Higurashi Episode 8 Discussion / Poll

[kj1980]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Higurashi no Naku Koroni, Episode 8.

Thread Guidelines

• No telling or asking for RAWs.
• Try to keep spoilers from the Game or Manga out of the anime thread. If you need to in reply to someone with a reference to the Game / Manga, either PM them or use Spoiler tags (see example below).
• Discuss your expectations of the episode if not aired.
• Be polite to your fellow forum members.
• Try to keep the discussion on topic and future episode spoilers out of the thread whenever possible.

Spoiler Tag Usage

Using Spoiler Tags is easy. Using this...

[spoiler=title]Don't forget to use the spoiler title[/spoiler]

....will get you this...

Spoiler for title:

Don't forget to use the spoiler title

ADDITIONAL RULES FOR Higurashi no Naku Koroni

• Make sure you read the English wikipedia article for Higurashi no Naku Koroni before you ask questions!!!
  
• Feel free to share your theories and speculations. In fact, I encourage you to do so as this is what makes this series interesting.
  
• I am designating Sushi-Y and Freakman to lead the discussion in the correct path without spoilers as they have played the game in advance. I put confidence in them that they will recognize a member has spilled the beans too far if any other members has begun to play the game.
  
• SPOILERS FAR ADVANCED THAN THE CURRENT AIRED ANIME EPISODE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. THIS INCLUDES THOSE IN SPOILER TAGS!!!. People tend to peek at spoiler tags; especially when they do not know such tag is meant for the episode, only to find it spilling the beans too far advanced in the game storyline.

[Circular Logic]

Well, the finale of Watanagashi-hen seems to be set to be a good one.

*Circular_Logic rubs hands expectantly.

[kj1980]

Well by looking at the caps up on 2chan, I guess it is safe to say that Rika's suicide at the beginning of Ep. 5 was a prelude to the Watanagashi-hen's answer chapter, Meakashi-hen. So, quite a long time until we get there until most people learn the tricks and answers for this chapter.

Next week is Tatarigoroshi-hen. I feel depressed already.

[Newprimus]

Erhm, after that little blooper apparently, I think I'll reword my speculations.

Spoiler:

I used to think it was Mion pretending to be Shion during the warehouse, but the more I thought about it, and especially after ep 7, I really couldn't tell who was who anymore. It could really have been Mion going nuts by the end of Watanagashi (I really loved the crazy bits, btw, even moreso than Rena's in the first arc ) or it could've been Shion.

One thing that seems to be pegging it as Mion going nuts and Shion being the one to die from apparently throwing herself off her apartment, is that if they had really switched, the police officers would've seen Mion's tattoo on the back of her body.

Either the series decided to not show that, or another possibility is that Shion found a way to get rid of Mion's tattoo from Mion's body.

Or something that could've happened---though a bit more supernatural than I'm comfortable with at this point---is that they somehow performed a real switcheroo and Shion and Mion switched bodies. But maybe the demon tattoo is more than just a decoration symbolizing the heir to the Sonozaki house, but has real power. So when Shion takes over, the demon takes over her and makes her go totally balls-nuts.

Aaarrrg, this is mystifying!!!

[Sushi-Y]

Well, well, this is better. Since this final episode only had to cover the final day of Watanagashi-hen (+ epilogue), it didn't feel nearly as rushed as the others.

There were some nicely done moments, but some not so nicely done moments as well. I'll note them in the highlight:

Spoiler for Episode 8 highlight:

Just like the game, the day started with Keiichi and Rena deciding to confront Mion once and for all.

"I don't think anyone has reprimanded Keiichi-kun yet, so I'll reprimand Keiichi-kun instead."

Rena knows that Keiichi has been feeling guilty for breaking into the equipment chamber, more so when people started dying, that's why, by reprimanding him, she's knows it'll make him feel a little better.

I think this scene was the decisive moment that proved Rena as a true friend of Keiichi's. It's also proof of Rena's thoughtfulness and kindness.
-------------------------------

"Have you no shame!?"

Rena angry. (’ ・ω・`) Again, a serious side of Rena that most people probably didn't think existed.
-------------------------------

(Nice expressions)

Mion's confession scene, in general, was well done, however, two things that were slightly disappointing for me:

1) Mion's tone and expressions were far too tense and aggressive. Mion was supposed to talk in a polite, calm voice with an empty, sad look on her face.
2) They took a 30-minutes confession scene and shortened it down to... 3 minutes? As a result, many interesting stories, including the history of the Sonozaki family, the recovery of Hinamizawa after WWII, and the canned human meat incident were all left out.
-------------------------------

Yukino Satsuki's great talent shows off here. I wonder what it feels like to watch a scene where you're speaking over your own screaming (she's the voice actress for both Mion and Shion). ^^;

By the way, the anime left out some good clues here (again), so I'll point them out here:

1) In the game, when Shion (in the cell) saw Mion, she called her "Onee" (big sis), so for those of you who's thinking about the whole twins swap theory, there's a clue.
2) The reason why Mion kept Shion alive was because she was saving her until the end. Mion wanted to kill her in a best, most painful way after forcing her to watch the death of all the other captives first.
-------------------------------
Nicely done moment #1

"If Mion's demon can be calmed by this, then go ahead until you're satisifed."

"But in exchange, promise me two things. First, let Shion go."
"Coming this far, you're still more worried about Shion than yourself?"

"And second, give that body back to Mion... That's all."

"Haven't you thought about begging for your life or anything like that?"

"Well then, third, don't kill me."

"Hahaha... You said two in the beginning, so it's too late now."

"That's a pity then." (In the game, they then laughed. "It felt almost as if this was another club activity")
-------------------------------
Nicely done moment #2

"I probably can't keep the promises, since I'm a demon."

"But, It's okay for me to listen to just that third wish just now."
"Eh?"

"About saving Shion, that's impossible now. Shion is going to be killed by the demon, so it can't be stopped anymore. Give it up."

"Give this body back to Mion, that's also impossible now."


"I'm sorry... for dirtying Mion."

"No matter what happens, the Mion inside me will never change."

"But forget about me. After today, even if you see me again, don't come close, okay? Because that's the demon who will have possessed my corpse."

Ok ok, stop.
----------------------
Now then, the biggest sin of this episode:

The doll's missing. The doll's missing.

Keiichi spent all his money and bought an identical doll, hoping he would see Mion again one more time before he moves so that he can give it to her. And just when he finally got his chance...

The scene in the manga, showing the doll bloodied by Keiichi's blood, and Keiichi trying to wipe the blood off the doll, only making it more bloody. All the while Mion's psychotic laugh rings in the background... That was one of the most emotional scenes in the entire story. Really, what were the anime composers thinking? (`・ω・´)

The epilogue was rushed over as well. In the end, we learned that Mion has been found at the bottom of the well dead on the day that the police saved Keiichi and Shion (3 days before she appeared and stabbed Keiichi) (flashback: "After today, even if you see me again, don't come close, okay? Because that's the demon who will have possessed my corpse.").

But the lack of portrayal of Shion's unstable mental condition after she was rescued and placed in a safe house was another disappointment. Her bodyguard could hear her arguing with herself in her room, almost "as if Shion and Mion was having an argument", and finally, Shion suiciding at around the same time Keiichi got stabbed. All of this are important clues that should've been mentioned.

Now then... Tatarigoroshi-hen next week. My favorite chapter featuring my favorite character (Satoko), boy I hope they can pull it off well.

Why do I get a feeling like they're going to cut out the whole baseball competition thing? Hate mails will fly if they do.

[MakubeX2]

I actually prefer the finale of Watanagashi-hen in the manga where....

Spoiler:

Shion crawls up to Keichi after he wakes up in the hospital.

Why didn't they animate that ?

[chrno_the_sinner]

Originally Posted by MakubeX2

I actually prefer the finale of Watanagashi-hen in the manga where....

Spoiler:

Shion crawls up to Keichi after he wakes up in the hospital.

Why didn't they animate that ?

I've decided to come out of lurker mode to (a) finally discuss the series and (b) say "OH MY GOD THAT IS ONE OF THE FREAKIEST, SCARIEST THINGS THAT I HAVE SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!"

Thank you. I'll post more when I actually see the episode... but I think I'll probably love it.

[Mei Hikari]

I clicked the show button and almost fell out of my chair.

Thanks a lot, man.

[Sushi-Y]

Originally Posted by MakubeX2

I actually prefer the finale of Watanagashi-hen in the manga

Why didn't they animate that ?

Hey, at least they animated *something*. I wanted my doll scene!

Spoiler:

[Moogster]

Originally Posted by MakubeX2

I actually prefer the finale of Watanagashi-hen in the manga where....

Spoiler:

Shion crawls up to Keichi after he wakes up in the hospital.

Why didn't they animate that ?

damn man that freaked me out..

[paTKany]

AAaaaarghhhh... and KYAaaaaaaaahhh...
Teh horrorr...

Spoiler:

Beware of the nails...

10/10

[Eleutheria]

Gawd, that scared the hell out of me.

My speculations concerning the episode + some questions:

Spoiler:

The girl who threw herself out of the apartment was Shion. She was probably visited by zombie-oni Mion and tried to escape through the window.

Did Oishi-san really say that Takano-san "was already dead" when Keiichi visited the warehouse, and that Mion's body was found in the mass burial mound? I listened to it twice but didn't quite catch it.

Now we have a good explanation for Rena's psycho moods in Onikakushi-hen. Merely a function of her detective abilities manifesting. At the very least she got away with no injuries in this act.

Rika-chan, Satoko-chan Well we saw a preview of how Rika will die, but I hate to think of how the demon did away with Satoko....

Is Mion schizophrenic? Or did a demon take on Mion's form and do everything? I really don't want a supernatural explanation to all this, but if it is the work of humans, then it is all the more horrible.

Regarding Sushi-Y's commentary:

Spoiler:

1) In the game, when Shion (in the cell) saw Mion, she called her "Onee" (big sis), so for those of you who's thinking about the whole twins swap theory, there's a clue.

We already know Mion is the older sister, but please...don't tell me they are triplets.

In the end, we learned that Mion has been found at the bottom of the well dead on the day that the police saved Keiichi and Shion

I guess I could explain both Keiichi's thumb torture and Shion's apparent suicide in the epilogue by way of mental hallucinations... Shion by virtue of amazing torture and Keiichi by parallel-universe medical history. But it isn't satisfying.

[Paracelsus]

But still I do not get all this urge to nail Keiichi's little finger >.>

[SickC]

After watching this episode, I have some questions/assumptions:

Spoiler:

1.What if the burned body that police found was NOT Takano's?
It is not very hard to make a fake, after all...
If the assumption is true, then Takano faked her death and was still well alive in somewhere else. (Since her behaver in Ep 6 I don't quite believe everything about her)

2.If Mion was already dead after K1 was rescued, and there was not some supernatural/zombie thing, then the one who stabbed K1 in the night was Shion.
Then if Shion is the one who is crazy, can I say Shion killed Mion because she wanted to take over the Sonozaki family? Anyway, we haven't see their back(and of course the tattoo)

3.In Onikakushi, we see K1 might have some paranoia, so the Zombie Mion thing might be his hallucination. This time the talk with Oishi in the hospital could be the "trigger" for the paranoia.

Anyway, a great episode, 10/10

[MarmoO]

Spoiler:

As I remember the only way to recognize nurse's body was to check her dental record, it wouldn’t have been too hard to just change documents. But for what reason? With this episode I’m pretty sure Shion changed places with Mion, but I can’t find out what lies behind her behavior, if it wasn’t real Oni then it must have been some really strong psychotropic. If so, I would bet a nurse is still alive (we didn’t see a doctor in this episode...)
And what Shion has done to poor Mion. Mion was so frightened... Good thing Rena is at least alive... 10 points

[Sushi-Y]

Originally Posted by Eleutheria

Spoiler:

The girl who threw herself out of the apartment was Shion. She was probably visited by zombie-oni Mion and tried to escape through the window.

Did Oishi-san really say that Takano-san "was already dead" when Keiichi visited the warehouse, and that Mion's body was found in the mass burial mound? I listened to it twice but didn't quite catch it.

Now we have a good explanation for Rena's psycho moods in Onikakushi-hen. Merely a function of her detective abilities manifesting. At the very least she got away with no injuries in this act.

Rika-chan, Satoko-chan Well we saw a preview of how Rika will die, but I hate to think of how the demon did away with Satoko....

Is Mion schizophrenic? Or did a demon take on Mion's form and do everything? I really don't want a supernatural explanation to all this, but if it is the work of humans, then it is all the more horrible.

Spoiler:

Takano, according to the coroners, has already been dead for 24 hours before her burnt body was discovered in the mountains of Gifu soon after the festival. In other words, Takano would've been "already dead" on the day of Watanagashi festival.

Mion's dead body was discovered at the bottom of the hidden underground well, along with the other victims (the Chief, Rika, Satoko, etc.). The coroners placed her time of death at around the same time the police broke in and rescued Keiichi and Shion.

As for Rika and Satoko, if you want a glimpse of what Meakashi-hen will be like, take a look at the MAD video I mentioned in this post.

As for you last question, that's what they want you to think about. Is this the work of man? Or is Oyashirosama the one at work here?

Originally Posted by Eleutheria

Regarding Sushi-Y's commentary:

Spoiler:

We already know Mion is the older sister, but please...don't tell me they are triplets.

Oh, dear no, that's not what I mean.

Spoiler:

Let me put it this way: what if Shion called Mion "Shion" instead? What would that mean? Obviously, it would mean that they have swapped places and that "Shion" inside the cell was actually Mion.

But since Shion called Mion "Onee", what does that suggest? You figure it out from there.

Originally Posted by SickC

After watching this episode, I have some questions/assumptions:

Spoiler:

1.What if the burned body that police found was NOT Takano's?
It is not very hard to make a fake, after all...
If the assumption is true, then Takano faked her death and was still well alive in somewhere else. (Since her behaver in Ep 6 I don't quite believe everything about her)

2.If Mion was already dead after K1 was rescued, and there was not some supernatural/zombie thing, then the one who stabbed K1 in the night was Shion.
Then if Shion is the one who is crazy, can I say Shion killed Mion because she wanted to take over the Sonozaki family? Anyway, we haven't see their back(and of course the tattoo)

3.In Onikakushi, we see K1 might have some paranoia, so the Zombie Mion thing might be his hallucination. This time the talk with Oishi in the hospital could be the "trigger" for the paranoia.

Spoiler:

1. Well, assuming you're right, where will you go from there?

At the very least, keep that possibility in your mind.

2. But remember, Shion was found dead the same night Keiichi was stabbed. She fell from the balcony of her safe-house 8 stories (I think?) above the ground. Shion's own bodyguard outside the door at the time reported hearing arguments coming from Shion's suite, and that it sounded like the sisters were arguing with each other, just like the old times (the bodyguard has been with the Sonozaki sisters since they were little). By the time the bodyguard and the landlord entered the room, the room was a mess, and Shion had already fallen off the balcony.

Of course, the most logical thing would be to think that Mion was there, and that she pushed Shion off the balcany. However, we also know that Mion was already long dead by that time, so there was no way she could've been there to push Shion off the balcony... Unless Mion was right and her corpse was really possessed by the demon.

For this reason, combined with Shion's unstable mental condition, the police believed that suicide was the most likely reason for Shion's death.

Ahh, really, there were a lot of interesting clues that the anime left out. For example, the police also recovered a broken syringe from Rika's body. Obviously, it's not something you'd usually walk around with, especially not when you're only trying to get some soy sauce from a neighbour, so what could it be? (By the way, the police wasn't able to tell what was contained inside the syringe)

3. That's certainly possible. By the way, in the game, by the time the bloody Mion showed up beside Keiichi's bed, he wasn't surprised at all anymore, in fact, he was even trying to make jokes with Mion about him being the 3rd "walking dead".

[Paracelsus]

If I got that video right, then

Spoiler:

Shion pushed Mion outside the window, then kept with the ownage dressed like Mion >.>...but come to think of it...Makube's manga posted pic clearly said that was Shion the "zombie" in the hospital...so like, wtf <.<;;;

And poor Satoko -___-

[physics223]

I want to ask: is wind (fansubbers) okay enough for you? I'm waiting for Ayu, but they're too slow. Their quality is great - I can even say through the roof.

[monir]

Originally Posted by physics223

I want to ask: is wind (fansubbers) okay enough for you? I'm waiting for Ayu, but they're too slow. Their quality is great - I can even say through the roof.

That is something you have to judge for yourself. I personally think they are pretty good and subbing sensibly in accordance to the nuance of the show. Not bad for a new group.

[Rasuberi]

Originally Posted by Sushi-Y

Hey, at least they animated *something*. I wanted my doll scene!

Spoiler:

That is one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen. <3 Ah, it would have been lovely if the animated it. >__<; I loved the scenes with terrified Shion. I really like Yukino Satsuki too... I hope she doesn't go insane after acting these two lovely insane twins. ^__^;