The Adventures of Satoko the Hungry Ghost returns for another season – presumably one cour this time – to wrap up this latest phase of the Higurashi story.  I almost dropped Gou during the second cour when the torture porn really got out of hand, but I ended up quite liking the turn it took – which seemed to put me at odds with a lot of the really serious fans of the franchise.  That’s a niche I’ve grown quite comfortable inhabiting over the years, so no problem there.  It was a different side to Higurashi than anime had given us before – and it was also rather fascinating in a Buddhist sort of way.

Sotsu begins with what’s effectively a recap arc for “Onidamashi-hen”, in fact.  The difference is that this time we know what (and who) is behind the strange breakdown of Rena.  The question I would ask, I suppose, is whether that makes enough of a difference to make this “answer” arc necessary.  We know what’s going to happen.  We pretty much already knew why it was going to happen, it’s just now we know who specifically is responsible.  Which is relevant to be sure, but essential?  We’re certainly getting more detail on Rena’s family situation this time around too, but again, that doesn’t strike me as all that much of a pretext to retell the whole story.

In the end that leaves it up to whether this arc is entertaining in its own right.  So far, I’d say it broadly falls within the normal Higurashi quality band.  It’s always nice to hear Kawai Kenji’s music, and Nakahara Mai (one of anime’s great seiyuu) is clearly having way too much fun.  And here’s a fun fact – the actresses for Satoko and the hostess Rina (Watanabe Misa) were born six weeks apart…

Higurashi has always had a sort of voyeuristic quality to it – like you’re peeping in someone’s window watching them murder their family – and these two episodes very much strike that chord.  Satoko really is a vile creature in this incarnation, and I suppose if you were a fan of the character maybe too much so.  But I never was, so it’s all fine with me – I never liked her much so hating her now is a pretty easy transition.  That said, I hope most of Sotsu isn’t taken up retelling events that have already happened, because it’s the denouement of the Rika-Satoru battle of wills and wits that’s I’m really on-board for.