Category: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

If you’re wondering why I haven’t picked up any new series apart from Higurashi for the Summer season, then don’t worry. The really good stuff just airs relatively late for this season. I’m definitely going to blog Mononoke and Baccano!, with Miyori no Mori as a wildcard. The other good series may have been good, but they didn’t seem worth blogging. Especially since my blogging-list already is huge. If there ever was a polar opposite of the previous episode, it’d be this one. It seems that the previous episode wasn’t the seventh arc at all, it was just an epilogue of the sixth arc. It’s too bad, because I would have loved to see more attention spent on it. The people who watch Higurashi because of the “killer lolis” probably disagree, but now that I think back at the episode, I really liked it, especially the flashback Rena had, at the end of the episode. So this episode was the obligatory introduction-episode of the real seventh arc, original to the anime. Since most of the episode looked a lot like the first half of episode 22, I won’t be giving a summary. But there were still lots of interesting details in this episode. But first I wanted to talk about the new animation, which definitely is different from the first season, and it’s a bit of a double-edged sword. The budget has really increased for this show, and it shows. Chie-sensei finally looks different from a blue-haired Rena-clone, and overall, the characters look more detailed than before. This should make the scenes with the distorted faces more bearable. On the other hand, this episode had more distorted chibi-figures than the entire first season combined. This just doesn’t work, and it distracts from the ‘feel’ that the first series established. These drawings look really out of place, and I hope they’re limited to the comedic moments. The main character for this arc: Rika! I suspect that the missing plot-holes that the first series left (like the rather major event that happened in Keiichi’s past for example), the remaining TIPS will be revealed, and hints will be given for the eighth arc. I’ll also refrain from reading any more TIPS from now on, because of this. One question this episode really asked was the following: to what extend do the different arcs influence each other. The fact remains that Keiichi has become closer to his friends with every successive episode. This could be because of pure luck, but I’m really beginning to think that he subconsciously remembers the fun times he had with them. In this episode, for example, Satoko came with a line that Keiichi used in the previous arc. The thing that will distinguish this arc from all others starts with Satoshi, who asked Shion to take care of Satoko. The question now remains: what happened? It’s been a bit too long since I saw the fifth arc, but if I had to guess then it seems that Shion’s feelings for Satoko are different for the different arcs, and may be one of the reasons of why they turn out so differently as well. In the first and sixth arc, she was completely absent, suggesting that she decided to forget Satoshi. A similar thing happened in the third arc, but she then ran into Keiichi for the sports-tournament (the tournament was a baseball-tournament, wasn’t it? I suddenly realize she became manager because of Satoshi$, and she decided not to blame Satoko. For arc 2 and 5 she went berserk, and blamed Satoko for Satoshi’s suffering. In the sixth arc, she actually listened to Satoshi’s request, and she was willing to change her entire life for it. The big question now remains: up to what extend was the disease responsible for this? The syringe also makes another appearance in this episode. By now, we’ve already established that it’s used to cure the disease, but it remains interesting to wonder why Satoko is using it. The third arc showed that Satoko also suffers from the disease, and Keiichi awakened that one early during that time. I think that this is another sign that Rika is trying ut random things. I suspect she somehow tricked Satoko into taking the cure for the disease, to see what happens. I’ve also been wondering about the two Rikas. Are there really two people living in her body, one grown up and one little girl? Or is the little girl-Rika just an act of the grown-up one. I suspect it’s the latter. The times in which we saw Rika in “Oyashiro-sama”-mode she probably stopped caring about hiding her cute self. At one point in this episode, we also see her drink a glass of alcohol, which seems to enforce this theory. In any case, I wonder who it will be, where the disease activates too early. Every arc so far has had three main characters, one infected by the disease, one major character who isn’t affected by the disease, and tries to help the former, and a major side-character, who provides a bit of background information on the story (at least, that’s been the general pattern I discovered, with a bit of imagination). Arc 1 had Keiichi, Rena and Oishi, Arc 2 had Shion, Keiichi and Oishi again. Arc 3 had Satoko, Keiichi and Irie, arc 4 had Rika, Sakisaka and Oishi (okay, not exactly, but you get the idea), arc 5 had Shion, Mion and either Satoshi or Mion’s grandmother, arc 6 had Rena, Keiichi and Takano. For arc 7, the supporting character will be Rika, the main character for this arc. We should probably get our first clues about the diseased character and the major side-character in the next episode.]]>

So, basically because in Higurashi, every single detail counts, and the subs come out at bullet speed anyway, I’m going to continue to follow this series subbed instead of raw. And boy, does it deliver! Only Mononoke will probably be able to stand a chance of beating this series for the title of the best show of the summer-season. So, basically, the current arc is the aftermath of the sixth arc, and meant to give the final clues, before the eighth arc will reveal everything. It does this by means of the hints that were given in the game, and translated in the AnimeSuki forums. I only read a few of the hints back when the series aired, so it’s going to be great to see them all lined up. And the creators couldn’t have chosen a better and more awesome setting for this arc: 30 years in the future, with as main characters Oishi, Akasaka and a grown-up Rena!! I’m also really curious as to how long this arc will be, and what will be its climax? Anyway, let’s start with the new OP, as it reveals quite a bit of information. It’s sad, instead of chaotic like the one for the first season. There are two things that immediately catch your mind: a strange girl, and the huge focus on Rika. Keep an eye out for this mysterious girl, because (having read one or two hints about her), something tells me that she’s playing a huge central role in this series. I’m also really glad to see that it seems like Rika will become the main character of the second season, when compared to Keiichi in the first one. Especially considering she’s my favourite character. The episode starts with Akisaka with a guy who once was in charge of overseeing Hinamizawa, meeting up with Oishi in the bus stop that we all know so well. Hinamizawa is in ruins, and the disaster indeed happened after episode 26. Akisaka recaps a few things that happened in the fourth arc, after which he introduces Sawada (at least, I think he’s spelled that way. The fansubber refused to translate his name). Sawada now works for the self defence-force after he left Hinamizawa, and he used to be an underclassman of Akisaka when they were in college. The fansubber also for some reason translated “Onigafuchi” to “Onigahuchi”, but I’ll keep with Onigafuchi in my future entries. It’s probably a translation-error anyways. In Onigafuchi, which has now been covered in concrete, and the ruins of the hospital Akisaka tells about his theories, backed up by online bloggers (this probably is the first time an anime referred to bloggers in any way ^^;). It basically starts out with a summary of the information we already knew at the sixth arc, when Rena received Takano’s scrapbooks. His conclusion, in any case, is something we’ve been expecting all along: gas never erupted from the march in the first place. According to various people, it’s useless to seal up a gas leak with concrete. According to him, the three great families got in trouble when the original virus began to decline, so they tried to remake it. This failed, and it either killed the entire village, or it made the villagers kill themselves. The alien-part has to be fake, of course. It also seems that the Self Defence Force knew somehow what was going on. They put up fences around the Onigafuchi-march, and frequently took blood-samples from their members for investigation. The question remains: if they knew, why didn’t they do something about it? They then go towards the olds school-building, in order to meet with another familiar face: Rena. Oishi then starts asking her a few questions, since he’s the only one that met her before. It really seems that she suffered serious traumas after the disasters in Hinamizawa (by the way, I’d love to find out how both she and Keiichi in the third arc decided to live the rest of their lives). Oishi then comes with some more facts: after we saw Rika claim that she finally wanted to become serious against the person that played the “endless game of June” with her, Irie committed suicide with poison, she again got killed and at dawn, the disaster took place. Rena was also hospitalized for a long time afterwards. Oishi also has the theory that she was brainwashed when she was there. Rena then talks of one of the hints that I vaguely read once. Remember when Rena was hiding in the bus? Rika in “Oyashiro-mode” then visited Rena, in an attempt to save her. When Rena, however, became scared of her and yelled at her, Rika claimed that she had no more interest in the village, and that she wanted to move on to another one. This makes Akisaka remember the time he was with Rika as well. Okay, so let’s combine these facts a bit. The fact does remain that it’s a bit too coincidental that Rena picked the exact evening to carry out her plan, right before the disaster occurred. This seems to suggest that someone was able to control the disaster, which suggests that information was about to become known that was not meant to come out. Still, if that’s the case, then why was Rena the only one to survive? I can imagine that Keiichi would have survived in the third arc. He was unconscious and away from everyone, which means that he wasn’t exposed to the virus in any way. For Rena, though, this is different. My theory is that Rena was one of the first people to be infected. Because of that, she also was one of the first to stand a chance of being cured. Notice the syringe Rika is holding in the flashback? Rika actually wanted to cure her, but Rena refused. Instead, Keiichi managed to cure her, in the same reason that Rena tried to cure Keiichi with in the first arc. It was only then that Rika realized that the virus could also be cured in a different way. Unfortunately, the realized this too late and got killed before she could take action. This suggests why the eighth arc is going to reveal everything: it’s because Rika will finally get serious. I also assume that Rika was the one who cured Rena back in the first arc, in an attempt to get her to save Keiichi, but this failed, and after this she kept quiet for a long while, until Shion went crazy in the fifth arc. I also finally realize why Rika was able to predict her death so accurately: she already had lived the same timeline over and over again. Of course she’d get a bit sick of the same things happening again and again. Going back to the disaster of Hinamizawa, I think that is the time that a certain someone awakened the virus in the entire population of Hinamizawa, and they began to kill each other. The reason Keiichi went crazy in the first arc was because of the weapon Rena showed him (probably under light influence of the virus, after which Rika probably came to her), which awakened the virus too early. The same can probably be said for Satoko when Keiichi petted her in the third arc, Shion losing her fingernails in the fifth arc and Rena getting Takano’s scrapbooks in the sixth arc. The question remains: what does Rika’s little friend have to do with this? And where does Takano fit in this story? Why did Irie commit suicide? And are there possibly two Rikas?]]>

The final episode was pretty straightforward. Or should I say, everything in this final episode which didn’t involve Rika was pretty straightforward. But I’ll get to that later. First, the conclusion.

Rena didn’t run away, like the previous episode suggested. She went to the school, held all of the students hostage and planned to blow the place up if the Sonozaki-family wasn’t arrested. She doubts all her friends in the process, and delivers some serious injuries to Mion. Oishi also showed yet another side of himself, while he tried to use Keiichi in order to calm down Rena. It was a pretty nice episode, but it did have its flaws.

Flaw #1: Rena set a time bomb, to go off at 7:00 pm. Over the course of the episode, Satoko helps Keiichi to find this bomb, Keiichi rushes to the place and manages to disarm it with only one second left. Seriously, I thought that the creators knew better than this.

Flaw #2: As this is the final episode, it had it coming that it would end up in a clash between the two main characters. Pretty touching, but annoying at the same time.

Anyway, the fact remains that Keiichi didn’t get cured, Shion didn’t get cured, but Rena did get cured. In the first arc, Rena tried to embrace Keiichi, though that didn’t work. During this arc, Keiichi tried to remind Rena of the happy times gone by. And that managed to convince her.

Okay, now to the really good stuff: Rika. She’s finally beginning to see that in order to solve the mysterious tragedy, she has to come in action as well. I think Keiichi really gave her courage. When Keiichi and Rena are fighting, she also reckons that Keiichi might just find an exit. Still, in the end, he didn’t. Rika and her mysterious companion still are stuck in this “endless June”. Though I think that Rika now really is beginning to get serious. The last sentence of the episode really proves this. The seventh arc is promising to be awesome, but in order for that to work, some kind of OVA or second season does need to be announced. But as for now, I’m pretty confident that this’ll happen. After all, the creators did include these scenes at the end of the episode, suggesting that there is more to come. I’m so hoping that I’m not wrong in this.

The TIPS:
Only one tip to come with this episode: The Demon’s Script. It tells about Akasaka, and it also reveals that the fourth arc happened before the sixth arc as well. It reveals exactly what was in Takano’s scrapbooks, and it also reveals that the day after the events of the current episode, the “volcanic gas” appeared again. It indeed is some kind of cover-up story, due to the onigafuchi marsh which has been covered in concrete to supposedly stop the outbreak of volcanic gas, though Takano’s theories also don’t seem that trustworthy.

Oh, and one scene I really liked is when Rena was talking with Oishi on the phone, while Keiichi was contacting another police officer. Very nicely executed.

(Oh, and a small note: I’ve decided to not write a review about this anime yet. Even if there isn’t going to be another OVA, a fan-translation of the seventh arc in the game is going to be made, and I’ll probably end up playing it. As things are now, Higurashi is horribly incomplete, and I don’t want this to negatively influence my views. For now, I’m putting Higurashi on Hiatus, instead of completed.)

Only when this episode started, I finally realized what the meaning was of Rena, being put in Keiichi’s place in the first arc. In the first arc, Keiichi doubted his friends, and killed them. In the sixth arc, Rena doubted her friends, and she’ll probably start killing them if it weren’t for Keiichi and the rumoured “good ending” that this arc is supposed to have.

In any case, if you haven’t read the tips (like I almost did): what Rena told Keiichi last time doesn’t necessarily have to be true. She’s suffering from a disease in which she thinks that she’s being infected by parasites. Takano’s other scrapbooks, who get shown this episode, seem to symbolize this.

We start with Rena makes a phone call with Oishi, in which she tells him her suspicions. This makes Oishi suspect the Sonozaki-family. Oishi then tells Rena about the fact that Takano was supposed to be dead at the Watanagashi. She could have used a fake body, or she could have a twin sister. Either way, it remains strange. Rena hangs up, and a police officer tells Oishi that Kasai is supposed to be looking for Rena. You’d wonder why he was with Shion during the previous arc when it seems that he’s such an important person in the Sonozaki-family. The officer also tells that Rena has disappeared. Oishi is quite pissed because of this delay of information.

Back to Mion and Keiichi, Mion tells him that she moved the body parts from two episodes ago, as there seemed to be a big plan to deforest the mountain. The body parts quite probably ended up right at the bottom of the well. Then, we switch to Rena, and it indeed becomes clear that victims of the mysterious disease have hallucinations. Rena apparently has been scratching her neck too often, and parasites are coming out. Once again, this looks so incredibly fake that it almost becomes scary.

Rena spots a couple of officers, looking for her, so she decides to head to a place where nobody can find her. Even Keiichi, who just happens to run into her right when she plans to leave. Convenient timing. Anyway, the way Keiichi mistrusted Rena in the first arc, right now Rena mistrusts Keiichi. Rena has labelled Mion as the main suspect. She also reveals that she did some research on him, and then it turns out that even Keiichi has sinned in his past. There’s just more than being bullied, like the things shown in the third arc. The dialogue is a bit fuzzy, but if I understood it correctly, he hit little children with plastic guns. Then, when things turned out of hand, he alerted his parents, they cleared things for him and they moved to Hinamizawa. Strange, I never knew that Keiichi’s parents were that rich.

Because of this, Keiichi starts thinking. He’s really doesn’t want to lose his friends in this arc. Even more than in the third one. The day afterwards, he thinks it’s best for him to tell about his past to Rika, Satoko and Mion. Strangely enough, he keeps quiet about Rena. In any case, quite an emotional scene follows. It would have been extremely good, weren’t for the fact that Keiichi’s voice-acting was incredibly garbage. Because of that, the scene was very good, though it could have been so much better.

Rika, Mion and Satoko manage to convince Keiichi that there’s nothing wrong with keeping secrets you don’t want to speak about. Then a very interesting event happens. Keiichi seems to remember his life from the first arc! And what’s more, Rika seems to know about it too! With this, most of the first arc also is revealed, although it’s something that has been clear for a long while. At that time, Rena had the same feeling towards Keiichi as Keiichi has towards his friends right now. The syringe was just an ordinary pen, which seemed to have been the cure for the strange disease. (On a side-note: was Rika carrying a pen as well in the fifth arc? If she was, this mystery would be getting a whole new dimension).

Rika decides to forgive Keiichi for this. But it does raise a strange question. How is she able to remember this, if the cause is not supernatural? In any case, Rika decides to help Keiichi save Rena. Quite an embarrassing scene occurs when Keiichi starts hugging Mion out of the blue. His voice acting turns down, which makes that scene quite touching indeed.

Next up, quite a humorous scene in which Oishi and three other policemen are questioning Mion, her mother and Kasai. What happened to Obaba? Anyway, it really seems now that Oishi and the Sonozaki-family are not on good terms, confirming the fight that Mion and Oishi once had. It seems that the Sonozaki-family never had their eyes on Rena in the first place. Also, none of the murders where the victims were found were committed by them. After all, if they were, the bodies were hidden in the well. It’s also one of the first time to see Mion’s mother actually talk. On a side-note: what happened to her in the fifth arc? Shouldn’t she have noticed Shion?

We close the episode with Rena, leaving town.

Next up, the TIPS for this episode:

Them:
It’s a pretty straightforward one, explaining a bit about Rena’s Alien-theory. She thinks she’s being watched by strange beings, aliens. She runs away, and she starts to scratch. Seriously, the anime shouldn’t attempt to visualize this gore. For some reason, the creators seem to think that showing everything in full detail has the most impact, though there are way better techniques for doing this.

Rena’s Hideout:
Still being translated

Keiichi’s past:
Ah, of course. It was a bit strange that Keiichi’s past wasn’t told in full detail, but apparently, the creators had to cut this part in order to compensate from the horribly long fifth arc. It’s quite a sad and shocking story. You’d wonder why the anime cut that part out. After all, especially the part where the girl was shot in the eye could have been great bait for them to turn into another horribly animated scene. Still, it entirely explains his reaction. It’s probably one of the reasons that he’s so mature for his age. He’s already had the time in which he goofed off like a monkey, and he was so shocked by this that he suddenly started looking differently at life. I wonder what happened to the little girl.

The Reason to Move to Hinamizawa:
This explains Keiichi’s father’s reason to come to Hinamizawa. Wait a minute. Two little girls with long, straight hair? I think we’re missing something here. Just who the heck was playing along with Rika!? And what does this “Arg ouch gaf” mean? Rika!!!!

Last Night:
Wait… what the heck is Rika hiding!? Right here, she’s seen with someone who’ll die along with her. I think that she and her mysterious friend are actually part of the bottom of this mystery. It’s great to hear, as she’s my favourite character. For some reason, this TIP also really begins to make me question whether there aren’t any bits of supernatural events present in Higurashi. It’s also a sneaky anime. It focuses on Keiichi, Rena and Mion, while Rika’s meanwhile doing her own things, waiting to be killed.

It seems that the two of them are actually re-experiencing every single one of the arcs. And every arc, different events happen. Because of this, they hope to run into one arc, which will solve everything. I’m suspecting this to be arc 7. What’s even more surprising is that Keiichi’s performance of today actually inspired Rika, in order to believe that there actually can be an arc, in which things will be solved. Oh god, I am SO hoping for the final arcs to be animated. It won’t seem that the sixth arc will be long enough to solve this problem. I think it’ll only solve the things on the surface, not below. Ah well, this show may have done a lot of things wrong, it did make me want Rika to be saved. Rika!!!!!

In any case, back to the anime. Let’s take a look at the good parts of the individual arcs. The first arc was amazing when Keiichi told a lie, and Rena doubted him. Or at least, Keiichi thought that Rena doubted him. When you’re anxious, and you tell a lie, it’s easy to believe you’re not being trusted. The second arc didn’t really have a great part. It rather had some amusing moments, but nothing amazing came. The good part of the third arc was Keiichi again, who first tried to assassinate Satoko’s uncle in a very amateurish way, making you hope for him not to be discovered and afterwards, he found out nothing really happened. The huge strength of the fourth arc was probably because it delved so incredibly deep in the mystery of Higurashi. Deeper than any of the arcs so far. And I have to admit, so far, the story behind Higurashi seems awesome. The fifth arc had no good points. The strength of the sixth arc was quite possibly the level of maturity, coming from all of the characters.

The moment I started writing the above paragraph, I tried to make some kind of point. Unfortunately, I forgot. And with that, I’m off, hoping for the OVA to be announced soon.

After two episodes in which the main storyline was rather ignored, Higurashi suddenly returns with an episode full of revelations and explanations. Rina’s now out of the picture, so that Rena can concentrate on other things, and she once again proves her detective skills.

The Watanagashi is over, and Tomitake killed himself again, while Takano’s fate hasn’t been much better. For some reason, Oishi just wants to question Rena about this. Later, Rena takes out some of Takano’s scrapbooks, and reflects back to the time when she acquired them, which really gave another twist to this story. They both were in the library, one of Takano’s favourite places. Takano tells Rena that she’s been investigating the chain of bizarre deaths. She actually predicts that it’ll happen again for the current year. Heh, the irony.

Rena then tells Takano about her own experiences with Oyashiro-sama. Surprisingly, she actually encountered him, when she moved away from the village. It’s supposedly a taboo of Oyashiro-sama, and some bizarre events happened afterwards. This included the conversation between Rena and her mother, we saw in the previous two episodes, and her infamous rampage at school, in which she smashed down all of the windows. Rena claims that a lof of bad things happened, and she did a lot of bad things herself out of desperation. I’d love to get more information about this. In any case, when she started cutting her own wrists with razorblades, Oyashiro appeared in front of her, and told her that the only way for her to survive is to return to Hinamizawa.

In any case, Rena finally looks at the scrapbooks, and they reveal quite an amount of interesting things. Afterwards, she informs Keiichi about this. A quick rundown:
– The legend of Oyashiro-sama is the following: The demons would emerge from the Onigafuchi Marsh and attack the village. But Oyashiro-sama intervened, calmed the demons and gave them human-form, to allow their co-existence within the village.
– This actually is a cover-up story. Onigafuchi-marsh actually is the home of a couple of disease-harbouring parasites. Whenever you get infected by a parasite, you go berserk. There indeed was some kind of disease going on.
– The taboo of Hinamizawa was to never leave the village or let any outsiders in. This is in order to stop the disease from spreading to other areas.
– Oyashiro-sama is some kind of doctor. It somehow attempted to “cure this contagious disease”. Note the “contagious” part of this sentence, and the fact that there’s a certain member among the cast of Higurashi who coincidentally happens to be a doctor.

– In the end, all he could do is make the rules to never let anyone out or into the village.
– A strange one: it seems that the parasites can only survive in Hinamizawa because of the temperature and climate. Why try so hard to prevent it from spreading when it won’t happen anyway?
– In any case, when an infected host tries to leave the area, the parasite produces strong symptoms in order to prevent this.
– Right now, it’s common for people to walk in and out of the area. That’s because Oyashiro-sama’s plan worked. Also, back in those days, whenever a person would go berserk because of a parasite, that person was caught and killed along with the parasite (*coughWatanagashicough*).
– The result was that only the people who could live with each other without any problems would live on.
– The Watanagashi seems to have had the purpose of eating the intestines of the berserked individuals. This creates a vaccine, to increase the resistance of the villagers.
– Currently, there are some fanatical worshippers of Oyashiro-sama who are trying to bring his belief back. Of course, when the fact that a bunch of parasites were behind his creation, it wouldn’t do them too good. That’s why they erase everyone who comes close to knowing the truth.
– An interesting one: the ultimate goal of the worshippers is to release the parasite all over Hinamizawa.
– Remember the guys in the van from episode 1? They now seem to be following Rena.

These answer so many questions. But unfortunately, for every question they answer, they bring up ten new, almost impossible to solve, questions. First, the things that we do know.
– The culprit seems to be one of those fanatical Oyashiro-sama worshippers. He or she is the one to succeed Obaba, and probably is the true leader of Hinamizawa. Because of this, he’s been able to use the same guys we saw in the Fourth arc, when they kidnapped the little boy.
– While a lot of people may have been infected by the parasites, not a lot of people actually went berserk. The most cases we saw involved the disease who was partially awake, as in a lesser state. Think of Keiichi in the third arc and Rena in the third and fifth arc. Only three people actually went berserk and started attacking people. Rena, after she left Hinamizawa. Shion, probably because she lived in a place other than Hinamizawa. And Keiichi, in the first arc. I’m still trying to figure out what caused him to believe that he had to leave the village. If I had to take a guess, it’s when he read about the string of bizarre deaths. Somehow, he unconsciously told himself that it would be better to leave the village, in order to be safe.
– Remember the end of the second arc, in which Keiichi sees Mion, giving him the nail-treatment? That happened after he heard that he was going to move. (*wink wink*)
– The end of the third and fourth arc also are explained. The fact that a bit of volcanic gas was just a cover-up story. In those cases, the plan of the bad guy actually worked, and the entire village went berserk because of the parasite. Keiichi was the only survivor because he was unconscious in a rather isolated place in which the disease nor the berserked villagers didn’t reach him. There has to be a reason why this didn’t happen in the first, second and fifth arc. It might be because both Keiichi and Shion murdered someone important. (Mion?)
– Irie and Takano never were culprits at all. They actually tried to stop the bad guy’s plans. Irie did this by developing a cure for the disease, while Takano tried to find out his identity and the background behind Hinamizawa.
– Tomitake’s death also is explained. He tried to leave the village, was infected by a parasite, the parasite didn’t like this and the disease activated, making him strangle himself.
– Takano probably was killed because she knew too much. Keiichi was being followed by the men in the van because they spotted him while in disease-mode.
– Remember Oishi and Irie disappearing in the third arc? Could that be because they knew too much and had to be annihilated?
– Remember in the third arc and the fifth arc, when Keiichi and Shion had the feeling they’re being watched? *points at guys in van*

Now, the questions,
– What’s up with Takano? Why did she act so suspicious in the Third arc. How come she was alive after her dead body had been found in the second arc?
– Who could the culprit possibly be? It can’t be Takano, as she tried to uncover the plot. It wasn’t anyone from the Sonozaki-family, otherwise it wouldn’t match with the fifth arc. It has to have some connection with Rika, in order to explain the fourth arc, and it must have some sort of connection with the three main houses.
– How did Keiichi catch the disease in the first place? Did he catch it from Rena?
– How come Irie was working together with the bad guy’s henchmen?
– Why did Rena contact Irie in the first arc, while she didn’t do this in any other arcs?
– Something I just realized: since when did Rena know how to perform the Watanagashi? How come Rina’s body has had to endure the Watanagashi? Could it be that she needed some vaccine herself, and decided to use Rina’s body for this?
– In what way did Oyashiro appear in front of Rena?
– Why did Takano have to enter the shrine?
– What’s Rika’s connection in all this?

Oh, and on a side-note, this probably is the third time I’ve seen people cutting their wrists in anime in a short time. The others being Night Head Genesis and Narutaru. Overall, Higurashi tried too hard, without delivering any substance. I think it was too keen on delivering some gore that it ignored other things, so once again, that scene looked a bit fake. Night Head Genesis gave a good attempt, but it was a bit laughable. Narutaru did it in a good way, though. It didn’t really have to show any gore in order to make any impact. The heavy breathing was enough for this.

You know? That actually was a pretty awesome episode. After its incredibly weak fifth arc, the sixth arc definitely brings this show back at its original level of high quality. This episode definitely contained some of the best moments in Higurashi.

Still, nothing much regarding the main plot directly happens. Rena kills Rina and Satoko’s uncle, Keiichi, Mion Rika and Satoko find out about this and decide to fully support her. They clean up the bodies afterwards. We then switch to the Watanagashi, in which Oishi smiles with an evil grin and the episode ends. This is all very important to the storyline of the sixth arc, but except for a new perspective on Satoshi, the main story stayed away again during this episode…

…unless you start looking at the changes in personality for each of the characters. Especially Keiichi shows some interesting signs. He was kindof unique in the first arc. In that arc, the disease really got to him and he started doubting his friend, and he ended up killing them. During the second arc, however, we see that he’s suddenly become extremely nice. This continues up to the third and fifth arc, and now as well, in the sixth arc. He just does everything in order to protect his friends. I think it’s because of his history, being bullied and all. He finally made some good friends, and didn’t want to lose them. But what caused him to freak out in the first arc?

Now that I mention it, there’ve been more characters who had one arc in which their personality was totally different if you compare them with the other arcs. In some cases in two of these arcs. Satoko, for example. In arc 3 she shows a totally different side than the ones she showed in arc 1, 2 and 6. The fifth arc lies a bit in between, I think. Rika also acts differently in arc 4 and 5 if you compare it to arc 1, 2 and 3. The different arcs lead to different personalities of the different characters. what causes this?

Anyway, back to Satoshi. When we saw the body at the beginning of the third arc, I began to look for possible victims. It either was Keiichi or Satoshi, though I chose for Satoshi, seeing the things he went through. Now, I’ve been notified that this assumption is totally wrong. It was Rina. (Notice the star tattoo on the corpse?) If that’s the case, what the heck happened to Satoshi?

Regarding that, I’m going back to a theory I got during the first and second arc (if I remember it correctly): Satoshi still being alive. He was saving money for something. He killed his aunt and ran away, using that money. Probably because he wanted to protect Satoko, though he couldn’t face her after what he did. Rika also didn’t mention his name on the list of people to die during the fourth arc, suggesting that he didn’t die at that day. This is even more confirmed by Mion, at the end of the fifth arc, in which she confesses that she never knew anything about Satoshi, and nobody from the village killed him.

The flaws in this theory:
– We still have Tomitake.
– Why didn’t Satoshi kill his uncle? He’d seem worse than his aunt…
– Where the heck is Satoshi right now?

Oh, I almost forgot. We also get to hear a bit of background we didn’t know yet. The garbage dump seems to be the construction site of the dam. The first murder also was supposed to be committed here. And along with one of the culprits, one body part of the victim seems to be missing. Hmm, I wonder where it went.

Another thing I’m wondering: did Rena kill Rina in the previous arcs as well? Could that be the reason she freaks out at times? Because she didn’t have Keiichi and the others near her, who accepted and supported her, even though they knew what she did? Could this be linked to the third arc, when Keiichi killed Satoko’s uncle, after which he found out that he didn’t kill the guy? Could it be Rena’s work? After all, she did tell him she was going for a bit of treasure hunting.

I’m very interested to see what the last three episodes will be about. This episode already proved to be awesome. How will Rena react to all of this? What material will be presented?

Oh, and one more thing: when will the Higurashi OVA be announced?

Now this is more like it! Finally, the horrors of Shion and the fifth arc are over, and the sixth arc begins. And it starts out really great. It seems that Rena’s got some problems of her own, which could turn out to be really interesting in a couple of episodes.

This episode was divided into three parts: a prelude, Rena having fun with her friends and a part centered around Rina, Rena’s father’s new girlfriend. Th prelude was a rather strange one. Rena looks like some kind of prophet. Keiichi, Mion, Satoko and Rika all are watching her as she holds an interesting speech in the local garbage dump from episode 1. A bag containing Satoshi’s body is also seen. It makes you wonder one thing. Why hasn’t Rena yet encountered his body in one of her treasure hunts? I have a feeling that she’ll actually find it during the current arc.

The second part didn’t have anything to do with the story. Still, it was incredibly funny. The water-pistol-fight was awesome, and it was great to see Rena and Irie fangirling over Mion, Rika an Satoko. ^^

Then, the third part. It seems that Rena’s parents have been divorced, and her mother wanted to force Rena to come and stay with her. Let’s just say that Rena didn’t agree. I think that that’s the reason she walked around in school, smashing all of the windows in. In any case, she now lives with her father, who finally got a girlfriend: Rina. The only problem: Rina works together with Satoko’s uncle, and they’re a bunch of hooligans. Rina’s planning to use Satoko’s uncle in order to steal all of Rena’s father’s money through blackmailing. Rena finds out about this. We end the episode with Rina being alone and Rena following her. I wonder what’ll happen. ^^;

Shion (*twitch*) also appeared during this episode. Thank god she wasn’t serious. She’s actually a decent character when she is just having a bit of fun. Just don’t let her get serious. (*twitch*)

I’m not doing a full summary this time. Nothing regarding the main plot really happened. Except for the prelude, perhaps. Still, the prelude looked very promising. If that’s how this arc will go, I’m really looking forward to the remaining four episodes of Higurashi.

I’ve really got some issues with the way this arc ended. There are so many things that don’t make any sense at all. I kept hoping for this episode to include some unexpected twist. But no. Basically, all that happens is the things I predicted two episodes back.

We first start with the phone call, which is indeed one of Shion’s plans. We then switch to Rika’s and Satoko’s house and Shion freaks out again by the mention of Satoko. We then switch to the basement, and it seems that Shion tormented Mion by killing Satoko. Badly animated as usual. (Also notice that there’s no blood on the floor, even though it’s been gushing out of Satoko? Also notice that Satoko only seems to have one cut on each arm, even though Shion stabbed her multiple times?) Shion also tells Mion that she’ll let Satoko go if she says “I’m sorry” 1000 times. At one point, however, she stops. Why would she do that? In any case, Satoko dies and Shion realizes that she didn’t hold herself to Satoshi’s last wish: to take care of Satoko. Shion then becomes more paranoid by the minute.

We then switch to the next day, when Keiichi and Rena talk to Shion. For some reason, the fact that Rena mentions that Satoko wasn’t supposed to come is left out. It’s strange, as it’s a large plothole. Why did Mion freak out when she heard this? Because her name was mentioned?

In any case, Shion asks thirty minutes alone with Keiichi, and this is where the bad parts begin. First of all, she’s way too calm, if you compare this to her actions before. She actually holds his hand. Shion also tells herself that she couldn’t tell whether she was Mion or Shion anymore, though later in the episode she shows no signs of this statement anymore. Also, did Keiichi pat Shion on the head in the second arc?

Next up, Mion sees Keiichi, rejoices, sees Shion and screams. Shion then drops a rock on Keiichi. Shion’s next sentence: “I plan to kill her after she hears the screams of all the people that died because of her”. I’m sure that we didn’t get to hear this sentence during the second arc. During the entire talk between Keiichi and Shion, Shion’s behaviour just doesn’t sound right if you compare this with when she killed the others. And why did she tell Keiichi about the doll? Keiichi also starts crying. Did he do this in the second arc? In any case, Shion shocks Keiichi, and goes to Mion. It seems that I indeed was right: they’re going to switch places again. Shion will go back to Shion and get rescued, while Mion will return to Mion, get killed and fall in the well.

And now comes the part I really have issues with. Mion makes a confession. She also liked Satoshi, so she confronted Obaba. Obaba then said that the Sonozaki-Family did nothing at all regarding Satoshi. Obaba actually approved Shion’s love for Satoshi, ever since she ripped off her nail.

Why the heck did Mion wait so incredibly LONG to say this to Mion?! She had enough chances for this. Why does she reveal this only now? Couldn’t she just have told Shion the minute she found out, or the minute that Shion captured her? Talk about not making sense, sheesh.

In any case, it’s clear now that the major culprit of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (at this point, probably Takano) also managed to kill Satoshi. What follows is Shion getting shocked and dumping Mion in the well. Shion and Keiichi then get rescued. That night, Shion is really getting paranoid by the curse, and decides to go and stab Keiichi. That means that Keiichi only imagined Shion’s last attack. In any case, Shion returns to the hospital she’s in, climbs over the balconies to reach her room, trips and falls to her death. She has a strange moment in which she apologizes to everyone, before the ground crushes her.

Still, one interesting fact was revealed. Mion told Shion that Obaba looked into things, and it seems that nobody within the village has killed Satoshi. If she spoke the truth in this, didn’t lie and was indeed right about this fact, then Tomitake has suddenly been placed on the list of major suspects.

In any case, I’m SO glad that this arc is finally over. I’m really looking forward to the Rena-arc now. This arc may have been horrible. Shion may have been horrible. But I’ve been dying for a bit more Rena vs. Keiichi. Another good point is that arc six won’t be exactly the same as arc 1 (as with arc 2 and arc 5), as it’ll feature Rena, being placed in Keiichi’s place.