And with this episode, a lot of the questions asked have been answered. The Hinamizawa-disease indeed produces hallucinations and makes the victim go paranoid, and every inhabitant of Hinamizawa suffers from it. The thing that keeps their disease quiet is surprisingly Rika herself. Once somebody distances him or herself from Rika, it starts to activate.
Satoko killed her parents that way, and Rena smashed the windows of her school that way (I nearly forgot about that one). Luckily, Irie was able to save both of them before the disease became fatal. The death of Irie was planned all along by Takano, and Shion and Rena both freaked out because they left the village. I’m not sure what happened to Keiichi in the first arc, though. I mean, he wasn’t a resident of the village to begin with, was he? He just moved. How did he get the disease?
The reason Oishi died in the third arc was probably how he ran into the Yamainu as they were trying to hack into the send-mast. As shown, they show no mercy to anyone. Probably because they know that an onslaught is about to happen anyway, so a few extra corpses never worry anyone. I’m suspecting that the ones who removed the corpse in that arc were also the Yamainu, to prevent Keiichi getting arrested and telling about Takano and how she gave him a ride. Satoshi probably went berserk himself, killing himself and his aunt in the process when he went away from the village at one time. (hence the money he saved, he was planning to leave the village all along and when he left, the disease took over).
There are still a few questions left, though:
– Why did Rika’s parents die? Did Rika become te queen carrier once her mother died?
– Why is the send-mast necessary for Takano? I mean, she could just kill Rika and the disease activates.
– What did Keiichi write on his note in the first arc and why was it so important that it had to be removed?
– How did Keiichi get the disease?
But the most important question left is: why did people survive? I originally thought that being isolated and unconscious was enough to be cured, but now that the existence of Rika is necessary to keep the disease at bay, then I do wonder how Keiichi, Rena and Satoko survived. The answer to this question will be crucial to escape the fate of dying over and over again.
It’s a shame that the mystery and chaos of the first season is gone now, though fortunately this series made up for it with some powerful characters. I’m excited for the Matsuribayashi. It’s supposed to be the longest arc yet, and I’m really interested in how the creators were planning to end this.]]>
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 38
I’m still a bit confused by everything. It kind of makes me want to rewatch everything again to pick up more clues. I also don’t mind the mystery being gone. Eventually you have to find out the answers. I think what is great about Higurashi is everything has an explanation for the most part. To me that shows that nothing is done just for the shock value.
In the first episode, Keiichi just returned from an out of town funeral.
I have to say, after forty odd episodes of build up, that explanation for the virus is a big disappointment. It’s as weak as the space-alien guff Rena was touting at the end of the first series.
Oh well.
Well isn’t this the only arc Oishi does actually die? Haven’t seen the dude die before lol!
Anonymous: but didn’t Keiichi live out of town for a while as well, according to the third arc? How come he didn’t freak out there?
Kite: He died in the third arc as well. At least, he got missing. 😉
Please note that Queen theory is maybe not 100% true. (Since in the order to 100% prove that…Rika must die.And there’s no way for Rika to know what happened after her death.-Don’t confuse with how directer used flashback from season1.) We can see a flaw of this theory in Watanagashi/Meakashi-Rika dead but villager remain fine.–Queen theory could be false.(In the game at Minagoroshi’s prolouge,Rika even ask us(player) if we know what’s happened after she died in those arc since she could never get to know that…
The queen theory from playing the game seemed most likely. And with the villagers going insane or not when rika dies – in the game certain conditions are met when the villagers stay non-psychotic. Anyway end of this arc is kinda niceish… more than a little bloody but rika does dis cover who is behind her death(s). Just wish the final arc was the ps2 ‘good’ ending coz it’s a little more bittersweet than the one that’s coming up.
One thing that I’m wondering about at this point is how Oishi managed to survive in the other arcs. He clearly comes and goes from Hinamizawa frequently, and there’s no indication that he ever suffered from the disease.
If Keiichi’s brief time in Hinamizawa was enough to get infected, why wouldn’t Oishi be infected also?