Higurashi Gou - Anime Episode Discussion Thread (OG/Kai spoilers OK)

[The Green One]

Just because she has a reason to do it, doesn't mean it's a good one. Killing your "friend" and torturing her into practical insanity over and over again just so you can relive the good old days forever and never have to actually face reality and grow up and except that life changes is not exactly the signs of a healthy mind/mindset.

[Kanon]

Other than perhaps an after credit scene, I'm not expecting any Umineko tie-in. Featherine, if she will even be called that, will be her own character anchored in Higurashi's story and related to Hanyu. Mainly because there really isn't time to introduce all the Umineko concepts.

[The Green One]

Well Satoko had to get her supernatural power from somewhere, I imagine explaining how she started looping will be the limit of the Umineko stuff.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by The Green One

Just because she has a reason to do it, doesn't mean it's a good one. Killing your "friend" and torturing her into practical insanity over and over again just so you can relive the good old days forever and never have to actually face reality and grow up and except that life changes is not exactly the signs of a healthy mind/mindset.

Of course there's no justified reasoning for that. I was just hoping that Satoko's reasoning to do all that is less......mundane.

Heck, you can almost say that her reasoning is "first-world problem" which could've been solved in a couple of different & healthy ways (as long as Satoko herself is willing to).

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by BWTraveller

As for Satoko never trying to befriend the other girls, to be fair the girls didn't try all that hard to befriend her either. The moment she didn't demonstrate the prim and proper behaviors dictated by the school they jump back and call her vulgar and uncouth. No kindness or consideration for an outsider, just disdain for a girl who doesn't match their standards.

Remember that before they even did that, Satoko immediately dismissed them the very first time Rika invited her to tag along. Not only she didn't bother trying to socialize, but the way she declined was arguably not polite for the lack of better terms. They didn't really bat an eye and it is only when Satoko did it again with her trademark laugh that they started antagonizing her. Obviously the girls didn't try to befriend her but since they established the social interactions and never really had anything against Satoko, Satoko dig her own hole right there.

[Dark Wing]

I think people are forgetting that in the VN Shion explained that St Lucia isn't just a school for high class rich girls. It's also a reform school which is why the have a place violent delinquents on campus.

Also why is everyone being so dismissive of a possible Umineko connection? I actually like the idea...mostly because I like both series but I guess to each their own.

[Jan-Poo]

I agree on everything regarding Satoko's faults, but on the other hand I don't think Rika's behavior has been without flaws either.

Satoko is clearly in the wrong here, but if you are really friends with someone you don't just leave them to their own devices expecting them to sort their problems on their own, especially if you realize they are taking a wrong path. And while the best thing would have been for Satoko to socialize with everyone else, one should also recognize that there are people that simply can't enjoy being with several people at once and you can find some space in your time to be alone with them if you care. Well it's not like Satoko is an introvert, her problem is more like she doesn't enjoy those kind of people, but the concept is the same.

The bottom line here is that Rika and Satoko have fallen completely apart and Rika isn't quite showing any particular effort to remedy that. As a person she's not doing anything wrong, but as Satoko's friend, she should do better than that. And yeah I know that it's Satoko's that distanced herself from Rika, but that's the usual game. When a friend is angry at you and tells you that they don't want to see you, you are supposed to ignore the last part and try to talk to them, unless you are fine with the friendship ending.

That being said, that still doesn't justify even remotely what we have seen during the various loops.

[AC-Phoenix]

Well everything thus far went according to expectations.
Satoko being the culprit, i.E. Lamda, and Featherine appearing.

And, as a bonus we got a confirmation that Featherine and Hanyu are somehow related, as people already suspected due to her appearance. The question is just if she is a pissed off Hanyu, or Hanyu's daughter.
The horn doesn't seem to be Hanyu's at least as it had a socket right inside the statue, while we've already seen Hanyu outside of it.

What also went according to expectation is that Mion is still too shy for Keiichi, this is at least the vibe I got from Mion's reaction.

As for Keiichi himself... Well That outfit... For some reason I want to say "OMG HE turned into THAT guy" but can't find the right term for it...

The part I'm not getting is whether Mion, Rena and Keiichi are actually planning to return to Hinamizawa. I mean for Mion, it's not like she got a choice, right?
That being said, Hinamizawa is doomed to die out eventually, unlike it's real life counter part, it's not a great tourist location

As for Satoko:
Honestly, the moment she went too far was when she put up her booby trap. At her age she should have known that someone might get hurt when one drops a heavy object on their head.

Frankly, the teachers are actually quite nice in considering it a prank gone wrong, and showing her the consequences she'd get out in the real world.
I'm also not sure her grades were responsible for her getting put into the special class in the first place. While there is an indication, it only happened after her prank, and she did actually look like she was working hard, after she got put into the study hall club.

Before that:
*Satoko draws nothing but pictures in her notebook*
Satoko" I never thought class/studying could be this exhausting!"

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Frankly, the teachers are actually quite nice in considering it a prank gone wrong, and showing her the consequences she'd get out in the real world.
I'm also not sure her grades were responsible for her getting put into the special class in the first place. While there is an indication, it only happened after her prank, and she did actually look like she was working hard, after she got put into the study hall club.

Before that:
*Satoko draws nothing but pictures in her notebook*
Satoko" I never thought class/studying could be this exhausting!"

What kind of country do you live in where you get put in jail for lightly injuring someone?

Proper punishment would have been to suspend her or expel her.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Kanon

What kind of country do you live in where you get put in jail for lightly injuring someone?

Proper punishment would have been to suspend her or expel her.

Also it's possible to get in Jail for gross negligence, yeah. (the extend of a punishment is to be decided by the judge.)

Satoko's action here definitely fall under the term gross negligence, and frankly when she looked up that chandelier I instantly knew she would do a pan prank.
Note that said chandelier was rather high up, and all her pans were out of freaking METAL.
It was obvious from the get go that someone could get seriously hurt if a metal pan fell on their head from that height.

Frankly, my first suspicion was that Rika would be the one getting hurt there, rather than one of her friends.
And frankly, in real life, the girl would be on her way to the nearest hospital for a CT, just to make sure nothing worse than the wound and a light concussion happened.

And yes, a prank like that could actually get an adult into serious trouble.

The point here isn't how bad the girls injury actually is, but how bad it could have been, namely death.
And before you start, yes this prank could have actually resulted in a fatal injury.

And adult might also have to spend some time in a police holding cell for it, so yeah, they are kinda showing her the consequences...

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Proper punishment would have been to suspend her or expel her.

Yeah, there's not even a doubt about that. Suspension is definitely what normally would have happened in a real world scenario. That's what happens normally even when someone intentionally hurts another student.

[MeoTwister5]

What's the likelihood that Satoko was the one to remove the sword from the statue?

[Marina2]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

What's the likelihood that Satoko was the one to remove the sword from the statue?

Likely. But even if she did, she probably didn't realize small part of it broke and left over in the statue for Rika to find. How can she be sure that Rika won't suicide with it when she wasn't looking.

While we are at it.....let me quote myself from reddit:

Does everyone notice that Oyashiro-sama statue in the Saiguden (where Satoko found the horn) has both hands intact? This could be a hint that Satokowashi-hen are not the sequel/aftermath to the original Matsuribayashi-hen but it happens in a new world because in all Gou arcs so far, the hands of statue are always intact.

Also, if you take in consideration that every arc of Higurashi is a world that Rika lives through (until she died) and author has never created a new arc just to be a flashback before. It is very possible that Satokowashi-hen might be a new world as well.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Marina2

While we are at it.....let me quote myself from reddit:

It was also noted that the hand pose is reversed. The original has its right hand raised and its left hand lowered, meanwhile in this new series it has been consistently portrayed with the left hand raised and the right hand lowered.

However I checked the manga in watanagashihen and there the statue has the right hand raised as in the original, but it's intact. And then I checked the PC version of the VN with updated graphic and it's exactly like in the manga.

So in the end it's difficult to tell whether these changes have some meaning or if they are just how different people decided to portray the statue.

[Marina2]

Some new interesting information about Gou from Ryukishi07's interview. (You can consider these a hint)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Higurashino...bout_gou_from/
https://twitter.com/0707tosho/status...67683314425858

[The Creator]

I seriously doubt that's actually her. Seems more like a Ryukkishi troll than the real thing.

I still don't like the whole motive thing, seems way too much for the real reason behind it. Satoko is overacting a little to say the least


I sort of would have prefer a regular slice of life sequel in which we saw the characters grow and finally see if K1 ended up with Rena or Mion.

[Liddo-kun]

watched the scene where Satoko was put in prison, more than 5 times now. Always make me laugh when she says "aaaah!" - well deserved punishment.

and she has a great voice actress.

[Ayu-ayu]

Kanai Mika has done a lot of great roles over the years, but Satoko is one of her most dramatic.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Marina2

Some new interesting information about Gou from Ryukishi07's interview. (You can consider these a hint)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Higurashino...bout_gou_from/
https://twitter.com/0707tosho/status...67683314425858

Haha someone actually asked him to repeat something in red

[maximilianjenus]

yeah, and the thing that seemed the most like. alie, yet the most irrelevant one