Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 9-13
July 2nd, 2006
The “Curse Killing Chapter” (Tatarigoroshi-hen) was a bit of a turn away from what I had come to expect from the first two Higurashi no Naku Koro ni plot arcs. Keiichi may well have been a victim of a curse in this version of the story, but he’s most assuredly not the target of a psycho-killer.
The third arc of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni turns things around rather seriously. In the first arc, Keiichi seems to have much to fear from his perky classmate Rena. In the second arc, the role of arch-villain shifts to his tomboy classmate Mion. This time, Keiichi gets to step up to the plate and become the superhero, rescuing his grammar-school-aged classmate Satoko from an abusive uncle.
Well, this is Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, so it isn’t as simple as calling Child Protective Services and being done with it. Instead he takes the unorthodox approach of murdering her uncle on the night of the Watanogashi festival. This is just the start of the deaths and disappearances, though, many of them at least tangentially connected to Keiichi, placing him in the role of creepy spree-killer previously occupied by Rena and Mion. What the heck is wrong with that town, anyway?
July 3rd, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Man, so he ends up killing everyone in the freakin’ town! What a drag…
July 4th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Yeah, a thousand corpses can be a bit of a letdown at the end of a story arc. Unless you’re into that kind of thing. The primary source of creepiness in these past five episodes has come from the “child abuse is icky” standpoind, which isn’t nearly as entertaining as “my classmates are going to chop me up into little pieces” angle of the first two plot arcs. I’m cautiously-optimistic that the next arc (which I presume for some reason will center on Rika) will be of a somewhat different tone.