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Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

With the last episode being mostly fun-and-games; comedy etc, this episode features a distinct change in atmosphere, immediately from when Rika wakes up and tries to go to sleep again. This may seem to be normal, but for those who know better, she’s actually suffering for a continuous sense of dread regarding the events to come. If you didn’t catch on to this, Ooishi’s appearance changes the mood of the show completely. It is no longer fun and games—things have started turning and the good stuff is beginning. This makes me think how a lot of people only like the show for the gore, whereas I really like the suspense, storytelling, notions of friendship and mystery as well.

Rika’s suffering is easily understandable when you realise that all the time she’s been alive and aware, she’s known about her eventual death, along with everyone else’s. It’s a scary thought to carry for such a young girl, and she’s had to relive it for countless times. This episode introduces the girl paired with Rika in the OP and ED, voiced by Yui Horie. (She even ‘appears‘) Obviously, she knows about the endless cycles of time, discernable through her talk with Rika. However, the question, for those of you who didn’t spoil yourselves helplessly after Higurashi season 1, is what role specifically this mysterious girl plays in (and she doesn’t seem to be human).

I wonder if Rika came up with her cute sounds like ‘nippa’ for the sole purpose of hiding her own maturity. I know this is a bit farfetched, but I’m curious to know how much Rika has changed from when she first started reliving her life (or if there is a beginning in the first place). The other characters probably haven’t changed much as they don’t retain any memories, though it seems that recently, things have started changing. Keiichi and Rena have both showed signs of remembering separate/previous lives, which suggests a weakening in the power that’s causing all this (and is the cause Rika? Perhaps it’s the girl who’s with Rika…)

This episode shows an apparent change of focus from Satoko to Rika, marked with the two instances of one waking up to find the other making breakfast. At first, Satoko is the prominent one—getting up early, being all happy and such. After a run-in with the bastard locals, who all hate Satoko for her bloodline, she becomes the more depressed one. I feel sorry for both her and Rika, as they both have to live with feeling the other’s pain. At the end of the episode, the roles have changed and Rika becomes the one who’s up and about in the morning. Does this suggest that she’s decided to not give up hope and try to live through this cycle?

I find it pretty ironic the way Keiichi’s shown in this episode playing baseball, or more specifically, swinging around a bat with all his friends. Here he is evidently swinging for his friends, which is a big contrast to the first arc of the last season, where he uses the baseball bat as defence against those who he believes has turned into his enemies (Rena and Mion). It’s the opposing ideas like this that make Higurashi such an engaging show, with the constant switches between comedy, tragedy, suspense and everything else. This is definitely my favourite show of this season, as well as last season.

I’m somewhat confused with why Rika falls into Satoko’s trap in this episode, but by writing up this post I’ve realised that this represents her decision to try and change her destiny. She’s decided to not give up, as supported by the scenes of her making breakfast with Satoko still in bed. What concerns me though, is how she’s still trying not to tell anyone else about what she knows. If this has happened so many times, she should really be trying to change as much as possible by telling everyone about this. Telling Satoko is a step in the right direction, even if she herself believes that it’s the wrong thing to do. That’s why I’d say that this world is yet another failure.

Now about something in general: the more I listen to the OP, the more I like it. It certainly feels very different to Higurashi’s first OP, though I attribute that to the fact that a lot of Naraku no Hana is the reverse of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (the song). The ED isn’t growing on me that much, though it is pretty interesting how they pair the characters up. Rena and Mion are paired for their similar position as friends to Keiichi; Satoko and Shion are paired for their similar situations as outcasts; Rena and ***** are paired for their sharing of the same experiences in life. Personally, I’d like a Keiichi and Rena pairing, since they’re cute together xD.

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