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May 27 2006

Categories: anime, episodic review, higurashi
Tagged: higurashi, higurashi:sonozaki

23 Comments »

The Watanagashi arc comes to a close.

(New AoMM record for most screenshots for a single episode. Enjoy the killer lolis.)

K1 comes clean to Rena about the night of the Watanagashi festival, and she lets him off very lightly. In fact, I was disappointed when she didn’t break her boxcutters out and chop him up. K1 makes an odd choice: he decides to beg Mion for forgiveness instead of just booking the next flight to Dubai. He does show that he did finally grow some testicales… but I think common sense would be more useful in this situation.

Oishi comes to talk to them, and that’s never a good sign. Rena figures out that he’s trying to bait Mion with K1 and snaps into Serious Rena Mode, not to be confused with Playfully Killer Loli Rena Mode or Scary Killer Loli Rena Mode. She switches from childish accent to a grown-up dialect seemlessly like Ian McKellen switching from Da Vinci Code to X-Men. He does complement Rena’s detective abilities for figuring out Oishi’s motives (using K1 as bait), and this begs the question, who is the better detective? Haruhi or Rena?

(I’m going to go with Rena, just because Haruhi couldn’t figure out the computer club fondler.)

I want my winking Shion back! Looking back on it, it’s really odd that the police would share information so freely with a little boy. “Hey, I can’t figure this case out… okay, I’m going to see if I can goad the boy into doing my job for me.”

K1 and Rena trek to Mion’s compound so K1 can apologize to her.

Mion’s “I’m glad you came to visit me and saved me the trouble of hunting you down” face.

I wonder why Rena is coming along. Doesn’t this seal her fate as well? Or is it because she has Oyashiro-sama backing her, she can stand up to Mion?

Mion’s “Don’t fuck with me anymore” face. I last saw this face on Lacus.

(Wait, that’s Kira Yamato’s seiyuu! I’m now looking nervously around my house waiting for the Main Office to revoke for anime blogging license for not realizing this, oh, seven episodes again. They’re more fearsome than killer lolis or gay esper friends. You have to believe me on this.)

K1 begs Mion for forgiveness. “I’m sorry I slept with Shion and didn’t call you for the trifecta!”

Mion’s “You think an apology will help my libido?” face. She’s the best.

Rena chews out Mion for not accepting K1’s apology. We all know K1 is doomed… will Rena be the sole survivor? Mion looks like that she’s on drugs here.

Mion’s “I know I can kill both of you– in fact, I’m daydreaming about it right now” face. Maybe not.

Rena then continues lecturing Mion on the deaths of Satoko and Rika. She politely asks Mion to stop. Uh, run Rena run!

First killer loli laugh! I feel the giddiness! Good times! It’s looking like Mion won’t go quietly into the night. If Mion just agreed to K1, and they continue on like normal, it would have been very disappointing. This is what I’ve been waiting for… just need some emo facial distortion, and I’m set.

Rena’s “I can do a better killer loli laugh” face.

I can only imagine Samuel L Jackson screaming, “There’s killer lolis! There’s killer lolis on the plane!”

Mion changes from almost insane Lacus to despot Lacus in a split second… Mion even breaks out the “wak-tak-u-shi.”

She reveals that she has the Hinamizawa Demon backing her… wait, what is that related to Oyashiro-sama? But, wait, wasn’t that Shion at the restaurant turning back the crowd, not Mion? How does Mion know this? Shion with K1 bumped into Mion later that day, but I don’t think Shion/Mion are on good terms to talk like normal sisters… definitely not like TSR‘s twins (though it would improve the series)… and I don’t recall K1 telling Mion about it. Mmm. Mistake? The demon is passed down her bloodline, and that next carrier usually carries the demon in both their name, body, and spirit. Mion offers to show the demon on her body…

… only Rena stops her. What? A perfectly good reason that flows with the plot to show some Sonozaki skin, and they don’t do it? If JC Staff were in charge of this show, they’d have Mion go into a 45 second long magical girl-like changing sequence with some heavily implied sexual innuendo. I’m now rooting for Rena to die… not just stabbed but eviscerated and cannabalized. And K1, couldn’t you pipe up with a, “Uh, I want to see it…” Okay, he deserves to die too.

Mion reveals that she is the mastermind behind the town’s murders because she has a demon in “her name, her body, and her heart.”

Rena confirms that both Rika and Satoko were killed by Mion but eggs her that she could have killed one more but spared this person using her, “Haha I figured this out, bitch, and now I’m debating whether or not do toss out a Phoenix Wright parody!” face.

Before Rena can say, “Objection!” Mion responds with her, “Hey, wait, didn’t I just say I’m a butcher? Don’t get cocky with me, bitch” face. Mion is now talking in the third person.

K1 doesn’t know or understand why Mion spared him… at least Rena figured it out. I hope they know that they only way they can survive is if K1 satisfies Mion, and since K1 is too thick to figure it out, maybe Rena should initiate the festivities by frenching Mion. If that doesn’t get K1 going, he deserves to die. I can’t believe I typed that… no wonder I get comments like, “Hecate ‘blowing’ the flute! Hecate ‘blowing’ the flute!”

With Oishi lurking outside, Rena asks Mion to surrender, and that she’ll accompany her. Awww… a true friend. Mion asks for 30 minutes alone with K1. Is she going to jump him? Or stab him? I’m voting for stab, but I’m happy either way, especially if Mion does her crazed killed loli routine from the previous episode while ripping off K1’s clothes as he screams in horror. This must be what Star Jones’ husband goes through every night. *shudder*

Changes from threshold of insanity Mion to cute Mion. Pekopon females are fearsome.

K1’s “I just lost to Shinn” face. He should be having the “Mion, can you show me your bedroom?” face.

Blushing Mion is uber-cute. I’m glad she’s part of my harem, even if she has blood on her hands.

I want to kill him myself. Where’s my boxcutter?

Mion lets K1 know that not only did Shion love him, Shion is still alive. It’s a trap K1… you should be saying, “You’re much hawter than her!” Anything else, and you’re dead. D-E-A-D.

K1’s “My hopes for a threesome are still alive!” face. Oh wait, that’s actually his, “Awesome Shion is alive, and I’m completely oblivious to the fact that Mion is jealous of Shion” face.

Mion tells K1 that Mion likes him as well, in the third person. Uh-oh. She also tells him that this is where she does her butchering. Double uh-oh. Mion grimly gives K1 a tour of the torture/killing areas. Triple uh-oh. Instead of being scared or complimenting Mion, K1 is more concerned about Shion. Congratulations! You’ve won a Darwin Award K1!

(30 screenshots in, and I’m disappointed by the lack of emo facial distortion… grrrr…)

Spoke too soon! Mion deploys her best Kaede impersonation. Definitely, a trap for poor K1. It’s the killer loli equivalent of, “Were you looking at her?” or “Do you think I’m fat?” Bad times.

Shion! How I missed you and your melonpan!

Even if her mental capabilities have slipped below Shana-tan’s.

Awesome. I’m really enjoying this episode now. I need to mix Mion’s laugh at the end of episode 7 with Shion’s scream here for my next ringtone.

And the Watanagashi Arc’s Peter King Award goes to…

Anyway, Shion is clearly the dominant twin…but really, is that so surprising? – Fencedude

Giddy! Giddy! Can’t type! Giddy! Giddy! Bad times for K1 and Shion. Great times for us.

After getting his skull bashed in, K1 finds himself on one of the torture devices and at the mercy of Mion. The anticipation is getting to me. I’m hoping he gets plowed. Either way.

Am I crazy, or does Mion here look delicious?

A little of both I think. I haven’t seen such teasing with a sharp object since Toune and Coco resonated their melos. If Mion puts up a personal ad, I wonder what it might say… “SAF looking for non-smoker 15-23 who likes walks on the beach, attending mysterious pagan rituals, and won’t oogle my twin sister’s melonpan. Home Depot savings club card holder a bonus.”

K1’s “OH SHIT” face. I missed it. :)

K1 tells Mion that she’s not really Mion anymore… and he’s right. It seems like that Mion’s body has been taken over by her demon. The only reason that he has lived this long is because of the feelings that Mion has carried for K1… but it looks like it’s too late now. As Mion grows more and more jealous of K1, the demon gains more control.

(We also learn that girl at the beginning of Watanagashi is actually Mion. Production mistake in that Mion bikes away? Awww… though if one dumb Shinku doll can cause so much trouble, would a Suigintou doll cause WWIII?)

Break it down!
Stop, Hammer time!
Go with the funk, it is said that if you can’t groove to this then you probably are dead.

Both Mion and Shion fell for K1, though there’s absolutely no foreshadowing early on that Mion likes K1. However, we do know that Shion likes K1, and Shion tries to make Mion jealous early on. That’s looking like a big mistake. Mai Otome-class even.

K1 asks for two wishes, then wishes Mion to (1) spare Shion (2) return Mion and (3) spare himself. Silly boy, that’s three wishes. Though that first wish was probably the dumbest… Demon Mion just fessed up that she’s here because of Mion’s jealously, so why bring up Shion? Mmm… he should have wished for (1) threesome with Mion in the starring role and (2) videotape it.

Mion’s “Look at what you could have had, silly boy” face, which was last employed by Meer.

Rena calls Oishi in, and Mion decides to spare K1… for now.

Wait, he survives? I feel cheated?!? Rena! Kill him! If the killer lolis don’t kill, are they still killer lolis?

Sometime later, K1 decides to move out of town, but before he does, Mion mysterious shows up at his place and wants to talk to him. Run K1 if you want to live. Stay if you’re shooting for that Lifetime Achievement Darwin Award.

Mion’s “I’m in withdrawal… it’s been two days, and I haven’t driven nails through anyone’s hands yet!” face.

Oh yeah! Mion’s giddy; I’m giddy!

“It’s only because I loved you too much, K1.”

If I were leaving a comment on eBay for Mion, it would go like: “A+. 10 out of 10. Quick shipment! Will definitely buy another killer loli emo facial contortion from her again.”

(Who’s better at emo facial contortions? Rena? Mion? Mai? We need a poll… graphs… everything… oh, wait, isn’t that what I’m supposed to be doing? Okay, get 1,000 Mikuru-run votes, and I’ll toss up an emo facial contortion poll.)

K1, here’s your Darwin Award! Gratz! As Mion does her “I killed K1!” dance.

NO! Shion’s dead. Apparently, Mion shoved her out of the window. Twincide wins out over twincest, and I’m quickly brought back down to earth. I’m getting the sniffles… allergies, I tell you, allergies.

Wait, he’s alive? Dude must have leveled up… he has more lives than Keroro. Anyway, Oishi tells K1 that Shion is dead… as is Mion… only Mion died the day when they raided her compound. Spooky. And that Takano was already dead by the time she supposedly entered the storeroom with Shion, K1, and crappy photographer. Did Takano egg them into this mess because she wanted to get revenge on Tomitake for taking crappy glamour pictures of her? And Shion/K1 got unfortunately dragged into this? We’ll never know.

And why is Shion not living with Mion? If Shion knows that Mion is a demon, was it smart to egg her on? Wouldn’t Shion have conceded K1 to Mion if Shion know that Mion was a demon?

We’re also not shown how Rika and Satoko get butchered… in the first arc, what happened in the teaser actually happened. Here, we never got to see how Mion got Rika to impale herself with a machete. I guess it was just too gruesome to be shown in drawn out details.

Unfortunately, this means that Revenant Mion is still lurking around. And, yep, she’s here to finish the job. (Though, wasn’t Mion wearing her gun outfit instead of the robe?)

In the end, only Rena survives the bloodbath… the Killer Loli SOS Brigade Scorecard:

K1 has died twice.
Mion has died twice.
Rena has died once.
Satoko has died once.
Rika has died once.

And we close with Mion’s “I’ve got your Home Depot savings club card… RIGHT HERE!” face.

*wince*