...How many time does a game make you seriously want to just absolutely KILL the bastard who just so deserves to die, like, 100 times?
A, ahem, I wanted to make some general comments that doesn't spoil this chapter, but that's kinda hard this time for obvious reasons (which you'll know if you read it), except maybe:
- Keiichi is now my hero (not only for what did for Satoko (+many other things he said and did in this chapter), but also for his selfless display near the end during the "time freeze", I seriously felt my heart torn there)
- Most mysteries were answered in this chapter... but the scale of the truth is just... and the obstacles that these 6 children (7?) have to fight against to beat fate and obtain happiness... Auauau...
- The music was, again, beautiful in this chapter too. There was quite a good number of piano tracks this chapter, some did more than deliver the feeling of sadness, but also the helplessness and cruelness of fate in some scenes. dai's 虚(the symphonic arrange of "thanks") left the most impact on me. Really, when it played after the end of the "time freeze", there was nothing left for me to do except bawl...)
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Minagoroshi:
Rena:
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Mion:
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Satoko:
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Rika:
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Shion:
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Keiichi:
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It's pointless to keep points anymore, in this "best possible" world, everyone deserves top points. Chapter rank wise, Minagoroshi would take place near the top along with Tsumihoroboshi as my favorite (Tatarigoroshi was my favorite question chapter, so it's obvious I'd love Minagoroshi too)
Ever since Rika's suicide in Meakashi, I've always wondered if she's actually the "same" Rika from all the other chapters (In the otsukaresama-kai of Watanagashi-hen, I remember one sentence from Rena very well, and that's "no matter how different the worlds are from each other, remember that the characters are always the same, the hatchet-swinging berserk Rena in Onikakushi-hen is the same calm Rena you see in Watanagashi-hen"), and that Rika takes it one step further by being able to retain the memories of all the worlds she had experienced. In Tsumihoroboshi, during Rika's goodbye scene to Rena in the junkyard, saying "I'm done with this world, pray that the next world will be a good one", it pretty much confirmed my suspicion there.
In any case, I think Minagoroshi can be split into 3 sections, "best possible world", "saving Satoko", and "Rika's death fate".
"Best possible world" actually had a lot of bases to cover, if Rika has had so many "resets" in her lifetime, then the possibities of changing fate would've been close to infinite, and that she should've been able to figure out a way to a happy future. (Of course, now that we know that everybody's berserk is caused by the Hinamizawa Syndrome, and that it's trigger is simply "doubt", and the one aiming to kill Rika is that nutjob Takano, who unfortunately commands an entire team of commandos, it's understandable why Rika has never been able to live past June with all her friends intact)
"saving Satoko" (or as I call it, Operation Satoko Freedom), what can I say, long live Keiichi, this guy deserves to have a school named after him or something. Keiichi's recuit at Angel Mort made me laugh so hard I pulled a muscle. And that Sonozaki super lawyer made me laugh so hard I almost felt bad for Oishi and that consultation center clerk.
Satoko's final scream for help was actually pictured in my head very clearly, if this scene ever gets animated, it could be one of the most emotional scenes ever. Everything that everyone went through was all just for that one single cry of "save me!".
"Rika's death fate" begins after Watanagashi, I suppose. When Takano and Tomitake returned to the clinic, and start going off about "Hinamizawa Syndrome", L5 class, H173, Tomitake is a lieutanent, Takano is a major, betrayal, etc., that was like "whoawhoawhoawhoa, wait what? whawhawhat? wha?"
When Rika explained the whole truth about the syndrome and "Tokyo" to Keiichi and the others, it feels as if "finally, everyone's on the same page, sharing the same fate". Which is why Oishi's little sidetrack that got himself killed kinda pissed me off ("finally everyone's fighting together, and you go and get yourself killed first!?")
I think the "time freeze" was a very emotional scene, Takano's bullet stopping right in front of Keiichi, and everyone's panicking, trying to find a way to save him, yet Keiichi himself realizes that he's going to die, and tells everyone to give up on him and focus of saving themselves. I mean, Keiichi literally was faced with an "unchangable fate", that the moment time moves again, the bullet would hit him and he would die, yet he just sort of chuckled and acted like "oh well, forget me, save yourselves". And when time moves again, Keiichi's slow-motion death along with that damn (good) music "虚"... (つДT) 終わった．．．くそ．．．くっそぉ．．．．．(If this scene ever gets animated... I'd die crying)
Watching Rena, Mion, Shion, and Satoko get executed one by one was even harder to watch... Add to that Rika's determination to see her own death to the very end so that she could burn it into her memory... (滝涙)
To finish it all off was the extermination of all 2,000 residents of Hinamizawa... It was hard just to read through it...
From the spectator's point of view, things that we know that Rika doesn't at the moment of her death are, obviously, the things that happened after her death.
For one thing, we know that Rika's death = Hinamizawa gas disaster... I don't remember well, but did the gas disaster happen in Watanagashi and Meakashi-hen? That is, the two chapters where Rika died during her fight with Shion rather than getting killed by Takano? The research says that after the queen (Rika) dies, all the other infected people would show L5 symptoms within 24 - 48 hours... I don't remember seeing any of those near the end of those two chapters... Or did I?
Ahaha, my head's burned out after spending the whole night finishing Minagoroshi, I guess I'll add more comments later when I can think better.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by kj1980
Hopefully in the next chapter, Ha'nyuu would believe strongly to change the fate in order to change the deathloop that Rika-chama is in...
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Not "hopefully", if fate doesn't change next chapter, we're screwed, it's the last chapter. ^^;