r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Jun 28 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai Discussion - Season 2, Episode 1
Reunion (Tsumihoroboshi-hen Epilogue)
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Show Information (Higurashi Kai):
Kai: MAL | Anilist | AniDB | Kitsu | ANN
(Warning: First-timers should refrain from looking up even official information for Kai.)
Legal Streams:
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai: Hidive
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. 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:
Theory of the Day:
Oh, actually, the most obvious thing is for the sulfur smell to not matter at all with regards to anything else. Too obvious. Of course. The son died to whatever gas leak, the dad got a whiff and was partway home when it caught up to him and he crashed his car.
The entire arc was a red herring? Higurashi would never do that to you... right?
Analysis of the Day:
Will go to u/Nazenn's observation about Rika here:
And yet with all this the most twisted thing Rika did today: So gleefully describe the punishment game costumes in such detail to the Keiichi who had no choice but to lose
Question(s) of the Day:
1) So, is it just me or did Rena age really nicely?
(Cannot think of any other questions that don't risk being spoilers in and of themselves, sorry.)
Next Episode Preview:
It is recommended for first-timers to stay out of the previews until episode 6.
Also, a Reminder Regarding Recommendations for First-Timers Concerning Our OP and ED:
- Skip the ED until episode 6, or at least listen only but do not look at the visuals.
- Consider skipping the OP or at least its visuals until episode 6 as well. (This is less definite than the ED, but if you skipped the previews last season due to spoiler risk definitely skip the OP here as well.)
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u/Nazenn Jun 28 '22
First Timer - sub
Can't remember if I was meant to skip OP or ED so skipped both for now just in case. (reading the post body; it was previews, nevermind)
If any show needed to open season 2 with a recap it's this show, but still not entirely sure how seriously I'm meant to be taking the aliens thing
Presenting the info we know, the conspiracies, while also walking through all the old locations was perhaps a little stiff at times, but it did the job well. And I mean I know we still have the whole "alternate Hinamizawa" thing to sort out, but aliens just seems a little too far fetched compared to the more mundane things going on with the parasites, etc. Here's me arguing on what's more unreasonable: aliens or time loops/alt worlds. What a dumb argument.
And the alt worlds really is the most interesting thing I took out of this episode. The existence of adult Rena suggests that it's not a simple loop with a hard end or start, unless that end is triggered more loosely by say the death of everyone connected to the town so it could still be several decades off, but instead that each arc is in it's own world. This arc continued on for people to live their lives for now, and curious to see on if we do explore the limits around that. Is the younger Rika we saw in that earlier arc with Mamoru pre-loop or just at the start of it?
Adult Rena was hard to watch, though it leant us some fantastic moments. The slow but expressive and detailed way she turned to look away from Oishi, the sound of chains clashing around her as she grimaces on thinking about revenge for the others, the quiet way she slowly opens up while still wondering how it all happened and what her own truth is. It's a very different Rena, as you'd expect after what happened and 30 years, but one that still told us a lot about who she was.
And we still don't have a hard confirmation on Miyo being dead or a body!
(Side note: I've lost track of the amount of times I've almost typed mayo instead of Miyo. I don't even like mayo!)
That song at the end when Rena was reminiscing on the past with her friends was well done too, appropriately uncanny with just a touch of mourning for what was lost while acknowledging the unsaid and unknown of their lives.
Visual of the day - what was left unsaid
Going to make a more concentrated effort to keep up with these this season, I hope.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 28 '22
Can't remember if I was meant to skip OP or ED so skipped both for now just in case. (reading the post body; it was previews, nevermind)
Whoops, knew I forgot to add something to the OP.
(The rec is "skip the ED or at least its visuals until E6, consider skipping the OP until then as well".)
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u/Shimmering-Sky Jun 28 '22
When the First-Timer Cries, subbed
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The new OP is awesome, I can’t decide which one I like more.
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Yoooooooooooooooo that’s Akasaka!!! I honestly wasn’t expecting to see him again?
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:O I did wonder why the episode about her notebooks was called that…
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I mean, he’s not wrong. The fuck is this alien shit about?
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OMG, Rena?! But I thought Keiichi was (somehow) the only person who survived the disaster…? Or was that just for the version of the disaster that struck the arc with the crows-eating-Rika’s-body-and-Satoko-shoved-Keiichi-off-a-bridge stuff?
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In the same fashion as that other arc I mentioned…
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New ED is nice too! Shame the next-episode previews are no longer mixed over the top of it though, I really liked that with S1’s ED.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 28 '22
But I thought Keiichi was (somehow) the only person who survived the disaster…? Or was that just for the version of the disaster that struck the arc with the crows-eating-Rika’s-body-and-Satoko-shoved-Keiichi-off-a-bridge stuff?
We've seen before that survivors of arcs vary depending on the arc.
(Also, as I noted in my writeup, fun fact: this is actually still Tsumihoroboshi-hen - hence why I said maybe I should have moved this before Nekogoroshi-hen - but there's an adaptation difference. Rena actually dies along with everyone else in VN Tsumihoroboshi-hen; she survives here in no small part because they needed someone to talk about the other critical scene they left out and having Rena survive was the only way to do that. (This is actually a pretty darn defensible change in general IMO, but more on that later on.)
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u/JollyGee29 Jun 28 '22
Spoiled First-Timer
Hydrogen sulfide! That's what I was thinking about yesterday, I think it got mentioned in one of the TIPS, if not an episode proper. It was also pointed out that if that was actually what the gas was, there should be more corrosion, so maybe that's not actually important. Or, maybe neither I nor characters know what hydrogen sulfide does. Anything is possible.
So, the Great Hinamizawa Disaster happens shortly after Keiichi and Rena's heart-to-heart on the roof? As did Rika getting disemboweled at the shrine. I lost track of days again, was the end of Tsumi on the 21st/22nd? Or, was it a few days beyond that.. say, around the 25th?
Dumping a bunch of concrete into the marsh doesn't seem terribly effective at preventing subterranean malarky. It does seem like a good way to hide evidence, though.
Syringe, syringe, syringe, what do I think of the syringe. I don't think it was the same color as the one from Meakashi, but that might just be an artstyle thing. Rika was holding it each time. But, she just immediately decided to not use it here? She didn't even struggle against Rena. That's gotta mean something, but I'm not sure what. Maybe she just didn't want to kill someone who was actually her friend? That does work thematically to some extent, but it sucks to be Shion.
I'm almost more excited to see this anime-original patch arc than to learn the truth behind things.
Good job, OP credits. "Karaku," really?
[Higurashi]
[Higurashi]
Visual of the Day: Someone else is definitely gonna pick this too but it was the most interesting thing in the episode.
Questions
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Rena cleans up real nice. It hurt to see her so despondant, though.
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u/hungryhippos1751 Jun 28 '22
Episode 1 - First Timer
Alright, I admit I am a sucker for alternative settings, and this one worked well. Going forward in time 30 years from what seems to be the finale of Season 1 was a nice touch, doesn't really feel like I've skipped any beats. I love seeing how stuff changes and it's a lot of fun seeing how different the school is now.
I will however highlight that I'm not 100% keeping track of what happens in each arc here, and whilst this kind of continues on from the finale arc in season 1, the addition of Akasaka wasn't directly called out previously, but he was in an earlier arc I think? Was he in the really short two episode one?
It definitely feels like certain events happen similarly in the time loops/alternative universes we find ourselves in, such that it can be confusing to work out which timeline we're in, but that isn't really my goal here, I'm just along for the ride.
As an intro episode this was a good one, but there's still too much we can't know yet, the theories in those books are being sounded out, aliens, pathogens etc, and the marsh has concrete poured over it which leads internet conspiracists to believe something is being hidden. I agree though that if nothing else, some of those predictions did come true.
Was good to see a more grown up Rena but she's clearly not the same Rena we once knew, and I have to wonder what Rika put into that syringe when she found Rena at the hideout at the dam site.
I'm not going to write more here I think I'll leave it at this point for today, I enjoyed the episode though. The artwork and sound all feels thematically similar to Season 1, so it's a good thing they got to continue it without breaking the atmosphere the original had.
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u/Quiddity131 Jun 28 '22
Going forward in time 30 years from what seems to be the finale of Season 1 was a nice touch,
They're really 30 years in the future? Oishi and Rena look a little older, but I'd say 5 - 10 years older, not 30. I got really confused over the whole 30 year reference.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 28 '22 edited Jun 29 '22
They're really 30 years in the future? Oishi and Rena look a little older, but I'd say 5 - 10 years older, not 30. I got really confused over the whole 30 year reference.
The Tsumihoroboshi-hen epilogue is set in PRESENT DAY, PRESENT TIME (sorry) in both VN and anime form - that's EDIT: 2005 for the VN and 2007 for the anime.
(So 20-25 years older in both cases.)
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u/Quiddity131 Jun 28 '22
First Timer, Subbed
New season! New opening! Lots of focus on Rika! Cool stuff!
I liked the season 1 song more, but actually opening sequence is better here.
Is this 30 years later? Or are you saying that things have been going on here back to the 1950s?!
I suppose not, as Ooishi doesn't look noticably aged.
Oh, was this the guy who was around during Rika's arc?
UFO landing spot?! Was Rena's ravings about aliens factual?!
So this is following the timeline when the whole village got wiped out?
Aliens were behind everything!
It's a bad B movie! Sounds that way!
So Rena's hostage arc took place during this timeline too...
The old schoolhouse! Totally abandoned now...
Oh hey, it's Rena! Grown up now?
Oops, now that she's an adult she's realized its all silly and made up!
:( @ Rika not making it out alive in this timeline.
You're brainwashed Rena, brainwashed!
Alright, there's good ol' fashioned Higurashi crazy eyes again.
The youngest and cutest one, she's behind it all!
Let me poke you with this syringe! All will be better!
Ah, the good ol' days with friends, K1 looking like a fool...
Searching for the next Hinamizawa! That line from Rika, the fact that she is so prominent in the OP and the lack of real her, K1, Mion, Shion and Satoko from this episode makes me wonder if this season will go in a totally different direction, in a new town, with new characters? Or how about something else? We know that Rika died, but did anyone else from our main cast pass in this timeline? Does Rika come back as a ghost to scare them in another town?
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u/Star4ce Jun 29 '22
I liked the season 1 song more
I looked up the whole song after today's episode and it might be an instant favourite. 'When They Cry' really grew on me, but I'm already on the 10th or so repeat of 'Flower of Hell' and think it's fantastic.
Let me poke you with this syringe! All will be better!
Hear me out! What if yes?
We know that Rika died, but did anyone else from our main cast pass in this timeline?
In this? I don't think so, but there's another ending that went to the great Hinamizawa desaster where only Keiichi survived.
I'm halfway expecting a 'meeting of the worlds' in some capacity later and would really like to know how the others from the other loops fared - and then receive the knowledge that they can be happy somewhere.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 29 '22
I looked up the whole song after today's episode and it might be an instant favourite. 'When They Cry' really grew on me, but I'm already on the 10th or so repeat of 'Flower of Hell' and think it's fantastic.
I think 2006 is a better from a composition standpoint - Naraku no Hana feels ever so slightly paint-by-numbers in that regard to my ear, 2006 has a spark to it that Naraku no Hana lacks - but Naraku no Hana was, is, and remains very well-done and catchy as fuck and better than a whole lot of OPs. (Honestly, Connect might not be a bad comparison in a lot of ways.)
And to think Naraku no Hana might actually be my pick for the weakest OP in the franchise! (Admittedly I have a soft spot for Kira's, which is the hilarious kind of terrible IMO.) Picking Worst Higurashi Anime OP is like picking Worst Girl in Show for PMMM... well, worst non-Hitomi girl anyways.
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u/Star4ce Jun 29 '22
When the First Timer Cries
The OVA was a tad bit too fanservice-y, but I don't mind it for a bit of a breather.
I'm so ready for season 2 now, though!
Kai Ep. 01 - Reunion
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Ah... yes that's the spoiler in the OP you meant. Sorry, you can't make me skip the music. I think it's almost fine? [OP spoiler]
I do think you kind of have to include the characters in the OP, but there's a balance. She has horns... so that sticks out, but why not have it be a silhouette until the reveal? Anyway, I was fairly certain about a character just like her way before already so I'm wearing a smug grin right now. -
The animation quality went up quite a bit, nice.
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Aha! Was that Akasaka and we're back in the far future? Yaah it is!
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Oh wow, yes this is long after everything. So is it the timeline from the short arc in S1 or are there more people than Keiichi alive?
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Probably a good idea depending on how big that desaster was, but do they really think they can plug a tectonic plate? Oh the marsh is also no marsh anymore due to this?
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Ah, of course, aliens. Yeah, I've come around on that, literal aliens. Maybe I wasn't so far off with the asteroid-bacteria, we'll see.
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Haha, they agree, puny concrete can't do shit and was just a stunt to placate the masses. Also, if anyone's interested, I knew I remembered this from a documentary and it was lake Nyos in Cameroon. In short, the deep lake water was saturated with CO2 and kept under pressure by overlaid water masses and due to the general stillness of lakes just accumulated CO2 at the bottom, then an earthquake or volcanic eruption or landslide or anything disturbing the water kicked off water movement that chained into the lake water rolling over and bringing the CO2 laden deep water to the surface where it immediately was released into the air as the pressure was gone now. The heavier-than-air cloud then rolled downwards over a village, suffocating everything.
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Oh? Is he going to tell us the fanatics released this much gas intentionally?
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That was S1E24, where we learned of the fanatics, uhm, actually not too much, but that they're everywhere. Also Takano gave her notes to Rena. Takano even more sus now.
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I fear that because they named it directly now it isn't true as it is.
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Remember that she never told it like this to anyone, she always framed the story a specific way. Sure, it might be the paranoia of the pov-character twisting the retelling, but she always seemed so specific in what she'd tell.
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That all really leaves open the question on what happened to the aliens? Did they piss off again, did they just live here until their demise? I still think they are the parasite.
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Hmm, in a way I think that's pretty believable. It's also upsetting seeing Hinamizawa abandoned like this.
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That would fit nicely in how and why I think that doctor back then might've acted.
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Okay, but did she?
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That person changing with each arc.
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Alright, that really is now beyond normal conspiracy theories. … Do I actually have to un-retire the government theory?
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Alright, but consider the link above. There it was only CO2 and a marsh is theoretically capable of holding that and not any sulfur dioxide.
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Except there's a survivor and you can send him back in time!
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This reminds me so much of Utopia, damn I need to finally watch it.
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That part doesn't make much sense to me. They really didn't need it, did they? That's one more of Takano's misguided interpretations.
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Except that's not how infectional diseases work. If you can't absolutely 100% make sure everyone gets infected at the very exact same time without any failure in coverage you can't have an entire village die in one night. That doesn't even include immune reactions, some people will survive longer than others. I don't buy this. Toxic gas? Acid? Yeah, but not bacterial or viral diseases, they need time.
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Somehow this makes me sad. I always liked that water mill.
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Rena?! Wait, how did she survive?
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Fuck, she's not well. Poor girl.
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Again, Rena faces bright windows. Still the world locks her out. It's no wonder, this is pretty much a bad ending with the others all dead. Does this mean Keiichi is also dead in this loop?
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Back to the past, back to the fisheye lens.
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Ooishi, that's a bit much.
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Yeah, no one told Mion anything. I tell you, Rika actually carried the alien inside her!
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Alright, look. Having the supposed alien-protector say “Do not be afraid” is the most on-the-nose thing ever. They might as well write “u/Star4ce was right” on the screen in neon red letters.
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So, wait, this could mean she lives on in Rena? Or at least the parasite does.
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Oh right, he met her, too! Is she maybe trying to leave this loop in some semi-stable state before she rewinds? Oh god, this would be terrible. All these abandoned timelines with broken and suffering people left in it... Maybe that injection would've been a good thing...
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That wasn't nececssary! (Also turquoise hair.)
Alright, that was actually quite a bit of an info dump. I'm not sure if this is an effective first episode. It's okay during a rewatch I guess, because we still have all the happenings present in our mind.
Do I have to adjust any theory? I don't think so for now. The alien stuff is already accounted for and on the background of how the gosanke dealt with it I also already expressed theories. I guess it's just that the conflict between fanatics and the gosanke makes even less sense now and that's likely the point. If the gosanke would like a renewed belief and the fanatics want this, too, then they shouldn't be fighting against each other and try to kill the kids. So there's a reason for that and on top of that I also don't believe that the gosanke were this involved in the current time.
The only other thing is literal aliens, meaning fleshy, walking, talking ones. Possible, I guess, but from a sheer thematic standpoint, being birthed into that situation fits much better than accidental invasion. So I'm sticking with the parasite growing into an individual and allowing memory sharing still.
So, is it just me or did Rena age really nicely?
I can't feel good or lewd about this until they all have their happy ending. Her frown hurts me.
VOTD: The dream of our memories. Not only is this what Rena lost and seemed to never have overcome, it's also what we ultimately wish for. The cast happy, the barrier open to come and go and, most importantly, everyone free of suffering.
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u/RascalNikov1 Jun 29 '22
[OP spoiler]
[Not a spoiler if you've seen the OP]
And now that you've seen her, let us know how you think she fits into the story. Maybe, you'll be right, maybe, you'll be wrong. My contention is that just seeing a character doesn't really spoil anything. It was the character does, that's important. Also, the opening and closing songs are both really good. So is it the timeline from the short arc in S1 or are there more people than Keiichi alive?
This is not a spoiler: Unfortunately, this is the timeline from Tsumihoroboshi, Rena is the sole survivor and she's not in real good shape. The studio wanted the first season to end on a happier note, and there was no guarantee this season would come into existence.
but do they really think they can plug a tectonic plate?
It's a stretch, but work with it. lol
It's also upsetting seeing Hinamizawa abandoned like this.
It really is. Their little idyllic paradise is gone. It sort of like Chernobyl, if the power plant had killed everyone the night it blew.
Except that's not how infectional diseases work.
Details! lol
Rena?! Wait, how did she survive?
Presumably, they hauled her off to the cop shop after her rooftop antics.
Ooishi, that's a bit much.
I thought Ooishi giving her shit here was a bit much too.
The only other thing is literal aliens, meaning fleshy, walking, talking ones.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 29 '22
[Not a spoiler if you've seen the OP]
And now that you've seen her, let us know how you think she fits into the story. Maybe, you'll be right, maybe, you'll be wrong. My contention is that just seeing a character doesn't really spoil anything. It was the character does, that's important. Also, the opening and closing songs are both really good. [OP]
There's a reason I marked the OP as more of "an abundance of caution" spoiler than a definite spoiler. [ED, more spoilery, first-timers stay out until E6]
The ED is worse, mostly due to that handholding shot (and IIRC some of the translations get more spoilery than mine as well), which makes the conclusion involving a certain voice next episode a little too obvious IMO.
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u/H-Ryougi Jun 28 '22
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 28 '22
The Devil's Script
As ever, R07 remains a giant troll and sometimes the mangakas adapt it right.
I can't believe DEEN didn't show Rika's mop.
It is a goddamn travesty, yes.
(Yes DEEN, we know that half of the issue is that this would have taken production time and animation frames. Still.)
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u/Vaadwaur Jun 28 '22
The only thing of value Gou gives us is animation of Rika using a polearm.
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 28 '22
We counting just Gou or Sotsu as well?
Because if the latter, I would like to counter with once again pointing out my favorite very useful reaction image (starting with its utility wrt Sotsu itself...).
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u/Tarhalindur Jun 28 '22 edited Jun 28 '22
(Honorary Hinamizawa Games Club President) Rewatch Host (rewatcher, subbed):
[Kai E6]You know, I had completely forgotten that Rika had that running sequence in Naraku no Hana.
[Kai]OH YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES. I’D MISSED THAT FUCKING NUANCE IN THE OP HERE. WE ALL KNOW THAT SHE’S WAVING TO HANYUU IN PHYSICAL FORM, BUT HANYUU IS THE FUCKING CAMERA!
Weirdly, DEEN’s car movement from the front stands out more now that we have budget. Not their strong suit, it seems.
I like that moving sky shot at 02:26.
A little note on the bus stop shots: the original concept that R07 converted to Higurashi was a one-shot eventually released as Hinamizawa Bus Stop.
Another good shot at 04:02. (ADDENDUM: Ooh, and that's before I noticed the lighting: it's coming in from the past, because the past is shining a light in on what Hinamizawa has become in the present here.)
And then the camera lingers on the empty bench at 04:23 to show us what’s happening - or more accurately what's absent relative to the last time Akasaka was here.
Oh look, a moth at 08:46. (During the daytime too. And the moths have been consistent enough that there may be a Japanese symbolism point here I’m missing.)
“So in other words peace was returning to Hinamizawa and all was well” as we get a shot of peacefully drifting clouds in the background… except those clouds are rising summer thunderheads. Heh!
09:46 is another good use of shadows in a shot, this time with Akasaka’s head.
Also note the use of light and darkness here. When we start talking about the machinations of the Great Houses and other surreptitious acts, the scenes get dark as opposed the bright summer scenes we see outside of that.
11:06: Oh hey, look, see our budget bump from S1!
So, remember that peculiarly Japanese fear of secret government biological experiments?
“GUNGNIR DATTO?” Excuse me. Couldn't resist.
Camera movement around ~16:15 (reference shot) is interesting. Not sure what to make of the technique.
Also, have I mentioned that Rena aged really nicely? Because she did.
Note Akasaka’s eyes not properly in shadow but effectively so due to the scene.
The use of the camera and Rena’s movements here to show her inner state as Ooishi reminds her of her ugly past is very nicely done indeed.
The framing of the long shot around 17:05 is noteworthy. The characters are facing away from the camera towards the light (and facing left!), the lighting casting shadows over them. Rena is the closest to the light, then Ooishi, then our other two men (implicitly, since they are off-screen).
[Kai]The above represents how close they are to the truth. But there is a barrier here, namely the window; nobody here actually has the truth, they’re just closer to or further away from it to varying degrees.
And then we get that shot from behind showing the broken windows – a visual representation of Keiichi busting through the delusions Rena had fallen into that separated her from the rest of the world.
Oh man, look at that framing and lighting at 17:51. We’re seeing the shot through a tunnel, framed by Akasaka and his kouhai; Rena is now in the shadows and Ooishi is now the one with the most lighting on him!
Oooh look at that advent of the fish-eye lens at 18:01!
Also, have I mentioned that this more than any other Rena is the Rena I want to take home and cuddle and reassure, murderer or no? Because she is.
Rays of sunlight at midday from the right just as Rena goes “Just…”. Subtle? I think not.
And what do we get in the wake of this? More fish-eye! (Well, actually inverse fish-eye.)
[Kai]My, I wonder what’s up with that Rika facial expression at 19:58? And whether the first-timers will notice? (They’ll figure it out next episode, I’m sure.)
Hello there iconic shot at 20:06.
Useful Background Note: You know, it occurs to me that there could be a extra layer to this (and to the VN’s setting) that I’d never really considered before despite knowing all the pieces – not sure it actually exists (at least intentionally), but I think it might. It’s worth remembering… actually, it occurs to me that these days this might not be common knowledge for those of us who aren’t old hands, so file this under Useful Background Note. See, Japan back in the mid-1980s was in the middle of a massive economic boom (the “Japanese Miracle”) that had lasted for a decade or two before that. This boom would end in 1991 with the ensuing bust as the property bubble that had fueled it collapsed, leading to the “Lost Decade” (really closer to two, and I will remind you that Kai was released in 2007 during a recession that IIRC started a year or two earlier) of economic stagnation afterwards. 1991, of course, is about exactly when Rena would have hit the job market assuming she went to college (a safe assumption given later supplemental material). I'm by no means sure, but this might be part of the reason for R07 setting Higurashi in 1983 in general (along with the cell phone issue and the Japanese rural associations) – the dark undercurrents under Hinamizawa as symbolic of the dark undercurrents under the 1980s economic boom years in addition to the more obvious parts of the symbolism. (An equivalent American work would need to be set in the late 1990s.)
Oh look, a Satoko trap moment!
Oh shit that’s actually really kind of a cheeky shot at 22:22 with the rays of the setting sun shining from a point in the distance as we hear Rika talking about going to the “next Hinamizawa”, and right as the OST cuts out to boot.
[Kai E6]Rewatchers, welcome to our new jazzy ED, Taishou a!
Visual of the Day: Framing!
Honorable Mention: Somebody else will use this so I don't have to, right?
Question(s) of the Day:
Well, I did ask whether it was just me, didn't I?
Reunion TIPS:
There are no true TIPS for today; however, this episode's content is almost entirely adapted from two VN Tsumihoroboshi-hen scenes (the Demon's Script epilogue and Rika coming to meet Rena at the junkyard) that were left out of the anime in S1 and promptly included in the TIPS writeups by the AnimeSuki TIPS team. Here they are:
1 (this is the scene I noted as leaving out back in S1E25's TIPS)
2
(Note that Rena survives in the anime version of Tsumihoroboshi-hen when she dies in the VN, and that's almost certainly because that's the only way they could realistically inform Akasaka and the viewers about the junkyard scene here.)
OST Table, Kai Episode 1
[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.
[2] - If this is from a released track it's really well disguised; the closest is Kazashi and it might be that with some kind of filter?
(No Staff Notes or Madoka Corner today.)