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Just finished Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai Episode 13.

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.

Warning, HUGE spoilers!!!
[spoiler]Like, wow, this explained almost too much.
one thing I don't really understand, though.

What exactly are the conditions for Rika remembering her past world?

Also, if Rika is needed to hold back the curse, how comes that, in the first season, people still went crazy?

The syringe, I believe, - the one that was given to Keiichi in the first chapter,
contains something that either nullifies the effects of Rika's something,
or makes the disease get worse?
However, in the first season, not everyone that went crazy was given a shot of it, right? At least, I can't remember Shion ever taking it - she did 'encounter' it once, but used it on Rika instead of herself.[/spoiler]

Waah, complicated shit freaks me out! :3

Edit (Yeah, spoilers in here, too.) :
[spoiler]Just remembered; the disease also comes up when the infected are in extreme stress, right?
Though, this doesn't really explain Mion in the first chapter, Rena was already explained, and it does explain Shion in the second chapter -
The doll not being given to her made her feel bad etc. etc.

And Satoko, living with her uncle, was put under extreme stress, too,
and when she found out that Rika was dead, she immediately became - something. Or is this because of her other disease, and Keichi really did kill her uncle, and the one who told her to go count to one thousand was someone else, but her sickness made this person 'look like' her uncle...?

Woah, complicated. Though, Rena was pretty stressed in the last chapter, too, because of her fathers 'girlfriend'; couple that with the fact that the disease had already gotten worse and you get a lovely crazy Killer Cutie (A.K.A. Lethal Loli :3 ).

[/spoiler]

Well, meh. Still, this is indeed a fantastic anime. Thank you, Maxine and Scy! :3

Most of it gets explained later, but I want to clarify a few things that should've been made clear by now.
[spoiler]Hinamizawa Syndrome has a few stages with the notable case being "Level 5." That would be the paranoid delusional nutjobs that we come to know and love in the series. Or fear. Whichever most appropriate.

K1 is never injected with anything. In his delusions, he sees there to be a syringe though Tsumihoroboshi-hen clears things up and reveals it was merely a marker. Rena and Mion are perfectly normal in this chapter.

In Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen, Shion is never dosed as well. The anime fucks things up here a bit and the dosing of Rika is a bit misleading. After she's dosed, she goes psycho because she remembers what happens in Watanagashi-hen--Shion brutally tortures her to death. Instead, she decides to take fate in her own hands and kill herself in Meakashi-hen so that Shion doesn't get to. The rest of the cast is normal here.

I say "normal" but I do need to point out one thing: Satoko is close to Level 5 in every game (well, I think she's late Level 3 at the start of every game). She is broken in Tatarigoroshi-hen (and the anime-only arc, Yakusamashi-hen but I won't touch that here) which causes her delusions that utterly freak the fuck out of K1 (well, with the help of the other oddities during this chapter). She does get injections (C-120), however, but they are for controlling the Hinamizawa Syndrome. In Meakashi-hen, when Rika went to inject Shion, it would've served to help combat her paranoia much like what they're doing to Satoko. It's a "cure" to the Syndrome, not the "OH SHIT SON CRAZY INJECTION" that you're led to believe. This should've been answered in Minagoroshi-hen pretty early on if I recall.

Long story short: Everyone, besides the paranoid murderer, is normal in every game. For Satoko, "normal" is borderline paranoid delusional. The injections are to cure the crazy, not cause it.

And, as for Rika, her importance to the plot is more in regards to the Hinamizawa Disaster that the anime conveniently neglects to make super relevant. I mean, yes, it's mentioned quite a few times but it doesn't take center stage as the mystery until Kai.

Anyway, I do believe the majority of your Rika questions should be answered in Matsuribayashi-hen. Her memories are more of a thing between the conversation with the "other" Rika and Hanyuu, if I recall. She remembers up to the time of her death of every fragment she's visited; Hanyuu merely fills in the details of the current fragment (date, what just happened).

And, just to nitpick, the anime leaves out something about Satoko that makes something that happens at the end of Minagoroshi-hen awkward. Before Satoko dies/gets fucking shot, Takano quizzes her on which is green: broccoli or cauliflower. It seems totally fucking random but it's a running "joke" throughout the games that Takano plays on Satoko. Why? Because she's yellow/green colorblind. It's practically irrelevant in the grand scheme of things but I always thought it weird they left that in the anime when they removed every other reference to her color blindness in the series. RANDOM INFO.[/spoiler]

Edit: I'd also like to note I'm so disappointed the Anime removed this:
[spoiler]Rika is a hopeless alcoholic. Like, raging fucking alcoholic. She spends pretty much the majority of the games drinking her sorrows away.

I mean, I don't blame her. She's died like hundreds of times so ... yeah.[/spoiler]

Here's my Umineko theory.

It's crude, not well thought out, and just not a good theory.

But I might as well get my thoughts organized before Requiem comes out and destroys them.

Anyway, it's a Kyrie culprit theory with Jessitrice, Kanon, and Nanjo thrown in.

Whydunnit
[spoiler]
Kanon: Asumu's son, has physical deformity or something, gets sent to orphanage. Out for REVENGE, I guess.

Kyrie: Wants Battler to feel the wrath of her envious eighteen years (each year a person!), is the one that ties everything together ("Hey, Kanon, guess who knows your parents~~~?"). Picks the 1st twilight victims based on theme, usually (let's draw straws!), even if she's included.

Jessica: Forced into plan, formed Beatrice as an alternate personality 6 years ago, Battler's sin is her creation and ruining of any chance Jessica has in a relationship that doesn't involve incest. Becomes Beatrice when under extreme stress. Jessitrice is the 18th person on the island and gets to be Erika (I guess).

Nanjo: "Wh...Wha...?" "If I appear dead but aren't, say I am, 'kay?" "Um...sure? Please don't shoot me..." Or he's a failure as a doctor.

Assume the killers have stakes in their panties.
[/spoiler]

Game 1
[spoiler]
Kanon runs around killing everybody. Absolutely everybody.

He kills the 1st twilight victims, uses a lawnmower to mess their faces up, et cetera.

He creates an illusion of a closed room for Eva/Hideyoshi (fear the power of tape! Thank you, Scy.).

He fakes his death (and has Kinzo's corpse handy for a burning).

He also looks good in a dress, and kills everyone else while in said dress (or he threatened Maria, but I doubt that would faze her). Nanjo was the one with the letter.

Then kaboom (which is Kyrie's fault, by the way).
[/spoiler]

Game 2
[spoiler]
I don't wanna.

...Fine. Kanon better be able to pass of as Jessica's corpse, and Jessica better be able to fool everyone into thinking she's Shannon or she better be a master at hide and seek. But where'd she get the wig? Maybe Kyrie gave her one just in case she needed to pose as Shannon. This isn't much better than Shkannon, but...meh.

Nanjo and Kumasawa are forced/decide to fake their deaths to incriminate Rosa, then Jessitrice kills everyone.

...I'll refine this later, I swear.
[/spoiler]

Game 3
[spoiler]
Kyrie decides to live and creates the circle of closed rooms by dropping one of the keys when nobody's looking.

Kyrie/Jessica/SuperNanjo kills Rosa and Maria through the obvious means.

Kyrie goes with Rudolf and Hideyoshi to the mansion, shoots them, and fakes her death. She strangles Natsuhi and Krauss, and kills George.

Then she shoots Nanjo and then kills herself (she'd rather not die in the great kaboom, thank you very much).

Eva's pretty much just a red herring.
[/spoiler]

Game 4
[spoiler]
Krauss decides that the best way to conceal Kinzo's death/keep what little money he has is to kill his siblings! And Natsuhi and Genji. Or Kyrie goes, "SO Kanon do you have anything to say?" "Wha--oh, yeah, my real name's Kinzo and I'm Asumu's son." Then guns happen.

Krauss (either after rounding everyone up or he's being forced to do this) calls the kids, tells Jessica and George to go where they need to go to keep track of their location (although it's more likely this is to give Jessica free roam to go anywhere) and to stick the useless servants in the shed. Where they die shortly afterward (by hanging or Jessitrice kills them).

Jessica becomes Jessitrice, dons the clothes, trolls Battler with the phone call (as she's phasing into Beato Modo), and goes to where Krauss and the others is, kills Kanon, then everyone else (Kyrie decides to troll Battler to the very end). She dresses up Kanon in her clothes.

As she's dragging Kanon back to the mansion, George sees her and gets shot. What fun.

Then she isolates and kills Maria and messes with Battler, then kaboom.
[/spoiler]

Please, comment/criticize/tear apart mercilessly.

At least you'll know what I'm crying about when Ep 7 is released.

Knowing Higurashi, I wouldn't put "gross incompetence" past Ryukishi as an explanation.
[spoiler]Seriously, that sums up Oishii's role in Higurashi pretty well. Just some cop who sucks at being a cop.

That and common sense is at an all time low in that village.[/spoiler]

Anyway:

Whydunnit
[spoiler]I love the idea of Jessica as Erika. Why? Erika's demeanor is pretty much what Jessica _should_ be as the daughter of the "next head." Proper, prim, and very ladylike. Erika's physical description is pretty much summed up with "she fits Jessica's old clothes!" and I don't think they even date how "old" these clothes are. If Erika is a split personality, I'm very much on the Jessica-Erika side of things.

Nanjo is either dumb as bricks (see above spoiler) or in privy to the plot (bribed, "IT'S FOR MAH GRANDCHILD"). Or is dumb as bricks. Like, he may not even be a doctor levels of incompetence in the field of medicine. Especially since all his examinations are "HURR DURR IT DED."

Seriously. They're all "IT DED." Every fucking last one of them.

Anyway, what follows is I'm not even sure what. It started as "hmm, interesting" and quickly became, "DUDE JESSICA, KANON, AND NANJO DO IT ALL."

Though I still can't answer "yupyup we have [s]18[/s] [s]17[/s] 16." I swear, if Game 7 is "nah dawg, there be 12 people" I will hunt down Ryukishi myself.[/spoiler]

Game 1
[spoiler]Kanon is such an obvious answer that it just _has_ to be right. Right? Right.

I mean, the initial six aren't alibi'd by pretty much anyone, Eva and Hideyoshi he's one of the few with an open window for setting everything up, he's the ONLY VICTIM IN THE ENTIRE GAME OF BEING STABBED WITH A STAKE, he "dies" off-screen. Seriously. This is so painfully obvious it has to be [s]wrong[/s]right.

Also, fear the power of someone bored enough to cut one of those locks at a hotel and see if tape holds up >> Also, fear the power of someone bored enough to try one of the most common Detective Conan "hurr the room is locked!" solutions.

Seriously, this game is set-up so easily for a Kanon + Dumb/Bribed-Nanjo + Conned/Accomplice-Jessica solution. Hell, Kanon as Asumu-Battler even explains Rudolph's behavior a bit if we assume he planned to spill the beans to Kanon on who he really is and Kanon goes crazy and kills Rudolph (possibly Kyrie if she's with him) and the rest are unfortunate deaths as the first few are tried to be covered up. Or Krauss and Rosa were there too for the "hey, yeah, sorry but uh ... you're kind of my son" speech and just MagicalChefGohda and Shannon were killed as unfortunate witnesses.[/spoiler]

Game 2
[spoiler]The corpse of Jessica fits very well for a "it's really Kanon dude" solution. Especially since there's red confirming his death and no confirmation of Jessica's death. Especially since this is the game introducing the notion of dressing up as someone you're not, creating alternate personalities, and the creation of Suit-Beatrice.

As for Kanon passing as the corpse of Jessica, it's not hard. Not a single person actually checks the body besides Nanjo (who's character description should pretty much be "involved in the plot or should have his license revoked fuckingimmediatelyholyshitdoitnow"). There's no investigation as to who the person actually is. Really, there's nothing confirming that the body is Jessica and there's more proof saying it's anyone but her.

As for how Jessica hides on the island, she either parades around as Suit-Beatrice, Rosa, or is a contender for Hide-and-Seek World Champion 1986. Suit-Beatrice makes sense for why the first six to die are who they are though questions why we still never see her, Rosa makes sense for the 'Rosa' Red Truths (and the super creepy literal reading of the presented "Wolf and Sheep" puzzle), and pro-H&S player is kind of a lame explanation.

Of course, Suit-Beatrice gives a weird situation of "bu-bu-bu-but shouldn't the servants know that Jessica is alive?" and 'Rosa' asks us what the fuck happened to the real Rosa's body. Meeeeeeh.

I like the idea of Jessica killing everyone _sans_ Kanon. Him dying is why she takes over in this Game (which makes her knowing accomplice in Game 1). Hell, maybe Rosa kills Kanon and Jessica kills Rosa and uses her as "corpse of Jessica."

...though I can't imagine why Rosa would kill Kanon outside of "convenient way to kill a bitch."[/spoiler]

Game 3
[spoiler]I think Eva being anything but a red herring should be thrown the fuck out. I mean, I stick to the Kanon/Jessica/Nanjo theory for Game 1 despite the simplicity/obviousness but Eva is waaaaay too obvious. She kills Battler out of paranoid delusion and that's it I say.

So, whowasphone? We can use the alternate solution of "Kanon isn't dead lolz" to solve the initial six locked rooms though Shannon makes the most sense for the way the circle is presented. That and awkward tension with "KANON IS DEAD" Red Truth hanging overhead. But, assuming Jessica/Kanon, who kills Kanon? I'm not a huge fan of "no, seriously, we have a hat and pick some names" as to why the deaths occur so there's some rhyme or reason to it. Somebody fucks this up.

So ... Jessica could very well be the killer up until she's blinded by paranoid Eva. She strangles her parents (rather personal way to kill someone, don't you think?) and kills George because, well, why the fuck not. Probably because he left to investigate the truth behind the locked room circle. The question is who kills Nanjo but it's irrelevant who, really; someone kills him and then dies themselves.

Eva is just paranoid and completely crazy insane. She got Hinamizawa Syndrome'd [/spoiler]

Game 4
[spoiler]Fuck you.

No, seriously, fuck you. I don't like figuring out this game. It makes my head hurt. Bitches be dying. Shit done get fucked up. Crazy shit, son. Crazy shit.

I will say that it's possible it's just a mass murder spree by Jessica and Kanon at the start and Kanon holds them hostage SOMEWEHRE while Jessica searches the island (either for the gold or just for killing everyone else).

Seriously, I hate solving this game. I really do. Mostly because I have to solve "whowasKinzo?" at the start and then fiddle with time of deaths. Kanon is an easy piece to move since his death is off-screen (this boy hates dying where he can be seen, seriously); Jessica has free reign as well for the majority of the game too. Really, there's not too many pieces capable of moving.[/spoiler]

SURVEY SAYS
[spoiler]Jessica + Kanon can actually pretty easily explain a lot of shit.[/spoiler]

I admit to including Kyrie just because I want her to be the culprit.

[spoiler]And the less involved Jessica is planning-wise, the better. If all the time Battler spent not suspecting his family and coming up with ridiculous "Person X" theories is any indication, Battler cares about them enough to not instantly forgive whoever killed them.[/spoiler]

Ah - i got one! :3

[spoiler]

At the end of the second chapter of the first season,
there are two extra Mions/Shions - the one that stabbed him,
and the one that tortures him in the hospital after Ooishi-san left him alone.

What's their story?
it's a fact that Keiichi was attacked; otherwise, he wouldn't have been in a hospital, meaning that it couldn't have been a delusion.
Unless if he stabbed himself, but let's not go there yet.
Also, they already found Mion's body - which they thought was Shion's, but it was a body nevertheless. Later, they found Shion's body splattered on the ground.

My questions and your answers have mainly been about the Hinamizawa Syndrome; but this one seems to be something else.[/spoiler]

Higurashi:
[spoiler]The one that stabbed him is Shion as Mion was already killed by this point. She falls to her death after stabbing K1.

The hospital is K1 being delusional; he dies of heart failure after the "attack." He just went unstable after the stabbing. I forget if there's any extra details on this but I think that's really just it.[/spoiler]

Umineko:
[spoiler]But he does seem to forgive them if Game 6 is any indication. If not forgive, he at least understands and wants to continue the charade (though that's mostly just for his Beato <3).

I think Battler is very much to the point of just wanting to solve the Game's (properly). Well, by Game 5 he was, anyway (and had solved it by the end). I really don't think anyone is off-limits as a suspect except Battler. And, well, Ange.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Didn't Ooshi-san ask whether he was sure Shion/Mion attacked him,
for both had already died by that time?

Well, meh. Both events happened during the same night;
You're probably right.
Wow, Higurashi (and you, too, Scy! :3 ) is pretty amazing.
When I first saw everything, I was like, "No way in Hell are they going to be able to explain everything.", but you managed to do so anyway.

well, just finished episode 15.
Question: How comes that Hanyuu (auauau) can show herself to Takano?
Also, the ending of episode 13 made me think that everyone retains their memories in this new world. Is this true, and how is this possible?

If I was wrong, you can simply say so.[/spoiler]

Sorry for asking so many questions! :3

Hmhmhm.
[spoiler]I don't think the Anime answers why they retain their memories. The game does so in an obtuse sort of way with how you actually unlock Matsuribayashi-hen (you solve all the other games and put the pieces together ... literally). It's the "birth of a miracle."

The "real" solution is given in Umineko of all places. The "pawns" (the cast minus Rika) are allowed to retain their memories to make the game more interesting. I'll dig up the translation of that to post.

As for Mion/Shion deaths, I don't remember there being any trickery in it. Shion dies after she stabs K1. I'd have to re-watch / re-read to double check if there's any false body use or something.

And Hanyuu being visible, I think they'll answer that for you before the end.[/spoiler]

"The game"?

Oh well. I'll figure it out...hopefully. :3

well, I think that's the end of my storm of questions.
Thanks for everything!

Edit: O shi-

It isn't.

[spoiler]In the first 'real' chapter of Kai,
Rena's bloodstained hat is found in the mountains,
and Satoko dies for no real reason.

I've rewatched episode 5 yesterday, and I saw a suspicious man being suspicious - and since that scene was about nothing more than this and two nurses just walking by, I can safely say that this man had something to do with something - perhaps he even 'killed' Satoko.

So, what was the reason for Satoko's sudden heart failure?
I think it's this man, but I'm not 100% convinced yet.

Also, how the hell does Rena fit in all this?[/spoiler]

I honestly don't remember that arc at all. It's anime-only and I've since played the games and Umineko since watching it.
[spoiler]That said, I do believe Satoko is murdered in the arc and the rest of the cast are killed for whatever reasons.[/spoiler]

In Umineko news, Game 7 releases tomorrow. Yay. Time for a real solution arc?

Maybe there will be some sort of solution at the end.

I expect most of it to be trolling, though.