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lemonthepotato · 7 months

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“Re reading” Higurashi

(Spoilers, also minor spoilers for Danganronpa UDG.)

The title is a bit of a liars work. You see, I’ve been deceiving you all this whole time. Because despite the fact that my account is heavily focused on Higurashi memes and commentary, I’ve never actually read Higurashi. Oh, I saw the anime. Since 2018, I’ve been obsessed with Higurashi. Well, except 2020. I had a short hiatus from the fandom. But in 2022 I decided to begin actually reading the visual novel. I began reading Umineko in 2021 and finished it in 2022. I began reading Higurashi early 2022 and finished it in 23.

Join me and my horrible memory as I get many details wrong.

Chapter 1:

• I don’t remember anything from the damn project, but the suspect list seems off. XXXX, XXX, XXXX, XXXXX and XXXX. The main offender is XXXX. I don’t quite remember much, so I’ll go without making assumptions. I don’t remember if Takano was involved in the dam project. (This aged terribly. I don’t know why I thought this.) I think the sonozakis has something to do with it. I don’t know. We can rule out Keiichi and Rena, and Rika and Satoko because of their ages/locations. We can also rule out Mion and Shion due to their ages. Miyo fits XXXX, the main perpetrator, but again, I don’t remember that being the case. I remember Takano was involved with some government bullshit. I watched Higurashi in 2018 and only got back into the fandom recently. (I lost interest briefly in 2020 and got back into it in 2021) I finished Umi, and I’ve only started the VN. I don’t remember everything about the story, and I didn’t care much about the dam project.

• Things are brought up in these games without much relevance. Umineko had the whole lotta shit that didn’t add up to much, like the shit with Virgilia and the vase.

• Teppei? Hojo has four letters. That makes sense, but didn’t Teppei not live in Hinamizawa?) I don’t remember, again, only recently got back in.

I’m abandoning this format

The reason why I only began reading Higurashi a few months ago was because I was under the mindset of “well, I watched the anime, so reading the VN would basically be the same as a rewatch.” I never rewatch shows. The only anime I’ve ever rewatched was Erased, and I don’t even remember why, because I didn’t even care for it much. However, as I’ve spent the last five months trying to get through CH1 (I am a very slow reader, I got busy.) I have realised it is a very different experience from the anime. First of all, I haven’t watched the anime since 2018. So my memory might be a bit bad, but there are a couple details that I already find intriguing. First of all, the literary world offers Ryukishi a lot more options than any other form of media. As a writer myself, viewing a story written as “a show, but in words” is dishonest. Writing is, in a lot of ways, a superior art form to cinema in some regards, and it falls inferior in other places, as all media do. For example, you might not be able to convey facial expressions as detailed as you can in television. But you can convey small details and explain why those details are there. For example, in CH1, there was a scene where Keiichi remarks about how Rika must be struggling with her dance. Considering I’m familiar with the twist about Rika, that I believe occurs in CH4 in the VN, it re-contextualises that scene. It makes you wonder if she was really struggling, or if she was worried about the festival considering that’s where things hit the fan. Second, Rika loses to Tomitake, making me wonder if she’s trying different variables, trying to roll the dice in the most minuscule ways, desperate for a change. There is also the whole ‘infirmary, rika, poison’ thing that straight up spoils who the culprit is. Of course, I don’t believe Takano is revealed to be a nurse at this point.

I like how Ooishi brings up Mion and Rika potentially being behind Tomitakes death and Keiichi is like “WHAT?! MION WOULNT DO THAT” like bro what about Rika.

Foreshadowing the fingernail scene TwT

I’m curious what the conversation Rena and Mion are having. I don’t remember it being in the anime? So, the obvious intention is to omit certain words to make Rena and Mion look suspicious. This is something that can easily happened. You ever overhear something that sounds suspicious, but then you listen closer and realise it’s two women talking about getting ice cream, not saying ‘he didn’t scream’? Me neither. Point is that I’m wondering what they actually said. Maybe they were talking about a person, because Mion says she doesn’t want to talk about it. Maybe Satoshi? He was a member of the club, if I recall correctly. I wonder when Keiichi will get the bat. I don’t think Shion shows up this chapter, but I hope she gets fleshed out more in the VN. In the anime, I feel like she didn’t get much attention even in the original 2006 anime. And everyone who saw the anime just saw her as the “much blood. such murder.” girl. I don’t remember why she killed in the original arcs. Because she was trying to figure out who was responsible for Satoshi’s disappearance? He DID go missing, right? For ages, I always thought it was a mystery in the fandom what happened to him, but I feel that was a Mandela effect I created in my head. I mean I always just considered Outbreak non canon so it didn’t phase me when he showed up non-chalantly. But him being in a coma? Not what I remembered. All I remember from Shion’s arc was that she realised she had broken her promise to Satoshi at the end. Again, I’ve heard that out of every arc, Watanagashi was adapted the worst in the anime.

Onikakushi-hen is basically just a prank gone wrong, lmao. “MARKER PRANK, GONE WRONG!!!1!1!1” though I’m only at the morning scene where Keiichi discovers the bean paste and he starts overanalysing what in reality, was probably not a needle. I don’t know, because it’s been a while, but I’d suspect maybe a different sauce? Or something like candy?

I feel like Umineko’s creation may have been due to the success of the first Higurashi arc. Because the illusion side of things is really thorough here. A lot of things Rena and Mion say are completely normal. The only unusual thing would be Rena’s “LIAR” speech, which could’ve been her joking around, or in Keiichi’s head. Mion 100% probably did tease Keiichi about the diner, and when she said he needed to rest, it was probably with a ton of concern. Anyway, everything in Onikakushi is Ooishi’s fault lmao.

I remember Keiichi being a lot more aggressive in the anime. That’s probably me misremembering. The ‘horror’ in the anime feels a little different from the ‘horror’ in the visual novel. It feels more slow, more of a build up, though the whiplash can get a bit grading sometimes.

OK theory time. I’m not sure if this is how it happened, but I think Mion might’ve decided to prank Keiichi to cheer him up. So she got her classmates to follow Keiichi around (the car was probably not a coincidence though: I think it’s related to whatever that stuff with Tokyo and Takano was? I was too young to understand it back when I watched.) and she got the information somehow that Keiichi was buying or eating a flavor of noodles. She got Rena to make him dinner to cheer him up, or Rena did it on her own, and she relayed the information to him of what flavour he was eating, because she knew he was lying. Rena was probably sad that Keiichi was lying, but not aggressive. Whether or not the ‘usoda’ scene the first time was real or not is more debatable, as being pushed for details of your missing friend can push someone over the edge, but I think Keiichi could be been imagining that too. And as we all know, the ‘marker’ thing is coming soon.

‘Why would Rena go this far in pranking Keiichi with Mion’ well, remember two facts. Rena is already very mentally unstable due to her Dad’s inferred abuse and Rina. I don’t remember if Rena’s dad being abusive is in the original, but reading Gou again I notice it’s a detail added. Another factor is age: Rena is 13. 13 year olds don’t understand the limit to jokes that often. And with Mion being 14 (the demon year), she probably doesn’t know the limit either. The age of Higurashi characters amazes me. When I was young and watching the anime I thought Rena was 15, Mion was 16, Shion was 16-18, Keiichi was 16, and Rika and Satoko were 12-14. I just saw them as older. And to be honest, Rena seems older than 13.

Okay, see? Rena even admits she was messing around. She didn’t realise how paranoid Keiichi was. Her poor fingers… wait until the nail scene XD.

Keiichi, a lack of sleep increases paranoia. *sigh* also that line about how no one can decide except him if today would be- yeah. Rings different if you know the ending.

ITS TABASCO. Keiichi, If you weren’t such a paranoid, ableist and judgmental person you could’ve just talked to Mion and Rena. It’s incredibly disrespectful to dig through your friends pasts and not even talk to them, and disrespect their traumas. But still. Saikoroshi-hen is so good though, unrelated. Still unbelievable that Saikoroshi was in the same show as Hajisarashi and Hirukowashi, the latter that has a grown woman gushing over Rena.

CH2

Okay, time to figure out who is Mion and who is Shion. For the diner scene, I think it might be Mion, but I don’t know- I don’t remember. The way she is acting would make sense if it was Mion, because she wouldn’t want Keiichi to see her like that. Okay, the next ‘Shion’ scene I also believe to be Mion because she literally calls him ‘Kei-chan’ and blushes around him.

The bike scene. I’m not sure, but I’m leaning towards Shion. First of all, calling him Kei-chan is suspicious, so that’s a reason why it could be Mion. But at the same time, she hasn’t blushed around Keiichi, and if I recall, Mion’s gotten in trouble with the law before, even swearing out Ooishi in CH1, so why would she be so respectful to law enforcement? Wait… she’s blushing… hmmmm. Mion? The phone scene I think could be Shion, but it’s hard to tell. I feel like it’s Shion in the restaurant, cuz she’s acting less… you know, nervous?

Poor Shion. Keiichi really is subtly sexist. He even downplays the very real nature of what that man’s doing to Shion, it’s harassment. This makes the Satoshi and Keiichi scene from Kira or whatever much more deserved. Ugh.

Wonder if St. Lucia is part of the reason Shion (assuming it’s her) feels like this situation is her fault. St. Lucia basically puts a lot of expectation on the individual, and failing that system is a kind of personal responsibility. Mixed with growing up in a misogynistic world, it’s no wonder Shion is victim blaming herself. Also her shitty family.

“No means no.” Thank you Rena very based. Also I like how the first thing Rena does when seeing Shion is gush over how kyute she is. Shiirena confirmed???! /j (?)

Why is the tense changing. All the time. Ryukishi, it’s one or the other. I personally use past tense when writing, as it is a lot more… I don’t know, easy? Ryukishi also wasn’t really good at foreshadowing back then. Shion looking like she has demon blood. Really? Maybe it’s just because I know the twist about it.

I have a feeling Mion isn’t Mion.

Shion is definitely not crying on the other end of the line. She’s telling Keiichi to calm down, but I don’t think she herself is calm. Considering she heard those noises at the night of Watanagashi, she probably had Hinamizawa Syndrome. How Hinamizawa Syndrome develops is unknown. I don’t remember. I do remember there is a drug, H137 or something, that induces it, that Takano uses on Tomitake, but did she use it on Keiichi and now Shion, or did it naturally develop? It could be either. She encountered Keiichi, albeit in a public setting, so for Onikakushi it’s more likely he developed it on his own. But Shion, alone in that storehouse with Keiichi? Maybe. But then again, I doubt it. Also this music is hilarious.

See, I knew the “hic” shit was building up to a laugh. Now, the real question - is it one of sadism and deceit, or panic and frantic thinking, I don’t remember how Hinamizawa Syndrome affects people, and their logical state of mind. I feel like the anime might have doubled down on the “crazy” aspect too much, without delving into the psychology. Shion, as a person, isn’t evil. She expresses remorse for her actions, I believe, in later arcs. That’s why I’m curious on why she did it.

I have a lot of thoughts about the nail scene. So, obviously Mion is Shion and Shion is Mion. A fact about the Sonozaki’ sis that Mion was born Shion and Shion was born Mion, and they switched names at one point. To make things a little less confusing, I’ll refer to Mion (the one with the demon tattoo) as Mion, and Shion as Shion, not by their birth names, by their chosen names. Here’s my theory. Shion had long been resentful of Mion, because she was given special treatment by the other members of the family. Shion snuck into the storehouse, and Shion was punished for it by Mion. Shion already had signs of Hinamizawa Syndrome, so she was growing even more resentful. I believe, well, know, Shion didn’t kill Tomitake & Takino, yet, Shion, afflicted with HS, was scared that she had been cursed and was after next. Then, she began interrogating her family (which I remember from the anime) and none of them confessed, which she then passed the blame to Satoko, and it spiralled out of control. When Rena and Keiichi come over, and Mion is locked up, I can guess Shion’s thoughts during this. The ‘demon/oni’ in this context is Shion pretending to be Mion, and disgracing the name of ‘Mion’. The title of ‘Mion’ and ‘Shion’ are again, titles to them. Because Shion in reality, if I recall, is actually the older sister of the two, she probably wanted to take the name ‘Mion’ back. As to why she let Keiichi go, I don’t know. Maybe I’m remembering poorly, but I remember the anime cutting out Shion letting Keiichi go, and it cuts before she is about to do the nail stuff. But I could be misremembering. I don’t have many theories thus far. Why could giving the doll to ‘Mion’ (who I’m in the middle on being Shion) be such a big deal? Mion wanted the doll because she wanted to be treated as a girl, Shion wanted the doll because… it doesn’t make sense. I really don’t remember the ‘why’ of this arc, just the how. We all remember the infamous Satoko scene, after all. (Revisiting this while reading arc 6, after reading arc 5. I was surprisingly close to the truth, still.)

Wait, didn’t Shion push Mion down a well in the anime? Am I misremembering or was it just changed in the adaptation? No, that wouldn’t make sense. Takano being dead doesn’t make sense. She is a nurse, so? Maybe she constructed her own demise and framed it to look older? Maybe she got a wax figure XDDD? Maybe it’s someone who looks like her. Or maybe Keiichi has Hinamizawa Syndrome. No, Takano was alive. Whoever that was they found wasn’t her. Jirou, Keiichi and Shion all having Hinamizawa syndrome is possible but I doubt Keiichi’s would have progressed that far due to him not hearing noises.

Hints of Rika’s “juice”-addiction, Satoko’s abuse, both foreshadowed in a slice of life meta scene. Weird. Takano standing RIGHT NEXT TO Mion while she says there’s a mystery culprit, huh, Ryukishi do you think you’re funny. Do you think you’re a fucking comedian. Because yes.

‘Sayoko’. I didn’t know Satoko had a twin. Let’s see… is Sayoko a name? Oh, it is. It means ‘small child.’ I didn’t know Satoko had a twin. That explains a lot. Not really. It explains nothing. Is it a translation error? No, obviously not. This is clever foreshadowing to the show that shant be named and the manga adaptation midguri. (Edit as I’m approaching CH7: I forgot to mention but I like meguri slightly more than Sotsu. Both are still lacking but still.)

CH3

Keiichi has the ego of a brick. Don’t read into that metaphor. His “plan” for saving Satoko is a felony. He doesn’t even seem to care if Satoko would be happy living with him. And he was willing to give her to Irie. That says enough. (Edit as I’m approaching CH7: Come to think of it, maybe I actually was too harsh on Keiichi. If a child is being abused, you get them out of that situation point blank period. So I don’t know.)

Why didn’t… why didn’t Keiichi have cat eyes in Onikakushi-hen? He had HS too, in that arc, but no one commented on it. Now they are. Weird… idk why though.

Ugh. Keiichi. They’re clearly covering for you. Why would they not find Teppei? Because they moved him! But because Keiichi developed HS, he’s making crazy assumptions. He’s probably missing obvious social cues that his friends are trying to tell him ‘hey, we helped’ without outright saying it. Satoko was probably actually crying, somewhat bittersweet I’d imagine. The trauma is still there, but because it’s a change of routine, she isn’t able to process it fully yet. I’m sure she is happy her uncle isn’t bothering her, but she’s confused by it.

Wait, is this the arc where… okay, if I remember, Satoko is attempting uhhh… well she’s in a bathtub and it’s like, overheating? Or she’s like? You knowing with something? But I believe Satoko has HS in every arc to a minor degree, so… she does to Keiichi what she did to her parents? I don’t know.

“...If that was the case, then here's how it would end up. ...I was actually in a vegetative state due to a traffic accident, and I was currently dreaming in a hospital bed...” jeez K1 because that’s NEVER happened in ANY arc to ANYONE. Sarcasm.

This isn’t adding up. If Satoko had to count to 10,000, it takes 2 hours to count to 10,000. So she couldn’t have been in there that long. This could either be K1 hallucinating, or Kei-chan isn’t and Ryukishi was just. Not thinking about it. Now, if Satoko was counting by the minute, that would be almost exactly a week. (Edit: 2 hours is way too long to be in a hot bathtub. What was I thinking?)

Ah, I see. Satoko released an eruption so large when she pushed Keiichi that it affected the whole village. Nah, I’m pretty sure the mountain dogs have something to do with this. From Tokyo? Something something Takano something something grandfathers research. I don’t remember.

CH4

Yukie ain’t there, son. I bet. She probably wasn’t when giving birth, something happened likely. Maybe if you were there for her she wouldn’t have went alone but you know. L Alabama. AKASAKA. Not alamaba. Whatever.

So, I thought Rika or Takano could be behind the mysterious TIPS, so now we have confirmation that it was Rika. If this is because of the loops, then that means that Rika has been looping for longer periods of time than I suspected. I always thought she was reliving the same few days in Hinamizawa, but was she transported a few years back this time? Was Rika like this before she became a looper? Who knows.

CH5

Shion is just like me fr fr. I fully understand the mindset of “if I wasn’t born, I wouldn’t have had to suffer.” It’s the very reason I don’t want kids. I feel like life is just a game of suffer vs sufferer. Everyone is either a sufferer or the perpetrator, or a standerby, which is no better than the perpetrator. “Why was I born? Why did this world give birth to me? I shouldn't have been born. I wouldn't have had to suffer if I hadn't been. What was the meaning of my meaningless life?”

“Where did I go wrong...? When in my life did I make the wrong choice?”

*sigh* my mom made the wrong choice in having me. I was better off never existing at all.

“I’m sorry for being born” you’re not crying, I am. I mean, I’m not crying- fuck.

Sorry, opinions were mixed? Teppei is a legit horrendous person. Keiichi did nothing wrong. Does anyone know the Blanchard case? That poor, poor girl was horrifically abused, and got sent to jail because she retaliated against the abuse. Horrific. How could anyone care about a human who abuses a child? WHO? No, no.

So I’m realising from Arc 3, re-reading my notes, my point about Satoko counting to 10,000 is ridiculous because she was in either really hot or really cold water, which can take as short as 5 minutes. Fuck Teppei.

CH6

Rena’s mom and dad seem like bad people. Your child shouldn’t be responsible for cooking, fathers should know how to cook, clean, and look after their kids. Also, Rena’s mother reminds me of that case where a mother spoiled her child and then… killed that child and herself. But yeah, I know this is some deep literary anoysis, and no one else figured this out, but I think Rena’s mom may be getting a divorce 😨 I know, shocking. /s

My eyes are a bit wet because what Rena describes happened to me in my childhood, sort of. My mom and dad got into a really big fight, and me and my mom left and got into the car, and she started crying, and I started crying. I don’t like my mom, but what did my dad say that made me and my mom too scared to be near him?! I don’t know. I hate both of them.

“I know you're not naïve

But you ignore it all

Just look, you've been deceived

I don't forgive you either”

“Completely depending on someone means trying to earn even deeper sympathy from them. At that point, even though you're trying to comfort them. they just slip further and further into depression. By finding initial success through relying on someone and receiving comfort, they grow addicted to indulging in misfortune. That's a golden rule for psychologists, did you know? Mental trauma can only be be healed by the person who has it. If someone else helps a person out of their mental trauma. even if they succeeded that person wouldn't be completely healed. Kei-chan, people feel better just by talking to somebody. Sometimes, all they need is someone who does nothing but listen quietly.” Wow did Ryukishi just talk directly to me,?? Read my mind??

Also, hmm, Mion is strangely knowledgable about mental health. It’s a shame Mion never gets her own arc. And no, Wataakashi-hen does not count. I thoroughly hate Gou and Sotsu, but find Meguri… acceptable. I know not a lot of people like Meguri, and frankly I still hate Tatariakashi-hen. Some love to defend it, I don’t. And that’s all I’ll say.

I do find Rena hypocritical. She criticises her friends for not helping Satoshi, but then berates Keiichi in arc 3 for criticising them for not helping Satoko? Tbf, Keiichi was being a dick, but it seems… very parallel. I don’t think this is unintentional. Hinamizawa Syndrome, and this is surprising, may lead to a higher risk of stress. Crazy, right? They might begin blaming those around them. Crazy?

Couldn’t have seen that coming.

Mion must’ve felt really invalidated when Keiichi said “Are you kidding me? That's not why I called you here. I have to talk to you about something very important. I want you to listen without making fun of me,” in response to "Oh. I know. You want to give me a love letter, don't you? People usually use the shoe locker for that, you know?”

Like he already led her on by saying “We don't really do that in the city. A lot of guys hand over their love letters in person.” I mean yes, it wasn’t fully his fault- like he didn’t know. But damn. Poor Mion. Seriously. :((

I could only get “start.”

Rena stop looking at r/conspiracy and r/gangstalking. Sound familiar? Yeah I just posted this.

Finally, the brick line.

“No matter what happened in the past, as long as you're a great person at present, you shouldn't be embarrassed of yourself. Am I wrong? What's the purpose of living if we can never earn redemption?" I know this is a general statement but it’s funny in the context of. Like. Imagine killing like 50 people and then saying “hey it’s all in the past my guy.” LMAO.

Uhhh Rika I don’t think you can forgive a crime committed against Rena and Mion. Lmaooo

Bruh when Satoko said “Keiichi fought for me? I find that hard to believe” I laughed. She doubts Keiichi so hard 💀

"Very well we'll accept the second condition. But let us add another condition on top of that. We're going to send her a lawyer. You will only question her in the lawyers presence.” I want to see Saul Goodman defending Rena Ryuugu now. I will pay money for it. Unironically? Never speak to police without a lawyer present.

Yes, Rena was aware of her actions. To a degree. But does she deserve jail time? I don’t think so, but she clearly has some mental problems that need treated. I think Ooishi should be discharged from the police force for even entertaining her delusions. He was really mainly at fault. Even during negotiation. He couldn’t have done much else, but still. Was not helping.

FILE NO 34. Huh. This must’ve been obvious for the Japanese audience HAHA. So, the kanji for Miyo is the same kanji for san and shi, right? 3 and 4? Pffttttt. Okay, to be fair, names can be written in a variety of ways In Japanese. But still. Funny.

Oh never mind then it was meant to be obvious. It doesn’t actually give away the fact she’s the culprit I just jumped the gun

WOW HM ITS ALMOST LIKE THERE IS NO CULT AND TAKANO IS PLAYING YOU ALL FOR FOOLS.

“People who think it’s useless to talk to others usually haven’t really talked to others.” Eh, disagree. I used to. It never helped. No one else can solve my problems. No one cares about me. I only have one human looking out for me, and that is myself.

CH7

Oh, are we going to see Hanyuu Furude this arc? Yay, I love Hanyuu. She’s so cute. I wonder why Rika is referring to her as a brother or sister. Is this a flashback? Hanyuu is Rika’s great x8 grandmother or something, right? She’s also the village god I think.

Anyway, Akarigurashi chapter 8.2 just released and I liked it. Sorry, unrelated. Sorry, I like meguri, okay?

“So yes, if this piece, Ooishi, didn't intervene, then perhaps the victims of Rule X wouldn't have resorted to such violence.” I TOLD YOU. I TOLD you Ooishi was at fault all along.

“And well, while people in a single world may be able to reach such an idea, the widespread desire to place blame commonly causes A to be lynched by society while the environment that gave rise to A goes ignored.” Yeah, this is actually true for real life. Crimes happen. A “monster” committed them out of “evil.” The root of evil is never addressed. Human nature is never addressed, because it’s a “monster.” No one else feels responsible. In reality? It’s all of our faults. Letting the world be in shambles is every humans collective fault. That’s my perspective.

“She also may have to defeat Rule Z, just as Sonozokai Shion faced it in Meakashi.” Who is Sonozokai Shion? Crazy, first we had Sayoko and now we have Shion Sonozokai.

Hey, thanks Ryukishi. It’s awesome to hear Rule X, Rule Y and Rule Z being mentioned constantly even though I can’t remember off the top of my head the differences! Okay, Rule X is that the disease always makes one of Rika’s friends develop Hinamizawa Syndrome. Rule Y is that Rika Furude, Takano Miyo and Jirou Tomitake always die. Rule Z is that Ooishi and Takano always cause shit. Right?

So how long has Rika been looping? 100 years? How many time loops, then? If she looped the same June of 1983, and only the current arcs were what she experienced, that would be six months! But then, why does she say Rena, Shion and Keiichi lost it? Why is it never Mion or Satoko? Is that just a rule for all arcs, or because she only experienced these six arcs? And if she experienced her whole life six times, that’s 60 years. So, I’m going with the idea that there were either 4 previous loops, or… if she’s only experiencing one month, and June of 1983 had 30 days, then to make 1 month add up to 100 years, she would’ve experienced… 3000 loops? Is that correct? Yeah… if I had to loop the same month 3000 times, I would become a little jaded too.

Okay I might’ve overestimated, it’s around 1200. Still a lot.

I would love a Sotsu/Meguri style visual novel. Maybe a fan project? But it wouldn’t have the same charm as an official one. I truly believe after reading Umineko and almost finishing Higurashi that these stories can only truly be understood through the visual novel medium. Ciconia though? Uh… sorry, I’m not paying £40 for ONE chapter of a story. If that pattern continues, phase 2, 3 and 4 being released will add up to £160. I am not paying £160 for fucking Ciconia. I think the worst part is that no playthroughs are allowed past a certain chapter, 7 or 8. I understand why. But like- if the game wasn’t £40 I would understand more. I mean come on. It’s one chapter. Like Ryukishi, my guy, are you struggling financially or smth? Because we alllll are. Some of us, such as myself, don’t even have income because the job market is unbelievable! So the only money I can get right now is money from people on holidays. And at this rate, I don’t think phase 2 is gonna be released anytime soon so… oopsies. Yeah no. I’ll pass. Oh wait? It’s actually £30, and on sale for £20 right now. Tempting, very tempting, but ah! I can’t justify it right now. Sorry, but it’s on principle alone I can’t justify that. The question arcs of Umineko are around £20. Someone said Ciconia Phase 1 is double the length of Lotgw. If that is true, and each question arc is worth £5 (same logic as the Higurashi arc pricing, also it makes sense considering the price) then that should only be £10. It’s basic Math. But instead it’s being charged at £30. I would pay £10 for each phase. Not £30, not even £20. Sorry, but I believe in fairness. And no one can convince me £30 or 40 USD is a reasonable price for one phase of a four phase story. This is the sims 4 levels of bad. Okay, maybe not exactly that bad… but look. Huniepop 2 is £20 and honestly even that probably has more worth than Ciconia.

“The art is better” yeah? art is meant to improve over time. Why does that matter? Like come on, don’t act like the game is Mona Lisa levels of good.

Rika this has a very simple solution. In each arc, have Hanyuu follow everyone around one by one. Follow Keiichi. Suspicious behaviour? No? Follow Satoko. Suspicious behaviour? No? Follow… and follow… then follow Ooishi. No? Then follow Mion? No? Then follow Takano, and that’s where the money is. God, Rika, you’re pathetic. I could’ve figured this out ages ago.

Mandela, I remember her being very optimistic in the anime. Hanyuu, that is. I didn’t realise she was this negative. That’s a weird thing to misremember. Also I’ve been subconsciously trying to figure out the MBTI of every Higurashi character this entire time, and I think I have it down. Let’s start with Keiichi… my memory is very bad, but in none of the arcs I don’t remember him being very ne or ni dom… a… si dom? No… se? Maybe… he seems like fi-dom maybe??? It’s not that he doesn’t care about other peoples feelings it’s just that he’s kinda insensitive and clearly thinks of his own subconsciously. So… hmm… ESFP?? No wait, I just completely forgot Ti/Te existed! Uhh… That feels wrong… Rika is a clear ni-dom with heavy… I don’t know??? I can’t be arsed actually. Okay, actually…

Keiichi isn’t logic driven. I mean, Onikakushi and Tsumihoroboshi for example. It wasn’t until Mion educated him that he realised how silly he was being. Though I don’t know if I consider Mion more Tx or Fx. She has a lot of loyalty to her friends and the Sonozaki family, so I’m leaning Fx. But Fi or Fe? Well. I don’t know. Mion isn’t a Ne nor Ni dom, as showcased by her debunking Keiichi and Rena’s conspiracies. She doesn’t seem interested in “what ifs.” She doesn’t seem interested in thinking about abstract concepts very much. I don’t really understand how Se and Si users work, to be honest. I’m a very heavy and probably unhealthy ne-dom. I’m NeFi, ENFP. As far as I’m aware anyway… if you get different vibes from me because of this post, and want to suggest otherwise, please let me know. And yes, MBTI is pseudoscience, but it’s fun. So I really don’t care. Hell, you could call all of typology pseudoscience. You could call psych and sociology pseudoscience. But are you just going to dismiss entire fields of science as fake just because they aren’t scientific in the way you like? Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. The scientific method is using empirical evidence to draw conclusions. Some things are just not provable. If I surveyed a town and everyone there said they liked curry, I could say that everyone in that town liked curry. (Chie watching me with a death glare right now) But, how could you truly know that they like curry? Even statistics can’t be reliable. What if everyone lied? It’s improbable, but not impossible. But do we dismiss sociology and psychology just because we can’t prove things beyond a shadow of a doubt? No. And typologies like MBTI are similar. Of course these are abstract labels. Of course there’s no way we can prove cognitive functions exist. And yes, there is probably many more “cognitive functions.” But MBTI is a framework of identity. Even Jung said he was probably mistaken. So why do we cling to it? To help us understand ourselves.

What was I talking about again? Oh, When They Cry

I want to see a Sotsu like story but Mion is the looper. Why? Because Mion has such a strong will and sense of responsibility, that I want to see her going through the loops. How would she react? Of course, a character like Rena looping was something I found interesting, but she’s already predisposed to insanity. Mion is the only relatively “normal” (as normal as a yakuza heir can be) one, so I would want to see that. The story could be… hmm… Imotokoroshi?? Look I was trying to find words that ended in shi because the visual novel tends to do that. But Mion and Shion are different people so it doesn’t always have to involve them both, I just couldn’t come up with a better title… ok this hypothetical is silly, moving on

A choice? Considering this is a linear visual novel, not that linear is a bad thing, I doubt this choice will affect anything, right? Also, unrelated, but Miirena or Shiirena? Like, which do y’all like more? Because I’m torn. They’re both different people but in Watanagashi and Meakashi-hen Rena thought Shion was Mion, so thus far there isn’t much Shiirena content to work off. There’s some for Miirena though. Ugh why am I bringing this up? We need more Shion content grrr. Every Higurashi girl has been my favourite at some point. I think Shion was my initial favourite?… then Rika, Then Rena, then Satoko. And now? Hm, I don’t know. To answer these kinds of questions, I ask myself, which character would I prefer over another in an arc? Well, okay, let’s go down the list. Who would I remove first? Honestly? Satoko or Rika. And it’s not that I don’t love them as characters, but I have to be honest. Then who? Maybe Rena? I’m just ignoring Keiichi’s existence btw. So Mion or Shion… I like them both a lot! I relate to Shion in a lot of ways but she’s also very immature tbh. So I don’t know. Maybe I’m going about this wrong… I always root for the underdog, probably why Satoko went from one of my favourites to “meh” when GouSotsu released. Yeah it’s not the best ideology. So I don’t know. Mion? You’re asking me to choose between my blorbos!! This isn’t fair!!

I would love a friend like Mion. If you are kin with mion, or synpath or anything, we should be friends! I bet you’re a mature, loyal person! So maybe we shouldn’t, because I’m the opposite. Well maturity wise anyway. I get treated like a kid anyway despite being an adult so I guess I’m not allowed to act like one anyway. Out of all the Higurashi main cast, I relate a lot to them all in different ways, except Mion. She’s just so grounded and logical. Okay, seriously though, does anyone actually have Satoshi as their favourite Higurashi character? Like… bruh. He ain’t even that interesting. Anyway, I think I relate most to Shion in her arc, which is concerning. I’m not as cunning as Shion. No, it’s not that I can’t hide my emotions, it’s that after suffering in silence for so long, I take every little piece of happiness and let it show. I let it show even when I know it’s not good for me, because what have I got to lose? When was the last time I was truly happy? Is happiness even possible? Anyway…

“All I'm saying is that dolls aren't for boys.” “I see.. Then I guess you can have it. Here.” Mion probably really needed to hear that.

I wonder what deadly vices the seven main characters would have. Rika, I feel would be sloth. Shion would be envy. That’s about all I’ve figured out…

So when Shion heard those footsteps, he was hearing Hanyuu maybe? She was infected with Hinamizawa Syndrome, much like Satoko has, so… maybe people with Hinamizawa Syndrome can hear Hanyuu. My big question is, what is Hanyuu doing following Shion around? Just to tell Rika about it?

Think about it kids. If Rika has looped 1200 times, that means the probability of Rena and… I’m torn on Shiirena or Miirena as ships so I’ll say either… getting gay married, is not impossible. The probability of Rika and Satoko getting gay married is also not impossible. Just remember that.

Irie isn’t a bad person? He literally simps after little children. Yes he’s a bad person. He wanted to adopt Satoko for his own sick purposes. Yeah, he supposedly also cared about her, but come on. This is one of the few criticisms I have with Ryukishi’s writing, the sexualisation of his characters. It’s a funny gag in anime. But it’s not actually very funny. I don’t know if Japan as a whole just doesn’t get bothered by these things and sense of humour, but anime culture certainly doesn’t. It’s just not funny, and I wish he would treat it with seriousness. Irie making jokes about children in maid uniforms, like Rena, is not funny, and that’s just dismissed entirely. At the very least, I don’t think Umineko has many jokes about Maria like that. I think they don’t anyway, but there might’ve been one in the earlier arcs.

Ryukishi, come on. Takano being the killer is so obvious at this point. Like it’s driving me insane. Rika, how did you never question this woman??

I changed my mind. Pride is Rika’s sin. There are plenty of reasons the re-incarnation of a village god could be killed. Maybe someone non-religious wants to make a statement, for example.

Didn’t Takano kill Rika’s mother, I remember seeing that in the manga? I haven’t read all of the manga but I own the first two volumes and I’ve read that part online somewhere.

“I went to a forest and got killed in July.” Ohk, so hide in Antarctica then. Then you’ll live until August, and then die of hypothermia.

Okay the implication here is wild. So, not only does Tomitake have Hinamizawa syndrome, that might mean Keiichi’s dad does too? Or maybe Hanyuu is just having more of a human like presence the more weak her powers get. I know for a fact in arc 8 she starts showing up around the others.

So, is this the arc where Satoko gets rescued from Teppei? Because well, it’s arc 7. So I have a little issue really caring when I know Takano will just kill Rika and it won’t matter. What was it Rika said in this arc in the anime? “Kill me slowly, so I remember the face of my enemy.” Or something… I haven’t watched the anime since 2018, but I remember that.

“Hanyuu is not with me twenty four hours a day. She sometimes falls asleep, and sometimes she goes out for walks. Though in her case, it's not a walk, but more like a stalk. She follows people around when she finds someone interesting, and she enjoys observing them.” Well that explains a lot.

Okay, this is a rant unrelated to arc 7. I think the main reason I prefer meguri over Sotsu, again, unrelated to anything here, is the one scene where Satoko snaps. In Sotsu, or the end of Gou? Don’t remember, Satoko says something along the lines of “all I have to do is break Rika,” after learning about the torment Rika went through. But in meguri, at first she is horrified, and THEN she finally accepts that she needs to cause a tragedy. Because think of it this way, if you were told your friend had time looping powers and looped over 100 years to find a happy ending, but you still end up miserable in the end, you probably would be horrified, but then you would try and change things. It’s not Satoko jumping into sadistic behaviour that I don’t see as possible, it’s the immediate jump. Though some of my dislike for Sotsu is probably the fact that when I was younger and watching Higurashi I related to Satoko, and I still do, and in Sotsu, I realised I was like her too in that already, and it kind of worried me. But I think what bothered me most was the ending of Sotsu. Call me a pussy, but I cried at the ending, because it was so lacklustre. I have never cried at an ending because it was so bad, EVER. Satoko destroyed the previous loops, however that works, got immediately forgiven and then a half assed Umi reference is made and roll credits. And for the record, I’m not saying Satoko can’t be forgiven, but I’m saying the line about “I will return Satoko Hojo” to you kinda annoys me because like- sorry I’m trying not to laugh, like genuinely, was witch satoko not a metaphor??? Much like how Rika becomes more jaded overtime, Satoko became more sadistic overtime and in her own way jaded. But in the end, all of her trauma and other issues is just, poof, fine, and they go their separate ways. But something I really hate about Sotsu is Tatariakashi. It really doesn’t matter what justification you come up with, because you aren’t thinking about the real world implications of Tatariakashi. Let’s look at this from a meta context. Satoko Hojo is a victim of abuse who wasn’t believed because of her past pattern of lying (which might not have even been lying, but just her young brain not fully comprehending things, as it is implied), even though she actually was being abused in 1983. However, tatariakashi has Satoko lie about her abuse, which feeds into the whole “oh, well you shouldn’t believe children victims of abuse in case they’re lying,” thing. I don’t care what excuse you come up with. This arc exists only for shock value, and has nothing more to say, in both Sotsu and Meguri, and I will stand by that. What does this arc say about child abuse? Nothing. Absolutely nothing other than the indirect effect this arc has. When your message isn’t intentional, you fucked up. And don’t just tell me I’m just misinterpreting it. That’s a lazy excuse. Do you know how many people also ‘misinterpreted’ this arc? Sorry, but if your story can be misinterpreted this badly by many people, maybe it isn’t our fault, maybe it’s just bad writing. Because it is bad writing. This arc is detested for a reason. Let’s make something clear: even if Satoko was lying in Tatariakashi, that doesn’t mean that the right choice was not believing her. You should believe victims. The implication here is that by believing Satoko, Rika couldn’t overcome the tragedy again. Do you fucking see the problem? When believing a victim of abuse indirectly leads to tragedy, you’re kind of promoting that it was the wrong thing to do. Like come on. I’m just using common sense here. This arc is offensive to victims of childhood trauma, and I say this as one. Sorry I got a little heated. I just don’t like being treated like I just don’t “get” Tatariakashi. I get it. I just think it’s disgusting. Moving onto CH7 again. Sorry.

“People can't live without hope. People can survive because they believe that something good will happen to them eventually, as long as they keep on living. I had nothing left to bet on. All I could do was get hurt and suffer devastation, Blood flowed from my broken heart and found its way out through my eyes in the form of tears.” Powerful words my friend, powerful words.

I remember that Shion was very angry in the anime over Satoko’s abuse, so I wonder how she’ll act in the VN.

Higurashi Abridged but the characters are going in a circle about calling. “Keiichi, I tried to ring you but you were busy.” “Wait Rena, I’m getting a call from Shion.” “Alright, I’ll call Mii-chan then.” “Keiichi, I tried calling Rena but she wouldn’t pick up.” “She’s calling Mi- wait I’m getting a call.” “I tried calling Rena but she didn’t pick up, have you tried?” “Mion- she’s trying to call you.” Okay, maybe my sense of humour is a bit broken but in my head this is the funniest thing ever. A bit tone deaf but idk. The brain works in weird methods. They just go in circles about it for like 5 minutes straight not even getting to the point.

Like okay, if I made an abridged series I would probably make a parody of GouSotsu. I would have Satoko become a looper, but when Rika got hit by the chandelier, the rest of the club in all other timelines became absolute dolts as a result of the “curse of the chandelier” or something. So in each arc, Satoko would try to cause a tragedy, but Hinamizawa Syndrome it affects them in ridiculous ways and they have weird motives. Satoko and Rika are the only straight men of the group… ironically. Rika figures out Satoko is the looper because she’s the only club member with a brain. Like come on that would be peak comedy. I’d eat that shit up as an abridged series. And the characters would have shit about them flipped. Rena wouldn’t be paranoid because of aliens, she would be paranoid because she is an alien and thinks the government is after her. Mion isn’t the heir to the Yakuza, she’s the heir to something really mundane like… a furniture shop, but she takes it super seriously. (Umineko joke here.) I don’t have many ideas for Shion because she’s already pretty unhinged. She’d just have a deep country accent and make meta commentary. Okay, I need to stop making up a story for a hypothetical abridged series I am not making. It was just a “what-if.”

My character tier list is tricky because I love them all, but who is THE blorbo? I like Satoko a lot, but I also like Mion, and I like Shion. Oddly, I think Rena is losing favour with me. Not that she’s a bad character, just not my favourite anymore. I could’ve easily said Satoko was the blorbo, before GouSotsu came out. Look, I just see villain Satoko and think “you could be written so much better.” As well as “she just like fr” but let’s ignore that. Satoko is a very high synpath for me, or even fictionhearted, but mmm. I don’t know. Satoko and Mion are the blorbos right now, but I love all of them. Also, I’ve been thinking, and I’ll probably play the bonus arcs and add them as a separate posts. When I did Umineko’s two bonus arcs, my drafts got deleted. For those curious, I knew Piece’s identity like 30-40 minutes in, but still. And the only commentary for the other one was the idea of intersex Sayo and I thought Kumasawa saying “this is going to be the best prank ever” funny.

Going to 2018 tradition of writing every Higu birthday, as I only got halfway down thenfirstday… what. That doesn’t word. That’s not a sentence. I don’t speak. Well.

'Satoko, you've been a good girl so I guess your cold is all better now. Go back to school tomorrow.” “Thank you so much. Thank you so much...” He was the one who told her to say 'thank you' when he gives her approval to do something. But it annoyed him to hear her say it over and over.

Ugh what an asshole. She’s so scared of him. And Oryou won’t help her because of her family name? Ugh I hate Oryou.

I’m not crying, you’re crying. It’s hard when you remember Satoko is literally a little girl who is severely traumatised. She’s only 11. I don’t know her fear exactly, but I know what it’s like to have scary figures in your life as a kid… even if my case was not as bad as Satoko’s. It was more emotional than physical on their behalf. I was never good enough for them. I told my therapist on accident once and she got concerned, I didn’t understand why. My dad got very mad at me for telling the therapist about what he did. It didn’t really click for me until 2020 that something was truly off about this. And I’ve been afraid to call it what it is. Even now I question if it was emotional abuse or if I was just overreacting. Abuse is such a strong word. When others have it worse, can I really say that? It’s not like I’ve been perfect either. I was a brat as a kid. But it still hurt. But some things I found out are normal. Being forced to do your homework while being yelled at for hours on end is apparently a common experience cuz I saw a Twitter thread of people saying they related. So what else I went through was normal? Was it all normal? Was it all okay? I hope it isn’t normal. I hope this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I wish I could be specific but my memories get foggy. I think I push them out for my own sake. Well, when I had breakdowns my parents would yell at me or mock me. My mom grabbed my throat once and shoved me against the wall. My dad pushed me down the staircase. They called me names. Was it an everyday occurrence though? No. Not every day. I don’t know how often. Weekly? Monthly. Yearly? Bi yearly? My dad has always yelled and insulted me for small things. But my grandfather did that too, when I spilled a drink on the floor. So is that normal or are my family just evil? I mean they are evil. My aunt recorded her 3 year olds mental breakdown once. They’re all evil. I don’t know why but I can’t remember anything! I’m trying but… I guess it was more emotional neglect than abuse, and when they were verbally abusive, the bottled up emotions just became too much to handle. My mom stopped taking me to therapy after I left school. I guess she thought that was the problem solved. She always treated me like a burden. They told me they didn’t care and that I was just crazy. My dad to this day tells me if I ever go outside when I’m not allowed to he will call the cops and say I am a ‘vulnerable youth’ and ‘too crazy to be out on my own.’ I am a legal adult btw. I don’t know what I’m talking about. I don’t like thinking about this. I’ll never forgive them either way. But I’m not overreacting. I’m not too sensitive. If I was, why would I be so traumatised? Sometimes I hear trauma symptoms and I relate to them a lot. Disassociation is an issue I have been dealing with for ages, for example. I dunno… I don’t care. Either way, I still hate my family.

I saw someone say today “traumas still trauma no matter whos "fault" it is.” Which… makes me feel a little less bad about my previous paragraph. Even if it is my fault, I’m still traumatised.

Okay actually MBTI real. Keiichi I still have no fucking clue for. Te-dom? Te-Si? Is that ESTJ? But wait, I don’t see… I don’t see Si. I see Te but also Se. Actually I see Se-Ti. Logical isn’t the word I would use to describe Keiichi. But if someone came up to him and told him something, but used reasoning that SOUNDED logically sound, I don’t think he’d think too much into it. So he’s Se-Ti but just. Incompetent?

Could he be Fi-dom? Se-Fi maybe? Because he’s very rash about his decisions, like with Teppei in Arc 3, didn’t even consider other peoples feelings in that. ESFP? Maybe? I don’t know. It feels wrong.

Mion seems to be… is saying Se-Fi again silly? Cuz here’s my logic. I don’t see Si-dom. I can see Fe-aux. But if I don’t see Si dom, she can’t be Fe dom. look I’m bad at this, okay? What’s the consensus here? ESFJ? Yeah. I see more Fe than Fi for her. I mean she literally wanted to save Rena from being roblox oofed by the cops last arc despite Rena attacking her brutally. But Si? Actually sure. Makes sense.

Shion… yeah, so, maybe Se? Se-Fi? Uhh… I don’t know… okay, so the consensus is ENFJ. Yeah actually, I was considering that but… Hm. The problem with Shion is that she is introduced as a more intense version of her usual self so it was hard to see Fe-dom. But I see it. Ni aux makes sense. I guess I just default to se-dom when I have no idea.

Rena is a Ne-dom to the point where she is like hilariously Ne dom. Ne-Fi. There’s no question, ENFP there. Hm, people agree. Cool. This was a no-brainer.

Satoko is Se-Fi. Again this one is easy. ESFP. And people agree.

Rika is Ni-Fe, I think, but she’s also kinda careless of her friends sometimes. But Fi-Ne doesn’t feel right. I don’t know why I jumped to her being a feeler anyway. But others agree with me so my lucky guess.

Hanyuu is SiFe I think… oh and people agree…

Satoshi is boring we don’t even need to care about this.

Keiichi: we can’t use violence to solve our problems. Also Keiichi: *fights with old people and goes to the leader of the yakuza to convince her to change her mind.*

Did Mion even try at all? If Oryou is that fickle about helping Satoko, it really does make me wonder. But well, I suppose Keiichi’s “put up a fight” story works. Though why couldn’t Mion do the same? Say that she fought with her grandmother and almost killed her. But I don’t know, if it’s family maybe that’s different. I still hate Oryou. I don’t care about her reputation. When a child is being abused, you help that child, period. There is no excuse. Period.

I know this is ironic because of my beliefs but Mion and Shion’s mom kinda hot? What?! Just because I personally don’t agree with having kids doesn’t mean I can’t be attracted to a MIL- okay, I’m gonna stop. 😭

Akane is so interesting. Apparently there’s a manga airing right now called Higurashi Oni, about Oryou, but I’m avoiding reading anything outside of Meguri for spoilers. Yeah I know I’m aware of most things in the story considering I’ve been a Higu fan since 2018 but- I still want to re-experience things in a perhaps new light.

AKANE?! Keiichi and Satoko shouldn’t be together. Isn’t Keiichi like 14? Okay so Satoko is a year older than I thought. Still, 11 and 14 is weird. 12 and 14 is still weird I think. But the way Satoko is drawn vs Keiichi, yeah, he’s too old for her. No.

So Satoko set up a trap for Teppei?

“There were times when I went on a rampage too,” strange. I never thought Rika did that. I always thought she never harmed anyone.

Takano is soooo hot when she’s probably plotting Jirou’s oofment.

Theory: Rika loses her memories not because of Hanyuu, but because she drinks her, ahem, let’s say orange juice so much she has a… memory loss in the morning, AKA, when she wakes up in the… void? Is that it?

“How dare you talk to the police before talking to us!” Based Satoko? Also I think Hanyuu is ISFJ cuz she seems Si-Fe. Yes I’m still thinking about that.

There was someone? Hanyuu? Hanyuu. Hanyuu didn’t believe.

“What's outside of the well? Is it something worth fighting for? What's outside of the well? Is it something worth getting hurt for? What's outside of the well? I'm going to fight and get hurt in order to find that out. I'm sure what's waiting is a beautiful world. Even if I get to the bottom of the well again. The key to the new world is my willingness to get out of here. Even if I can get out or not, I will eventually get to the new world...” It’s so simple, but effective. I… I am not one to take ‘inspirational’ quotes as gospel. When I was younger, a lyric, a poem, could change my outlook on life. I’m too old to be that easily swayed. I’m too jaded to feel anything but. I guess this poem makes me think, and not a lot of stories make me think. What’s outside of the well? Is it worth fighting for? If my life wasn’t worth it, I would’ve gave up by now, right? So I’m alive because I have some hope, whether I like it or not. And if I’m going to exist without living, without putting in any effort into winning this fight, then I’m just a coward who gets what I deserve. What else can I do? If I look at my life goals enough, maybe, maybe I’m not trying hard enough. Maybe it is my fault, maybe it isn’t. But either way, if I fight enough, can I win? Can sheer willpower make my life, or break me? I think I’d rather be broken than not try. I think I’d rather get my hopes up again than spend another 4 years never leaving the house. I don’t remember if it was 3, 4 or more. But 2022 was when I began leaving the house. This year, all I could do was sit around while other people did the work for me. Why? Why did I allow that? Because they wouldn’t let me. But why should I care what they let me do or not? It’s my life. If I want happiness, I have to fight for it. So, I don’t care what anyone says. If I want to go outside on my own, at my grown age, and look down my town to see if any job openings are there, I should be able to do that. Am I still scared of my parents? How pathetic. They were right, I never grew up. Just not in the way they think. If I’m an adult, I’m on an equal playing field with them. Even if they shelter me, does your landlord control everything you do? No. No they don’t. Can your landlord kick you out for that? No. But parents can. But is being kicked out my worst fear? No. It’s my dads threats to get me locked up in a mental facility if I try leaving, to lie to the cops. That scares me. But I can’t let myself be afraid anymore. So while I can’t let sentiments change my philosophy, it can change the way I implement my philosophy. And because of the existence of this quote, this level of reasoning is possible for Lemon. What do you think, everyone~

Wha- all these years I thought Takano’s first name was Takano. But if her grandfather is Hifumi Takano, then Takano has to be her surname. Isn’t her surname like Miyoko or something? Takano Miyoko. Miyoko Takano. Japanese prioritises family names. So is that a translation thing? No wait, that still makes no sense. Okay so her first name IS Miyo/Miyoko. I always got it the other way around. Easy mistake.

Didn’t need much reason, but have more to hate Irie.

Ryukishi’s words about mysteries makes me think of Scott Cawthon. Remember when the fnaf games were fun to solve and actually had somewhat clear answers? The golden era.

And, is that Bernkastel speaking to us? :0

CH8

You know , what if HS doesn’t exist? What if it’s just mass hysteria? Like sure H173 exists, but naturally occurring? What if that’s just like, a group reaction?

I know it’s just a coincidence, but Eriko is so similar to Erika. In Japanese, it’s very different. -Ko means child. Eri. What could eri mean? Collar? Picture laws of nature? Eri doesn’t mean much. Maybe Eriko is a word! Wait, it means collar child? Really? That’s pathetic. Erika Furudo and Rika Furude are more on the nose. They both can be written similarly to Frederica, I’d assume? According to GT, Frederica is “Furede Rika” in Katakana. I guess for whatever reason Ryukishi decided “ru” fit more than “re.” And Erika Furudo still sounds like Frederica backwards too. But yes, Eriko is just a coincidence. It may be one letter in English but in Japanese こ and か are different suffixes. Ka means flower I believe in suffixes. They’re both popular.

A lot of Higurashi characters have common name suffixes. Rika has ka, Keiichi has ichi, Rena has na, Satoko has ko, but you know who doesn’t? Mion. Mion and Shion aren’t really popular Japanese names. Shi means demon and Mi means uhh, flower I’m pretty sure. What does the ‘o’ mean? I don’t know. お and ん are different.

Bored a fuck won at Trivial Pursuit while listening to Takano’s war ramblings.

Oh, was Miyoko r-worded? I remember hearing that a long time ago, but I wouldn still pick up on it even if I didn’t. So, her friends were killed to set an example. She was taken to the bathroom and forced to… how awful. That’s a little girl.

Maybe I’m reading too deep into this, but maybe Ko was dropped because Miyo didn’t have a proper childhood? Like she felt like she lost her innocence. I know it’s a bit of a stretch but idk. Also I just remembered “4” can be written as both shi and yo, so it isn’t just a kanji thing like I predicted. I believe in Japanese, depending on dialect, different spellings occur? No; not dialect; something else. Sorry if I’m not wording this properly. So, the 34 reference should make more sense to Japanese people. Wait… Mi means 3? Oh! OH! Okay, so there’s two ways to read Japanese, right? So, maybe Mi means 3 in that! Because I learnt 3 as “San” and 4 as “Shi,” so the other way of reading it must be “Mi” and “Yo.” That is 34. I also believe it has relevance to the Greek alphabet, Lambda and Delta. I know Delta is the 4th letter, so I’m assuming Lambda is the 3rd. Bravo. Vi- FUCK, WRONG SHOW. I mean- novel?

Oh yeah, can’t Hifumi be written like “一二三”? Or am I misremembering? ALSO, DONT WHAT INSIDE OF YOU SATOSHI? These translators are dirty. Actually, maybe I’m dirty. Seriously, is that a translation error? I know it’s technically correct but like- it makes it hard to take it seriously when he’s asking the “other” him to not… ahem, “go” inside… his mind.

Shit? Did my draft erase?! Damn, I went on a speech about how it’s been 11 months since I started this journey and all that crap. Well, whatever. I’ll post this then go back and edit it. I say a lot of shit here so if I say anything that doesn’t make sense or is wrong I probably changed my mind along the way.

#Higurashi #lemons random rants #when they cry

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medea10 · 2 years

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My Review of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni SOTSU

Prior thoughts here…

Look, I love Higurashi. I really do! But I can’t be the only person to hate Satoko Hojo when it was discovered what she did in Gou. That really tainted Higurashi Gou, which was doing okay up until that point. Now, does Satoko redeem herself and realize that she was petty, vindictive, misunderstood everything, and is absolutely in the wrong? Judging by what some of the seiyuus said after recording and reading the script, they felt weird and off by the material.

That’s very troubling!

Moving on! Our main story tonight is about Hinamizawa. A rural Japanese town with a rich history in religion, colorful characters which you can tell from the hair, and annoying, screeching cicadas! We see you, you dirt-bath twats!

Sorry, I really wanted to do a John Oliver moment here.

PREVIOUSLY ON HIGURASHI GOU: Rika’s suffering has gotten exponentially worse than in previous seasons. We’ve seen Rika die continuously and worse than what was shown to us in the original series. Not only that, but she was murdered by people who never caused Rika any harm prior including Akasaka, Akane Sonozaki, Chief Kimiyoshi, Ooishi, and even Keiichi. Who is to blame for this? That would be Rika’s best friend Satoko Hojo. Satoko was willing to make Rika happy by going along with Rika’s endeavors of leaving Hinamizawa and attending a prestigious all-girls school. And while Rika adjusted to her surroundings perfectly, Satoko was slipping through the cracks. Rika offered a helping hand to her, but Satoko was so stubborn and jumped to every wrong conclusion, thinking Rika abandoned her.

It wasn’t until the girls took a trip back to Hinamizawa that Satoko’s world changed. In the altar of Oyashiro, she is transferred to the limbo and comes face-to-face with a deity much like Hanyuu. We’re pretty sure her name is Featherine…but for some reason Satoko called her Eua so I guess that’s her name in the Higurashi universe. Eua gives Satoko the special power to control her fate and she literally abuses it at every turn to force Rika to stay in Higurashi and change every outcome from every timeline Rika’s been through.

SOTSU: I think we were all thinking throughout the Gou series, we haven’t watched enough episodes of Rena losing her shit and go on a murderous rampage. Or for that matter, we haven’t even watched Mion strap someone down and take off their fingernails! So remember episodes 1-4 of Gou? Apparently the first 3 episodes of Sotsu show how Rena lost her mind in that timeline, the next three episodes followed Mion’s descent into madness, and we follow that up with Teppei living with Satoko. Gou only told part of the story. Satoko drugged all of these people in order to screw with Rika. I mean no one needed to see Rika get strangled and thrown in the outdoor toilet. Yet we got that scene. Thanks series, thanks a fuck-ton for that.

And yes, we indeed got the fingernail scene.

But don’t get it twisted with what I just said. Only some of these scenes are new compared to what was given and shown in Gou. To be mean about it, Sotsu is on par with Endless Eight from Haruhi Suzumiya. But give Endless Eight some credit. It was only eight episodes. We’ve got 13 episodes of almost the same exact crap we watched six months prior in the previous season.

MORE REDEMPTION: Last arc, we kinda got redemptions of several characters near the end from Miyo Takano and Teppei Hojo. I obviously didn’t believe the latter. Teppei was scum in the original series. Not a redeeming thing about him and everyone knows it. This character however was runner-up as scum of Hinamizawa.

Rina Mamiya or Ritsuko dated Rena’s father and it set Rena off. In the original series, Rena’s father would spend butt-loads of money on Ritsuko. And the original plan was a bit of a badger game. The man would spend amounts of cash on Ritsuko until eventually her real man comes in and yells at the other man for messing with his girl until he pays the real man off to leave him alone. And that system was put out by Ritsuko and Teppei.

Sotsu worked a little differently. Due to Teppei’s…redemp…redemp…Nope, can’t do it! Teppei’s out of the picture and now Ritsuko is working in a gentleman’s club. Rena’s father goes there constantly and showers Ritsuko with gifts. Ritsuko gets concerned. That never happens. We see a shred of humanity with her. She mentions that she was raised by a single parent and came to Rena to convince her father to stop doing this. And if Satoko didn’t drug Rena, it would have been awesome to see this happen. I want Rena to be happy.

I WAS AFRAID OF THIS: As this season progressed, I noticed these previous arcs that we’re watching are coming from Satoko’s point of view. Unfortunately, it’s just making myself and many others lose every respect we once had for Satoko. She goes through different timelines drugging people and fucking with Rika. So once we got to the third arc, I was afraid of seeing something with my own eyes. Satoko faking abuse! She is not being abused by her uncle. She is not being abused by the townspeople nor her classmates. She is faking abuse to both piss off her uncle and worry her friends. That is some sick-ass shit!

ENDING: Up to this point, we watched Satoko’s hand in ruining Rika’s perfect timeline. During Higurashi Gou, we weren’t sure who the true culprit was. Higurashi Sotsu came in and had Satoko drug Rena, Mion, Detective Ooishi, Akasaka, Akane Sonozaki, Chief Kimiyoshi, and even Keiichi. Not just that, but lie and manipulate people, particularly in the second-to-last arc of Sotsu.

Many of us (myself included) were a little disappointed in the carryout of the story. Sotsu was essentially Gou, but from Satoko’s angle. In every other Higurashi story prior to this train-wreck, the timelines felt like they were their own story and not recycled garbage. It wasn’t until the episodes with Hanyuu leaving Rika that we got a few questions answered. The sword Hanyuu left Rika was in Oyashiro’s statue. It’s just that Satoko got to it first and a baby piece broke off, leaving Rika unsatisfied. Also, Rika’s flashbacks are giving her some clues. Or could it be Hanyuu leaving Rika the clues?

Hanyuu went to investigate these messed up timelines and sure enough, she encountered Eua. But Eua is clearly more powerful and has an upper-hand in her own realm so she does overpower Hanyuu. Hanyuu learns the truth that Satoko was behind everything and that Eua has been manipulating her along the way. She also watches Rika fall into despair and give up her future goal of one day leaving Hinamizawa. Instead, Rika is going to stay in Hinamizawa and Satoko gets what she wants. Never count out luck when Hanyuu is involved! Rika has been getting flashbacks of the timeline when Ooishi went on the rampage. And sure enough, one of those flashes were of Satoko shooting Rika in the face to make sure she was dead.

Rika knows Satoko is the reason behind the influx of deaths in these timelines. What now?

Satoko kills Rika. REPEATEDLY! And it just goes from timeline to timeline, from Hinamizawa to St. Lucia, from the Cotton Drifting Festival to the classroom! Now, I will admit some of these fights were funny to watch. In one of those times, Satoko kills Rika and in the distance, Rena, Mion, and Keiichi are not noticing a damn thing. That was funny! And then you have Rika and Satoko killing each other over the fact that Satoko doesn’t want to study.

This episode-long slug-fest was like Peter Griffin vs. Ernie the Giant Chicken. It went on far too long. And it was worse because you know Satoko is in the wrong.

Yes, I am on Team Rika in this fight. Rika offered a hand to Satoko. Satoko refused help. Rika didn’t snitch on Satoko. Rika wants to go as far as humanly possible away from the town that caused her so much pain. If you spent hundreds of years in the same year, the same month, in the same town, suffering a myriad of ways to die, wouldn’t you want to take the next bus the fuck outta there? Satoko took a petty fight into a full-blown, time-leaping, friend-killing, witches and Gods holy war! Oh yeah, let’s look at Eua and Hanyuu. Eua seems to have the upper-hand here, but Hanyuu and Rika always have miracles on their side. It might be a 1 out of 1000 shot for them, but they have miracles coming out of their asses. Thankfully, Hanyuu was able to defeat Eua and the girls stopped their fight. After some wise words from Rena, the girls came to a sensible conclusion of giving each other some space to keep being friends.

Rika’s going to St. Lucia and Satoko isn’t. They will remain frenemies, I guess? Satoko will stalk Rika if she’s away too long or doesn’t phone home as often. Geez bitch, clingy much? And we end the series with the classic Higurashi song “You” as we see all the other minor characters we loved from the series. Ooishi is visiting his friend’s grave, Takano (not pregnant) and Tomitake coming back to town, Ritsuko’s alive, Teppei’s alive (and not a horrible human being anymore), everyone’s alive, and Satoko doesn’t learn her lesson. The bitch gets what she wants. This series is shit.

And what’s this? Of all the arcs for Satoshi to wake up and have Hinamizawa Syndrome clear up, it had to be this one! I can’t even begin to describe my disgust here. But I couldn’t because the scene was so fast, I had to contain myself.

OH MY FUCKING GOD! I FUCKING HATED THIS ARC! I HATED THIS ANIME! I HATED, HATED, HATED THIS ANIME! HATED IT! HATED EVERY SIMPERING STUPID VACANT AUDIENCE-INSULTING MOMENT OF IT!

Sorry to get all Roger Ebert on you guys but it had to be said.

Higurashi once had an art to telling the story with repeating and similar timelines. It made it feel like you’re not sitting through 13 episodes of something you already sat through with only a few minutes of new footage. Sotsu went the route of Haruhi Suzumiya’s Endless Eight. You fail, dude! That’s a fail! Each episode up until episode 13 or 14 is primarily the same shit we saw in Gou. With the exception of a few scenes like with Ritsuko, Kimiyoshi’s horrible torture, and evil Satoko moments, it was a shot-for-shot repeat from last season. And it was especially slow and repetitive during the Satoko abuse arc.

I know I went off in the last review about how much Satoko sucks, but she really fucking sucks here. Satoko wasn’t like this at all in the original series. She loved all of her friends, not just Rika. She loved her nii-nii! She cared for Keiichi and sees him as a pro-temp nii-nii. And she cared for Shion, Mion, and Rena. This season with Satoko all I see is manipulation of every character that cared for her, even the minor ones and only care about Rika. Satoshi wasn’t even a passing thought. In fact, not once did Satoko feel the need to talk about her nii-nii except when it was to manipulate Keiichi. She fakes everything! She faked her nii-nii talk with Keiichi, doesn’t give a crap about Shion’s love for her, faked being bullied and lying about it to a numerous amount of people, all to fuck with Rika!

Now then, this really upset a lot of fans. I mean, a fuck-ton a lot of fans. I’m just disappointed that this exists and will spend the next several anime seasons trying to forget about everything I watched here. Eventually, I’ll move the fuck on and pretend this didn’t exist and continue to rewatch the Studio Deen version and reading the manga. But some others aren’t so lucky. This really struck a nerve to those who have been with the franchise since day one. I have a friend that’s so depressed by Gou and Sotsu’s existence, I’ve never seen her this wrecked before!

I cannot give this a good review. I cannot recommend this. It is just unwatchable. Unfathomable! Inconceivable! Unbelievable! In fact, here’s a list of Higurashi stuff I would highly recommend watching or reading before you should ever touch Higurashi Gou and Sotsu.

Higurashi Visual Novel Higurashi Manga Any Higurashi video game Higurashi Season 1 & 2 (Studio Deen version) Higurashi Rei episodes 2-4 Higurashi Outbreak Higurashi Cat-Killing Special Higurashi Rei episodes 1 & 5 The live action TV series from 2016 Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (anime) A 10 hour loop of Keiichi’s sea bear dangling Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kira That one episode of Last Period featuring the cast of Higurashi Live Action Higurashi from 2008 Staring at a still-shot of Detective Ooishi wearing a thong from Higurashi Rei episode 1 for five minutes Scratching your neck until you see maggots come out

THEN…no, I don’t think you’re ready to watch Higurashi Gou and Sotsu.

Avoid it like the plague.

What a waste of Studio Passione’s semi-decent animation!

#anime review #Higurashi no Naku Koro ni #higurashi no naku koro ni sotsu #higurashi no naku koro ni gou #keiichi maebara #Rika Furude #satoko hojo #mion sonozaki #shion sonozaki #rena ryuugu #teppei hojo #miyo takano #eua

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