Higurashi Q & A

[sona-nyl]

@Goldenlander
There is nothing whatsoever about a true ending in that blog post (or I'm very sure there isn't). The whole thing is basically a plot overview of Miotsukushi with a few final sentences that refers to it as the PS2 replacement for Matsuribayashi and it being a grand conclusion.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by goldenlander

But, according to this Alchemist page, there are 3 original scenario with complete supervision by Ryukishi07. And it is just doesn't make sense if he didn't write it, but he declared it as canon.

Ryukishi himself never stated in an interview or anything that it was canon.
Furthermore, I hardly give credits to publisher and whatnot using such statement. Let's remember that we had Umineko and Higurashi live action "under the supervision of Ryukishi".
That is way too often as a simple token saying "we did ask the author his opinion, but we won't say if we followed his guidance completely".

The moment the mention doesn't state "written by X", you cannot say "but X made sure the adaptation was good!", and the aforementioned examples are obvious testimony of this.

[maximilianjenus]

well, but one thing is the adaptation being good and another is being canon episode (insert your favorite episode of umineko or higurashi) is cannon and is horrible

[Klashikari]

Except, like I said, there is no evidence that these were canon at all.
There is a major difference between "supervised by" and "written by", which is why I took the 2 aforementioned as an example for that.

[maximilianjenus]

yeah, but supervised can be enough for something to be cannon. written does not mean something is canon either.

[Klashikari]

A story written by the author is automatically official and reliable as long the author himself does not contradict his established story. It doesn't make the story "canon", but it is obviously something that can be accepted without questioning its premise. If it is a side story, you can accept it as a whacky "as if" scenario that is still official and not a "fanfic" level because it was written by the author.

A story merely supervised without any canon statement doesn't mean jack shit. Even an adaptation of a canon material potentially have contradictions and erroneous elements, because the "supervision" element is arguably superficial.
In the case the Miotsukushi-hen, there was absolutely no evidence it is considered as canon, and some elements in there make little sense compared to Matsuribayashi. Furthermore, the very fact they had to backtrack and add Matsuribayashi in Kizuna series is a major giveaway that Miotsukushi-hen ending wasn't fine on its own.

[magnum12]

While I agree that Miotsuki-hen's status as canon is questionable at best, Tsukiotoshi-hen's status as canon is actually quite plausible and supported by evidence in the original game. IIRC, sections at the end of Meakashi-hen (the bit where we find out about Satako not liking pumpkins) and in Minagoroshi-hen foreshadow what Shion's personality is like in kaekras where

Spoiler for spoilers for 7th novel:

Shion remembers her promise regarding Satako

, which indicates that kaekra shards like Tsukiotoshi-hen are quite plausible.

Of course we'll never know the full truth until we get more information from R7, so at best we can only gauge how plausible a kaekra's status as canon is. Still, there's a huge part of me that REALLY wants to know what happened in "Hinimizawa Prime".

[maximilianjenus]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

A story written by the author is automatically official and reliable as long the author himself does not contradict his established story. It doesn't make the story "canon", but it is obviously something that can be accepted without questioning its premise. If it is a side story, you can accept it as a whacky "as if" scenario that is still official and not a "fanfic" level because it was written by the author.

A story merely supervised without any canon statement doesn't mean jack shit. Even an adaptation of a canon material potentially have contradictions and erroneous elements, because the "supervision" element is arguably superficial.
In the case the Miotsukushi-hen, there was absolutely no evidence it is considered as canon, and some elements in there make little sense compared to Matsuribayashi. Furthermore, the very fact they had to backtrack and add Matsuribayashi in Kizuna series is a major giveaway that Miotsukushi-hen ending wasn't fine on its own.

I don't agree with that, simplifying canon status by just using author as the criteria is over simplifying, a lot of author like doing doujins/not canon parts of their plot; a recent example is gen's madoka psp game, where some routes are cannon and others are not. another example is ryukishi where he admits fan works in the canon (some arcs of the kataribanashi) and others that he has written/supervised are not (daybreak, iirc).

[sona-nyl]

Yeah but Miotsukushi and Matsuribayashi are mutually exclusive, only one of them can actually be canon. I mean if we were to assume that both were canon Miotsukushi has to be the final ending since Hanyuu dies in it and therefore can't use her abilities on Rika any longer. This would mean that Rika has to die from some random freak accident sometime after Saikoroshi-hen (and also conveniently forget all her memories from matsuribayashi-Saikoroshi). Even if this were technically possible it is shit storytelling and doesn't make any kind of sense for the story.

[maximilianjenus]

I don't think the kakera function in a strictly linear way. so that makes miotsukushi possible we have gotten some weird kakera in umineko

Spoiler for umineko manga:

afaik, we are getting a manga that has meta erika before meta battler kills beatrice, so some kind of sequel to ep03

[cereal_killerxx]

Doing a Keiichi cosplay (the red vest version) but I'm having a bit of an issue. Some pics show him wearing blue converse-like shoes and others show him wearing red-converse like shoes. So which is it?

[Daisu]

He owns both red and blue shoes. He wears Blue in Rei and Red before that.

[cereal_killerxx]

Originally Posted by Daisu

He owns both red and blue shoes. He wears Blue in Rei and Red before that.

Decisions, decisions. Hmmm. Which one do you think I should do?

[magnum12]

Red, because "red ones go fasta".

Just messing with you.

[Daisu]

best to see what they got when arrive at the store. Guys are lucky, they do not have to concentrate too much on finding the right shoe, because guys shoes are pretty simple and bland

[Draugur]

In the Tsumihoroboshi-hen Sound Novel

Spoiler for minagoroshi-hen:

Rika, when talking to Rena at the hideout, says to her: "This syringe does not contain the drug that killed Tomitake". I'm a bit puzzled because this statement implies that Rika knows Tomitake was killed with a drug, and she even seems to know which drug it was (H173). How can she not know at this point, that Takano and the Yamainu were responsible for Tomitake's death? Or did she know they killed Tomitake, but not that they were going to kill her?

[Seronei]

Originally Posted by Draugur

In the Tsumihoroboshi-hen Sound Novel

Spoiler for minagoroshi-hen:

Rika, when talking to Rena at the hideout, says to her: "This syringe does not contain the drug that killed Tomitake". I'm a bit puzzled because this statement implies that Rika knows Tomitake was killed with a drug, and she even seems to know which drug it was (H173). How can she not know at this point, that Takano and the Yamainu were responsible for Tomitake's death? Or did she know they killed Tomitake, but not that they were going to kill her?

Tried explaining it. I feel like my sentences are kind of messy but I hope you see my point.

Spoiler:

It doesn't necessarily mean that Rika knew Tomitake got killed by some drug. Disagreeing with Rena doesn't really serve any purpose if she wants to get her to take the medicine. IIRC Rena was the one asking if it was the one that killed Tomitake so Rika downright denying there being a drug involved there would make Rena even more suspicious. (not that it changed anything)

[Draugur]

Thanks, this seems to be the best explanation.

[Draugur]

About Matsuribayashi-hen:

Spoiler for Matsuribayashi-hen:

When Tomitake says Takano was suffering from Hinamizawa Syndrome, are we supposed to believe she was suffering from it all the time since she came to Hinamizawa? Did the Syndrome influence her actions since then, making her commit crimes with the help of the Yamainu? Or did the Syndrome only affect her behaviour in the end of Matsuribayashi, when she knew she was defeated?

[Kantoku]

Originally Posted by Draugur

About Matsuribayashi-hen:

Spoiler for Matsuribayashi-hen:

When Tomitake says Takano was suffering from Hinamizawa Syndrome, are we supposed to believe she was suffering from it all the time since she came to Hinamizawa? Did the Syndrome influence her actions since then, making her commit crimes with the help of the Yamainu? Or did the Syndrome only affect her behaviour in the end of Matsuribayashi, when she knew she was defeated?

Spoiler for Basically:

Considering how everyone contracts the parasite that causes the Hinamizawa Syndrome upon entering the village, yes she has been suffering it as she was conducting research there but I don't think it actually influenced her actions since what she did was all part of her goal that she had as a young child. Given what she has gone through as well as her steely determination, she isn't one to react to stress easily (somewhat similar to Mion's situation where she is trained to know well how to handle her own stress for her future as the Sonozaki leader), and for the most part things were going pretty well up until all of her years' worth of work suddenly went down the drain in a single morning all because of a group of meddling kids