Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 12 – Very interesting developments indeed. :)

During the entire episode, I sat on my chair with a big smirk on my face. It was so amazingly written, so many brilliant opportunities were taken, this episode was just utterly incredible. It’s easily the best episode of Higurashi yet. Thank god the series managed to pick itself up again, after a kindof weak start.

The main reason behind the awesomeness of this episode: Keiichi getting paranoid. It was so awesome to see his reaction when he started to realize that his whole plan backfired. That’s the beauty of Higurashi: its amazing number of incredible plot twists. At some times, it manages to forget this, though this episode totally made up for it.

We start with the flachbacks from the previous episode, with Keiichi killing Satoko’s uncle, burying him and running into Takano. The OP rolls, and we start with the real episode. But not before the usual sponsor-image is shown, showing Oishi and Keiichi, in the rain. I really dislike it when the sponsors are shown in this way, as it immediately spoils a part of the episode. Why can’t they just show a bunch of fanart?

In any case, Takano mentions the fact that if the body isn’t buried properly, stray dogs may pick up their scent, and dig the body up. Keiichi then mentions that the bicycle in the back is Tomitake’s. Takano, however, tells him that it’s her own bike, which Jirou picked out for her. Once she drops Keiichi off at his house, she tells him that they hadn’t met during that evening. It takes Keiichi a while to figure out what she means. Keiichi isn’t really tactless, as it’s clear that the two of them have both killed someone, and they’re kindof in the same boat. Takano tries to remain subtle, though Keiichi’s too paranoid to notice this. This reaction ticks Takano off, and we see her annoyed for the first time in the anime.

Then Takano takes off, and Keiichi wishes her to fall under the curse of Oyashiro. He then hears a splash-like sound from behind him, though the source of this splash remains unclear. The next morning, he wakes up late, and rushes to school. To his surprise, Satoko’s come as well, instead of mourning over her uncle. When he enters the classroon, the fun really starts. Rika, Rena and Mion are talking like Keiichi actually WAS at the Watanagashi! Brilliance! Rena was also too cute when she started talking about the stuffed doll. ^^;

Seeing Keiichi react to this was just brilliant. He’s got no idea what happened, so he starts asking around for his own actions, and behaves very weird in the eyes of others. Satoko, meanwhile, is incredibly gloomy. When Keiichi talks to her, she breaks down in tears. He then gives subtle hints about what happened at the last episode, and, GUESS WHAT, her uncle didn’t disappear at all. He even gave Satoko her most horrible treatment ever. Satoko was so sad at that moment, and seeing Rika comfort her was just too cute.

Anyway, Mion and Rena are starting to wonder about the things that Keiichi said, making him only freakier and freakier. Rena then suggests a treasure hunt with him and Mion. Keiichi tells Rena, however, that he’s got a cold, so he can’t come. Rena then suggests him to go to the clinic. It then seems that Keiichi has learned, as he actually goes promises to show her the receipt. Rena then replies in disease-mode, and she walks off.

Keiichi then gets on his bike, and goes back to school. He then checks whether Satoshi’s bat is still where it was before he took it at the previous episode. Well, it isn’t. He then goes to the clinic, because he promised Rena and he then runs into Irie. Keiichi asks him what he’s been doing during the night of the Watanagashi, and of course, he thinks that Irie begins to suspect him. Irie, however, acts just calmly, though Keiichi doesn’t seem to notice it. He gets more paranoid by the minute, and ends up confessing his murder to Irie! Hehe.

Irie then thanks him for saving Satoko. A strange reply. Keiichi also tells him that Satoko told him that later, it appeared that Satoko’s uncle didn’t get killed at all. Irie then gets some coffee for Keiichi in order to calm down, though then Keiichi overheards Irie talking with another doctor about adding some isomytal and brovarin to his drink. I’ve got no idea what kind of stuff that might be, but Keiichi doesn’t really see this as a good thing. More theories on this later in this post, as it actually explains quite a few things.

In any case, Keiichi doesn’t like this, gets a freaky voice, and then he hears about Takano being found, being burned again. Nothing on Tomitake was said. Keiichi then blames himself for killing her, because he wished for her to fall under Oyashiro-sama’s curse.

That evening, rain falls, and Keiichi makes his way to the place he dug the hole in, in order to check whether the body was buried properly. While he’s in the middle of digging, Oishi and a couple of other officers run into him. This isn’t the kind Oishi, more like a sadistic Oishi. Oishi then makes Keiichi dig up whatever he was planning to dig up. When Keiichi has no more stamina for this, one of the officers took over the digging work. Oishi, meanwhile, abuses Keiichi. Then, the fun part begins, as the officers seem to have reached rock bottom. No body. >:)

Keiichi’s reaction to this was just great. There are two theories which could explain what was going on:
1: Satoshi decided to visit the Watanagashi, while pretending to be Keiichi. He then had some fun with Rena, Mion, Satoko, Shion and Tomitake and gave Rena a huge stuffed animal. Keiichi, meanwhile beat Satoko’s uncle with a bat and buried him, though he forgot to make sure whether the guy was dead. This was not the case, and he managed to get out of the hole. Satoko’s uncle then covered the hole again, and made his way to his own house again, blaming Satoko for this, and beat her up like crazy.
2: The previous episode never even took place. Keiichi did get the idea of killing Satoko’s uncle, he did grab the bat and put it in the wooden shed next to the school. He then called up Satoko’s uncle, who in his place came to school. Then, Keiichi just abandoned the plan and headed for the Watanagashi, in which he had fun with everyone like he was supposed to be. The disease then made sure that Keiichi imagined that he never even went to the Watanagashi, and committed the murder instead. Satoko’s uncle, meanwhile, was extremely pissed that he had to come for nothing, blamed Satoko for this, and beat her up like crazy.

Both of these theories have strong points and weak points, though I’m inclined to believe in the second one for now, as it also explains some things which happened later at the episode. The scene in the clinic, for example. Keiichi confessed everything to Irie, and even told him that Satoko’s uncle seemed still alive afterwards. The doctor then attempts to put certain stuff in Keiichi’s coffee (the isomytal and bovarin). Originally, I thought that the other doctor warned Irie about the fact that this stuff would cause outbursts of mistrust and derangements. Though that’s not true. It causes drowsiness. And this drowsiness causes the sudden outbursts of mistrust and derangements.

This explains quite a lot. What if the syringe from episode four also contained the isomytal and bovarin? What if isomytal and bovarin are actually the cure to the disease? It also explains that Irie indeed knew about the disease, and he was about to save Keiichi in both the first and third arc, weren’t for the fact that he ran away at both times, leaving a couple of nice souvenirs in the first arc. Still, there are still a few things wrong with this theory. For example, why did the isomytal and bovarin have to be injected in the first arc, while they could have been just swallowed in the third arc. This could, of course, have been because at the end of the first arc, the disease had hit a more severe stage than during this episode. Then, another medicine was needed because the bovarin and isomytal weren’t strong enough, though this medicine isn’t able to survive the digestive processes in the stomach of the victim before it could enter in its blood, unlike isomytal and bovarin. If this was the case, it would also totally explain the ohagi from the third episode! Remember when Mion and Rena brought Keiichi some ohagi for lunch because his parent were away? Remember that he found a needle in it, and spit the junk back out again? What if there was some isomytal and bovarin put in these ohagi, in an attempt to cure Keiichi? In that case, the disease tried to protect itself, by making Keiichi imagine that there was a needle inside of them. Still, there’s one mystery at which I can’t find an answer. If Irie knew about the disease, why didn’t he call it by its name, during his conversation with the other doctor?

I also wonder what happened with Takano during the Watanagashi. She entered the temple, along with Tomitake. It isn’t clear whether Shion was with them at that time. She was at the Watanagashi in any case, though we don’t know for how long she remained with Rena, Mion, Rika and Keiichi. In any case, afterwards they went to the riverbed, and watched the scenery a bit. Then something happened which made Tomitake strangle himself with his own nails, right in front of Takano. I think she probably made him do it. Then, she used either her own bike or Tomitake’s bike in order to do something, she stuffed Tomitake’s body in the trunk of her car, and headed somewhere. She then ran into Keiichi, and she took her along with him. When she dropped him off, she drove off again. Then, she either killed herself by drenching herself with inflammable liquid and set it to fire, or she ran into someone she’s not on good terms with, who drenced her in inflammable liquid and set her on fire. As you can see, there are a lot of questions left in this, though I think that each arc is meant to reveal a bit more about the adventures of Tomitake and Takano every time.

Another thing I’m curious about is Rena’s treasure hunt. What was she referring to? Did they plan to go to the junkyard again, or does this have something to do with the plot? And why was Oishi just hanging around at the place where Keiichi thought he buried Satoko’s uncle? Someone must’ve warned them about the way he was acting, so who could it be?

Differences with previous arcs:
– Only Tomitake’s body was found in the first arc. Both Tomitake and Takano’s bodies were found in the second arc. Only Takano’s body was found in the third arc.
– The link between the Watanagashi-murders and disappearances is never mentioned during the third arc.
– In the first arc, Mion and Rena tried to use ohagi to cure Keiichi, but it didn’t work. In the second arc, Irie tried to use coffee to cure Keiichi, but it didn’t work.
– Oishi’s a heartless bastard in the third arc. This does show a lot about his character. He treats the key witnesses with respect, in order to find out what they know. However, if he doesn’t need them, he treats them in a total different way. That may indeed be the reason why he got into a fight with Mion (see first arc).
– Did it rain during the night after the day of the Watanagashi in the first and the second arc? It did in the third.

Overall, this episode was just totally awesome. The best Higurashi-episode yet. I’m hoping for even more awesomeness in the final episode of the arc, though it might fall victim to the fake, over the top, distorted emo-faces that plagued the fourth episode of the series. Let’s hope it won’t!