I’m not sure whether Keiichi is the strongest or dumbest 14 year-old in Japan, but I suppose those two things aren’t mutually exclusive…
- There was a lot to take in with this final episode of “Watadamashi-hen”, so you’ll have to bear with me if I tackle it in terms of comparison to the original. Spoilers inevitable, but there’s really no other way to approach this as far as I can tell.
- In the first place, Keiichi coming out of the arc alive was a major change from what I remember. And apart from the damage he did to himself (more on that in a bit) he came out of it basically unscathed. Physically, anyway – the emotional side may be another matter.
- Higurashi is inevitably interspersed with head-scratching moments for me, but this ep has a couple of whoppers. In the first place Mion more or less tried to kill Keiichi when he was up on the ladder (that scene I definitely remember), and then he obediently took her up on her invitation to come to her scary mansion (I don’t remember if that happened or not).
- Were the alarm bells finally going off for K1 when she showed him the torture cell in the dungeon? Then the “safe” room? Still, he keeps trailing along like an eager if anxious puppy.
- We’re left with some inconclusiveness about Mion’s motives here, though it does seem very likely she was afflicted with Hinamizawa Syndrome. Though I suppose one could argue that she might just have done the things she did if she was serious about wanting to break the system and protect Keiichi, if she were just naturally a bit nuts.
- There’s also the matter of whether we saw Shion at any point during this episode, or whether it was always Mion. The wardrobe change from Harajuku-wear into kimono was obviously meant to suggest a sister switch, but I’m more inclined to believe that was a misdirection.
- Then we have Satoko, whose behavior in this episode is extremely odd. Why was she so hostile towards K1 at school, and why did she show up at the Sozonaki compound? Why would Mion need to feel she needs to kill her (unless she was completely bonkers with H.S..
- What about Rena – did she survive, along with Keiichi? If creeper cop is to be believed they would be the only ones among the main cast who did.
- Finally we have K1’s preposterous antics at the end. First he breaks down the cell door (seriously – what does he weigh, maybe 55 kilos?), then he knocks himself out and into the hospital by hurling himself against the safe room door. I’m always tempted to call stuff like this unintentionally hilarious, but just where that “intentional” line is with Higurashi is never easy to figure out.
The upcoming arc is “Tataridamashi-hen” (“Curse-Deceiving Chapter”) and as far as I know, that’s a totally new title for the Higurashi mythology. As such I have no idea where the story is headed from here, but neither does anyone else, pretty much – so neener neener to all the gamers out there.
Anchen
November 20, 2020 at 10:40 pmFirst off I think this was a fun episode that both kept a lot of spirit of the original version, like what is going on, which sister is which, and how logically without some magical outside power did this chain of events happening. The original was definitely a bit more on this since it had the surprise death ending for Keiichi when he seemed like he was going to survive, while this time it does seem like he is going to live. There were obviously a bunch of differences here though. I expect the next arc to be another “damashi” deceiving arc version of the 4th arc from the first series which could be said to be the Satoko/Uncle arc. I think this might be especially interesting given Satoko’s peculiar behavior in this episode that this may be a turning/major point for the series. It also should conclude the first half of the series I would guess, so I expect it to go pretty big with twists.
As for this episode, some things I noticed were that the hazy/blinking effect returned, during the ladder scene. The last time I believe we saw this was Rena and Keiichi’s fight in the house at the end of Onidamashi, which I think probably turned out differently than what was portrayed. If it was a delusion of Keiichi’s of what was happening on the ladder (i.e. the one who is somewhat under the syndrome there is him), then that makes the scene a little less crazy. And I’ll say that the animation for it was rather pleasant, compared to the meme worthy version from the Deen version. It doesn’t make him accepting the invitation any more logical, but at least it makes it less crazy that the teacher doesn’t notice/say anything if Sonozaki isn’t actually acting *too* crazy there.
The Satoko/Mion double death brief image brings up a lot of questions. First, Mion appears to have scratch marks on her neck. The gun I think is also not the same gun (a revolver) that she took out with her. It almost looks more like the gun she wears in her casual clothing which I think *should* be a prop/toy gun. Lastly, for most of the conversation with Keiichi while she is locking him up, she sounded startling sane. Determined and maybe overzealous, but I’m on the side right now that I think she wasn’t under the Hinamizawa Syndrome but was maybe just played straight/serious for being determined enough to do what it takes.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Rena did survive. If I recall the original arc, she in fact survived there as well and was the only one to do so. If I remember it right, instead of Keiichi being invited to the Mansion, in the original Keiichi and Rena in fact both go together to confront “Mion” at the Mansion.