Higurashi Sotsu - Anime Episode Discussion Thread (All Higurashi spoilers OK)

[blitz1/2]

Originally Posted by Kanon

So it turns out everything was exactly as it seemed. Even the phone call made by Shion where she asked Keiichi for confirmation they really went inside the shed (which doesn't really make sense) was really made by her and not Mion. To me, this is no more than a complete waste of time. The worst part is that it looks like they're going to drag this out for at least two more episodes.

Two episodes, I would say several arcs lol

[Natsurin]

I've been trying to hold off judgement for Gou and Sotsu until the end of the whole "mystery", but each episode adds to the feeling that Higurashi fairly lost its meaning and is now just a shitshow of "what happens if everything went wrong in Hinamizawa worse than it did before and now there's someone creepily smirking at everything that's going on to indicate how evil they have become".

It's been pretty complicated hard keeping up immersion and whatnot when you see Satoko stalking around places with red eyes and you're expected to take it seriously when it's a few times per episode. The Answers Arc of the original Higu still kept the atmosphere of the Questions Arc and added to the dramatic and tragic factor of the whole story rather than the ridiculousness of Satoko's sociopathic ordeal.

Revealing Satoko as the culprit so early on might have been a bad mood on the storytelling part of things, namely because - even with hinting - Miyo wasn't revealed until Minagoroshi-hen, so during the Answers Arc you still had an element of mystery and the feeling that the story wouldn't end just there. Whereas here, selling Satoko as the culprit - soon to be a full season ago - and taking so much time going over her motives and what happened before Nekodamashi-hen, when it can really just be summed up as "Satoko went and injected someone again!" just makes every episode feel like it's dragging the series on until we actually get back into the real action.

I do realise it's not supposed to be the same as the original Higurashi, but it just doesn't feel as well-paced and the whole "hinting to ties with Umineko and Ciconia" isn't helping the series much in my opinion.

[Kanon]

You hit the nail on the head. We've been told who the culprit is, what her motives are, and how she commits her crimes. What's the point of going over her past crimes? The show should shift its focus to resolving her conflict with Rika. And maybe build a connection with Umineko.

[FlareKnight]

I could repeat the same thoughts each week...and probably will. It just isn't very engaging because they gave all the secrets too early. There was a reason to do Takano's background right before the final struggle. It set up the tension nicely and made her motivations clear before it was time to get right to it. Repeating what was done before isn't necessarily the right thing to do. But this shows why doing things the way they did originally worked. Even while getting answers there were questions and reasons to speculate and be engaged.

Honestly I think the Keiichi vs Rena stabbing fest in the first arc covered why this show is happening. Just for the sake of over the top violence and gore. That's why we're dragging through these pointless episodes. The only thing that matters is getting caught up to where they were when this series of flashback arcs began. Satoko pulling the gun on Rika and company. And seeing where things go from there.

[Jan-Poo]

I feel like I just watched a recap episode with some extra scenes.

I still think this would be a lot different if these answer arcs actually showed something unexpected, but it's like the underlying theme of this whole new series is: "I knew you were expecting a lot of unreliable narrator tricks, so this time I'm surprising you by having no such tricks at all."

But if the culprit is already revealed and there's practically nothing to explain about the "question" arcs because everything is exactly as it appeared the first time we watched it, there isn't that much to narrate other than showing a different perspective.

[MeoTwister5]

The only thing this episode confirms is that Shion's dead and every appearance of a twin after Watanagashi was Mion. The suspense is dead because the rest of the arc will feel like an afterthought.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Alrite guys, wake me up when the show finally decide to follow up on Satoko pointing a gun at our gang, okay.

[blitz1/2]

Again, this is my opinion of what should happen in Gou. It should be Rika looping in arcs in her NEW school, and have that be the new setting, rather than revisiting Hinamizawa again.

Though, I can understand Satoko's end game in a way, (destroying all her character development in the older arcs), how is being rekilled in Hinamizawa supposed to make Rika WANT to stay there?

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by blitz1/2

Though, I can understand Satoko's end game in a way, (destroying all her character development in the older arcs), how is being rekilled in Hinamizawa supposed to make Rika WANT to stay there?

By making her think what she's going through is punishment for leaving Hinamizawa. It even almost worked.

[AC-Phoenix]

So Chie-Sensei for next culprit?
That being said, was that actually Mion cooking there? I honestly expected it to be Shion until Mion pulled her hair down...
So wait... Does that mean Shion is the horrible cook ?

[MCAL]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ORMatENfAE&t=4s
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jjyf61it6g...%20HD.mp4?dl=0

Latest interview with Ryukishi07 and the seiyuus about Sotsu/Gou. Some interesting stuff being said here so people should give it a listen.

[Jan-Poo]

Well, no surprises this time either, we pretty much figured out what happened. Well the only thing that I wasn't really sure about were all those people tailing Mion and friends, so no we know they were Ooishi's men. It makes sense when you consider that Kimiyoshi disappeared after telling he was going to the Sonozaki's.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

Well, no surprises this time either, we pretty much figured out what happened. Well the only thing that I wasn't really sure about were all those people tailing Mion and friends, so no we know they were Ooishi's men. It makes sense when you consider that Kimiyoshi disappeared after telling he was going to the Sonozaki's.

Yeah, I thought they were yamainu who either figured out that Satoko stole the bioweapon, or they wanted to catch the L5 specimen. Because when Keiichi saw them in the security camera, they were wearing the baseball caps. But this makes sense too

Latest interview with Ryukishi07 and the seiyuus about Sotsu/Gou. Some interesting stuff being said here so people should give it a listen.

Somehow I get the feeling that from the beginning, he decided not to write any deep mystery. Because it's an anime, he must have figured that pulp fanfiction would be better received?

[MCAL]

It's kind of funny with the writing lagging behind, but the direction in Sotsu has been really excellent so far.

[Kanon]

They spent some much time on Rina in the previous arc even though she's a pointless character. You'd think they would have used this arc to tell us Mion's backstory which was never covered in the original anime, but nope. Just her going on a murder spree with little to no insight on her mindset.

Rika getting killed because Mion saw her venting her frustrations and going all Bernkastel on Keiichi was hilarious. Satoko being comically evil makes me dread what will happen next even more. It's obvious the story will try to redeem her, but that's going to be as retarded as her becoming a psychopath who takes enjoyment in tormenting her friends (what she did to Mion was needlessly cruel).

Gou and Sotsu were a mistake. I have no idea why people are loving them so much. To me it has reached trainwreck status a long time ago, I keep watching to see how much worse it can get, and I'm confident they won't disappoint on that front.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I have no idea why people are loving them so much.

There are people that love them? It certainly doesn't seem a common opinion here. Personally I smelled a trainwreck already by the time we saw Rena and K1 attacking each other, so I never really had high expectations.

I'm still dedicated to the franchise enough that I'm willing to go through this series, to see where it's going and what Ryuukishi has in mind for it, and anyway it's not like I think it's awful and unwatchable, just mediocre and not particularly inspired. Still a lot better than the abomination that was Higurashi Kira.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

There are people that love them? It certainly doesn't seem a common opinion here. Personally I smelled a trainwreck already by the time we saw Rena and K1 attacking each other, so I never really had high expectations.

I'm still dedicated to the franchise enough that I'm willing to go through this series, to see where it's going and what Ryuukishi has in mind for it, and anyway it's not like I think it's awful and unwatchable, just mediocre and not particularly inspired. Still a lot better than the abomination that was Higurashi Kira.

I have seen some positive reception to it in other places so I can agree with being surprised it has as much popularity as it has gotten. I think it started out with potential, but has been heading down trainwreck territory for a while. Just a bad idea that actively hurts the overall franchise rather than doing anything good for it. A reminder that sometimes the ending you get is better than a potentially bad sequel.

At this point I'm just following along to see how it turns out. Probably not a good idea since I'm bracing for a painful attempt to redeem Satoko. It was painful when they tried to garner sympathy for Takano originally. But that was a piece of cake compared to this. I don't think there's any way to do it well and I hope they don't try.

[MeoTwister5]

The less we speak of Kira the better.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I have seen some positive reception to it in other places so I can agree with being surprised it has as much popularity as it has gotten. I think it started out with potential, but has been heading down trainwreck territory for a while. Just a bad idea that actively hurts the overall franchise rather than doing anything good for it. A reminder that sometimes the ending you get is better than a potentially bad sequel.

At this point I'm just following along to see how it turns out. Probably not a good idea since I'm bracing for a painful attempt to redeem Satoko. It was painful when they tried to garner sympathy for Takano originally. But that was a piece of cake compared to this. I don't think there's any way to do it well and I hope they don't try.

By now, I truly wish my joke about Beato coming out and keckling the living sh** out of Satoko would come true...

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

Still a lot better than the abomination that was Higurashi Kira.

At least Higurashi Kira was fun & funny as intended (to me at least).

This new Higurashi is neither scary nor deep nor well-written even though the show aimed to be that way. Heck, the artwork actually looks worse than previous entries in many places. Unless the ending blew away my mind (in a good way), this whole thing just looks like a gory mess.