Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Meakashi-hen 5-6

September 3, 2006 | 31 Comments

I recently had the chance to take a look at the manga version of this series and was surprised at how good the quality of the drawing is in comparison to the anime. It's unfortunate that the anime doesn't get the same treatment especially considering the fact that the animators get to reuse many scenes over and over again. It makes me wonder if the budget for the anime adaptation is really low. Having said that, I'm actually quite happy with this arc. It actually answered most of the questions posed in Watanagashi-hen. The only thing that I have problem with is Shion's obsession with Satoshi. I find it hard to believe that she'll go this far for someone she barely knows. But I assume this is one of those irrational teenage love and compounded with her 'affliction', it drove her over the edge. Anyway, I can't wait to see the answer arc for Onikakushi-hen especially since this will be the last arc for the anime adaptation.

Episode 20: Meakashi-hen 5

The episode begins with Shion informing Keiichi that both Takano and Tomitake were found dead. The difference is that, in this version, she tells Keiichi that the curse of Oyashiro-sama are carried out by the villagers themselves. Because of this, no one in the village will care if either of them are killed by Oyashiro-sama's curse. Keiichi becomes angry just like he was in Watanagashi-hen 2, and asks Shion who would do something like that. In her mind, Shion believes it's anyone who wants to follow her grandmother's order. And any tragedy that occurs on Watanagashi festival will be treated as Oyashiro-sama's curse. Keiichi then panics and asks Shion how she is going to take responsibility for this. Shio, however, decides to hang up simply because he annoys her and made her ice melt. Shion then rings the village leader's home, asking his son if his father has come home. The son, who thinks Shion is Mion tells her that his father is not home yet.

Shion suggests that they form a search party since it's Watanagashi night. After Shion tells him that her grandmother was the one who said this, Kimiyoshi's son agrees to form a search party and to inform the police. In reality, however, Shion keeps Kimiyoshi tortured in the secret chamber by pulling his neck with a chain so that he only stands on the floor using his feet fingers. Shion tells him that she'll make his standing position better for each question he answers and she thinks he needs to answer approximately 3 questions to be comfortable. Shion then unleashes the chain a bit, dropping Kimiyoshi on the floor, before asking the old man if Satoshi is dead or alive. The old man, however, claims that he doesn't know one way or the other. An angry Shion decides to pull the chain back so Kimiyoshi tells her that he believes Satoshi is no longer alive. Shion thinks it must be because he's a Houjou and not because he killed his aunt.

Kimiyoshi, however, points out that the aunt's killer is some drug addict and in return Shion tells him that was probably just a misdirection. Kimiyoshi seems to agree with this and tells Shion that if she wants to make it look as if Satoshi is 'spirited away by Ogre', then she wouldn't want the boy to be subjected to police investigation. Kimiyoshi then tells Shion that she's probably had heard stories about how her grandma engineered the kidnapping of the construction minister's grandson. They then negotiated the halt of the dam construction and released the grandson. Shion wants to know who could possibly killed Satoshi but Kimiyoshi doesn't know since there is a rule that no one can ask who commit such act. Because of this, Shion wants to know how they could kill a person and make it seem like the person is missing. Kimiyoshi's eyes point towards the door, suggesting that the body may have been thrown into the pit inside the cell.

Shion checks on the area and calls for Satoshi but she doesn't get any answer. Shion then drops her flashlight, illuminating her own body in the process. However, because she's not mentally stable anymore, she thinks the shadow is actually Satoshi talking to her. She begins apologising to him and imagines that Satoshi actually tells her that it's not her fault. She tells Satoshi that she wants to jump as well but 'Satoshi' tells him to live on. Shion protests this, claiming that living without him is not fun. Unfortunately for her, her leg kicks the flashlight, ending her imagination. Shion then tells Mion that she thinks Satoshi's dead body has been thrown into the pit. Shion wants to know that Mion wasn't there when they killed Satoshi so Mion confirms this, claiming she'd have plead for his life if she were there. Shion, however, remembers Mion's cold eyes as her sister forced her to show distinction so she accuses Mion of lying.

The next day Shion is sleepy because she doesn't sleep until three in the morning. She explains to Rena and Keiichi that they gathered the youth at Furude Shrine and searched around and yet they couldn't find the village elder. When the three arrive in school, they meet Rika and Satoko so Shion gets an idea to interrogate Rika to see if she knows anything. When Rika mentions Tomitake's name, Shion immediately assumes that Rika knows all about the village's secret and asks Rika what will happen to the other two who trespassed the shrine. Rika thiks either way is fine by her. Shion is not happy to hear the answer and tells Rika that it wouldn't be a distinction if they left these two alone. Rika, on the other hand, is of the opinion that if they truly repented then that's all that is needed. She thinks people should not be entering the Furude Shrine but she wants to pardon the two kittens who entered the Shrine.

Rika also doesn't understand what Shion meant by distinction. She believes Oyashiro-sama wouldn't get angry with people who looked inside the festival shrine. The reason they don't want people to look in there is because there are many scary tools inside because of this people who go there usually get scared. Rika believes as long as they repent, it should be okay. Shion tells Rika that is not for her to decide but should be Oyashiro-sama's decision. In return Rika points out to Shion that she's Oyashiro-sama priestess and actually hears the God's voice. Shion does not believe this and proceeds to slap Rika before pushing her off to the ground. She then tells Rika that Kimiyoshi will suffer distinction that is why he disappeared. The next one on the list is Keiichi. She decides to leave him to Rika, thinking that if anything happens to Keiichi then Rika is the same as her grandmother. In that case, she plans on torturing Rika first before killing the girl.

That night, Shion is in crazy mode again, wondering if Kimiyoshi is already dead and thinks that everyone that she loves are taken away from her. When her mind thinks of Satoshi, she becomes angry and thinks that it'd be better if Satoko was the one who died instead. She likens her to a parasite that latches onto Satoshi and brings pain to the guy. Shion believes things would have been better if Satoko dies. If that happened, then Satoshi would be depressed but she thinks time will heal that pain. She's convinced that she can heal that pain. Shion's psychotic mode, however, is interrupted when Rika comes over to the house to get some soy sauce. Shion tells Rika that she can pour the sauce for Rika while she waits outside but Rika insists on pouring it herself. Because of this, the two walk together to the kitchen and Shion tells Rika that they still have a lot of soy sauce left. Much to her surprise, Rika produces a spray can and uses it on Shion's eyes.

Shion cries in pain from the stinging sensation, allowing Rika to come close to her with a needle. Before she can inject the content into Shion, however, Shion manages to kick Rika off her. They then have a stand-off which ends when Shion manages to taser Rika and injects the content of the needle into Rika. Rika's eyes starts to bulge and Shion is excited to see how long it'd take for her to die. She, however, changes her mind and decides to invite Rika to her torture chamber. Rika, however, grabs a kitchen knife and tells Shion that unfortunately she'd have to turn the sadist's invitation down. Shion points out that Rika could barely stand so how could she refuses the invitation. Rika then places the knife near the wall and proceeds to stab her own neck with it until she kills herself. After the incident, Shion covers Rika's body with newspaper and receives a call from Satoko. She decides to invite Satoko into her house, claiming that Rika is having dinner there.

Episode 21: Meakashi-hen 6

The episode begins with Shion making a phone call to Keiichi, telling him that the disappearance of village chief is probably her fault. She believes that he was killed because she told him about their tresspass. Shion also tells Keiichi that even after killing people who are close to them, 'they' are still planning on killing the two of them. The scare tactic seems to work on Keiichi, causing him to think that Rika disappeared because of him. Later on that night, Keiichi, Rena, and 'Mion' (Shion) decide to look for Rika at her house. When they don't hear any answer from her, Keiichi decides to use a stair to open the window in second floor while Rena checks on the Estate house. After Rena left, Shion explains to Keiichi that ever since Rika's parents died, the estate has been abandoned. She also informs him that Satoko's parents have also died after they fell of a cliff due to Oyashiro-sama's curse. In addition to this, Satoko's brother, Satoshi has disappeared.

Shion suddenly realises that the reason Satoko doesn't receive Oyashiro-sama's curse is probably because Rika is her best friend. Because of this, she becomes angry when Keiichi tells her that he feels sorry for the two girls. She starts shaking the stair that Keiichi uses, saying that Satoko is a tainted child who received the full extent of Oyashiro-sama's curse. Shion is angry that Satoko is the only one who receives pardon from Oyashiro-sama's curse while Satoshi didn't get the same treatment. Shion's psychotic behaviour, however, comes to a halt when Rena and the rest of the villagers arrive with the key. Shion asks herself to calm down since Rika is already dead after all. Because of this, she's sure that no one else can bring forth a curse except herself. A few hours later, the villagers inform Shion that they still have not been able to find anyone. She tells them to knock themselves out and enjoy some Tonjiru (Pork soup).

The villagers suddenly ask Shion who found out about Rika's disappearance in the first place. When Shion tells them that it's Keiichi, the villagers immediately suspect Keiichi right away much to Shion's delight. Shion's happiness, however, is interrupted when Ooishi arrives on the scene, suspecting her involvement. Later on that night, Shion returns to the torture room where she reveals the now captured Satoko to Mion. Satoko calls Shion a murderer because Kimiyoshi apparently died because of Shion. She also wonders what Shion will do to her so Shion tells her that she's going to kill Satoko. Mion immediately screams, asking Shion to spare Satoko but Shion ignores Mion's request because she remembers that Mion didn't pardon Satoshi. She proceeds to stab Satoko over and over again while telling Mion that she'd consider sparing Satoko if Mion apologises to her 1000 times. Mion tries to do this even though she knows it's a futile attempt.

Shion also becomes angry when she hears Satoko screaming for her "Nii Nii". She makes fun Satoko for thinking that everything will be okay if she calls her brother. After all, Satoshi is neither a superhero nor invincible. Shion is also not content with just stabbing Satoko's right arm so she changes her torture target to the girl's left hand. Much to her surprise, Satoko stops crying and tells her that she knew that Satoshi left because of her. Even though Satoshi had his own problem, she couldn't stop clinging onto him. Despite this, Satoko believes that her brother will come back and when he does, she's going to show him that she has changed. Shion laughs at Satoko and tells her that will be nice. Satoko tells Shion that she's not going to cry even if Shion stabs her again. Shion proceeds to do this until Satoko loses her life. Shion then remembers that Satoshi's last word was for her to take care Satoko and the girl's death means that she fails to do this.

Shion falls into a complete shock and ends up peeing on the floor. She tells herself that she had become a demon not too long ago. A few days later, Keiichi and Rena come to Shion's house to reveal that they know that 'Mion' was the one behind the murder. They tell her that the police is ready to barge in. Shion tells Keiichi that she doesn't have excuse for what she did. However, she wonders if she can take Keiichi for a walk. As the two walk along the park, Shion tells Keiichi that the truth is, 'Shion' likes him as well. However, Shion tells herself that by then she is no longer sure if she's Shion or Mion. The only word that clouded her mind was 'demon'. Shion tells Keiichi that she wants him to see what she's done but he might be afraid of her. Keiichi, however, tells her that no matter what, Mion will still be his best friend and proceeds to pat her on the head. Shion thinks to herself she finally understands why Mion likes Keiichi.

Shion then takes Keiichi to see Mion, whom Keiichi refers to as Shion. When he does this, Shion uses the opportunity to knock him unconscious with a rock before tying him up on a torture device. When Keiichi regains his consciousness, Shion tells him that she intends on killing 'Shion' after she hears the screams of all the people that died because of her. At this point, Keiichi asks Shion who she really is because he thinks she can't possibly be Mion. Keiichi thinks Shion is a 'demon' and demands the demon to return Mion to him. Shion laughs at Keiichi after hearing this. In retaliation, Keiichi asks Mion to fight. He also wants to know how the demon got a hold of her in the first place. Because of this Shion tells Keiichi that she lost to the demon a long time ago but she manages to suppress it with reasoning. She thought the demon has gone but it simply slept within her and was awakened when Keiichi gave that doll to Rena instead to Mion.

Because of the incident, Mion opened her heart to Shion, reminding Shion of Satoshi in the process. She thinks if he had given that doll to Mion, everything may have turned out all right. Shion then tells Keiichi that she never hesitated to torture people like she is now. Keiichi, however, doesn't mind being tortured if it will satisfy the pain in Mion's heart. In exchange, he asks her to grant 2 things: release Shion and return that body to Mion. Shion is surprised to hear this and wonders if Keiichi is not going to plea for his own life. Keiichi laughs and tells Shion that in that case, the third request is for her not to kill him. Shion in turn laughs to hear this and tells Keiichi that he only asked her to grant 2 requests so he can't ask for another one. Moreover, since she's a demon, she may not be able to fulfill her promise. Because of this, she decides to grant Keiichi's 3rd request since she can no longer gives her body back to Mion.

She then asks Keiichi if he hears the noise and points out that Rena probably called the cops since they were late. Shion then whispers at Keiichi's ear, apologising for defiling Mion's body. Keiichi tells her that prior to coming her, he told her that no matter what, the Mion inside him will never change. Shion is touched to hear this so she warns Keiichi not to approach her the next time he sees her because it will be the demon that he sees. Shion then sends Keiichi unconscious using her tasers. Shion then opens Mion's jail cell and asks her to change clothes with her. She proceeds to force Mion to jump into the pit and apologises to Satoshi. Mion, however, tells her that she thinks Satoshi is not there. The truth is, she also liked Satoshi and asks their grandma to pardon him. Their grandma actually said that Sonozaki family did nothing. Shion thinks it's all lies but Mion thinks their grandma didn't lie because she approved her love for Satoshi.

Mion claims that their grandma promised to forget everything. Shion thinks Mion lies and asks her who killed Satoshi. Unfortunately Mion doesn't know so Shion points out that the curse normally happens because someone disagrees with Sonozaki family. Mion informs Shion that their grandmother actually investigated this but no one in the village did it. Shion is shocked to hear this because it means everyone that she killed didn't deserve her revenge. She refuses to accept this and accuses Mion of making it all up. She tasers Mion, sending her sister into the pit. Later on, Shion returns to her apartment but she starts hearing voices and sees a hand trying to grab her. In her fear, Shion runs out of her apartment and meets up with Keiichi. She, however, can't control herself and ends up stabbing the boy. When she tries to return to her room though balcony, however, her shirt got caught by a nail on the wall and she falls to her death.

Important points

1. Shion believed that any tragedy that happens on Watanagashi night will be blamed on Oyashiro-sama's curse.
2. Shion didn't hang up on Keiichi because she was trying to scare him but because she was bored with him.
3. Kimiyoshi assumed that Satoshi's body was dumped into the pit and Shion believed this.
4. Rika revealed that Oyashiro-sama would not be angry at mere intruders.
5. Rika came to Shion's house asking for soy sauce. She then gassed Shion and tried to inject her with a substance.
6. Shion ended up injecting the substance to Rika. In the struggle, Rika decided to kill herself.
7. Shion shook the ladder because she was upset with Keiichi's words.
8. Shion tortured and killed Satoko while Mion asked her to spare Satoko's life.
9. Shion's words to Keiichi makes a lot of sense now since she was talking about the 'demon' within.
10. Shion tasered Keiichi, swapped clothes with Mion, and killed Mion.
11. Shion saw a hand trying to grab her and became terrified. She went out and stabbed Keiichi.
12. Shion fell to her death after her shirt got stucked on a nail.

Questions:

1. What type of God is Oyashiro-sama?
2. Who killed Satoshi?
3. What is the connection between this arc and the other arcs?

Impression:

These two episodes are pretty self-explanatory. Basically Shion loses her sanity and starts killing everyone that she thinks is responsible for Satoshi's disappearance. The most interesting sub-plot from these two episodes is Rika's failed attempt to inject Shion a mysterious substance. I assume that this is a similar substance to the one that Mion and Rena wanted to give to Keiichi back in Onikakushi-hen. I think the substance is not meant to kill Shion but rather to cure Shion from paranoia and psychotic madness. I think Rena and Mion tried to do the same thing to Keiichi but they failed to inject the substance to Keiichi and ended up getting bashed to death. Having said that, I think the substance has a reverse effect on those who are healthy. Maybe it works like a normal vaccine in that the substance is simply a weakened version of a virus. So when it is injected to a normal person, the person ends up becoming sick instead.

Another interesting revelation in this episode is Rika's admission that Oyashiro-sama won't be angry at trivial things like people entering the Shrine warehouse. From her words, I get the impression that Oyashiro-sama is actually a rather benevolent 'God' but the villagers somehow manage to twist his image to that of a cruel and vengeful God. This means that the whole 'Oyashiro-sama' curse is really just a way for the Sonozaki family to get away with murder, as Shion implied. The villagers probably either believe this lie or they know the truth but use the 'curse' as a convenient scapegoat when they kill those that they don't like. This explains what Rika meant back in Himatsubushi-hen when she said that in this village, there are many selfish people. The problem is, the villagers' belief in the 'curse' gives people who suffer from the psychotic mental disorder like Rena the impression that the vision and voices that they heard are Oyashiro-sama's curse.

Rika's words also suggests that Tomitake and Takano was not killed by the curse or by Sonozaki family. After all, Sonozaki family didn't know about the tresspass until Shion blabbed it all to her driver. Mion and her grandma simply assumed that those two died from Oyashiro-sama's curse, meaning that they think someone in the village has a grudge on them and used the 'curse' as a scapegoat. But there was no reason as to why someone would have a grudge on them since no one knew that they entered the Shrine warehouse. Well, no one but Oyashiro-sama, assuming the God is all-knowing. However, judging from Rika's words, she's not about to punish those who entered the warehouse. In that case, someone else killed Tomitake and 'Takano'. Ooishi told Keiichi back in Watanagashi-hen that Takano's body was already dead long before she entered the shrine. I think Takano used another person's dead body to make it look like she got killed.

These two episodes also gave a bit of a hint about Satoshi's killer. At first I thought that Grandma Sonozaki was the one who ordered Satoshi's death. But on a hindsight, Grandma Sonozaki has nothing to gain by killing Satoshi. If anything, she knew that she'd just make Shion angrier. I have no doubt that she's a cruel leader of the Sonozaki clan. But this is also the same woman who felt sorry for the twin when they were born and decided to spare the two of them. I think her feeling as a grandma overruled her feelings as a Sonozaki leader when it comes to her granddaughters. When she was being cruel to Shion in the torture room, she just didn't want to lose face in front of other people. However when it comes down to it, I think she pardoned Shion and Satoshi. In that case, the only suspect left to gain the most from killing Satoshi is Takano. It's likely that she set up a perfect chain of events that caused Shion to kill everyone related to Sonozaki family.

Another thing that is still not obvious is the connection between this arc and the other arcs apart from Watanagashi-hen. I think this arc pretty much explains everything that happened in Watanagashi-hen. Although some of the wordings are different, that can simply be chalked up to different character getting different impression of what they heard. For example, Keiichi didn't hear Shion mentioning Satoshi's name back in Watanagashi-hen. However, that could simply because he was struggling with his wound and could not hear everything that Shion was saying. So if the next arc is similar to Onikakushi-hen then we have at least 3 different arcs: Watanagashi/Meakashi, Onikakushi/Tsumihoroboshi, and Tatarigoroshi/Himatsubushi. I am not sure how these 3 are related but if I have to guess, I think Rika is capable of travelling between the different dimensions. This is why she knew that she'll die a few years later. I assume Rika's dead body in Tatarigoroshi/Himatsubushi is the reality where Rika gets tortured by Shion (as opposed to stabbing herself).

© memento 2003