Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Meakashi-hen 3-4

August 21, 2006 | 23 Comments

I have to applaud 7th Expansion for coming up with this series. While watching these two episodes, I realised that the company must have laid out the general plot right from the start because there is no way they could have come up with explanations that are this precise otherwise. Having said that, I'm curious how they'll reconcile the difference between Watanagashi/Meakashi arcs with Onikakushi/Tsumihoroboshi arcs. And while Tatarigoroshi/Himatsubushi arcs can be slotted rather easily with the other two pairs of arcs, I'm wondering if we'll ever get explanation to the cause of the gas leak. It's unfortunate that the series will end at the end of Tsumihoroboshi arc because there are actually two more arcs left. It makes me wonder if the finale will actually solve every single mystery or if the producer will develop OVA to conclude the series later on.

Episode 18: Meakashi-hen 3

Shion is informed by Ooishi that the guy who killed Satoshi's aunt has died inside his cell. Because of this, people in Hinamizawa assume that Satoshi has been 'spirited away by Ogre', a notion which Shion dislike. After doing comparative analysis of the murder victims, Shion realises that all of them are enemies of the Sonozaki family. A woman called Takano Miyo seems interested in Shion's note and claims that she has been researching Hinamizawa's dark past. She asks Shion if she has heard stories about half-human, half-demon creature which climbed down from mountain to kidnap men. The men will then be strapped onto table, gutted like a fish, have their intestines pulled out, and eventually thrown into the river. She believes that this is the origin of the word 'Watanagashi'. Takano then pulls out a notebook and tells Shion that she will lend it to her if Shion wants it. She suggests that all of the victims have been drowned at Onigafuchi marsh.

Later on that day, Shion receives a visitation from Mion, who apologises for pressuring Shion to show the distinction. Shion believes that Mion simply performed her role as the next Sonozaki leader so she doesn't held resentment towards Mion. When Mion wonders about Satoshi's whereabouts, however, Shion snaps. She believes that at that point, a demon inside her was born. Shion then proceeds to strangle Mion but regains her sanity when she notices the injury on Mion's fingers. Mion explains that she felt it wasn't fair that Shion was the only one who suffered even though they are twins. Mion actually asked her grandma to leave Shion and Satoshi alone and in return, her grandma claimed that she'd consider it if Mion shows her a distinction. This is why Mion does not understand why Satoshi disappeared. Upon hearing this, Shion apologises and tells the demon inside her that she'll trust Mion. At the same time, she also seals her feelings for Satoshi.

1 year later, Shion gets into a trouble for kicking the motorbikes belonging to the same group of juveniles she encountered the year before. This time around, however, she's ready to defend herself with a taser. But before she can use the weapon, a guy arrives to help her. That person is Keiichi and just like Satoshi, he mistook Shion as Mion and pats the girl on the head. Later on Shion finds out that Mion likes Keiichi. Mion also tells Shion about how upset she was when Keiichi gave the doll that he won to Rena because he thought Mion is not the kind who likes it (Watanagashi 1). Upon hearing this Shion decides to give her sister some advice on how to win Keiichi over. She also decides to tease her sister by saying maybe she should try the tactic on Keiichi as well. Mion is unhappy to hear this and asks her sister to steer clear from Keiichi. Because of this, Shion tries to convince herself not to be jealous of her sister's happiness.

One day, however, Keiichi mistook Shion as Mion again. Mion then spots the two walk hand-in-hand, causing a tug-of-war between Shion and Mion over Keiichi. Shion eventually decides to let Keiichi go, claiming that she just wanted to tease her sister. When Keiichi pats her on the head, however, Shion blushed and runs away from the gang. Shion then cries on her own, apologising to Satoshi. She claims that she still has not forgotten him and that she doesn't like that rude klutz Keiichi. Shion also wonders where Satoshi could be and when she hears a footstep behind her, she thinks it's actually Satoshi. On the night of Watanagashi festival, Shion meets Takano and Tomitake, who invite her to join them entering the Furude shrine warehouse. Shion, who thinks that she maybe able to find out more about Satoshi, decides to join them. In order to ensure that Mion is not angry, Shion decides to take Keiichi with her (Watanagashi 2).

Once they are inside, Shion shows an obvious hatred towards Oyashiro-sama and swears to never forgive the God should he's the one who actually erased Satoshi. Shion, however, becomes afraid when she suddenly hears noises that neither Keiichi nor Takano can hear. After the excursion, Shion ends up going to a Sonozaki family and passes out after drinking many alcohol. When she wakes up, she overhears Mion and her grandma talking about someone who has stirred up Oyashiro-sama's anger. After hearing Takano's name being mentioned by Mion, Shion realises that Mion and her grandma know that she and the others have entered the Shrine warehouse. Shion tries to walk away but the phone suddenly rings and she hears a creaking noise behind her. She remembers what Rena said about hearing footsteps and assumes that Oyashiro-sama is behind her. However, when she turns around, she finds out that the person behind her is Mion.

Episode 19: Meakashi-hen 4

Continuing from the previous episode, Mion picks up the phone and tells the person on the other side to 'silence' everyone involves. She then turns to Shion and asks her sister if she heard everything. Shion pretends to not know what Mion talks about but Mion pulls her sister up and tells her that Takano and Tomitake have been subjected to Oyashiro-sama's curse. Tomitake apparently clawed his own neck while Takano was found stuffed in a barrel, burnt down. Upon hearing this, Shion pulls out her taser and proceeds to use it on Mion. She then enters her grandmother's room and proceeds to taser her as well. After the credit, Shion is seen dragging Mion into the jail cell. Mion looks confused upon seeing Shion locking her inside the cell. Shion, however, simply mocks her sister and asks Mion how she killed Takano and Tomitake. Mion claims that she doesn't know so Shion asks her if the bizzare string of deaths are actually distinction for the Dam War.

Mion guesses that's probably the case, explaining that despite being the next head, she is actually just a spokeperson for her grandmother. In addition to this, she believes there is another person inheriting her true position. Shion then wonders why Takano and Tomitake were killed even though they are just strangers. She wants to know if the reason is because they broke into the festival shrine. Mion is surprised to hear this, suggesting that she didn't know about this information beforehand. Shion, however, points out that normally one person dies and another disappears but this time two people actually died. Mion tells Shion that it's probably because there were 4 people entering the Shrine. Shion then goes back to check on her grandmother to get more information from her. But after burning her grandma's forehead with a lighter, she realises that the old woman is already dead. Shion is angry about this because her grandma died without any pain.

After whipping her grandmother's corpse, Shion returns to Mion and uses the corpse to force Mion to reveal the location to the secret well. Shion the proceeds to reveal that their grandma is already dead and she is taking the corpse there to dispose it. Shion also thinks that she had the right to kill their grandma because she lied to her about Satoshi. She thought Satoshi would be forgiven after she showed distinction but that's not the case. Shion, however, assures Mion that she'll be okay if she didn't lie. Otherwise, her fate is sealed. Later on, the village leader, Kimiyoshi, calls up the Sonozaki residence so Shion pretends to be Mion and claims that her grandma is still asleep. Because of this, Kimiyoshi asks her to relay the message that a village meeting will take place today at 5PM. The phone then rings again and this time it's Kasai wanting to talk to Shion so Shion tells Kasai that she entered the Festival warehouse along with Tomitake and Takano.

Upon hearing this Kasai tells her that he tries his best to be her ally but there are things he can't cover for her. Shion immediately hangs up the phone and tells herself to calm down. She believes that 'Shion' has been sacrificed as an "Onikakushi" so the only one left is Keiichi. Because of this, Shion decides to use Keiichi as a bait for her enemy. Shion then approaches Keiichi and asks him if he met Takano and Tomitake last night (Watanagashi 2). Keiichi lied about this but Shion thinks that he's a bad liar. When Shion asks Keiichi about seeing her last night, however, Keiichi tells her that she just asked the question the night before. Shion realises that Mion had already asked similar question last night. Shion then tells Keiichi that she'll tell everyone that Keiichi didn't do anything wrong, making Keiichi worried in the process. Shion then comes to the town meeting and tells everyone that she and Keiichi entered the warehouse.

Shion realises that the person that Mion talked about is definitely in this room. Because of this, she decides to invite Kimiyoshi into her house. Kimiyoshi seems to be willing to overlook Shion's mistake because unlike "The Houjou Brat", Shion is different. He thinks that because the Houjou family tried to sell the village, the entire family is cursed. Shion is shocked to hear this and points out that Shion showed distinction for Satoshi not too long ago. Kimiyoshi, however, reveals that Shion showed distinction for Kasai, her uncle, and herself. Shion becomes angry to hear this and starts telling Kimiyoshi that Satoshi's sin exists simply because the three great houses decided on it. She knows now that everyone thinks that no matter what the Houjou family does, they will be cursed. She dislikes this way of thinking and believes that this is what cornered Satoshi's family. In her anger, Shion stands up and attacks Kimiyoshi with her taser.

Important points

1. The guy who killed Satoshi's aunt has died inside his cell.
2. Shion finds out that all murder victims are enemies of the Sonozaki family.
3. Takano knows a lot about the village's past.
4. Shion's 'demon' is awakened when she hears Mion mentions Satoshi's name.
5. Mion reveals that she also showed distinction and yet Satoshi still disappears.
6. Keiichi mistook Shion as Mion.
7. Mion tells Shion about how she feels jealous that Keiichi gave the doll to Rena.
8. Mion and Shion have a tug-of-war over Keiichi.
9. Shion starts hearing strange footsteps behind her.
10. Shion is the one who takes Keiichi into the warehouse because she wants to know more about Satoshi.

11. Shion overhears Mion talking to her grandma about someone stirring up Oyashiro-sama's anger.
12. Shion believes Mion orders someone on the phone to 'silence' everyone.
13. Shion tasers Mion and then her grandmother.
14. The grandmother's room was actually dark when Shion enters the place and she was not expecting a phone call.
15. Shion tosses Mion into the cell.
16. Mion doesn't seem to understand why Shion threw her into the cell.
17. Mion points out that it's possible that all of the murder victims were actually distinction for the dam war.
18. Mion also reveals that she's just her grandma's spokeperson.
19. Mion didn't know beforehand that Tomitake and Takano break into the warehouse.
20. Mion also claims that she didn't kill either one of them.
21. Mion suggests to Shion that the reason 2 people die this time is probably because 4 people entered the shrine.
21. Shion finds out her grandma is already dead.
22. Shion uses her grandma to find out the whereabout of the well.
23. Shion throws her grandma into the well.
24. Shion finds out about the town meeting.
25. Shion tells Kasai that she and Keiichi went into the Shrine
25. Shion pretends to be Mion to scare Keiichi. She finds out that Mion asks the same question the day before.
26. Shion invites the village leader to the Sonozaki house.
27. Shion finds out that she never performed distinction for Satoshi.
28. Shion tazers the village leader.

Impression and speculations:

I think I pretty much understands the majority of events that happened in Watanagashi-hen now. It all started with the disappearance of Satoshi and ends with the bloodbath in the Sonozaki residence. In order to make this a bit easier to read, I decided to split this part into sections:

Satoshi's disappearance

This episode suggests that the Sonozaki family is responsible for Satoshi's disappearance because Shion never performed a distinction for him. However, Mion claimed that she performed a distinction so that Satoshi and Shion will be spared. I believe Mion didn't lie and the three nails are meant for herself (for being rude to her grandmother), Shion (so they'll leave her alone), and Satoshi (so they'll leave him alone). This means that either the grandma was the one who order the killing or a third party was responsible for his disappearance. At the moment I believe that a third party is the more likely suspect and by this I mean Takano. She seems to know a lot about the village's history and purposedly bait Shion with her research and her knowledge about the victims being drown into the Marsh. Her effort successfully widen the gap between Shion and her family.

The footsteps

I believe this is Shion getting infected with the madness/disease that infected Keiichi in Onikakushi-hen. This explains why Mion looked intimidating one minute and confused the next one. It's because Shion saw Mion as an intimidating Sonozaki leader in her psychotic state. This also explains why Shion thinks Mion and her grandmother knew about her excursion to the Shrine warehouse while in reality, the two probably didn' know about the incident at that point. As a side note, when Shion went to her grandma's room to taser the old woman, the place was dark instead of illuminated by light like in Shion's imagination. Further proof of Shion's overactive imagination. In general, however, I think Shion managed to control her psychotic outbreak rather well in comparison to Keiichi. I think she completely loses it only after Keiichi and Rena visit to the Sonozaki estate back in Watanagashi-hen 4.

The four intruders

This is an important part of the plot because all of these times, the series, or rather Keiichi, has been giving us the impression that someone saw him entering the shrine. I think there is a likelihood that no one actually knew about it until Shion blabbed it all to Kasai and the village elder. Shion seems to think that Mion knew about it when Mion asked Keiichi if he saw Shion. However, I suspect Mion's question was mostly motivated by jealousy of Shion, as opposed to motivated by the knowledge that Keiichi entered the warehouse. But since Shion is on the 'blame the Sonozaki' mindset, she immediately assumes that Mion knew that she and Keiichi went into the warehouse when she asked the guy if he met Shion. Now, if Mion and her grandmother never knew about it, then there's a likelihood that they were not the one who killed Tomitake and Takano. I doubt they have the chance to know about it since they were at the party until late at night.

That means someone else killed Tomitake and Takano with the intention of creating a 'ripple' in the village. That ripple centers around Shion and her quest to avenge Satoshi's disappearance. I suspect that Takano killed Tomitake or injected him with something so he'll kill himself. She then obtained a dead body and burned it down in that barrel. This explains why Ooishi told Keiichi later on in the story that Takano's time of death was actually before she even met Keiichi inside the warehouse. I suspect Takano already prepared a dead body and used it after her excursion into the warehouse. I am not sure her intention but come to think of it, the elimination of Sonozaki family would mean that the major opposing force for the dam project will be gone. I am starting to wonder if all of the murders have actually been committed by Takano instead of Sonozaki family so that they eventually create the domino effects that lead the situation right to this very point.

Shion/Mion

These episodes confirm once and for all that Shion was behind every other murders that happened in Watanagashi arc. She threw Mion into the cell and probably killed her grandmother by accident when she tasered the old woman. She's the one who let other people know that four people entered the warehouse. She was the one who scared Keiichi off by asking questions that makes it seem like she's Mion trying to find out if Keiichi entered the warehouse. While the reality is, Mion probably doesn't know that Keiichi entered the warehouse. Shion also killed the village elder after he insulted Satoshi. This explains why later on, she and the village elder was reported as 'missing people' by Ooishi. The fact is, they were not missing. Shion simply took the village elder to her house, killed him, and pretended to be Mion afterwards while the real Mion is in the cell. I suspect Shion was the one who made a phone call to Keiichi, giving him the impression that Mion is pretending to be her.

I assume Shion will end up being the one responsible for Mion, Rika and Satoko's death. In that case, she was the one shook the stairs while Keiichi was climbing on it back in Watanagashi-hen 3. No wonder that 'Mion' was talking so much about Satoshi back then. I also think a lot of words that 'Mion' said back in Watanagashi-hen 4 make a lot sense now. When Shion talked about Shion, she actually was referring to Mion. While attempting to torture Keiichi, 'Mion' actually apologised for defiling Mion. In a way, this is true because by using Mion's name to do all of the murder, Shion effectively tarnished her sister's reputation. Shion being 'Mion' also explains why 'Mion' owned the taser that she used to stun Keiichi out. The only part I still don't understand is why Shion told Keiichi to avoid her after he's saved by Ooishi. I can only guess that at that point, Shion knew that her 'disease' will take over her rational mind so she tried to warn Keiichi beforehand.

© memento 2003