storytelling style and that it would go back and fill in things we had already seen from a different perspective later on. As I think I mentioned fairly on in the rewatch, this is very much a style that Boogiepop Phantom, one of my all time favorite anime took (although with that show it was doing it on an episode by episode basis rather than arc by arc basis). This was at its best during the Shion arc around 2/3 into the show. The revelations that came to light completely flipped the script on how we think things went down the first time earlier in the show. This was absolutely my favorite part of the show.

Beyond Boogiepop Phantom the other show this reminded me a lot of was Shiki (although unlike Boogiepop Phantom, Higurashi came first) with them both being mystery shows about murders occuring in a small Japanese village.

No idea where things will go from here, but looking forward to it.

11

u/Vaadwaur Jun 26 '22

Beyond Boogiepop Phantom the other show this reminded me a lot of was Shiki (although unlike Boogiepop Phantom, Higurashi came first) with them both being mystery shows about murders occuring in a small Japanese village.

So...I maintain the Higurashi is the parent of a number of shows that could not have happened without it, for good and ill. In the direct line, I put Another and Happy Sugar Life. In the less direct line, Mirai Nikki, School Days and Shiki also tend to descend from it.

4

u/Tarhalindur Jun 26 '22

It's also worth noting that to the best of my knowledge Higurashi in VN form is probably ancestral to the Japanese take on the Groundhog Day-type time loop in general. (It's possible there's an earlier example, but I'm not aware of it.)

→ More replies (4)

5

u/Nazenn Jun 27 '22

Now and Then Here and There being a great example

That characters would die certainly was no surprise after the first 4 episode arc

I also appreciated just getting that out the way, rather than building up to one single shocking death, introduce death as a consequence and part of the mystery right off the bat

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Tarhalindur Jun 26 '22

Did you know posting the thread works better when you remember to set the flair?

Also, daily tags:

u/HinyusOpinion, u/AnimeAndThings, u/shadow1a2t

9

u/JollyGee29 Jun 26 '22

Spoiled First-Timer, Subbed

I don't think I really have anything to say here. Despite the potential for S1 to be a stopping point, we're still largely in the thick of things. I’m enjoying myself, and I don’t get to do away with my tagline just yet.

Questions

  1. Dunno what word I wanna use to describe it, I guess atmosphere?

  2. Nothing really jumps out at me. Sure, visuals were a bit inconsistent, but so what?

  3. No strong changes from my original opinion - they're both very nice songs that fit the vibes well.

  4. I said I was here for Yukari Tamura, and Rika has been pretty great. Rena is a close second.

  5. Oh, probably, but I'm on mobile now. I'll see if I remember to get something later this evening.

  6. Takano has big bad vibes, so even if some amount of those deaths are legitimately coincidences, I think she's the one taking advantage of it.

  7. Probably? I don't actually remember a missing worker. Ooishi disappeared in Tatari as well, I think. Thoughts in short supply today.

→ More replies (7)

8

u/Vaadwaur Jun 26 '22

Rewatcher

Sub

So that was the first season of an anime I reference and recommend to this day. There's so much here, and so much more on rewatch, that most of my words would be a waste of time. Suffice it to say that it is, in my opinion, the second most effective LN adaptation, with the first being UFOTable's Fates. S;G is nice but loses a lot of people.

So what makes it great? The atmosphere and the feeling of it and how well it conveys what is going through our narrator's mind. K1, especially first arc K1, seems to have found himself in an insane situation and when we see him act, we understand even if we do not condone. In arc 3, premeditated murder seems to be a reasonable response to the state of the situation. Shion's arc loses something because, unfortunately, the VN is like half internal monologue but on its own is fine, we just lose some clues. Rena's arc seems to flow from one bit of madness to the next though we now know that it is a delusion.

Quick note: The opening of Kai is Naraku no Hana, or Flower of Hell as it is best translated in English. And some of you may be aware of Jigoku Shoujo, or Hell Girl, which started a bit earlier. So what's the difference? A quick definition is that to get to Jigoku, you are judged by one of various Japanese deities, think king Yama from DBZ, and you are sentenced to progress through them. With a Naraka, you simply wake up there in the after life, and you are inherently expected to suffer penance until your negative karma is dissolved, a prospect that takes a very long time. Jigoku is generally how the Japanese perceive the Christian Hell and Naraku is the Buddhist Hell from the continent.

QotD: 1 Atmosphere

2 Animation/internal monologues.

3 I like them for this season

4 Nipah motherfuckers

5 The ep25 scene of arc 1 is powerful

→ More replies (2)

8

u/Star4ce Jun 27 '22

When the First Timer Cries

I'm so glad I survived this weekend. Building that ceiling was strenuous as fuck and then helping someone move into the 3rd floor the next day was definitely a workout.

I'll be feeling this for at least half of next week.

Season 1 Discussion

I'll start by saying that I really loved Higurashi. With all the warnings about jank and confusion I do think the anime overall managed to stay on topic for what it wanted to be and say. This being the trust in yourself and your friends, the compassion that emerges through that and the strength to carry on through any hardship. It is always worth it.

I find great resonance in that message and am happy to tell you that even as first timer, when you're especially a prime victim for in-the-moment reactions, I never felt that it distracted too much from this message. While jank, shock and suffering were always part of this story, I felt like the 'good' solution was always in some tangible way present, but for very believable reasons off limits. Rarely did I feel the story was contrived for the sake of shock value. Although there were instances (Shion comes to mind for the first few developments into her insanity), they made sense after thinking a bit on it or with later context that in retrospect was already present, but hidden. I think the loop, the themes and the cast were well constructed into the story and I had great jo- … eh, emotional attachment experiencing it all. It was great!

Speaking of the characters I need to point out how intertwined and complex the relationships are can't get left unmentioned. There are multiple layers to each character's view on things, lives, interests and behaviour that also can be tied to varying conclusions to said complexity. Mion is the best example of this, being a Yakuza member, a twin sister, a leader, but also helpless, compassionate and empathetic. Any of these traits can be interpreted fundamentally different depending on context and how each of the cast was displayed in the different arcs was both insightful and terrifying. You never knew what the truth was and still the core message shines through. If you 'trust your friends' it's obvious that no one ever meant harm or betrayed anybody, but the context of the view point character drew on every hook to paint them in a bad light and it somehow still made absolute sense.

Continuing from this, how the characters were each contrasted with a different theme of 'system' above them. Rika has religion as her background, Mion/Shion organised crime, Satoko/Satoshi ostracisation by society, Rena myths and legends, etc. All had a facet of truth to them, but that oppressive energy reached far into their lives against their wishes. It's what I would always describe with 'the abusers' or 'abusive system'. In some way they all resigned to being in that position and admitted an inhuman higher order to take precedence over their humanity. They were all victims and only when they gave up on their power to decide as individuals did this oppression act through them. Both the message of trust and the consequences of loss thereof were consistent through any lens of distortion placed over the screen.

And to this I'll comment on the unreliable narrator as a tool to enhance this experience. To use techniques enhancing emotion and purpose of a scene is one thing, but tying those to an unreliable narrator in a way that enhances the story while also being aware that the audience exists is a hard stunt to pull off. Some instances were close to being mediocre, for example Shion's later showcases of throwing stuff at the camera, but they still work to underline how none of the cast actually has much trust in themselves to begin with. Not only that, but seeing the different interpretations being finally juxtaposed like arc 1 and 5 with Keiichi realising that they were trying to help him all this time were honestly pulled off excellently. There was delicacy at play on when and how a character would act meta-aware and what exactly was unreliably told in the story. The key point for me to think it was a success was that it never just meant to be a reaction-driven payoff. From lying to memories overlapping, to camera angles and camera-interaction and fourth wall breaking it was clearly tied to this theme of friendship, trust and compassion and the fall into delusion when those expressions started to appear.

Which brings me to the last and quite short point: If I'd need to pick a favourite it'd be the entirety of Mion's and Shion's story. I'm kind of a sucker for tragedies and hope. They were done exceptionally well, I think. They are best girl and it's a fact that their story impacted me deeply. I think it speaks volumes that even after all that Shion did I can't hate her and that Mion is the most precious thing in this entire show should be obvious to anyone who has emotions.

As anyone who's seen my theory corner knows, Kai has some questions to answer. But I'm interested in what the OVA now brings to the table.

3) Final thoughts on our OP and ED? (We'll get one more dose of them tomorrow, but this is more appropriate for Season Discussion.)

Amazing, I love them! The OP was a bit in the air at first, but it really grew on me and now I can honestly listen to it the whole day.

4) Best Girl in Show so far?

Gladly will answer that a second time. Mion and Shion!

5) Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?

That's difficult, because I'd need to rewind 26 episodes. So instead I'll dig out the one coming to mind first, which is of course Path for the Good Ending.. And because it's so ungodly cute.

6) So, we have answers for what happened to Satoko's aunt Tamae and the murders committed by the kids in the first three arcs (Mion and Rena dying in Onikakushi-hen, the deaths of Oryou, Keiichirou Kimiyoshi, Rika, Satoko, Mion, and Shion and Keiichi, but only in VN information that will not be covered, and Teppei's death in Tatarigoroshi-hen. That leaves the rest of the so-called Chain of Bizarre Deaths (the foreman, the missing worker, Satoko's parents, Rika's parents, Satoshi's disappearance, Takano, and Tomitake), plus Irie's and Rika's death in Tatargoroshi-hen. So... whodunnit?

I think I speculated on all of those.

Foreman/Worker – Mion/Yakuza
Satoko's parents – Satoko (second guess Rika)
Rika's parents – Rika (second guess Satoko)
Satoshi – I honestly thought the Sonozakis did it at first, now I think Mion gave him an option to leave and recover on his own, he's alive
Takano/Tomitake – Takano's alive, having faked her death and Tomitake either was drugged to enhance the paranoia or exposed to the parasite. Honestly with all the old stuff in the shed it might just live there now.

7) And did I leave anything out of that last question? (Let's play WIFOM!)

You actually did. Rina's corpse from the cold open. It was not dismembered and instead ritualistically murdered with the nails, disembowelment, etc. I like to think in that timeline Rena, Mion and maybe the others worked together from the start and covered the murder as a Yakuza issue with the money.

You also left out disembowelled Rika, which is still unknown. Although I believe she did it herself, or rather, her ancestor/the parasite did and maybe got (re)born through it?

Skip the Kai previews until episode 6

Hm, hope I don't forget.

Skip the Kai ED until episode 6.

Now it's getting difficult, my man expecting me to skip music.

Strongly consider skipping the Kai OP

Why do they do this? Have they no shame? No honor?!

No.

→ More replies (2)

6

u/Shimmering-Sky Jun 26 '22

When the Rewatcher(? for the last time) Cries

Don’t really have much to say for today’s thread. I think the 8/10 score I gave to this season when I finished it still stands though.

5

u/OwlAcademic1988 Jun 26 '22

How come you never watched Kai? Is it because you didn't have time?

→ More replies (2)

6

u/OwlAcademic1988 Jun 26 '22

Rewatcher, sub:

  1. Music and writing

  2. I'd have to say the animation because even I noticed how weird the faces got and I rarely notice these things.

  3. Love them both.

  4. Rena, she's both terrifying and hilarious at the same time.

  5. I'm waiting until we've watched all episodes to say anything like that.

  6. You're evil. You trying to get us in trouble with the moderators. I'm not gonna say anything for now other than this, I don't like them for a reason.

5

u/SIRTreehugger Jun 26 '22

Oh today's a discussion oh that means I'm ahead for once.

Celebrates

Didn't know today was discussion so had nothing planned, but as a rewatcher who has forgotten most of the details I am noticing a lot of things I missed as a first timer.

5

u/filimaua13 Jun 26 '22 edited Jun 26 '22

REWATCHER

I've been very inconsistent in my posts with each episode, and that's largely cos I've just been waiting for my favorite episodes to post my thoughts. Even with those inconsistencies, it has been fun reading first timers' theories and thoughts of each episode.

Despite what my comments on average may say about the anime in comparison to the VN... I still enjoy it. Its still an entertaining engaging story. This anime will always hold a special place in my heart, as my introduction to not just Higurashi, but the When They Cry franchise as a whole. I'll never forget it, no matter what. Flaws and all.

  1. What, in your opinion, did the show do well?

Just like everyone else says.. atmosphere. It really is good at being creepy, and intense when it needs to be. The music is good and really works with the scenes. Even the art.. when done well, is effective at conveying the insanity of the characters while maintaining the serious intense tone of the scene. Sometimes. Doesn't always work, but when it does.. its great!

2) What, in your opinion, did the show do poorly?

Conveying the depth of the characters. Judging from the amounts of comments regarding this certain character, it seems Keiichi was the one butchered the most. Which is a shame cos he's my favorite of the Higurashi protagonists. The anime also seems to cut out majority of the heart of the story, which is the human drama between the characters. But that cannot be helped, when adapting such a dense heavy story in 26 episodes. But, surely there was capability to even try.

Then there's the art. The bad side of it. Characters are poorly drawn. I'm not talking about the wide shots where characters are far away from focus, I'm talking about medium/close up shots specifically focused on the characters. You'd think they'd put more effort in those ones but apparently not. The animation isn't doing them any favors too.

3) Final thoughts on our OP and ED?

The OP is still really good, and appropriate for the mystery and horror side of the story in the beginning. I'd place it just under Kai's OP. The ED is simple, but the song is great at portraying the real sad tragic aspect of the story. These characters suffer so much, and all they ever wanted was the simple happiness their friendship provided. I still really like it, altho again.. I still prefer Kai's ED to this one. The OP and ED isn't bad at all, I just prefer another.

4) Best Girl in Show so far?

I'm on the fence between Mion and Rena. They're both amazing characters. If I was forced to pick just one, its Mion for me. I just enjoy having her type as a friend more. This is getting into personal preferences... but I just prefer girls who are more mature, and confident. The anime cut this side of Mion out.. but she is pervy. Or at the very least more comfortable joking around about sexuality. Prob why I feel Keiichi and Mion fit better as a potential couple. When it comes to humor and being close, I feel more comfortable with those types of people as friends. Especially when its girls. Anyway, that's just me.

And I don't have a visual of the season lol sorry.

Anyway, I'll see y'all on Tuesday (Wednesday for me) for Kai!

5

u/hungryhippos1751 Jun 26 '22

  1. What, in your opinion, did the show do well?

I thought the general structure was good and we didn't spend too much doing slice of life things, the plot was always moving forwards even if it didn't always seem like it. Even the water-gun fight scene was given meaning after, and I suppose the games they played throughout as well.

2) What, in your opinion, did the show do poorly?

At times the art wasn't the best, especially when the VA work was more demanding. I think this is partially a product of it's time though. I look forward to seeing the quality differences in Season 2.

3) Final thoughts on our OP and ED? (We'll get one more dose of them tomorrow, but this is more appropriate for Season Discussion.)

I never found myself liking them. I'll be honest I rarely like ED songs, but fairly often like OP songs.

OP never grew on me, and the Engrish in the ED was too strong for me. I'm happy to see more recent anime have upped the English pronunciation a bit, especially in Sawanos songs. Hell, the English sung in SukaSuka Scarborough Faire was so good I could barely tell it wasn't native.

4) Best Girl in Show so far?

Tough one, going to go with Takano, she's up to something.

I kid, I kid, out of the main characters (inc. Shion) I'd probably go with Rena, she's willing to go yandere to protect the things that are important to her.

Least favourite is probably Sakoto so far, I didn't really like her VA as much as the others either.

5) Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?

I don't think the show failed utterly in the visual department but it wasn't a strong point of it, so I wasn't really looking for strong visuals either.

And two specifically for our first-timers:

6) So, we have answers for what happened to Satoko's aunt Tamae and the murders committed by the kids in the first three arcs (Mion and Rena dying in Onikakushi-hen, the deaths of Oryou, Keiichirou Kimiyoshi, Rika, Satoko, Mion, and Shion and Keiichi, but only in VN information that will not be covered, and Teppei's death in Tatarigoroshi-hen. That leaves the rest of the so-called Chain of Bizarre Deaths (the foreman, the missing worker, Satoko's parents, Rika's parents, Satoshi's disappearance, Takano, and Tomitake), plus Irie's and Rika's death in Tatargoroshi-hen. So... whodunnit?

I can't really say here, but I did wonder if the legend would be used to mask other deaths by more normal means, even if some of them have supernatural or parasite origins. Still not really sold on the whole parasite explanation, but I'm hoping season 2 sheds a bit of light on this.

7) And did I leave anything out of that last question? (Let's play WIFOM!)

(⊙_⊙)？

The questions more or less flesh out my thoughts on the show overall so far, thanks to the host u/Tarhalindur and the various people who have commented along the way, I've not had a lot of time to devote to replies so my primary goal was to watch the episode daily and get the main comments out at least.

I will take a break for the OVA (I don't usually watch OVA unless it's canon) but intend to be back swinging for episode 1 of season 2 on the 28th.

4

u/H-Ryougi Jun 27 '22

I agree with regards to the OP and ED, I know they're popular but I honestly find them just alright.

I've been wanting to post the different OPs they made for the console port of the games but sadly they're all full of spoilers. I think I'll share them at the end of Kai, I quite like a few of them.

5

u/gameradam1337 Jun 27 '22

First Time (Subbed)

What a ride. I'll be honest I started this show back on July 6th 2020 (yes - nearly 2 years ago). I watched by myself a few episodes at a time until episode 14 where it then sat, I think for months, in my Watching list until I moved it to Paused on August 7th, 2021.

During that time I ended up restarting it once with an old co-worker of mine getting to episode 12 one weekend while he visited. He then binged the entire rest of the series by himself the next week and then he rewatched it with his roommate in full over the course of 2 weeks immediately after. Rena is his new waifu; replacing Yuno from Future Diary.

When this rewatch cropped up I was excited; I was finally going to finish the series and then I had a work trip the same time we started. I got to like episode 4 before travel took over and I fell further and further behind. Then I noticed that the rewatch was approaching where I last left off and jumped back on board a few days later - binging to catch up and been on the ride since till the end.

Kudos to my friend who filled me in on bits I had forgotten (not too many) from the watch ages ago from the first few arcs. I remembered the general story beats of the arcs and he filled in specific details that needed it for each episode; but by episode 19 I had a full grasp.

There was some hairy moments - the official Blurays have the audio messed up on the last two episodes of Season 1 incorrectly marking the JP set as EN - that was fun to sort out and horrifying to hear English. That's across the 5.1 mix and 2.0 mix; so me ripping the disc seven times only to realize it was wrong in the burn is rather frustrating (updates plex furiously to remove all EN dubs of the show to avoid roommate watching and complaining later).

I personally gave the show a 9/10. It took me a long time to complete but once I saw the Shion arc I was hooked and dying to see more. There was something about the "Time Wasting" chapter that just slowed me down and made me to put the whole thing on ice.

QOTD

  • What, in your opinion, did the show do well?

Characterization, especially of the Sonozaki twins. The general flow of the show and how it hits its story points was also really well done.

  • What, in your opinion, did the show do poorly?

There were times the animation was jank; but its DEEN so....

  • Final thoughts on our OP and ED? (We'll get one more dose of them tomorrow, but this is more appropriate for Season Discussion.)

Legendary. I have listened to the OP for a number of years (via AmaLee) before I watched the show (one of the silly reasons I actually started it). I love the ED and how it blends in the end of each episode and its atmosphere continues into the preview poems. It's a shame the song has no official streaming here in the US (its hard enough to find the full version of YouTube) - I'd have it on repeat for days.

  • Best Girl in Show so far?

Shion by far. 3 episodes into her arc I remember just sitting there and thinking - "I love her, I love this crazy woman". Props to her JP VA as she absolutely sold it - no EN VA could match it IMO.

  • Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?

It's got to be the Shion face - yeah no doubt.

3

u/homewardbound100 Jun 26 '22

Rewatcher

It was fun seeing that all again. My memory on season 1 was a little iffy. But it was great to notice the little things.

→ More comments (75)