Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai: Yakusamashi-hen 1

July 14, 2007 | 19 Comments

This is actually a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect the original arc to be this entertaining. It's also nice to see the animation quality to be higher than last week. The blur effect that the animators overused on last week's episode is barely seen here. In addition to this, the artistic styles that the studio employed for the super-deformed characters are pretty good. Story-wise, this is pretty much the comedy part of the arc. As a result, there aren't much information given about the arc. Judging from the arc's name, I wonder if the story will focus on the three main houses in Hinamizawa. One thing that I also notice here is that most of the main characters are a lot closer to each other than they were in the other arcs. I wonder if this means that they'll less likely to become paranoid.

The episode begins with Rika mentioning about how time and world repeats while she struggles against fate. Despite this, she still hasn't forgotten about the people who were thrown into despair and tragedy, time and time again. She believes this is the same for another person. She wonders if the pursuit of happy future in this newly born world will bring about the world of happiness. Although she doesn't know the answer, she wants to protect those who are important to her. The camera then zooms out to reveal that Rika is actually all alone and Satoko is still asleep. However, Rika is actually drinking a wine from a glass. A similar voice then answer Rika's rambling and asks her if she's talking about 'that' again. She admits she's surprised that Rena was able to recover (referring to the event in Tsumihoroboshi) and Keiichi could remember his fate in Onikakushi. Having said that, Rika doesn't think such miracles will keep occurring.

Satoko is suddenly awake from her sleep and wonders to whom Rika is talking to. Rika tells her that she's just talking to herself. The next day, June the 10th, Satoko is seen injecting herself with some kind of nutrient. Rika reminds her to not neglect doing this despite Satoko's reluctance. The two then head to school early, surprising the teacher, who thinks that they are like Angels. Keiichi disagrees with this a few hours later because he becomes the victim of Satoko's prank. When he enters the classroom, a giant bucket of water drench him. Keiichi immediately accuses Satoko, who denies it at first but eventually admits that it's not a 'prank' but a 'trap'. Keiichi loses it and tries to catch Satoko but when he manages to corner her, Shion steps in and whacks his head with another giant bucket. Keiichi is pissed off with this and asks Shion not to interfere. Shion refuses because Satoshi had asked her to take care of Satoko. Keiichi fumes to hear this.

In retaliation, Keiichi tries to throw a stinky towel at Satoko when the girl tries to run away. Unfortunately for him, the towel lands in front of Chie-sensei's face and he gets the brunt of her anger. During lunchtime, Keiichi is depressed until Rena offers him her lunch. Satoko, however, is not so happy because Shion has made her some boiled pumpkins. Despite this, Satoko agrees to eat the pumpkins that Rika feeds her. Rena can't stop herself from going obsessed with the cuteness of Rika feeding Satoko. During break, the group decides to play a game of tag and Satoko gets the misfortune of being zombie (the one who gets to chase the other players). Keiichi suggests that instead of Satoko counting to 100 before chasing the others, she should solve a mathematical problem before chasing them. 1/5, 1/6, and 1/7 cake are on the plate and Satoko can eat one piece of cake in 60 seconds. If Satoko eat them all, how many cakes will be left on the plate?

Satoko is stumped and unable to chase anyone until she realises that it's a trick question and the answer is that there's no more cake left. Meanwhile, the others explain to Keiichi that the game involves them being chased by an Ogre or a Zombie and the one who gets caught becomes one as well. The winners are the survivors. Satoko, who finally figures out the answer, is fuming and runs after Keiichi. She decides to use two boys to figure out Keiichi's location. Realising that he can use the same tactics, he tells 3 girls to tell Satoko that the teacher is calling her at the school entrance. He then wants them to tell Mion the same thing as well. The idea is that so Satoko will catch Mion. Later on, Keiichi is seen hiding inside a lodge when he hears the same group of girls and guys looking for him. They claim that his father is waiting at the entrace because his mother is ill, his house is on fire, and a jumbo jet crashed into his house. Yeah.

Keiichi realizes that this is a trick so he decides not to get out. However, another girl comes and tells the other that Keiichi likes to peek on girls in the bath and as a result, the police have come to question him. Soon, everyone comes with rumours about how Keiichi likes to steal panties every night and pulls the panties over his head and sniff them. Another hears that Mion was one of his victims. Keiichi finally understands that this is Mion's retaliation for his earlier trap. Because of this despite the humiliation that he has to endure, Keiichi decides to stay inside and instead of getting out and denies the accusations. Apparently Keiichi likes bloomers and girls swimsuit and licks the changing room. XD Despite this, Keiichi stays put and does not get out of the lodge. After the juniors left, Rena shows up in front of the lodge and meet Rika. She wonders if Rika is still okay. Rika claims that she's okay and wants to know about Shion and Mion.

Rena informs her that Shion and Mion have turned into zombies after Keiichi rat them out. Upon hearing this, Rika steps closer to Rena, causing the other girl to wonder if Rika is not a zombie. In response, Rika tells her not to worry because she will eat Rena gently. Rena screams in terror and spots Keiichi inside the lodge. She asks him to help her out, ratting him out in the process. Rika, Shion, Mion, and Satoko immediately show up and try to capture him. Keiichi tries his best to close the door but eventually unable to stop the girls from coming in. In his last ditch effort, he asks Rena to help him but Rena simply prays for him before saving herself. As a result, Keiichi is tickled to death by the other four girls and become a zombie as well. Keiichi is not happy with Rena's betrayal and decide to go after her. They eventually manage to corner her but before Keiichi can tickle her to death, Rena strikes a very moe pose.

As a result, little Keiichi goes north and Keiichi is unable to move. Mion calls it an anti pre-pubescent boys, 'hard-on' magic. Satoko who doesn't understand what this means want to know but Shion assures her that she'll understand when she's older. All of a sudden, the break is over, that means Rena manages to survive the zombie tag experience. Satoko and Rika are not happy that Keiichi just stand there and did nothing so they tickle him some more. Much to everyone's surprise, Shion and Mion also survive the experience. All of these times, they simply pretend to be zombies even though no one caught them. As a punishment for losing the game, Rika, Satoko, and Keiichi have to dress up. Rika and Satoko are dressed up as maids while Keiichi has turned into a swan princess ballerina. Rena immediately suffers from another cuteness overload but before she can take home either Rika or Satoko, Irie-sensei appears and declares that only he can take Satoko home.

Their little joke, however, got interrupted when Takano and Tomitake appear. After Irie introduces Takano and Tomitake to Keiichi, the mood becomes gloomy when Takano wonders if the successive Hinamizawa murder case will continue this year. Later on, Keiichi gets all the info from Rena, Mion, and Shion. About how the dam foreman got killed and his murderer is still on the lose, how Satoko's parents fell to their death, how Rika's parents end up dead, how Satoko's aunt was killed by unknown assailant and her brother ran away from home. Mion apologises for not telling Keiichi earlier but much to everyone's surprise, Keiichi doesn't mind about this. Meanwhile, Satoko sees that something troubles Rika so she suggests that Rika tells her friends about it. Rika realizes that this is the same thing that Keiichi said back in Tsumihoroboshi Hinamizawa. Unfortunately, Satoko claims that she didn't hear it from anyone and came up with it herself.

Impression:

I really enjoyed the part where the group play tag game. It's fun to see Keiichi and Mion trying to outdo each other's dirty tactic. The most amusing part about it is when the kids come one after another, each telling a more horrific story about Keiichi's family and homes. The game itself is interesting because it's like a re-enactment of how each character behaves in the other arcs. The main difference between this arc and something like Onikakushi is that all of the main characters seem to get along with each other. Shion and Mion, for example, are a lot closer with each other than they were in Watanagashi-hen. Also, the person who informs Keiichi about Watanagashi is not just Rena or Mion but Rena, Mion, and Shion, which mean these four are more likely to trust each other. This leaves Rika and Satoko as the possible berserker in the story. Interestingly enough, Satoko is seen injecting herself with serum in this arc.

This is information that we didn't get in other arcs. That scene implies that Satoko has somehow been infected by the disease but manages to keep herself in check with the injection. The question is, will she be able to keep up with the injection? Especially considering that she doesn't seem to like it. Another interesting point that this episode brings is the dual nature of Rika's personality. It's clear now that she's never possessed or anything like that. She just uses her cute, childish personality when she's with her friends. The more interesting part here is whether or not the other characters remember what happened in the other Hinamizawas. I get the impression that Keiichi actually remembers after the girls told him about what has happened thus far. Similarly, it's possible that the words that Keiichi uttered back in Tsumihoroboshi was quite powerful to the point that this version of Satoko actually remembers it.

© memento 2003