#Matsuribayashi

[witch-of-illusions]

Some times ago I found out that in the original Tatarigoroshi ending, Shion and Keiichi weren’t supposed to die, but actually Shion was supposed to visit Keiichi and to help him to recover, but in the end it was dropped and included in the Higurashi Kuradashi light novel, a collection of ‘’what if’’ stories derivated from Ryukishi’s scrapped ideas related to the series The illustration is by Jiro Suzuki

There’s also Higurashi Kuradashi Zoku that’s another light novel, kind of a sequel of the other one with the same kind of content and there’s one story named ‘’A Hidden Satoko Episode from Connecting Fragments’’ with that illustration by Jiro Suzuki; based on it, I wonder if there could have been a connecting fragment that showed Satoko’s POV when she pushed her parents off the cliff...?

#higurashi #Higurashi no Naku Koro ni #tatarigoroshi #keiichi maebara #shion sonozaki #satoko houjou #matsuribayashi

[skelltan]

was takano right? (spoilers for the original 8 chapters of the higurashi vn)

when i was playing higurashi, my mind went a million places trying to solve the mystery, and one of those places was in the political realm

from fairly early on, i thought of the exclusion of keichi as an outsider and himinazawa's general hatred of outsiders as perhaps some sort of commentary on xenophobia, or their strong community as some bizarre commentary on communism, and of course the dam conflict gave me a lot of thoughts

however, i thought a lot of those were pretty big stretches... until matsuribayashi. obviously, matsuribayashi, being the climax of the story and having the contents that it does, deals a LOT with politics and made me re-evaluate just how valid my wild thoughts were. (explicit spoilers below)

in the prior chapter, minagoroshi, keichi gets the help of everyone he can to enforce systematic change for the better. if you have literally any understanding of politics, it's pretty easy to draw comparisons toward movements which revolve around banding together to create systematic change, the most obvious of which being communism.

i thought the strong emphasis on community and conflict with the government in prior chapters was already pretty communist-coded (down to communist ideology being briefly mentioned in himatsubushi), but minagoroshi and matsuribayashi helped exacerbate that feeling for me in the ways i mentioned, but one thing remained - if they were so community minded, why were they xenophobic?

this brings me to hinamizawa syndrome. again, pretty obviously if you've finished the vn, it's the reason why everyone suddenly grows hostile towards those they deem suspicious and a lot of the supernatural lore behind hinamizawa. but what was hifumi's theory?

that hinamizawa syndrome effects the ideology of people.

so, consider... we have a village that's pretty community minded, but because of an external factor, this mindset can be instantly shattered and turned into an environment of suspicion and disdain of outsiders.

i dunno about you, but to me this sounds similar to how leftists can all have an ideology centered on building and supporting community, but then external factors - such as leftist infighting, or sabotage from a higher level - can kneecap leftist efforts so easily.

again, if you are politically-minded, you've seen it! from russia down to obnoxious online leftists, and the numerous US efforts against communism, it's an ideology that is always under pressure from external factors.

so, i think hifumi might've been onto something about ideologies being influenced by hinamizawa syndrome, if we are to view it as a metaphor.

i don't think ryukishi necessarily is the biggest communist ever or that in the end higurashi is actually all about communism, but i thought it was a pretty interesting read on the story from various fragments (no pun intended) that i had floating around in my head, with some being pretty integral to the story itself.

but thats just a theory..... a game theory...... thanks for reading

#higurashi #higurashi spoilers #matsuribayashi #higurashi when they cry

[pinkskunksleepy]

#higurashi no naku koro ni #meakashi #tsumihoroboshi #minagoroshi #matsuribayashi #when they cry

[transmascmion]

Greatly enjoying the way Matsuribayashi plays rn; it feels very engaging to look at all the fragments and figure out for yourself where to look next. And while a lot of this is information the player already knows, it’s nice seeing it play out in real time, and adds additional context which is cool!

And the new stuff… man. I love this series so much gkgkfl

I will say, it can be a bit difficult finding out where ti go next but I Refuse to use a guide 😤 I will solve this the way God (Ryukishi07) intended XD

#higurashi #higurashi spoilers #matsuribayashi #my posts

[owochimauwu]

tomitake titty shot

#higurashi #jirou tomitake #Matsuribayashi

[gayleviticus]

Higurashi - Matsuribayashi Thoughts

At long last i have finally finished matsuribayashi and i'm not entirely sure how i feel. i think it's telling that it took me the second longest out of any higurashi chapter to actually finish (about a month and a half), after onikakushi (5 months), which I almost but not quite outright disliked.

i would say it's decent, but i think it's more interesting to talk about the stuff that didn't work for me than the stuff I did, so the following is going to read as probably more negative than I actually feel (so beware if you are a huge higurashi fan who hates criticism, I don't want to cause you pain)

to be honest a lot of matsuribayashi was a Slog. I have a big aversion to stories that are just way too long for their own good, but the thing is up until now I genuinely felt that Higurashi managed to keep things fresh and interesting enough this massive sprawling length never became a detriment. That's not to say Ryukishi isnt way too verbose and repetitive for his own good, but on the whole every instalment felt like a cool and interesting twist on the Higurashi formula with its own distinct atmosphere, without needing to pull crazy genre shifts or resort to gimmicks. Even the unnerving creeping sense of doom of Watanagashi is very different to the tragic descent into madness of Meakashi, for instance.

Matsuribayashi… to be honest, I did not feel accomplished this. For sure, it's a new type of story for Higurashi, more of an actiony conspiracy theory with a dash of politics. But while perhaps new for Higurashi it feels like a fairly generic story in general. Stuff like 'the games club manage to successfully wage guerilla warfare against hardened mercenaries' is easy to criticise on the basis of unrealism - I don't personally think unrealism or being shonen-esque an inherently bad thing, but it feels weird and off for the kind of story Higurashi has been up til now, and especially by comparison seems like a cheap resolution.

Now, I get that this is a deliberate bait and switch in a sense. Ryukishi offers you a psychological horror where you can trust nobody full of the threat of monsters at every turn, and then gradually takes it apart to promote trusting your friends, working together with your community, extending grace even to the monsters. I get the reasons why it's being done, I get there's a thematic point to Scooby Doo-ing it all. But the sticking point for me is that I feel like the story Higurashi turns into is a lot less interesting than the one it began as.

I'm certainly not against these kinds of bait and switches (ask me why Hell Bent from Doctor Who is one of my favourite pieces of fiction ever). But the crucial thing for me is that the story it ends up as should be just as, if not more interesting than what was promised, or at least more satisfying (even if the initial story has more of an allure of deep lore and shocking reveals).

But I don't know, I… just don't feel like creepy rural horror mystery with ambiguous magic descending into action thriller with a single explicit magic element is an interesting turn of events. And ironically even though Ryukishi justifies the switch by saying that Higurashi's worldview is a nonviolent one, it still turns into the kind of story where the primary means of solving problems IS through action (if not actually killing): breaking into the bad guys' base with guns.

Now, with all that said, it's not a bad ending. None of the narrative decisions it makes are bad. It's no Rise of Skywalker, making such actively ridiculous choices the promise of the previous entries is ruined. It has good moments, and Takano is such a fascinatingly sketched character. But I can't help but feel like it's largely an exercise in ticking plot boxes.

And maybe that's just an inevitable result of a finale to a mystery where the mystery has already been revealed, but part of me feels like the entire government conspiracy angle just pushes the stakes too high where the story has no choice but to shift into an action thriller to solve it. Teenagers in a horror story might be able to fight a monster, but how can they fight hardened mercenaries? There's no choice but to shift genres.

But at the end of the day the above is largely a personal gripe. Obviously I feel strongly about this and it diminished my enjoyment, but I get where Ryukishi is coming from enough I hesitate to say This Is A Flaw, and I don't want my criticms to basically just be 'you should have written a fundamentally different story'.

One thing I did think was actively bad tho and tbh has probably seriously hurt my opinion of Matusribayashi is Fragment Connecting. It felt like 90% painstakingly spoonfeeding you plot points you should already know or have been able to piece together. We often hear 'show don't tell' but I genuinely think Fragment Connecting was an example of this gone way too far; some things can be left to casual exposition.

Ironically it felt like the anti-Onikakushi; it's even more useless filler but at least this time it's purportedly plot relevant! Admittedly I'd imagine this would have been a helpful refresher if you were actually reading the Higurashi installments as they came out.

The rest of Matsuribayashi is better, although it still feels like it doesn't really pick up til Irie escapes the clinic, and even then the action scenes are kind've annoying (I did like infiltrating the clinic though). But it's fine and servicable.

Aside from that, Hanyuu still feels like a bit of a weak link characterisation wise, especially since Matsuribayashi brings a lot in to weigh on her. She's not bad or unlikeable, but I just… don't feel the same attachment to her I do the others. I think Higurashi's strength on the whole is generally the characters, and I think Matsuribayashi did a great job with fleshing ouit Takano last minute tremendously, but Hanyuu is just… I don't know.

On the whole I would say I enjoyed Higurashi, and I wouldn't say my tepid feelings for Matsuribayashi are enough to drag the rest of it down, but I also don't think I especially love it (tho I still need to read Saikoroshi). Keeping me engrossed enough to sit through one million words and eight arcs is an impressive feat in itself, and I'll always have a soft spot for the characters, but I don't know that this will be something that stays with me. But my feelings about Matsuribayashi are in flux even now so I guess we will see.

#higurashi #higurashi spoilers #higurashi when they cry #my posts #when they cry #matsuribayashi #matsuribayashi spoilers #in other news tho i read the whole of higurashi in japanese now which i am v proud of :D #higurashi no naku koro ni

[internationalplayboysdotcom]

SHION IF YOU DONT GO DOWN THE FUCKING LADDER

#higurashi #wtc #matsuribayashi #HURRY

[trejean]

#rat scrawlings #higurashi #i'm reading matsuribayashi and i hate him more and more every second. genuinely a loathsome little freak #removed character tags bc i've already had one person asking why i hate him and i'm hoping removing his name will help mitigate that

[onewholivesinloops]

obsessed with the implications of rika being too gay to ever suspect satoko

#this is about chapter 5 of meguri satokowashi #where satoko brings up rika talking about travelling together #and rika doesn't think there's anything off about that #even though it's something that never happens in the original matsuribayashi fragment #but one of eua's dream ones #and then satoko wraps her hands around rika's neck #and rika still doesn't suspect anything because she's too gay #higurashi #higurashi meguri #satorika #satoko houjou #rika furude #gamo.txt

[witch-of-illusions]

#higurashi #higurashi mei #higurashi no naku koro ni #akane sonozaki #ooishi kuraudo #shion sonozaki #irie kyosuke #matsuribayashi

[certainwill]

i’m gonna work on starters in a bit ayyyyyy but first i wanted to pose a question to yall!

what would you say are some of higurashi’s less obvious themes?? like i think we can all agree that it absolutely conveys a message of “talk to your friends when you’re troubled.” encouraging people to trust each other + communication, stating that miracles can happen when people work together, having hope and believing in each other, etc... for me, that’s the first thing that comes to mind when i think of higurashi.

but what are some of it’s other messages?? I think it’s definitely got stuff a lot to say about redemption for instance, but it’s been a very long time since I read the actual VN and I’m having trouble remembering how those themes are reflected in the story. basically, what would you say are the main themes conveyed by the story and how does the story reinforce them??

everyone has permission to comment, you don’t need to be a rp blog or mutual! i love higurashi a lot, but i want to fall in love with it all over again, and thinking about themes is one of the best ways to do that for me ;w;

#ooc #i love the whole final matsuribayashi theme of like... #''there doesn't have to be a loser in this world'' #empathizing with everyone and rejecting the idea of a need for a ''sacrifice'' #for sin. #but i'm having trouble thinking of how that theme is reflected in the story proper... it's been so long since i read higurashi cries ;~; #anyway share your thoughts i wanna hear themmmmmmmm >:)

[detectivesauthority]

bern’s game at the end of arc 8 is so fun! I’ll spend a few days pondering this before i lock in an answer....

#reasoning #reminds me of when i first got to matsuribayashi when i was reading higu

[transmascmion]

AH NO

Forget “if u die in the game u die in real life” now if I QUIT the game and forget about it I DIE 😭😭

(Anyways, I’m super excited!! Finally getting into the beginning of the end X3 )

#higurashi #Higurashi spoilers #matsuribayashi #my posts

[rockman-x]

takano i get you went through some shit but WHAT THE FUCK

#SATOKO IS JUSTA KID #HELP HER KYOSUKE!!!!!!! #kz reads higurashi #kzrh: matsuribayashi-hen

[internationalplayboysdotcom]

RIKA CHAN I CAME TO HELP YOU

#higurashi #wtc #matsuribayashi #CRYING IN THE CLUB RN

[banquetofthegoldenwitch]

rip undertale fandom u woulda loved higurashi

#mine #just finished matsuribayashi its life changing