Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Watanagashi-hen 1

May 7, 2006 | 26 Comments

In case you're keeping up with the anime episode numbering, this is basically episode 5 of the series. I've covered episode 1-4 in the Onikakushi-hen entry. Since episode 5 is basically the first part of Watanagashi-hen, that's the title that I ended up using. Anyway, this is a very nice opening to the series' second arc. I think I am starting to appreciate the comedic part of the series a little bit. It's probably because I already know the characters and therefore can sympathise with them a lot more here. Just like the first part of Onikakushi-hen, however, this episode is rather light on the information and the mystery. It does, however, explains a few things from the past few episodes in a rather interesting manner, as well as showing what would happen had certain events never took place in the story to begin with.

This episode opens with a horrific scene of Rika stabbing her own head over and over again with a knife during a confrontation with Mion. Mion seems to be in shock upon seeing this but she then laughs like a nutcase over Rika's dead body. The episode then returns to the time before the Watanagashi festival started. Keiichi wakes up in the morning and ends up going on a bike ride with Rena and Mion to the nearby city. The three then stop at a shop which holds a Karuta tournament with 50,000 Yen (around 500 dollars) money prize. The girls quickly trump over Keiichi and other boys in the tournament using their scare tactics and moe appeal. Keiichi is annoyed about this and decides to take two boys who like Satoko and Rika to the toilet. Inside, he tells the two that if they work with him, he'll allow them to get close to Rika and Satoko. The boys immediately agree right away to help Keiichi winning the tournament by ruining the other girls' chance.

Because of the boys' help, Keiichi ends up tying with Mion but before they can determine the winner, Mion suddenly declares that they have to stop the game because she has to go to her part-time job. Since the shop owner can't award the money prize just yet, he decides to give something else to Keiichi as a present. Keiichi, however, is disappointed upon realising that the present is a doll. Because of this he decides to give it to Rena since he thinks Rena and cute things go hand in hand. On the other hand, he believes that Mion is not into cute dolls. After Mion left, Keiichi asks the others if they want to go to a restaurant since he is hungry. Unfortunately for him, the other girls have other chores to do so he ends up going to the restaurant called Angel Mort on his own. When he gets inside, however, Keiichi is attended by a waitress whom he assumes to be Mion. Since he is the customer, Keiichi decides to have fun with 'Mion' for a while.

Keiichi starts being lecherous towards 'Mion' telling her that she probably enjoys the attention she's getting from the men who see her in her rather revealing workplace costume. 'Mion' protests this and tells Keiichi that she's not wearing the costume because she likes it. He then starts harrassing Mion while pointing out that he can do anything that he wants since he's the customer. In response, 'Mion' ends up punching Keiichi for being lecherous. 'Mion' then explains that Keiichi has mistaken her for her sister. The truth is, her name is Sonozaki Shion, she is Mion's younger twin sister. Keiichi doesn't believe this and points out that Shion didn't act like she just met him. Shion tells him that is because her sister often talks to her about Keiichi so she already knows him. Before Shion leaves to go on a break, she tells Keiichi that she's glad to meet him and asks if she can call him the way Mion calls him, which is "Kei-chan". Keiichi blushes but gives his consent.

Outside the restaurant, however, Keiichi thinks that Mion simply created that story about her having a twin sister called "Shion". Unknown to Keiichi, Shion is seen observing him with an undecipherable expression on her face. The next day, Keiichi inform Rena and Mion that his parents are away that day. Mion then tells the two that she must go to work earlier, prompting Keiichi to remark that working as a waitress must be tough. Mion, however, reminds Keiichi that the one working as a waitress is her twin sister, Shion. She also points out that she is demure and sweet while Shion is evil and a dominatrix to boot. Rena is surprised to hear this because she's been to Mion's house and never noticed anyone else around. Mion becomes nervous and tells the two that this is because she's the only one who lives with her grandma. On the other hand, Shion lives in Okinomiya house and since the two place are far, they rarely visit each other.

Upon finding out about this, Rena wants to know where Shion works so she can meet her but Mion immediately run away before she answers the question. When Keiichi returns to his house, he is hungry and much to his surprise, Shion arrives to give him a bento box. Shion claims that Mion told her that Keiichi is hungry so she decides to bring something for Keiichi. Keiichi is happy to get the bento but wonders why Shion goes out of her way to do this for him. Shion becomes embarassed and simply tells Keiichi it's because he's a customer before running away, claiming that she has to go to work. Keiichi is surpised upon opening the bento box and finds some delicious foods in it. The possibility that the food could be poisoned did come across his mind but he's too hungry to care and proceeds to devour the food. The next day, Rika tells the group that she can't play game because she has to practice her Watanagashi festival dance routine.

This leads the other girls to explain to Keiichi about the fact that Rika is actually a Shrine Maiden during Watanagashi festival. Her job is to dance while holding a heavy plough. Keiichi makes a point that Rika must be quite strong to be able to do this and thinks that one should not judge others simply based on appearance. Rena agrees with him and says that a person's personality is probably the opposite of their outward appearance. Later on that day, Keiichi decides to return the bento box to Shion. Because of this, he visits the restaurant where she works but because of his clumsiness, he ends up tripping bikes belonging to a group of delinquents. The delinquents are angry about this and tries to beat him up but before they can do this, Shion interferes and orders the delinquents to let Keiichi goes. When the delinquents try to threaten Shion as well, they are suddenly surrounded by a group of angry Hinamizawa residents.

The delinquents are creeped out by the residents and decide to flee. Later on, Keiichi finds out from Shion that in Hinamizawa, a person's enemy is everyone's enemy. Keiichi then decides to thank Shion for giving him a bento yesterday. Shion is confused about this because she didn't give Keiichi a bento. She, however, quickly realises the situation and pretends that she did. Shion then seductively tells Keiichi that she now knows why her sister likes Keiichi and wonders if she can like Keiichi a little bit as well. Keiichi stutters to give the answer but ends up telling Shion that she doesn't have to pretend to have a twin sister anymore. Keiichi, however, gets the shock of his life when Mion appears out of the store in front of him and Shion, proving that Mion really does have a twin sister. The next day, Mion becomes embarassed around Keiichi because he now knows that she's the one who gave him the bento. The girls, however, become appreciative of him when they find out that he's willing to be sensitive towards Mion.

Important details in Watanagashi-hen 1

1. It seems Keiichi hasn't met Tomitake yet.
2. Keiichi visits Angel Mort restaurant on his own in this version.
3. Mion has a twin sister called Shion who works at Angel Mort.
4. It is implied that Shion working in Angel Mort is the reason that Mion knew about Keiichi and Oishi's visit.
5. Keiichi's parents left Keiichi alone earlier in this version.
6. Before Keiichi told Rena about Shion, Rena didn't know about Shion's existence.
7. Rena never saw anyone else when she visited Mion's house before.
8. Mion pretended to be Shion to give Keiichi a bento box.
9. Keiichi doesn't hesitate to eat the bento/No paranoia on his part.
10. Hinamizawa residents show pack mentality towards outsiders and enemies.
11. Both Mion and Shion looked as if they have a crush on Keiichi.
12. Mion liking Keiichi could be the reason why she was crushed when Keiichi said cruel things to her in episode 4.
13. Mion revealed another facet of her personalities after Keiichi finds out that she was the one who gave him the bento.
14. The other girls were very appreciate of Keiichi's attempt to be sensitive with Mion.
15. In general, so far Keiichi is not struck with paranoia.
16. Both Onikakushi and Watanagashi arc feature several similarity while differ in others.

Questions

1. What caused Rika to kill herself?
2. Why does Mion looked as if she's enjoying the bloodbath?
3. Is that a real gun that Mion always carry with her?
4. Has Tomitake talked to Keiichi in this version?
5. Why did Mion keep Shion's identity a secret even from Rena?
6. Does Hinamizawa residents always have the pack mentality right from the start?
7. Which girl should Keiichi choose? Rena? Shion? Mion? Threesome?

Impression and Analysis:

The opening scene was brutal. It appears that Rika and Mion (or is it Shion?) got into an argument and the result is that Rika decides to stab her own head with a knife over and over again. Judging from this opening, it seems that the climax of this particular chapter will actually focus not so much on Keiichi but rather on Rika and Mion. The question is, what caused Rika to kill herself? Was she parallised with fear just like Keiichi? This preview looks really exciting because it suggests that each chapter will be different permutations of the same story. True enough, when the episode begins, Keiichi wakes up normally as if he's not afraid of anything. This begs the question if Keiichi has met Tomitake at this point of the story. Like I said back in Onikakushi-hen entry, I believe his encounter with Tomitake was the first trigger that lead him to his insanity. Keiichi was fine before Tomitake starts mentioning the murder out of nowhere.

Anyway, in this part of Watanagashi-hen, Keiichi gets to meet Mion's twin, Shion, when he comes alone to Angel Mort restaurant. This is one of the main diversion from the Onikakushi-hen storyline. In that arc, Keiichi didn't get to visit this restaurant until Oishi took him there to have lunch back in episode 3. In Watanagashi-hen, however, Keiichi decides to visit the restaurant on his own and starts being lecherous towards Shion because he thinks Shion is actually Mion. Upon realising Keiichi's mistake, Shion tried to explain to him that she is actually Mion's twin. The reason she knows him is because Mion talks a lot about Keiichi. I think this is pretty much explains why Mion and Rena knew that Keiichi talked to Oishi back in episode 3. If Mion talks a lot about Keiichi to Shion, then Shion will obviously know that Keiichi visited Angel Mort together with Oishi and probably told Mion about it.

This piece of information from Shion also suggests that Mion likes Keiichi alot regardless of which arc the viewers follow. This explains why Mion was crushed and ended up crying when Keiichi said cruel things to her back in episode 4. The next day, Keiichi is seen walking home with both Rena and Mion. In this part, Keiichi mentions that his parent is away that day just like in Onikakushi-hen. I suppose it will be fine to say that at one point in the story, Keiichi's parents left him alone in Hinamizawa. However, which point seems to be the big question here because in this version, Keiichi's parents left him before the Watanagashi festival starts. On the other hand, during Onikakushi-hen, Keiichi's parents did not away until Keiichi went to visit the hospital in episode 3. This probably not an important detail and will probably proven to be wrong if Keiichi's parents return after the Watanagashi festival before disappearing again later on.

Anyway, Keiichi pointed out to Rena that Mion actually has a twin sister, Shion. Rena was surprised to know about this because she didn't know beforehand. This makes me wonder why Mion never told her friends about her twin's identity. In addition to this, Rena claimed that she never saw anyone else when she visited Mion's house. At the moment this doesn't seem like an important detail but I can't help but wonder why the twins live seperately. Later on, Keiichi received a bento box from Mion disguised as Shion, suggesting that both girls probably pretend to be the other from time to time. Keiichi inspected the bento box but since he is not affected by any kind of paranoia, he just shrugged off the possibility that the bento maybe poisoned. The event then basically arrived at a rather similar point where Episode 2 started. This is the one where the girls gave explanation to Keiichi about Watanagashi festival.

Just like in episode 2, Keiichi still receives explanation about the festival. This time around, however, Rika had to leave because she has to practice her Shrine Maiden dance. In this version, Rena also gets the chance to point out that the personality of a person usually is the opposite of what they look like. Does that mean Rena is actually a creepy psycho hiding behind the mask of a cute girl? Another interesting scene from this episode is the one where Keiichi incited the wrath of Okinomiya delinquents when he trip over their bike. Strangely, the delinquents got freaked out when they are cornered by a group of people from Hinamizawa, consisting of old people, parents, and children. This is a really strange scene which suggests that Hinamizawa residents are united against those who oppose them. At the same time, it could also means that they have a pack mentality towards outsiders as well as their enemies.

This makes me wonder if maybe the entire village was somehow involved in the Hinamizawa dam murder. Speaking of murder, it appears that in this arc, Keiichi doesn't know about the Hinamizawa murder case yet. However, it is hard to prove this one way or the other since Tomitake hasn't made his appearance. Moving on to other points, it is interesting to see Mion suddenly revealing her 'true' personality after she got caught red-handed as the one who gave Keiichi the bento box. At the same time, the other girls became more appreciative towards Keiichi after he agrees to be sensitive to Mion. I don't know how this will affect the outcome but I suspect it means that the girls will tend to trust him more in this version. If they trust Keiichi more, it's likely that Rena won't hold information when Keichii asks her if there is some kind of secrets that she and the other girls kept from him. That is of course, assuming the scene from episode 2 also appears in this version.

© memento 2003