Higurashi: When They Cry – GOU

Episode 5

Time starts over again as Keiichi and the audience return to mid-June for the "Watadamashi" (Cotton-Deceiving) Arc." As I stated in the notes last week, this arc is about revisiting the "Watanagashi" (Cotton-Drifting) Arc and focuses heavily on Mion Sonozaki. Like episode one, this episode is primarily set-up with a stronger focus on character shenanigans and laying the groundwork for the major theme, "appearances can be deceiving" or, in a less sinister context, "don't judge a book by its cover" whereas the previous arc's message was "trust one another, doubt yourself."

The episode starts with Keiichi and the game club members going into town to Mion's uncle's game store. Mion has seemingly helped organize a competition that includes a cash prize, although the skill level is questionable and Mion hints that she rigged the contest so none of the club members will have to play against each other. Keiichi is facing two opponents in a game of Life and, humorously, he spins a four on his first turn. The staff wants us to know Keiichi's fate from the first episode, apparently. He's struggling to win while the rest of his friends cleared their games easily, so he resorts to underhanded methods.

Yeah, Keiichi convinces a bunch of grade-schoolers to throw a game of Life with promises that he'll 'punish' Satoko and Rika in pseudo-sexual ways that are appealing to his opponents. Anyway, putting that quickly in the rearview mirror, gaming day ends with some thank you prizes of stuffed animals for everyone but Mion; her uncle promises to give her a big tip at her other part-time job. Keiichi, who received a porcelain doll, decides to give it to Mion thus raising his Romance Flag. Mion has always been "tomboyish" and is initially resistant to being seen in a "girly" way but she accepts the gift. This leads to a lot of side conversations about her true nature and that she's actually quite feminine.

Later, Keiichi goes to the Angel Mort family restaurant with his pervy dad, who insists that Keiichi check out the waitresses in what I can only describe as Card Captor Sakura-style costumes. One of the waitresses looks just like Mion and after some back-and-forth banter and multiple ogling compliments, the waitress insists she isn't Mion but actually her twin sister Shion. The girls look exactly the same but Shion has a more traditionally feminine demeanor and wears her hair loose with a bow while Mion usually ties her hair up in a ponytail.

The rest of the episode starts casting doubt on whether Shion is real or if Mion is merely creating an alternate personality to act out her feminine personality traits. Rena has never met Shion and says that Mion has never even mentioned having a sister before, much less a twin. Shion seems to fill in for Mion in situations that might be embarrassing, like making Keiichi lunch in exchange for the porcelain doll. Later, when Keiichi returns to the game store, Shion appears to be there but this time she's much more menacing when a group of punks start hassling Keiichi, and even seems to be able to get the townsfolk to join in.

Watadamashi will likely focus heavily on the Shion/Mion mystery as we try to find out who the "true" Mion is. Rena might also be back as the villain again as Keiichi being to wonder what her true nature is if he can't judge her by who she appears to be.

HERE MARKS THE HIGURASHI SPOILER LINE. STOP HERE IF YOU'RE NEW TO THE FRANCHISE

This episode already changes up the original Watanagashi by having Keiichi make the correct decisions early on. Just like how he tried to trust Rena (albeit too late) in the last arc, this time Keiichi seems more willing to accept Mion's girly side from the get-go. A lot hinged on who got the doll the first time around, and it wasn't initially Mion. Of course, those of us familiar with the franchise know that Shion is real, although I can't remember offhand which instances in this episode were each person. The girls have switched places and pretended to be one another multiple times before, after all.

This was a decent set-up episode and I appreciated a lot of the animation touches throughout, especially the bicycle riding scenes. The fanservice was still a little much and sexualizing Rika and Satoko was always my least favorite part of Higurashi. This episode is pretty tame, all things considered, but definitely not a favorite.

Rating:

Higurashi: When They Cry – GOU is currently streaming on Funimation and Hulu.