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Aug 08 2006

Categories: anime, episodic review, higurashi
Tagged: higurashi

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The sound of footsteps became louder every day.

Continuing from the previous episode, Shion confirms from Ooishi that Satoshi has disappeared and that they caught someone else responsible for the aunt’s murder and that person has died. Ooishi offers up two possibilities for Satoshi: the first is the classic Hinamizawa demoned away explaination and the second is that he drove away very slowly with Al Cowlings in a white Ford Bronco.

Shion tries to work out the math behind the mysteries and comes to the same conclusion that K1 did: they’re not smart enough to figure it out. Her “findings” include scribbling “Oyashiro-sama’s curse” in her notebook. That’s A+ detective work… if she were smart, she’d hire Phoenix Wright to help her out.

(Why is she writing left-to-right?)

Bad News Takano shows up and catches Shion reading an especially juicy Henrietta x Saito scene in Zero no Tsukaima.

I’m not sure who’s a more evil character thus far… Takano or Ooishi. They both seem to enjoy manipulating others for their own selfish ends. If this were 90210, Takano would most definitely be Valerie.

“I swear I’m reading this for the plot and character development, and not for the ‘Faced with this, Saito almost suffocated, but before that, he decided to take Louise’s lips…'”

Takano tells Shion that part of the curse is that one person must be sacrificed for every person murdered. That math doesn’t add up right now… if the aunt is murdered, Satoshi is missing, and one extra, random person is dead… doesn’t that make three? Takano also reveals that the disappeared bodies are probably down at the bottom of Onigafuchi Marsh (where Rika’s and Satoko’s bodies were found for Watanagashi’s arc, I think). Why does Takano want to share her research and findings so badly with Shion? And why is she so interested in this curse?

“I have the latest volume for Zero no Tsukaima… wanna borrow it?”

Afterwards, Mion pays Shion a visit at her apartment. I think it would be one of the greatest anime moments ever if Mion gives Shion a nail grooming kit as a housewarming present thus causing Shion to go loco and stab Mion with a nail file.

The two try awkwardly to make small talk… what else could they talk about besides Shion’s nails or lack thereof? “How’s life? And sorry sis for ripping your nails out!” Actually, Mion does say this.

I’m still wincing in pain. If they had a few more gut-wrenching torture sequences from now until the final episode, they maybe able to salvage this series without tossing out copious amounts of twincest. (If I had a list of anime characters whom I want to see nails extracted from, I think Tate and Mr Wong would be top on the list. But this is debatable. I’m open to suggestions for the first ever “top ten anime characters who need to show distinction.”)

“Don’t worry about it, sis! Even though you ripped out my fingernails, I’m going to forgive you! (But I won’t forgive you for not bringing me a housewarming present… you’ll rot in hell for that one.)”

Mion wonders where Satoshi went, and this causes Shion to begin to snap. You can hear the wheels of insanity turning inside her…

… maki maki maki…

“Uso! Uso da! Uso da!”

(She snaps. Oh yeah… good things happen when Sonozakis go wild.)

She toss Mion to the floor. I’m giddy. “You demoned away Satoshi-kun!” Shion rants out blaming Mion and her family for taking away Satoshi. Good times… good times…

(Shion, please explain to me how a loser guy whom you haven’t been able to sustain a conversation with for more than five minutes is suddenly more important to you than your psycho family? He patted you once on the head, and you’re willing to go to war with your family over this siscon? I’m having trouble finding any character in this anime who can crack 100 on an IQ test. Hell, I’m doubting if any of them can beat Vince Young in the Wonderlic.)

This catfight is enjoyable on so many levels, but the most important one is the possibility of the two ripping off each others clothes screaming, “Tastes great!” “Less filling!” while the sink overflows and gets both soaking wet. (See, this is the stuff I’d put into the series if they ever hired me as a creative consultant.)

I have sudden urge to pop Rumble Rose into my PS2.

Shion snaps out of my emo breakdown after she notices that Mion is missing her fingernails.

“Shion… it’s unfair… that only your nails were torn out!” “WHY!?!?” “Because we’re twins.”

(See, by this logic, it tosses Meakashi into yet another plot collision with Watanagashi. If Mion really felt like this, then wouldn’t they be more like the Futakoi twins and equally share and love K1 instead of feuding over him. The real enemy is Rena and Nii-pah!)

If you have never watched an episode of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni before and saw this screenshot, what would run through your mind?

Mion reveals that she too underwent the Distinction to convince Onibaba not to harm Shion or Satoshi so the two could live normally. “Shinjite Shion!” Unfortunately, something must have happened because Satoshi isn’t here anymore… my guess (which goes along with my Star Trek TNG theory), Rika is trying to save herself by getting the Sonozaki family to feud and kill each other, much like what Megumi did in Muteki Kanban Musume 5, and then she’ll machete the winner. The problem is… she forgot about Rena, which leads to her dying yet again and necessitating yet another reboot.

Shion believes that Mion is telling the truth over Satoshi… and she decides to forgive her for now. Dang. They never got around to ripping off clothes, did they?

(I’d be lying if I typed anything other than, “Hey, this is still pretty hawt.”)

(I’d be lying if I pretended that it was the hawtest thing that I’ve seen today.)

We fast forward a year, and Shion knocks down more bikes… “Deju vu…”

The bikes just so happen to believe to some hooligans ripped from Shonan Junai Gumi. The Higurashi team decided to give them Charlie Brown-style dialogues, and Shion can’t understand them. Based on my vast prior knowledge of anime, I’m guessing that they’re saying stuff like this to Shion:

(a) “You’ll pay for that with your body.”

(b) “In the name of the Moon, I will punish you! I will right wrongs and triumph over evil and that means you!”

(c) “How am I supposed to buy my Gunpla now ~de arimasu?!?”

(d) “Are you naturally green haired?”

Scared Shion is nowhere as moe as Scared Mikuru… part of Mikuru’s appeal is that she’s completely defenseless. Shion is not defenseless. She has some balls for standing up to Onibaba… balls, not brain cells.

OH NOES!!!!! He’s back… I’m as happy to see K1 again as I’m happy to see yet another 1040 tax form again.

K1 actually does a slightly better job at fending off the goons than Satoshi, and he even tosses in a head rub. Girls, stay away from men who pet you on the head. This is not normal.

“OBJECTION!”

Looks like those shining days have returned. The two twins gossip about K1 like what twins would do… unfortunately, this is about K1, which just shows how devoid Hinamizawa is of men. (I’m hoping that we’ll see Shion again in her epic tanktop…)

“If you can describe K1 in one word, what would it be?” “He’s so fun!” Really? I would have gone with any of: “wussy,” “paranoid,” “emo,” “loser,” “unstable,” “dumbass”.

(Reminds me of that one ああっ女神さまっ chapter where Peorth tricks K1 into taking a love potion that made all the girls who see him fall in love with him, including his sister, Skuld, and Urd. Skuld goes, “There’s so many things I love about you, K1! Like how you never bath and never change your clothes!” Love makes us give out backhanded compliments.)

“At our last club activity, we made him wear your Angel Mort outfit! He was so cute! ~nyaa!”

Actually, they go through the events that led K1 to give the doll from the toy store to Rena instead of Mion. Mion laments that she should be more girly and wished she could reboot with K1 and show him that she’s a girl too. Tip: get rid of that awful gun and yellow T-shirt combo and replace it with a meido uniform.

Shion advises Mion on her love life and advises her to show K1 that’s she a girl and to “also drive a nail into that Rena girl.” Fantastic line. ROTFL! Awesome. It wins on levels that have yet to be discovered. I haven’t enjoyed a line this much since “Snakes! There’s snakes on the plane!” On par with when Rena tossed out, “Higurashi no naku koro ni” like 15 episodes ago.

“But Rena is just too cute!” Well, she won’t be if you put a few nails through her joints! What good is Oyashiro-sama if he can’t help you in your love life? Ka-miii-chuuuuu!

Shion starts dispensing love advice… which is probably the equivalent of asking me for a recommendation of a good shoujo series to watch. “Tears have the power to attract a guy, but they can’t tie them down.” Shion’s talking abou s&m, right?

Smile!

Cry!

Shion wonders if these are the “archetypical moe models” and if she should deploy them against K1. I’m sorry Shion, you have n-o-t-h-i-n-g on Mikuru, the reigning queen of moe. Mikuru has a significantly better repertoire than just smile, cry, and emo facial distortion. At the very least, I want to see Bunny Girl Shion, Lost in Space Shion, and Cowering Shion.

(Don’t get me wrong. Shion is still very moe. A few thousand more scenes like this, and we might save this series.)

Mion flatly (and stupidly) rejects the idea that the two try to compete for K1’s love. Mion should team up wtih Shion and trying to win K1 from Rena. She’s the real enemy. If the two Sonozakis re-enact that Yu Fan and Yu Lan shower scene…

Anyway, Shion muses how lucky Mion is that she is in love with someone whom she can be in love with. Jealously… for K1… for Mion’s situation… or both?

Heaven or hell… fight!

The rest of the Killer Loli SOS Brigade enjoy their only lines of the episode. Why is Rena so worrisome? Who knows? Maybe K1 would become a hikikomori lolicon, and Rika is the true rival.

It doesn’t help that K1 ends up flirting with Shion in front of Mion and Rena. Dude is gonna die… dude is gonna die…

(I love Mion barking anti-Shion orders to the rest of the Killer Loli SOS Brigade. If K1 hasn’t figured out that they girls love him a bit too much, he deserves to die.)

Shion runs away, and the way K1 is reminding her of Satoshi is doing nothing for me. It’s like during the Tatari Goroshi arc when Satoko’s trigger was how K1… oh… I get it. In every arc thus far, the trigger has been K1 acting like Satoshi, and the girls go bat loco after that. In the first arc, it was when he batted like Satoshi. Then in Watanagashi, uh, I dunno. Okay, this theory needs work.

Wait… K1 is Satoshi! Satoshi was kidnapped by the Priory of Oyashiro-sama and brainwashed into thinking he was someone else, only the brainwashing was not complete (since they were using the same manual NHK‘s Misaki was using… oh wait… is that a spoiler… maybe or maybe not).

Later at the Watanagashi Festival, Shion runs into Takano and crappy photographer Tomitake. Takano offers Shion the chance of a lifetime… to join her and Tomitake for a threesome inside the storeroom.

Shion sees K1 being K1 and asks him to join her. She figures that she might as well get sis really jealous while she’s at it.

(Actually, she’s going to find clues of Satoshi or Satoshi himself and not for a mini orgy. Honestly, would you want to see any foursome with K1 and Tomitake in it? Me neither.)

She hears footsteps while she’s in there… and then is reminded of Rena’s words that footsteps and the general feeling of being watched 24/7 is probably either from Oyashiro-sama or President Bush’s slightly unconstitutional wiretapping policy.

Later that night, probably cursed now, Shion drowns out her sorrows with some sake. A drunk Shion is fine too. All the other guests are having fun with Mion and Onibaba, yet Shion is stuck in a corner. BTW, looks like Shion and Mion’s parents are still alive… why wouldn’t they inherit the leadership position instead of Mion? And wouldn’t they notice if their daughters were torturing people in the family basement? What kind of parenting is this? I get it… the trigger for all the arcs is bad parenting! Sonozaki neglect in this. And we know how badly Satoko’s aunt and uncle treat her. And, of course, K1’s mom’s advice on how to commit the perfect murder.

We need to get JC Staff involved in this series just to get some nighties on Shion and Mion. Plus, it takes them away from the slow death of Zero no Tsukaima.

(No hotsprings episode… no beach episode… I’m really bummed. All those posters from Megami were just false advertising.)

It turns out that later that night, Onibaba and Mion are going over Takano… and most likely how she and others were involved in breaking into the storeroom. With respect to Watanagashi, we’re finally seeing events overlap, only the “motive” behind Watanagashi (Mion’s jealously) doesn’t seem to be the same “motive” behind Meakashi (Shion’s undying love for Satoshi). It seems to me more like that Shion is just using K1 rather than genuinely liking him, like Mion does. It also looks like my dreams of twincest ends here as the war between the two is just heating up.