Higurashi~

[Umiman]

Hrm hrm, I have some qualms about this anime, though I will admit it rocks serious ass.

1. I don't particularly like how the character's personalities are rewritten with each arc. For example, having Rena being a psycho murderer then making her a combatitive ally spawns not only storyline issues, but just makes this seriously overcomplicated. Also, it really disrupts the sense of a mystery and turns it from "I want to explain this eerie circumstances" to "wtf, I'm not even going to bother understanding what's really going on".

2. The main character is a dumbass. What kind of person eagerly AWAITS his death?! Seriously, and eating food given to him by two girls who clearly demonstrated their evil intents moments before.... I say he is the loony one. Furthermore, who on earth puts their back to a psycho killer?

I'm only up to the second arc (TIPS and anime nyaa~), and you can be sure I'll find more things to gripe about, like how a 12 year old girl can wield such a huge machete, the discrepancies of dialogue, poor speech syntax, misuse of shadows, and how everything is so.... convenient. Nyar har har har...

[Symphonia]

True stuff. I found myself enjoying Higurashi a lot more when I stopped trying to figure out the plot and the "link" between all the arcs, because in the anime...there just isn't one. :p You'll get annoyed with the whole series if you take it too seriously.

I recommend ignoring the plot holes and Keiichi, and just concentrating on the killer lolis and each individual question and answer arc pair.

[HolyCow]

I assure you that by the end of the last episode, all these "personality rewrites" will be addressed completely, so don't worry.

1- Rena being a Psycho-killer (That's not true! How dare you! ) in one and an ally in one eh. Just wait till you reach the 6th arc (Tsumihoroboshi-hen, Onikakushi-hen's 'answer' arc, but we all know its Rena's FTW Arc). Here's a hint: Everything that happens in Onikakushi-hen is seen from Keiichi's point of view. Things might NOT always be as they seem, Umi-kun. Muahahahahahaha.

2- I watched Higurashi mainly for its brilliant plot. Each and every episode ties with the entire plot. Miss one episode and you'll probably miss out on a lot. The killer lolis (Mion, Shion, Satoko, Rika) are just free gifts that come along with it. But of course Rena is not included. How could you ever accuse her of being a killer loli? That's blasphemy!

3- Keiichi is an a$$. What's the point of swinging a baseball bat if your opponent wields a machete? Moron. And I loathe him for clamping the door on Rena. Talk about psycho

4- When you eventually reach Meakashi-hen (5th arc, episode 16 onwards), you'll be wanting to hail Ryukishi07 (the genius behind Higurashi) as a god. Once you reach Meakashi-hen, you'll be amazed as to how far he planned ahead. And how simple everything becomes once you see the entire thing from another person's point of view.

5- Tsumihoroboshi-hen (Atonement Chapter, 6th arc, Onikakushi-hen's answer arc) has some of the best scenes in the entire anime. From Rena in a black suit to her l33t machete weaving skills. I just love everything about Rena ;P

Don't say you didn't expect such a long post from me. You should have seen it coming the moment you posted a thread named Higurashi


P/S: Rena is 16 ;P

[Dragoon]

Higurashi is basically a rendition of:

Spoiler! :

Groundhog Day

Except, with little girls who murder. Because they care.

[ben1234]

Satoko was more of a victim than a killer loli.

[Iznogoud]

Satoko was more of a victim than a killer loli.

You think so ?

actually... (spoilers for the game)

Spoiler! :

She had a terminal version of the Hinamizawa syndrom.
She was cured, but it was very close.

Given her personnality, I think she would have kill herself, and not others, but you can never be sure...

After all, in ep 13

Spoiler! :

She did try to kill Keiichi.

[Dan]

Wow, this is starting to sound interesting. Who subs this? How many episodes?

[Symphonia]

26 episodes. There are subs by Ayu, We Are In Denial and The Triad that I know of. I think.

I've heard there is a second season coming soon? Or a remake or something? Anyone can confirm?

[ben1234]

It's 26 episodes long, going through 6 arcs of the game.

Hobo link

The second season (rumored to come out around April) will probably go through the 2 remaining arcs.

[HolyCow]

Spoiler! :

Satoko did push Keiichi off a bridge

I personally like WinD's subs because of their silly eyecatch comments. Stuff like "This is a free fansub. Should you try to make profit from this..."
- You'll face the wrath of Killer-lolis!
-Father Oyashiro will come down your chimney and teach you the true meaning of Watanagashi!
- I wonder what will happen, kana, kana?
- Will share a well with Oni-Baba (;P)
- We have chains and knives on standby. Can you outlast Satoko?

Higurashi is brilliant. Dan should watch it

More people are starting to notice Higurashi. I feel like Oyashiro-sama now, spreading the goodness of it

P/S: Second Season is due April or July. Either way, I think Higurashi is eligible for Saimoe 2007 no? The 1st season ended its run on September, so that makes them legal for Saimoe 2007, right?

[Dragoon]

/a/ hates Higurashi.

But, then, /a/ hates everything.

I hope the new season has better pacing than the last. The question/answer arcs were too far apart.

[Dan]

Higurashi is brilliant. Dan should watch it

26 episodes will take a while, but I'll see if I can fit some in, plus if I start now, maybe I can have it by tommorow night.

[Umiman]

Round 2 of Higurashi critiquing!

Here we go~ (possiblespoilersmayensuepleasedonotreadifyouhavenotseentheanimeandifyou
haven'tseentheanimebuthavereadthispleasenotethatthisisagoodseriesandyoush
ouldreallywatchitfirst)

Concerning the Keiichi / Satoko arc:
1.
Durr... I'll rank Keiichi as #4 on the idiotic main character's list. #1 being that guy from GS:S Destiny. Seriously, if all the characters in this show have the tendency to freak out and become berserk killers like it's a normal everyday thing, this guy takes the cake. What the bloody hell happened to his hormonal level to turn him into such a walking bag of wuss?

It's ridiculous, one moment he's all whiny that he killed someone. Next moment he's all "Oh yeah, gotta go kill someone woo!!!!!" And then he goes, "omg where is there someone dead? Nooo" then starts singing lines from Simple Plan.

-_-;

Not... interesting.

2.
There is too much irregularity between plausability and fantasy. For example, the past two storylines focused all their attention onto everything being caused by unknown supernatural methods. Then all of a sudden, this one attempts to justify everything through conventional supernatural means.

????

3.
I mentioned this earlier. But the characters in this story don't seem to really treat murder very seriously. Even though it happened. Just. Moments. BEFORE. "oh the uncle just died.", "noooooo~", "the chairman died too.", "iyaaaaa~", "the chief is also dead", "dameeee~", "I wished for all these people to die.", "no really?", "yup", "cool. Hey, you know I'm naked right?".

-__________-;;;;

I wonder why the thought never came to Satoko that Keiichi was insane when he was carrying an axe around. WHEN HE CAME TO GET HER.

4.
Oh, so now Mion is someone who doesn't believe in murder? And Rena suddenly regained her psychotic self again? Wooo~ How completely authentic. But if Keiichi is the rendition of Oyashiro-sama, then wtf is Rena supposed to represent in this timeframe huh? All with the possession and all?

5.
Did I mention the main character is a dumbass? So what the hell happened to the uncle? Did they suddenly forget about him halfway through the plot? Why the heck doesn't Satoko turn into Sadaka when Kei touches her now huh!? Huh?!


Oh yeah. Someone said Rena was 16 right? Yeaaaaah.... I'd totally believe that....

[HolyCow]

Geez Umi, before you start criticizing everything, I suggest you FINISH ALL 26 EPISODES. The first 4 arcs are supposed to be "question" arcs where various questions are presented, and the final 2 being answer arcs for the first 2 arcs.

Yes I'll admit that Keiichi is a moron (I never really liked him in the first place), but for good ness sake, Umi, finish all 26 episodes before making a damn rant like that. IF you really, really want to know (VERY BIG SPOILERS AHEAD)

Spoiler! :

There is no such thing as Oyashiro-sama's curse. In fact, Oyashiro-sama is a cute little miko called Hanyu, not some scary old geezer.

The legend of Oyashiro-sama states that demons once appeared from the marshes to attack humans. Oyashiro-sama drove them away, and protects the land by forbidding anyone from leaving it. Those who leave will be subjected to Oyashiro-sama's curse. This is what we, as well as the villagers (particularly Rena) are lead to believe.

The following is the truth: One day (before the dam murders etc), parasites emerged from the swamp. Those parasites could only multiply in Hinamizawa due to the special climate, and they would enter a host's body and live within them. Whenever the host tries to leave Hinamizawa, the parasites produce strong symptoms of Berserk within the hosts to prevent them from leaving (Duh, they would die outside Hinamizawa). A strong sense of distrust also seems to induce the parasites to exhibit similar symptoms. Symptoms include dead-looking eyes, paranoia, delusions, sharpened senses, and extra sensitive skin (so sensitive in fact that merely scratching it can be fatal).

During the festival of Watanagashi, it is common knowledge that the people of Hinamizawa tore out the intestines of selected individuals in the festival storehouse. This is true. However, the true purpose of doing so wasn't to eat them but rather make vaccines out of them, since the parasites reside in the host's intestines.

Alright, now that I've covered the basics, I shall move on to the separate arcs.

Spoiler for Onikakushi-hen

Spoiler! :

In this arc, Keiichi is infected by the parasites and begins showing symptoms of paranoia. This is first triggered by his distrust of Rena and Mion (after finding out about Onikakushi, the dam construction murders and Oyashiro-sama's curse). When Rena and Mion came to visit him with the Onigiri, their killer-expressions are merely byproducts of his own paranoia. There was no needle in the Onigiri (which explains why there wasn't any blood when he coughed it out), and when Rena came to visit him, all she did was jokingly say to him he was probably having cup noodles for dinner (his paranoia produced the other 'details' Rena gave him), and later playfully tugged at the chain. Keiichi, being the paranoid B@stard he is, immediately clamps the door on Rena. While Rena apologizes in the rain, it is solely because she feels sorry (Poor Rena )

When Keiichi goes to see the doctor for a flu shot, the doctor immediately notes there is something wrong with him and tries to administer him a temporary cure. When Rena and Mion arrive at his house later on, they weren't holding a syringe but rather an ordinary marker, which they hoped to stall Keiichi while the doctor came. This explains why there was no syringe behind the clock - there wasn't one to begin with.

In the end, Keiichi's paranoia causes him to murder both Rena and Mion, and by now the parasites are already acting in full force. They causethe area around his neck to itch, and upon scratching, he finds his skin extremely sensitive as it peels off. He eventually claws himself to death (his skin being too thin) and dies at the phone booth. The photographer guy died a similar death.

Happy with the explanations so far? Rena and Mion were never psycho to begin with (although Rena did truly believe in Oyashiro-sama's curse. I'll explain more afterwards) so there isn't any personality rewrite. It's just everything as seen through Keiichi's point of view.

Now I'll move on to some Rena spoilers, since I like her so much

Spoiler! :

Rena lived in Hinamizawa until grade school. She then moved to the city with her mum after her parents divorced (She was in high school then. I told you, she's 16). Her mum was planning to remarry then, something she didn't like. In school, several of her male friends tried to take sexual advantage of her. The desire to protect herself, coupled with her family being in shambles at that moment, caused her to just snap and start going berserk. After she beat the guys into bloody pulps, she then proceeded to smash up the school windows in a rage. Why didn't they press charges? Duh. They tried to rape her. What do you think they would say? "Well, you see Mr Officer, we were trying to, you know, gang rape her, but all of a sudden she just friggin snapped and started beating the shit out of us. She even caused permanent injuries to my eye damnit!"

After going berserk, Rena found it increasinly hard to sleep at night, as if something was watching over her. When a parasite infects its host and starts producing berserk symptoms, the host's sense of hearing is heightened, and they are able to 'sense' Oyashiro-sama, or in other words, Hanyu. That is why she is able to hear an 'extra' foot step. When she moved back to Hinamizawa with her dad, her feelings of distrust began to subside, as she made friends with Mion, Satoko and Rika (Keiichi had yet to move in). Over time, her paranoia disappeared and she believes that going back to Hinamizawa soothed Oyashiro-sama's anger.

Now for some spoilers about Satoko's uncle:

Spoiler! :

Again Umi, everything would have been clear if you had friggin watched all 26 episodes. In the final arc, Tsumihoroboshi-hen (Rena's arc), we are introduced to Rena's dad and his new lover, Rina. Rina is one of those biatches who try to leech money off some poor bloke, which ahppens to be Rena's dad in this case. The man she truly lusts for is none other than Satoko's uncle, who is her partner in extorting cash. Here's how it work: Rina seduces some bloke to fall in love with her. Satoko's uncle then shows up and beats the bloke up for "f***ing with his woman", before demanding <insert sum here> amount of money to leave them alone. After getting the money, Rina will stick with the bloke for a while longer before deciding to dump him.

Now, unfortunately for her, the particular bloke she decided to flirt with this time had a partially-mental-unstable daughter who had run berserk before and ended up smashing all the windows in her school. Rena had never liked Rina in the first place, and was the one obstacle for Rina getting even more of Rena's dad's money. When Rina tracked Rena all the way to her favourite dump site, she tried to kill Rena, who then retailaited with a broken pipe. Her fear of losing her dad, coupled again with her desire to protect herself, caused her to snap once again as she murdered Rina, before stuffing her body into a broken freezer. Rena then lured Satoko's uncle to the same site, murdered him, chopped his body (along with Rina's) into bits, stuffed them into a garbage bag, and tried to dispose of them somewhere.

In the beginning of Tatarigoroshi-hen (Satoko's arc), we see a corpse floating in the water, in a garbage bag. This is a different rendition of Tsumihoroboshi-hen, where Rena killed Rina but not Satoko's uncle. Since his biatch was dead, Satoko's uncle had no choice but to return to Hinimizawa, to Satoko's house. I think what happened from this point on needs no explanation, right?

As for the gas leaks, I do know what induced it, but only from reading various spoilers about it. I trust the next season will reveal more, as it contains the final 2 answer arcs.

Whew, long post eh? Took me half an hour to type it up @.@

In closing, Umi, try to at least WATCH the 26 damned episodes before you start ranting/bashing. Everything becomes simple once you get to the answer arcs.

[Umiman]

I would rather you stop using my nick like that. It's exceptionally condescending.

As for the purpose of this thread. Only time will tell kana kana.