Higurashi Episode 24 Discussion / Poll

[myopius]

Man. Well, there you go. You can defnitely tell we're just two episodes from the end. Regard the fuzzy outline of a scene from the next episode... wow.

[keke]

Wow, what a twist. I wasn't expecting something like this at all. Assuming Takano's notes are real, this is quite interesting to tie into previous chapters. I'm most interested in the mystery syringe that's popped up a few times.

Back in chapter 1, we saw Mion and Rena trying to inject K1 with something. This new theory could mean that K1 had become infected with the berserk parasite and the girls were trying to administer a cure.

The same thing can be said about the last chapter with Shion. She's become totally berserk, and Rika tried to cure her. In both cases, someone related to the 3 head houses was the one in possession of the syringe. This matches up with Takano's theory of the 3 houses trying to control/spread the parasite.

I'm twitching with excitement for the next episode.

[Wanderer]

I don't know what her motive is, but I think Takano is intentionally being a catalyst of mistrust. Basically, I not only think that her scrapbook is wrong, but it is deliberately wrong.

She always suggests some kind of conspiracy is responisible for the murders, often suggests that she might be killed or erased, then disappears/dies under mysterious circumstances. However, I think that her forshadowing and mysterious "death"s are too convinient. Not to mention that Meakashi-hen strongly suggests that the Gosanke are not part of such a conspiracy. Furthermore, it seems that Tomitake is suffering from the very disease that she is researching. She's a nurse who obsessively researches this disease and she is around him often. Why then, of all people, would the person right under her nose fall victim to it?

Every time we see Takano she is catalyzing the "problem" with conspiracy theories or what-not. Even her supposed deaths further catalyze the problem. I'm not just talking about this arc, I mean all of them. Everything about her seems to relate to the crazy stuff that happens. I don't know her motive, but I definately think she is a villan. She may even be the "trigger" that the game players have mentioned a few times.

[aliensporebomb]

Fascinating episode and raises far more questions that it appears to answer:

Spoiler:

Obviously if in the past the citizens of the town became aware of
something in the swamp that, if ingested or breathed caused some
kind of insanity/hysteria you figure they'd just fence off the swamp
and be done with it.

It's obviously proximity to the swamp in conjunction with something
happening (trigger). That trigger always seems to be emotional in
nature. Sometimes it's fear, sometimes hate, sometimes sadness,
sometimes leading to paranoia and it always seems to escalate.

I agree with Wanderer's supposition that there is more to Takano's
"research" and reminds me a little too much of a scientist who
purposely triggers things to "see what happens" from a safe distance.

She's a little too gleeful going on about her theories but it's obvious
a disease/virus/parasite (perhaps one that actually has some kind
of symbiotic capability) is on the loose.

The syringe could indeed be a cure but the way they are wielded
suggests that's not the case. Mion and Rena referred to it prior
to injection as a "punishment game". When Rika attempted to
inject Shion it was done quietly and with grim purpose.

Nobody says "this will take care of the problem" or does it in a
reassuring way. It's always quiet, quick and with menace.

The other thing - someone mentioned that Oyashiro-Sama was
a doctor of sorts.

Theory:

Perhaps this was a living breathing man who lived far in the past
and developed the admittedly extreme methods for dealing with
the parasites/disease.

Because in a time where science was all but unknown any way
of combating the problem was applauded. And since the unknown
leads to fear and fear could lead to other emotions that were a
trigger.......you see where this is going?

Indeed, I fully believe Oyashiro-sama was worshipped as a deity
because he found a way to save their village.

And I believe he may have been as human as you or I, just
smarter than the rest.

[kj1980]

Nipa~.

I'm really glad to see how people can be easily swayed. I remember Sushi-Y's first reaction when he first played this section of Tsumihoroboshi-hen as well.

You all may want to utilize TIPS #125, TIPS #126 and especially TIPS #127.

[Matrim]

I'm really glad to see how people can be easily swayed to an one-sided view with no basis.

How dare you imply that Takano being creepy as hell is no sound basis for not trusting her! Come to think of it, it realy isn't but I don't think we have sufficient evidence so that we can rely on it and not on intuition, guessing the characters motivation and so on. Judging from the tips it's very likely that Rena's interpretation of the notes is way off the mark but that does not necessarily make the notes a gospel truth, does it? Shion got mad after relying on info from Takano, Tomitake started K1's descent into insanity in Onikakushi, it's kind of difficult to trust them. And Takano always disappears or "dies" right on time to increase the already prevalent paranoia in the one who is on the verge of going crazy. If there is some deeply rooted conspiracy in the village, its leaders must be complete amateurs to allow Takano to gather so much info without getting rid of her a long time ago.

[MarthX]

Originally Posted by Matrim

How dare you imply that Takano being creepy as hell is no sound basis for not trusting her! Come to think of it, it realy isn't but I don't think we have sufficient evidence so that we can rely on it and not on intuition, guessing the characters motivation and so on. Judging from the tips it's very likely that Rena's interpretation of the notes is way off the mark but that does not necessarily make the notes a gospel truth, does it? Shion got mad after relying on info from Takano, Tomitake started K1's descent into insanity in Onikakushi, it's kind of difficult to trust them. And Takano always disappears or "dies" right on time to increase the already prevalent paranoia in the one who is on the verge of going crazy. If there is some deeply rooted conspiracy in the village, its leaders must be complete amateurs to allow Takano to gather so much info without getting rid of her a long time ago.

I don't think Tomitake started it. Keiichi knows of the incidents in the other arcs but didn't go insane. Oishi is the one that made him believe his friends are involved and that is what started his descent into madness.

[Matrim]

Well, Tomitake started talking about the murders out of the blue with a person he was meeting for the first time in a deserted, rather creepy place. Ooishi also helped of course but Tomitake planted the first seeds of paranoia, IMO.

[raikage]

Ep. 25 Preview shot:

Spoiler:

お前は仲間なんかじゃない！

This might well be a swerve, like those old Superman comics where the cover would show him marrying a mermaid or something and it turned out to be a distraction or something. But still...

All right, now to the episode. Keep in mind that I've watched all of this show in like a 2-week span, so if I've mixed up any details or forgotten any I apologize in advance.

What's really screwing me up here is that Rika knew about the death of Satoko's aunt (ep...14? When she explained how each murder would work out over the next several years).

It's not inconcieveable that many of the murders would be planned out, like Satoko's parents or Rika's parents or whatnot.

But Rika knew that Satoshi's aunt would die.
Since we know Satoshi murdered the aunt, that wouldn't work out.
...or does it?

We didn't actually see Satoshi kill the aunt.
And now that we are reliving the theory of 'swamp gas makes people go crazy', maybe the swamp gas made the druggie go crazy and kill the aunt.

But in any case, the death of the aunt is, so far, the odd-man out...the one that doesn't fit with the others in a conspiracy theory. She's not important enough to really grab the attention of the 3 houses.

But...parasites that live in swamp gas?
Really pushes suspension of disbelief for me, but okay -- let's assume that's true.
It explains Keiichi's going insane during the first arc, but doesn't explain his not going crazy during the other arcs.
Shion was born in Hinamizawa and left/came back several times. So did Mion, when they switched roles every so often.

So while the gas explains some things, I'm not convinced it can explain all of them. And if the government knew about it and decided to destroy the swamp, like Vicke said, why is the swamp destroyed in some arcs but not others?

[Deathkillz]

the story goes from supernatural to sci-fi
paracites lol...the theory is soo farfetched
well imo even if the roles are switched from Onikakushi-hen i think rena is getting a lot more support than what k1 has been through...
Takano is such a creepy person...she is mysterious and keeps dying off without any explinations -.-
well if the theory is true it would provide a connection to why in Onikakushi-hen rena and mion tried to inject k1 with a "mysterious liquid" maybe k1 got the berserk thing and the girls were trying to give him a vaccine...but of course k1 did go beserk even though he was clearly injected so i guess that goes out of the window ^_^

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by Wanderer

Furthermore, it seems that Tomitake is suffering from the very disease that she is researching. She's a nurse who obsessively researches this disease and she is around him often. Why then, of all people, would the person right under her nose fall victim to it?

Maybe she caused him to contract it in order to study it more closely?

The parasite thing is very close to what I've been thinking all along. It also explains why everyone at Hinamizawa seems so irritable and prone to each other apart. Heck, it could even explain that superhuman strength we've all been joking about.
It even explains the gas explosion: the radicals were trying to release the parasites by digging them out, when they hit a pocket of toxic volcanic gas.

It doesn't explain everything, but I doubt that Higurashi is convenient enough to let one thing explain them all. There are probably several factors at work in addition to the parasites.

[Matrim]

Heck, it could even explain that superhuman strength we've all been joking about.

Considering the superhuman strength is apparently not present in the game I don't think we can use it as proof for anything apart from Studio DEEN staff's temporal insanity.

[BakaOnna]

I just realized something. Can it possible that the clawing their throat out be caused by the hallucination of maggots? Rena did say she kept scratching her cut wound because she thought she saw maggots. What if Tomitake and Keiichi imaged them as well and tried to stratch them out until they hit an artery and bled to death?

[rocket]

Mkay, wow a long time since I've posted here.. mostly cause the show's surprised me so much and layered on so much I don't have anything constructive to add.. I'm just along for the ride!

But...

Did it bug anyone else how calmly Keiichi reacted to Rena's news? I mean given her history in this arc I'd have thought that it would be only natural to suspect her!

Spoiler:

Since I'm never sure how far back the spoiler blocking should go... ^^;;

Keiichi knows Rena's murdered two people in already. When he hears she's being followed, he assumes it's the police, and I thought he was assuming the police had discovered her earlier crime.

Then she tells him there's two new murders and he doesn't even pause for one moment? Doesn't say... "Um, Rena, you didn't... did you?"

That bugged me.

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by BakaOnna

I just realized something. Can it possible that the clawing their throat out be caused by the hallucination of maggots? Rena did say she kept scratching her cut wound because she thought she saw maggots. What if Tomitake and Keiichi imaged them as well and tried to stratch them out until they hit an artery and bled to ?

1. You can't see your own neck. Although a hallucination isn't rooted in sight, I guess, so you could still imagine the sensation and act on that.

2. K1 made no mention of maggots or anything of that nature in Onikakushi-hen. He was still on about someone following him. From the information that was revealed to us, clawing at his throat was a bit random.

Something I just noticed: At the end of Onikakushi-hen, Ooishi tells K1 not to claw at his throat. How does Ooishi know that K1 was considering this? Did they find out what caused Tomitake to do it?

[LostBlue]

Originally Posted by FatPianoBoy

It even explains the gas explosion

X Explosion
O Disaster

There is no boom. Just silent gasses that reap the village at the dead of the night killing everyone in their sleep. That's what's one of the causes that panics the nation, that an entire village can be wiped out during everyone's sleep (See TIP).

Originally Posted by rocket

it would be only natural to suspect her!

There is a reason why he's willing to trust his friends

Originally Posted by FatPianoBoy

At the end of Onikakushi-hen, Ooishi tells K1 not to claw at his throat. How does Ooishi know that K1 was considering this?

Keiichi was having problems speaking and breathing and was constantly coughing in a strange way. Oishi didn't cation Keiichi not to claw his throat, he was asking if he was.

Spoiler for speaking of Onikakushi Hen:

Just remembered something about the EP.

The game went into Oishi's pt of view briefly. This will explain Rena's and Keiichi's role reversal, the reason why Oishi decides to stalk Rena in Tsumihoroboshi rather than Keiichi like in Onikakushi.

1) Both are close to Sonozaki Mion

2) At the Watanagashi Festival, Oishi kept a close eye on Mion's group. He observed their actions and notice that one of them didn't fit in with the group as if that person had doubts with the group. That was Keiichi in Onikakushi and Rena in Tsumihoroboshi. This doubt is not apparent (actually nonexistant) in the other chapters.

3) The group was the last observed people to come in contact with Tomitake and Takano, the fifth year's victims. Noticing, pt #2 Oishi was hoping for a lead by coming in contact with said person.

Originally Posted by DeathKillz

paracites lol...the theory is soo farfetched

You think this is farfetched, then wait... you should hear the rest of the theory

Originally Posted by raikage

What's really screwing me up here is that Rika knew about the death of Satoko's aunt

All hail Queen Rika! XD
She also suggests Keiichi to become a Seiyuu. If he does so, he might a get a key role in G****m or something XD XD XD (Matsuribayashi Hen)

[RMgX]

I wonder how much of Rena's explanation that is a paranoid fantasy. An explanation at least as likely as the parasites is that Himazawa inbred village that it is has a bunch of people prone to certain psychiatric disorders.

Spoiler for title:

The tips seem to point to several of the characters being prone to delusional misidentification syndromes. K1 gets triggered by Oishi and Rena in the first arc. Jelousy and perhaps Rena's crazy talk during the rain triggers Shion, Rika believing there is a double of her, perhaps triggered from constantly being told she is a "godess" and perhaps overhearing something she should not ( Like the Sonozakis planning to get rid of some "traitors" ). Now Tomitake is not a Himazawa resident as far as I know so why he would try to claw out his throat doesn't really fit into this. However Rena doesn't seem fully stable so I think anything sounding crazy from her could be just that, crazy talk.

[Kisuke06]

Well, this one was... interesting. So, Oyashirom-sama's curse now has a scientific explanation.

It's a shame that we are just two episodes from the end. So sad.

[I<3killerloli's]

^ What game is your signature pic from?

Spoiler for THE REVEAL!:

Parasites?
Zombies?
Foriegn villages?
LOL, So basically RE4 and Higurashi have the same plot in the end? XD Somebody really needs to do a quick movie with Leon S. Kennedy taking on the Hinamizawa girls. Actually, Salazar and Satako do look a bit a like, don't they?

But man...parasites? PAR-FREAKING-SITES? The show makes us believe the ending will be a whammy in the end, and yet parasites could have easily been one of my top 5 "WTF is REALLLLY going on here" guesses.
Now I'm mad. I'm glad the next episode looks awesome. I think it may be the last but I'm not sure.

[MarthX]

People sure are quick to fully believe Tanako's notes despite how mysterious she is. I don't buy them at all. Episode 12 proved to me she's up to something.