The more the VN veterans hate on Higurashi Gou, the more interesting it’s getting for me.

First, the news.  To my not inconsiderable surprise, it seems as if Higurashi no Naku ni Gou is going to run three cours.  Nothing has been announced officially but the schedule reflects at least 30-odd airings, and assuming they aren’t going to repeat (and why would they) or stop in the middle of a cour, around 36 eps seems likely.  That’s good news in the sense that the story is getting quite interesting now and didn’t seem anywhere close to wrapping, but given how loaded next season looks it’s going to be a further drain on my time.  A first-world problem to be sure.

One thing I haven’t really gotten much from Higurashi over the years is surprises.  Suspense, sure – but shock and surprise are different things.  Rather than stock horror gotcha moments, Gou is taking the story in some directions I truly hadn’t expected.  And a redemption arc for Teppei is certainly one of those.  It’s a credulity-stretcher given what we know of the man, but I like that – for a franchise as venerable as this one, always frankly more a tragedy than a mystery, I like to see big reaches like this.  Go for it, aim high, surprise me.  As a long-time anime-only viewer, how can I possibly not like that?

I like the way this is being framed, too.  Rika with her more subtle, mystical approach, as contrasted with Satoko’s cold and hard systematic approach.  Each of them found the partner deity that fits their personality, that’s for sure.  Satoko’s repeated looping having an impact on those closest to her actually makes a lot of sense in context, and it does explain a lot of things.  But of course this increasing butterfly effect works more strongly on her than it does anyone else, even if she’s not aware of it.  Rika’s minimalist tack may ironically have kept her sane, but Satoko is all-in.  And really, that can’t be good.

Satoko could go a couple of different ways, here.  Jut how far around the bend has she gone?  From what we can see here, it seems as if Teppei is pretty genuine in this turnaround.  I’m not saying Satoko should forgive him after all he’s done to her, but if he is sincere – and capable of acting on that sincerity – it would be pretty evil of her to simply incorporate him into her master strategy.  Not forgiving Teppei is one thing, but torturing him as a sort of revenge quite another.  Is Satoko still capable of rationality and empathy?  Is she unhinged?  Or is she just a monster at this point?  That’s going to be interesting to find out.

One thing we don’t know of course is how the Gou timeline fits into all this.  I don’t think it’s a given, but if all the stuff we’ve seen play our in the first 18 episodes (and before, theoretically) was happening in the context of Satoko being a memory-retaining looper, she would have to be pretty monstrous.  That would mean she manipulated Keiichi into killing Teppei for one thing (among many).  I also wonder why she seems to be showing no interest in trying to utilize this power to try and cheat fate on Satoshi’s behalf.  Shouldn’t she be at least trying to save her Nii-Nii, based on what she’s now able to do?

We’ve got basically a cour worth of episodes to find the answers to these questions, and I can’t say I’m not intrigued at the prospect.  I’ve never liked Satoko much as a character but in this context, she’s an interesting centerpiece for a new phase in the Higurashi mythology.  I could easily see her going full final boss here, or just as easily being part of a redemption arc of her own to wrap things up.  In a franchise that’s by design always had a Groundhog Day quality to its narrative, something new and unpredictable is entirely welcome.