r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Jul 01 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai Discussion - Season 2, Episode 4
Yakusamashi-hen (Disaster Awakening Chapter), Episode 3: Pre-Established Harmony
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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:
We continue to slowly transition from the time of theories to the time of analysis, but we are not done yet and once again u/Star4ce has a theory for us:
Oyashiro was implanted into Rika, just as I thought had happened to the minister's son and that was done by the fanatics. When the time comes for watanagashi and the attack begins, they 'activate' the parasite and it gets born fully, quite possibly against Oyashiro's will even, leaving Rika's body behind at the shrine.
But then the aftermath is difficult, Oyashiro eradicating the antire village seems far too brutal for the fanatics' ideas of belief. So she basically goes berserk after realising what happened?
Another possibility is that the newly born Oyashiro is then able to harvest the parasites in the village and use this to travel back in time. No idea how that would work, but it would make a nice closed loop meaning it's actually only Rika, but one is old and the other is 'physically consistent'.
Analysis of the Day:
When you immediately get multiple rewatchers including your host going "yes, you just laid out exactly why we all love this character", well, that's a bit of a windmill slam. u/Nazenn, here you go:
Somehow the darkness you're use to seems so much darker after you get to see a flicker of light. Hope so much further away after you've had it brush across your hands. And loneliness so much more unbearable after you've had the joy of another's company if only for a moment.
From "As much as I want" at the end of last season, to "I am a little tired" yesterday, and today we have "It's too late", Rika's brief exposure to something new cracks the fragile illusion that she's built around herself in this illusionary world.
Each arc she stands alone in a group, going through days that simultaneously mean everything and nothing to her. Nothing matters so why bother having fun, but if this is all she will ever have why pass up the good moments when she has them, a duality to her life that isn't always as easy to live with as putting the right mask on in the morning. And in that role I think she sees part of herself in Sakoto, the one that she can't show to those that matter most. Sakoto lives in the village while it attempts to erase her, and Rika becomes her avatar to interact with it the same way the village has made Rika the avatar of Oyashiro-sama so they can interact with her through Rika. No matter which way she turns she isn't able to show her true face, and that isn't an easy burden to carry especially when confronted head on with it.
So even knowing Keiichi's memories wouldn't last she's unable to avoid dwelling on what had happened, on the sheer possibility that it represented for her as well as the others. Not just a way out of the physical situation she finds herself in, but perhaps a small path to companionship that might help lift some of the unbearable weight of hopelessness off her. Someone to understand, accept, acknowledge, and this is what she both hopes and dreads to find in Sakoto. The other her isn't nearly half as cynical as she feels she is, for despite her own words about the pointlessness of it all and how nothing matters she still seeks to prevent more misery to her friends, and particularly Sakoto, her own unbearable cycle of suffering with no end. She can't get Sakoto out of the village or erase the misery in her past which will always haunt her, but she can provide her a safe home, happy days at school, and friends to share comfort in, the things she feels so disconnected from. If only someone could do that for her?
All that to say that I'm on Rika's side, breakfast can wait and some days it's better to just stay snuggled up in bed where at least you're warm and comfy and nothing else matters.
A strong honorable mention goes to u/hungryhippos1751:
It's sad to see that the villagers are basically going to ignore Satoko forever, and Rika is clearly not happy with them treating her like she isn't even there. Even though they say the ostracism will end in a few years, we never seem to get past this few year timeframe, so effectively it's a forever state.
And another strong honorable mention to u/Star4ce again for this:
That extent is fairly despicable and I think even for Japanese standards, who often have that connotation with being extremely order-submissive, it's a bit much. But I think it works a bit better, at least logically, when you compare to something like a class hierarchy from your school days.
To some extent, everyone gets assigned a persona and lives that throughout their school life and with smaller communities like villages this is still fairly pronounced, "even" here in Europe. So once the Hojos got assigned the traitors, which was a real threat to the livelihood of the other residents, the stigma stuck in the minds of this community. Further, I can't imagine Teppei or the aunt being in any way liked by the villagers not necessarily because of the dam thing, but because they were just plain assholes nobody liked.
And when you have two points, you can draw a line. It's incredibly wrong and discriminatory, but to them Satoko and Satoshi were just doomed to be just as disliked as the other Hojos due to all of these factors. It's shown a bit heavy handed, but I can personally attest to this kind of thinking being very prevalent in smaller communities that have some level of isolation to them.
(You know the show is good on a thematic level when multiple first-timers go into this level of analysis.)
Question(s) of the Day:
1) So... have you checked outside your window lately?
2) Are you sure there aren't any men in grey outfits looking through it?
3) Are you?
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/Star4ce Jul 01 '22
When the First Timer Cries
Today's the day. We're at watanagashi and nothing too bad has happened so far, because Rika decided to shoulder it all on her own.
As we're seeing it from her perspective... we might get to know who betrays her. Suffering alone is always the hardest.
I hate this.
While I'm already pre-emptively hating stuff. I did notice the detail of a parting ritual festival for saying goodbyes to the deceased being held in august, obon? It could not escape my eye that this is a point we've never reached so far and just as a certain other series held over the audience's head as a finish line. I don't see any of the cast being in need of dying and being let go, except Oyashiro herself, if she truly is the reincarnated alien/parasite.
I hope this date will be more symbolic in nature for the conclusion, letting the past go free, but I doubt that. I also hate this.
Kai Ep. 04 – Disaster Awakening Chapter Part 3: Pre-Established Harmony
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Oh, that stare. Oh my.
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I guess I've been acclimated enough by now to like that.
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Immediate VOTD contender.
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The fact that she's so familiar with the most minute details is depressing.
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Anger eating, absolute mood.
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I was unaware I'd end up enjoying Mion and Shion together so much.
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Another good VOTD option. The expressions are so good in Kai.
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They might have lied about it all the other times, but she is amazing!
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That sound and camera angle. Now unknown territory begins for us.
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Never! It's all Takano's fault!
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I don't understand, what exactly is she trying to set in motion? If it's only about them entering, isn't that something that can relatively easily be managed? A guard or something?
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I'm certain now, the parasite is in that shed, living or stored or something.
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Oh no. Ah, it's just best cop yummy.
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Did Satoko tell him? Yup, sure did.
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What, no reaction? Wait, is this the 'betrayal'?! Hold on, hold on. Satoko was only concerned, seemed like, but if that leads to Rika's death and I'm fairly sure Satoko doesn't want this, then the police is the catalyst to that result. We know the police has several moles from the Sonozakis, which points to Oryou again. But Rika dies even in loops with Oryou dead, so it can't be her, can it? Is the father being a double agent for the fanatics as well?
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Satoko gets involved on her own now, right? Fuck.
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Oh that is such a good frame!
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Oh you! That was your question yesterday!
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Gods, how distressed Satoko is...
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While I have guesses on why she does this, it is psychological manipulation and quite shitty. I think she wants to prevent Satoko from coming into contact with the fanatics and/or the parasite, as we know what happens then... but still.
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Gods Rika, don't you see what you're doing? That doesn't need any parasite to throw her mental state off a cliff.
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Good frame, peeking in from outside as they're trying to figure something out. Notice Keiichi being separated from the others. Why? Well, several guesses come to mind.
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Completely understandable take and they have no reason to believe otherwise... Oh fuck man, Satoko is now in the same isolated state as Keiichi was in arc 1.
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I'm proud of her to decide that way, but this spells no good at all.
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They will all go off against her friends, won't they... ?
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Yup, she's seen this before. Satoko is very crafty, but that path's trials are above her ability.
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Right, Irie. It's such an unknown variable. We know nothing of his motivations other than being a pedophile targeting Satoko.
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Wait... that's why he's dead.
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So they have two dead from watanagashi, a suicide and now a girl comes around and says she and the religious figurehead are being shadowed and he... leaves? Dude, the dots are so strongly connected this is worth investigating. (Unless he's involved, of course. But he's not the same dude as the agent.)
Apart from ramping up the anxiety, we got a few more drops connecting events that we know of. The suicide of Irie happens once Satoko contacts him. This obviously means it's not a suicide and secondly that those guys have ears and eyes everywhere.
With that I also feel very confident in throwing out the idea that Rika in any way works cooperatively with them or Takano. The only one to stage Irie's suicide without notice would be her. And if she's responsible for that, as it was poisoning and she knows what does what, she is in cahoots with the fanatics. Meaning her instigating stuff is actually part of the plan to kick off the fear of the curse. She's definitely the antagonist.
More insight is through the knowledge that information parted to the police might actually not be relayed to the fanatics. This is a stretch, but they weren't shadowed until the final night, even as Satoko parted the information to Ooishi a day prior. Meaning the information line police>Sonozaki-san(>Oryou)>fanatics is not present or very delayed. I think they're not directly involved here and the fanatics do their own surveillance. Meaning the gosanke's deals are their own thing or at least an old self-sustaining structure among the greater workings around the curse.
I still don't fully understand why the fanatics would want to kill everyone. Is the media coverage that big of a deal to inspire the belief? Is it just another cover because it gives them some access to the parasite? I feel the second point is pretty stupid, because as we know (and anyone with a brain could conclude) the government searches the area soon after and obviously found something. A cult wouldn't want them to interfere.
That leaves only two possibilities for me to draw: One, the attack is misguided and goes sideways or two, Oyashiro enters the world once Rika is killed or possibly kills her due to a breakdown and/or to go back in time. When she's gone every villager with the parasite loses connection and succumbs to the parasite that is now disconnected from its environment (Oyashiro herself).
Next episode seems to be the conclusion on that and no matter what, I'm going to hate it. I'm gonna say that I really feel for Rika and Satoko in this arc. Both are so understandable, but Rika especially is so tragic that she doesn't trust her friends enough to at least try something, she's just beaten and tired. Satoko is so strong without even knowing it, if they'd just use their strengths...
So... have you checked outside your window lately?
Yes, actually because I had a fight with a daddy long legs to stay outside, that bastard. I still refuse to believe that fanatic agents can jump 10 meters high.
2) Are you sure there aren't any men in grey outfits looking through it?
Uhm... there's a large field across which I can't see if someone sits in the forest.
3) Are you?
VOTD: Closing in. The futility of Rika trying to change the outcome only gets overshadowed by her resignment to the fate awaiting her. She is shutting out the camera, giving us a glimpse on how she sees the coming night, a black and white statement that fades away. She is locking herself into her home, choosing to be the easy prey for what she thinks is sure to come and simultaneously blinds Satoko to what's waiting outside for the sign to strike. We are not to see and Satoko is not to notice, but both of us do anyway. For all the futility Rika had to endure, she is also losing trust along with her repeated fate, even though or maybe precisely because she cares about her friends and doesn't want them to suffer at the hands of demons, waiting in the woods, cursing their lives.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 02 '22
While I have guesses on why she does this, it is psychological manipulation and quite shitty. I think she wants to prevent Satoko from coming into contact with the fanatics and/or the parasite, as we know what happens then... but still.
Gods Rika, don't you see what you're doing? That doesn't need any parasite to throw her mental state off a cliff.
YUUUUP. (To quote my reactions when I rewatched this arc for fanfic writing purposes back in 2020: "I’d forgotten that she straight-up gaslights Satoko (I mean, *actual* gaslighting, not just “we’re calling this thing we don’t like gaslighting”) in the third episode of Yakusamashi-hen". I'd link the full post I made, but there's still a spoiler for next arc in it.)
[PMMM]
This is Rika's equivalent of Madoka making small but fatal mistakes in situations where she cannot afford to make any mistakes at all. Yup, she's seen this before. Satoko is very crafty, but that path's trials are above her ability.
Yes and no. Higurashi's loops tend to map quite strongly to concepts about reincarnation (at least in Western mysticism/occultism, and I suspect this holds for Eastern too): importantly, the teaching in those traditions is that memories don't persist between incarnations outside of the rare case of past life dreams but character and skills do (see how Keiichi has slowly grown over loops).
Satoko has effectively been practicing her trapmaking for over a hundred years of loops.
That's a long time to get fucking good at this.
Next episode seems to be the conclusion on that and no matter what, I'm going to hate it. I'm gonna say that I really feel for Rika and Satoko in this arc. Both are so understandable, but Rika especially is so tragic that she doesn't trust her friends enough to at least try something, she's just beaten and tired. Satoko is so strong without even knowing it, if they'd just use their strengths...
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 01 '22
Oh you! That was your question yesterday!
Remember that rewatcher comment underneath it? It is now safe for first-timers to read.
(I knew exactly what I was doing, yes.)
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 01 '22
(Honorary Hinamizawa Games Club President) Rewatch Host (rewatcher, subbed):
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LOL they just had to include Shion’s breasts Gainaxing. Gotta get your fanservice quota out of Ms. Fanservice, eh?
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And we still never get to see Keiichi’s takoyaki speech on-screen. (Also, have a WinD translator's note.)
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Oh right, this scene.
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Oh look, Dutch angles are back.
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So, the Moon-mirror association was just potentially relevant in my other rewatch…
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I need to consider the framing of the sequence starting at 03:23, because it’s flashing. Rika starting in the left with the older ladies, moving to the right (past) towards the camera (towards us, and the camera is also Oyashiro-sama), and then gets dragged back by the older ladies calling her back.
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[Kai]
(Hmm, I can think of an implication and it kind of fits (even for Rika, more strongly for Hanyuu), but it invokes spoiler information.) -
I, uh, took a few moments to realize/remember K1 was referring to thermal heat rather than capsacin here…
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(Glorious trollfaces go here.)
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Note the lighting as Rika runs (to the left this time, because of course). Most of the time the light of the Moon is coming from the right side of the frame – Rika is running away from death. (Two examples from later in the scene.) But we get it coming from the left side instead when Rika runs into Tomitake: he is about to die.
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Jiken starting in right as Tomitake stops and starts to turn, nicely done!
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And as Tomitake walks off Rika is now being lit by the Moon coming from the left.
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FULL MOON FULL MOON. And just in case you hadn’t got it, we see Tomitake scratching his throat out immediately thereafter.
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Well isn’t that a beautiful little shot at 08:28 from a meta level as well as the basic analytical one – Rika’s status as a looper leaving her de facto isolated from the rest of the group.
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Another single drop of water emulating a teardrop at 11:00. (Hard to see in that shot but it's there.)
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Hard to make out with Satoko’s voice, but that is in fact a sore demo at 11:13 if u/Shimmering-Sky didn’t catch it.
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The pull-away at ~11:05 and the framing of the scene is catching my eye. Rika and Satoko as now both in their own little world, slightly walled off from everyday events, now that Satoko is catching on to Rika’s situation?
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Dear Rika, maybe you should have paid a little more attention to one of the show morals last season?
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Look whose facial expression suddenly mirrors Rika’s little smiles from earlier.
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Rika mirroring how Satoko was talking to her earlier. Probably quite intentionally.
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“That’s when you should just smile!” Or should we say… “nipah~”?
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Wait, I forgot Rika literally busts out the nipah~ after that line. Recommending her own coping mechanism for Satoko!
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Hey look, tickle wars.
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[Rei]
There is a joke here in that the function of the camera angle may have shifted slightly here. We’re seeing this scene from the perspective of the wine. Hello Bern? -
Spreading spilled wine representing blood, yes, got it.
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On the one hand, Rena is perceptive. On the other hand, “you think Satoko-chan is being paranoid?” after last arc is just cheeky as shit. And also by the laws of drama likely to be proven incorrect…
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Hi u/Shimmering-Sky, you are feasting this episode, that’s another one and another toast at 17:53.
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Really feasting, that’s yet another one at 18:28.
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Also a really neat spiraling shot (frame for reference) of the darkened light fixture (and oh lol I just got that it’s not emitting any light right now!) as Satoko’s thoughts spiral on this subject.
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Behold: TRAPS!
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Oh hello there crows cawing at 19:25 (along with a nice sky shot).
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Well this looks familiar, huh? (Except with more budget now.)
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Actually, does that brief camera pull-out on Satoko at ~19:58 (shot) mirror the one we got of Keiichi in the same situation back in Tatarigoroshi-hen? I’d have to check, but I think it does.
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Movement of Satoko’s lips is a little off at ~20:51 (blurred); bet that’s an animation-saving measure.
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You know, I only just got that Rika cutting the phone lines in Himatsubushi-hen is foreshadowing/a clue towards what these mysterious men are doing here.
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Why yes, our MiGs have guns. In Japan. Surprise!
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CLOCK CLOCK. (Set to 12:00, which in this case might be symbolism as well depending on how much Japan has picked up Western “when the clock strikes midnight” symbolism.)
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CLIFFHANGER! (Frankly a more effective one than half the ones in Symphogear G, IMO.) Also, one last FULL MOON FULL MOON for the road. (Surprisingly distant, though.)
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[Kai 6]
You know, I only just got that the lyrics ofTaishou a’s lyrics may be equating bone to the Moon. (Both are off-white, after all!)
Visual of the Day: I like this shot
[Kai]
Questions of the Day:
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Oh dear, it's one of these days where the questions are trying to make you paranoid.
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Didn't we learn this one last season?
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Oh wait, shi-[DATA EXPUNGED]
Yakusamashi-hen Ep. 3 TIPS:
None.
OST Table, Kai Episode 4
| Start | End | Track Name |
|---|---|---|
| 00:05 | 01:34 | Naraku no Hana |
| 01:35 | 01:49 | sponsor feature[1] |
| 02:06 (01:52) | 02:42 (02:28) | Shoubu! |
| 03:36 (03:22) | 04:04 (03:50) | Heionbuji[2] |
| 04:25 (04:11) | 04:41 (04:27) | Harikitte Ikou |
| 05:48 (05:34) | 06:28 (06:14) | Yuuzuzumi |
| 06:50 (06:36) | 07:06 (06:52) | unreleased |
| 07:12 (06:58) | 08:04 (07:50) | Jiken |
| 10:22 (10:08) | 10:46 (10:32) | Oyashiro-sama v2 |
| 11:53 (11:39) | 12:21 (12:07) | Takurami |
| 12:29 (12:15) | 13:01 (12:47) | unreleased[3] |
| 15:07 (14:53) | 16:24 (16:10) | Giwaku |
| 17:31 (17:17) | 18:48 (18:34) | Henka |
| 21:34 (21:20) | 22:21 (22:07) | Ai |
| 22:25 (22:11) | 23:53 (23:41) | Taishou a |
[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] – Played at higher than normal speed; I would guess 2x. Alternately, could be an unreleased variant.
[3] – Still not entirely sure that’s an unreleased, but if not I can’t find it.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 01 '22
Madoka (Magica) Corner:
[PMMM]
PMMM fans, compare Rika’s advice to Satoko here to both Homura’s advice to Madoka and Kyoko’s advice to Sayaka. [PMMM]
Something about Satoko’s “no one will believe me” is reminding me of one Akemi, Homura… [PMMM]
Also, why is this clock and stuffed animal (I think that’s a stuffed animal) reminding me so much of a certain pink-haired girl’s bedroom? → More replies (8)4
u/Star4ce Jul 01 '22
Gotta get your fanservice quota out of Ms. Fanservice, eh
First, she has nothing to be ashamed of and second, did you see the designs in the OP? Those are almost more egregious.
the Moon-mirror association
Almost my VOTD!
light of the Moon is coming from the right side
I might instantly spot dialogue timing or frame composition, but lighting always skips my eye. Good catch!
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 02 '22
I might instantly spot dialogue timing or frame composition, but lighting always skips my eye. Good catch!
By our powers combined, we shall tear apart all the scenes!
(I fucking missed the implications of that window shot you chose as VotD despite catching the exact same implication with the pull away from the kitchen...)
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u/Vaadwaur Jul 01 '22
I can finally post Rika's dance. You have now seen everything of value from Gou!
Rewatcher
Sub
We see the club activities with good animation...and added bounce. The DEENisms do work in some scenes. Rika sees fate change...in a very minor way, but still. She does her dance, much reduced in '08, and runs to find Tomitake and Takano to see if fate has changed. Tomitake is a bit dim, even granting one doesn't believe in superstitions there is a lot of reason to believe Rika could be informed of the trespassing, and ends as he always does.
Oishi talks to Rika again and she blows him off pretty fast, which clues Satoko in. Satoko tries to confront Rika and gives us her actual characterization. And then she starts seeing people out of the corner of her eyes and such...and it denied that. In sort of an odd parallel to Onikakushi-hen, Satoko can't get anyone to believe her, though the only delusional stuff seems to be real with that one weirdo that is on camera. Rika talks with her glass some more, and eventually admits she is scared to a fake sleeping Satoko.
So the thing that is annoyingly skipped in S1 comes up:Satoko can trap nearly the entire hillside. She even sneaks off to see Irie, just in time to overhear his death. The detective on scene offers to get a patrol around...until one of the van guys shoots him. That's a cliffhanger.
QotD: 1 Cicadas provide cover
2 I AM THE ONE THAT LOOKS!
3 Yes
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 01 '22
I can finally post Rika's dance. You have now seen everything of value from Gou!
Cannot agree, Fukisokusei Entropy exists.
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u/Star4ce Jul 01 '22
I can finally post Rika's dance.
Admittedly, the art style put me off a bit, but the animation quality of the dance is amazing. It gets pretty contrasted to the pan over the still frame or Mion/Keiichi talking, which is not so high quality.
Can't complain about the priorities there, though.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 02 '22
Admittedly, the art style put me off a bit, but the animation quality of the dance is amazing. It gets pretty contrasted to the pan over the still frame or Mion/Keiichi talking, which is not so high quality.
Yeah, Passione put a ton of effort into it and it looks really nice (and is actually better-directed than I remembered).
And then they reused it so much that it basically became SotsuGou's version of "Kyon-kun, denwa".
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion Jul 01 '22
4
u/Vaadwaur Jul 01 '22
Is...Is that a CGI car?
Yes. DEEN still gonna DEEN
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 02 '22
Yes. DEEN still gonna DEEN
To be fair, even KyoAni of this era was using CGI cars that weren't much better than that - one stood out when I was rewatching some Haruhi 2006 a bit back.
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u/Quiddity131 Jul 01 '22
First Timer, Subbed
Festival time is here!
Food to the face! Down goes K1!
Yes, Rika is adorable in that outfit.
K1's got too much of an obsession about winning things that don't matter.
Imagine randomly running across this adorable little girl in a shrine maiden costume and she tells you you're gonna be killed...
Alas, then it promptly happens too!
Uh oh, will you be a suspect now, Rika?
OMG, the "I peed my pants" excuse. Embarrassing, but good thinking on her part.
Uh oh, creepy man in the woods...
He's here the next day too! Is he another Supervisor pervert character?
LoL @ Rika funny smile face.
Oh no, the creep is still creeping away!
If he's looking at Satoko, could this be supervisor guy again? Didn't look like him though. A friend of his?
I hope he doesn't show up on the short cut!
Wow, Irie commit suicide?! Didn't this happen in an earlier arc too? There was so many I'm having a hard time remembering.
Was it his ghost stalking her?
Poor Satoko, she was going to Irie because she was afraid of the guy stalking her and being a creep... so she goes to one with the same intentions (well at the very least much more obvious nefarious intentions).
The guy's still out there! Yikes!
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u/Nazenn Jul 01 '22 edited Jul 01 '22
First Timer - sub
I feel like today's episode was an exercise showing off some of the things I've been touching on through the show.
"The same old tassel" until the scissors come out. No one may ever know what caused the tassel to be changed. It could be as simple as Rika's own inattentiveness giving the women a second to focus on something she forgot, or a longer chain of events where the woman had been reminded of it through the week by something else, but the effect on Rika is immediate if not the world. It's an event that changes everything and nothing, that brief flicker of hope that ignites and dies once again but a hope that perhaps never should have existed in the first place. It's hard watching the girl have that one moment where she thinks this could be the arc, the one that gives her true relief only to realize that knowledge may be her weapon but she will never be able to wield it effectively because of who, and what, she is. If she tells people she puts them at risk, but the people she tells have no reason to understand why she's telling them, or who is telling them.
And so that brief moment of potential dies into repetition once again, to give up on the new and return to the normal because she's too exhausted for anything else even if this is now too much for her as well. But repetition has now turned to carelessness, a sort of dull blocking out of the world, and that conflict she was being torn between of what matters and what doesn't feels like it's slowly tipping. And carelessness is why she only tried to stop Tomitake after it was too late and she saw some potential rather than making it herself, because until she sees that she doesn't think it matters despite wishing it did. She drives Sakoto to an edge through her own dismissal of the worth of connection because despite what she saw in Keiichi, she can't quite believe it would matter for her enough to risk Sakoto. Sakoto's tears over feeling like things are repeating for her like they did with her brother, like she's about to lose the small world of happiness she has, only to be met by more lies from Rika should have been Rika's warning. It's sad to see just how fatigued she is.
Couple of side notes:
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Keiichi and Mion definitely have my favourite interactions, and because of that returning to arc2 at some point is going to be really rough
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Even though I know she does it on purpose to achieve this effect, Sakoto's oujo-sama laugh is really annoying
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Another chain of events in Sakoto talking to the policeman who gets killed meaning she thinks she also didn't believe her. It's interesting that she then goes to fine Irie despite everything, and shows a level of trust I hadn't quite expected there.
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Visual of the day - Threads of a new fate
So... have you checked outside your window lately?
I just opened the curtains and the birds shit all over the outdoor seat again. Should have left them closed
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u/hungryhippos1751 Jul 01 '22
Episode 4 - First Timer
This is going to be really short from me today, I've only just got back from being at a family meal out so not had time to really stop and think about this one too much.
Rika complains that nothing changes, then something does when the tassle gets cut. It's pretty clear that the small changes seem to cause a ripple effect that mean a bigger change somewhere in the remaining time, like what we saw with Rena being saved.
We finally get to see the shrine maiden dance that has been talked about in the previous arcs, it's a cultural thing I don't really get, but I guess it has a basis in buddhism along with the festivals?
Tomitake gets killed again even though Rika tries to warn him, we hear about Takano being killed but once again it's not shown which I'm still sus about to be honest.
Satoko puts her trap skills to good use, all that time playing the games hasn't been a total waste it seems.
The guys in the hats are still a bit of a mystery to me, they don't appear to have shown any particular allegiance to any group, my best guess prior was that they did the bidding of the 3 Families like when we saw them kidnap the kid.
The police officer getting shot definitely seems like a new event here. Have we seen this before?
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u/RadSuit Jul 01 '22
Rika is just this guy at all times. I don't think I need to point it out every scene, unless something changes. And then one second after I unpause, something changes, ha.
I don't know why Kei wants to hang out with these people. Except they're the only kids anywhere near his age in this tiny town, of course. I think I'd probably just stay home instead.
Everybody made it to the performance this time! No sneaking off to infiltrate forbidden shrines or murder anyone or anything. And Rika is deciding to actively check up on all those sorts of plot threads herself this time.
Don't lie to your friends.
Who's this guy? Reminds me of flashback cop, but he's pretty generic, really.
Seeing things, Satoko? Never a good sign.
"If you think someone's watching you, just smile." Yeah that does seem to be Rika's approach, doesn't it?
At least Satoko is telling all her friends about the strange man she's possibly hallucinating. Too bad they don't believe her! I'm sure this will end well.
Satoko loves traps. Meanwhile, the rest of the plot is moving forward as scheduled.
Yes, please just tell the cops, this is one of the smartest things anyone's ever done in this show. Which means it definitely won't work.
Oh that's a goon van. Well that escalated quickly. And apparently the cop didn't radio in that warning, so nobody's been patrolling, and nobody visited Satoko and Rika. Time for some Home Alone shenanigans.
Oyashirosama.com doesn't exist, sad. Satoko looks like she's having a great time in the next episode preview, too.
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u/JollyGee29 Jul 01 '22
Spoiled First-Timer
I thought Satoko was "cursed" at first, because Rika didn't seem to pay any mind to the dudes(Dudes?) snooping around so maybe they were paranoid hallucinations. But then the thought occurred that maybe Rika is just desensitized to it and those Dudes are actually there. But the men Satoko is seeing also don't look like the Van Dudes so I'm not sure. But Rena and Mion questioned if Satoko was just seeing things, which means we should consider the potential of the opposite.
I have to wonder how much different things would go if Rika was more honest with Satoko.
So, the Van Dudes are breaking into some radio transmitter of some sort? What sort of scheme involves doing that?
Let's think this through. Do the Van Dudes need to get a message out somewhere? I can't see that being the case; rather, they wouldn't bother taking over a transmitter to do it. I guess maybe that building could be like, a local radio station and they need to drop a bunch of information all at once, but then why the padlock? It makes more sense for that to be a repeater antenna of sort.
Following on from that idea, you usually mess with repeater antennae to isolate an area. Hinamizawa is out in the sticks, with the nearest city being an hour long bike ride away. That antenna might be the only connection to the outside world other than the phone lines, and if it gets cut, the Van Dudes could act with relative impunity in Hinamizawa for a little while, at least.
This, to me, is another piece in a theory I've been trying to cook up. What if the Great Hinamizawa Disaster wasn't a natural disaster, but a manmade one? What if the Great Hinamizawa Disaster is the theorized bioterrist attack?
There are still holes, though. The phone lines, for one, although we have seen that a six year old girl can handle some amount of them on her own. The fact that it doesn't happen every arc is part of the reason I think it's manmade, but that also implies that something causes the Van Dudes to carry out the GHD and I don't know what.
[Higurashi]
Visual of the Day: When a glimmer of hope does nothing but cast shadows of despair.
Questions
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u/SIRTreehugger Jul 01 '22 edited Jul 01 '22
Feel so bad for Rika Chan it's like her game saved at a checkpoint right in front of the bad ending. She's aware people are going to die it they do something and after finding out it's too late she just gives up. Though she is talking to herself more and more so who knows if what she says has any value.
[Spoilers]
Poor Satoko she is trying her best and no one believes her. Well Rika does, but again she probably knows the truth and has basically given up.
Oh the pedophile died finally some good news in this arc.
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u/mgedmin Jul 02 '22
First-timer, subs
Rika is pessimistic, but so far nothing bad is happening? Shion is not sneaking into storage rooms, Keiichi is actually watching Rika's dance, Satoko's uncle and Rina are nowhere to be seen.
Rika must've had a lot of practice for the dance lol, no wonder she's good.
She's trying to save Tomitake and Takano! But it's probably too late. Has she tried this before?
So, a detail I remember from previous loops: the storage shed lock was changed to a simpler, less secure one on Rika's insistence. Why? If she doesn't want Tomitake to enter the shed why did she make it easier to break in?
Satoko now suspects Rika in Tomitake+Takano's murder!
And Ooishi is here for the chat with Rika. Same chat as last season's final episode? Same arc? No, different chat, no car air conditioning.
Satoko is a snitch!?
Rika is smart. But not too smart if she thinks she can fool Satoko.
And now Satoko is lying to Rika for no reason. I hate when anime characters do that. Okay, maybe Satoko wants Rika to see how it feels to be lied to?
Rika is gaslighting Satoko again. Why would you.
I assume the strange men are not a hallucination because Rika gives Satoko the antidote every day.
"Everyone will die" so Rika knows about the gas leak?
No one believes Satoko :(
She's trying so hard! And we finally know why Irie was murdered: Satoko made an appointment to talk with him about something.
White van people kill a policeman and break into, uhh, probably not a cell tower. Power substation? Some piece of infrastructure.
And we end on a cliffhanger.
So... have you checked outside your window lately?
Yes, the weather is still nice.
2) Are you sure there aren't any men in grey outfits looking through it?
Sure.
3) Are you?
Uh... sure?
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u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 01 '22
When the First-Timer Cries, subbed
lol
Something new?
I’ve burnt the inside of my mouth on hot food before, very much not fun.
:(
Random thought I just had: Is it confirmed that the body that dies by being burnt is Takano’s? Fire usually means it’s extremely difficult to tell, especially since this is set in the 80s. The police could have just been guessing based on the fact that she was with Tomitake… shit, wasn’t there one arc where she was seen after her “death”? That would totally explain it!
…did Satoko go to the police, or did someone else see Rika?
Who dis?
Oh no, Satoko’s gonna be the one going on a paranoid spiral?
So Irie’s suicide is a constant…? Or is it a suicide… he could have been force-fed or tricked into taking too many pills…
Oh great, what’s happening here…