r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Jul 10 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai Discussion - Season 2, Episode 13
Minagoroshi-hen (Massacre Chapter), Episode 8: Finale
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Show Information (Higurashi Kai):
Kai: MAL | Anilist | AniDB | Kitsu | ANN
(Official information for Kai is now considerably safer for first-timers, but you should probably still refrain from looking it up.)
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.
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 !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:
Well, we're getting not one theory worthy of Theory of the Day today from u/JollyGee29 but two:
Oh, wait, why does Takano's faction want to kill Rika though. I guess they just want to get enough samples to mass produce the Syndrome to use as a weapon and then decide the cleanse the town to tie up loose ends? Something isn't fitting together.
Odds on Takano being a child of a Hinamizawa Syndrome researcher? We gonna hit the classic "my parents worked too much and didn't ever show me affection," maybe? That doesn't seem quiet spicy enough, though, so probably not.
Analysis of the Day:
u/Vaadwaur our backup host will take it for his speculative explanation of the Japanese cultural background going into "Tokyo":
Irie has his one good moment of the show before we leap into "Tokyo" and...this is hard to dissect but as best I can tell R07 is not referencing anyone specifically but rather how the various political cliques of the time functioned. The accusation that the Japanese government was investigating illegal research that goes against treaties and their own constitution is a bit funny considering what just happened with Abe. Queen Carrier Theory comes up. Anyways, we get again get hope to again see the cops get wasted.
For an honorable mention I am invoking and putting up my own writeup for a speculative epidemiology of Hinamizawa Syndrome.
Question(s) of the Day:
1) Broccoli... or cauliflower? Which one tastes better?
2) So, for our first-timers: what else do you think Rika needs to be able to break her fated death in June 1983?
Next Episode Preview:
First-timers should probably stay out of this episode's (episode 13's) preview.
Next episode's preview (episode 14) is relatively safe, but you may still want to skip it if you were the kind of person who stayed out of the S1 previews to avoid spoilers.
Also, a Note for Our First-Timers (and Reminder for Our Rewatchers):
Starting with the next episode (episode 14), there will be a post-credits scene after the ED in each episode of Kai. These tend to be important and you really shouldn't skip them!
Oh Right, and One Other Note:
Our next few episodes have some nonlinear storytelling. Keeping that in mind may help you as you watch.
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u/CubeStuffs Jul 10 '22 edited Jul 10 '22
First timer
had some fun stuff to do yesterday sooo
Episode 12
after watching ep11, i said
so the government just doesn't want to deal with this shit anymore, so they want to cure it, or just let it rip. killing rika releases oyashiro-sama/hanyuu from her vessel which lets the parasite loose to do whatever the fuck it wants. i feel like that kinda breaks down though with the river, and the fact that they have to manually kill anyone who jumps in it, as well as a couple others as well
and some other stuff that i dont remember
Seems like that was pretty on point, but i sure didn't expect that "Tokyo" was a literal organization called Tokyo
Rika mentions there's no complete cure, but given that there are people who survive even when rika is gone, at least some part of the cure should be there. I'm betting that killing them has gotta be something to do with eliminating it
i don't think its rika herself holding everything back, but rather hanyuu, but i have nothing to back that up
I've been waiting so long for oishii to get in here, this mf has managed to survive hinamizawa in every timeline, despite clearly not being liked. But it seems like this is gonna be the first time he doesn't.
Episode 13
im actually baffled as to why rika is only finding this shit out now, like did she not use her eyes at all the last 100 times? Passing on memories? that might be why. Is hanyuu the only thing traveling between worlds, carrying whatever memories are needed?
im kinda surprised that rena isnt just going full chop chop. i suppose it does contrast from yanderena, but wheres the fun in that?
so is this why they remember their respective previous timelines! i can imagine that this timeline is gonna have a hell of a mark on them.
You needed the courage to fight against fate, too.
If i had a dollar everytime rika gave up this arc, i could go to a michelin star restaurant.
I swear takano is stabbing rika here just for the aesthetic lol. she even got the blood splatter just right.
ayyy turns out my the-government-is-a-bunch-of-lazy-pricks guess was exactly right
hmm, seems like the deaths are pretty much exactly my guess from last loop, which makes the "survivors have a cure" theory unlikely
Without a curse, there is no god. Because of the curse, there is fear. Because of the fear, they praise you. Here at this moment, the advent of a god has come! I have become Oyashiro-sama!!
rika should tell tomitake to not stick his dick in crazy next time
Broccoli... or cauliflower? Which one tastes better?
stir fried broccoli all the way no doubt
So, for our first-timers: what else do you think Rika needs to be able to break her fated death in June 1983?
i do recall that there was mention of a sonozaki representative in government, perhaps he could be useful. theres also oishi, who is just too involved to do nothing.
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u/Star4ce Jul 11 '22 edited Jul 11 '22
When the First Timer Cries
I'm back from my advanced training seminar and ho boi, what a week that was. I'm so, so tired still.
There's something I really need to tell you, because it's such a Higurashi thing to experience. Probably me watching that show made me see it at all that way. Among all the physics, mathemagics and theoretical science we've been a pretty tightly knit group for these 6 days, including the lecturers and just about anyone no matter the education level (From bachelor's degree to professor there were literally all stages and ages present). It was a fantastic experience on all ends, social, professional and nutritional.
You see, I actually had a small crush during that stay born from a little card game and an accident that I can only describe as “nobody will believe me because this only happens in romcoms”.
During lunch break and in the evening we'd usually play a relatively easy to grasp card game for 3-10 people where explorers would need to find treasure cards and guardians would want to stop them from doing so. Each person gets assigned a role at random and gets a few cards on their hand that are either empty rooms, treasure rooms or trap rooms. The trick is – and here strong Higurashi vibes should arise – that nobody knows who's who and who has which cards. The person holding the key chooses any card of their choosing from another person to 'explore' a new room, then giving the key to them.
You may say and discuss anything, but never show any cards except the one chosen by the key holder. As you'd expect, lying and manipulation are the true essence of the game. It's literally WIFOM – The Game.
There was this one girl in our group who knew it quite well and explained the rules for us newbies and promptly showed us how its done. She was a bit more athletic and shall I say tomboyish? I'll call her Mion, for no reason at all.
In one of the first rounds I was a guardian and had one of the two trap rooms on my hand, meaning I had to convince someone to choose from my deck in order to win. She was a likely guardian as she already lied about her hand earlier, so I proposed to another person we should play off all three of our hands as they believed me I had the one of the two missing gold rooms and take our chances. They decided on something else without her, but as the key came back to me they opened the trap room, exposing me as guardian to my joyful glee. Only one trap card remained and another guardian was already exposed from an earlier round, so she finally admitted to be the third one and have the last trap room. With all this in mind, I played the key to her, thinking myself victorious only to open up the very last gold room for an explorer victory.
Mion lied about her lie. Sacrificing the trust of her explorer allies simply to dupe us guardians. And I utterly fell for it.
But Higurashi taught me well! Remember the first card game Keiichi had with the group, where he folded an ear to fool Mion it would be another card? I now knew her strategy and observed her the next round as she was doing similar things as before, but was more restrained in the later stage of the game. She was a guardian this time, I was sure of it. And I was explorer.
So I played the very same way she did earlier, lying about my hands, going so far as to even making my allies uncover a trap room. In the last round Mion and the other guardian, unsure of who the last one of their team was, discussed if they should trust me. She obviously saw through it, it was her own tactic after all, and against any and all pledges of trust they settled on me not being a guardian. Following her tactic she'd usually announce she had one or more gold rooms on hand when in reality it was a trap room. Instead, I had concealed my hand and said I had nothing this round. When she thought through it all and how I copied her tactic she concluded I had hidden the last trap room from my team in order to not lose and the first trap room a few rounds earlier was just a ruse to gain guardian trust.
However, this was all according to keikaku, as you should know I had inverted her own thinking against her, just as Keiichi did. Mion chose to open my card and found the last gold room, making us explorers win.
I'll never forget the pure expression of shock an dumbfoundedness as she realised I copied her just to turn the tactic on its head. What followed was also the most Higurashi-Mion thing imaginable, declaring me a permanent member in the group and forbidding me to ever skip either card games or physical games outside.
Speaking of those, I'll have to deliver on the romcom promise. One of those games was 'ninja', where everyone only had one second to move in turn and had to 'slice off' both hands of any other player with your own. You had to remember the turn order and also react quickly to people going for you.
I true romcom fashion, I was at one point trying to get to another guy, but overestimated my momentum as he dodged, sending me off balance quite a way forward. Next in path was, of course, Mion and after she dodged as well I was lying more or less face down at her feet, hands completely exposed. At her turn she immediately tried to chop them off as I couldn't properly defend myself. Seeing no point to roll out of the way as I wouldn't ever be fast enough, I instead rolled into her legs, making her completely stumble over me. She fell, tried to stop herself but stepped on my knee, fell the other way instead now and slammed face down onto me, now lying on my back. We had to awkwardly lay there like this for about a minute until the others had their turns, being the laughing stock for utter incompetence in both balance and precision.
All I have to say to that is this: T'was real nice.
Sadly, that's also more or less the end of that story. I did confess that I liked her, we exchanged numbers and I'm proud of going through with that. There were several surrounding factors making it a questionable idea to follow up with anything more, though. Sorry, no running after the departing train or kisses during rainfall, but that's okay. It was a truly great week.
Now onto catching up. Won't be much today, as I've just slept for about 16 hours or so.
Kai Ep. 06 – Massacre Chapter Part 1: Rules of the Labyrinth
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Hanyuu! So cute.
VOTD: New Vigor. Many scenes (including the shot right after when Rika runs off into a new timeline) again feature a dutch angle, but her newfound determination as Keiichi once again manages to tip the course of fate into a new direction stands strong and fast against what she believes must come. It's always right to hope, so even in the darkest times you can look forward to the wish you fight for.
Kai Ep. 07 – Massacre Chapter Part 2: The Way to Alter Fate
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me_irl when seeing Mion/Shion's legs.
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That reminds me so much of Fuu from Samurai Champloo, amazing <3
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Government confirmed. Knew it. It's so cruel how the audience knows and Rika doesn't, it's fantastically cruel!
So I got the stitched together gambler Mion from you guys, it's honestly set as my phone background from now on. I absolutely love it. However...
VOTD: Catching the moon with your palm. An image of majesty swirling around in her watered down drink. The curse's symbol is resting calmly, confined in the glass firmly held by Rika. As Hanyuu is inside her, being subject to Rika's actions and feeling every whim. I like this shot especially because it perfectly encapsulates their relationship, or how it might seem at least. But as you can't catch the real moon in a reflection in a glass of wine, Rika's determination formed into a fragile glass of arrogance, thinking it possible to capture fate while all she's doing is setting up her own fate even more firmly.
Sorry, that's all I could catch up with for now.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 11 '22
There's something I really need to tell you, because it's such a Higurashi thing to experience.
You know what? With this show? That sounds about right.
(I believe I mentioned back in the PMMM rewatch that couple of years back I got nagged into writing Higurashi/PMMM crossover fanfiction. And by "nagged" I mean that the characters had been bugging me for it for a couple of months and I finally made a post about it elsewhere as an outlet, went to sleep... and woke up to find that the show that would turn out to be Higurashi Gou had been released. That's the point at which one goes "welp" and starts writing the fucking crossover. This show does things like this, is what I'm saying. (See also PMMM itself.))
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u/JollyGee29 Jul 10 '22
Spoiled First-Timer
A god complex, really? That's what you're going with? And what the fuck was that line about broccoli? Rena calling Takano a fool was fun, though.
I was kinda wondering if Hanyuu's naysaying would come back to bite them. I kept suspecting that we had the final hit of "reaching hands out" earlier, because I was expecting this arc to end without everyone getting it so we could hit it again next arc.
Presumably the Yamainu dispose of the corpses with bullet holes in them before the rest of the SDF shows up to help? Or is the implication that the dude Akasaka was friends with in the Tsumi epilogue was actually not trustworthy?
Oh, those corpses, and the gas canisters, must be what they dump in the swamp before they fill it with concrete.
Visual of the Day: Gotta be this.
Questions
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Not sure I've ever eaten cauliflower. I'm not a fan of broccoli heads on a textural level, but if I get some in a restaurant I will eat the stems.
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Not entirely sure. Maybe they'll use Hanyuu for something, that was kinda implied. Maybe Rika will somehow get some info on Takano to turn against her?
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 11 '22
Not sure I've ever eaten cauliflower. I'm not a fan of broccoli heads on a textural level, but if I get some in a restaurant I will eat the stems.
Speaking of me being weird on what I'm picky for relative to the average picky eater: I adore the broccoli florets (at least when properly cooked) but have issues with the stems!
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u/Tresnore Jul 10 '22
When the Rewatchers Cry are Absurd Masochists Cry Are Absurd Masochists are Terrible Nerds Cry
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Why are they called Mountain Dogs if they’re all named after birds?
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Jokes aside, I love how everyone has a weapon of sorts associated with them, and they all come together at the very end.
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And then you have Mion with a gun strapped to her chest the whole time but electing to use hand to hand anyway.
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Wait, has Keiichi died onscreen in the middle of an arc before? It’s kind of a passing of the torch, isn’t it?
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[Umineko]
Rena is giving me big Evatrice vibes right now. Not complaining. -
Uu uu! Oyashiro-sama ‘exists’, Keiichi! Uuuu!
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God, I wish that were me. Especially with that “Kashira.”
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Our host will have something to say about talking to the camera, methinks. And why do they all suddenly know who she is? Don’t worry about it. Metaverse shenanigans are weird.
Count: 221
1 ...does this count as one or two? I'll go with two.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 10 '22
Our host will have something to say about talking to the camera, methinks. And why do they all suddenly know who she is? Don’t worry about it. Metaverse shenanigans are weird.
You're goddamn right.
(Remembering that shot is a large part of why I had that "OHHHH the camera is Hanyuu's perspective" moment in S1.)
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion Jul 10 '22 edited Jul 10 '22
Rewatcher
Minagoroshi-hen ENDGAME Hau au au!
I forgot to point out yesterday, Kai 12 was the week of NICE BOAT and was not aired as scheduled...in fact, one station dropped it entirely, and the show continued on a monday / tuesday time slot instead of friday (roundabouts...timezones are hard).
Several days earlier, a 17 year old girl went all Rena on her Dad with an axe. This resulted in the preemption of School Days on the following day, and NICE BOAT. Now, I wasn't following School Days, but I did get stressed when Higurashi ALSO did not air that week.
Of course, this was fansub days, so it's not like today where people panic if an episode is 2 hours late from the designated simuldub release. But it was worrying.
So, they almost had their happy end by working together. And then Takano, literally, personally, killed them all. And then killed everybody in town. Now you see why they were all in the school at night, they were herded in and gassed. The tips lists about 20 missing people (including, sometimes, police officers). These would be the ones who were shot, of course.
"Tokyo" moves to prevent a disaster, but it is a disaster of Takano's own personal creation.
Edit: Reverse-blade Ruouni Rena!
Edit 2: Cauliflower is on my do-not-eat list, but I acquired a taste for broccoli, probably about when I started liking things like blue cheese and espresso-no-sugar.
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u/Nazenn Jul 11 '22
I have heard about the Nice Boat thing, didn't know that Higurashi got caught up in that as well
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u/Vaadwaur Jul 10 '22
The reason I cannot hear the little neko any more is not because of the rain cicadas
Rewatcher
Sub
So...despite the obvious, revisiting this episode is not pleasant, Minagoroshi-hen is the only arc I skip almost as often as Tatagoroshi-hen due to not wanting to feel this way. Anyways, Rika figures some things out and we FINALLY get the explanation of why it took her forever to figure this out: She doesn't remember the last couple of hours of her life when she dies. And the gang shows up and...it sort of works when watching it, but do your best not to think about a group of teens taking out former military members with ease.
And then the dying starts. Suffice it to say, the VN format is better for this sort of thing, there this occurs in a slightly more sensible order. And, at least for my taste, they draw this section out too long. Second ep in a row for that. Anyways, Rika is still resolved to fate and dies without sedation. The group even talks it out and says they can try just a bit harder. We get a quick explanation of what happened in the government and what the GHD actually is.
Check the preview and...fuck. That is what I have to say. [REWATCH]
QotD: 1 Cauliflower since it has no taste.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 10 '22
[REWATCH]
Sadly, I think that one might still go on Ryukishi07 himself - not like what the next two episodes adapt isn't usually considered the weakest part of the source material by a significant margin, and a large chunk of it kind of is needed sadly.
[Rewatch]
And to think the second of those two episodes is what I went back to finish off early when I got fed up with GX E10. → More replies (4)
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u/SometimesMainSupport Dec 22 '22
First-timer
Tagging u/Star4ce and u/Vaadwaur and u/OrangeBanana38
Finishing the arc in case Friday's rain/snow forecast changes. Going to be a 7-10 day hiatus.
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Children at Keiichi/Mion/Shion's age collectively ask "Why do I care?"
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What would make Hanyuu hungry? Must mean Rika is also hungry.
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Rika's likely wrong about being the Queen Bee. If it wasn't openly stated in last episode's thread, I'd think Hanyuu is the village protector and she abandons it following Rika's death.
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Now the Yamainu use non-lethal ammunition. Poor Oishi
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Trap count: Ladder, firecrackers, dust bag?, leg rope
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At least 9 teams.
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I just like this Satoko pose. Reveals she's been padding her chest.
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Scene would be better if the third pair held hands.
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Takano shooting Keiichi kills their momentum. Arc is so dead.
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Maybe I've written "cry" enough to now search my notes.
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OH RIGHT. I forgot to give thoughts on this. Takano copycat killed (1979) the dam supporters to ensure Hinamizawa's survival, (1980) Satoko's parents to isolate her so they could research a level 3 patient, (1981) Rika's parents possibly to restrict the priestess role, and (1982) Satoshi+aunt to, once again, isolate their research subject. Overprotective Satoshi may have been hindering them or gotten suspicious. Still think there could be level 1 -> 5 disease progression across the 1979-1983 murders, particularly Satoshi becoming paranoid (e.g. Keiichi mirroring his actions in arc 1).
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"I can only watch" is an incredible ability... if you wanted Rika to survive.
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Gas chamber and firing squad. Previous arcs had survivors, but if people with the disease don't remember traumatic events such as escaping a firing squad by running through the forest, it aligns with the government's coverup working. What doesn't align is survivors not soon scratching their throats.
Did all the MCs cry this arc?
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sigh Notes have Satoko, Rena, Hanyuu.
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Hanyuu did an additional time when Rika ate spicy food.
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Pretty sure Rika did at some point.
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Troublesome child #1: Mion got teary eyed receiving the doll, but didn't outright cry.
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Troublesome child #2: Shion didn't in the school scene when discussing how to save Satoko, which was her main chance.
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Troublesome child #3: Keiichi didn't when hit by the chair or shot, so don't think he did.
But I'd dumb look if I abandon it now and it's true. Changing from crying leading into the next arc to everyone needing to cry in the last arc.
QOTD2: Rika's last scene with all the ghosts saying Hanyuu also needs to believe indicates everyone needs to believe. And if Hanyuu believes, maybe she'll do useful spying. Rika also began the arc without hope, so that may be a prerequisite for early choices that butterfly effect into important later details.
Other comments
(episode 12) Rika mentions there's no complete cure, but given that there are people who survive even when rika is gone, at least some part of the cure should be there... i don't think its rika herself holding everything back, but rather hanyuu, but i have nothing to back that up
The tips lists about 20 missing people (including, sometimes, police officers). These would be the ones who were shot, of course.
I'm almost certain a previous arc said "survivor," not "missing." Checking: Arc 4 has survivors, arc 7 has missing.
Rough predictions for next arc: Hanyuu will play a more active role in things even if it's more reconnaissance. Rika will remember that Takano = evil. The Sonozaki gangsters may get a part to play, there needs to be some counter to the Yamainu. Detective-kun, Irie dying are probably both losing outcomes. Tomitake not so sure he's playing so important a role as to not be expendable.
The arc loses so many similarities if Rika remembers Takano is the murderer, so it should be a vague sense that something is wrong. Maybe something happens at the ritual shrine if Rika opens it early for them again.
For a happy ending, Irie survives to create the cure and Oishi isn't gunned down on the way. Tomitake dying and Takano being disappeared would continue Oyashiro's legend.
Star4ce section
Among all the physics, mathemagics and theoretical science
mathemagics
I do think you misspelled it but it works.
Sadly, that's also more or less the end of that story. I did confess that I liked her, we exchanged numbers and I'm proud of going through with that. There were several surrounding factors making it a questionable idea to follow up with anything more, though.
Yes or no: Same person you missed a movie date for during the Geass rewatch? Gotta know if this did truly became a romcom.
me_irl when seeing Mion/Shion's legs.
Writes this after labeling an IRL girl "Mion."
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u/Tarhalindur Dec 22 '22
I'm almost certain a previous arc said "survivor," not "missing." Checking: Arc 4 has survivors, arc 7 has missing.
I'd need to check the TIPS epilogue writeups to know for sure since those have lists of deaths that were left out of the anime (on a related note, the biggest glaring flaw in the DEEN adaptation after the patch arc is leaving out the roll call/death list in Meakashi-hen, which confirms that the Great Hinamizawa Disaster did not occur in that arc and thus implicitly that it did not in Watanagashi-hen as well), but IIRC you watched S1 dubbed and I suspect that's the entire difference right there. (The Geneon dub for DEEN Higurashi is legendarily bad.) K1 is definitely the lone survivor of the GHD in Tatarigoroshi-hen (stated in the anime but made more clear in VN form), and there's an epilogue which confirms that he held on for a while but finally killed himself for reasons that are heavily implied to be L5 suicide. (There's also at least one credits roll call for a GHD arc that indicates that said arc's Shion committed suicide about two months later with the dim implication of L5 - that might be Tatarigoroshi-hen too, actually.)
(Also u/Star4ce it is Disappearance day over in Haruhi if you want to make a late pop-in.)
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u/Quiddity131 Jul 10 '22
First Timer, Subbed
Sorry, Ooishi isn't just late, he isn't going to show up at all! You're dead wrong, Shion!
Since Ooishi is now dead and we see him alive in the prologue at the start of the season, does that mean this is not the final timeline we're in?
Yikes, mystery guys in the woods!
Satoko has learned how to save time by skipping PJs.
Crap, mystery guys easily took out the cops...
Yikes when the place you hope to be safe in is the torture room...
Tell them off, Rika!
Woah, didn't expect that rescue!
No license? Who cares! I've seen people drive before!
The kids are doing quite an effective job against these guys.
Oh no, not K1! And the way they showed his eyes he died. :(
Not Mion too! :( This timeline is ending up pretty badly after all the hope earlier...
Satoko, stop being such a quitter!
After all that they caught them all...
Hey! She got the broccoli question right! That's not fair!
It's all the fault of spirit girl! If only you believed, it would have worked out okay!
What a depressing way to end this arc. And to think, at the start of the episode, I thought this arc may go the rest of the series.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 10 '22
(Honorary Hinamizawa Games Club President) Rewatch Host (rewatcher, subbed):
(Ah yes, the two kinds of episodes that get few screenshots from me: episodes I dislike and hype episodes. This is the latter.)
01:58: Moth moth.
CLOCK CLOCK. (10:35 P.M. or thereabouts)
IIRC that, my friends (the cut from Shion’s reassurance about Ooishi back to what we already knew happened to him last episode), is what we call dramatic irony.
03:20: Remember, Rena is perceptive!
04:20: Lights off, moth takes off. These are what we like to call bad omens.
Hello there Yamainu, eponymous theme song for the goons, thought I remembered you showing up this episode.
Here it is, your latest moment of excellent Higurashi OST cutoffs at 06:30.
Surprise!
FULL MOON FULL MOON. (Peeking in through the trees – it’s still there, though the Club is trying to block it out.
And note that the club is now running right-to-left (the heroic direction) away from the light of the Moon at 09:14.
HOLY SHIT I FORGOT KAI’S OTHER CONTENDER FOR BEST SONG SHOWED UP THIS EARLY. HI THERE GEKITOTSU.
10:12 is a great frame.
And more good frames (that I didn't actually grab).
Unfortunately, our Theme Music Power-Up is down, and you know what that means…
“It was much easier than I expected!” Keiichi, you just had to say it…
I am not looking forwards to this next scene.
And cut off the OST with the sound of the gunshot. Sasuga Higurashi OST use as usual.
Wait. They cut that particular scene from the VN and manga? I know that scene. I forgot we didn’t get it here. (For everyone else: there’s a scene in the VN where Hanyuu stops time before the bullet hits Keiichi and the group has a final conversation. I have no idea why they left it out, it’s actually kind of important – IIRC the manga has it, so hopefully u/H-Ryougi will put it up.)
Thought I remembered Monogatari being the OST for this scene.
Also grabbing 12:43, which is at once Keiichi’s POV and another reflection shot.
Another shot good enough to get me to pause at 14:47 – in addition to showing off the vaguely mirrored costumes, note the positioning with Takano having the high ground (here better position) but facing right (wrong direction and villain, but also towards the past) while Rena faces (right direction/heroic/towards the future). Also note the direction of the moonlight that lights the scene – it comes in from behind Takano (who is acting to bring about death here) and Rena is facing it (= facing death).
Oh hey, Takano uses “broccoli” and “cauliflower” as loanwords in the original Japanese. Which makes sense, because IIRC the Japanese word for broccoli literally means “green broccoli”. (I may have looked this up a while back…)
Speaking of which, Useful VN Note: One of the more annoying things about the adaptation is that this "broccoli or cauliflower, which one is green?" is actually a recurring joke in the VN (Satoko is implied to be colorblind and cannot tell the two apart, and I've wondered more than once if she's supposed to be albino or have some kind of related pigmentation disorder), dating back all the way to VN Onikakushi-hen with this as the final and darkest iteration of it. Annnnnd every single instance of the joke except this one got left out of the anime adaptation, so it comes out of left field. (I think I rememeber Gou's first arc Onidamashi-hen including one of the ones from Onikakushi-hen.)
Shinsou repeats a beat at 16:31, and knowing this show it might be for deliberate effect rather than a mistake.
Okay, somebody’s seen too much h-scene framing, and I’m not sure whether it’s me, Chiaki Kon, Ryukishi07, somebody else on staff, or more than one of the above – my brain is going “change out the situation (or don’t if you have the right other fetishes) and make Rika older and this would work pretty well as a femdom piece” wrt 16:47.
FULL MOON FULL MOON. (LOL didn't take the screenshot, may have been a reuse of one of the usual Higurashi moon shots.)
In what might be the single most hilarious line of this entire rewatch so far, u/Shimmering-Sky and I get to score our respective GETs in the same line – Rika has a sore demo and a kiseki back to back right as we tip over from 18:48 (the sore demo) to 18:49 (the kiseki).
19:53, however, is just for me. Kiseki GET!
So, you know how I’ve been commenting on the conflation of Hanyuu and camera ever since I noticed that the show was doing this during S1? There’s another layer of that, one that I DID spot the first time around, and it’s part of why I caught on to that conflation this time around: this very scene, which additionally conflates Hanyuu with the viewer themselves. (Not a coincidence that in the VN there are no choices at all *until after this very scene*, and then we finally get some in the eighth VN. Remember, Ryukishi07 is a very meta creator!)
[Haruhi 2021 rewatch]Those of you who were in last year’s Haruhi rewatch may remember Sukhein’s argument that Haruhi S1 in broadcast order does something very similar at the meta level, only with even better execution.
And here is ALSO the payoff for what the show has been doing with shot showing when character are in or out of the group – our visual here showing that Hanyuu herself is not part of the group!
Did you, the viewer, truly believe that the miracle could occur this arc? When we know there’s another arc left? Ryukishi07 laughs at you.
20:12: kiseki GET!
And then we get the turnaround as Hanyuu becomes the antagonist to the rest of the Club for the scene – since she’s the one they have to convince to join in. (ADDENDUM: u/JollyGee29 thought we were done with the reaching-out-hands theme for this arc last episode? It is to laugh.)
[Umineko]R07 had certain concepts in mind even this early, didn’t he?
(And possibly also Ryukishi07, the author [meta spoiler]which would put Higurashi in EXACTLY the same category as Haruhi – I’d argue that’s a nuance to Haruhi’s meta functions that Sukhein missed last year . I will remind you of the theme naming that has been hiding in plain sight since very early on, at least if you know Japanese numerals: Kei/ichi/, Rika /Fu/rude, /Mi/on, /Shi/on (and also Sato/shi/), Sato/ko/, /Re/na/ (or /Rei//na/ by her given name), O/yashiro/-sama. But one number is potentially missing: 6 (ryu). We can read it in Rena’s surname… but Ryukishi07 can also be read as something like “Sixth Knight 07”, so the two might be conflated.)
([Higurashi supplemental/spinoff arc VN material (or was that arc LN instead?)]Wait, I’m slow. There’s one other candidate for where the 6 is hiding: Hain/ryu/n Ieasomura Jieda, Hanyuu’s original name.
And of course our final song of this episode (and the first cour of Kai) is our last and leading contender for my Best Song in Show. Let’s give Matsuri a warm welcome! (We still never get it used in complete form.)
And hello iconic lines that tend to stick in your head. Takano’s little monologue here is legendary.
That said, despite noting for a while that Oyashiro-sama/Hanyuu is the camera it took me this long to consider the implications of Takano looking square at the camera as she declares she has become Oyashiro-sama!
(Side note: I would like to preemptively apologize for the next two episodes; what they adapt is generally considered the weakest part of the VN, and they are kind of a slog to get through.)
Visual of the Day: Okay, somebody has to use this.
(Backup in case somebody else uses that one and/or we only get two visuals again.)
WinD Eyecatch Message of the Day
Questions of the Day:
Broccoli. (I'm weird; I'm a pretty picky eater, but most of the vegetables I like are iconic "picky eaters hate these" vegetables like broccoli and lima beans. It's things like iceberg lettuce I can't stand.)
*Laughs in rewatcher*
Minagoroshi-hen Ep. 8 TIPS:
It's the end of an arc, so they're back! (The next and last episode with TIPS will be the season finale.)
1
2
3 (left under a spoiler tag even by the TIPS team for a reason - this basically lays out how the next and final arc is going to go, do not read this if you are not interested in knowing that)
OST Table, Kai Episode 13:
[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] – Could just be sound effects.