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More speculation: I feel like if the villain is pretty much anyone other than Takano (and/or some kind of anti-Hanyuu), it's going to feel like bullshit. She was always a super creepy figure in the originals, so when she was revealed as the villain it felt earned even though there was a tremendous amount going on with her that we didn't know beforehand. With anyone else, I think it's going to feel like a huge cheat asspull that destroys previous characterization. I mean what in the world would get Satoko to hate her best friend enough to chase her through multiple worlds destroying her over and over again? I'm open to having my mind changed if there's a really good explanation for something else, but from the start I've always assumed Takano's pretensions to godhood have something to do with all of this, though I guess Rika's initial (post-Higurashi) death is still hard to explain from that standpoint. Edit: Forgot one more thing. Takano's the only person we know who's forcibly made someone sane switch over to full L5 symptoms like she does to Tomitake. Mion going from someone who explicitly never went crazy to whatever the gently caress we saw in the second arc seems suggestive, as does Ooishi's abrupt change (and Rena's, though obviously we know she's capable of going L5 on her own). Maybe the fact that it seems like the obvious (to the point of being boring?) answer means that's not it, especially since the whole show so far has been setting up parallels simply in order to disrupt them, but it's certainly the solution that does the least to disrupt what we know from the original work. Dr Kool-AIDS fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Jan 8, 2021 |
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Jan 8, 2021 03:39
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I get that it may seem unrealistic but remember this is Higurashi we're talking about, where cops are basically superhumans
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Jan 8, 2021 04:52
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GodFish posted:The sword wasn't in the shed in the second arc either, so we know it's being stolen (probably by the other looper?) Sinteres posted:Edit: Forgot one more thing. Takano's the only person we know who's forcibly made someone sane switch over to full L5 symptoms like she does to Tomitake. Mion going from someone who explicitly never went crazy to whatever the gently caress we saw in the second arc seems suggestive, as does Ooishi's abrupt change (and Rena's, though obviously we know she's capable of going L5 on her own). Maybe the fact that it seems like the obvious (to the point of being boring?) answer means that's not it, especially since the whole show so far has been setting up parallels simply in order to disrupt them, but it's certainly the solution that does the least to disrupt what we know from the original work. Elephant Parade fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Jan 8, 2021 |
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Jan 8, 2021 05:36
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Elephant Parade posted:Sorry, why are people so sure that there's a second looper? Am I missing something? Yeah, I just don't know why anyone else would suddenly have access to both that drug (and the knowledge on how/why to use it) and an identical motive when she's still right there. Unless reality itself just decided to gently caress with Rika by suddenly breaking out of every pattern she knew because she'd defeated her fate, someone else is deliberately changing things to put her back in her box. Given that we know her fate was mostly orchestrated by Takano before (except for the times Shion unwittingly hosed up her plans), I feel like she's the most likely culprit. Unless she's looping or has an anti-Hanyuu or someone feeding her information though, she shouldn't know to be changing things up. On the other hand, if she's looping, I guess the question is how she's actually getting any benefit from it. And if a looper does have the sword, why don't they just kill Rika with it instead of torturing her? But Takano does have a sadistic streak, and could just be playing with her food.
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Jan 8, 2021 05:46
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I don’t like the second looper idea for a couple of reasons. First, how do they stay synchronized, though there could be some mutual attraction because sure why not. Second, we already have a bunch of weird stuff going on in Hinamizawa as it is. There’s the X-Files conspiracy at the clinic, the deadly plague that’s seemingly held in check solely by Rika’s continued existence, Rika’s Groundhog Day time looping, and Hanyuu the actual minor god who’s observing and occasionally intervening. Hinamizawa is already a Weirdness Magnet at the level of Haruhi Suzumiya, and I guess you could go two ways from there: either there’s already so much going on what’s one more crazy thing vs. there’s already so much going on we can just recombine the pieces we already have to make something new. I favor the second; the first just feels like the writers painted themselves into a corner and are now jumping out the window.
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Jan 8, 2021 11:22
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Midjack posted:the deadly plague that’s seemingly held in check solely by Rika’s continued existence For what it's worth, this is Takano's theory about how Hinamizawa Syndrome works, but she's wrong. When Shion kills Rika, the town doesn't all go L5, and in the console arcs there's a scene where Keiichi and Mion are on a date and Takano shows up a pathetic mess with L5 symptoms and kills one of them (I think Keiichi?) out of spite. Dr Kool-AIDS fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Jan 8, 2021 |
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Jan 8, 2021 15:44
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Jan 8, 2021 19:23
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META THEORY TIME: WE, THE VIEWERS, ARE ALSO LOOPING WITH RIKA, THUS WE ARE THE CAUSE OF THE LOOP, WE'RE WATCHING THE NEW ANIME SO SHE'S LOOPING AGAIN! Where's my prize Ryukishi
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Jan 8, 2021 20:14
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keichii has explicitly remembered things from previous timelines. if there is 'another looper' then it could be him. i also think rena has had a couple weird lines here and there that seem to imply she might remember some things, though that becomes harder to reconcile with her going L5 in ep 4.
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Jan 8, 2021 20:19
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They did but I interpreted that as leakage from other timelines via crystal space, though everyone could be looping but unaware of it. Even if everyone is looping it doesn’t change anything yet. Replace “loopers” with “aware loopers” and the previous conversations still hold; if you don’t know you’re in Groundhog Day then you effectively aren’t.
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Jan 8, 2021 20:32
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Midjack posted:They did but I interpreted that as leakage from other timelines via crystal space, though everyone could be looping but unaware of it. Even if everyone is looping it doesn’t change anything yet. Replace “loopers” with “aware loopers” and the previous conversations still hold; if you don’t know you’re in Groundhog Day then you effectively aren’t. hmm that's interesting. My original working theory for the new series was that it was on some level a take on PTSD. Like, sure Rika was able to beat the loops back in the original series, but how could she ever go on to live a normal teenage life after going through 100 years of that poo poo. So in a way she can never really escape. I thought that the recurring motif of an older Rika that we've seen in the opening and the promotional material played into this theory, portraying Rika in another state of arrested development. The direction the narrative has generally gone though has made me feel less confident in this theory, but maybe it works better if the whole study group was going through a similar predicament. I mean, sure they didn't go through AS MUCH as Rika did, but it certainly wouldn't be far-fetched to suggest that the gang has some real trauma from all this.
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Jan 8, 2021 21:44
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Episode 15: Well, that's one way to speed-run some fragments. 1 more remains for Rika's self-imposed limit.
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Jan 14, 2021 16:55
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 drat, Rika really going for that any% bad ending speedrun world record. hosed up that even Akasaka killed her.
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Jan 14, 2021 18:49
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I guess the implication of the murder montage is that literally anyone, no matter their circumstances or characteristics, can fall victik to this new Hinamizawa Syndrome. But this episode was dumb as gently caress so I'm dropping the show
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Jan 14, 2021 19:22
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Holy poo poo, that was dark as hell. I kind of wish some of these had been spread out through the series run instead of so much treading water early on, but I have to say that having it condensed like this definitely had an impact. I still can't help noticing that Takano's absence seems notable as hell. We still have nine episodes left (unless they were deliberately lying to make the ending a bigger surprise), so it'll be interesting to see where things go from here now that the show has set up a do or die forever moment. I assume we'll see the antagonist's POV before this is over, and whether or not that's Takano, we'll have to see what's going on with her at some point.
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Jan 14, 2021 19:55
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This doesn't have the fun character interactions that the VN did and doesn't seem to be making a point. I can't stand misery porn. I might come back to it if the consensus was that the ending was satisfying.
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Jan 14, 2021 21:19
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This episode was easily the funniest Higurashi has ever been in any medium.
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Jan 14, 2021 21:20
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That transition between Akasaka deciding to stay with Rika and Rika getting killed by him is some grade-A black comedy. Doesn't make this show good, but at least now that the speedrun is over, we should finally get some answers. Any minute now. DemoneeHo fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Jan 14, 2021 |
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Jan 14, 2021 21:46
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I'm still banking on evil Hanyuu. Hau-au-au
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Jan 14, 2021 22:13
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Dogwood Fleet posted:This doesn't have the fun character interactions that the VN did and doesn't seem to be making a point. I can't stand misery porn. I might come back to it if the consensus was that the ending was satisfying. This is definitely true. So far the only purpose of this is to mine nostalgia for the original, and to subvert it. I really hope the resolution does lead somewhere satisfying in a way that feels additive instead of just feeling like superfluous "what if?" style content. I'll give it credit for not being boring anymore (so I'm not tempted to stop watching at this point), but even at its best, nothing in this series has felt particularly essential so far. I'd rate it about even with some of the worse console arcs probably, though the potential for the ending to still contribute something meaningful could still change that rating considerably. Edit: Though to your point, even a solid ending is unlikely to bring back any much in the way of new character interactions, so even aside from the first half being too slow, I think this series is going to remain fundamentally flawed. Dr Kool-AIDS fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Jan 15, 2021 |
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Jan 14, 2021 22:16
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Logicblade posted:I'm still banking on evil Hanyuu. Hau-au-au I've heard some people saying that the horned silhouette in the OP could be spoilers Featherine spoilers 
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Jan 15, 2021 00:31
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That seemed needlessly brutal and really unsatisfying. Oh look, Rika still can't succeed even when she remembers across loops yeah no poo poo.
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Jan 15, 2021 00:35
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At this point I just wonder why Rika doesn't carry a gun
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Jan 15, 2021 01:39
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been watching this as it comes out and... hmmm. I feel like the "it's actually a sequel" angle would hit a lot more for me if the show didn't just reuse segments from already existing material beyond that first arc. feel like it would've been preferable to see new stuff happening in the slice-of-life bits before poo poo gets hosed up. still interested to see where it's going but ehhhhh that said, the op is a banger
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Jan 15, 2021 03:07
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Agreed, I watch the OP every week just for the piano scare chords at the end 
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Jan 15, 2021 03:13
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https://twitter.com/icarus2010741/status/1350072266374057991
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Jan 15, 2021 17:23
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lol
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Jan 15, 2021 18:06
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I’d be ok going out like that.
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Jan 15, 2021 18:24
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Jan 15, 2021 18:32
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The most important bit I think we're supposed to take out of this episode (outside now everyone is a potential L5 candidate) is the time stamps from each loop. They were getting earlier and earlier with the last one having K1 go L5 on the 13th which is practically the beginning of the loop.
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Jan 17, 2021 01:35
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AlternateNu posted:The most important bit I think we're supposed to take out of this episode (outside now everyone is a potential L5 candidate) is the time stamps from each loop. They were getting earlier and earlier with the last one having K1 go L5 on the 13th which is practically the beginning of the loop. Also of note I don't think Takano has ever gotten to pull off her OG plan, on account of there always being someone L5ing unexpectedly, Takano would make an interesting ally of circumstance for Rika, keep me alive and prove to the world the Syndrome is real without your dumbass kill everyone plan
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Jan 17, 2021 08:56
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Episode 16: Well, if Satoko needed a motive to potentially be a culprit, there you go. The episode appears to absolve her, but... In any event, Rika finally confronts Takano again. Still one more episode in this arc, so there's plenty of room for things to get worse (again).
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Jan 21, 2021 17:47
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lol if Takano kills Rika next episode
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Jan 21, 2021 18:13
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This show already had a gruesome streak that seemed more mean-spirited and/or gratuitous than anything other than Meakashi, but the first half of this was practically gore porn. I'm still going to finish this show, but at this point I don't think even a good ending can justify some of this poo poo. As for the actual plot I'm going to be pretty annoyed if this is all Satoko's doing, since carrying out a long-running plan to continuously murder Rika throughout multiple lives seems super out of character, and just finding a way to leave the village with Rika would seem to be an easier solution. Her stated familiarity with needles opens the door just as much as the motive she gave, though it would still require an explanation as to how she knows about looping. I'm still on team Takano being the one manipulating everything, because her prior villainy/motivation and her talk about becoming a god and overthrowing Oyashiro-sama seem to fit best with the metaphysics of what's going on, but this definitely muddied the waters. I guess we'll probably find out next episode one way or the other. I definitely don't like that Rika actually felt guilty about wanting to escape Hinamizawa when she'd experienced so much trauma there. She knows "Oyashiro" better than anyone, and if Hanyuu had been particularly upset about her leaving the village, I assume she would have told Rika. Hopefully Rika snaps out of it and feels like she can get the hell out again by the ending if that's what she wants. Dr Kool-AIDS fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Jan 21, 2021 |
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Jan 21, 2021 18:36
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yeah its unfortunate but this show is a mess e: but of course, i have nothing better to watch so upward and onward we go
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Jan 21, 2021 19:14
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That was a pretty uncomfortable episode but tbh this is probably the only time I've ever actually been sold on how horrifying the Watanagashi ritual really is.
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Jan 21, 2021 19:20
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this ep actually convinces me that there's a fresh narrative to sell here because rika is traumatized by her memories of hinamizawa is an actual like, new and interesting character beat to build from and the ways these loops are reminiscent of an abusive situation once again cannot be unintentional from r07. also, like, drat
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Jan 21, 2021 23:04
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I remember reading some anthology VN that was all by different authors. All the rest of the episodes were trauma porn with maybe the slightest hint of a redemptive ending, but then Ryukishi07's chapter simultaneously had way, way heavier (in fact almost comically large) stakes than any of the others but also managed to pull off a swerve for the positive at the end that put all the misery in perspective and stuck the landing. He's earned a lot of good will I wouldn't give to just anyone; I'm willing to wait till the show's done before I pass judgment. e: It's also possible that it's just a cheap attempt to capitalize off the audience that loved the original Higurashi S1, which... evidently exists? But I'm trying not to be too cynical here. 
Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Jan 22, 2021 |
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Jan 22, 2021 04:29
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This latest horrifying got a genuine what the gently caress from me.
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Jan 22, 2021 04:46
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There was a little more focus on disembowelment than I generally like to see in my entertainment.
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Jan 22, 2021 04:48
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