Though Hanyuu said that it was just a dream, I take it that the world Rika was in was definitely there. But even if it were Hanyuu playing a trick on Rika, it was indeed a pivotal one for Rika, on making her understand the importance of how one life is. Yet still, that IF possibility was very interesting!

Actually, that view is also expressed in the Otukaresama-kai. I also get the feeling that Hanyuu did that to teach Rika a lesson about life, that she shouldn't have taken things for granted.

It was quite intresting to see the real identity of Frederica finally revealed. Actually, in the beginning when Frederica started to "take over", I was afraid that the story would end as "It was all Rika's imagination. In the "real world"(the one she's in) she is not happy while everyone else is, thus she created all these worlds in her mind, where everyone else is miserable...which is the real truth about Rika respawning"...maybe it could've went in that direction, but I probably would've been really disappointed if that really happened.

It was also very intresting with the contrast of Reina vs Rena. In both worlds, they both had very good reasons as to why Rika should stay in their respective worlds. For the people who have finishing reading Saikoroshi-hen, which world would you perfer?

Let's think it from the other way. What IF what you said was true? That the "perfect world" was indeed the real world, and because Rika was unhappy with the real world, this triggered her L5 syndrome (or just phycological sickness), so she created hanyuu to be her dearest family/friend and in the end, under the words of hanyuu, she killed her mother? Afterwards she tries to escape the reality by creating alternative worlds in her mind. This will be an intersting interpretation, although not much supporting facts for it.

But it's interesting to note that in that "perfect" world, nobody has their "original percieved sin" in game.

K1 never assult the girl
Mion never switch place with her sister and taken her position
Rena didn't perceived that she's the reason her parents divorced
Satoko never pushed down and killed her parents
Takano is a happy girl that is not even in the chapter (This world is actually a part of the hidden piece #52? Maybe....)

In the end it was the "sinless" Rika that committed Sin in this chapter. (And I can always argue Rika was having mental instability like K1 did in the first chapter)

She herself destroyed that world and made that world imperfect, just to be back to the old world....

Like the story says, if Rika choose to stay in the "perfect world", then the previous worlds are just a dream. If she choose the old world, then the "perfect world" is just a dream.

What world would you have choosen? For me I would have choosen the perfect world. I think the major reason would be i can't bring myself to commit that "sin"...

Well even if all the worlds are not Rika's imagination, all these are just 07-san's creative imagination lol.

Anyway Higurashi is an entertaining series, and glad this chapter maintain that entertainment :)

The reason why Hanyuu can't enter the world is that Rika's mother is still alive (and she being the real reincarnation of oyashirosama), right? However, recall that Rika has claimed that "everytime when the world starts again, Hanyuu is always there to tell me about the world". That might work for all the worlds, but what about Himatsubushi-hen? That took place while dam war was still going on, and her parents were still alive...

I haven't read Saikoroshihen, but to answer your question:
TIPs indicate that Rika has been able to see Hanyuu ever since she was born, so it can't be that she can't coexist with the physical existence of Rika's mother.

The reason that Hanyuu gave that she couldn't come into the Saikoroshi-hen world was not because Rika's parents were alive, but it was because in that world, Rika's mother was the eighth decendant - not Rika.

For a IF world, Saikoroshi-hen is probably the most revealing of all. I think everything pretty much already speaks for itself when we realize the fact that the reverse of everything we have come to know and love is actually a sinless world. Just like the puzzle game in Matsuribayashi suggested, many sins are required in order for Rika to live on with all of her friends. The Saikoroshi-hen world showed us just how "miserable" things would be if no one ever commited any sins, but lived on "happily" instead.

As for the story itself... I almost bawled together with Rika in the beginning. :(

But the delinquent dark Rika was a little moe. :heh:

A personal highlight was the portrayal of the mental confusion going on between her Bernkastel personality and her role as Furude Rika in the Saikoroshi-hen world. I really felt Rika's fear here about losing her own self.

Personally, I think the climax of the story was that last long conversation between Rika and Hanyuu before Rika made her decision. A lot of what was said there really reflected deeply on the morality of Rika's own journey.

The final scene with everyone around Rika's bed was quite nice as well. It reminded me of just how much I love everyone in Higurashi.

Hanyuu is simply stunning. I love characters that normally acts childish, but is still capable of becoming deadly serious and philosophical when needed. The gap really makes them lovable for me.

In the end, I think Hanyuu probably just wanted Rika to learn about the importance of her own choices, as well as her own life, probably as some kind of redemption. Whether or not the whole thing was just a dream, well, that's probably not important. After all, it's just like Rika said, she was practically sacrificing the lives of many people, including her parents, evertime she chooses to "restart" her own life into another world where their death is predetermined.

Yeah, in all the other worlds, the fact that "Rika is the reincarnation of Oyashirosama" remained unchanged. That's why Rika was always able to communicate with Hanyuu. But in Saikoroshi-hen's world, Rika's mother was the 8th decendant, not Rika. And like Hanyuu said to Rika through the crystal, the Hanyuu in Saikoroshi-hen's world has already completed her existence after living out a full life with Rika's mother.

The only way to allow Rika's Hanyuu into Saikoroshi-hen's world is to erase the fact that "a reincarnation of Oyashirosama already exists". By killing Rika's mom, the fact that "Rika's mom was the reincarnation" will disappear (since nobody but Rika's mom knows about it).

The original world, no doubt about it.

Of course, I'll admit a part of it is because there's no way a sudden parallel world can win against the years of affection I have developed for the Higurashi world and characters. :heh:

But Rena's metaphor in the end about the greenhouse flower vs wild flower is very true as well. If having lived through a harsh past has made you a wiser and stronger person in the end, then there's no reason to think of that history as shameful or regrettable.


In the end, it's all down to this though:

Original Satoko = Awesome moe moe loli tsundere who's truly mature on the inside *love*
Saikoroshi-hen's Satoko = I cheered when Rika socked her, 'nuff said. :heh:

Interesting viewpoint there. although from what I've gathered here you're going by bias then from what Rena actually meant about greenhouse flowers (something sheltered from the harshness of the world) and wild flowers (something who has experienced the pain/cruelty/harshness of reality and retains their vitality). I for one beleive that not regretting the past is very important, because it shapes you as a person. However, here we have the main characters who have gone about there lives and not gone through those painful times. I really find it funny though how some people cheer for the happiness of the characters, but it must be under a certain criteria for the audience to feel fulfilled.

Mind you, this is not an attack on you, but a statement I'm trying to make. when you wish for someone else's happiness, if they are happy then your wish is fulfilled. So technically, if you scoff at this world then you aren't really wishing for the happiness of the characters in this world, you'd be saying, "as long as they went through all of the pain they went through in the past, I'll cheer them on, and if not, then they don't matter to me." Also, if you believe that all the characters, no matter what crimes they committed or how they acted in each arc in the storyline are the same, then it should be the same about these characters in this world. Otherwise its kinda a half-hearted wish.

Its not really regretting the past by accepting a world like this but accepting that the "wish for happiness came true."
All that said, I'm really enjoying the storyline so far and I Do like the characters as they are, but if my friends were truly happy why would I find the need to change that just to fulfill my own desires?

I read through all Saikogoroshi-hen and I didn't know Rika finished killing her mother! That ****ing translator sucks D=< Could someone tell me how Rika killed her mother, and when? I did read the part when she realized the "Kakera" was inside her mother's chest, though