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Jul 13 2006

Categories: anime, episodic review, higurashi
Tagged: higurashi

21 Comments »

I actually kinda liked this episode. Must be the “nii-pah!”

(Or at least the break from K1 and his complete suckitutde.)

The killer lolis reboot one more time, only to before K1’s time. This Himatsubishi arc seems to occur during the dam protest days. The episode begins with the sketchy guys from the original arc kidnapping the son of the Minister of Construction. The kid should learn to never talk to strangers. Tsk tsk tsk.

The Japanese equivalent FBI (which I’ll just call “FBI” from now on for simplicity’s sake) is called in to investigate the kidnapping, and they dispatch rookie Mamouru (“to protect…”) to investigate the anti-dam protesters of everyone’s favorite village. This is just a bad idea… I’m getting visions of Cagali heroically taking off in Akatsuki against Shinn’s Destiny, only there’s no Kira for a bailout.

No idea how this is relevant yet, but Mamoru’s wife is pregnant so you know something tragic will happen. Her hair color reminds me of Rena’s.

I think the animators have given up on this series… wow… talk about off colors… why am I still blogging about this series? I know, I know… melonpan.

Mamoru meets up with the local police department and hooks up with Ooishi. Uh-oh. Bad news. Ooishi is still a sneaky bastard and fills Mamouru in on the local surroundings, including the three houses of which Sonozaki is the most powerful and also about his plan to use a 14 year old boy to do his detective work for him down the road.

“So you’re telling me that our world is created by a 16 year old high school student? That you’re an esper who protects the world by defeating transparent giants?”

Mamoru pretends to be a tourist and phones in a request for a sightseeing tour of Hinamizawa village.

BTW, Mamoru’s seiyuu is Daisuke Ono… same as Itsuki. We now have Itsuki and Kira Yamato as the show’s “heroes”… no wonder the series on life support. Whose next… Iwata Mitsuo?

What’s with Hinamizawa as a photo tourist spot? Now I’m intrigued… is it a real town in Japan? Based on a real town? If I go visit, will they kill me for making fun of the show in my blog? I need to know these things.

As Matt would say, “かわいい!!!”

OMFG. If Mikuru is the Goddess of Moe, would Rika be the Goddess of /c/?

Rena should have kidnapped her. Lolier Rika 4tkw (for the kawaii win).

“Nii-pah!”

*melts*

The tour guide comes to pick up Mamoru, and Rika decides to tag alone. Mamoru notices that Rika addresses her elder like how a noble addresses her commoner familiar, and how the elder addresses Rika as if she were God herself.

(Since Rika didn’t say anything but “nii-pah” for a while, I thought she was, well, a slow learner. Then she busts out coherent Japanese, and I’m suddenly feeling like Oyashiro-sama put a bounty on my head. Please forgive me!)

Mamoru tries to act like a photo tourist and… well… even Rika is wondering why he’s taking pictures of random fire hydrants. Rika also calls him “Tomitake II,” which I’ll lump with Cannonball Run II, Men in Black II, Blair Witch Project II, Ghostbusters II, Anacanda II, Karate Kid II (and III and Next), Mai Otome, Basic Instinct II, Legally Blonde II, Matrix II (and III), American Pie II, George Bush II, New Coke, and the upcoming Clerks II.

Dateline NBC is hard at work catching child sexual predators with their star agent, Rika. Poor Mamoru… run!

The tour ends at Rika’s temple, and Mamoru comments about how inappropriate the extreme tactics the anti-dam group uses. He just sealed his fate. Rika tries to reason with him… “How else beyond invoking demon curse can we save this village? An online petition? LOL.”

Mamoru continues scouting for locations to shoot Koi no Mikuru Densetsu II. “This looks like a good spot for a wet combat waitress to fight against an alien witch.” “Nii-pah!”

A wind gust envelopes Mamoru and Rika, and, afterwards, Rika turns into Killer Lolier Rika and gives Mamoru a warning… “Snow White” “Go back to Tokyo.” Just love this juxtaposition of a very adult and very serious voice on Rika.

(Unfortunately, I thought that Higurashi would be a horror series… not a comedy. If moe is the only thing carrying this show right now, it’s pretty sad. I really, really hope that they start injecting some Oyashiro into the proceedings.)

Later that day, Mamoru gets introduced to Ooishi’s informant, who probably should invest in some life insurance. People around Ooishi don’t seem to live long.

The informant explains bit more about the leadership structure of Hinamizawa, about how Oryou Sonozaki is the current matriarch and her successor is Mion, who is in her pre-melonpan days. Interestingly enough, Satoko isn’t around, nor is Shion. Didn’t they explain that Mion lived with her grandmother while Shion lived with her parents? It sure looks like Mion with her parents here.

(Just love how Rika is goofing off in the background.)

The informant continues to run down the events of the previous Sonozaki meeting, including how Oryou gets wind of the kidnapping (which was supposed to be secret). She then rambles on about how it’s fitting justice and irony… and how she hopes that no harm comes to the boy.

Definitely not a Higurashi no Naku Koro ni episode until they show a shot of half a face looking surprised with bulgy eyeballs.

Mamoru just got told that not only does the Sonozakis know of the kidnapping, they also know that the Japanese FBI dispatched an agent to investigate the anti-dam group in conjunction with this crime. I hope he didn’t pee in his pants.

OMFG. 10 out of 10 on the kawaii meter. Knowing what happens to Rika later on… doesn’t it make you the least bit angry?

Just loved how Rika just casually interrupts the grown-up’s discussion about murder and kidnapping as the Godmother issues a warning that they may have to “take care” of the agent if he gets too close. Though I’m not happy that Mion is sitting there not doing anything.

(As for Loli Mion, one word: ponytail.)

That’s Mion’s father? Dude reminds me of Hige. He has that “Man, I knocked up the right girl” vibe to him whereas Mion’s mom seems to have that look “I can’t believe I married this oaf” look to her.

And that suit has no buttons. I’m giddy… actually no. The animators really have given up on this series to start working this sloppily.

Rika’s drawing is like The Ring… once she draws you, you only have seven days left to live.

The next morning, a (hungover?) Mamoru gets a call from Ooishi telling him that closed spaced has appeared outside of town.

Actually, the kidnapped boy’s personal effects have been found in the bad part of town (isn’t pretty much everywhere the bad part of town? I feel safer walking down Woodward in Detroit at night than I would in Hinamizawa.

Mamoru insists that they go check out the area, and Ooishi agrees… only after donning some anti-knife armor. Dude knows his town, I’ll give him that.

I’ve been hearing that this arc is only two episodes, so hopefully we don’t have to deal with the backstory for much longer. It’s not particularily interesting as it deals with mostly minor characters… only Rika’s cuteness is keeping me going on this series, otherwise, the episode wasn’t very exciting. However, the backstory does take a break from the train wreck that is Keiichi Maebara. He’s becoming a Mai Otome-class disaster… once a pinnacle of the harem-horror genre, he’s now a walking apocolypse. Hopefully, when he and the rest of the Killer Loli SOS Brigade returns, the story (and the series) will return to its original machete-wielding fun.