Higurashi Q & A

[Joly]

Ryukishi07 does supervise the artist's outlines for the manga, so I don't think much of the content from the manga should be ignored. And if the artists do want to contribute their own personal element to the story, they had to go over it with Ryukishi07 himself for approval. At least, that's the impression I got from reading the Ryukishi07 and Karin Suzuragi (Onikakushi-hen, Tsumihoroboshi-hen, Matsuribayashi-hen manga artist) interview on Yen Plus.

Spoiler for Here's an excerpt of some of it...:

Yen Plus: How do you divide up the work on the manga?

Ryukishi07: Suzuragi uses my original game to outline the story and draw the name (storyboard), and I supervise. Suzuragi is kind enough to love the original very much, so her outlines and name are wonderful! As the creator, there is no other artist that I can feel so at ease about leaving things in her hands.

Suzuragi: I play the original game, and from there I create the script and panel layout for the manga.

Yen Plus: Suzuragi, your art style is different from Ryukishi07's original designs for the Higurashi games. How much freedom did you have in redesigning the characters for the manga?

Ryukishi07: As long as Suzuragi brought the image of the original work to life, I had no problems with her drawing it freely. At any rate, my drawings are terrible (sweat drop). I think the characters are happy to have Suzuragi draw them so adorably too.

Suzuragi: Oh, that's very kind of you, but my aim is to match the designs of the original.

(And here's a small part from Suzuragi's individual interview.)

Yen Plus: What do you feel is the biggest personal element that you have brought to the Higurashi manga? Are there any ideas or images that you personally contributed to the story?

Suzuragi: They very kindly used my design suggestions for Aiko and Rena's father.

[Vampire]

It's been on the back of my mind for awhile but what does the parasite look like? Just curious if there was any illustration. :3

[Eryops]

Originally Posted by Dante of the Inferno

If it IS true that neighboring villages have their own parasites, then the situation has changed. Natsumi may have a strain of parasite that is different (mutated?) from the original strain that causes what we call Hinamizawa Syndrome. If so, then there's no telling what changes could result.

Satoko hallucinates that her uncle is still alive and abusing her in Tatarigoroshi-hen, so it the syndrome can cause people to hallucinate entire scenes that are completely detached from reality.

Originally Posted by Vampire

It's been on the back of my mind for awhile but what does the parasite look like? Just curious if there was any illustration. :3

There isn't one. We are told practically nothing about that organism and for a good reason. From a biological perspective its attributes make no sense.

[CELESTRIAL-HARDRAVE]

Hey everyone!
First time poster long time reader. Higurashi no naku koro ni is my favorite anime series of all time, everything about it excites me and thrills me, its such a fantastic series that has inspired me in so many ways. I have seen Higuarshi no naku koro ni, Kai and Rei. I have also read volumes 1 2 and 3 of the manga/Visual novels.
I want to completely understand and grasp everything there is to know. I have read most if almost all of the Q&A thread, but id like to post my own questions about Onikakushi-hen as I’m still trying to completely understand how this arc plays out, as at the moment I am creating a Interactive website for Higurashi.

So I was hoping if the good people of this board will be able to help me and correct me with my understanding of Onikakushi-hen. I will post a number of questions and some with my own answers, if they are incorrect please try and help me to answer them correctly

Spoiler for title:

1. The events Onikaskushi-hen is mostly an illusion created by Keiichi that is driven by his paranoia ( aka the Hinamizawa syndrome ). Keiichi suspects that Rena and Mion are trying to kill him which drives his paranoia, well, that and a few other aspect.
2. The needle that was in the rice ball DIDN’T actually occur, Keiichi suspected something was in the rice ball cause Rena made it ? ( so was there actually anything in there at all ? as there was no blood ? but i could of sworn in the manga blood was dripping from his mouth.. )
3. The syringe that Mion has in the last scene was actually a marker, she was going to draw on Keiichi as part of the punishment game as they did to Tomitake ?
4. Keiichi is given a flu shot because he is "sick" by DR.Irie, does the flu shot actually instead trace the “Hinamizawa syndrome “ drug ? “ if that’s the case, why would he do that to Keiichi ? Takanos doing ?
5. Why exactly was DR.Irie called to Keiichi’s house at the end ? was it to help Keiichi cause his friends knew he was going insane ?
6. The van that tried to run down Keiichi, was that owned by the clinic and why exactly was he being run down ?
7. The scene where Rena carries her giant Clever while walking home was to show Keiichi how he was scareing his friends by carrying around a baseball bat ?
8. I suppose my last question is, such information as the marker and all that, how do fellow fans actually KNOW that that’s what happened, is this mentioned in the “ TIPS “ or carefully thought out through hardcore speculations ?

I apologize if these questions have been answered before, I’m just finding it hard to find the exact run down I need of the solution to this arc. Thanks for everyones help and I hope I can fit in to this Forum.
Thank you

[palpatin]

I'm also quite interested in this arc, I also didn't understand all of it...

Spoiler for about the needle:

But about the needle, that wasn't actually there:
I clearly remember that in some episode, I don't exactly know which arc, Keichii was eating rice balls while the club could see him or anything like that.
Then Rika noticed that Keichii hesitated a bit beforee eating the rice ball, and thought something like:
"Could he actually remember the needle from the other world...?"
I think she asked him that, too.
But if the needle was just an illusion, how could Rika know?
Did Hanyuu observe Keichii and get, that he thinks there's a needle?
Did Keichii in Onikakushi-hen shout something like: "OMG, a needle!?!"

[rogerpepitone]

Originally Posted by CELESTRIAL-HARDRAVE

Hey everyone!
First time poster long time reader. Higurashi no naku koro ni is my favorite anime series of all time, everything about it excites me and thrills me, its such a fantastic series that has inspired me in so many ways. I have seen Higuarshi no naku koro ni, Kai and Rei. I have also read volumes 1 2 and 3 of the manga/Visual novels.
I want to completely understand and grasp everything there is to know. I have read most if almost all of the Q&A thread, but id like to post my own questions about Onikakushi-hen as I’m still trying to completely understand how this arc plays out, as at the moment I am creating a Interactive website for Higurashi.

So I was hoping if the good people of this board will be able to help me and correct me with my understanding of Onikakushi-hen. I will post a number of questions and some with my own answers, if they are incorrect please try and help me to answer them correctly

Spoiler for title:

1. The events Onikaskushi-hen is mostly an illusion created by Keiichi that is driven by his paranoia ( aka the Hinamizawa syndrome ). Keiichi suspects that Rena and Mion are trying to kill him which drives his paranoia, well, that and a few other aspect.
2. The needle that was in the rice ball DIDN’T actually occur, Keiichi suspected something was in the rice ball cause Rena made it ? ( so was there actually anything in there at all ? as there was no blood ? but i could of sworn in the manga blood was dripping from his mouth.. )
3. The syringe that Mion has in the last scene was actually a marker, she was going to draw on Keiichi as part of the punishment game as they did to Tomitake ?
4. Keiichi is given a flu shot because he is "sick" by DR.Irie, does the flu shot actually instead trace the “Hinamizawa syndrome “ drug ? “ if that’s the case, why would he do that to Keiichi ? Takanos doing ?
5. Why exactly was DR.Irie called to Keiichi’s house at the end ? was it to help Keiichi cause his friends knew he was going insane ?
6. The van that tried to run down Keiichi, was that owned by the clinic and why exactly was he being run down ?
7. The scene where Rena carries her giant Clever while walking home was to show Keiichi how he was scareing his friends by carrying around a baseball bat ?
8. I suppose my last question is, such information as the marker and all that, how do fellow fans actually KNOW that that’s what happened, is this mentioned in the “ TIPS “ or carefully thought out through hardcore speculations ?

I apologize if these questions have been answered before, I’m just finding it hard to find the exact run down I need of the solution to this arc. Thanks for everyones help and I hope I can fit in to this Forum.
Thank you

Spoiler:

If you haven't, read the SN from http://sonozakifutagotachi.blogspot.com/ . It explains the story better.
1: Right.
2: Mion decided to play a little prank and loaded one with tabasco sauce.
3: Right.
4: It's a prophylactic that inhibits symptoms of Hinamizawa syndrome. Note that shortly after this, (SN only) Ooishi tells K1 an old myth, and K1's response is to calmly point out the hole in the story. (Both witnesses died. How did anybody hear the story.)
5: Rena says she called Irie out there because K1 was spaced when she caught up to him, and his memory blackout when he woke up reinforce that.
6: The van wasn't trying to run him down. The driver wasn't paying attention.
7: Right.
8: The marker is described in Atonement arc; the ohagi is described in Massacre arc.

[rogerpepitone]

Palpatin: K1 left a note saying "Did you find a needle?" in Onikakushi-hen, and that came out in the public investigation.

[palpatin]

Ah, thank you, although I already expected it was something that trivial, it bothered me quite a bit.
Concerning the sound novels: I already played the demo, and it is so much more detailed, I realize now that it's far more difficult to understand everything without the sound novels.
I'm definitly going to order the translated games from MangaGamer when they're released. I just wonder how high the shipping cost will be, because I live in Germany...

[rogerpepitone]

As for shipping cost, they're located in the Netherlands, and it's download-only anyway.

[palpatin]

That relives me. But at the same time I'm a bit disappointed over the fact I won't have something like a CD I could put into my vitrine. ^^;

[Orophin]

Originally Posted by palpatin

Concerning the sound novels: I already played the demo, and it is so much more detailed, I realize now that it's far more difficult to understand everything without the sound novels.
I'm definitly going to order the translated games from MangaGamer when they're released. I just wonder how high the shipping cost will be, because I live in Germany...

There won't be any shipping cost since Mangagamer doesn't make hard copies of their games. They're only available for digital distribution.

[CELESTRIAL-HARDRAVE]

Originally Posted by rogerpepitone

Spoiler:

If you haven't, read the SN from http://sonozakifutagotachi.blogspot.com/ . It explains the story better.
1: Right.
2: Mion decided to play a little prank and loaded one with tabasco sauce.
3: Right.
4: It's a prophylactic that inhibits symptoms of Hinamizawa syndrome. Note that shortly after this, (SN only) Ooishi tells K1 an old myth, and K1's response is to calmly point out the hole in the story. (Both witnesses died. How did anybody hear the story.)
5: Rena says she called Irie out there because K1 was spaced when she caught up to him, and his memory blackout when he woke up reinforce that.
6: The van wasn't trying to run him down. The driver wasn't paying attention.
7: Right.
8: The marker is described in Atonement arc; the ohagi is described in Massacre arc.

Thank you very much ! this helped me fill all the gaps i was looking for. However..

Spoiler:

1. So the injection that was injected into Keiichi contains of " Prophylactic ", but WHY exactly did DR.Irie do so ?

and thank you for the link as well ! much apprciated

[Shinguji]

Spoiler for response:

Like rogerpepitone said, Dr. Irie injected the prophylactic into Keiichi to try and inhibit his Hinamizawa Syndrome, so he wouldn't get worse and enter the terminal L5 stage and harm himself or the people around him. There's no known 'perfect' cure for the disease, so that's the best Irie could do. Hope I understood your question.

[AudriSampson]

Random Question was a replica of Rena's cleaver ever released as a collectible to the public?

[blaze0041]

Originally Posted by AudriSampson

Random Question was a replica of Rena's cleaver ever released as a collectible to the public?

I don't think so, but I do believe someone made a replica, though I forgot where the pic was. I think it was over in the images thread...

[CELESTRIAL-HARDRAVE]

Originally Posted by Shinguji

Spoiler for response:

Like rogerpepitone said, Dr. Irie injected the prophylactic into Keiichi to try and inhibit his Hinamizawa Syndrome, so he wouldn't get worse and enter the terminal L5 stage and harm himself or the people around him. There's no known 'perfect' cure for the disease, so that's the best Irie could do. Hope I understood your question.

OHHH im sorry, my mistake >.< i read it wrong

Spoiler:

I thought he ment the injection Irie gave him WAS the cause of the syndrome, not that he was actully trying to make him better, my apologies

[Ferny]

I downloaded an anime episode from animesuki, but it's a .torrent, and it won't play with anything currently on my computer. What program do I need to get in order to be able to play the episode?

(I'm asking this here because it was a Higurashi episode. Sorry if it doesn't belong here, but I wasn't sure where to put it.)

[Shinguji]

Originally Posted by CELESTRIAL-HARDRAVE

OHHH im sorry, my mistake >.< i read it wrong

Spoiler:

I thought he ment the injection Irie gave him WAS the cause of the syndrome, not that he was actully trying to make him better, my apologies

It's okay. Glad your question was answered. ^^

Originally Posted by Ferny

I downloaded an anime episode from animesuki, but it's a .torrent, and it won't play with anything currently on my computer. What program do I need to get in order to be able to play the episode?

(I'm asking this here because it was a Higurashi episode. Sorry if it doesn't belong here, but I wasn't sure where to put it.)

Open the .torrent with a program like BitTorrent or any other torrenting program. Then you can obtain the episode in the form of a playable format, like .avi.

[blaze0041]

Originally Posted by Shinguji

It's okay. Glad your question was answered. ^^


Open the .torrent with a program like BitTorrent or any other torrenting program. Then you can obtain the episode in the form of a playable format, like .avi.

As a side note, the .torrent file only contains tracker (i.e. avaliable peers) information: the actual video file will be downloaded to wherever you choose when you open the .torrent file, depending on your BitTorrent client. If you don't have one, I suggest the official BitTorrent client or uTorrent. Since BitTorrent is a Peer to Peer protocol, the speed of the download will go as fast as the seeds/peers are uploading.

[klare]

Spoiler for Mion/Shion:

i have read from somewhere about Mion and Shion identity was switched after the tattoo made on Shion instead of Mion, but till Rei eps 4 still havent seen it, is this event only shown in the game?