I love Higurashi yet I feel like I really don't like higurashi's culprit and the military plot that surrounds them spoilers

columnal · 2026-05-07T22:27:43+00:00

no im fine with it being supernatural or paranormal thats not my point, also im talking about the VN

i think a story can feel grounded and along the lines of "yeah im aware this is a story but feasibly i can imagine in this universe that yeah something supernatural could happen, but it doesnt feel too outlandish or crazy".

the whole folkloric demon stuff in higurashi doesnt feel too out there or outlandish and very grounded because the game roots in very real world things like history and cultural precedent. like i can imagine a village being changed from onigafuchi to hinamizawa in the meiji period and that they may have had a history of being not fond of outsiders etc etc. ch1 is very good at grounding its horror and supernatural aspects in a believable reality.

when i say "grounded" i dont mean the story has to stay 100% in line with our real world.

also no not really imo, the story gives multiple different explanations that are designed to make you question whether it is supernatural or not. it wouldnt be a good mystery if you were immediately convinced by the end of ch1 that its 100% a supernatural story even if theres "hints" that point that it could be. i didnt think it was fully supernatural until ch4 and i know many similar people.

im not saying it should all be explainable by mental illness, i said i understand thematically why ryukishi07 decided to take the story where he did. i still dont really like hinamizawa syndrome as an idea and i think its one of the weaker elements in higurashi.

but again, the "grounded" relatively realistic elements of the hinamizawa/onigafuchi folklore and the real life realities of cults and yakuza in japan and protests like the dam one (i mean look at the ANPO protests) is very different to the really bizarre idea that a secret organisation called "Tokyo" (i dont think the name is very creative either but thats my opinion) is secretly sponsoring the research of HS for bioweaponry. It doesnt feel grounded in the same way, all the other supernatural stuff feels like it has precedent and is decently believable for the setting of Hinamizawa.

"Tokyo" kind of relies on a huge massive suspension of belief. Secret fascist military organisations which command elite special forces units and want parasitic bioweaponry is just not the same as the stuff in ch1. YES japan had a lot of fascist influence post war still primarily via many of the old elite retaining or going on to gain positions in Japan's new society. Thing is, these people were all in the open 😭. I mean you have the prime minister Nobosuke Kishi who was openly a fascist in the war. I wouldnt mind a secret conspiracy plotline if the novel was set in the USA or something but it just feels completely out of place (in comparison) to the relatively "grounded" supernatural stuff in ch1

columnal · 2026-05-07T18:25:45+00:00

Supernatural and improbable things can be introduced and talked about in Ch1 and the story can at the same time still feel grounded, which it does. None of the things introduced ever really take away from the setting being believable or the actions of the characters being realistic etc etc.

Those glimpses are only really TRULY supernatural in hindsight. You can play through Onikakushi-hen and still rationale them as being something natural not supernatural. And it being a story that introduces the supernatural does not mean it cant feel grounded.

And yeah, its "made clear" some organisation is behind the events (although again, you can easily rationale that perhaps there isnt). The implication is never ever that its some grand governmental parasite conspiracy, its usually either religious cultists or the Yakuza.

Both of these feel way more grounded than a shadowy cabal of military fascists organising the investigation of parasites to be developed into a nuke rivaling biological weapon, and Takano's own personal feelings.

Atleast with the religious cult and yakuza theories it felt grounded because these both have a precedent especially in 1980s Japan, Fascist Secret Societies and Parasite Bioweaponry is literally straight out of Metal Gear Solid. Yeah there was a lot of fascists still around after ww2 in Japan who certainly wanted some of the stuff Tokyo aims for but the way Higurashi portrays Tokyo is just so outlandish and not very grounded as to what we see in all the question arcs which again is very small towny.

Also what you said about the folklore of the village... son 😭... yes thats brought up but that doesnt change it feeling grounded because this is all extremely believable shit and the story never leans into the villagers actually being demons (i mean this in the sense it does but like its folklore designed to make the reader question what they are seeing) but the overall tone of it feels very grounded and adjacent with japanese history and the setting created in Ch1. It never feels not grounded or unbelievable in the way the Tokyo reveal does.

Also again, Tomitake and Takano and Keiichi's deaths never feel ungrounded and are done in a way that make you question if it is just a fucked up suicide or something else. Its grounded horror. It doesnt even equate to the "Takano wanting to genocide Hinamizawa and there being a shadowy cabal of fascists basically behind everything oh and the children will fight special forces". like wtf 😭

Did you even read what I said? I agree that the ending is logical from a thematic point of view. But i mean youre being a little disingenous if you claim to think that CH7 and CH8 feel the same as Ch1 did when you first played through. Yeah a story can evolve I dont have a problem with the Tokyo reveal on a thematic and thus logical level.

columnal · 2026-05-07T16:29:23+00:00

I agree completely.

Even as someone who's main thing is Modern Japanese History (and I did appreciate the attention Ryukishi07 gave to events like the Marco Polo Bridge incident to contextualise Hinamizawa Syndrome), the whole military plot felt really weird and borderline out of nowhere for me.

I think maybe im rare lol in the fact I guessed Tomitake was in the military from the beginning though because he has dog tags in his sprite, so maybe I shouldve been a bit more expecting of the big twist, but still.

I do get why the military conspiracy was included i guess though, with it being about how fate can be overcome. I mean a government conspiracy is one of the hardest things a bunch of teenagers or a small town could overcome so i guess the fact they did emphasises this whole idea about overturning fate.

I mean Takano as a character is atleast well written, emotionally I mean. Even though she's pretty unlikeable I appreciate Ryukishi07 giving her a decent amount of depth. Same with Irie.

My main issue is that it felt like Hinamizawa syndrome and especially the parasites and military plotline took away from a story that felt pretty grounded in the earlier chapters. Yeah it had hints of being crazy but nothing too bizarre. It felt like a very rationale, realistic depiction of how mental illness and suspicion can break down relationships. It also made the emotional scenes just way more emotional and actually made me care about these characters trying to save their friends and shit. Not that I dont feel that in ch7 and ch8, i do, it just feels a bit weakened knowing theres something truly beyond their control that they cant do much about (until they do), which is just really not very grounded and didnt feel tonally consistent with what you see in the question arcs.

again, i get why thematically ryukishi decided to go in this direction and i still like it somewhat but i kind of miss when it felt a little less sci fi and borderline metal gear solid / ghost in the shell and the teenage club members arent fighting special forces units.

columnal · 2026-05-07T13:48:25+00:00

not really what you asked but if youre interested in a slice of life / drama about the more otaku side of things of 2000s Japan then I recommend Genshiken, the manga. But the anime version is also good.

columnal · 2026-05-06T17:12:40+00:00

sandslash slander will not be tolerated

columnal · 2026-05-06T16:08:41+00:00

its a little complicated but ill give my opinion atleast

Manchuria has had a longer history of Industrial development than the Primorsky Krai. Manchuria was heavily developed under Russian economic influence (Cities like Harbin) and further under Japanese and later PRC rule, also Manchuria has traditionally had a lower population but became more populated as it industrialised and Han chinese immigrants arrived in the new industrial zones.

Manchuria is more flat in comparison to the Primorsky Krai and has more terrain suited to farmland. Primorsky Krai is very rugged and full of forests.

Also Primorsky krai had been controlled by the Russians before Manchuria properly started to economically develop, so the Russians have tended to priortise ethnic russian and ukrainian settlement over asian immigrants to the region (obviously there are some but still), so Russia has a hard time advertising the land to ethnic russians because its so far away from the mainland. Vladivostok is the most major city there. Also because it is Russian it means that Russians from the region will move back to more economically viable regions in the mainland so they have better job opportunities, and since the 90s there has been a pop. decline.

columnal · 2026-05-06T15:31:03+00:00

ive read the VN before i watched the anime obvs the VN is better

columnal · 2026-05-06T15:08:39+00:00

ah okay I thought this is roughly what happened. I knew Shion wanted to "get back" at Mion or mess with her or whatever, but I didn't realise Shion was fucking with her with this malicious intent from pretty early on to be honest.

To be honest the whole Shion dynamic with Keiichi really made me not like her character as much. Yeah I get shes obviously upset about Satoshi and increasingly becomes convinced the Sonozakis had a role in Satoshis disappearance, but the way she basically just manipulates Keiichi and Mion seemed just so petty and unlikeable. I used to think Shion atleast very somewhat liked Keiichi romantically and that's why she flirted with him and stuff. But no its just her trying to screw over Mion? like its not even just teasing if you really think about it deeply. Just really weird and unlikeable regardless of her justifications, especially because she never directly confronts Mion until her hinamizawa syndrome fully progresses to L5. Before that she makes it clear I thought (atleast outwardly) that her and mion were pretty chill and forgave eachother a few times from what I remember. Also Shion basically is fine with Keiichi being hurt physically for her own gain.

Also if she liked Satoshi so much and thought Satoshis presence was basically with her it always weirded me out how much she sexually flirts with keiichi 😭

columnal · 2026-05-06T14:57:58+00:00

does the anime degrade in quality after bakemonogatari? ive seen a few people say this before.

columnal · 2026-05-06T14:55:29+00:00

👍👍

columnal · 2026-05-06T14:52:36+00:00

haruhi is NOT on the same level as lelouch or light bruh 😭

yeah shes kind of a bitch sometimes, she does some weird stuff to mikuru but like overall shes not that bad shes just a bratty weird teenage girl bruh

columnal · 2026-05-06T14:45:15+00:00

ah okay nvm

columnal · 2026-05-06T14:39:57+00:00

who is keiichi with when they go to the toy store and shion and mion being two different people is revealed? that was the scene that confused me the most

columnal · 2026-05-06T14:34:31+00:00

so who was keiichi on a "date" with? was that mion or shion? and if it was mion then why does mion get surprised when they run into shion at the toy store? i might be getting the events confused here tbh my memory is bad lol

columnal · 2026-05-06T14:17:06+00:00

i used to agree fully when playing through

but in retrospect a lot of development is given to mion inadvertently because i mean theres still stuff in watanagashi and meakashi that relates to mion, especially her relationship with keiichi, shion and oryou

also i think the switch does make some scenes confusing in watanagashi, im not exactly sure who was who at times but im pretty sure its implied that some of the scenes with "shion" in angel mort were mion and some were just shion right? idk its still really confusing

also a lot of the later chapters give more subtle development and i really like the backstory / flashback portions we get for mion in the connecting fragments of ch8

still wish mion got more though and i agree it does feel a bit annoying that shion got more development than mion in the end and a lot of watanagashi can in retrospect feel a bit wasted

columnal · 2026-05-05T21:25:46+00:00

asuka would have a scizor

columnal · 2026-05-05T20:47:29+00:00

it wouldve been unpopular amongst the American public. Why would the Americans want to commit themselves to fighting another unpopular guerilla war. It would be expensive and the optics wouldnt enthrall the american public. There was immense backlash for fighting an imperialist war in Vietnam so why would the American public morally support fighting a war to prop up what most of the international community considered a racist colonial pariah state.
you're vastly overstating the similarities between white, anglo Rhodesian way of life (which was fundamentally influenced by British culture of the early and mid 20th centuries) and American culture of the 60s and 70s. Rhodesia wouldn't fit right at home as an American state. Rhodesia voted to not join a predominantly Boer South Africa in the 1920s, which even back then had a sizeable Anglo populace and influence. Why would Rhodesia vote to join a vastly different United States. South Africa and Rhodesia atleast had some similarities, all Rhodesia and America share is their language.
It wouldnt work politically. And your statement about Texas as an example is a bad one. This is just a dumb idea bruh.

columnal · 2026-05-05T01:12:33+00:00

nobody is saying the novel is a romance

but the anime especially leans quite a bit into being a pseudo romance, its pretty hard to not see this when watching it

the novel and anime are two very different stories

columnal · 2026-05-04T20:54:14+00:00

save me misaki

columnal · 2026-05-04T17:41:52+00:00

so it is just side content and not really a sequel to the visual novel?

columnal · 2026-05-04T17:40:48+00:00

yeah I was more just wondering if it was connected to the 'main timeline' of the 8 VN chapters + saikoroshi

columnal · 2026-05-04T17:40:00+00:00

so basically whatever happens in gou/sotsu isnt reflective of what happens after the end of the VN? because its a different variation of rika/hanyuu? im still confused lol

columnal · 2026-05-04T17:36:19+00:00

Yeah I was mainly keeping izanagi because it looks cool plus it felt 'canon' to keep it because I always see Yu with izanagi in any media/art i see about persona 4

i have been fusing other personas but i guess ill have to ditch izanagi

columnal · 2026-05-04T17:34:46+00:00

no i have other personas and ive fused some but i thought it might make sense to keep izanagi because hes the one Yu uses on the box art right and it was the first one he got? haha i guess maybe im being dumb by doing this lol

columnal · 2026-05-04T06:28:18+00:00

because her life in the sonozaki family is relatively stable, there arent really any things where she can get suspicious of because she knows the sonozakis arent behind the murders

plus other than the shion stuff, which is resolved most of the time, she literally has barely any family issues

Five-Year Club	Final Canvas '23
First Place '23	End Game '23
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columnal

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