Did you hear the one about the character from Umineko in Higurashi who name-dropped a character from Ciconia?

Yeah, I’m not going to bother spoiler-tagging the really broad stuff anymore.  At this point it’s pretty clear that “Gou” intends to traipse all over the Ryukishi07 mythology for the rest of the series, and who’s got time for all that html?  I don’t know a lot of this stuff, since it’s never made it to anime before now.  I know the lady who sends Satoko on her magical mystery tour is called Featherine.  Except maybe that’s not actually Featherine, but just a Goddess who looks like her (and sounds like her – Hidaka Noriko – wow, Minami Asakura herself!).  Or so Ryukishi apparently hinted.

I do think that’s needlessly confusing.  And I think Higurashi is trying to have it both ways by making a series it says new fans can enjoy, and then going hip-deep in VN material.  Who’s Vien, you may ask?  Apparently a character from Ciconia, yet another When They Cry iteration.  That’s all well and good but how is any non-VN viewer who doesn’t take the time to Google it supposed to know that?  It’s some consolation that all these disparate elements are supposedly being woven together in a new way, to the point where even the experienced watchers are still guessing.  At least to an extent.

Yet, despite all that, I do rather enjoy this turn of events in “Gou”.  As I noted last week it’s kind of fun seeing the Higurashi mythology spun in a new way.  And while I’ve never been a Satoko fan, she’s sort of becoming sympathetic to me at the moment – which is ironic when you think about it.  As to what’s actually happening on our screens, I’m guessing that what we’ve been watching in “Gou” are various loops in Satoko’s reality – i.e., she’s been looping and remembering every time, while the Rika we’re seeing is not the Rika from her own reality (with its own loops).

But yeah, that could be totally wrong.

I think we’re supposed to feel more sympathy for Rika in this scenario.  After all, she’s the one being tortured and murdered over and over.  But I still feel like what happens at St. Lucia is mostly her fault.  Satoko is right, this isn’t for her.  And the funny this is she knew that even before Featherine sent her looping and remembering.  What she said to Rika in the first rewind this week really should have been enough to have Rika call off the dogs, but Rika laid a guilt trip on her and refused to stand down.  And then – no matter what she says – broke her promise(s).

I can only imagine as Satoko lives this over and over, presumably unable to prevent this turn of events from occurring, her sense of betrayal will get ever deeper and more intense.  We know with certainty that Satoko is different from Rika (at least before Hanyuu’s latest appearance) in retaining her memories here, but I’m still interested in knowing just how Satoko’s loops and Rika’s loops are interconnected.  When you think about it, both of them looping in the same timeline is a logical paradox.  But then, I suppose logical paradoxes wouldn’t matter to a Kami who can pass between VN universes at will…