Quote:
Originally Posted by L in Hinamizawa
2. Why does Hanyuu's personality shift so much between the last 3 arcs? Rika's true personality also seems to shift wildly from unbreakable determinator Rika( Like when she kills herself and when she nonchalantly declares that the Atonement chapter was a lost cause so she'll just go the "next" Hinamizawa.)In the next arc(The Massacre Arc)She seems to be almost completely broken mentally. She seems rather like that in Matsuribayashi hen too.
Is it because of their powers falling apart or is it a simple explanation?
If anyone could make sense of all this I would greatly appreciate it!  |
The best way that I can explain this is to refer to Rika as having 3 different personalities that work in concert: "Sweet Rika-chan" (the persona shown to other characters), Dark Rika aka Frederica Bernkastel (the Macro-level consciousness that remembers all events of all worlds experienced), and Core Rika (the personality that communicates with Hanyuu and personally experiences each world). Core Rika recalls experiences (some, but not all) from Frederica, which allows her to speak as someone with wisdom and knowledge far beyond her years or what "Rika-chan" would display. If we look at the various situations in this context, in becomes clear that Core Rika has tried and been defeated many different times in a multitude of ways. As such, Core Rika is very cautious to reveal herself until Keiichi relates his revelation to her in Tsumihoroboshi-hen. She recognizes that this is truly miraculous, because in no other world has any other person been able to "remember" other worlds' events. However, even with that knowledge, and even though this time Keiichi saved Rena, it didn't matter. Rika was still marked for death (and it's likely that Miyo saw Rena's meltdown as the perfect time to initiate the Terminal Operation), and there would be no way for anyone to help her in time. It's likely that Rika acted cold (enter Dark Rika) towards Rena as a defense mechanism (note that she does this towards Shion and Miyo/Irie) to make it herself seem braver/tougher than she would appear to be. Remember, Core Rika acts almost nothing like Sweet Rika-chan, because that nicer personality is more-or-less an act.
If Core Rika's personality seems more depressed in Minagoroshi-hen, it's because:
a.) The Disaster Awakening Chapter was an anime original arc that helps to better transition the overall story into the Minagoroshi-hen.
b.) She is coming to the realization that she may never escape June 1983. Even after a purely unprecedented set of events, it doesn't change her outcome (or anyone else's) in the slightest.
It's only after Keiichi notices Rika's depression and
actively changes the situation, that Rika finds renewed hope in trying to break the cycle. I think that Minagoroshi-hen exposes Core Rika as a very realistic person: a being who is weary of endlessly experiencing happiness and sadness, and then having to mask all of her suffering except to a being that no one else can even comprehend. I don't really sense a feeling of depression coming from Rika during Matsuribayashi-hen, but I DO sense a very real fear. Hanyuu has expressed that this may be the final world that she has enough power to transfer Rika's consciousness to, so she can't act callously or irrationally. If anything, she acts the way you'd expect a little girl to.