Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Higurashi: When They Cry – GOU
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whiskeyii
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I will heartily admit that as someone who just never ever warmed to Satoko (not her fault, she just happens to slot into my least favorite tropes of a particular kind of precocious anime child), I am extremely hyperaware of the intriguing choice to have Rika die before Satoko, which means the viewer is also excluded from seeing what her ultimate fate was as well as her full-faced reaction.
Is it too early to say called it? Because I think at this rate we're gonna' be seeing lots of spoiler[cats, miracles, and logic errors.] On another note, I think this episode very much cemented that this Hinamizawa is Not Your Daddy's Hinamizawa, in that it may be hitting a lot of broad strokes that parallel the original but is very much working under a separate set of rules. Realizing that, I think, helps me recontextualize the previous arcs not just as "what a twist!" gotcha moments so much as repetitive reinforcement that the bad ends of those loops were features, rather than bugs. |
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Gem-Bug
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I agree on all points. I'm excited to have had this episode as the halfway point, and for a second half that, I presume, is going to be full of unforeseen happenings. |
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Florete
Posts: 379 |
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I really liked this episode personally. The end of 13 made that whole arc feel pointless, but the beginning of this episode reversed that feeling and justified it.
I think the way Hanyuu says the sword will "kill a looper" is pretty noteworthy. That suggests to me that there's another person looping with Rika, and that person is probably the one behind all this. |
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings
Posts: 1031 |
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Honestly, the more I'm thinking on it, the more I genuinely believe this might just be one of the best episodes of anime Higurashi has ever had. It's depiction of Rika's despair and her suicidal ideation. How she's almost implicitly begging her friends to find her so that she doesn't go through with something she genuinely doesn't want to do. That she nearly breaks down in mad laughter when what could be her only way out of this hellhole, the final parting gift from her most important ally and arguably her closest friend. With 9 episodes left, it's not particularly likely that she would actually do it, but it was incredibly harrowing all the same until she decides at the least second not to by giving herself one final ultimatum. It was genuinely hard to sit through and more emotionally charged than I feel a lot of what the original DEEN anime managed to achieve, at least with her specifically.
Not to mention that brutally cold open. Just, some absolutely powerful material on display and the first time in a while I had 110% faith in this new story. |
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2902 |
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is that even true?, i am not trusting the cat owner that much this time. that would also fix the plothole from higurashi. |
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Sven Viking
Posts: 1041 |
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Some background on the sword (including original series spoilers).
The previous arc and this episode definitely have me feeling more optimistic about the new series as a whole. |
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kyokun47
 Posts: 231 |
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So episode 15 came out. Glad to know we've been getting the uncensored version of this show after at least ep. 4. /s
As of writing this, the review hasn't gone up, so I'll say nothing besides that was one of the hardest episodes of anime I've had to watch yet. |
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Gem-Bug
Posts: 1306 |
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We usually get the reviews sometime over the weekend! Episode 15: spoiler[Well that was something. While this episode was gratuitous and over-the-top, I'm honestly glad they blazed right through all the "extra lives" in one go, rather than drag out a bunch of shorter fail-arcs(which I said I was worried about last week). The quick-cut in the first death got me real good, like a gut-punch. Asakusa is usually a calming character to have onscreen; and that along with only being 1/3 into the episode had my guard down significantly. The production values seemed super low this time, maybe the lowest yet, with crazed Asakusa, Kimiyoshi, and Keichi looking especially gonky. However, this intermixed with characters being beheaded or getting their heads caved in almost made everything -more- horrific. The main question now is, will they stick to this final life for the rest of the series? I feel that we are going to get a longer arc that ends with Rika dying, but something happens during it that convinces her to not use the sword fragment afterwards. ] |
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db999
Posts: 332 |
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Well, that escalated pretty quickly. I have to give the writers props for this episode but it looks like this will really just be a 24 episode series. I thought for sure that this would spoiler[be the start of another 4-5 episode time loop again and that we'd continue over into a second season with another full 2-3 loops]. spoiler[I sure did not expect the show to just go straight into another murder. Part of me wants to see what events lead to Akasaka, Mion/Shion's mom, Kimiyoshi, and Keiichi again to go on a rampage, but having them all happen in the span of half an episode] is a statement by the staff that we can't let our guards down and predict where the story could go from here. If I had one complaint it's that spoiler[by the third murder sequence I started to become desensitized to it. The first one was incredibly shocking, but by the final time, I was just waiting to see who would be doing the killing.] Now I wonder if we're going to get one long arc to close out the series, and also to see if it ties into Umineko at all before the season ends.
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gsilver
Posts: 649 |
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spoiler[My guess is that there will be one more failure, though failure in an unusual way that gets Rika to try once more, if only because there are too many episodes left to have them all be one cycle] Though what did stick out for me was spoiler[The last failure of the episode, where Keiichi freaks out again. It was a full week *before* the Cotton Drifting Festival. I don't think that we've ever seen a failure that early before. And even knowing what I know from Kai... I have questions on that timing.] |
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Gem-Bug
Posts: 1306 |
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Oooooh, that's right! spoiler[I remember the date changing but must've forgot about it since it jumped right into more carnage. That explains her "it won't even let me catch my breath" comment. I think it adds to us just not being able to trust what's going on anymore. ] |
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Florete
Posts: 379 |
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Agreed but, like, in a good way, at least for me. Not sure how you meant it. I just wish I could remember the events of the original series as well as some others do. |
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kyokun47
Posts: 231 |
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spoiler[I'm in agreement with most of this, though I personally thought the only person that looked particularly wonky was Kimiyoshi. In any case, the gore has been increasingly more difficult to stomach as the show has gone on. As far as theories go, I'm thinking Rika's going to die still on her last life, but I think somewhere in there is going to be the key for her to stop this loop (possibly Umineko-related) and she'll continue on until the end of the show. Also, I was kinda suspect of Satoko before, but this episode did a lot to OBVIOUSLY set something up (not showing her reaction when the building blew up, her not bleeding onto the floor in Angel Mort despite Rena bleeding out from her head wound), so they must be trying to weave something in there.][/spoiler] |
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kyokun47
Posts: 231 |
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Sven Viking
Posts: 1041 |
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Higurashi feels like Higurashi again. It’s what I wanted, but watching the episode I admit it also feels a bit like a monkey’s paw Be Careful What You Wish For situation.
spoiler[Clever subversion of expectations regarding the five loops remaining. Also does a good job of bringing home just how tough things are for Rika when some of us might have begun to take it for granted to an extent. “After so many loops, what’s another hundred here or there?”] |
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