Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 19 – And The Second Arc Is Solved

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



Okay. So Rena has a machete, Mion has a gun, Keiichi has a bat, and Shion appears to have an electrifier. In any case, Shion really freaked out during this episode, it seems that the disease finally got to her. Still, this episode explained so many things about the second arc. I think that every problem which only appeared during that arc and that arc alone is solved this way. Except for one thing: Rika. How did she know what Shion was doing and why did she stab herself to death? In any case, I’ll talk about this later. First, the summary.

We start with where we left off during the previous episode. The phone rings, and Mion picks up, still holding Shion. The caller remains unknown, though he informs her about something. Mion then tells him to silence everyone and hangs up. Mion then tells Shion that Tomitake and Takano have died. Takano was found stuffed in a barrel somewhere in a far away mountain, apparently burned. Tomitake used his own hands to tear away his throat. Still, I still think that Takano killed him, and stuffed him away in her car. Then, she dumped him somewhere and somehow found the need to drive to a faraway mountain. In there, something happened to her in which she ended up in that barrel, burned.

Mion then blames Oyashiro-sama, in a very serious look. Then, Shion electrifies her, along with Obaba. Then the OP rolls, and we get to see the same scene we saw at the beginning of episode 16. Mion then gets stuffed in the underground prison. Shion then questions her a bit, and Mion starts acting like her normal self again. She’s obviously surprised at Shion’s actions.

Mion then tells Shion that she doesn’t know what happened to Tomitake and Takano. I’m not sure if she’s lying or not. Shion then asks whether the string of murders, otherwise known as Oyashiro’s curse, really had the purpose as the Distinction for the Dam War. Mion considers it a possibility, though she neither confirms nor denies. Still, I don’t think that that’s the reason. After all, why did Rika and her family have to die?

Mion also reveals an interesting fact. Despite the fact that she’s the next head, she doesn’t have any power at all. She only acts as a spokesperson for Obaba. Obaba still decides everything. Mion also believes that there’s another person than herself who’ll be inheriting her true position. This is quite an interesting piece of information. Mion isn’t as powerful as we thought she was.

Mion then really gets surprised when she finds out that Tomitake and Takano have violated the festival shrine. The way she reacted couldn’t have been a lie, I think. She also then considers it natural that because the two of them entered the shrine, they were bound to be killed. However, Mion does mention the fact that there were four people who snuck in. Nobody could’ve told her that. It’s either basic reasoning, or she could be hiding something as well.

Shion then gets upset when she finds out that Mion’s suggesting that Shion is going to disappear and heads for Obaba. She appears to have died, which is only logical. After all, old woman -> delicate body -> dies easily. Especially from such a shock. Shion, however, isn’t happy with it, and starts to edit Obaba’s face with a whip. In the usual badly animated way. It didn’t work really well. Shion then hears some footsteps, suggesting at the same presence she felt before, and the same presence Keiichi felt when he set off to kill Satoko’s uncle.

Shion then returns to Mion, to question her about the location of the infamous well from the second arc. It’s where the corpses are dropped when the torture has finished. She also shows Obaba’s dead body. Quite a shock for Mion. Mion then suspects that the reason for Shion’s acting is Satoshi, which is quite accurate. Shion then explains to her that it was the fact that Obaba lied to her about letting Satoshi go which made her act the way she did.

Later, Kimiyoshi, or the village elder, seems to give a phone call to the Sonozaki-residence. Shion picks up, pretending to be Mion. At five O’clock, there would be an emergency-meeting by the village council, and Obaba had to attend. Shion then tells him that Obaba isn’t feeling too well, and that she’ll be coming in her place. She hangs up. Kimiyoshi, meanwhile, heads for his proctologist for an unpleasant meeting.

Kasai then phones. Shion then tells Kasai about that she snuck in the shrine during the festival, along with Tomitake, Takano and Keiichi. Kasai then finds it very hard to stay on Shion’s side. It seems that entering the festival shrine seems to be a far worse crime than she thought. Then, Shion plans her next step. It seems that she wants to find out who Oyashiro-sama actually is, and she’s planning to use Keiichi as bait for this.

The next day, Shion decides to talk to Keiichi personally. It was amusing to see Keiichi’s attempts at lying from a third person. ^^

Shion gets pissed off when she finds out that Mion asked him the exact same thing during the night of the Watanagashi. We saw it during the second arc. Shion leaves, Rika jumps on Keiichi and Mion starts asking a couple of suspicious questions. In any case, Shion intended to do this in order to seed Keiichi with doubt and fear of his surroundings.

Shion then heads, still dressed up as Mion, for the festival shrine for the town council meeting. The village elder speaks first, with a looooong greeting. Then the subject of the Watanagashi-murders gets brought up, and the air gets a lot tenser. The village elder then asks Shion whether Obaba has mentioned anything, and then Shion shows that she can act at times. Still, she definitely gets nervous.

Shion talks about the fact that the curse occurred yet again because someone entered the festival shrine. Surprisingly, this is new to the town council. Of course, it isn’t sure that everyone of them didn’t know about it, as it’s very easy not to get noticed during this, but I’m believing for now that the entire town council didn’t know about it.

The reactions of the members of the town council are far worse than I imagined. It seems that it’s really a heavy taboo if you enter the festival shrine. Even the town elder screams to curse them. Shion then reasons that the person who connects Obaba with Oyashiro, and the one who’ll inherit Obaba’s position are present in the room. Still, I don’t get her arguments…

Then, when Shion starts to talk about Keiichi and herself as the ones who have violated the shrine, everyone suddenly turns emotionless. She then tells that Shion has already been taken care of, while Keiichi still runs free. Then we turn to the end of the meeting, where Shion invites the village elder to come to her house. Se tells him that Obaba wants to speak to him, concerning Shion.

The village elder then, however seems to show sympathy for Shion. Shion’s happy to learn that he’s on her side. That is, until he starts talking about Satoshi. As Satoshi’s parents tried to sold the village out, Satoshi didn’t deserve to be forgiven. Then he tells Shion something interesting. It seems that she never repented for Satoshi in the first place. It wasn’t as I predicted. The fact that guards had to cut off her third fingernail still was enough to repent for the third person, though that person isn’t Satoshi. It’s Shion herself. Satoshi never was mentioned in this.

As predictable, Shion then loses it, probably with the disease helping her a bit. She starts cursing the three houses, and she electrifies the village elder as well.

Okay, the second arc explained (at least, I hope. With a bit of help from Memento’s summaries):
The first episode basically covered Keiichi realizing that Mion and Shion were twins. In the beginning, he thought that Mion just was making things up, though he proved to be quite wrong (*interesting note: both Mion’s as Shion’s part time jobs were never mentioned again after this arc. Strange*). At first, I thought that both of them were in love with Keiichi, though I was wrong. Mion’s in love with Keiichi, and during episode 5, Shion was just teasing Mion, by making her moves on Keiichi. Keiichi only reminded Shion of Satoshi when he patted her on the head. Something he didn’t do during the second arc.

Then the second episode. During Rika’s performance, Shion takes Keiichi to the festival shrine. Takano had invited her to come along, and she thought that she might get some clues about why Satoshi went missing. She was too scared to go alone, though she figured that when she was with Keiichi, she’d be okay.

After the visit, Tomitake and Takano head for the river shore, Shion leaves after she wonders what the banging sound was. Now it seems that it’s the one she’s searching for. Quite possibly, it’s all happening in her head, because of the disease. Rena, Mion, Satoko and Rika run into Keiichi. Mion then decides to take Keiichi to the riverbank, while the others head for other directions. When the two are alone, Mion gets creepy and asks if he met Shion that night. If Mion really didn’t know that the two of them have entered the shrine, then I think that she saw Shion take Keiichi and leave. She didn’t decide to go after them. As she’s in love with Keiichi, she probably thought that Keiichi and Shion were planning to do some naughty things deep in the forest. That’s why she turned so gloomy at that point. She couldn’t take that Keiichi didn’t have eyes for her.

The next day, Keiichi runs into Mion again. At least, that’s what he thinks. The night before, Shion went berserk, killed Obaba and locked Mion away. Then we get to see the scene we saw during this episode, in which Shion drops some suspicious hints regarding the festival shrine. This also explains why she suddenly knew that Keiichi entered the shrine: because she’s been there herself. This is probably the thing that triggers Keiichi’s disease.

Then we turn to that evening. Shion has just killed the village elder, and she decides to continue to use Keiichi as bait. Therefore, she makes him meet up with Oishi. Oishi then wonders if Shion is Shion or Mion, and Shion excuses herself. I think that, from Shion’s perspective, we’ll indeed see her get nervous like that during the next episode. In any case, Oishi tells Keiichi about the status of the Sonozaki-family.

That evening, Shion calls again, in an attempt to put even more fear into Keiichi. She tells him about the deaths of Tomitake and Takano, and the fact that two deaths require two people demoned away. Keiichi then really begins to lose it, and Mion has her mission accomplished. The way we saw it at the end of the sixth episode, it seemed like Shion had lost her hope in Keiichi, so she hang up. In reality, she was probably smirking with a satisfying smile.

Okay, next up is the third episode. In class, people are talking about the village elder. He left a meeting, being held in a shrine (the Furude-shrine) and disappeared afterwards. Now we know that Shion indeed killed the guy.

Then, the only unexplainable thing in this arc happens: Rika. I like how everything is kept mysterious about her. I also realize that I left out one very important detail about this conversation: when Keiichi saw Rika, she looked beaten up, and she was crying. For some reason, Rika knows about Keiichi who entered the Shrine, and she starts her cryptic conversation.

I do have a theory, though. The fact remains that Shion hates the three main families, for their hate towards Satoshi. I’m positive that she’s planning to dispose of them. That’s the reason she wanted to kill Rika, but not Satoko or Rena: because Rika’s a member of one of the three main houses.

Now, what if Shion, dressed up as Mion paid Rika a little visit, right before Keiichi saw her? What if Shion hit Rika on the ground, and told her about Keiichi? What if that was meant as some kind of warning? Not only would this be extremely sad, this would fit perfectly in the story. Shion has already proved to be quite dangerous, so I really can see her attack the poor Rika. Afterwards, Rika decided to give Keiichi a couple of cryptic hints, after which she went to Shion, and stabbed herself to death. I really can’t think of any way why she would do such a thing.

Okay, next up: Shion calls again. She tries to bring more and more fear into Keiichi, by mentioning the village elder. She puts up an act, in which she tells Keiichi that she told the guy that she snuck into the shrine, while in fact, she killed the guy at that time. This makes Keiichi suddenly get worried about Rika. I think that this was all planned by Shion. She actually went to Rika, in order to warn her, so that she’d talk to Keiichi. Then, al she had to do was kill Rika and make Keiichi believe it was because of the curse.

In any case, Keiichi calls Rena, who begins to play for detective. Shion then steps in her Mion-role and the three head for Rika’s house. Shion then finds a ladder, and Rena goes to the main house of the Furude-family in order to get somebody with a key. Meanwhile, the topic of conversation gets brought to Satoshi again and, not surprisingly, Shion loses it again and lets the disease take over again like she always does when the guy gets mentioned.

Then Rena arrives with the key, and they head inside the house. Shion then plays even more with Keiichi’s mind, when she tells him that Rika disappeared because of Oyashiro-sama. It’s quite effective, though Rena comforts Keiichi.

Then we turn to the next morning, with Keiichi and Rena again. Rena mentions the fact that Mion had troubles waking up, though I think Shion was on the verge of losing it when Rena contacted her, so she decided not to respond, and make it seem like she disappeared. Then, Rena comes with her surprisingly accurate theory. Another reason why I’m really wanting this arc to end. I’m really looking forward to see Rena in the spotlights again. She’s got a really interesting character.

Anyway, Oishi then runs into the two of them. He wants to have a little talk to Keiichi, so Rena leaves. Oishi then tells him about the village elder, who went to visit a proctology clinic and got involved in a traffic accident afterwards. Keiichi then realizes that Shion was the one who killed the guy. I never EVER thought, at that point, that Keiichi could actually be RIGHT in his reasoning…

Oishi also mentions that he knows that Keiichi, Shion, Tomitake and Takano have snuck into the festival storehouse, because of some rumours which have been floating around. That’s quite logical, as it was Shion herself who spread them. Oishi then reveals that Shion’s been missing. This too, is quite logical as Shion has been continuing to pretend to be Mion, in order to not get too suspicious. I guess, that in order to do that, she had to disappear herself. Oishi then tries to search to a nonexistent link between something that Tomitake, Takano and Shion did do, while Keiichi, the only survivor, didn’t. It seems that he’s on the wrong tracks on this one.

That evening, Shion decides to call again. At this point, I think that something happened, which made her quite unsure, and which was the reason for her to pretend to oversleep. She sounded quite desperate at that point, and most definitely not aware from the fact that Keiichi heard that she’s actually missing. I think that at this point, she’s really beginning to break down. This is only strengthened when Keiichi comes with the fact that he knows that she killed the village elder. That definitely was something she didn’t plan for. After all, she didn’t know about the village elder’s proctological problems. More proof that she went crazy follows as she starts calling in a really scary and maniacal way.

Finally, episode 4. It starts with Keiichi confessing to Rena. It seems that she also figured out about what went on. Her detective skills earlier indeed showed that she’s able to easily figure out such a thing. Especially if countless of rumours are floating around. The two of them decide to go to Mion. Then Oishi runs into them, and Rena finds out that Oishi plans to use Keiichi as bait, in order to get permission to search the Sonozaki residence. Keiichi’s often used as bait, isn’t he?

In any case, the two of them reach the house and Shion opens. Keiichi apologizes and Shion acts like she doesn’t care. She doesn’t want to blow her cover after all. Then, Rena mentions Rika’s death, and more especially, Satoko’s death. Like I said before, Shion wanted to kill Rika. She never wanted to do anything to Satoko, though she came along anyway. Satoko then found out about Shion’s complot (probably by seeing a dead body somewhere) so Shion was forced to kill her as well. Shion doesn’t like the fact that Rena found out about this, no doubt she feels very cornered. The then tells a bit about the history of Hinamizawa-village. Shion also mentions the three bikers from the fifth episode. When I first saw this, I thought that it was Mion who worked at the restaurant. In the end, it seems I was wrong.

Shion then mentions the demon carved in her body, and it actually seems that she was the one with the tattoo, not the other way around. You’d wonder how she got it. I’m suspecting that it’s something she got in her youth. Remember that she told about the harsh way she was treated in the sixteenth episode? Also, Shion believes that there’s a demon in her body, though I think that that’s just the disease. Remember, during episode 17 when Shion mentions that the demon inside her was born? It was just Shion who convinced herself that she was acting weird. She had to blame something, so she blamed the demon, not aware of the disease.

Shion then confesses that she was either directly, or indirectly involved with each of the Watanagshi-murders. This is just a lie. Shion answers how she thinks Mion would have answered. She thinks that Mion was involved with each of the murders, so it’s quite logically that she’d say such a thing.

Then, Shion asks Rena to have thirty minutes alone with Keiichi. Shion holds Keiichi’s hand a bit, and then tells him that she actually loved him. Probably because he reminded her of Satoshi. Keiichi then replies with the message that Mion will always one of his best friends, no matter what happens. Quite funny, if you consider that he’s talking to Shion.

Shion then takes Keiichi to Mion. It seems that she performed quite some gruesome tortures on Mion, which turned her insane. I guess that in the end, the only thing of Mion which remained was her love for Keiichi. That’s why she was so incredibly glad to see him, and freaked out when she saw Shion. What follows is Shion dropping a large stone on top of Keiichi’s head and tying him up on some kind of torturing device.

When Keiichi wakes up, Shion tells Keiichi the story that Mion was supposed to be freaking out after Keiichi gave the doll to Rena. That’s very nice. But it’s all a lie. Keiichi then asks three things of Shion: forgive Shion, give Mion’s body back and let him go. He adds the last one when Shion wonders why he doesn’t care for himself at all. It now becomes logical when Shin claims that she can’t forgive herself. And giving Mion’s body back also is a bit impossible, as it was never taken over in the first place. It’s also interesting that right before Shion tries to drive the first nail into Keiichi’s finger, she hesitates a bit. Keiichi still reminded her too much of Satoshi. (On a side-note: don’t you find it ironic that Shion chose the same torture that Satoshi had to endure for Keiichi?)

Then, Shion hears the police, and she’s forced to stop. She electrifies Keiichi as well, hides in the well and then kills herself. Probably because of the dead bodies. I guess we’ll know this reason in two episodes. The next day, Keiichi begins seeing things because of the disease, and then he stabs himself. Mion, meanwhile has really lost it and jumped from the top floor of the hospital.

While reading back at my older posts, it seems that I forgot one important detail, which got mentioned at the end of the eight episode, and which messes up everything: Takano actually died before the Watanagashi. This means that Takano either grabbed another body, and made it look like she was the one who died, someone pretended to be Takano, or something’s really messed up here… O_o

This means that Mion really didn’t commit any of the murders in the second arc. Still, I don’t think she’s totally innocent when it comes to the main story. After all, she did get into a fight with Oishi. She did freak out during the third episode of the first arc. She did get into a fight with the first Watanagashi-victim.

I also realized something, for the first time this episode. Shion may be actually on the trail of catching the real criminal. The real criminal may be the one who’ll really be the successor of Obaba. With a bit of luck, this person actually was the one to spread the disease, commit the Watanagashi-murders, get involved with Tomitake and Takano’s death, killed Rika, disposed of Oishi and let the volcanic gas escape. Okay, there may be different persons behind all of these events, but somehow I’m feeling that there’s only one person. I have no idea who it is, but the only things I know for sure is:
– The person is a member of one of the three great houses. Otherwise, this person wouldn’t have been able to succeed Obaba.
– The person is on good terms with Rika. I think that that’s the only way to explain the fourth arc.

I think that at one point, Shion’s going to give up on her mission of making Keiichi the victim, in order to lure out Keiichi. I think that at one point, she realizes that Oyashiro-sama’s curse is just a legend, brought to life because of some coincidences. Every year, one person went missing while one person died. During the fifth year, this had to be adjusted when two people died, in order to make the curse sound right again. Of course, the balance was bound to be disrupted when Shion went on and killed four other people.

Overall, whoa… this really is my largest post EVER, aside from the montly summaries, perhaps. The second arc suddenly became clear after this episode, though one fact remains. I hate Shion. She remains such an annoying character. Ah well, it only has me longing for the sixth arc more and more. And let’s hope for an additional OVA containing the final two arcs of Higurashi. ^_^

Ayatsuri Sakon – 08 – Sakon Really is a Different Person Without Ukon

by psgels, posted in Ayatsuri Sakon



I’m going to blog this arc a bit more systematic than I did with the previous ones. After all, this show deserves some kind of character analysis. This is an interesting arc, in which Sakon actually is without Ukon. To make things even better, Ukon’s actually missing, with a possibility of being in the fire. Of course, we know he isn’t really gone, as it would make for a bit of a crappy second half of the series, but still.

Sakon still remains the main character in this anime, but, like I said, this time, it’s with a few twists: he’s without Ukon, and he has personal interest in the murder. The first is the most interesting, as Sakon’s suddenly lost all of the confidence and level-headedness he used to have in the previous two arcs. He’s turned unsure, he doesn’t know when to speak and when to keep silent, he’s become inpatient, and you can actually read emotions off his face. Something he was quite cleverly hiding in the previous two arcs. This also is shown when Hayami’s building caught fire. If this would have been a normal case, he would have attempted to calm everyone, ask the elder about Ukon and then start to search for him. But because the bond between the two is too big, all he can do is sit in a corner in foetus-pose.

Ukon either was hidden in Hayami’s building, in a place the fire couldn’t reach, or he’s somewhere in the main building. The fact remains that nobody talked about his location, even when Sakon asked. This means that something must have happened, and that there are more things going on than the ones we got to see during this episode. I’m also starting to thing that the guy really has a soul, despite being a puppet. When Sakon was performing with him, at the beginning of the episode, he moved very slowly, almost unnatural, though then he actually felt pain when some of his parts weren’t connected smoothly. Then he fell out of his role and became the old Ukon again, acting very natural. It’s no wonder that Sakon has been considering him as a very good friend. I’m so much reminded of the persocon-dilemma.

Sayoko plays the role the woman played in the first arc, and the police officer played in the second arc: supporting character. (Another reason I’m doing these character analysises, it gives me a good overview of the different characters, and their names. The previous arcs learned me that the names of the different characters are impossible to remember, unless you write them down somehow) It’s interesting to see how the relationship between Sakon and the supporting character keep changing with every arc. In the first arc, he protected the woman. In the second arc, he helped the police officer with her investigations. In the third arc, Sayoko helps Sakon, and actually tries to comfort him. She’s quite a strong girl, having lost her parents at a young age and all that. So far, I like her character, though we know that she’ll be surviving in the end. Ah well. You can’t have everything.

Hayami is the first victim. He dies because someone let all of the gas escape from a small camping-cooking-thingy (how did you call those again?). All Hayami had to do is light a lighter, attempting to smoke a cigaret, and the building catches fire. I don’t think he would’ve survived that treatment. Hayami is a master in puppet-making, though he thinks too high of himself. Add that to the fact that he likes getting drunk, and that this he starts insulting people very easily when drunk, and you can come to the conclusion that he’s made lots of enemies. One of these enemies probably let the chamber get filled with gas. He also was the one who fixed Ukon up, so Sakon immediately believes that Ukon was in the building as well, as it set aflame.

Main suspect #1 is Kishikawa. He also makes puppets, but he’s far from as skilled as Hayami. Hayami, in his turn, likes to brag in front of Kishikawa about his achievements, and Kishikawa himself has a very short temper. Naturally, Kishikawa’s come to hate Hayami because of this. One explanation for the murder could be that Kishikawa couldn’t take the pressure anymore, let his anger go out of control and thought of a way to kill the guy, which in the end succeeded. Still, I don’t think that that’s what happened. If he were to kill because of that reason, if he really let his anger get out of control, he would rather grab a pointy object and stab the guy to death. Also, when he realized that Hayami was dead, he didn’t give the reaction you would expect from a killer. It was rather an event which conveniently removed a major pest from his life.

Main suspect #2 is Yoshida. He’s in love with a woman named Keiko. Keiko, however, seems to be in love with Hayami, and thinks Yoshida as some kind of freak. Hence the dilemma. He’s so much in love with her that he’s become obsessed with her. He could have thought that if Hayami would be dead, he would be able to win Keiko over him. obsessed people are able to do strange things. He also had a suspicious smile on his face when he saw Keiko’s reaction when she found out about Hayami’s death. Still, I don’t think he did it. Simply because it’s too damn obvious. I know that the creators aren’t that stupid to drop the most important clue right at the beginning of the arc. He does play a role, though. But he’s not the one who did it.

Keiko’s reasons for loving Hayami remain unknown. She seems like the servant of the puppet-makers, so she would have a lot of contact with both Hayami and Yoshida, so perhaps something in the past happened to make the two of them being attracted to each other. In any case, she was devastated when she saw Hayami killed. Yoshida and Kishikawa didn’t really help to comfort her.

Aoki is the guy who has his head wrapped up in bandages. Either he has a strange sense of fashon, or he got in a nasty accident a while ago. In any case, we don’t see too much of him, though he does get to be the host for the guests who arrive at their house, and he seems to have a strong sense of honor, when he tried to prevent Kishikawa from getting out of control in front of a guest at all cost. Overall, he seems like a nice guy, which makes me think that he actually was the one who did it. I hope that Ayatsuri Sakon isn’t beginning to get formulaic.

I’m suspecting that the old guy is Fukami, though it’s never directly said. In any case, he’s an old master of puppet craftsmanship, and he’s the head of the mansion. He seems like a nice old guy, but the fact that he never said anything about Ukon’s location disturbs me. When Sakon arrived, wouldn’t the first thing be to hand him the puppet, instead of having a small chat. Even after Sakon asks what happened to him?

Ririsu, while I doubt that she has anything to do with the murder, you can’t be too careful these days. She’s a cat Sayoko picked up from somewhere, and she seems to like to run away towards adventures. I’m suspecting that she proved quite the support for Sayoko regarding her parents.

Overall, it was a nice first episode. This arc definitely seems intriguing. Especially Sayoko comforting Sakon at the end of the episode was too cute.

Some quick first impressions: Night Head Genesis, FLAG and Mamotte Lollipop

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Thank goodness the overall quality of this batch is better than the previous ones, with major thanks to Night Head Genesis for this. It’s great to see that for each bad show, there also is a good show during this season.

Night Head Genesis

Despite the cheesy title, this definitely is one of the better series to air this season, aside from Otogi Juushi Akazukin perhaps. Especially the first episode is beautiful. Two young brothers, both paranormally gifted, are shunned by everyone throughout their entire life. One of them can make things blow up when he’s angry, while the other can read people’s minds if he touches them. When the oldest one was about ten years old and the youngest five years old, they got separated from their parents, as they became too dangerous. Especially the reaction of the oldest brother when he found out about this was just too sad to see. Another MAJOR plus of this anime is the terrific music it features. The tunes are extremely simple, but I think it’s because they’re so simple that they work perfectly. I’m really recommending this show.

FLAG

This show already is extremely popular, after only its first episode got subbed. I think, however, it’s still a bit too early to label this show as good or bad, as the first episode was just one big introduction to the anime. The background story got explained, the characters introduced, but nothing really happened. I think that that’s up for the second episode. In any case, this anime tries to be as realistic and believable as possible. The story features around a small country, in the middle of civil war. A young photographer makes a picture which later turns into the symbol of peace. When the peace negotiations are threatened to get interrupted by extremists, this photographer gets sent back to this country, in order to report for a local army, which plans to fight the ones who oppose the peace. I’m not sure whether it was a good idea for the creators to include mechas for this army, when the anime clearly focuses at photography. Still, a lot of thought was put in the design of this mecha. For once, things actually made a bit sense, as the creators tried to show how the mecha works from the inside. It’s better than the usual techno babble we see in most mecha-shows.

Mamotte Lollipop

Okay. This is just stupid. Not necessarily in a bad way, but unfortunately not in a good way either. It’s definitely the shoujo-series, from beginning to end. The story’s like this: our main character’s dreamguy is someone who protects her from anything bad coming her way. What does she get? Not one, but *gasp* two pretty bishounen who protect her from anything bad coming her way. All because she swallowed a magical pearl they need in order to succeed for their magical exams. If we ignore the very unorthodox final exam the magical world features, the anime’s decent. Some funny jokes are made, some of the characters are interesting, but overall, it doesn’t really add anything new. It seems that the entire show will be focused around these two guys, protecting the girl. I’m not planning to follow this one, as I doubt that I can endure more of the same for twelve more episodes. Still, the flying car was hilarious.

.Hack//Roots – 18 – Why Spoil Things In The ED?

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



Looking back at the beginning of the show, I realize again why I loved it so much. It just featured the Twillight Brigade searching for the Key of the Twilight, in which so much stuff happened during one episode at once. The characters were interesting, it was almost impossible to not have a character you liked. People talked with each other, especially the fact that we had lots of different, interesting characters resulted in many interesting conversations.

And the music! I remember that during the beginning of the show, some amazing tunes were played. The way they were used along with the flow of events really contributed to the series’ awesomeness. Why the heck did the creators decide to put less emphasis on this at the second half of the anime?! The background music has suddenly turned from one of the best ever to just plain mediocre!

I think that the creators chose the theme of this anime wrong. MMORPGs are not about fighting monsters, they’re about interacting. This indeed was what the first nine episodes were about, though starting from number ten, it seems that this theme has become a little lost. For some reason, I just can’t seem to sympathize with Haseo if I know that he’s just paranoid behind his computer, and that the Haseo we’re seeing is just an image, nothing more.

The cliff-hanger also didn’t really work this time. Why? Because the creators somehow found it a good idea to include the same transformed Haseo in the ED. We already knew for seventeen episodes that he’d turn out like this. That doesn’t really contribute to the shock it’s supposed to give, now does it?

Ah well, one advantage is that as the creators are showing all of this right now, it means that the final eight episodes can focus on other, more important things. Haseo finally looks like he’ll be getting interesting again. Tabby will most certainly not do nothing after seeing this, so with a bit of luck, the two major annoyances will be gone after the next episode.

I’m also a bit concerned about Taihaku. It just feels like he hasn’t been introduced properly. Right now, it seems that his only role is to show us what would happen if you behave politely to the red guy. If you act polite, you get a weapon which can do some interesting tricks. If you start yelling, you get zapped. Still, the fact remains that the reason why this event was created, just to give some guys some cool weapons remains very interesting.

In any case, there was one character I loved during this episode: Saburou. During the previous episode, she was sent to track down Haseo, and eventually ended up with Taihaku. Now it seems that she lost him, and everything keeping her from quitting is Pai, who orders her to go after Haseo. And then she finally retaliates, and does the things that she wants to do, instead of the things Pai wants her to do. Indeed the right thing to do in an MMORPG. I really like the objective way she looks at things. Her analogies also were very nice as well.

Saburou also makes a nice point about Pai. Her personality differs so much to Ender’s. This has to say that she’s quite a good actor, but you’d wonder about why she decided to change personalities as well. Is it because she would be too suspicious, or did she see it as a good opportunity to change herself? And which is her real personality? Ender, Pai or none of them? She must have some reason to act the way she does.

The conversation between Taihaku and the red guy also was one of the first times I really was reminded of .Hack//Sign. It looked so much like the conversation Tsukasa, Mimiru and Bear had with the digital version of the original creator of the game. I’m also heavily suspecting these guys to be the same person, with Aura as the daughter. It seems that she’s still alive in The World somewhere. The Key of the Twilight may have been lost, though there are many clues which point towards the fact that Shino and Ovan met Aura at some point.

Overall, I’m glad that the Forest of Despair-arc was finished. The three main characters, Haseo, Tabby and Phyllo, weren’t really exciting to watch. Nevertheless, I’m still curious about how this series will continue. The potential for amazingness still remains.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 07 – The Slide To Fandavale

by psgels, posted in Otogi Juushi Akazukin



Ah. In the end, it seems that this was just a two-episode arc, instead of letting Ringo get captured for a longer while. It also seems that we won’t be saying goodbye to her yet, as in the end, she ends up going to Fandavale as well. Still, I like the pacing of the show. The fact that we’re already at this stage, when only seven of 39 episodes have been shown has to say something, doesn’t it?

We start with a little recap of the previous episode. Satou then tries to call Ringo, though she doesn’t answer. This is logical, as she’s just been kidnapped. Gretel, meanwhile, begs her brother from one more chance. She gets it. Baru, meanwhile, has found Ringo’s cell phone and the food she dropped when Gretel took her. Gretel uses this as a chance to tell the two of them that Ringo has been kidnapped, in puppet style. ^_^

Akazukin then tells this to Shirayuki and Ibara. The plan is for the two of them and Baru to bring Souta to the playground, while Akazukin goes to save Ringo. Souta doesn’t have to know about what happened to her, and Akazukin feels that she needs to save Ringo, as she’s an important friend.

Souta, of course, gets his doubts, when Akazukin suddenly has to go away in order to take care of something. That, and Ringo not responding is still on his mind. Shirayuki tries to cover, though this time, she fails horribly in it. It’s interesting. At times, she’s a perfectly good actor, though for some reason, she can’t seem to lie to Souta. Ibara gets to be the one to stop him in the end. In a very amusing way. ^_^

Another very amusing scene occurs when Akazukin’s being followed by Hansel’s little spy. We see both of them disappear into a corner, after which we hear some very disturbing sound effects and the screen shakes a bit. In the end, Akazukin finds out about Ringo’s location. Shirayuki, Ibara, Baru and Souta meanwhile have reached the playground, after which Ibara and Shirayuki decide to go after Ringo as well, using some very shallow cover-ups. I’d love to see the subs, and find out what they were really trying to say. ^^;

Souta also finds out what happened to Ringo in a very creative way. It seems that Akazukin has stuffed Ringo’s phone in one of Baru’s pockets, so when Souta tries to call her, he surprisingly hears a cell phone go off near Baru. ^^; Gretel, meanwhile, gets angry when it seems that Souta isn’t around, and so she and Akazukin start fighting. Baru, meanwhile, tries to prevent Souta from going to Ringo. It takes a while, but in the end, he indeed sees that Souta wants to go to Ringo. Still, I appreciate the fact that this was neither too easy nor too hard for the both of them.

Randagio, meanwhile, seems to have joined in the fight between Akazukin and Gretel, and sent a couple of bloodthirsty giant rats. It seem that he as well is trying to please Hansel, as he’s been failing as well, after all. In the end, Baru gets to be the one to help Akazukin in this. It sgood to see him in action again, as he’s been a bit neglected in the last couple of episodes. I also loved the fact that he enters with the message that he’s not a dog, even if nobody has mentioned it yet. ^^

Gretel then uses her gravity-spell in order to make everything extra heavy. Randagio isn’t pleased to see that even his rats have become unable to move. Gretel then, lifts the spell on the two rats, and makes hem attack. Ibara then counters in a deus ex machina. I wonder why the two of them were so late, after all, Souta and Baru left later, but arrived earlier. I think I can imagine a couple of things they could have been doing. Especially in Ibara’s case. ^^;

In any case, the rats are no match for the three musketeers cooperating. In the end, Gretel also takes a few hits, though when she tries to crawl up again, Hansel appears. This time, however, he’s not here to protect his sister, but he finally actually does something himself. It seems that he’s becomes sick of both Randagio and Gretel, who keep failing him. The two of them look pretty hurt when they find out about this, each in his/her own way.

Hansel then summons his weapon, which looks a suspicious lot like an old broom, and summons a huge dragon. Ringo then, as a last resort, tries to use provoke Souta by threatening to hurt Ringo if he doesn’t come along with her. Ringo, however, shows that she isn’t just a damsel in distress when she escapes with her own power. Hansel, however, then pushes her off a significant height. Souta then saves her with the power of the key, without even knowing it. In the end, he blamed Shirayuki for this. The three musketeers probably decided it would be best to keep him ignorant of this.

In the end, it seems that the gate towards Fandavale actually was an ordinary slide. Quite an original concept. Of course, Ringo goes along as well. Then, a new character appears: Souta’s father. It seems that he’ll be playing a big role in the later episodes, as he didn’t find it strange at all when he saw Shirayuki, Ibara and Akazukin. He actually asked them, a couple of strangers, to take care of Souta. He most probably knows about Fandavale, and I’m wondering what his role is. In any case, he sees Souta and the others off as they literally slide towards the gate to Fandavale.

And so, the Erude-arc ends and the Fandavale-arc begins. New characters will probably be introduced as well, and perhaps even new villains. That, or Hansel will be participating into the action a lot more. With a bit of luck, we’ll also see Hansel’s master, as we’ve yet to catch a glimpse of her.

Baru was great during this episode. He actually was the one who stood in the spotlight, saving Ringo and trying to keep Souta from discovering about her and all. I was beginning to get a bit worried about him, as the past few episodes turned him into a sort-of side-character.

Ayatsuri Sakon – 07 – A Mother’s Love Goes Deep

by psgels, posted in Ayatsuri Sakon



Okay. Why did I ever decide to drop this show?! It’s awesome!

For the ones who see this show for the first time, this show is a typical murder mystery anime, carried out perfectly. The main character, Sakon, is an interesting case: he’s a puppetteer, and he always carries his favourite puppet, Ukon along with him. The awesome thing is that Sakon himself is a quiet, serious young man. Ukon, however, has a complete opposite personality. He’s impulsive, talkative and rather innocent.

The best thing about this anime is the fact that Sakon’s very good at solving murders, especially the really gruesome ones. he really shows this during the episode. It probably was one of the best episodes of Ayatsuri Sakon yet. In the end, it turned out to be a beautiful tale of a mother’s love to her daughter, and therefore taking the wrong pathway in order to protect her. So sad.

In any case, if you’re a fan of mystery-series, I seriously recommend you to check this anime out. I really have no idea why I stopped watching this show.

Popolocrois 2003 – 08 – ICE, not Water

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois 2003



I love the huge contrast between the serious scenes and the laid-back scenes in this anime. The Seirei of Darkness really works as a bad guy, which turns the scenes in which he is featured quite dark indeed. However, Pinon, Luna, Marco and all of the others are just little kids, having fun. The times at which they’re playing with each other really have a very light overall mood. When you combine these two opposites with each other, the result turns out quite interesting indeed. 🙂

This episode was quite interesting. The Seirei of Darkness comes into action again, he wonders how a little brat called Pinon could have defeated his minions. He therefore makes a plan in order to spy on him. Pinon, meanwhile, is playing with Ulala, Luna, Papuu, Hirarin and Bobo at the ocean. General Gon, who’s supposed to be guarding them looked quite sad in the huge heat in his uniform. The subject of conversation then gets brought to the school. In the end, Luna wants to go to school, and Pinon has to go with her. Something he doesn’t really like.

That evening, the Seirei of Darkness takes an innocent monster over, in order to do something. The next day, Pinon tries to stop Papu, Bobo and Hirarin from going along with them to school, as pets aren’t allowed. Then he and Luna head to school. It seems a small tournament is going to be hosted that afternoon. What follows is just an ordinary day at school, full of detentions as three certain “pets” have been following Pinon into school.

The three annoying classmates also became a bit less annoying during this episode, as they actually played a very major part in it. It starts when they end up cleaning for detention, along with Pinon and Luna. It seems that they indeed were just curious, though Pinon runs away every time they bother him with it. But yeah, I guess he doesn’t like the attention on him. After all, people begin to immediately compare him to Pietoro.

Then, the Seirei of Darkness carries out his plan: create a huge barrier around the school, infest that barrier with monsters and see how Pietoro reacts. Marco, who was supposed to be attending the tournament, also arrives, and meets up with Papu, Bobo and Hirarin. Inside the barrier, General Don managed to turn everything into a tournament: five monsters versus Pinon, Luna and the three annoying classmates, in one-on-one duels.

Meanwhile, it seems that I was wrong on assuming that the third and final Seirei was to be the Water-Seirei. In fact, it’s an Ice-Seirei, as suddenly, the entire ocean has frozen over. Marco, meanwhile, has found a way to go under the barrier through a corridor Pietoro often used to run away from school. Papu, Bobo and Hirarin join him.

In any case, the tournament was predictable, but fun. Luna starts first, after which the three classmates have to fight and Pinon will be last. his indeed meant that one of the classmates had to win against a monster, though the way the creators solved this actually was pretty creative. Thanks to Pinon, for giving them some advice on fighting. In any case:
– Luna has to fight against a Bird of Paradise. These mainly use sound waves which put people to sleep. A couple of earplugs and Luna’s magic were enough to overcome this.
– Second is the first of the classmates (I wish they’d give them some actual names) against a Pitcher, or a squirrel who throws with walnuts. In the end, it turns into a baseball game, in which the classmate attempts to hit the walnut right back at the pitcher, and overpowering it in the confusion. Good plan, though he misses, the walnut bounces back from a tree and knocks the poor guy out.
– The second classmate (Lorris, thank god this one does have a name) doesn’t do much better when he suddenly runs off for a bathroom visit. It seems quite random at first, though surprisingly, the sneak route Marco’s using actually leads to the bathroom. And so, the two of them end up making the school monster-free.
– The third classmate wins in a very amusing way, when the monster, a weak version of a humanoid bull, trips and lands out of the ring.
– Pinon then has to win against the last monster, who was overpowered by the Seirei of Darkness. Bobo, Hirarin and Papu attempt to help him, though Pinon thankfully declines, as everyone has been fighting on their own accord. In the end, Pinon doesn’t win because of his dragon powers, but making the enemy trip as well. This time, though, it wasn’t an accident. ^^;

Still, the Seirei of Darkness exits with the message that he’s found Pinon’s weakness. I wonder what it might be. And I wonder if it’s something Hirarin and Bobo aren’t able to fix. In any case, Luna’s quite upset when she finds out about the ocean being frozen over. Next episode, it’ll be time for the Ice Seirei!

The three classmates were very interesting. It’s clear that they aren’t skilled in fighting at all, though in the end, all of them ended up fighting. Okay, some weren’t as successful, but Lorris actually helped Marco, and saved him, and the other actually won because he wasn’t scared to run away.

Night Head Genesis – 03 – Space Gives Answers. Literally

by psgels, posted in Night Head Genesis



For the ones who haven’t seen this episode yet, I’ll just give a small warning: Night Head Genesis is one disturbing anime! You could say that it’s the Higurashi of the Summer-season. People really are driven mad during some of the scenes. Especially the fact that we’re only at episode three of 24/26 shows that there’ll most probably be a lot scenes to follow, which will be even more disturbing than the things we’re shown here.

Heh, I’m beginning to like this show more and more. Remember the vision Naoya had about the woman in red? Where she was strangling that woman? Well, it appears that she’s a serial killer. That totally explains her behaviour from the previous episode. She and her companion were hungry and looked for something to eat. A bar in the middle of nowhere was perfect for this, in order to keep the amount of suspicion as low as possible. This plan, however, backfired once Naota and Naoya dropped by. Once she heard about Naoya’s ability, she wanted to leave as soon as possible. She grabbed her chance after Naota went out of control, though she carelessly pushed him aside, which was enough to trigger Naoya’s visions.

The thing is, that both Naoya as the woman are still being haunted by these visions. The heavier the images are, the bigger the size of the impact is they make on Naoya. Naoya gets plagued by the visions of the woman violently struggling five different women with purple clothes, while the woman keeps seeing eyes everywhere, in combination with the fact that her mind became unstable once she touched Naoya. I think that that’s a nasty side-effect of his powers.

Naoya does realize, however, her motives: she’s crazy. For some reason, she considers every woman in a purple dress as her enemy. And enemies in her eyes have to be killed immediately. It’s not yet clear how she came to think of this. Bad youth? Dumped by a guy for a girl in a purple dress? Blackmail? Her male companion also is an interesting case. He’s in love with the woman, and even though he knows what she’s doing, he’s so blinded by his love that he’ll help her in anything. It’s strange if you realize what a person is willing to do for his loved one.

Naota investigates a bit, and notices that only four victims have been found. The fifth one has yet to be discovered. However, the woman never made any effort in hiding her victims. It’s as if she wanted the victims to be found. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be strange that this fifth body hasn’t been found by anybody? The preview for the next episode had the answer, surprisingly. *note to self: the previews of Night Head Genesis are not afraid to display spoilers. Skip them.* In any case, Naoya also has the ability to see in the future. The fifth woman he saw being killed has yet to be killed. That’s why her body hasn’t been found yet, as it it’s still alive at that time. Not aware of the things (ropes, in this case) to come in the future.

Meanwhile, we learn where Shouko has ran off to: space. It seems that from there, she’s able to see everything. I think that you can compare her power a lot with Naoya. Still, the differences remain. While Naoya needs to touch people in order to get information, she needs to be in space in order to make her powers work. Shouko also has the abilities to see events, while Naoya can see thoughts. It’s not yet clear whether Shouko can read people’s minds as well, but both of them have the ability of foresight. Shouko´s goals, however, aren’t clear yet. Also, does she work alone, or does she have superiors?

We also get a bit more info about Elder Misaki. It seems that Naota and Naoya never knew that he was the one who created the barrier. This explains why they haven’t tried to kill him. Though I wonder why Naoya wasn’t able to just… read his mind and find out that he created the barrier. Or the guy had some special skills which enabled him to forget any memory he has, including the fact that he was the one who created the barrier. We also see some shots of him at his death bed. It seems that the last thing he did was point at the sky (Shouko?).

This series’ art actually surprised me. During the first episode, even though the music was awesome, the art looked really low-budget. Though in the second episode, the art only showed flaws when Naota went out of control. And now with the third episode, the art looks even better. It’s strange. You would expect that the creators would try to make a good impression with the first episode, concerning the art style. They of course did, but the low-budgetty art-style could have turned some people off.

In any case, I liked this episode. So far, the first episode has definitely been the best one in Night Head Genesis, though it’s not very easy to make an episode better than that one. Still, I do love the themes of this anime. And for some reason, this anime reminds me of two other ones: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Jigoku Shoujo. Could that be some sort of sign?

Simoun – 19 – OMG Mamiina!

by psgels, posted in Simoun



This episode was so incredibly sneaky. Mamiina is screaming, along with the other priestesses, you hear gunfire and the screen freezes. It’s a typical cliff-hanger. The episode was nice, the developments were okay. Until it seems that that was everything BUT the cliff-hanger, and the scenes which followed totally blew me away! That was SO awesome!

In any case, the episode starts as a standard Simoun episode. It’s centred around one character this time: Mamiina. She’s grown so much, ever since she showed up for the first time. In any case, during the previous episode, both Aaeru and Yun were thinking the same thing, and they went after the others in their Simoun, despite all orders. It’s something you really expect them to do, especially from Aaeru. ^_^

This also places the problem with the government officials in the back, an focuses on what’s really important again: the characters. That really is the thing Simoun’s good at: it’s immensely huge cast of extremely well developed characters. That’s what makes this anime work.

Meanwhile, the others have reached the Messis, and it seems that the two remaining members of the Chor Riboru will be replacing Limone and Doninüra: Vyüra and an unnamed Sybilla. Vyüra is also someone who’s changed a whole lot. She gets surprised when she learns that Aaeru and Yun are gone. Wauf then gives the Chor Tempest a chance to rest. We then switch to the dormitories, in which Mamiina sits on her own. Rödoreamon then enters, wondering why she’s taking so long. As Mamiina’s braids are starting to get loose, Rödoreamon offers to redo them. This only shows how close the two of them have become, despite their incredibly different personalities.

We then switch to a meeting between Wauf and the Chor Tempest, in order to come up with a strategy. Vyüra and her unnamed companion will be guarding the rear of the Messis, and be in charge of the communication relays, while the Chor Tempest will handle the offensive part. Aruti then says something which upsets Furoe a bit (one of the few times she talks) Paraietta joins in and Mamiina needs to calm them a bit. They also mentions the fact that everyone ate from the same pot, something only she and Rödoreamon can understand, seeing that she put some mice on the menu. ^_^

Later, the mission has started. The Simoun will be divided into two teams: Neviriru, Mamiina, Furoe and Aruti and Paraietta, Kaimu, Morinasu and Rödoreamon. Both teams are searching the skies. Meanwhile, Vyüra wonders why the Chor Tempest was used for this mission. Wauf answers with something Dominüra used to say: because the headquarters understand nothing. Looking at the previous episode, I agree with her as well.

Furoe, meanwhile, gets a bit agitated when Neviriru wants to talk to Mamiina a bit alone. About the fact that she’s changed. I think that Furoe’s the only one whom Aruti actually talks to. It’s very interesting, maybe this gets used later on in the series. Then the two Simoun run into the airbase. Neviriru gives orders to examinate the thing very carefully, as patrols might be lurking.

Paraietta, meanwhile, continues to act spaced-out, and people have to ask her twice in order to get a reply. Yun and Aaeru have meanwhile caught up with the Messis, and they immediately advance to the front lines. Wauf also gives the Messis the order to go full speed. I guess he was waiting for the two of them before he wanted to take action. ^_^

Meanwhile, Neviriru and the others have been spotted, and waves of patrols emerge from the air platform, including the stolen Simoun from episode 17, the two which managed to escape. Aaeru and Yun meanwhile have passed Paraietta and the others and head for the other group. Neviriru, does her utter best in order to defeat the enemies, though the enemy Simoun prove to be tricky to defeat with just Ri Maajons. But then again, this is logical. The Simoun are the only crafts which have total freedom in the air. The other airplanes have to obey rules, which makes them predictable, which in turn makes them quite easy targets for Ri Maajons.

Neviriru then tells Furoe and Aruti to escape, while she distracts the enemies. In the end, they get hit by one of the flying planes, and they manage to crash on the air platform. Mamiina is okay, though Neviriru is unconscious. The enemy Simoun are the soonest to be near them, and they approach Mamiina, and point their guns at her.

A very nice plot twist follows when it appears that the priests are actually good guys! They do view the Sybilla as the persons highest to Tempus Patium. In the end, they do seem to have acknowledged that Tempus Patiem and their god remain the same. They also claim to be different from the people from the Archipelago, and that they wish to help Mamiina and Neviriru. The latter recognizes no lies in their words, so the former agrees. Sortof. 🙂

Mamiina then activates the Simoun again, along with one of the Priests, and they take off. The priests jump off, though Mamiina then realizes that the Priests will be executed if they remain. She then cuts off one of her breads, says farewell to Neviriru and jumps on the platform, along with the priests. Meanwhile, the forces of the Archipelago come rushing in. Mamiina then screams with all of the others the infamous word: “Aaeru”.

And when you think things are already amazing, just wait till the next scenes, in which the other Sybilla discover that Mamiina has been shut! Especially Aaeru and Rödoreamon have it hard. Wauf meanwhile arrives, and blasts the air platform down with the Messis. He works really well as a captain. He really earned that job. ^_^

Mamiina immediately gets taken to intensive care, while Rödoreamon and Aaeru can’t take it anymore. Neviriru, meanwhile, is nowhere to be found. Then the Messis retreats and the episode ends.

And what an episode it was! I’m SO glad that the focus on the characters didn’t disappeared along with Dominüra and Limone! I was a bit worried, as things seemed to have been settled down. But this episode proved that I had nothing to worry about. I can’t wait for even more awesomeness from Simoun.

I’m also wondering what’ll happen to the Priests from Plumbum. They obviously had their reasons to fight against the Simoun, and Angurasu showed that they aren’t afraid to blow down an airship from Simulacrum. Did Angurasu actually agree with their views?

Memorable Moment: Aaeru, after seeing Mamiina.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 18 – Don’t Look Behind, Or Else

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



Okay, so I was wrong. Six arcs it is, then. This arc will contain a massive six episodes, while the sixth arc will close the series with the last five episodes. The seventh and the eighth arc will then very likely come in some sort of OVA, even though it hasn’t been officially announced yet.

I’m not too happy with the fact that this arc will consist out of six episodes. Shion does remain my least favourite character, and this episode once again proved this. While it did have some funny moments, Shion was just utterly boring. Too much time is spent on her, and her feelings to Satoshi. One episode, okay. But this is just getting too much.

In my opinion, there’ve been three moments at which Higurashi no Naku Koro ni really shone. The first was Rena during the second and the third episode, which was also what originally made me fall in love with this series. The creators really projected her as a unique, evil character. Then, ten episodes later, Keiichi gained my respect while he killed Satoshi’s uncle, only to learn that it never really happened. The third was the fourth arc. That arc really was amazing, focused on Rika and her prophetic abilities. Perhaps the anime should’ve focused at small arcs, instead of the big ones.

Ah well, at least the sixth arc will get better again, when Rena finally comes into the spotlight again. She’s been away for quite a while, it’ll be good to see her back, with all her schizophrenic glory.

Until then, we’ll have to do with Shion. The episode begins with Shion questioning Oishi about the psychopath who killed Satoshi’s aunt. By the time that the police arrived, he was already dead. He clearly was manipulated into this in order to cover up for the things Shion and Satoshi did. Oishi then mentions Oyashiro as the culprit again.

We then switch to the OP, after which we see Shion in the library, trying to figure out what happened to the victims of Oyashiro-sama. She did manage to realize that each of the victims was on bad terms with the Sonozaki-family, though Takano interrupts her. She then explains Shion about the rumours about Oyashiro-sama which have been floating around. About one person dying and one disappearing. This, of course, is total nonsense, as Rika revealed that also some people who were missing turned out to be dead. It’s no more than just coincidences which have been noticed and inflated by certain people.

Takano also reveals something interesting: she’s researching about Oyashiro-sama’s curse, and the ancient, forgotten history of Hinamizawa. Takano tells her the things she told Keiichi while in the temple in the second arc. That’s why she didn’t get scared just as Keiichi when she heard it.

That afternoon, Mion comes to visit Shion. At that moment, Mion isn’t affected by the disease, and she starts apologizing about what happened. Shion accepts, though she gets furious when Mion wonders where Satoshi went. Shion’s probably affected by the disease at this moment. Mion reveals that she knows nothing about what happened to Satoshi. Though I think that the disease made her do something, which she forgot afterwards. Mion still remains on the top of my list for the suspects who could have killed Satoshi.

Shion then discovers that Mion actually endured the same torture she did, in order to bring her and Satoshi together. Though he disappeared afterwards. I have no idea which parts of these were acted. In any case, a year passes, until we move to the beginning of the second arc, but now from Shion’s perspective.

I was a bit disappointed to see that the things which Keiichi already saw weren’t shown again, but actually just skipped. I would have loved to see such a thing, though apparently, something’s about to happen which requires three whole episodes, while the second arc just took two of them.

The good part, however, is that some actual funny scenes are shown. It starts with a deja vu from episode 16, in which Shion encounters those three punks yet again. I still love the way they talk. ^^ Then Keiichi comes to show off, and you can indeed see the difference from him to Satoshi. This also was a scene which wasn’t shown in the second arc.

In any case, the fact that Keiichi meets up with Shion at the restaurant isn’t shown. This means that Mion actually was the one who met him there, and she was the one who brought him the lunch. Ever since, Shion started trying to get between the two of them, in a funny way. ^^ Still, Keiichi keeps reminding Shion of Satoshi. The fact that she reacted so differently in the third arc was because Keiichi didn’t pat her on the head like that. That’s why she acted differently, and I have a strange feeling that that scene was supposed to come in the fifth episode as well, but it was cut out for some reason.

In any case, Mion indeed loves Keiichi. Because of this, we know for sure that she indeed was shocked when Keiichi yelled at her in the second arc. This also shows that the disease took over and she started yelling about Oishi, and it also shows that the fact that she hid needles in the ohagi could never have been true. Of course, most people already knew this, but it’s good to have some confirmation. It also must’ve been very hard for Mion to see Keiichi so extremely serious towards her during the third arc.

Mion then tells Shion about the doll Keiichi gave to Rena. Shion then comforts her and they have a very cute conversation. ^_^ Shion, however gets more and more reminded of Satoshi. We then switch to where Mion and Shion are both fighting over Keiichi. Mion has a very evil look on her face when Keiichi pats Shion on the head, in a good way. Shion, however, has other thoughts, concerning a certain yellow-haired boy.

When Shion’s alone, she whines a bit more about Satoshi and the usual. Shion then gets the feeling that she’s being followed. (Interesting fact: remember when Keiichi had the feeling he was being followed in the eleventh episode?) That night, the Watanagashi takes place. Shion then runs into Tomitake and Takano. Takano reveals then that she spends a lot of time in the library, and that the two of them are going to break in the shrine. It then gets confirmed that it was indeed Shion who went with Keiichi into the shrine, and the reason for why she did it.

It’s strange, in the second arc, Shion was very calm, but now, she looks everything but calm. She also hears strange footsteps coming from somewhere. Keiichi and Takano don’t seem to hear it. I’m suspecting that the disease is messing with Shion at that moment. That evening, a party is being held in the Sonozaki-house. Mion and Obaba play as host, while it seems that Shion drank too much. And that at that age.

That night, when everyone’s left, Shion overhears a conversation between Mion and Obaba. I’m not sure whether Mion has taken control over the Sonozaki-family yet, though Obaba’s way of talking suggests that she hasn’t. In any case, Mion’s talking in disease mode again, and they discuss a certain male who has angered Oyashiro-sama’s anger. For some reason, the police are looking into it, which seems to suggests that it’s more than just breaking into the shrine. Mion then suspects that Takano has something to do with it.

It’s very interesting that the male name doesn’t get mentioned. It could be either Tomitake or Keiichi, but sneaking into a shrine couldn’t be something you’d call the police over to investigate. Shion, however, seems to think otherwise and immediately concludes that Mion’s getting angry over the fact that she snuck into the festival shrine. Shion then has a flashback of the sixteenth episode, at which Rena explains why Satoshi felt that he’s being followed. It’s being a sign of Oyashiro-sama, that you’re being followed, that someone’s spying on you. At that moment, Shion looks behind her and sees Mion.

This actually explains the first phone call between Shion and Keiichi. Shion then informs Keiichi about Tomitake and Takano’s death. It seems that she gets terrified by Mion after the cliff-hanger, and then she hears about the fate of the twosome. As she highly believes in Oyashiro-sama’s curse, she immediately believes that there are two deaths this time, which has to mean that the two of them have to disappear. She then tells this to Keiichi, who also believes it.

It seems that the last three episodes will really be explaining what happened dring the second arc. Let’s recap a bit, shall we?
– Tomitake and Takano head to the river shore. Afterwards, something happens which probably involves Takano killing Tomitake and stuffing him inside a car, only to end up getting killed herself.
– The next evening, Shion invites Keiichi, in order to make him meet up with Oishi, so that he can tell him a bit about the Sonozaki-family. I think that Shion decided to trust Keiichi after what happened to her after this episode’s cliff-hanger. I think that she believes that Mion will do her no harm if she’s with Keiichi.
– Later that night, Shion makes her first phone call and tells him about the two deaths.
– The next day, Keiichi learns that the village chief has disappeared the day after the Watanagashi.
– Rika comes to Keiichi, letting him know that she’ll protect him from something that probably gets clear after this episode’s cliff-hanger.
– That evening, Shion calls Keiichi again, and she tells him that she was the reason for the disappearance of the village chief. We’ll probably see if that really is the case at the end of the next episode.
– Keiichi and Rena realize that Satoko and Rika are gone.
– Mion lets the disease inside of her take control, almost shaking Keiichi off a ladder in a badly animated way.
– Keiichi hears from Oishi that Shion’s been gone. What happens after the cliffhanger should give us some clues about why this happened.
– Either Shion or Mion phones Keiichi.

The fact remains that things didn’t happen as they seem, during the second arc. We have to take into account the beginning of the sixteenth episode, in which Shion has overpowered both Obaba and Mion. This gives us two options for the eighth episode:
– The Mion we saw was actually Shion, pretending to be Mion.
– Shion did try to overpower Mion, but in the end Mion proved to be too strong for Shion, and Mion severely punished Shion for this in disease-mode.

I think I’m going to go for the second option after all. If the Mion in the eighth episode indeed was Shion, she would have mentioned Satoshi, which she didn’t. Instead, she was tortured by Mion, because of the fact that Mion was the head of the house and Shion had committed a crime. While she was tortured, Shion began to compare Keiichi with Satoshi more and more, until she eventually started to believe that they were the same, hence her reaction when Keiichi saw her.

I have no idea whether this is true or not, but the fact remains that either Mion tortured Shion, or Shion tortured Mion. If that’s indeed the case, one of the next three episodes will most definitely be covering this subject, I’m guessing for either the fifth or the sixth. I’m urging everyone, including myself, to watch these three episodes on an empty stomach.

Another thing which I noticed is that ever since the third arc, there’s been less and less focus on the disease, which makes people get extremely angry. The third arc did feature Keiichi angry a couple of times, but it never was as bad as Mion in the second arc, or Rena and Keiichi in the first arc.

Overall, the episode did have some cute scenes, but the fact that it centred around Shion made this episode rather dull. The next episodes suggest that the series will be focusing more on the mystery-department, instead of Shion’s love whom I don’t care about anyway.

Memorable Moment: Mion, getting annoyed by Shion. In the non-disease-way.