Hither do the clergymen, physicians, and noble blood amongst us convene, to discourse upon Otaku matters not pertaining to SciADV, such as other visual novels, anime and manga.
Wasn't sure if I wanted to make a post for this, but I've decided to though I'll probably be a bit less thorough than with the SciADV ones. Obviously don't spoil plot details please, and also this thread will contain spoilers and later be repurposed into a General thread. Which are meant to be places for existing fans to talk about the game and post fanart and whatnot, since we have a few big fans of this one here I figured it'd be a good thread to have.
I 100%ed the first chapter on Steam, and I am really enjoying this so far. The way it portrays rural life is amazing especially, this probably goes more into that than anything else I've seen and I really hope we get moar Hinamizawa history. Love how it seems to incorporate the locale's Shinto deity prominently in the narrative. Memorable characters too and it's definitely pretty spooky, made me a bit afraid to even read it at night time. Spoiler
Anyway, the bonus chapter made the following claim that people who read the beta were pro-human instead of pro-curse. Now it also says that the beta cut off short so I'm not entirely sure how much those readers got to see, but to me it seems pretty obvious that the curse is real. The way that Rena/Mion's personalities change on a dime hints at this, as does their ability to know what Kei is doing at all times.
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It also seems like Oyashiro's memories maybe get mixed in with theirs somewhat? I am basing this on the Rena bringing him food scene especially; it seems like she genuinely wanted to help him out and was quite sad at the rejection (happened in other spots too), but at the same time Oyashiro came back into control and tried to use that to break into the house.
The tingling sensation on his back that is mentioned at the store is likely Oyashiro, because why would a God need a physical form to travel around? Plus there's no way Rena could've been there without Keiichi's parents saying something about it. There's also the unexplainable nature of the tearing out your own throat thing. Additionally I think that scene with Rena standing outside his door while he was on the phone with Ooishi earlier on was probably a red herring, though it was very bonechilling. I love how the mystery constantly keeps you on your toes, I doubt anyone would've doubted that the string of incidents was human-related after that scene.
Anyway, on to chapter 2! Colonel Sanders is so moe. Also holy shit is that Itou Kanako I hear on the OP? I suppose it's the choice of Steins;Gate.
sames goes with the fact that you chose the original sprites.
PS3 sprites are sovlless in comparison. I adore how DIY it feels, honestly feels like I'm playing a flash game and I love it. Same for the BGs being real pictures, adds so much to the rural feel. If you read Higurashi without the light tinge of transparency artifacting around the sprites did you really read it at all?
I did decide to keep the PS3 CGs on though, even though they stylistically clash. Perhaps that makes me a poseur.
Chapter 2 was absolutely incredible. The laugh over the telephone about made me jump out of my skin, and the writing never falters in all it's twists and turns. Loved all of the Hinamizawa history too as someone with an interest in the topic, the village of demons mythos is very believable while also very cool. And of course, Spoiler
the plot twist at the very end regarding Mion having passed before the attacks threw me for a complete loop, didn't expect that at all. If she was in fact not around at that time, perhaps the demon somehow migrated to Shion's consciousness and carried out the acts before committing suicide?
Chapter 3 I am not as high on so far. It's taking way longer than the first two did to pick up it feels like, and it is continously going in circles on the same topic. One is fine, but Keiichi's 20th monologue about wanting to protect Satoko and cursing Satoshi is getting rather old. I'm sure it'll probably get better, but even if it does the earlygoing is a bit of a stain with all of it's needless plodding. Also I love Shion, best girl.
I have recently completed the Question Arcs, the first half of Higurashi When They Cry's story, and have decided to write my thoughts on it. Normally I would wait until finishing the work in it's entirety to do this, but given that the All-Star Cast Review of Chapter 4 explicitly asks the player to theroise I figure I'd recognise the author's wish and do so. When I had started writing this I was firmly on the Team Curse side of the debate, but after logically considering the possibilities I have become rather split. It is funny how the human mind defaults to the supernatural as an explanation when it cannot understand things, isn't it?
First I will list all of the known pecularities so far that I have noticed in the story. This will be something of a stream of consciousness.
-The eye change (central to both theories)
From what we see of the story so far, the change in eye colour seems to signify that whatever character is being affected begins to act much different from their usual selves. In this state, characters have highly dulled emotions (thus enabling them to commit murder) and speak in flat and blunt tones. At first I had suspected some form of full-on mind control. But given what we see of Keiichi in chapter 3 still largely being himself and having his own motives, it seems more like something is edging them along so to speak by dulling their emotional senses when they enter this state. I believe this can be explained by both theories, if you are pro-human it could be explained as having been induced by the syringe, whereas if you are pro-curse it can be explained as having been induced by Oyashiro-sama.
-The syringe (Human theory)
The purpose of the syringe does not receive much explanation throughout the question arcs. We see Mion and Rena attempt to inject Keiichi with it, but he is able to fend them off and we thus never see the effects. I had initially assumed that this was some sort of psychadelic drug that would force one to claw out their own throat like Tomitake did, but given Keiichi's fate in chapter 2 that no longer seems to be the case.
In the event that all of the murders are being carried out humanly, perhaps it is the syringe which enduces the emotionally-numb discoloured eyes state. Perhaps this drug is forced upon all of the villagers, and those who are not injected with it are the ones who are killed. The main flaw in this theory is that in chapter 3 Keiichi seems to be in the discoloured eyes state and we never see him injected with it, I don't think it's impossible that it could've been forced upon him unknowingly while asleep or unconscious however.
As for what motive the villagers could have for injections, it could be some form of tradition or custom. The Hinamizawans firmly believe that they have demon blood, and perhaps the contents of the syringe are said to contain the demon blood in order to convince them to take it. A potential flaw in this arises in that we see in chapter 4 that the Watanagashi festival is but a shell of what it once was, which thus raises the question of how a village that was once so uninterested in it's guardian deity would suddenly become mass-injected.
It seems unlikely for the populace to agree to it, so it would require doing it to some 1000 people against their will which seems implausible. However there is a catalyst event which could serve to unite the villagers as one and embrace their cultural heritage, that of the dreaded dam project. Furthermore we see that the ritual sacrifices are almost always pro-Dam supporters, and this would also explain the later escalation to simply killing all "outsiders". The line of logic may follow from killing off pro-dam supporters to simply killing off the uninjected, as those who are not injected become seen as future threats due to the village's near end at the hands of the Dam project.
Another issue I see in this theory is that it does not account for Rika-chan's murder. If this injection is meant to dull the senses so that Hinamizawans can band together and resist the project by any means necessary, it would seem paradoxical to murder the village mascot. However perhaps it becomes so that their senses are nulled to a point where they no longer care about their original stated purpose and simply turn into monsters. That seems rather contrived however.
In my opinion the better explanation to this discrepancy is that Rika-chan's death is a red herring, because we receive very little information about it or who the culprit could be. Maybe it is not exactly related to the ritual killings but was instead carried out by the lone will of the Sonozaki family in order to eliminate any potential long-term threats to their strangehold on the village, something which the so-called living reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama certainly would be. This is especially given that the death of Rika Furude also means the complete elimination of the Furude bloodline. We also never see Rika enter the discoloured eyes state, so perhaps she refused the injection and was accordingly killed because of it. Perhaps the injection itself is a concoction of the Sonozaki family intended to strengthen their control over the other two families, and Rika thus refused it not seeking to cede her family's influence.
But then this runs into the problem of the Great Disaster, which obviously eliminates any motive for the Sonozaki family to kill Rika. But if we are sticking to an explanation grounded solely in reality, perhaps the given explanation for the cause of the gas eruption is actually correct and her dying on the same day is simply a coincidence, or perhaps it is as Akasaka said and the swamp was somehow manipulated by humans. Currently I am of the belief that the syringe and it's lack of explanation is probably the greatest data point in favour of the acts all being carried out by humans, but you could also dismiss the syringe as being naught but a red herring.
A thought that just occured to me is that perhaps the gas disaster was orchestrated by the politicians who sought the removal of the village in order to complete the Dam. I am unsure of how likely this is, but it does make more sense than the Sonozakis doing it. Takano is also very suspicious given that she seemed to have killed someone in chapter 3.
-Always being watched (Pro-curse theory)
This is a plot detail that not only makes for amazing horror but also throws a bit of a wrench into the pro-human theory. The way that the other characters are able to predict events in advance and see right through Keiichi seems near unexplainable. Rika's predictions in chapter 4 all being correct? The great disaster eerily matching the prophecies of what would happen if the village were to ever incur Oyashiro-sama's wrath? What about Akasaka being stared at from the bus by the locals? Even if the Sonozaki's had been informed of his dispatchment, how would random bumfuck villagers know that? Surely they would not allow such information to leak.
It is stated in chapter 3's all-star cast review that the reason Mion knew about Keiichi's talk with Ooishi in chapter 1 was because the business is Sonozaki-owned, but I do not find this explanation satisfying given all of the other instances of characters seeing right through him. Even in the slice of life scenes it's as if the characters know exactly what it is that he is thinking, which makes me wonder if that is meant to be for the sake of writing expediency as much as it is an ominous piece of foreshadowing.
Mion's explanation in chapter 2 also raises some alarm bells, with her acting as though another presence is inside of her body. In fact it is commonly remarked by Keiichi as though the characters are no longer themselves once the dreaded coloured eyes state emerges, and the characters say similarly to Keiichi when he enters that state in chapter 3. Additionally, it is also strange that it seems like the villains of each chapter vary. Chapter 1 is Rena and Mion, Chapter 2 is just Mion and Rena is as cool as a cucumber, Chapter 3 is Keiichi and this time it's Rena and Mion that are afraid of him.
If they were all under Oyashiro-sama's curse, why does Oyashiro seem to select who will carry out his deeds at random? There are other things too that in my mind that make some sort of supernatural involvement seem plausible, such as Keiichi's will manifesting in reality in chapter 3 with the deaths of Irie, Takano and likely Ooishi. It all just lines up too well with the legend to be entirely coincidental in my mind.
In the legend, it is said that Oyashiro prevents people from leaving the village so that they do not run roughshod on the other villages. Perhaps Oyashiro has been angered by how Hinamizawa is performing the rituals and treating outsiders, so he chooses to destroy the village with the disaster.
I think my current final standing point is that the whole pro-curse and pro-human dichotomy is itself a ploy by the author to throw the reader off. I think that both are happening, that the humans are not wholly devoid of agency but that they are perhaps being influenced by some higher power. My prediction for the place that the narrative is going is that it will sort of head towards a conundrum where, though the characters may be being nudged, it is ultimately their choice and their actions that have lead to all of this horror which they will struggle to come to terms with.
With that said, were I forced to not be a fence sitter and pick one, I would likely lean pro-human as of now, as I believe it requires the least leaps in logic to explain. I am really excited for best girl's chapter, and for her to be the protagonist too. Exciting!
I love that you're reading this right now as I just finished reading Chapter 8, the last chapter of Higurashi!
I won't spoil any of what happens of course, but I love reading your thoughts as it helps me remember what it was like reading before I knew a lot of the answers and it makes them more meaningful on retrospect as well. All I can say is that you're in for quite a ride!
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