Higurashi Episode 13 Discussion / Poll

[Deathkillz]

omg this is the strangest eps so far...k1 flipping out i actually think that hes been posessed by satoshi...also does it mean that k1 has the power to kill anyone just wishing for it? coincidence yh if 1 thing happened but it happening 3 times and the last time taking the whole town with him...something supernatural is at hand definatly...he is soo stupid...why the hell did he start hacking away at the crows -___- and the ending where the TV turns off...that just spooked me out >.<
im stupid so i still dnt get wht happened to satoko's uncle...hes was killed by k1 right? then wheres his body? i think that the fact that satoko still says that his uncle is alive the night after the murder was a cover up...

[TougeSil80]

Originally Posted by kj1980

The epilogues and the interview that the anime cut out are all written in the TIPS section...except they are currently hidden out until the "fansubs" are released (apparently, someone saw them and complained that it was too spoilerish). So, I guess the answer to your questions about these interviews to be translated would be: it'll be on the TIPS section as soon as the "fansub" is released.

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll have to wait for the answer arc to get some of the stuff that's left out then.

[ApathyEcstasy]

i only just realized right now that this show reminds me so much of the tv show "lost" in the sense that nothing is answered without revealing more questions =_=

[Killer Loli]

Originally Posted by Li Jianliang

Spoiler:

You know what would be hilarious? If the scooter and baseball bat that Keiichi threw into the Onigafuchi Swamp were the last straws for the already-unstable swamp bottom... Did Keiichi unintentionally trigger the volcanic gas eruption?

Originally Posted by ApathyEcstasy

i only just realized right now that this show reminds me so much of the tv show "lost" in the sense that nothing is answered without revealing more questions =_=

LOL! indeed

[Serenity85]

I thought the ep. was ok, and like most ppl i got the same WTF? response after watching it. So now on to my theory.

Spoiler for the statue:

The one thing i noticed after watching each arc, is that events past and present are in fact different. Up untill this last ep I thought this to be true until now. When Satoko tells K1 a little about her past we find out that she went into the shrine that K1 goes into in arc 2 and in an attempt to get out she breaks the statues hand hense why shes cursed. This got me thinking about ep. 6 so I rewatched it and to my shock the staues hand is also broken. This finally connects 2 arcs together and prob the first we never see set statue. It could simply be that Satoko broke the hand in at least 2 of the arcs but that in my mind doesn't follow the way the arcs had appeared to be laid out. Maybe i'm going to far of the limp in thinking theres meaning in this but I need to rewatch all eps again for more detail.

Spoiler for Satoko's childhood:

When we learn of Satoko's past we see a flashback of children playing one of which looks very much like K1. Explenation 1. K1 use to live in Hinamizawa. This theory is a little far fetched and relies heavily on this arc. K first we find out from Ooshi, Takana, and Tomikue the he is an heir to a large estate and that he and his family are famous in the village, as well Takano knows him. It is possible that his family lived in the village before his dad made it big and they moved. We also know K1's childhood prob after they moved, similar to the girls, was hard. The flashbacks indicate that he was to smart for normal classes and when he took advance, where he succeded he had no friends cause they disliked the fact he was young and smarter then them, hense why they moved back to the one place where they were all happy Hinamizawa. He could simply have forgotten all of his past because it was to hard for him to remember. Explenation 2. Its Satoshi. More likely but doesn't make sense or at least at moment it doesn't. We know Satoshi looks like K1 but from what we say he had blonde hair. He could have dyed his hair when he was young but why? I have a third one but its so out there that its hard to think it true (however this anime is way out there so who knows ) Maybe I've read to far into a single scene but the first explenation would explain how K1 is tied to the girls and the village

[Hanatori]

Did anyone notice that Keiichi was carrying Satoko on top of the hatchet? Or was that just me? o_o

I voted this episode (might as well vote this chapter) a 6. It was average, if not mediocre in every way. Animation was funky, Hoshi's voicing was off and unbearable, plot was eh. I guess it's still a 6 because people died. >_>;

I read the TIPS section afterwards and I have to say, they cut out a great part.

[I<3killerloli's]

Spoiler:

Is the next 2-episode arc Rika-centric, perhaps? Her role as a miko at the Oyashiro shrine as well as this TIP's revalations puts her in a spirtually significant role, especially IF something supernatural IS occuring, and her last two death-depictions were particularly notable for their lack of explanation. Plus her one big scene in Watanagashi about the trapped cat in the shrine seems to indicate that she is playing some sort of active caring role. The TIPS seem to indicate that Rika is a possible incarnation of Oyashiro...but I don't sense anything malevolent about her character, if anything, quite the opposite. The absense of focus on her character so far is making me suspicious as to what she is all about.

^ This seems to be hinted at in the title screen when she rips off the Kitsune mask. For those who don't know Japanese folklore, Kitsune/Foxs are regarded as deceitful tricking spirts who can take the shape of humans but retain supernatural elements. When Rika pulls off the mask It's almost like she's saying "I was the true puppet master pulling the strings". She may, in fact, be killer loli alpha. Besides, everytime the series shifts over to a new "killer loli main villain", we least suspect them to go crazy. Rena seems cute and innocent at first/ She's chasing K1with a butcher knife, Mion seems sexy and fun / she's nailing his hands to a concret slab before she drinks his blood 0 - o , Satoko seems victimized and innocuos/ she's barfing all over the room and pushing K1 off a bridge. So...with Rika being the ultra cute and innocent of all of them, it will be the most shocking to see her go all "intestine scopping" or whatever she plans.

BTW, on a Mothman Prophecy kind of note:

Spoiler:

K1 takes a catatonic Satoko out of the tub as she counts higher and higher.
"What number were you planning on counting to?" he asks.
"1,000"

At the very end of the episode, we hear from the newscaster:
"The estimated death toll in Hinamizawa is 1,000."

Need I say more?

[Dracil]

Originally Posted by I<3killerloli's

Spoiler:

K1 takes a catatonic Satoko out of the tub as she counts higher and higher.
"What number were you planning on counting to?" he asks.
"1,000"

At the very end of the episode, we hear from the newscaster:
"The estimated death toll in Hinamizawa is 1,000."

Need I say more?

I don't think that's the right number. Will double-check when I get back.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Li Jianliang

Spoiler:

You know what would be hilarious? If the scooter and baseball bat that Keiichi threw into the Onigafuchi Swamp were the last straws for the already-unstable swamp bottom... Did Keiichi unintentionally trigger the volcanic gas eruption?

Keiichi is such a bastard.

[LordAshram]

She was counting to 10,000, not 1,000. That and the game says the toll is 1200 and rising anyway.

[rocket]

Originally Posted by Ayu-ayu

Some questions I'm pondering lately:

Spoiler:

2) The TIPS about Rika is particularly interesting as each of these three arcs seemed focused on one each of the other three girls: Onikakushi seemed Rena-centric, Watanagashi was Mion-centric, and Tatarigoroshi was Satoko-centric. Is the next 2-episode arc Rika-centric, perhaps? Her role as a miko at the Oyashiro shrine as well as this TIP's revalations puts her in a spirtually significant role, especially IF something supernatural IS occuring, and her last two death-depictions were particularly notable for their lack of explanation. Plus her one big scene in Watanagashi about the trapped cat in the shrine seems to indicate that she is playing some sort of active caring role. The TIPS seem to indicate that Rika is a possible incarnation of Oyashiro...but I don't sense anything malevolent about her character, if anything, quite the opposite. The absense of focus on her character so far is making me suspicious as to what she is all about.

I don't know that we should read too much into the progression.

I think the original "game" was built on the concients of normal visual novels, where there are different paths (like the original Higarushi of this anime's chapters), which invariably focus on different girls (there fore we'll get a chapter each of Rena, Mion, Satako, and Rika).

This is the meta structure of the anime, it's like watching someone play through a normal visual novel in sequence, unlocking more and more each time. Now maybe that repeating structure is somehow also 'explained' in the story (I hope, to make it truely and satisfyingly postmodernish and all clever and such), but I think the structure was probally inspired by the original medium, not the other way around...

Anyways, in a normal game you have the illusion of being able to 'choose' any of the girls to lavish your affection on (regardless of who is the 'main girl') and each of them will end up with enough story and character development to reward your time. Maybe I could buy Rena being the "Main girl" but certainly not Rika, any anyhow we know Mion is into it up to her ears.

I think it's more likely we'll see all the girls equally enmeshed, or simply equally likely to get sucked into the spirral of murder.

Now... sleep for me. ^_^

[roanhammer]

...I didn't even think Hinamizawa's population was more than 1000...

[LostBlue]

Just FYI
Himatsubushi is Rika-centric but it's an sidestory and does not take place in 1983 (when K1 moves to town) but a year before the dam project was thrown out by the government. It's a short story.

Also Hinamizawa area population is ~2,000.

The game probably really shouldn't be called a game. Higurashi isn't a Visual Novel Dating Sim (not by any means AT ALL). As said many times on this forum it's a Novel in a game format. Sound Novels aren't concentrated on the Visual and gameplay as much as the text and bg sounds (which are great in the later half... that piano is <3 ). There's no choices you just read through the entire scenario and it is presented the same way the anime has done chronologically (although the skipped a lot of stuff). You as a player have no decision on the flow of the story. The "game play" is the same as the anime: Go figure out the mystery, that's all (although there are a few quirky omake games unrelated to the story).

[LordKickass]

I love how each chapters end seems to lead to a different conclusion as to what's really going on in Hinamizawa.

First arc leads you to believe that the Government or some outside group (the men in the white van) are the ones responsible for everything. Everything points to some kind of conspiracy.

The second arc leads you to believe in human influence as the perpatrator. The Yakuza and the sonozaki family are the ones pulling all the strings.

The third arc leads you to believe in the supernatural aspect of the mystery. Keiichi's so called "divine power" and the curse of oyashiro-sama were the most likely suspects in this arc.

It's so hard to come up with a possible conclusion when they lead you in so many different directions but that's the fun part

[Cnile]

remember in the beginiing of episode 5 where Rika was stabbing herself? think that has to do with Rika's death in episode 13?

[Nork22]

Originally Posted by Cnile

remember in the beginiing of episode 5 where Rika was stabbing herself? think that has to do with Rika's death in episode 13?

All evidence points to NO.

Spoiler:

In this episode's hints from the game players, she had her entrails ripped out

But one thing that is certain, Rika must have messed up in the Watanagishi festival and she is being punished for it.

[Hunter Nin.]

Hmm I only just got up to this episode and it might have been the final nail in the coffin for me... I'd been slowly put off this series as everyone is just completely psycho and I really find the supernatural elements to the story unsatisfactory. I mean all the events can either be down to some kind of mental problem or the supernatural; how can you solve a mystery like that? Nearly everyone in the series is as fucked up as the other and they lost the shock value of those schizo outbursts long ago. I really wish I picked up the game instead, do you think it's worth carrying on with the series (considering that so much isn't included in the anime are we even supposed to be able to come to a conclusion from it)? The first to fourth episodes I really enjoyed and I think they would have been fine by themselves if they just added in all the important details from other chapters (eg. Shion and history of the village) then gave us a conclusion, I don't get why we need to see all these alternate routes. Also, out of all of the chapters is any considered to be the one true route which actually happened or are they all just possibilities - or do they all happen? As in the characters are forced to live through the festival over and over?

[Keiichi no Hibi]

I was rewatching the episode and I noticed something... Weird.



... Does that kid look like a tiny Keiichi or am I just seeing things?

(I'm not implying that Keiichi used to live in Hinamizawa or anything with this, cause while an interesting theory that would be, I just don't see it happening; Im just wondering )

[OkamiNoKaze]

Wow, interesting ending, K1 actually survived this chapter. As usual left more questions then it answered, I agree with the comparison to the Fatal Frame games especially the second one, and the Lost series. Oh, and my god poor Rika, was not expecting that, Glad I wasn't the only one yelling at K1 for dropping the ax in the blood and then picking it back up. As far as the bridge, I wondered if it wasn't one of Satako's famous traps, maybe loose support wire