Higurashi Episode 26 Discussion / Poll

[MarthX]

*imagines a Higurashi Dating Sim*

To give it a twist, if you end up pissing off one of the girls too much, she'll kill you.

[USCPharmacist]

Originally Posted by MarthX

*imagines a Higurashi Dating Sim*

To give it a twist, if you end up pissing off one of the girls too much, she'll kill you.

ultimate badend

[Ayu-ayu]

Doesn't
Even
Animate
Nicely
?

I'm convinced, and thanks to all the interest in English-patching the audio novels and the dedication of the translators on the TIPS and helping folks on the forum, I'm going to order it tonight. This is the deepest story I've seen set to animation yet, and it was a doujin soft. Gotta support that. It's unfortunate that DEAN mucked it up so badly. Has anyone from DEAN actually said anything on the matter yet?

[MarthX]

Originally Posted by Ayu-ayu

Doesn't
Even
Animate
Nicely
?

I'm convinced, and thanks to all the interest in English-patching the audio novels and the dedication of the translators on the TIPS and helping folks on the forum, I'm going to order it tonight. This is the deepest story I've seen set to animation yet, and it was a doujin soft. Gotta support that. It's unfortunate that DEAN mucked it up so badly. Has anyone from DEAN actually said anything on the matter yet?

DEEN not DEAN.

[sagematt]

Originally Posted by MarthX

DEEN not DEAN.

Nein, it shall be hereby known as DEAN. Blame LostBlue

[sunny_ta]

Weeeell, I liked the last episode. The battle was plenty intense and the pacing felt right. I can understand the gripes with the animation though... the budget hurt the atmosphere ever-so-slighty.

Reading all the stuff that was left out (in particular, Keiichi's speech and more lines during the fight), I'm a bit disappointed. Especially since I prefer KeiichixRena. >_>

[DragoonKain3]

I haven't read any of the previous posts, but HOLY CRAP this episode was amazing. I could care less about the animation, but wow. I'm no shounen action fan, but I found that fight thrilling. (Though to be fair, it's part of my sadistic side in wanting to see one of them killed that brought out some of that XD)

As with the entire series, can't help but love Nakahara Mai's rendition of Rena. From her sweet kawaii side to her evil laugh (gotta love that laugh), she really brought her character to life.

And yeah, the lines between Rena and Keiichi during the fight. If taken out of context, it sounds exactly like a marriage proposal. KeichiXRena <3

From a non-gamer's POV, Higurashi is a REALLY good series. Sure there's a lot of unanswered questions remaining (with the most obvious, who/what causes the Hinamizawa deaths), but the combination of mystery, suspense, WAFF and hint of romance makes it very memorable indeed.

Too bad Higurashi started during spring, because I still like SuzuHaru and Zegapain better than it. It's a shame really because it won't earn a place in my sig even though it easily beats out any of the summer shows.

[Matt Soulblade]

I didnt read the TIPS, but I definitely liked the ep.
Gets a 10, Keiichi+Bat=Win

[Ayu-ayu]

Originally Posted by MarthX

DEEN not DEAN.

Ack! I feel dumb since I wasn't spelling it with an "a" previously.

Okay,

Double
"E":
Eclectic
Nomenclature?

...orz

[i0td]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

From a non-gamer's POV, Higurashi is a REALLY good series. Sure there's a lot of unanswered questions remaining (with the most obvious, who/what causes the Hinamizawa deaths), but the combination of mystery, suspense, WAFF and hint of romance makes it very memorable indeed.

Another non-gamer here, and I also agree that overall, the series was very intriguing, very exciting, very entertaining. This final episode with Rena's enlightenment to the truth and Rika's mysterious closing statements provided enough closure (for me at least) to give this series a satisfying end. Yes, I still have quite a few unanswered questions that span the entire series because I didn't want to spoil myself too much earlier, but now that the series is over, I'm ready to go over in detail the TIPS you guys have provided.

Does anyone have any recommended readings first that will provide a clearer picture of the overall series/game, or should I just go ahead and plunge myself into the FAQs and TIPS threads? And if the latter, do you guys recall any of the particularly helpful TIPS that will cure confusion? For example, the TIPS that can provide an answer to the question DragoonKain3 has posted: "who/what causes the Hinamizawa deaths?"

Thanks.

[i0td]

I was actually a bit hasty in my prior posting. A good amount of information is already very nicely summarized in this new thread that I didn't notice: Your Qs for Higurashi Answered (Read at your own risk). A good supplement to the FAQ and TIPS.

[theacefrehley]

Originally Posted by i0td

Another non-gamer here, and I also agree that overall, the series was very intriguing, very exciting, very entertaining. This final episode with Rena's enlightenment to the truth and Rika's mysterious closing statements provided enough closure (for me at least) to give this series a satisfying end. Yes, I still have quite a few unanswered questions that span the entire series because I didn't want to spoil myself too much earlier, but now that the series is over, I'm ready to go over in detail the TIPS you guys have provided.

Does anyone have any recommended readings first that will provide a clearer picture of the overall series/game, or should I just go ahead and plunge myself into the FAQs and TIPS threads? And if the latter, do you guys recall any of the particularly helpful TIPS that will cure confusion? For example, the TIPS that can provide an answer to the question DragoonKain3 has posted: "who/what causes the Hinamizawa deaths?"

Thanks.

The TIPS are not spoilers to anything nor answer anything once and for all.

They are just additional info. Some are good clues for you to guess what is happening and some are kind of useless (difinitely or just at first sight)

As for the last EP, I liked it a lot, and I'm also another non-gamer...
Overall the series was pretty good IMHO. If it weren't I wouldn't even have bothered to read the TIPS every week (thank you guys for translating. You made the series even better for me). Let's just hope for a future sequel.

I don't know how the show was going in Japan, but if the ratings were good, maybe we can get a second season with 14 episodes (like SuzuHaru) for 2 arcs and a better budget (I know I'm hallucinating... ). With 7 episodes each, maybe DEEN can stuff everything the gamers are complaining about into hehehe (or go further and make another 26 episodes with Onisarashi-hen and Yoigoshi-hen added)
SuzuHaru had good ratings and I can't see they not doing a sequel for her show. I hope Higurashi is the same. (Don't shatter my illusions telling me the ratings were crap!!!! heheehe)

[BakaOnna]

I have to agree. As a non-gamer, I loved this series, but I do hope to play the game sometime in the future once I learn Japanese, or enough of it to understand the storyline and read. And I did enjoy this ending, even though it's not the true ending.

However, I have to say, this is probably one of the worse animated series I've seen. Okay, maybe that was too harsh, but the animation is pretty... bad. The art is all right and works well, but the animation is just... unfluid and made the characters look jello-y. The emo face contortions, especially the ones made by Shion, really lost the creepy affect after doing them for the nth time. Actually, they became hilarious, especially in the screenshots. xD But the characters, plot, and whole story made up for the bad animation.

Now I'm sad this series ended. What will I look forward to every week... I do hope they make OVAs of the last two arcs, which I kind of doubt they'll do.

[Varion]

...wow.

I'm going to have to agree with many of the non-game players here, overall the series was amazing. Only Watanagashi failed to keep me on the edge of... well, the bed technically, I figured I'd love this one after Episode 4, and I did, and Tatarigoroshi is STILL one of my favourite arcs despite how much people complain about it. As for the supernatural element...well, I'll deal. I think it helps I've already read a certain visual novel which did pretty much the same thing with the whole 'keep trying until you get the right result' theme going on to soften it up for me, and Higurashi is handling it better than that did. Not exactly impressed with it, but if that's the limit I'll let it slide.

So, obviously, it had bad parts, which have pretty much been covered. The music was a huge disappointment overall (there were a few good tracks, but with the game's OST at hand it just added insult to injury. The Rena vs Keiichi theme was good but, surprise surprise, it was pretty much just a remix of Main Theme, which was the best track to start with After finishing the series I just kinda stayed still for a bit then fired up ZERO followed by 彷徨いの言葉は天に導かれ and it worked wonders. Seriously Kenji, what were you doing? The animation was also crappy, and while I doubt they will go round fixing it for the DVDs I'm not giving up hope until the third comes out with the ladder scene and proves me wrong. Sometimes it was really good (especially during the final crying scene with Rena, she looked so pretty there) but... yeah. Skipping stuff I can deal with, but I wouldn't have minded seeing the Rena/"Rika" scene at the dump. Oh well, they WERE short on time.

So basically, I loved it. This series will definitely go down on my favourites list and I'm looking forward to reading Minagoroshi when the patch is complete. Until then I'd rather try and work a few things out for myself rather than go on a self-spoiling rampage. That's just no fun

(oh and btw, for game players, when DID 彷徨いの言葉は天に導かれ play? It wasn't the fight was it? >_<)

[i0td]

Originally Posted by theacefrehley

The TIPS are not spoilers to anything nor answer anything once and for all.

They are just additional info. Some are good clues for you to guess what is happening and some are kind of useless (difinitely or just at first sight)

...I'm really an avid reader when it comes to good stories such as this one, so why didn't I bother to read into this earlier lol. Being overly excited about the Higurashi story, I was really afraid that I was delving into spoiler terrority with the TIPS when everything is exactly as you've mentioned, material to supplement the anime.

I've already read into some of the recent posts (those concerning the answer arcs). All I have to say is that the full story really fascinates me. Thanks translators for providing us this excellent additional content and organizing it in a very helpful manner.

[Chibi_Faerie]

I've never actually rated one of the episodes before till now, well that I can think of... I'm too lazy... And sleepy... Work is fun... *Shakes head and hopes people note sarcasm* Anyways about the episode, I think it was good really, having heard some original music from the game I agree the music isn't right up to par but it was well enough. I LOVE how things turned out. Well... The things we got to see anyways. The long awaited scene with Keiichi and Rena was far different than I had been picturing after seeing spoiler pics up till now, and a little too short but still quite well done given the time frame they had to cover. It would have been nice if they had covered everything else in the arc and gotten everything right in the first place but then I would have liked that in all the arcs as well and the series would have been a lot longer. But I understand that budget and stuff didn't allow it (Ok I know the budget has nothing to do with some of the things they messed up, but I'm afraid nothing can be done about that sadly... Just means I have to play the game, which I plan to thanks to nifty patches eventually.) ... So all in all I think it was done well enough compared to a few other arcs in the series, but Onikakushi-ken was still the best quality as far as I'm concerned. But an ok ending nonetheless, though with what Rika said at the end it either leads me to believe that the anime was meant to inspire more people to buy the game, or there will be more in ova format or something. One can dream on the sequel idea but at this point I really wont hold my breath. But still all in all a good ending with a lead up to the game for those that got into it through the series I think. Confusing... but I'll wait and see.

---

Now on to the one thing I have been waiting to do but wasn't sure where to put it till now. Since I have no idea where to post it, I'll just join it here since the people it's to usually read this thread. I just wanted to say a big thank you to Kj, SushiY, and Lost Blue for all their hard work in this forum from the start to end, you guys have absolutely rocked majorly. I've never seen a trio so dedicated to leading us all on in as orderly a fashion as you could have considering all the theories and ideas you've had to listen to, mine included (As crazy as they were), for the posting of Great MAD Higurashi videos which I'm still hooked on, and for the poems, tips, and left out material you have covered, translated to give us ('currently') non-game players. Especially considering you never had to do any of this, I just think it's so great that you three took the time out of your daily lives to do all this for us. So without further ado, a higurashi style thankyou

Spoiler for Well actually it was used to apologize but it's as creative as I can think at 10 past 1am:

Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!! Thank you so much, thank you! Thanks!!!

And finally, Honto Arigatou!! *Super glomps them* You all are really awesome and I have really appreciated this through the series, I've never seen such an active forum of teamwork on a 'mystery' anime before.

(P.S. Please forgive my grammar, I think it flew out the window around midnight or something... If anyone finds it, send it back to me ne?)

[myopius]

I really liked the rooftop conversation. I'm happy to have been proven wrong, in that there was no way they'd both survive... I guess I just thought things would be darker since there was the theme that "once you start to get screwed, you end up completely screwed" through the different chapters. It was great to see Rena come to desire the friendship she once had enough that she was able to stop herself. I think Keiichi let the bat go flying so she could have the opportunity to choose not to kill him... I think that for him, whether he won or lost didn't matter, it was whether she was able to trust him again, and so he was willing to risk his life for that.

Somebody asked what was with the fight scene's animation? That fluid style is the same they used for the water pistol fight at the beginning of the chapter. Guess they figured since Keiichi was causing Rena to reminisce, they should show that by connecting the art styles.

"Endless June"... hmm, so it's like Groundhog Day? I'll found out when I read the other two arcs, I guess (somebody's translating those right? well anyway I'll look into that).

[Keiichi no Hibi]

Well I waited for subs so I could understand what was going on instead of watching it raw right away and... just wow. Personally I think was the coolest episode of the entire series and a great way to end everything. 10 out of 10 I say.

Spoiler for for how I thought it was going to end:

As soon as Rena said she didn't want for Keiichi to follow her, that she wanted all that sweet stuff, I decided that SOMEHOW it would all turn out good...

and then the building would blow up. As we never got to see, I don't know if that happened but ah well. I was also wondering how the sparks flying during the whole fight didn't set off the whole place.

Regardless, this was great beyond words, for me at any rate.

And also, even though I haven't been here that long, not even a whole week, not nearly long enough to read everything, I want to second Chibi Faerie's thank you.

[keke]

So what was with the maggots dropping from Rena's neck? The real maggots, not the blood ones. Did it mean anything or was it just 'supernatual magic'?

It seems kind of odd because there was quite a bit of importance shown in them. An answer like 'the wound in her neck got so bad and her hanging out in a dump got in infected by parasites' seems too simple. Unless having the maggots there was purely just for creeps.

[Garet Linegod]

Originally Posted by Valdra

(oh and btw, for game players, when DID 彷徨いの言葉は天に導かれ play? It wasn't the fight was it? >_<)

It was actually. It starts the moment when Rika saves Keiichi's ass when he was going to be killed by Rena, leads into Rika's famous line of 「遊んであげるわ、おいで鉈女」, and from there all the way till the final scene of the rooftop battle.