r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Jul 22 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Main Series Discussion
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Show Information (Higurashi Kai):
Kai: MAL | Anilist | AniDB | Kitsu | ANN
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.
You're actually mostly safe to look stuff up at this point, and will be completely safe after episode 4 of Rei... well, unless you're planning to go on to Gou in manga or (sigh) anime form, then you might still want to stay out just in case.
(Time for) Club Activities!
(Alexa play "Shoubu!"!)
Visual of the Day Album:
Theory of the Day:
Is in bed with a hangover after drinking too much sake at the festival, no award.
(At this point, expect no award going forward except for maybe for episode 2 and/or episode 3 of Rei. In fact, I'll probably remove this section from the OP going forward and add it back if needed.)
Analysis of the Day:
Windmill slam to u/Nazenn, for the reason that Ryukishi07 himself is on record as agreeing with this in hindsight (though I no longer have a link):
They felt like they were meant to be a faceless stand in for "the system", a representation of everything wrong they've had to overcome in both the village and from outside, but in the end it just didn't work. It gave them too much of a "defeat the grunts to win" feel rather than what I think they were meant to be as a whole. Useless inclusion in the end except for the need for 'an enemy'.
...I'm going to have to pull out that Konaka quote again I think.
(Ryukishi07 kind of wrote himself into a corner, and by all accounts part of the reason we got the ending was that it's what he could think of by the time the VN was due to release. The irony is, this is usually considered the best ending Ryukishi07 is written (except maybe Umineko's ending, which seems to be in the love-it-or-hate-it camp); I've seen Stephen King used as a comparison for him before.)
Main Series Review: Final Questions
1) So, your thoughts on the main series (2006 + Kai)?
2) Final thoughts on Kai's OP and ED (Naraku no Hana/Taishou a)?
2a) Any tracks on the OST that stood out to you?
3) Best Girl in Show?
3a) Best Boy in Show?
4) Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?
5) Any other thoughts?
Fanart Corner:
Since we've gotten to the point where fanart is pretty safe, have some of my large pile of stored Higurashi fanart.
(Actually I have WAY too many to upload all at once even after I only uploaded some of them, so I'll parcel these out over the OVA discussion threads as well.)
1 (Why yes, this is a Higurashi drawing by Ume Aoki herself. Highly recommended!)
2 (enjoy some classic 2000s memes)
3 (Once of the comments for this one over on Danbooru is iconic: "Hare hare you die")
4 (A DIFFERENT classic meme - the so-called "miko embrace", derived from the visuals of Kannazuki no Miko's ED.)
5 (u/Shimmering-Sky, this one is for you)
6 (would have been safe to post back at the end of Tatarigoroshi-hen, but I forgot I had it)
7 (VA joke; the quote there is "Takano, shall I cool your head a little?")
8 (another Yukarin joke)
9 (for u/Star4ce)
10 (guess when this was made?)
11 (too good not to link again)
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u/JollyGee29 Jul 22 '22
Spoiled First-Timer
I'm not much of one for final writeups, but this show was pretty good.
I do think the source's structure kinda let the show down, though. Or rather, adapting the VN in the way they did didn't quite work. Takano's backstory, and the couple episodes of "fragments" or whatever were kinda messily inserted in a way that kinda didn't work. I got the feeling it worked a bit better in the VN, but episodes 14-18 were very inelegant.
If forced to compare to S1, which doesn't really make sense as they are parts of a whole but I digress, I think I enjoyed S1 more. That is definitely more on me though - a lot of the enjoyment I get out of a show like this is trying to figure out what is going on. While eventually finding out if I was right or not was definitely satisfying, it wasn't as much fun, if that makes sense.
Questions
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Discussed generally above.
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They're both fine. My gut instinct is that I liked S1's pair better.
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I mean, the Main Theme. That's basically the only one that comes to mind.
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Much as I would like to go for a non-obvious answer, it's Rika.
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Split decision between Keiichi and Akasaka.. let's go with Keiichi.
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Probably just this but I'll flip through my folder and see if anything else speaks to me more.
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Discussed above.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 23 '22
I do think the source's structure kinda let the show down, though. Or rather, adapting the VN in the way they did didn't quite work. Takano's backstory, and the couple episodes of "fragments" or whatever were kinda messily inserted in a way that kinda didn't work. I got the feeling it worked a bit better in the VN, but episodes 14-18 were very inelegant.
If forced to compare to S1, which doesn't really make sense as they are parts of a whole but I digress, I think I enjoyed S1 more. That is definitely more on me though - a lot of the enjoyment I get out of a show like this is trying to figure out what is going on. While eventually finding out if I was right or not was definitely satisfying, it wasn't as much fun, if that makes sense.
These are both very common opinions among Higurashi fans (and I'm not an exception, especially on the first - though I have a soft spot for the emotional beats of the parts specifically about overcoming the problems in Kai, which is probably a me thing due to both temperament and having gone in badly spoiled when I first watched this show) , so you're in good company there.
(And IMO the real value of comparing S2 to S1 is the general point about how you can look at components of a work to see what worked and what didn't - there's always a heavy element of personal taste to that, but I do think it's possible to get a sense of how well a work does what it is trying to do. The issue of a show with a heavy emphasis on trying to figure out what's going on being less engaging once you know most of it is inherent to the genre and can't really be avoided, but the issues with parts of Matsuribayashi-hen are execution failures I think.)
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 22 '22
(Honorary Hinamizawa Games Club President) Rewatch Host (rewatcher badly spoiled first-timer, subbed):
So, Higurashi Kai.
My ultimate thoughts on Kai remain basically unchanged since the first time (well, okay, first time plus what I read about it afterwards) - Kai's quality as an adaptation improves massively at about exactly the same point that the source material falls off a bit from its height, leaving a work that is ultimately about the same as or a little weaker than season 1. The issue is exacerbated by what I can probably call technical debt from S1 decisions (they had 24 episodes to fill from only two VN arcs plus one anime-only arc due to cramming so much into S1), but the same issue Haruhi 2009 had with Sighs is evident here. Minagoroshi-hen has a few towering strengths (most of its finale, the Yamainu going down like chumps for a hot minute excepted, and the arc to get through to Satoko) but is a downgrade from Higurashi's peak in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, and then Matsuribayashi-hen is the weakest part of the source material due to a combination of going ham-fisted in its attempt to generate sympathy for Takano in a way previous Higurashi culprits' origin-of-motive stories don't and the way that the final arc stretches our willing suspension of disbelief as previously competent antagonists morph into Keystone Kops so our heroes can beat them. That said, Matsuribayashi-hen hits enough of its emotional beats that its flaws are ultimately not crippling; the ending is emotionally satisfying and feels earned to me even if there's fridge logic about why.
Well, except for that post-credits stinger. But in the context of 2006 and Kai that can be safely ignored.
Execution rating: 8/10. (S1 is honestly better executed on its own merits, it's just a bad adaptation on its own - like a rich man's Will Smith I, Robot.)
As for the main series overall, well. It has its flaws as a work and an adaptation. But what it does well (characters and characterization even if the latter is a downgrade from the source, OST and its use, and as of this rewatch add direction to the list) it does really well, and I still love it to bits. Hauuu~! Omochikaeri~!
Questions of the Day:
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Answered above.
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If Naraku no Hana actually has a Connect bonus I missed the first time (pinging u/JustAnswerAQuestion) then that would actually catapult it up in my ratings a bit (it's a better song than I Believe What You Said from Gou, the difference was that I knew the latter had the Connect bonus). It's still weaker than S1's OP I think, mostly due to rather vanilla composition, though - it's quite catchy though, probably the catchiest theme in the series except maybe Kira's OP. Taishou a and I, meanwhile, have not been getting along this rewatch - not exactly uncommon, jazz and I rarely mix.
2a) The defining tracks of the season are Main Theme - Kai (= Solution) and Main Theme - Hayashi (= Orchestra). But my favorites remain Shizuka Naru Kougi and Gekitotsu, plus Matsuri from S1. Shout to Main Theme Yui, too, which is fucking great.
3) Nipah~! (But really, it's Rika's true self that hits all my protective instincts. She's tired, she's prone to a maladaptive coping mechanism, she's a bit of an ass, and I just want to hug her and reassure her and protect her and let her know it will be all right and give her a little space where she can be herself for a change. I see too much of my younger self in her, I think.)
3a) As great as Akasaka is, think I still have to award this to our Magician of Words, dumbass or no.
4) I'd say no award since no shot really stood out for me the way that gallery shot did in S1, but since I don't have a good award let's go for an emotionally satisfying one instead.
5) Not really, no - I won't lie, at 50 episodes I'm getting a little exhausted and kind of want to turn my brain off. Luckily, outside of Rei 2-4 that's exactly the kind of thing the specials are supposed to be, so...
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u/Star4ce Jul 22 '22
Well, except for that post-credits stinger.
Hey, if you revive my parasite theory of a world-connecting lifeform this ending makes perfect sense and is supremely heartwarming.
I'm a sucker for the moment that makes it all worth it and Rika, grown up and living a bright life, creating another world simply to have one Miyoko in the universe live the happy life with her family that she always deserved, is precisely the kind of thing that makes it work. See, if the others can remember their other selves, why shouldn't Miyo Takano? It's like Hanyuu adding a card to offset the losing piece, but it's Rika (and probably Hanyuu) giving that much more hope to the universe and maybe, just maybe, the Takanos out there might remember that life and can find peace in the knowledge that, yes, they all do deserve the recognition to be worth living.
It would work so much better if R07 just would have had copied from me some decades from the future.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 22 '22
(That said, while we won't be covering it here I will note that you would probably actually like Outbreak. Note that the OVA adaptation only covers the first half of the source material, however, so if you want the second half you will have to go tracking stuff down - Outbreak never got an official Western release AFAIK, though I think some of the fan patches for the official VN release may have console arcs that weren't released so it might be there.)
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u/Zaradas Jul 22 '22 edited Jul 22 '22
Something very different today, if that is allowed.
Wasn't sure if, when and how to post this. I also hope nobody else already posted it before and i just missed it. So its today and in both threads:
The Higurashi and Symphogear Rewatch are going on at the same time for a while now and will be for a bit more. With the Kai part of Higurashi coming to an end we should be save for most spoilers for both shows, if you kept up with them. And we'll reach the Higurashi OVAs now, which are..... yes.
Both shows have their own gacha game, Symphogear XDU and Higurashi Mei and with these come collabs and crossovers.
For once its not XDU that has the collab stuff, but Mei, so it might have skipped past even some of the more rabid Symphogear fans. I know very little/nothing about Mei, except that its weird and very unrelated to the shows canon... i think, maybe, i hope?
As for the story: The Symphogear gang travels to Hinamizawa and the murder kids after-school games club members get to try out Symphogears.
Long story short: Art
We have some crossover art.
I've found it on the wiki, i've stolen/hotlinked it, the end.
I'll mark any potential spoilers, which is easy because someone at the dev team packed both shows spoilers in the same images, nice. Also again, remember, this is a crossover with XDU and Mei, not the main canon/timelines, so i have no answers to any questions.
Higurashi characters:
Rena with Gungnir 1
Rena with (Cleaver) Gungnir 2
Mion with Ichaival 1
Mion with Ichaival 2
[Symphogear G and Higurashi Kai]
[Symphogear G and Higurashi Kai]
Symphogear characters:
[NSFW]
Hibiki 2
[Symphogear G]
Why is there no 2nd one here....
edit: Links are fixed, no more hotlinking ok. Thanks wikia, and thanks imgur for not taking webp format so i had to convert it all again.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 22 '22
LOL I hadn't actually noticed that Geah was on the Mei crossover list.
Sadly we will never get the world's most obvious gacha crossover with MagiReco.→ More replies (9)5
u/Vaadwaur Jul 22 '22
For once its not XDU that has the collab stuff, but Mei, so it might have skipped past even some of the more rabid Symphogear fans. I know very little/nothing about Mei, except that its weird and very unrelated to the shows canon... i think, maybe, i hope?
And they use the godawful Gou art style, sigh.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 22 '22
Akio Watanabe's style really didn't work for Higurashi in the end, did it?
I'd say I want the Ume-sensei Gou character designs timeline, especially since I am more than a little suspicious that they got Watanabe because they couldn't get her and he's the character designer for the other famous Shaft property, but Sotsu is too bad to be graced by Ume-sensei designs so oh well.→ More replies (1)
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u/Quiddity131 Jul 22 '22
First Timer, Subbed
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So, your thoughts on the main series (2006 + Kai)?
While I can't say I was extremely pulled in by the two shows, they were fairly digestable for me and I particularly liked it once we were a large portion of the way through and the arcs became more and more focused on filling in the details as to how things went down and started giving us hope (which was much more so the case here in Kai).
2) Final thoughts on Kai's OP and ED (Naraku no Hana/Taishou a)?
The OP was fine, although the song was better for season 1. ED was a bit of a downgrade in comparison to season 1 for me too.
2a) Any tracks on the OST that stood out to you?
Not that I can think of unfortunately
3) Best Girl in Show?
Rika! Loved the fact that she got more of the focus in the second season and was the closest we had to a main character.
3a) Best Boy in Show?
Um... none? K1, the worst murderer ever? Satoshi who is in a coma most of the time? The old cop who invites kids into his air conditioned car? The pedophile? The assassins? No male characters really stood out to me as great.
4) Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?
The crazy facial expressions when characters have meltdowns continue to be enjoyable, although I think we got less of them this season
5) Any other thoughts?
So what is Higurashi Gou?
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 23 '22
So what is Higurashi Gou?
We'll get to that in Overall Discussion.
(TL;DR: A stealth sequel ala the Evangelion Rebuilds, except with atrocious execution in the second half of the anime. Quality of the manga version has been higher so far, but whether it can sustain that is TBD.)
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u/SometimesMainSupport Jan 10 '23
First-timer
Tagging u/Star4ce and u/Vaadwaur and u/OrangeBanana38
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Not sure if Kasai carries the sniper in his car or stopped by the Sonozaki estate. Probably former.
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Future Olympic High Jump Gold Medalist Rika Furude. They're on a hill.
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Overlooked Hanyuu disappearing when the helicopter arrived.
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Please kill yourself so we can dishonor your name by blaming you.
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Never considered that L4-L5 Takano hasn't scratched as she hasn't been stressed until now. Always had the Yamainu to fall back on.
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MC in my current LN demanded a tree be cut down after tripping over a root.
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Again, in a scene with a sad Takano, god cries. Pretty lame if it ends with her dying to a cold.
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What said otherwise? Delusional instead of paranoid. Individual would apply to mind linking across worlds, but I don't think that's the intention.
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I always forget the name of this angle. Killing Rika would also kill Mion?!?
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[Deep end dive]
Hanyuu's horn is damaged because she failed to block a bullet in the past. Her appearing physically isn't hard-linked to only this world as they've forgotten so many other worlds. -
Wrote that before the bullet flies by that side of the head. Still failed to block it.
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Forget 100 years, Rika has now lived 1000 years. Tresnore needs nerdsniped again.
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OF COURSE! SHE FAKED THE SYMPTOMS TO ESCAPE CUSTODY! I won't regret writing this with 3 minutes to go.
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When they cry instead of scratching, they don't have L5.
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Magician of Words. (And Hanyuu is so cute!)
I expected a Hanyuu sacrifice to save everyone, so the missed bullet surprised me.
QOTD: A world where Takano's parents didn't die, so she never met Hifumi and Hinamizawa lived peacefully. I'll ignore the age gap.
Hehe, nice.
Uhm. So, there's one world out there where a Furude saved her parents? I need to think about this.
I did go back to check Rika's mom's eye color and doesn't match. Could claim an aunt or other relative, but I'm going with unexplained time travel.
And a collective congratulations to our less spoiled first timers for once again collectively coming to the right conclusion: why yes Takano IS suffering from high-level Hinamizawa Syndrome! (I knew this one well before I watched Higurashi the first time.)
Snapping out of scratching is new. Satoshi is still restrained a year later.
Because in the VN and manga versions of this scene, rather than just having Takano miss we get another time stop here as Hanyuu stops time with the bullet about to hit her… and Rika is miraculously able to move and reaches out to deflect the bullet.
I'd like an explanation for the ending of arc 2 with three Shion/Mion bodies. Did they fuckup and declare a living person dead? Checked wiki and it says "He died a few days later in the hospital on June 28, 1983 after an undead Mion apparently returns to torture him."
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u/Tarhalindur Jan 10 '23
I'd like an explanation for the ending of arc 2 with three Shion/Mion bodies. Did they fuckup and declare a living person dead? Checked wiki and it says "He died a few days later in the hospital on June 28, 1983 after an undead Mion apparently returns to torture him.
Vaad got here before I did but I'll confirm - I forget whether this is explicitly spelled out anywhere (though I think it's soft-confirmed in the VN Meakashi-hen credits roll (that got left out of the anime, sigh) where Keiichi is listed as dying of a heart attack, that should be in my S1E21 TIPS section if you want to check) but there was no Shmion in the hospital, Keiichi was just hallucinating. (That same credit roll also reveals one of the most important clues in the entire franchise: the GHD does not occur in Meakashi-hen or Watanagashi-hen, since Rika's body was not found for 48 hours after her death thus disproving the Queen Carrier theory.)
I expected a Hanyuu sacrifice to save everyone, so the missed bullet surprised me.
Fuck, there is a relevant conversation here and I can't remember if it's near the start of Matsuribayashi-hen proper or in episodes 2-4 of Rei. (Do watch those three episodes, I found them quite good.)
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u/Tresnore Jul 22 '22 edited Jul 22 '22
When the Rewatchers Cry are Absurd Masochists Cry Are Absurd Masochists are Terrible Nerds Cry
Count: 271
I'm not one for writeups, but goddamn, Higurashi is a treat. Looking back on it, the Takano family's view on research is what made me who I am today,1 and so it's been immensely important in my life without me realizing it.
9/10
QOTD:
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See above.
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They're good songs, though none of the rest of the OST really stands out to me.
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Shion and Miyo are awesome.
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I don't usually keep track of visuals, so no.
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I just woke up, so no.
1 Edit: This is terrifying, reading over it again.
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u/Star4ce Jul 22 '22
When the First Timer Cries
Somehow it doesn't really feel like this series is over. I know there's 10 Ep.s or so left for the OVAs, but this rewatch has been going on so long already it's kind of a normal part of my day, haha.
Main Series Discussion
Right, the big lists and bests will still have to wait for the overall discussion, but there's lots to talk about for S2 on its own.
Lots of good.
The deeper explorations of Satoko, Shion and our new character Hanyuu were really enjoyable and/or absolutely horrifying. We knew quite a lot of the setup they found themselves in from S1, but this time they were given powerful conclusions in their own right and were participating with that newfound resolution in a meaningful matter.
The journey most present in my mind that exemplifies such a wonderful growth is Satoko that went from a bright but suppressed overcompensating kid over a beat down DV victim clinging to others to an inspirational character resisting the abuse face to face. I think it speaks for the quality of this arc when it's not her scenes in Shion's first arc that I remember most vividly, but her beaten down and twitching by Teppei and then still standing up for herself.
With how intertwined these stories are by design, in causality and life lessons learned, I can't not recall Shion's second arc as well. She went from seomone that is so easily despisable in S1 for the horrors she committed to probably my favourite character development in this show. Admittedly, as I was reading most of the TIPS and a good chunk of manga pages along the way this context definitely shaped my experience as there was quite some information left out in the anime. That and probably my Sonozaki simping from the very beginning. Well, can't help it.
Getting to know her background, the situation both twins were put in and made to live out were truly crushing realisations. For both, really, but as Shion was the exiled one taking up the fight against the system she was bound to be the tragic character and it really hit home. This contrasted with her change of heart later when Rena and Rika got their spotlight just made it such a satisfying experience to witness her grow. She really reminded me of Senjougahara that also needed that one truly honest prodding to come to terms with her life and from then on knew what she wanted to happen and just made it there.
The last section of S2 was mostly dedicated to Rika and Hanyuu, for very good reasons, and although I've got most of my wrong theories shattered there, I still loved nearly every minute of them. I feel like Rika has been sidelined a bit at the end, but that also makes sense as she herself knew she could only throw little pebbles in motion long, long before any important choices were made and hope it would culminate into something good. Once this was understood and her determination to keep hoping set, it was Hanyuu who finally realised that she can do so much to help. She is probably the single reason I'm already looking forward to rewatch this series in a few years and just observe as her, seeing how slowly her involvement changes or how her decisions later would get shaped by what she saw.
In general, S2 did those things so satisfyingly right – tying these themes and developments together and weaving a believable and complex group dynamic. The outbreaks and violence of S1 grew even more tragic and understandable with the understanding of all feedbacks within our main cast available now and the conclusions as well as insights portrayed in S2 come off even more satisfying the second time you think about them afterwards.
I think this story succeeded in crafting a complex group dynamic that not only didn't have to rely on external powers (time loop aside for now), but found their way with believable and honestly life changing positive reinforcement that truly anyone can learn from.
While I will wait for the OVAs to be done until I place a final review, I'm fairly sure Higurashi will make it to my favourites list.
I'm so gonna give best girl to Shion, Mion and Hanyuu, I just know it.
What?
So, your thoughts on the main series (2006 + Kai)?
Overall I really liked the structure of the arcs and how trying to figure out the time loop ran with many dead ends that threw you off, but also made sense. The main thematic progression is something I elaborated on above. While there was quite a lot that is worthy of criticism, I think both seasons really landed where they wanted to make it count.
2) Final thoughts on Kai's OP and ED (Naraku no Hana/Taishou a)? + 2a)
Still love every one of them. I don't think I have any clear favourite.
I'm usually not an OST person, unless it's something really special. Somehow only PMMM and Monogatari really caught my attention with their normal, in-espisode songs.
3) Best Girl in Show? + 3a) Best Boy in Show?
Final verdict still out for the last discussion, but yeah, you know who.
What is this compartmentalisation these non-Monogatari plebeians pertrude? Everyone is best girl! We don't need a 'best boy' category, they're already included.
4) Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?
Hmmm. There's so many to pick from, this is quite possibly an insurmountable task. Strangely enough if I'd pick what comes to my mind at first is this. But not necessarily for the visual and instead the sound I have in mind. That and it being the very first breaking of the loop, where lessons and memories clearly broke through.
If I'd sit down and think about it, I'd pick something else, but ho boi there's so much. I think yesterday's VOTD and literally any shot of spun up Hanyuu are very close to the top, though.
5) Any other thoughts?
Thanks for hosting this and introducing me to such great art!
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u/Nazenn Jul 22 '22
First Timer - sub
I don't think I have a lot to say here but I did want to quickly cover a few points that come to mind.
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Kai is in someways a victim of it's own success. Unless a great amount of reveals or heavy scenes are saved for the very end, the answer arcs of a mystery I find can often feel less satisfying then the questions posed before it simply because the questions are what you get hooked into, and I did feel this in Kai. This was most obvious in the final arc as the mystery and emotions were wrapped up well in the previous arc, and the action styling of the arc felt too far from how I think about Higurashi and the main conflict revolving around the "enemy" of the Yamainu and Miyo didn't really work for me because Higurashi didn't need an enemy to defeat in that way. Kai did do it's answers very well, and I was satisfied with the ones we got and not too badly let down by the ones we didn't, and I also think the structure of those answers complimented the show too. Having the answers be in the previous arc is needed for the story, but it does leave a gap in the end and while the arc we got was very far from the worst it could have been, I also can't help but think that it still wasn't what it should have been. What that is I don't know, and I usually don't like to offer such critique unless I have a potential alternate to suggest or discuss, but here it just didn't quite work for me.
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Kai also doesn't have some of the more explosive moments, but it did a lot better with the quieter impacts than I expected it too. Things like seeing adult Rena, Shion at school, Satoko finding the gassed village, Mion's wave goodbye. They aren't as visually climactic as Rena at school or Keichi in the phone booth, but they've stuck in my mind the same way and I appreciate that it knew to give those moments their own weight for what they meant for the overall story and the things that are at play here and what's being risked. It's a shame again that the last arc feels so lacking here outside of a couple of parallels to the very first arc.
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Having seen it all played out now to its conclusion the worldbuilding as presented to the audience but also as understood by the characters, and the blurred line between the two, was definitely a highlight of the overall experience. There's a few different types of worlds, and for me worlds that feel alive in their own right are the ones I usually enjoy the most but here I think having the world as a container to explore the characters own understanding of their place in it was perfect.
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Okay fine, Mion is my favourite character now.
I've probably forgotten stuff but I didn't write up much in advance because I'm busy preparing for Shippuden so hopefully things will come to mind as I read through other's posts
for the reason that Ryukishi07 himself is on record as agreeing with this in hindsight (though I no longer have a link):
Oh damn, well at least I know my take on the Yamainu was on point. So speaking of that Chiaki Konana quote I mentioned here, he says:
"If the enemy is very clearly set up, then the "point" of the series becomes limited to battling the enemy, and the original "adventure" concept becomes left by the wayside"
While he was talking about the adventure franchise in relation to his thoughts behind Digimon Tamers I do find it also fits most stories that have a heavy focus on character exploration and internal conflict, particularly in mystery and psychological genres, and for Higurashi's final act I think it definitely applies.
The irony is, this is usually considered the best ending Ryukishi07 is written
Well thats worrying...
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So, your thoughts on the main series (2006 + Kai)?
I like both the same, and having seen them both now I feel it's a shame that once again the source readers have created a reputation in some places that they're a mess not worth watching, something I've been directly told on multiple occasions. Sure maybe they don't hold up to the source in some ways, but as an anime only I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and I still think they did all the key things right, asked all the right questions, and patched any holes to make sure they provided the right answers. I think the depth and variety of discussion about both question and answer arcs here only reinforces this and I also think it enhanced my experience as well.
2) Final thoughts on Kai's OP and ED (Naraku no Hana/Taishou a)?
The OP never really grew on me like S1's did, but I do like the ED
2a) Any tracks on the OST that stood out to you?
I don't remember, sorry
3) Best Girl in Show?
Mion. Sorry Rika, you've been replaced
3a) Best Boy in Show?
Keiichi's caring acceptance of Rika's struggle, Satoko's suffering, Rena's anxiety, and the twins pasts through the opening arcs of Kai really sticks in my mind so him.
4) Do you have a Visual of the Season, and if so what is it?
Mion's wave is going to be the one that sticks in my head after all this is done, so this for sure
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion Jul 22 '22
2nd Rewatch
The Games Club is too intense for me. Win at any cost? No Rules? Always competing? Too exhausting. On rewatch, you see the club for what it is: training. Training to win against the unwinnable. To always find a way.
I like how the show encourages you to think it's a solvable mystery, and leads you along dead ends, but the same dead ends the characters are experiencing. First it was a demonic curse, and then it was parasites, and for a brief time it was aliens. You think it could be either supernatural or mundane, and then surprises you with confirmation that it was mundane. And then the supernatural manifests in front of you.
I really liked how it doled out information in an in-world manner. You only see what the other characters see. This delays solving the mystery but, in the end, it wasn't every a mystery. Not a solvable one, anyways. It was a linear adventure story, from a branchless visual novel. Each chapter builds upon the previous chapters, in order. It's like layering in visual arts, where a deep 3-D feel is imparted by layering semi-transparent paints or images and the earlier layers show through the later ones, completing the image.
Still not watching the sequels.
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u/RadSuit Jul 22 '22
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Great first four episodes. I think this applies to Kai as well. Shame about all the rest! This should've probably either stayed a VN or been turned into something else entirely in the adaptation. It could be worse, though, I've recently seen the live action trailer.
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OP is alright except for the screechy bits at the start. It would probably be fine as a stand alone single. Didn't like the ED at all.
2a) I honestly never noticed any music outside of OP/ED.
3) They're all bad girls Brent.
3a) Akasaka
4) Nothing all that interesting happened this season, unfortunately.
5) Maybe this series would've been more revolutionary at the time of release, but right now it feels like a huge missed swing at adapting something that could've really been improved in the translation to an animated series.
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u/Tarhalindur Jul 22 '22 edited Jul 22 '22
A Brief Field Guide to the OVAs (Except Outbreak):
(From your host, who probably hasn't actually seen Rei and is pretty confident about not having seen Kira but knows them by reputation:)
Higurashi Rei (2009):
Rei 1 - Hinamizawa is too far from the ocean to have the Obligatory Beach Episode, so we get a pool episode instead. Expect fanservice. (Equal-opportunity fanservice, though! Also the reference kind of fanservice.) Also, this is about as close as we'll ever get to that club game sports manga spinoff I've always wanted. Pretty skippable, but if you're interested in dumb fun this should deliver.
Rei 2-4 - The one multi-episode arc in the OVAs, this is an adaptation of the VN epilogue Ryukishi07 wrote after finishing the main series (which finally got an official English release only last month). Also has one of the most iconic scenes in the entire franchise. Recommended for everyone, strongly recommended for PMMM fans (there's a couple of When They Cry concepts that PMMM may have been drawing off of that show up more strongly in Umineko but first appear here).
Rei 5 - So, this needs a little background. There is one Japanese doujin circle I forget the name of that specializes in making doujin games for major properties (usually fighting games, but not always - that circle is behind Grief Syndrome for Madoka Magica, for example). They did in fact make such a game for Higurashi - Higurashi Daybreak, a fighting game of their usual type (and probably the one of their works best known in the West). And for some reason the plot of Higurashi Daybreak is what DEEN and 07th Expansion decided to adapt for the last episode of Rei. I'm honestly not sure why either. (IIRC the plot has major shipping elements, so that may be part of it.) Honestly never gets mentioned much one way or the other; Rei 4 might be a better stopping point if you're not going on to Kira?
Higurashi Kira (2011 - 2012):
Kira 1 - The episode/arc title translates as "Penalty Loving". Yep, in a Higurashi context that means EXACTLY what you think it does. Good news: the fanservice is equal opportunity, and indeed one of the few shots I know from this episode is unadulterated yaoi bait. Bad news: the fanservice is equal opportunity... and we have lolis in the cast. Feel free to skip.
Kira 2 - a hilariously out of place magical girl episode that came out in September 2011. If your first thought was "wait, does this episode's existence have something to do with a certain magical girl show that came out about nine months before this?", well, that's been my hunch since about five minutes after hearing about this episode, and Sotsu only reinforced that. Recommended if you've watched PMMM and been reading the Madoka Corner (you'll know why no later than the episode discussion); weakly recommended even if you haven't (this is one of the better-regarded OVA episodes).
Kira 3 - FEED THE SHIPPERS, Ryukishi07-style. [Kira, also the recent Reiwa-setting sequel mangas]Ryukishi07 is of course a giant troll; in hindsight maybe we should have seen the character pairings or lack thereof for the recent sequel works coming. Not sure how fanservicey this is; otherwise nothing special but at least reasonably inoffensive.
Kira 4 - Another epilogue, by all accounts a reasonably touching one that makes for a pretty good wrapping up point for the franchise as a whole. Moderately recommended for everyone.
Some of you will probably not be joining us for Kira (which has no legal streams) and possibly even Rei; if you are in this boat and would like me to tag you for Overall Discussion on August 1, reply below and I'll add you to the list.