Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Himatsubushi-hen 1

July 15, 2006 | 21 Comments

I must say I'm rather pleased with this episode mostly because it is an entirely different story seen through a new character. This episode, which is numbered as 14 by the anime, is actually more like a prequel to the main story that features Keiichi as the main protagonist. This kind of story-telling method was also used in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, which is the prequel for Twin Peaks. In that film, the story changes its focus from lead protagonist Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle McLachlan) to Special Agent Chester Desmond (Chris Isaac) and the story happens a few days prior to Laura Palmer's death. This means that the prequel is used to explain details that were left unclear during within the main part of the story.

This episode itself begins with a radio announcer informing his listener that 3 people have been arrested over obstruction of justice. In addition to this, a series of escalating activites against the Hinamizawa Dam Case lead a bloody clash with the riot squad a month ago. Meanwhile on a street, two men wearing grey suit are seen approaching a boy called Inukai Toshiki from their car. Meanwhile back in Hinamizawa, Furude Rika looks over her village with sad look in her eyes. After the credit, an investigator called Akasaka Mamoru can be heard narrating the story about the time when he met a strange girl while attempting to investigate the kidnapping of the Ministry of the Construction Official's son. Akasaka was assigned to investigate the group who protest against the Hinamizawa dam case. His supervisor did not believe the group will pull such a stunt but he wants to ensure they cover all of the bases.

Whilst inside the train, Akasaka remembers how he apologised to his wife because he possibly could not be by her side when she delivers their newborn baby. His wife, however, assured him that she'll be fine and told him that she'll be waiting with their baby. The young detective soon arrives in Onigafuchi police station and is immediately introduced to Ooishi, who offers him to give him a tour of the area. Akasaka is quickly informed by Ooishi about many things related to Hinamizawa such as the great houses and the Sonozaki family's absolute influence on them. It is Sonozaki Oryou who leads the villagers against the construction of the dam and have since escalated their confrontation every year. While driving inside the car, Ooishi offers to introduce Akasaka wonders why Ooishi is interested in the investigation so the other guy simply tells him that it's a 'give and take' situation.

When Akasaka arrives in Hinamizawa, he finds Rika sleeping on the bus stop and starts speaking intelligible words. He is even more surprised upon hearing Rika speaking to one of the villagers without using honorific. Rika asks Akasaka what he wants to do so the detective tells her that he wants to take photos of the beautiful nature that surrounds the village. Upon hearing this, she calls him Tomitake 2 and follows the guy around. While Akasaka takes photos of a postal box, Rika asks him if Hinamizawa is fun for him. Akasaka claims that this is and tells Rika that once his wife gets out of the hospital, he wants to come back to this village with his baby. Upon hearing this Rika has a sad look on her face. Their tour guide then tells the two that for the finale, he wants to take Akasaka to an interesting place and Rika suggests that they go to her house, Furude Temple. Akasaka immediately realises that this girl is Furude Rika.

After arriving in a temple, Akasaka notices some signs posted outside the temple's entrance. Their tour guide thinks that Akasaka must be used to seeing something like this as an activist. Akasaka, however, corrects him by saying that he's not an activist. In fact, he thinks commiting acts of violence and lockdown in order to affect the country's politic is not something he can agree with. The tour guide thinks that Akasaka has a great view on life so Akasaka continues by saying that if one wants to fight in politics, that person should either vote for a politician sharing the same view or becomes one him/herself. Rika, however, immediately grabs Akasaka's shirt before he says anything else and tells the guy that she does not understand what he's talking about. Akasaka apologises to Rika and tells her that he simply thinks that Japan is a peaceful country so one must also expresses their thoughts peacefully.

Upon hearing this, Rika grabs his shirt even tighter and asks the guy in that case how he would prevent the dam from drowning this village. Rika sadly tells him that they can only live here and can't live in the city. Unfortunately for Rika, Akasaka does not have the answer for her. Upon arriving at the temple, Akasaka is greeted by the village's leader, Kimiyoshi Kiichirou. Kimiyoshi asks Akasaka if he thinks the place is as peaceful as he thought it will be so Akasaka confirms this and tells the guy that he had fun visiting various places today. Before he can say anything else, however, Rika has dragged him away from the village leader. Rika takes him to a spot where he can see the entire village and Akasaka laments about how such a beautiful place will be destroyed by the dam. Rika, however, tells him that won't happen because the dam project will certainly be gone. Akasaka thinks that will be nice but Rika seems to be sure about it.

Akasaka wonders how Rika can be so sure but Rika simply tells him that whether he is sure or not, the dam project will be gone this year. She thinks it's been decided that way and there's no explanation for it. All of a sudden Rika runs towards the edge of the observation deck. Before Akasaka can stop her, however, a heavy wind blows towards him and Rika suddenly turns her face to Akasaka again. This time around, however, she looks malicious and tells Akasaka that he should return to Tokyo soon or else he will regret it. Akasaka asks the girl in front of him who she is because he thinks she is not Rika anymore. Before the girl can answer, however, she already passed out and when Akasaka approaches her, she returns to being Rika again. Later on that night, Akasaka gets on a car that is driven by the informant that Ooishi told him about. The informant, whose name is Satou, tells Akasaka that last night there was a big meeting at the Sonozaki residence.

The leader was Sonozaki Oryou and her granddaughter, Sonozaki Mion. The meeting was also attended by the important members of Kinoyoshi family. The meeting discussed the dam project but according to Satou, the most disturbing thing came towards the end when a guy came and whispered something to Oryou's ear. Oryou then told everyone in the meeting if this place is their mother then the dam projects threatens the livelihood of their mother. She then informed them that the dam construction's grandson has been kidnapped and a great deal of commotion has been made so she thinks they are even now. Akasaka is shocked to hear this because the kidnapping of the grandson was not leaked to anyone so he wonders how these people could have known. Satou then reveals that Oryou told everyone that while she despised the dam constructor, the child has no sin of his own so she doesn't want him to be hurt. Upon hearing this Akasaka realises that these people were the ones who kidnapped the boy.

Satou, however, tells Akasaka that he's not sure whether the words were ordered to treat the child nicely or just a mumble from the grandma. He also tells Akasaka that if he's about to go against the Sonozaki family, he better prepares himself since Ooishi himself has been attacked on several occasions. In fact, lately he's been wearing a knife-proof vest. Satou also warns Akasaka if he turns out to be the National Police that the Sonozaki family were talking about last night. Apparently Oryou decided to let the guy to do whatever he wants to do as long as he does not go too far. Meanwhile, Rika can be seen drawing picture of herself and Akasaka walking side by side. The next day, Ooishi shows Akasaka a wallet and ID belonging to Inukai Toshiki so the two decide to go to Takatsudou, where the items were found. However, before they leave Ooishi wears his knife-proof vest and asks Akasaka if he would like one as well.

Summary of important points

1. The activities against the Hinamizawa dam clearly caused a lot of bloody incidents on its trail.
2. The same men who were seen trying to catch Keiichi back in Onikakushi-hen was seen trying to kidnap Inukai.
3. Akasaka has a pregnant wife but had no choice but to leave her in order to investigate the kidnapping case.
4. Ooishi offered Akasaka an informant who might be able to help him.
5. Rika looked sad when Akasaka mentioned his family.
6. Akasaka publicly told his tour guide that he disagrees with the violence that has happened thus far.
7. Rika asked Akasaka how he would stop the dam project, suggesting that she disagreed with his way of thinking.

8. Rika told Akasaka that the villagers can't live anywhere else but in this village.
9. Rika was certain that the dam project will be gone this year.
10. Rika's voice and personality suddenly changed into a threatening one while conversing with Akasaka.
11. Akasaka's informant told him that the meeting on Sonozaki family was attended by Mion, as well as other people.
12. The meeting also revealed that Sonozaki Oryou was talking about the kidnapped boy.
13. The informant told Akasaka that Ooishi is now forced to wear knife-proof vest.
14. Ooishi told Akasaka that someone found the boy's wallet and ID in Takatsudou.

Questions:

1. For which factions do the grey-suited men work for?
2. Why did Rika look sad when Akasaka mentioned his family?
3. Why did Rika told Akasaka that the villagers can't live anywhere else?
4. How did Rika know that the dam project will be gone?
5. Was that Rika who threatened Akasaka or is it something else, like Oyashiro-sama?
6. Who is holding Inukai hostage?

Impression:

On a glance, there does not seem that many information which can be obtained from this episode. However, after looking through my summary list, I realised that this episode is actually quite important after all. First of all, we have the grey-suited men kidnapping the son of the Ministry of Construction. These men seem to be the same people who appeared in Onikakushi-hen trying to capture Keiichi. This means that we can at least rule out that these people are actually people working for a mental hospital and tried to capture Keiichi because he's a runaway patient. I highly doubt that Inukai suffered from mental problem and yet they kidnapped the boy anyway. In other words, these people possibly came from Hinamizawa and work for one of the great houses. They are most likely hired goons of the Sonozaki family. Another possibility is that they could be a third party who's been hired to ruin the situation between the government and the Hinamizawa residents even further.

If the government believes that Hinamizawa residents have kidnapped the boy, then the natural assumption is that these people are dangerous and willing to resort to any measure in order to get what they want. Unfortunately, it seems this is the most likely possibility at the moment. Unless the informant lied to Akasaka, then the Sonozaki family does appear as ruthless as they've been depicted by the Okonomiya policemen thus far. Speaking of the family, this episode also confirms that Mion is indeed the heir to the throne. Regardless of who is the real Mion, I think it's pretty safe to assume that when she told Keiichi that she's not the heir to the throne, she actually lied to him. The question is, what is the reason that made these people turning this extreme against a dam project? One obvious answer is that they view the land as their own 'mother', one who is about to be destroyed by this project. Naturally, they revolt against the project.

However, I think the real reason that they fight so hard against the project is because of the reason that Rika gave to Akasaka in this episode: "we can't live anywhere else". I've suspected before that the residents of Hinamiza actually suffered from a particular affliction. I think I am starting to believe that this affliction makes it impossible for them to leave Hinamizawa. When they do, they ended up reacting in volatile manner after a few months just like Rena did when she and her family temporarily lived in the big city. I suspect something binds the Hinamizawa residents to their birthplace and therefore they can't live anywhere else but in this place. Naturally, they fight tooth and nail against the dam project because if they let the project to commence, then they will have nowhere else to live. It's a bit dangerous to associate the opening theme song to the story but I think the lyric was written intentionally to include the following line: Raindrops turn into blood running on the cheek when there is no place that you can return to.

This point finally leads me to Rika, who is shown to be knowledgeable not only beyond her years but also beyond her ability as a normal girl. I think Rika knows that something bad will happen to Akasaka's family and this is why she looked sad when he mentioned his wife and his unborn child. This episode also shows that Rika knew all along that the Hinamizawa dam project will disappear soon. This could be interpreted in two ways. The first one is that she is actually possessed by a demon and is capable of killing those who are in her way. Her sudden personality change definitely suggests that there is another personality living inside the body. The other possibility is that Rika does not actually intend on killing anyone but has the ability to see the future. I've pointed out this theory a couple of time but was never sure about this. However, I think that when she looked stunned back in episode 7 (Watanagashi-hen 3), she actually saw something disturbing about the future.

© memento 2003