Seinen Ramen » Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai 1

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai 1 July 8, 2007

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Recap for general info on Higurashi (also for those who are new to this anime):

1. There are 4 question arcs and 4 answer arcs in the game. For the anime, the first season has covered the first 4 question arcs and first 2 question arcs. The second season (Kai) will cover the last 2 answer arcs and contain an anime-original arc.
2. Each question arc keeps the same characters, but due to different events occuring have different endings. They all more or less have the same startings, except for qns arc 4 which serves a different function. Thus they are seperate stories and are not directly linked.
3. The mysteries raised in the question arcs can be solved without watching the answer arcs if u are observant enough. This is through the indirect link between the question arcs.
4. Watching the answer arcs in the anime does NOT solve all the mysteries at all. Its up to u to decide what is right and what is wrong. That’s what makes Higurashi exhilerating to watch.
5. There are two main schools of thought for any mystery solving : The rational side and the supernatural side. Solutions for both schools are argued out in the same manner despite them being opposites.

For Season 1 -

Meakashi-hen (episodes 16-21) is the answer to Watanagashi-hen (episodes 5-8). Tsumihoroboshi-hen (episodes 22-26) is the answer to Onikakushi-hen (episodes 1-4). There is no answer to Tatarigoroshi-hen (episodes 9-13) or Himatsubushi-hen (episodes 14 and 15) in the anime simply because the creator of the game had not released these arcs when the anime was being developed.

This is my comprehensive theory for Season 1.

OP Commentary -

I felt that the OP animation was directed very well, on par with the first season or better. The OP focuses heavily on Rika-chama, indicating that the second season is going to revolve around her. The other characters are featured in flashes and very briefly.

So… I’m going to provide additional theories I wrote up about Rika:

SUPERNATURAL explaination for her behvaiour so far is that-

She is a reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama. This is very obvious from Himatsubushi-hen, and thus explains how she can forsee the future. This is supported by the fact that she is the last surviving member of the Furude household, and she is also the shrine maiden during the Watangashi festival. She killed herself in Watanagashi/Meakashi-hen because she could not handle the pressure of switching between being Oyashiro-sama and a small little girl. She is aware of things that cannot be explained, for example Keichii entering the festival storehouse. This is further strengthened by the fact that whenever Rika dies, Hinamizawa falls. So if the guardian is absent, the demons of the Sonozaki family will destroy Hinamizawa due to their instability. This is apparent in BOTH Watanagashi-hen and Tatarigorosihi-hen. After Rika died, the police stormed the Sonozaki household in Watangashi-hen. After Rika died, the gas fumes from the Onigafuchi swamp killed everyone except Keichii (we can say that Rika sacrificed herself to protect Keichii as a last ditch effort against the Sonozaki demons) in Tatarigoroshi-hen.

However, the RATIONAL explaination is-

Rika is an extremely cunning and intelligent little girl who has EXCELLENT acting skills. She uses her small size and cute outer appearance to fool people into thinking the way she wants them to. She does not actually predict the future, but obtains her information by eves-dropping during Sonozaki family meetings which is also revealed in Himatsubushi-hen. She acts blur during these meetings so that the Sonozakis think she is unaware of anything. She deciphers what they say and is thus greatly disturbed due to her age. This thus makes her behave the way she does in Hinamatsubushi-hen (who is not afraid of dieing?). She kills herself in Watangashi/Meakashi-hen because she was aware of what the drug was going to do for her (rip out her own throat etc.), but lied to Shion that she does not want to be totured. Further evidence to support this includes how she used her cuteness to “seduce” a guy in order to come closer to winning a card game. She was clearly aware of this, back in Watanagashi-hen. Also if she is really a god, why does she have to kill Shion manually?

Brief Episode Summary:

30 years have passed after the Great Hinamizawa disaster. Ooishi-san, the detective working on the mysteries of Hinamizawa 30 years ago together with a Self-Defense Force soldier and Akasaka Mamoru are back in Hinamizawa to search for answers to the disaster. The Self-Defense Force soldier was tasked in quarantining Hinamizawa when the disaster occured, while Akasaka-san had a brief meeting with Furude Rika 35 years ago.

Above: The soldier is on Akasaka-san’s left and was his junior (Kouhai) from collage.
Below: Ooishi-san has aged considerably.

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Until now, I haven’t the slightest as to why Tatarigoroshi-hen ended this way. Considering that I made quite alot of progress for the first two question arcs, I’m slightly disappointed with myself…

Until I saw this:

NOW I’m disappointed with Higurashi for bringing UFOs into the picture. I really don’t like this supernatural aspect of Higurashi. Why? I’ll let Ooishi-san do the talking:

However, I’ll just know that we’re not going to get a lame sci-fi conclusion as demonstrated by my theories above. I just want something out of this world, not just a normal mystery conclusion. I have that much hope and faith in Higurashi, so Studio Deen better not disappoint!

Juz a shot of grown up Rena, but I’ll leave the psycho part out I guess.

End of episode impressions:

With Rena joining up and Akasaka’s in-depth research, I think this team has a fighting chance. That’s if Ooishi can convince Rena to open up and let try her best to remember everything that has happened.

The SDF soldier seems like a useless dumbass, but after thinking abit I believe he may try to thwart their plans to find out the real truth. I mean he is the only one supporting the dumbass UFO theory, so he may want to cover things up. This could lead to some violence later on in the arc.