Cos was right. This episode was much better than the standard which Higurashi managed to set. We finally have an episode at which we have tension, but the animation doesn’t go over the top. I absolutely loved this. The creators finally realize that Higurashi’s brilliance lies in the subtle details, and not in the fake-emo-distorted images. Emo-distorted images do help, of course, in fact, they work really well, but not if they’re so fake as in Higurashi. Thank goodness the creators learned in this episode.
Satoko’s put into recovery after what happened at the previous episode. Mion, Chie and Keiichi are surprisingly the only ones who stayed with her until the evening. Then the episode already begins good when Keiichi gets one of the craziest ideas ever: kill the uncle himself. The entire episode’ll focus on this aspect, nothing more. This episode also confirmed some thoughts I’ve had for a while: Higurashi’s episode get more and more focused on one subject. The anime is way more episodic than it was at the beginning of the show, at which all kinds of events just went through each other. There are good sides, and bad sides to this. The bad side is the predictability. Though the good side is that they can really give the viewer the chance to live along with the plot. This especially worked well during this episode.
When he’s at home, he asks his mother some subtle questions about the perfect mystery. As she’s a lover of mystery novels, she gives him some nice inspiration for his plans. If nothing happens, nothing starts. Keiichi tries what most killers who don’t want to go to jail try as well: conceal the body as good as possible.
Keiichi then goes to school, and for some reason, he goes to Satoshi’s locker, as he assumed that a baseball bat would lie in there. It did, just like in the first arc. (Apparently, Keiichi likes to use baseball bats as a weapon). He then makes some preparations, and phones Mion to ask her to take Satoko to the Watanagashi. He lies to her, in a very similar way Satoshi did back then. It’s much like Keiichi’s phone-conversations with Shion in the second arc. Keiichi now also realized what I predicted during the previous episode: the drug addict who killed Satoko’s aunt was actually Satoshi himself. Of course, this could just be a wild idea of Keiichi.
Another interesting theory about Satoshi’s disappearance, which would explain Satoko’s behavior at the end of the previous episode is the following: Satoko was actually the one who killed Satoshi in some way, though she now sees that as a huge mistake. When Keiichi reminded her of Satoko, she remembered the fact that she killed him, and went berserk, and kept on apologizing.
In any case, Satoshi and Keiichi were very much alike, which would hint at the fact that he indeed did kill his aunt. Still, I believe there’s more than just that. After all, otherwise they wouldn’t just announce this this early in the series. The next day, the Watanagashi starts, and Keiichi grabs a shovel. He then heads to a place in the mountains, and begins digging a hole. While he digs the hole, he gets flashbacks of his own past. It’s the first time we see such a thing.
The flashback does explain why he managed to think of such a plan. Keiichi’s horrible with theories, though when it comes to practical knowlegde, he’s incredibly smart. That would explain all his theories in the first arc. It seems that he was really hated back then, and people started to bully him, putting dead rats in his desk, etc. That’s why he got transferred to Hinamizawa Village and met the others. It suddenly becomes clear why Keiichi’s mother and father are away for such a long time. They live in Hinamizawa because of Keiichi being bullied. Still, why does he move away again in the second arc? In any case, the fact that Keiichi was bullied does explain why he’s so eager to protect Satoko, with the disease only making this worse.
Then we get our first reference to the title of the anime: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, or when the cicadas cry. In other words: in the evening. Anyway, right before sundown, Keiichi grabs Satoshi’s bat, and gives Satoko’s uncle a call to lure him out. Satoko’s been in custody by the police, so he needs to come to the police office. The plan almost goes wrong when it appears that the guy doesn’t know where the police office is. ^^;
Keiichi, meanwhile waits for the guy, and hits him down with a metal bat. What follows is probably the best couple of scenes from Higurashi yet. Keiichi chases the guy, and beats him to death. He buries the body with the shovel (interesting note: Keiichi had prepared a hole for the guy, but he couldn’t find it anymore). Rain starts, and Keiichi’s incredibly happy that he did it. Though I think that everyone would be, after that much adrenaline poured through your body. (another interesting note: this was probably the first time in anime ever that the main character commited a murder, and had to cover up for it in such a way ^^). In any case, I just loved this. Especially when Keiichi beat the guy down with the club. Finally a paranoid scene which doesn’t look too fake. (It’s probably because he didn’t talk or laugh at that moment).
In any case, Keiichi’s mission is accomplished and he heads home. Still, he almost collapses. Then, Takano runs into him, in her car. Without Tomitake. This provides some very interesting theories when you compare it with the previous arcs. He tries to find an excuse for being in the middle of the rain with a shovel, though it doesn’t work. Luckily, Takano doesn’t mind, and she takes him with her. Keiichi’s bike gets left behind, and in the car, Keiichi sees something like a wheelchair lying on the backseat. Takano then asks Keiichi whether the corpse was properly burried. >:)
In any case, let’s take a look at Takano, shall we? She just went to the temple, along with Tomitake, there she saw something, the two of them left and headed for the riverbank. Then something happened which caused Tomitake to strangle himself with his own nails and now Takano has his dead body inside the trunk of her car, and she’s planning to dump the body somewhere. Interesting theory, no? Still, there are a lot of questions unanswered. Like, did Takano kill Tomitake, but make it look like he killed himself, or did the guy really kill himself? I would say the former, as Takano has a big grin on her face for the entire time. Still, what was her reason to kill him? And what’s with the wheelchair? And how did she end up burned to a crisp in the second arc? And what was Shino’s role in this? Did she go into the shrine as well, without Keiichi? (interesting note: it did NOT rain at the end of the Watanagashi during the first and second arc… what’s up with that, can Keiichi also influence the weather?).
The fact also remains that Keiichi did leave some traces. The hole he dug, for example, either still exists, or was found out about after he left. He didn’t conceal the second hole he dug properly, as the ground was not totally even. Furthermore, he left his bike near the scene of the crime and even though it’s 1982, detectives must have had at least some tricks to find out about the murderers.
I think the best part of Higurashi remains at the parts at which Keiichi lies towards his friends, and then immediately gets pwned back and brought into incertainty. It might be something personal, as I’ve got a problem with lying myself, though these scenes were just absolutely incredible to see.
Differences with previous arcs:
– Satoko’s uncle did not visit in the first and second arc, otherwise she must’ve been absent for a number of days as well, at which she wasn’t. This does mean that something happened which made her Uncle return to her.
– Keiichi does not attend the Watanagashi, and he never enters the shrine.
– We never see that Rika participates in the Watanagashi.
– Mion and Keiichi talk over the telephone this time, instead of Shion and Keiichi.
