Higurashi Gou - Pre-Finale Analysis

Posted February 22nd, 2021

=========================================================

Within the past 2 months, Higurashi When They Cry Gou has sent fans on a rollercoaster of emotions. The Nekodamashi-hen arc set out to crush our spirits in every way possible, putting us in a position to suffer right alongside Rika. Along the way, many things became clear, and the structure of this new Hinamizawa revealed itself bit by bit, until we could finally understand the big picture.

[WARNING! SPOILERS FOR HIGURASHI GOU ARE BELOW, PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION]

If you read my First Half Analysis, thank you very much. But looking back on it now, I can only laugh at how foolish I was, lol. I mean, there are certainly areas where I felt like I made a good point (I stand by my analysis of how it brilliantly establishes Hinamizawa as a village through the first 3 arcs), but it's really clear in hindsight that I was severely limiting my perspective. I was taking in all the hints, but was so restrained by my prior experience with the series that I couldn't view them objectively, and ran away from the solutions. To start things off, the culprit is Satoko Hojo. Seeing myself point out everything suspicious about Satoko, but then end it with a "I personally don't believe Satoko could be the mastermind to begin with" is pretty hilarious in hindsight. The same thing could be said for the news of Ooishi's attack at the end of Tataridamashi-hen. Rather than accept it and wonder about the implications behind it, I simply rejected it, and assume there must have been some misunderstanding. Needless to say, I was struck right in the gut when the very next episode revealed exactly what went down on the festival grounds with Ooishi.

I call this post an analysis, but I'm actually not planning to write too much. I think the show mostly speaks for itself at this point, so I just want to focus on my personal point of view on where things stand now. Today is February 22nd, and the most recent episode to air was Episode 20, which concluded with Satoko stumbling into the world of the gods, and meeting a character who I'm sure is going to give her the ability to loop in this week's episode. Satoko will be able to experience multiple timelines just as Rika had done in the past. This is the climax after an arc of buildup showing how Satoko suffered at St. Lucia Academy for over a year, regretting the decision she made years before to support Rika's dream of attending that school outside of Hinamizawa. Nekodamashi-hen made it quite clear that Satoko's ultimate goal was to get Rika to stay in Hinamizawa and give up on her dream of leaving, and after seeing what happened at St. Lucia it's no wonder why.

Theories

I'm hesitant to jump too deeply into theories again, considering how off the mark I was last time. But with the culprit in mind, I think we're now in a position where we can look at the incidents more thoroughly. To begin with, the key here is Hinamizawa syndrome. That's the key factor behind the incident in every loop, especially since we now have confirmation Takano is no longer enacting her plans at all in any loop. The Hinamizawa syndrome has been peculiar this time, so I feel like what has to be going on is either Satoko is afflicting people with it intentionally, or the God she's working with is able to ensure someone falls to the disease in every loop. The reason Satoko goes along with this is to ensure her goal of always being with Rika in 1983, however it's really hard to say what would convince her to take things to such measures. Obviously it's some level of compliance with the God she's working with. Or she may not even be fully aware of it herself. It's really hard to gauge Satoko's POV, though I'm sure we'll see it for ourselves soon.
So, for the purpose of perspective, let's look at who fell to Hinamizawa Syndrome and who they 'blamed' in each story:

Onidamashi-hen: Rena, blames Keiichi.
Watadamashi-hen: Mion, blames Rika.
Tataridamashi-hen: Ooishi, blames Rika.
Nekodamashi-hen A: Akasaka, blames parasites.
Nekodamashi-hen B: Akane, blames Hinamizawa's bloodline.
Nekodamashi-hen C: Kimiyoshi, blames Oyashiro-sama's curse.
Nekodamashi-hen D: Keiichi, blames parasites.
Nekodamashi-hen E: Satoko (pretending), blames Rika.

When I first saw Nekodamashi-hen, I had mistakenly believed every person (besides Rena) was targeting Rika specifically, but thinking about it more closely, that's not entirely true. When Ooishi's case was first portrayed, I had believed he was manipulated into believing Rika was the culprit after being injected by something such as H173, which can make someone enter late stage Hinamizawa syndrome. And while I believe that may be at play there, the Nekodamashi-hen cases are more conventional than I realized. Akasaka thought he was "saving" Rika from parasites. Akane was ridding the village of those she believed were of demon descent (such as Rika of the Furude family), including herself. And Kimiyoshi was offering up a sacrifice, fixating on old village customs. Keiichi did single out Rika as someone he believed would have the cure to get rid of the parasites he believed were in him, but it's unsure if he was manipulated to believe Rika had the answers, or if it just turned out that way since he knew she was important in the village.

Next, looking at how things unfold from the perspective of Satoko as the culprit, let's speculate her place in each story:
Onidamashi-hen: (Probably) Killed Rika, and then herself.
Watadamashi-hen: (Probably) Killed Mion, and then herself. Though they may have killed eachother.
Tataridamashi-hen: ??? (The whole premise of the scenario falls apart when you consider Satoko isn't actually this child anymore. What she's doing behind the scenes is a total unknown.)
Nekodamashi-hen A: Survived past Rika. After that, unknown.
Nekodamashi-hen B: Wasn't present at the incident. (?)
Nekodamashi-hen C: Wasn't present at the incident.
Nekodamashi-hen D: (Probably) Playing Dead on the floor. After that, unknown.
Nekodamashi-hen E: Killed Rika. After that, unknown.

To really understand Satoko's perspective, it depends on how her looping works in relation to Rika's. Do they always wake up at the same time? What happens if they die at different times before? It may not matter all that much, but the big twist is that Rika is just caught in these loops but not really the center of them anymore, which is why the situation for her is so fundamentally different than her previous looping experience. To begin with, must Satoko die in order to loop? The fact that she's a victim each time in the first three stories that we saw play out from Keiichi's POV imply that this should be the case.

In the end, my final prediction will be this: The ultimate thing that matters more than anything, is Satoko's interpretation of Rika's actions.
From Rika's POV, all the damashi-hen arcs were a struggle against an invisible enemy. But Satoko had her eyes on Rika the entire time. What became Satoko's interpretation of Rika's experiences and intentions, and how did that drive her to blocking Rika's attempts every step of the way? That will be the ultimate key to the truth behind these tragedies.

Final Thoughts

Before I wrap up this relatively quick overview & analysis, I want to just say that I'm quite satisfied with what Higurashi Gou is thus far. It works well as a fresh experience, and as a long time fan, I have always wanted a glimpse into the future of these characters. To be perfectly honest, I love Matsuribayashi-hen, and the way it tied everything up, to create a perfect hopeful conclusion for all the beloved characters. But a part of me had always felt that it was a bit too perfect, in the sense of viewing it as the ultimate destination of the characters. After all, life goes on. One thing I always worried about for years was that Rika would get a bit carried away in getting to experience life beyond 1983, and while Saikoroshi-hen addressed this somewhat (in that her carelessness lead to that scenario), I honestly thought it'd be difficult for someone like Rika to adjust to a new way of life while still staying considerate of those around her. The suffering Satoko goes through, while trying to stay connected to Rika, is a very real thing many people go through. I'm sure Rika had good intentions bringing Satoko into this new way of life she wanted, but she clearly wasn't really thinking much about Satoko's feelings at all. At the same time, Satoko didn't understand Rika either. She couldn't. This is all a very real progression from where the original Higurashi ended, but the twist is that Satoko met that god, which gave her the power to restart everything anew, placing Rika back at square one, trapping her in Hinamizawa again.
From my perspective, wondering if Rika would really be okay out in adult life, it's a kind of poetic karma to see this happen, even though I really do feel for her. Rika has 100 years of life experience in Hinamizawa, but that doesn't necessarily correlate to 100 years of life experience out in the world at large. And that was always going to be Rika's biggest weakness coming out of 1983.

[Back]

=========================================================