higurashi no naku koro ni 21 (meakashi 6)
Categories: anime, episodic review, higurashi
Tagged: higurashi, higurashi:sonozaki
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There is nobody who knows there will be nobody. Except for me, all the world has gone mad.
We start off this episode recapping the events of Watanagashi III, only we see Shion’s side of the conversation instead of K1. What we get new is Shion’s emo glee facial distortion on the other side. She’s just nuts.
Remember the epic “Mion” dry-humping the ladder/going “That’s it! That’s it! That’s it!” scene? Now, she’s saying, “Unforgivable! Unforgivable! Unforgivable!” The way they’re rewriting the past is almost like an American comic book franchise. If Meakashi is supposed to be the answer to Watanagashi, shouldn’t it answer the same question?
Shion refers to Rena as the “reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama.” It didn’t take much to take down the fearsome Oyashiro-sama… man, this episode has been nothing but Watanagashi III mixed in with some new emo facial contortions for Shion thus far.
Whew. Finally a new scene. Mion has an emogasm thinking of how smart she was to start seeding everyone into believing that K1 is the culprit of Rika’s disappearance. I wonder if other people can see Shion when she’s making these faces… does she even know that’s she’s making them? (Yes, she looks like the Joker.)
Ooishi drops by and spoils Shion’s fun. Shion thinks that he’s onto her, and he’s pretty damn on target. Gotta love Shion’s drugged out face here… it’s angular enough that she could make a guest appearance on Kanon (2002).
Back at Shion’s International House of Loli Death and Torture, Shion has almost crucified Satoko. For someone who enjoys ramming nails into people’s fingers, it almost feels out of character for Shion to just tie up Satoko instead of nailing her to the cross.
I AM SPARTICUS!
(Probably too ancient of a reference for most of my readers.)
Mion begs for Satoko’s life, and Shion wonders if she did as much for Satoshi. Mion seems more energetic in trying to save Satoko than the two geezers prior. Her only real chance would be the confusion tactic on Shion right now… Mion should just scream out, “I deflowered Satoshi! He was… spectacular.” I’d love to see Shion after that.
A stabbin’ we will go… a stabbin’ we will go… oh a merry oh a stabbin’ we will go…
(Feels like a rollercoaster right now. We’re at the apex, looking down… here… we… GO!!!!!”)
*does the Kyon touching his head with his hand thing*
*grimmaces*
“Yamete! Yamete! Yamete!” I’m guessing that his scene will end up on YTMND eventually.
I’m enjoying this rollercoaster ride. Almost as much as Raptor at Cedar Point. Shion’s just a knife-teasing tour de force right now. She’s 10% playful, 90% evil. Is there a moe term for this yet like ツンデレ for the new Goddess of Newsweek?
Shion teases Mion that if Mion sang Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes, Satoko would be let go. “Without a noise, without my pride / I reach out from the inside…”
Completely catatonic. Omega saddest face of the year.
On one hand, Shion’s completely brutalized two lolis. On the other hand, she’s made this show more watchable with her emo, her killing sprees, and her melonpan. Mmm.
Wait, Satoko has just been stabbed like five times and had gone into shock from all the pain. So Shion revives her by a simple slap? Since I have been fortunate to not been stabbed five times by an emo killer (knock on wood), I don’t know for sure, but I’d think that it’ll take a lot more than a simple slap to get her coherent again.
(BTW, Satoko must have a lot of face fat. Especially for a body that Ally McBealish.)
And Mion is still going on the background, only much faster and higher pitched… “In your eyes…” it’s like if Paris Hilton were singing a cover for this song.
Satoko tosses out a “nii-nii” which just infuriates Shion even more. Shion goes to town on Satoko like if Shion were trying out for a slot in the next Mortal Kombat game. The blood… it’s everywhere. Or so you would think.
Um, where exactly has Shion been stabbing for blood to be gushing out? Why isn’t there any blood on her clothes? Or, uh, on Satoko? I see a few drip marks from the wrists, but it was flying everywhere earlier. At least show some on the floor.
Saatoko puts up an admirable display of courage saying that she was the one who caused Satoshi to go away, and that if stabbing her will quell Shion, go ahead. Satoko won’t cry.
Just complete tosses Shion into another level of emo frenzy… it’s over. Fatality. End of ride.
Shion should be happy that she took out her hated Satoko, only revenge doesn’t bring happiness. In the end, revenge brings emptiness as Shion realizes that Satoshi’s last wish to her was to take care of Satoko. She took care of her all right… but wait, wasn’t it in reference to Watanagashi? And directed to Mion, not Shion? Matters not to Emo Shion.
(Reminds me of Pedro’s “OH NO!” face from Excel Saga… good times… good times.)
Um, what just happened here?
Spill at aisle 8. Bad times… bad times.
Back to Watangashi IV, Rena and K1 confront “Mion” and give her a chance to turn herself in peacefully. Shion asks Rena for 30 minutes alone with K1. Shion’s going for the ultimate revenge on Mion… she’s going to deflower K1 in front of her.
(I wrote previously, “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.”)
(BTW, I was hoping that Shion would toss out a “nii-nii” when K1 petted her. Or a “nii-pah!”)
And now we’re back to the epic nail scene. Only since I blogged about this already, I’m just going to over the new point: now that we know it’s Shion, the scene actually makes some sense now.
What doesn’t make sense? The doll. Shion claims that because K1 didn’t give Mion the doll, Mion cried her little heart out to Shion, and that reawakened Shion’s inner demon. One: how does not receiving a doll compare to a disappearance? Okay, Mion’s a bit emo about the doll… but Mion certainly hasn’t been plotting deaths (or has she?) about it? Two: what exactly does Shion have against K1? Wouldn’t it make more sense for Emo Shion to kidnap K1, bleach him blonde, and then go her own rollercoaster ride? Three: wouldn’t Shion’s demon be triggered anyway if Mion got the doll? Imagine if Mion said, “I’m so happy that K1 gave me this doll! We’re going on a love-love day-a-to afterschool Friday and are going to share a soda-flavored popsicle together!” Wouldn’t Shion just go even more emo over that?
(Yes, I enjoy this scene where Shion just licks that nail. Tease.)
Shion tells Mion that she decided against killing K1, and that she was willing to let her go. Uh, doesn’t Mion look like she’s on that drug? But not before…
… some twincest!
I understand that twincest probably didn’t occur. But I can dream, can’t I? Ahh… would it be like Yu Fan and Yu Lan? Or more like Tomoe and Shizuru? Or Shizuru and Natsuki? Or any of the Panic girls? Sigh. What could have been. What is.
(Hey, that could be a new poll idea… favorite hawt girl-on-girl scene in non-h anime.)
Shion swapped clothes with Mion so she could pull off the deception once again… but before she does, it’s time to kill off Mion. Before Shion finishes her, Mion begs Shion that she too was in love with Satoshi and begged Onibaba to spare him. And Onibaba did. Why is Mion only saying this now? Why didn’t she tell Shion this earlier? Anyway, it appears that Mion doesn’t know who killed or took away Satoshi and everything Shion has done thus far has been for naught. Except Shion has provided exceptional entertainment (from an emo killer loli standpoint).
Shion doesn’t care. Mion gets tossed off the cliff. It’ll be funny if, like Aoi-chan or most other Sunrise characters who get tossed off a cliff, Mion returns.
Yep. Back to this scene from Watanagashi IV again. Except this time instead of saying, “I made it! I did it! I killed everyone with my hands!” she says, “I made it! I did it! Did it all! Praise me Satoshi-kun!” See, wouldn’t a “Satoshi-kun” helped as a possible hint back in the original Watanagashi. Oh, wait, like all the other juicy possible hints, they left it out.
I think a lot of bloggers might write something like, “On her way back to her room after stabbing K1, Shion gets her yellow blouse caught on a nail and tumbles to her death.” Since this is AoMM, I’m writing, “Whoa. Big news. Shion actually wears a bra here.”
A few coincidences concerning her death… first, notice how she got caught on a nail? Man, karma is a bitch. Second, notice how she died from falling from a great height, like her twin? Also, didn’t The Joker in the original Batman movie die this way as well? Fearful symmetry. Anyway, they choose not to explain who the fuck was it who later hammered K1 in the hospital. Shion’s ghost? Mion’s impossible, Sunrise-styled return? Rena cosplaying as Mion? I’m definitely disappointed that we didn’t find that out.
Also, I know that Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is adapted from the visual novels, but there’s a very good manga that goes along with the show. They basically condensed something like 15 chapters of manga into 4 Watanagashi episodes. For reference, ã‚ã‚ã£å¥³ç¥žã•ã¾ã£ ~ãã‚Œãžã‚Œã®ç¿¼~ is averaging about two manga chapters an episode. Black Lagoon was almost dead-on one chapter an episode. Keroro is about two chapters an episode. Inukami is about an episode a chapter. Basically, when a show starts compressing the hell out of its source material, it’s going to suffer. Higurashi is a prime example of doing too much with too little time.
(BTW, she’s saying, “I’m Mion. Mion Sonozaki. I’m a resident of this town.” Yes, Mion is now eligible for the next Top Ten Anime MILF ranking.)
Lastly, some possible spoilers. Highlight to read: I was chatting on IRC over the weekend, and someone mentioned to me that the newest game features Rena’s friend, who has yet to be introduced, and pretty much concludes that this friend is behind all the murders and killings. Just a crappy development. It’s like if Gundam Seed Destiny ended with Heero in Wing Zero flying out to join with Shinn and the two of them pwning Orb at the last minute. Keep in mind that is was over IRC, so it’s probably as true as those Kevin Garnet for Steve Francis trade rumors. Just forget I said anything and wait for the final arc.
41 Responses to “higurashi no naku koro ni 21 (meakashi 6)”
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I remember how Shion said she performed the Watanagashi skillfully to K1 when she brought him there. As poor as her perceptions been, how did she realize K1’s head pat was uncool. The demon must not have got her completely. I still haven’t seen a tatoo either.
I’ve heard that K1 died because of a heart attack/failure, and the Mion ghost was his pure hallucination, because Ooishi made him so confused and scared.
Lol @ pure hallucination and die of heart attack/failure, if this is true it’s a real lawl
I find it unlikely though.
About those IRC spoilers: They are bull.
(We seriously need a spoiler tag for the comments)
Anyways, the EFD gimmick got old pretty quickly on this chapter, and everything they left out… damn, it’s not fair that you have to read the Tips and a couple of threads on Animesuki because the anime fails to explain it all. I have to say that this arc would have seriously rocked if they had included everything they left out (while toning down the EFD, of course).
Anyways, the next episode delivers. Watergun fight and cosplay on Angel Mort. And Killer Rena. Good times.
BTW, Rena and K1 fight like friggin’ commando of something, if they used their “standard” weapons they might take down an entire covert-ops unit if they wanted to (figuratively speaking of course ^^)
>> and die of heart attack/failure
Hey, didn’t he also die from this on Tatarigoroshi? Does he have a heart illness or something?
Errr it seems my comment got filtered *sweat*
Did I say something wrong?
Anyways, quick summary of it: Average/Mediocre chapter, could have been better by not leaving things out, the next episode delivers. That’s all.
Killer lolis save the world!
Plothole alert! Shion was found wearing the nightgown at the end of the arc. Where did her clothes go?
Yyi: they didn’t show a nightgown at the end of the previous arc, just a brastrap on an another-bare left shoulder (consistent with the shirt being torn as shown in the picture above, on the left side, baring the bra and shoulder).
I’m not going to lie. I am scared of this ho. Bitch crazy!!
lol@deadpill
Wow… did anyone keep track of the ratio of crazy facial distortions to normal human expressions in this ep? If I had to guess, I’d go with something like 25 to 2… well, OK, 25 to 7, but most of those are when Shion’s talking to Ooshi.
As for the blood, clearly she was stabbing the exact same spot on her arm over and over, and dodging around to make sure all the blood flew out onto her face… or it’s just Yet Another Huge Production Error.
I’m kinda wondering about the next arc here though. Assuming we’re looking at the very first arc from another perspective, I don’t really see what there is to add. I mean, sure, we can look into who “the director” is, and maybe explain how the pin got in K1’s dinner (wouldn’t it be sad if it turned out to be a total accident? Someone was sewing something on the kitchen table earlier, nobody saw it…) Still, can’t see there being enough material to show the other side of.
Unless of course we end up going back and explaining how The Colonel came to be trapped under a big pile of garbage. That’d make for the best arc ever.
I haven’t played the “games”, but I’m thinking that because they did not show the hospital scene and ended the story on Shion’s death instead, it suggests that it was not Shion in the hospital. I mean, they followed Shion around everywhere this time, so if it would be her in the hospital they’d probably show it. That is assuming Keiichi did survive the stab – I don’t think anybody said it would be -identical- to Watanagashi.
K1: **Head pat**
Shion: Idiot. That didn’t look cool at all.
Me: When did Jason Miao start writing for Studio DEEN?
>>>Um, what just happened here?
Speaking of that, when did Higurashi turn into fetish porn? I mean, you’ve had the lolis and the guro since the beginning (although they nixed the drag queen meido cosplay), but now that we finally got a bit of (implied) twincest, did they really have to bring watersports into it?
And as for the back tattoo? I haven’t played the game, nor read (much of) the manga, by my guess is it’s just like Hild and the demon ninja in the ã‚ã‚ã£å¥³ç¥žã•ã¾ã£ OP, or the filming of “Asahina Mikuru no Bouken: Episode 00” in the Haruhi ED. It’s a blatant tease that the show ain’t ever going to give you.
Anime rule #1: Don’t ever believe the OP or ED. They will lie to you.
Although they frikken better have some movie-filming action in the *next* Haruhi series (tentatively subtitled “SHnY II: The Wrath of Kyon”).
Higurashi keeps me watching because i know every arc is going to surpass the previous is mistreating its characters. And i now want to now whats beyond hanging satoko on a cross and slashing her to death.
Alright, MAJOR SPOILER HERE. This is about Shion and Mion and why some things still don’t line up.
You ready?
Last chance to back out!
This is a doozy…Our “Shion” is infact the true Mion and our “Mion” is the true Shion. Confused? Here’s what happened.
For the rest of this post “Shion” will refer to the the person WE know as Shion, while “Mion” will refer to Mion, regardless of what their actual identities are.
Ok, Shion was born first, and thus was the heir and inherited the demon. She and Mion constantly changed places with each other during childhood, until one day when they were Swapped, Mion was taken to get the demon sealing tattoo, and Shion was sent off to boarding school.
From that day forward they were stuck in those identities. But, since Shion did not get the tatoo, the demon was not sealed, thus leading to the events of Watanagashi and Meakashi.
END SPOILERS
@Jason:
But Hanyuu’s got a moe lolita face and big tits like Mikuru-chan! And her melonpan’s bigger than the twins! How could something that cute be so evil?
@Colo:
>BTW, Rena and K1 fight like friggin’ commando of something, if they used their “standard†weapons they might take down an entire covert-ops unit if they wanted to (figuratively speaking of course ^^)
I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE… Or these would have been spoilers if Matsuribayashi-hen will be animated, even as an OAV.
@Fencedude (about the twin-swapping snafu):
This might explain why Rika knows about Mion(Shion)’s “tendencies”, since the loli Mion in Himatsubushi-hen would actually be the current Shion. Not that it’s important, or even relevant to the situation right now…
>>> But Hanyuu’s got a moe lolita face and big tits like Mikuru-chan! And her melonpan’s bigger than the twins! How could something that cute be so evil?
Sadly, it seems that Studio Deen may never be able to fit her arc in the anime.
Shall we ask KyoAni to animate the two last answer arcs? =P
@Fencedude:
Major Spoiler (?)
You left out one detail – that they swapped frequently because Shion always felt that it was wrong that she got preferential treatment when basically they were the same person. Except Shion’s “Mion” identity was taken away from her the day Mion got the tattoo, and the twins couldn’t swap any more.
@Skribulous:
>> But Hanyuu’s got a moe lolita face and big tits like Mikuru-chan! And her melonpan’s bigger than the twins! How could something that cute be so evil?
He’s bought. I know it. XD
>> I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE…
I so was expecting someone telling me that ^^
@Sheba:
Well, Minagoroshi-hen not making it into the anime was known a long time ago. And I hope KyoAni’s Minagoroshi and Matsuribayashi take an entire 26 eps run ^_^
They left out two things in this episode…
SPOILERS
–
–
–
After the fall, Shion landed on a roof, saving herself, but the fall caused her to realize what she’s done… She apologizes to Satoshi for not taking care of Satoko, then jumps off the roof, killing herself.
“I’m so sorry for ever being born.”
–
–
–
END SPOILERS
Also, Akane Sonozaki(Mion and Shion’s mother) = MILF.
http://img150.imageshack.us/my.....s06oi8.jpg
Uhm, just two other things: Shion seems to have hit the ground with her back first, but when she gets covered with the blanket she lies on her chest. Okay, maybe she turned around after the impact or something else, granted. The other thing is that her bare foot can be seen sticking out of the blanket, but at the time she fell she was wearing shoes. Is Oishis payments so low that he needs to steal the clothes from the dead?
0 – 0 wow…
First off, my link treat. Oh no! Now we know that Rika has plans for the rest of the world. Hurry! It’s spreading:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/previe.....057012.htm
Anyway. WOW. Great episode. It was a total taboofest though.
Lolis.
Killer lolis.
Killer lolis with kinky torture devies.
Killer lolis bathing in the blood of other killer lolis.
Killer lolis peeing themselves.
Killer lolis having fun with their sister. Didn’t that line she said when she did that also sound very suggestive?
OMG!
“I AM SPARTICUS!”
Funniest thing I’ve seen in weeks.
Fantastic crossover 4TW!
Killer loli gladiators rebel against their masters and nearly defeat the Roman Legions.
Masterking~
I know right? Akane is so hawt. To me she’s totally sexier than the twins.
Maxtreme~
I’m still ROFL’ing XD… niipah!
>>Also, Akane Sonozaki(Mion and Shion’s mother) = MILF.
Akane Sonozaki + glasses + wand + robe + golem = Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt
Oh, crap. I just totally spoiled that Oyashiro-sama is ZnT’s Final Bad Guy, didn’t I…
Im betting that mion never really died from the fall because of all the bodies that broke her fall. The demon got her…she climbed up from the pit and took her to Keichi’s room and slammed the nail into his finger to finish off the job. Think though…She has the clothes on her body that Shion switched so it could be a possiblility right? I mean cmmon you saw that ;p.
And if you probably know Satoko had a small slash on her left side arm…amazingly after all thoes stabs she only shows that…gotta love mistakes in a show with so much blood yet little to show upon, makes us wonder if the censors are getting a little bit of justice XD.
Cheers!
-Jason-
lol@wing zero comment
i gave up on higurashi’s common sense and just watch it these days for things like shion going crazy and stabbing people
and the hope that someday we can hear rena’s “kana? kana?” again. :(
Chirp
http://orz.4chan.org/hr/res/78729.html
In order to avoid crowing that I had everything figured out by the end of Tatarigorashi, I’ll just say that Shion’s death being an accident was a complete surprise to me.
>>Im betting that mion never really died from the fall because of all ..(snip)
Since it’s said in the tips that Keiichi actually died from heart failure, and knowing that he’s not the most stable individual there is… It’s more than possible that he died of fright, imagining Demon Mion coming to ‘nail’ him ^^
Ah, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this easlier. In Onikakushi remember how we see the girl’s eyes go all wierd when seen from K1’s point of view? That can’t be because they’re possessed by Oyashiro-sama, because every other time someone goes batshit insane their eyes stay normal. So at least some of the things seen from K1’s POV *were* hallucinations in Onikakushi.
Dammit, I have to figure everything out before the next scenario spills all the beans.
Ok, big predictions for Tsumihoroboshi. Keichi was hallucinating a lot. I’m guessing the needle wasn’t really there, the eye slits were imagined, and the demeaner and word choice of Rena were exagerated in his perception, adn that Rena was really afraid for/of him and trying to save him from what she had experienced earlier rather than trying to hurt him. Keichi will end up being saved after Mion and Rena manage to inject him with the antidote they got from either Rika or the Doctor.
Supplamental prediction: Miyo Takano is evil, and we’ll find out she’s up to something nefarious in this scenario.
This probably entails that the burned body thing was her faking her death.
I predict for Tsumihoroboshi that Keichii is was not injected by Mion in the end but instead Mion actually tried to use a marker to draw on his face.
Yes it wasnt a syringe but a marker.
We’ll see anyway.
slightly random:
has anyone seen the ‘kid friendly version’ of higurashi?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5UfIRmkv28
LOL ^_^
Well, Tsumihoroboshi-hen is not a counterpart of Onikakushi-hen..
It’s only will give more through detail about Rena and her Machette of course..
I believe it was Mion that killed Keichii in the hospital. She was wearing Mion’s clothes anyway…
What happened was when Shion hit the ground it shocked Mion out of her coma. I mean Mion could not have died since there were so many bodies at the bottom of the well.
Mion and Shion have demonstrated great closeness as twins, so yea I think they are connected somehow.
The evidence here would be the banging Shion heard in the festival storehouse. How come only she could hear it?
That’s what I think anyway.
>BTW, Rena and K1 fight like friggin’ commando of something, if they used their “standard†weapons they might take down an entire covert-ops unit if they wanted to (figuratively speaking of course ^^)
haahaahaahahah!! did you know something or was that a coincidence? (see ep 13 and 21-24 of kai)