Category: Finished Series: Horror

MAJOR spoiler ahead. This episode comes with the single biggest revelation of the entire series, so DO NOT read this entry if you haven’t seen it! Unfortunately, I was spoiled beforehand, but I do want to prevent others from this. This is a random sentence to fill up all the space in the blog-aggregators. This is another one. So, this should be enough. SO, Takano is indeed the big culprit. Obviously, the revelation didn’t have the impact because I’ve already been spoiled, but I’m glad that it comes relatively early in the series, and now it’s about to get really interesting. Not only that, but I can talk a bit more freely, without having fears of spoiling everyone. I also must praise Cos. He basically figured out most of the mysteries after only episode ten, and he even predicted that Takano was behind everything. Quite amazing, if you ask me. In any case, here’s a quick rundown on all the new information: – Takano was indeed the one who killed Tomitake by injecting him with an overdose of the disease, causing him to go in level 5. She indeed was getting rid of Tomitake’s body in the third arc, when Keiichi met her. – Takano never died. She just used a fake body that was found somewhere to cover up her death. – The Yamainu has been under Takano’s orders all along. – The sight of the dead Tomitake probably drove Irie himself insane (probably due to the disease). – Takano’s ultimate objective is awakening the Hinamizawa-disease within everyone. Strangely, she never mentions the use of Rika’s intestines. I’ve got lots of questions, though, after this. What was up with Irie in the first arc? What was different there, that didn’t cause him to kill himself? What were Tomitake and Takano doing in the festival shrine anyway? Why did Takano give Rena her scrapbooks? Actually, I think I can answer that last one: it was used as a cover-up. She’d just have to leak it to someone and the fake information about the aliens, it would distract from the theories about the disease, which only a few people knew about anyway. The thing I wonder about, though is what happened to these scrapbooks in the other arcs? The thing also is: Takano doesn’t seem to know about Hanyuu. If that’s the case, then why does every arc turn out different? Who causes the subtle changes for each world? Rika does have some influence in this, but definitely not all of it. I’m also interested in where this arc will go afterwards. Remember that we’re only at the end of the Watanagashi, which often is just the half-way point. In most arcs, it’s the second half that really got interesting. There’s another thing I wondered: will we ever get an answer about a question that was raised in the first arc? I’m referring to the letter Keiichi wrote. Why did Takano find it necessary remove parts from it? What exactly did Keiichi write? Will we also ever know how Rika’s parents and Satoko’s family died? And who removed Satoko’s uncle’s body in the third arc? There are so many questions that still need to be answered. Oh, and yes. Seeing Satoko get saved was so awesome. :)]]>

This episode is clearly one of those building-up episodes. There wasn’t really a sign of mystery, but instead it focused on the political roots of the story, in order to save Satoko. Basically, Keiichi gets the support from the village council, the Sonozaki-family and eventually the city council. Pretty straightforward, but things are about to get interesting: the Watanagashi is only one or two days away, Satoko is about to be saved and she’s also about to reach the point beyond recovery. I liked some of the details in this episode, by the way. Most of all, it seems that there isn’t a grudge against the Houjous after all; it seems that everyone thinks that someone might have a grudge left, which is what keeps these rumours alive. We also finally see Mion and Shion’s parents do something, other than just sit next to their grandmother. Oh, and it seems that there actually were a few worlds in which Keiichi didn’t transfer. It would be interesting to see them. Apart from that, there’s not much to say about this episode. I do, however, keep wondering why nobody finds it strange that Rika sometimes switches to a voice of a middle-aged woman…]]>

The second season of Higurashi has really become way more consistent than the first one. The first season frequently switched between awesome and annoying every few episodes, but right now, the series has been given a lot more time to build up. This has both negative and positive effects. The bad ones are: – This isn’t the roller-coaster-ride that was the first season. The plot went nearly twice as fast as it’s going now. – The twists have less impact. Because they’re so far apart, the different plot-twists and turns aren’t as frequent any more, and the focus on mystery has declined significantly in the second season. Yet again, I don’t see any reason to write a summary for this episode, since there were only a few events that developed the plot. Because of this, though, the focus on the characters has increased dramatically, and there are almost no bad moments left. There may be less surprises, but instead of that this series now has the chance to continuously build up for its characters, without any annoying interruptions. This episode showed this yet again. Seeing an army of more than sixty people, all stretch out their hands towards the abused Satoko was awesome. Regarding the new information: we get to know a bit more about Satoko’s disease. Interestingly enough, the symptoms Rika describe come surprisingly close to the disease that the others who went berserk have: she’ll feel as if everything is assailing her. In a panicked state, she won’t be able to reason anymore. Once she gets something in her head, this won’t change. This explains her behaviour in Arc 3 a bit more. Even after her uncle died, she still was in a panicked state at the time, so the shower-incident happened. Afterwards, she freaked out for real when she found out that Irie killed himself. The question remains: is Satoko’s disease THE disease? Why is Satoko the only one who’s getting treatment, even though Keiichi, Shion and Rena have been shown to also go berserk? Could it actually be that either Rika or Satoko is the original source of the disease, and that the two of them have been spreading it unconsciously? If this was the case, it would explain the Hinamizawa-disaster: the Yamainu take Rika’s guts and use them to give every villager an overdose of the disease. The syringe also doesn’t instantly cure the disease; it just calms down the symptoms. It does make sense. After using the syringe, it would have been easier to reason with the different people.]]>

I can hardly believe it, but this arc has been getting significantly better with every successive episode. Just imagine what could happen if this continues. ^_^ I won’t do an extensive summary for the episode, since there was hardly any new information we didn’t know before. This was one of these episodes that were completely focused on the characters. It’s entirely focused at one thing: Satoko’s uncle returning. This time, it’s not only Keiichi who wants to do something, but everyone tries to save Satoko somehow. Because in this arc, everyone trusts each other completely, Keiichi manages to convince Shion to not go out and kill Satoko’s aunt. If this would have been in one of the earlier arcs, she would have never spoken about her thoughts, and gone off to kill Satoko’s aunt, just like Keiichi and Rena did in the past. Oh, and Rika was awesome. Her mood fluctuates throughout the entire episode. She ended the episode confident, only to have this confidence slapped back at her with the arrival of Satoko’s uncle. She then went to the same despair of the previous arc, only to realize at the end of the episode that she really wanted to save Satoko. Her ideas are quite interesting, by the way. She believes that a tragedy can be avoided if none of the main characters (as in Keiichi, Rena, Mion, Shion and Satoko) kills anyone. Still, this happened in the previous arc as well, and yet Rika died. But then again, she was as distant as ever from everyone. It really looks like she’s putting her trust in the others for this arc, which might be able to avoid the tragedy. But we need to wait till the Watanagashi to make sure. One thing that I realized in this episode as well was how much Keiichi has changed, and learned subconsciously. He was an idiot in the first three arcs, and yet he’s the most mature person among the main characters.]]>

Now this was an intriguing episode. It still spends its time building up, though this arc is indeed promising to become really special. Especially Rena was awesome. 🙂 The episode starts with Keiichi, Shion, Satoko, Rena and Rika, polishing up old rubbish, which they plan to sell during the village festival in an auction. Mion enters the room, with the message that there’s even more stuff coming in, which doesn’t fall well with Keiichi, who has been labelled as the leader of the auction. Mion then shows a couple of Ohagi. When Rena gives one to Keiichi, he seems to believe that she’s made one before, while in fact, she never has. This triggers Rika to force Keiichi to tell about this “dream” he’s been having, about what happened in the first arc. Of course, it’s no dream at all, but parts of his memory from previous timelines. A bit later, when they’re dusting off the furniture that Mion brought in, it’s Rena’s turn: she tels about her memories from the sixth arc, where she killed her father’s mistress. Interestingly enough, in this timeline, her father has again relationships with that woman. The same murder was avoided, though, when Rena told her story to Mion, instead of keeping it to herself. Mion managed to convince Rena to change her father’s ways. Shion also hints that she was having the same thing, where she remembered what she did in the fifth arc. Again, she told this to Mion. That night, Rika evaluates this with Hanyuu. Everyone seems to be instinctively avoiding actions that would have caused a tragedy. Rika has become really confident because of this, though Hanyuu has her doubts. They then discuss Rika’s recurring death; Rika seems to believe that it comes from someone outside of the village. They come with an interesting deduction: Tomitake and Takano’s death indirectly leads to Rika’s death. For Takano and her companions (Irie? Tomitake?), Rika and Satoko are valuable for research, so she will take effort to protect them. With Takano gone, the protection is also gone. Interestingly enough, they’ve got the power to do so as well. Rika reckons that if Tomitake and Takano survive, she will too. The next day, Rika visits the hospital. According to Irie, she seems to have gone out with Tomitake. Rika just knows that they’ve gone to the equipment chamber, for making an inspection before they break in at the Watanagashi. Tomitake’s first name seems to be Jirou, by the way. Rika manages to reach the two of them while they’re still messing with the locks, and she offers them a look inside. Interestingly enough, Takano starts fangirling; something she didn’t do in the second and fifth arc. ^^; There is just one condition: Tomitake and Takano have to increase protection, since they’ll be killed. At least, according to Rika. When Takano starts to describe the rituals that were used to praise Oyashiro-sama, Hanyuu starts getting angry at her, suggesting that a lot of the rumours about him are just urban legends. We then switch to a very interesting conversation between Tomitake, Takano and Irie. Irie speculates that Rika may be suffering from paranoia, though Takano reckons that there was some truth in her eyes. Tomitake says that Rika wants more bodyguards around, and he can do that much, but he wonders how he’s going to explain this to Tokyo. Takano then finally describes the guys in uniform: the Yamainu. And fair enough, when Rika tests it out on the unfortunate street punks, the Yamainu indeed come to protect her. But first we switch to the next day, where Keiichi and the others are back at the toy store, searching for more junk to sell. Oishi is there too; apparently he has a day off. He makes a small bet, promising some rare dice if Mion succeeds to throw 3 1’s, three times in a row. Mion succeeds, after Oishi tells her how to do it, and the dice are hers. Oishi suggests that she’d do well in a gambling parlour. Rika comments on how strange it is that Oishi is getting along with everyone, when yet another unexpected guest arrives: Akasaka. Interestingly enough, in this time, he did listen to Rika, and he managed to save his wife. The reason he’s in Hinamizawa is because he’s on vacation with his wife and daughter, who are now perfectly fine. With this, Rika has gained another ally, since Akasaka really believes that Rika saved his family. Rika is now full of confidence, though Hanyuu is still pessimistic. Who will turn out to be right in the end? Well, then. The most important scene for the plot was definitely the conversation between Tomitake, Takano and Irie. It confirmed that the three of them are indeed allied with each other, and that they’ve all got the ability to command the Yamainu, just like the head of the Sonozaki-family. I first believed that these guys worked directly under the Sonozaki-family, but they seem to be stationed in Tokyo. This scene also increases the change that it was indeed Irie who came to save Keiichi in the first arc. Interestingly enough though, Irie doesn’t die in every arc, unlike Tomitake and Takano. We know the guy died in the third and seventh arc, and I suspect that he died in quite a few other arcs, but there were arcs in which he survived. This seems to suggest that his death is handy, but not vital for the killer to carry out its plan of capturing Rika’s intestines. This episode also confirmed a theory I’ve been having ever since the sixth arc: with every arc, Keiichi and the other do get closer together. This episode really showed that they start to trust each other more and more, and they tell each other more and more things that they would have kept secret in the first arc. They may not remember things directly, but something tells me that indirectly, they keep getting better at avoiding tragedies that were caused by them. I also wonder about one thing: does Rika know about the Hinamizawa-tragedy? I’d say no, because she’s been dead every time before it happened. But I wonder whether Hanyuu witnessed it and told Rika. I’m going to make a prediction about that one: what if Rika will indeed succeed in not to get killed during this arc? That does mean that she’ll witness the Hinamizawa-tragedy. Obviously, that’ll cause her mission to fail and reset for the final arc, the Matsuribayashi one, where the story can finally be resolved, since Rika will finally know the truth with it. I also loved the emphasis on the characters that was featured in this episode. I especially loved Rena (hence why she’s one of my favourite characters ^^;) and Takano definitely surprised me when she started fangirling.]]>

And finally the second season can really get started! Even though the previous arc was not very exciting, the time that focused on Rika’s despair built up perfectly for the current arc. The main focus of this episode was to give Rika hope again to keep trying to change her fate, and it works out greatly. 🙂 The episode begins with the confirmation that Rika indeed has been reborn in the same timeline over and over, and there’s also a new revelation: the Oyashiro-sama in Rika uses Hanyuu in order switch back time. She also isn’t in Rika’s body throughout her life, but only appears at a certain period of time. In this arc it was two weeks before the Watanagashi, in the fourth arc it was at least five years before the current time-period. Rika also doesn’t know who is after her, though he or she indeed is partially the reason why every arc ends up different. Interestingly enough, Rika also claims that on the night of the Watanagashi, a third person will die, along with Tomitake and Takano. Did she refer to herself, and was it just a bad translation, or does a third, unrelated person really die along with them? Anyway, the main character of this arc: Rika. The co-main character is Keiichi. We also see Hanyuu for the first time, and she’s just like a little kid, despite being hundreds of years old. Rika is surprised that she only has two weeks left before the Watanagashi, which is just too little time to prepare. She tests whether Keiichi remembers, but it fails again. I suspect that Hanyuu will be the important side-character for this arc. Interestingly enough, Hanyuu claims that nobody has noticed her, which is in contrast with the tips, where Keiichi’s father did see her. Could it be that Hanyuu only is visible for the first X years of her life? We then switch to the local hospital, where Satoko has just received an injection. She seems to be sick, suffering from a disease. Irie has been working on it to cure her, but it’s likely that she’ll never be healed. Takano is also helping in this. Then we switch to the game at the toy-store, from arc 2. It seems that Rika has been playing this one for every arc, though we just didn’t get to see it. I do wonder, though, why the doll didn’t trigger Shion to freak out in the other arcs. Anyway, something interesting happens here: Rika tells Keiichi that she can predict the future, just like she did with Akisaka. Interestingly enough, Keiichi actually takes her seriously, and tries to help her. He forces the game that has been played to be changed, and he gives the doll to Mion, instead of Rena. This gives Rika enough motivation to try and change her fate again, unlike what she did in the previous arc. Well then, the biggest question of the episode: is the disease Satoko is suffering from THE disease, or another rather nasty one. If we can get the answer about this one, and it turns out to be true that Irie really is trying to cure THE disease, then a lot of questions will be answered. In that case, Irie most definitely knows something, and he has indeed been trying to cure people, and he was killed because he knew too much. This also hints that Takano is somehow involved with him, and that she knows about his research. This episode also yet again shows how close Keiichi is with his friends. H never even questions Rika’s story for a bit, and he actually believes her, just like how everyone was so supportive to Rena when she committed her murder. (By the way, did she still do it in this arc? Sh did it in the third arc, so perhaps she’s been doing it for every arc, though I think that that woman is just like Satoko’s uncle and Shion: sometimes they’re there, and other times, they’re not. I suspect that the real killer has been controlling this. The question remains: why?). One thing I do hope for in this arc is a bigger role for Rena. Both she and Rika are currently my favourite characters in this series, and I’d love to see the mysteries that surround her being solved. Especially the one of why she was being chased in the previous arc, and why she freaked out in the third arc, and turned perfectly normal after that.]]>