I had my doubts at the end of Onikakushi-hen. Virtually nothing was explained, and it looked like a pair of batshit-insane chicks trying to kill an even batshittier-insaner guy who just kills them first. Then commits suicide. I knew there had to be more, so I kept watching. Watanagashi-hen seemed to be a rewind of Onikakushi-hen with different batshit-insane chicks killing different victims. More stuff was explained, but it still didn't fit together nicely. I figured after watching Tatarigoroshi-hen that it was starting to cycle through each character, making a different girl batshit-insane each time. Rika's corpse and the Great Hinamizawa disaster only added to the confusion. After watching Meakashi-hen, though, things started to make more sense. By this point, I had worked out a few things behind the time loop and Rika (though, of course, I didn't quite have it). Things began to make more sense, and I was intrigued, so I kept watching.
Well, what do you know? This anime is about friendship! Who would've guessed?
Tsumihoroboshi-hen had a different tone than the previous arcs, particularly toward the end. For the first time, we saw the friends working together instead of apart, and for the first time, we saw an arc with no major character deaths. Though they couldn't stop the fated disaster, they were one step closer.
Everytime, something went better, and the trust got stronger. Onikakushi-hen was averted when Keiichi talked it over with Mion, instead of coming to conclusions himself. Watanagashi-hen was averted when Keiichi gave the doll to Mion (although that's not really a trust issue so much as it is a luck issue). Tatarigoroshi-hen was averted when the friends persuaded Satoko herself to come to terms with her present situation and make the painful, but right, choice, instead of attempting to take matters into their own hands and kill Teppei. Tsumihoroboshi-hen was averted when Rena discussed her problems to Mion before she killed Rina and Teppei. Finally, the cast had come to terms with their own demons, and had learned to confide in each other as a friends, true friends. Now, finally, they could begin to fight fate, as we saw in Minagoroshi-hen.
So many animes focus on the power of friendship, but not many of them look at the other side of the spectrum. It doesn't always work out. When friendship breaks down, the results can be disastrous. Minor misunderstandings cause people to jump to erroneous conclusions, and without lines of communication to friends, things spiral out of control. Keiichi's lines as he remembered Onikakushi-hen and Rena's lines as she held her cleaver over Keiichi really hit it home; things fall apart when you lose trust.
And even then, the friendship was not enough. I really appreciated the fact that the "OMG We need to trust each other!!" revelation didn't magically fix things. The Great Hinamizawa disaster still happens. Even with the entire cast working together to protect Rika, they still lose. That scene at the end of Minagoroshi-hen, where Takano blows everyone's brains out at her leisure, really stuck with me. Takano was no run-of-the-mill villain. She had everything on the line; her life, her legacy, and her dream, and damned if she was going to let something like friendship take that away from her. She had seen life and humanity at its worst. She had seen her friends torn away from her and killed. And so it's no surprise that her determination is just as superhuman as Keiichi and co. Takano was favored to win, and so the cast needed to use anything and everything they had to stop her. If a
single thing had gone wrong, it would have all been over. The perfect execution of a perfect plan: that was awesome.
I've seen a lot of people say that the second season is worse, as the second season doesn't have the action and suspense of the first. I can't really agree, and I don't really think it's a fair comparison. The first season was the set-up and character development, where the viewer is presented with the mystery and we learn about all of the individual characters (with the exception of Rika). The second season is the climax and conclusion, revealing the answers and wrapping it all up. The 2nd season lacked the horror and gore that was so prevalent in the 1st, true, but that didn't make it any worse. The point of Higurashi is not just to be "an epic psychokiller-loli-gorefest." It's sort of like Elfen Lied; some people watch it for the bodies, and some people refuse to watch it because of the bodies. If you can just get past the damned bodies and look deeper, there's something more.
Saikoroshi-hen in the OVA was an interesting concept. If you had the option to go back in time and fix all of the mistakes you ever made, would you? If you could go back and get your parents to stay together...prevent your friends from going into drugs and alcohol, and maybe even suicide...ask out that girl you liked before she started dating that abusive jerk...things that may have been impossible to forsee at the time, but preventable in 20/20 hindsight...would you? It's a difficult question. On one hand, it's true that hardships make you stronger, more aware, and more grateful for what you have, just as Rena stated at the end of it. But on the other, some of those decisions affect others, too; how can we be the judge of that? I suppose ultimately, Rena is still right; humans can't, and aren't meant to, make that sort of decision. We are not the dealers of fate. We simply play the hand we are dealt the best we can. If we can do that, that's enough.
On an unrelated note, I think it would positively
suck to go into an alternate reality and find out that you were a complete bitch, and have to deal with a reputation you didn't earn. I also think it was a bit excessive for Hanyuu to tell Rika she got freaking
beheaded (projection of fantasy on Hanyuu's part? @_@ She must not be happy with all of the crap Rika gives her...Watch your back, Rika-chama...). Poor Rika!
On the other hand, Rika owning Satoko was priceless.
That said, I still had my complaints. The deformed faces got a bit old after a while, and it diverted my attention; also, the voices didn't always match the face. Shion's ladder scene in Watanagashi/Meakashi-hen, for example, showed her with a WTF-batshit face, but a low, menacing voice, and I feel it would have been better to just show her hair + shadow over her eyes and the ladder trembling in her hands. The music, as well, didn't always fit the mood, especially during the really intense, fast-paced scenes. I listened to some of the original BGM, and I agree that it would have been more appropriate to use that in some cases. On the topic of the game, I didn't know just how much was taken out until I perused the forums here. I was still able to enjoy the anime, but it looks like I missed out on those "extra touches" that make it that much better (like the time-stopped bullet at the climax of Matsuribayashi-hen.
Everything considered, a solid 9/10. Not perfect due to what I feel were errors on Studio DEEN's part, but definitely worth my time.
In conclusion, "Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies."
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