Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 42

Now that two episodes have been devoted to giving Takano some background, it’s time for two more episodes of building up, which fill in the final pieces of the mysteries of this show, even though the mystery has long since stopped being a central focus in this show. I suspect that in the next episode, we’ll finally know the only thing I’m still curious about: how did Satoshi die? This episode… it wasn’t really anything special. The only thing I liked was that Satoshi wasn’t as pure as you’d think he was: Satoko was actually a huge burden on the guy. Takano herself was a bit disappointing, though. She feels too much like a stereotypical villain, even after getting background. Tomitake, who was supposed to visit Hinamizawa once every few months shows up damn often, and I’m also quite confused that Satoko, Mion and Rika of four years younger look almost exactly like their older versions. Things become a bit unbelievable when four, perhaps even five years pass and there is no single noticeable difference in appearance for any of the different characters. I would have liked the writers to integrate all these revelations a bit with the storytelling as well. Right now, it just feels that they’re going through a checklist of things that still need explanation. Compare that to the first season, where you knew the exact same that the different characters knew. It would have been so much better if we saw Rika investigate on Takano’s past to find out these things, for example.]]>