Higurashi Sotsu - Anime Episode Discussion Thread (All Higurashi spoilers OK)

[blitz1/2]

Originally Posted by Gerard07

Seen the last chapter, well it is not the ending I expected but I suppose it goes well with the anime, in the end Satoko and Rika reconciled with blows and in the end they understood that they cannot force the other to their dream. Hanyuu managed to do a miracle against Eua that turned into a loli (I would have liked another ending for the character), and the other characters Teppei, Satoshi, Takano, and Tomitake all had a happy ending (at least in this loop).
Regarding this season, it was not exactly what I expected, Satoko seemed like a good antagonist of the yandere, but some things like explaining what happened at home would take a long time and the DBZ-style fights somehow went against my expectations , but I guess it will open the door for Umineko or more projects related to the series, to wait for what comes next.

At least this trash fire is over.

[Klashikari]

I'm honestly not sure how to think about it.
After reading that interview, the themes of Gou and Sotsu sort of makes sense in a way. Likewise, all that stuff explained by Keiichi and the rest are fitting. But they really went apeshit when it comes to the starting point and the execution of all of this. As I and some other people stated, Sotsu could have been condensed into 3 episodes, with simply rushing through the howdunnit with Satoko + some scenes with Eua, then have the actual confrontation and other stuff. I think it would have been much better if Satoko wasn't revealed to be the antagonist so early.

I'm not sure if Ryukishi was completely at fault or not, given that certain choices were 100% on the anime staff. For instance, Ryukishi himself stated he never expected the Rika-Satoko watanagashi torture scene to have the gore shown like that. He thought it would have been like the VN or first series when you can see shadows, hears the gruesome noises and then see a glimpse of a quick blood splatter on the wall. So I'm honestly wondering whose idea was the whole Endless Eight-esque structure.

Either way, it wasn't particularly great and not exactly necessary given the conclusion of the original series. I'd have honestly preferred an actual remake or a prequel / spin off.

[Nachtwandler]

Sorry for being minority here, but I find this Installment nopt worse than older ones.

I never could took Higurashi seriously and so I find the old seasons pretty dumb. At least Gou and Sotsu never try to be to smart and put more accent on gopre and actions. So I am perfetly fine with it. Even another dumb happy end was not that bad. At least Rika punched Satoko ebough for all thew shit happened this season. And thay actually got separated and did not mitraculosly got out of looping, just make the current loop stable.

[MCAL]

You know I fully went in expecting to hate the final episode, but then I didn't? In fact, if most of Sotsu wasn't just repeated material, I'd even go as far to say this conclusion would have really satisfied me on SotsuGou as a whole. But sadly, that wasn't what happened in the end. If anything, I kind of wanted to hate it, because now I'm left feeling all conflicted.

Anyway, I'd give Gou an eight an Sotsu a four; and SotsuGou a 5/10 as the whole.


@Klashikari
I suppose there's still Higurashi Jun and how (If we get any reason at all) it fits into what was Ryukishi's initial script.

Edit: Oh yeah, and the new version of Dear You was excellent. Such a good song.

[Kanon]

Ever since I finished it I've been trying to remember a worse sequel than this, but I'm drawing a blank. Not only was it utterly pointless, it even assassinated Satoko and Rika's characters.

The ending was absolutely ridiculous. Not only does Satoko not get punished for the countless evil actions she undertook (and enjoyed), she even gets rewarded. Rika forgiving her after she killed her and her friends dozens of times is garbage. And the resolution is just "I guess you really suck at studying so you don't have to come living the Oujou-sama life with me".

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Also, did we go back to Kai-ending timeline or is this yet another random new timeline? I don't give a damn at this point. Knock yourself out, Umineko fans.

New timeline. They first went back to the post Matsuribayashi timeline right after Satoko found Eua. After the older club members dropped some pearls of wisdom on them (or rather, tell them something that's just common sense), they apparently went back in time so that Satoko wouldn't have to drop out of school and both of them could start fresh. Satoko gets the added benefit of living with this year's best uncle. Oh, and her nii-nii came back. Really pays off to be a psychopath.

I really wish this had just been a remake like it was advertised. I was looking forward to them finally animating Mion and Shion's backstory (hey, you know what? There's absolutely no reason they couldn't have done it in Sotsu anyway). Instead we got recaps in Gou with some epic tweest at the end of the final episode of each arc to make it seem fresh, and then full on recap of the recaps in Sotsu. Absolute garbage.

[Gerard07]

I read for now that they are going to release 2 new Higurashi manga, and one of them is 35 years after the original story with Keiichi's son as the protagonist, could someone confirm it?, the other, does anyone know how successful anime has been in Japan?.

[Jan-Poo]

Well I knew it would go this way, though I didn't expect such a good ending.

Of course in the R07 universe people can forgive mass murder as if it was just a prank. Not even by mistake Rika pointed out that Satoko went too far, and "too far" is an enormous understatement here.

And if people were expecting this to be the origin story of Lambda and Bernkastel, well all you got is some cryptic stuff that you can interpret however you want. The anime didn't even bother to properly explain EUA's existence.

[monsta666]

The fact that Satoko got off so slightly leaves a bitter taste. The whole talk about friends always having a special everlasting relationship seemed really hollow as it totally ignored the content of the Rika Satoko relationship which was essentially a 1000-year assault from Satoko against Rika. Rika was justified in being angry and it is possible for friends to break up. I do get it that they gave this advice from a position of ignorance so you can't blame them getting it so wrong. But it just wasn't convincing and seemed to be a way of brushing Satoko's crimes under the rung like she stole a loaf of bread or something.

The better outcome would have been if Rika had simply utterly destroyed Satoko with the sword and the series had a bittersweet ending. That would have been the brave but good ending. However, this safe "good ending" was likely made as it maintained the status quo. Removing a major character like Satoko was just too radical a move to do which is kinda ironic when you consider SOTSU basically character assassinated Satoko.

[blitz1/2]

Originally Posted by monsta666

The fact that Satoko got off so slightly leaves a bitter taste. The whole talk about friends always having a special everlasting relationship seemed really hollow as it totally ignored the content of the Rika Satoko relationship which was essentially a 1000-year assault from Satoko against Rika. Rika was justified in being angry and it is possible for friends to break up. I do get it that they gave this advice from a position of ignorance so you can't blame them getting it so wrong. But it just wasn't convincing and seemed to be a way of brushing Satoko's crimes under the rung like she stole a loaf of bread or something.

The better outcome would have been if Rika had simply utterly destroyed Satoko with the sword and the series had a bittersweet ending. That would have been the brave but good ending. However, this safe "good ending" was likely made as it maintained the status quo. Removing a major character like Satoko was just too radical a move to do which is kinda ironic when you consider SOTSU basically character assassinated Satoko.

Only Sotsu? I would Gou did too lol.

[FlareKnight]

1/10. I was tempted to go all the way to zero, but it still technically had the same great characters of the original so there's a point for that.

Honestly this show was terrible. I haven't seen a sequel this bad that honestly harmed its original this much in a long time. Higurashi painfully dropped down my favorites list a bit just because the damage of Gou and Sotsu are hard to completely ignore. A bad remake would have been better.

The ending just made it worse. I figured they'd go weak on the ending and just have everything work out for Satoko. But I didn't expect it to be this bad. Maybe this was a grand attempt to make the original look even better. Takano's ending was a bit unsatisfying considering what she did. But at least it was better .

This was just terrible. At least if anyone ever asks what my most disappointing anime of all time is....I'll have an answer without thinking hard about it.

[blitz1/2]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

1/10. I was tempted to go all the way to zero, but it still technically had the same great characters of the original so there's a point for that.

Honestly this show was terrible. I haven't seen a sequel this bad that honestly harmed its original this much in a long time. Higurashi painfully dropped down my favorites list a bit just because the damage of Gou and Sotsu are hard to completely ignore. A bad remake would have been better.

The ending just made it worse. I figured they'd go weak on the ending and just have everything work out for Satoko. But I didn't expect it to be this bad. Maybe this was a grand attempt to make the original look even better. Takano's ending was a bit unsatisfying considering what she did. But at least it was better .

This was just terrible. At least if anyone ever asks what my most disappointing anime of all time is....I'll have an answer without thinking hard about it.

Same with me, I would finish all the other series, and I am like....episode 14 and 15....Do I dare to watch? lol.

Even if Satoko wasn't killed (which she shrugged off a neck wound with Hanyuu's weapon?) I was hoping that there would be some Rika lecturing Satoko in that HOW DARE she hurt her friends to hurt her? Because it just means that Rika and Satoko were both trash and that Keiichi and others were just collaterial damage, (some nice friends they are to them >_>)

Next, what was the purpose of Eua other than needing somebody to laugh their heads off at how entertaining lame this was. You could have Hanyuu sacrifice herself to suicide bomb Eua and removing both Satoko and Rika's looping powers once for all.

The ONLY nice thing I found ok in these last 2 eps was the parallel to the Rena and Keiichi fight on the rooftop only.

Anyways, I'll either stick with Rei or Miotsukushi-hen as the real endings to this series.

[Alchemist007]

It was a little easy but I guess all's well that ends well? Eua's existence was barely a footnote. I concurrently watched some of the old anime and while they're far from flawless I think they're more enjoyable since the whole cast of characters is involved.

6/10

[AP24]

Coincidentally the final episode is the 100th Higurashi episode they ever produced

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

And if people were expecting this to be the origin story of Lambda and Bernkastel, well all you got is some cryptic stuff that you can interpret however you want. The anime didn't even bother to properly explain EUA's existence.

It's not all that cryptic. The show made it clear Satoko "created" a witch, and "Rika" and "Satoko"'s parting words are the same as Lambda and Bern's in Umineko.

Another connection with Umineko is Okonogi getting away with everything, meaning he can become the company president he was in Umineko.

I think it was clearly meant to be their origin story, but what a shitty origin story it was!

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Ever since I finished it I've been trying to remember a worse sequel than this, but I'm drawing a blank.

Blood-C.

Last Exile Fam, the FLCL monstrosities, the current Inuyasha debacle... The bar is pretty high.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Blood-C.

Last Exile Fam, the FLCL monstrosities, the current Inuyasha debacle... The bar is pretty high.

I don't know about the others but Fam has great production values + OK story and Yashahime at least has brand new adventure with brand new protags. No way those two are as bad as Gou & Sotsu (especially with all the recaps), let alone worse.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Kanon

It's not all that cryptic. The show made it clear Satoko "created" a witch, and "Rika" and "Satoko"'s parting words are the same as Lambda and Bern's in Umineko.

Another connection with Umineko is Okonogi getting away with everything, meaning he can become the company president he was in Umineko.

I think it was clearly meant to be their origin story, but what a shitty origin story it was!

Well you see, I don't agree that it's all that clear. You can see that connection if you want but you can also see it differently. There's nothing that clearly shows that Okonogi is going to found a food company, what Bern and Satoko said could simply be a homage to Umineko. Nothing clearly suggests that they will become the witches of Umineko. Hell for some reason the name Bernkastel wasn't even mentioned once ins sotsu/gou in spite of the fact it's the first name you see in the original visual novel of Higurashi. Likewise Lambdadelta was never mentioned (a lot of other names were mentioned like Vier, something that can be connected to Lambdadelta "LD" was mentioned, but never "Lambdadelta" itself).

There's also nothing that suggests that Rika has transitioned to the personality of the Bernkastel of Umineko, she is still fundamentally a good person that never did anything that could be considered truly evil, Meanwhile the Bernkastel from Umineko is a total psycho.

EUA is also fundamentally different from Featherinne. Featherinne would have never laughed like a maniac as we have seen in this series.

To me this was just throwing a bone with some hints to all those who want to see a connection, without providing any substantial evidence to support it.

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

I don't know about the others but Fam has great production values + OK story and Yashahime at least has brand new adventure with brand new protags. No way those two are as bad as Gou & Sotsu (especially with all the recaps), let alone worse.

I liked FAM...

Then again I also liked the second series of Shingeki no Bahamut.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

I don't know about the others but Fam has great production values + OK story and Yashahime at least has brand new adventure with brand new protags. No way those two are as bad as Gou & Sotsu (especially with all the recaps), let alone worse.

I beg to differ, but that's the nature of subjective opionion.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I beg to differ, but that's the nature of subjective opionion.

Objectively speaking, how can high production values (Fam) be worse than low production values (Gou + Sotsu)??

Fam's aesthetic details & animation alone blew all Higurashi anime outta the water.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/QZh4HkEa4to

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Guardian Enzo]

That’s your subjective opinion.