Higurashi Episode 25 Discussion / Poll

[Hopeful Death]

Do cigarettes usually sink in water immediately?

I mean, Oishi's cigarette at the end there.

Just something weird I noticed. I'm not a smoker so...

[Sinestra]

WOW talk about a mind fuck i was glued to my screen the entire time. WHen Rika had that talk with K1 and he remebered the other timeline i freaked out as well. So many things make sense yet some im still trying to get my mind around. I can saftely assume that Rika is Oyashiro-sama?

Rena has just lost and i hope they find her and snap her out of it before some gets that very large sharp object in their skull. the fact that K1 thought that the marker was a needle was frightning the whole series has just got me hooked i love it the twist the turns. Can i assume that a cosmic reset happen and everyones alive?

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Sinestra

Can i assume that a cosmic reset happen and everyones alive?

imo that would be nice but its not gona happen...cause ppl are evil like that

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

imo that would be nice but its not gona happen...cause ppl are evil like that

One can have hope but i think i gave that up after i watched K1 club Mion and Rena to death like they were baby seals. By the way never watch Higurashi and 4am after being up for 29 hours and working a long shift. This ep was even more messed up for me since i was so out of it. i know there is stuff i missed so i have to go back watch it over again

[Keiichi no Hibi]

I think I liked this episode a lot more than a majority of the previous ones, if not all of them. It just sticks out, for reasons that have been stated many times already :x

And ah... I'm pretty much a n00b here, not having read many of the TIPS yet and having only watched the anime, so I don't know if this has been covered before, but from here , which was linked to earlier in this thread, I got the following theory/idea/whatever it would be called.

Spoiler:

「......I would like to assault you and give you the shot, ...but I’ve never done it successfully. That’s why I’ve given up doing so forcefully. ......So, I will leave it up to your free will. 」

Off topic to this exact episode, I think, but is Rika possibly making reference to what happened in episode 20, when she tried to give the drug to Shion? If so, does that mean Shion had the virus or parasite or whatever it is?

And if Shion DIDN'T have that, and Rika was just trying to drug and/or get rid of Shion, which makes more sense seeing as if it was a cure I don't think Rika would react the way she did when Shion turned the tables on her, does that mean Rika was also trying to get rid of Rena, when Rika offered the needle to her?

And sorry if this has been stated somewhere else before or the wrong place to post this or redundant to everyone in the know :x

[Chibi_Faerie]

Spoiler for For Keiichi no Hibi's theory:

Since Rika seems to remember all the 'Past Hinamizawa's' I think it's very likely she was referring to shion or other people as well in the past even perhaps. But as to why she has given up on trying to forcefully inject people, and leave it up to them themselves. You can't force salvation on someone, it has to be accepted and decided by the person themselves. So perhaps what ever is in the syringe has to be taken by the person themselves without being forced, lf forced it triggers something and effects them badly, so they kill themselves like Rika killed herself (And Tomitake killed himself??) I believe Rika really was trying to help Rena. We already know from a previous chapter when she warned Asasaka to go home, I believe (as mentioned before by someone, don't remember who or I'd give them credit) that she foresaw his wife dying while he was away and wanted to warn him and try to help him. So if she is the reincarnation of 'Oyashiro-sama' then we have learned that Oyashiro-sama isn't the cruel and terrible god we have been led to think. Oyashiro is really a kind and caring god, only trying to end the misery, suffering, and violence that Oyashiro's people are going through. So I believe the injection was a cure, for what ever is ailing the hinamizawa residents in each 'Hinamizawa'. I believe that this is a large mix of spiritual supernatural with some sort of logical reason for the murders and instability of the residents minds.

But then again, I could be very very wrong, and most likely am.

[LostBlue]

For those interested I've updated POST#72 with the rest of Mion's convo with Keiichi + a little more.

[Alu]

Ah... I'm so late nooo

Darn.., I have been so caught up with affairs lately that the best I could do was drop by for a quick peek.. , luckly after today and specialy after monday I should have much more time to drop by.., hence I hope to catch up

This has been moving extreamly fast though.., I already saw a Answer thread related to the questions that are left pending by the end of the Anime.., (which I always figured it would happen)...; so.., what I am about to post probably doesn't mean much to all who have finished the anime and got the answers..

Still.., I found this episode so amazing I will lay down my prespectives on it

Continuing where the previous left off.., Rena's delusional disorder is escalating to the next level.. TIPS #125, TIPS #126, TIPS #127, much like Keiichi in Onikakushi-hen..., hence even the smallest insignificant aspect can relate a compleatly total diferent meaning in her prespective...

As we can see on the last notes of this TIP posted by LostBlue :

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by LostBlue

Then it goes off with Keiichi seeing the white van again at the school yard with Chie-sensei talking to the man named Okonogi. Keiichi sees the Principal and asks him who these men were. The Principal replies they are Landscapers hired by the school. They got lost yesterday taking a shortcut to the school which is relatively easy to get lost here in Hinamizawa if you're not familiar with all the small roads.

The day before, also, Keiichi overhears the Principal and Chie-sensei talking about the envelop the Okonogi Landscapers gave them. The Principal was asking why the number on the envelop won't work which Chie-sensei responds that the envelop is from their old office and they just mistakenly to put it in the wrong envelop.

The True meanings behind of what Rena suspected related to the Sonozaki (or someone else) beeing after her

It also was surprising to see that Takano was in fact the Key Trigger for Rena's delusion.., something that I realy did not pay much attention until I read all of LostBlue's TIP : POST #72

As we can see.., the effects tend to start off somewhere (this somewhere likely now beeing Takano).., and then much like a snowball.., they head towards the end we are already familiar with..
I see this as something that slowly starts to comsume you, sort of speak.., so in fact I guess this realy described as a "parisite" in lyrical terms.

Rena is now almost complealy lost to the delusion..., for as we saw when Keiichi tryed to reason with her.., she compleatly transformed herself exactly what Keiichi was in Onikakushi-hen.., and now for Keiichi to have witness this brings me to another point..

And possibily the bigest asnwer I could get off of this episode.. (apart from the ones given to us on Keiichi's flashback.., which explain now Onikakushi-hen)
- What I speak here is.., the way as to how the " Higurashi Universe " revolves.

Spoiler for possible answers:

Since Keiichi had lived exactly the same situation as Rena is now, he through some unexplainable way was able to recall the events that had taken place ( oh and AHA! I right about about the Syringe / Pen-Marker!! )..; and as soon as this happened we witness Rika question Keiichi as to how he remembers.

Which means.., Rika from the start always knew, which explains why she always knew she was going to die.
Now, then if we look carefully at the following TIP of Rika speaking with I belive to be Oyashiro-sama's spirit : TIPS #123 and TIPS #132, we find the answer as to how it is possible for her to remember each arc :

Originally Posted by Kj1980

"......You want to know why I'm depressed? ...Because the way I'm going to die has already been decided."

"............But, ......it's, ...no good again."
"Yeah. ......It's no good again. .........So, when is my death date again with this?"
".....................I think it was, the night of June 25th."
"About 1 week after the end of Watanagashi Festival, huh. .........Well, that sounds reasonable."
"Is it..................... my fault after all?"
"Isn't it obvious? Don't you have any sense of self-awareness?"
"...au-au-au."
She's the one who said it first, and yet gets all teary-eyed when you tell her she's right. ...Ah geez, what an irritating one.

"Let's try again. ...I'm sure in the next dice game, there will be times where we'll keep getting 6s too."

-

Originally Posted by Sushi-Y

"...............Soon ......tomorrow is going to be it."

"Hmm? ...............Ahh, you mean our death date?"
"............It ended up the same way this time too."

"I don't know about that. .........It's very similiar, but there are some things that were different too. ......Keiichi, remembered what happened before too."
"......That's impossible. There's no way he could remember, no, there's no way he could know them."

"*giggle*.... The more you say it's absolutely impossible, ...the more it makes one think that this is really a miracle, you know?"

But, if you throw a die 100 times, the minimum and maximum number still ranges from 100 ~ 600.
Even though the more throws you make, the more likely the future will try to converge at one average value, the truth is, the more throws you make, the more possibilities for the future there will be.

If you throw the die 100 times, you'll get about 500 different futures.
Throw 1000 times, and you'll have 5000 different futures.
Won't there also be one ending among them where I would actually finish from this neverending dice game?

......The miracle that Keiichi showed me, it was something that opened my eyes and taught me that it's definitely not a waste of effort to continue throwing the dices.

Don't give in to something like an average value.

So.. the answer is.., Rika in her pursue to fight her destiny re-lives her life all over again all until she can find a way to overthrow Fate.., and this is why there are several arcs.., its the "next dice", as in.. the "next atempts" to make it right..

Unfortunatly.. as we have seen so far.., all have failed ^^

However.., something happened this time that could change it..
Which leads us back to Keiichi remembering what happened in Onikakushi-hen

The simple fact that he this time was on the oposite side of the "prespective", and after seeing Rena speak out the exact same words that he did somehow jumped the memory of Onikakushi-hen into his head..; hence his total breakdown as soon as he realises what he had done and how blind he realy was.

Rika now realises this.., and says as I quote :

*taken from episode 25*

Rika : "I can understand how amazing you are"
"I understand that this is a miracle. And right now, you can understand what Ryuuguu Rena is going through"

Keiichi : "Yeah, she's like how I was at that time"
"I will not give up!"
"There's still time!"
"The tragedy can be avoided ! Fate can be contested !"

Rika : "For the will to fight to be this beautiful, this sublime, to even have the power to overturn Fate, is what I have learned here.
That is why I will fight along side you"
"However often it will take, until we reach that future that awaits us."

So making this.., if there ever is a chance to make things right.., its in this arc
However I have a feeling that that will not exactly happen ^^

It was a GREAT episode overall.., for all of this and more...

I realy can't leave without mencioning the scene after Keiichi remembering and then hugging Mion.., it was all beyond beautiful.. ;
In fact.., the entire process of Pain as when Keiichi realised what he had done to the apologise was probably one of the best moments of this entire story.

Altough I do not know how it went in the game.., the way I saw it in the Anime was perfect to me..

I have to give a great thanks though for all in charge of the TIP's section.., without them there would be no way I or anyone could have come to realise how the story realy unfolds.

[White Manju Bun]

Yep, Rena scares the hell outta me again O_O Shion scared me for a while but she's more crazy, Rena with her crazy creepy look at Kei in the dump almost made me jump...

Aliens now...hmmm this anime is so strange but so awesome

and Im late with this post so anything I had to say probably has been covered already XD

[Goras]

Originally Posted by LostBlue

Spoiler:

The day after Keiichi has his phone call with Rena, he decides to confront Mion about it as Keiichi didn’t want to believe that Mion was involved in such a conspiracy.

M: 「……What, …what’s up…?」
K: 「Do you know, ……there are people who are trying to revive the Faith in Oyashiro-sama. 」
M: 「…………huh？　What, Kei-chan? What are we talking about?」

This is of course, just me prying.
I wanted to see what reaction Mion will have if I came at her directly.

But, Mion really really looked at me blankly.
……When someone hits the nail on the head, most people can’t keep their cool. Most definitely they will show some, even a little, reaction.

Unless Mion is a gifted actor, ……Mion really, had no connection with the words revival of Oyashiro-sama.

……I decided to come clean.

K: 「Mion. Your house, the Sonozaki Family, holds extreme influence over all of Hinamizawa. …………but is there …some type of secret plan to revive the faith of Oyashiro-sama？」

M: 「……Revive？　Why？」

K: 「Yeah, I mean. The current Oyashiro-sama’s Faith is pretty thin, compared to the ancient times, right? Meaning, ……there are orthodox advocates wanting to bring the faith to the level it used to be like long ago like in Onigafuchi with some secrete plan or something.」

M: 「Wha？　Wait wait, what’s that. What are we talking about?」
K: 「………So really, you have no idea what I’m talking about…？」

M: 「Of course I don’t. What, that’s an interesting story, kinda like those American Best Sellers.」

Mion’s reaction was very natural.
It was impossible that she was pretending to act that she didn’t know when she really knows. ……But, I still continued.

K: 「Well, I mean…… There seems to be people like that in this village. Mion, don’t you know?」

M: 「The Oyashiro-sama Faith, to the level of the Onigafuchi era…？　Is there something good that will come out of that？」
K: 「……Well, ……obviously to the strong fanatical believers, it may have some profound meaning to them……」

M: 「But Kei-chan. No one is going to be happy, going back to the old strict ways. Now in the present, if someone said you can’t leave the village, they won’t be able to make a living, you know.」
K: 「Fo, for example, you know, ……Rika-chan!　It seems that Rika-chan been pampered being that she is said to be the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama, right? So probably within followers of senior citizen crowd there might be a fanatical group existing……、」

M: 「By Rika-chan’s followers you mean, like Kimiyoshi-no-Ojichan?

Well, …I certainly believe that they have heavy beliefs but, I don’t think you can call that fanatical.」

K: 「No, but there is! People who plan to once again revive the true Oyashiro-sama Faith!」

M: 「Ah ha ha ha ha!
　…Okay okay. We’re going nowhere with this, so let’s say I believe you. And?」
K: 「And, they realized that Oyashiro-sama true identity is an unique local endemic disease in this region, and they are researching to determine the pathogen.」

M: 「Where?

Anyway what’s this endemic disease? What the heck is a pathogen? Stop being so smart.」

I don’t even know what I’m trying to say anymore…

Last night, I was completely inspired by Rena, buying into this crazy story but,……Now that I say it out of my mouth, I begin to understand how inconsistent it is…

M: 「What happen? Did Miyo-san indoctrinate you with these strange talk?」
K: 「……！　…You know?！」

M: 「It’s well known. That person, is an occult mania, so she’s always coming up with these tremendous tall tales. Once in a while there will be someone who takes it seriously, and heavily becomes influenced; it’s pretty famous around here.

I also, long ago, heard her stories, and it was quite fun. Ah ha ha.」
K: 「…………Is that, ……for real？」

M: 「Kei-chan, I’m sure you heard of this somewhere, but this village long ago had quite an unique tradition. And those traditions were rather on the grim side, with strict percepts and strict penalties, and harsh customs, become somewhat famous amongst the occult crowd it seems. Miyo-san is just one of those maniacs.」

K: 「Then……、the story about this village being under the control of mysterious parasites are…,」

M: 「Ha？！　Parasiiites？！

　…Is that, Miyo-san’s new story？」
K: 「What do you mean by new story?」

M: 「I told you, Miyo-san is an occult mania. She’s been researching into the outrageous legends of Onigafuchi village, and with this and that legends she pulls, she analyze them, and has fun creating these fantasies.

That’s why, she has all these other literally works besides that village mind-controlling parasites theorizing stuff. The one I heard long ago was the UFO theory. This was quite interesting as it was pretty consistent!

In the ancient past, a UFO crash lands in the Onigafuchi Marsh, and from there the aliens that came out started this war with the villagers…and it started something like that, kinda like a B-Class SF Horror flick. The one Satoko heard, was the underground citizens theory, I think it was?　With the change in the Earth’s crust, an Underground Kingdom and Onigafuchi became connected, and what happen,

……yes yes、the Princess of the Underground Kingdom and a youngster from the village fell in love, and restored the communion of the society, it was an SF Romeo & Juliet.

And then, her new work seems to be the parasite theory that you heard Kei-chan. Yep yep, I would really want her to collect all these in one book someday, ku ku ku!」

Mion then couldn’t help laughing so hard, she grabs her stomach.

……As I watch this,…I realized what a hollow farfetched tale I took seriously.

There’s no mistake about it.
…I’ve fallen for an outrageous tall tale.

K: 「I’m sory Mion! Honestly answer what I’m about to ask! First, ……are there people trying to revive the Oyashiro-sama Faith?!」

M: 「Nope. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. The Gosanke already have the single will to appeal Hinamizawa steadily to the outside world, and prosper the village. This is still a secret, but our aim for the 21st century is to have a freeway run through here. The Sonozaki Family is currently baiting the topic under the surface. If all goes well, this area will boom with prosperity. Baccha predicts with that, the property value of this mountain forest area will skyrocket and we’ll make a large profit. Although, that large task will have to wait until 21st century, so most likely I’ll be taking over that job.」

K: 「Then……, the people who are digested by outsiders… don’t exists？」

M: 「That’s what I’ve been telling you, they don’t！ The village is already incontinent, what’s the point of making it more so? Presently, the village is now, selling land for development. Kei-chan, your house is precisely the first example of that. Didn’t the villagers welcome you?　The Gosanke are trying to devise more ways to stop the outward flow of youngsters, you know.」

Mion’s words were not clouded.
It had a taste of reality incomparable to Takano’s delusional theory that Rena believes.

……My eyes steadily open with Mion’s words.

K: 「Then, then, …ahmmm, What about this account, as proof that there is a infestation of parasites, within the blood of the citizens of Hinamizawa, the number to something-or-other is abnormally high…,」

M: 「Is that so? Anyway, how did Miyo-san look into that？」
K: 「Because, Takano is a nurse, right? If she wanted to research that she could have done it whenever…」

M: 「And who is going to give blood to support that suspicious study? No one will. Either way, even if she was able to get the blood, where would she do that research? Are you saying that Miyo-san by herself study the blood of several people？」

…Exactly what Mion said.
Because of Takano-san’s occupation as a nurse, I probably was hooked into believing this tall tale. It’s one thing if a Health Care Centre collected large samples of blood, but there is a limit for Miyo-san to individually research this.

……By thinking reasonably like this, …this certainly is not a tale that should be swallowed.

K: 「Then, as another proof of the infestation of the parasites, I heard that no one gets hey fever…！」

M: 「Hey fever is a city disease. Wasn’t that related to exhaust gases? This is Hinamizawa, Kei-chan. Besides, probably, I would except they’re won’t be many people in Okonomiya either with hey fever.」

K: 「ah, ……then, what about this! That there is an Assassin Squadron under the direct control of the Sonozaki Estate Head, and long ago, they even kidnapped the Minsiter’s grandson, right？！」

M: 「Ah ha ha ha！ Wouldn’t that be cool! Ah ha ha ha！」

………I begin to think how nonsensical of the words I’m saying.

……But, yesterday I believed them.
……I was swallowed by Rena’s seriousness.

M: 「It’s true, the minister’s grandson was found around Takaudo. But, that wasn’t us. It wasn’t us, but we acted as if we really did.」
K: 「……That’s hard to understand, please explain.」

M: 「Yeah. During the Dam War, it’s true that the Onigafuchi Last Stand Alliance done some awfully dangerous resistance measures. We did stuff that bordered terrorism. But, at the time, there seemed to be people who used that image. There were fake Alliances that used the name to deceive people to demand money.」

The Onigafuchi Last Stand Alliance were at the time had that aggressive aura of influence.
The possibility for a group to deceive others by using the name for easy black mailing was certainly thinkable.

M: 「Amongst that, there was the kidnapping of the Minister’s grandson. Probably the culprits were pretending to be the Last Stand Alliance to throw the police investigation while they demanded their ransom.

To tell you the truth, that incident was even a surprise for the Alliance! It was the talk of they day, how amazing it was to kidnap the Minister’s grandson. If we ever met the culprits, we talked about how we should praise them.」
K: 「Wait, wait a second! Then the kidnapping of the Minister’s grandson ……had nothing to do with the Onigafuchi Last Stand Alliance?!」

M: 「Yep, not at all.」

Mion frankly said it.
Without any hesitation, as if splitting bamboo, she gave a clear-cut answer.

Even this, if I thought about it was obvious.

To kidnap the Minister’s grandson, and to make direct negotiations with the Minister, is an outrageous big incident.
That, no matter how aggressive they were, is not something the citizens of Hinamizawa can do. It’s obviously the work of a professional criminal!

M: 「…………Well, I stop myself short of saying it. The Sonozaki Estate, in regards to this kidnapping, acted as if they were black curtain behind it all.」
K: 「Acting, for what reason…？」

M: 「…This is、………a secret family tradition within the Sonozaki Estate. Kei-chan, I’ll secretly tell you, but you have to keep this a secret, okay?!

When anything favorable happens to the Sonozaki Estate, we act as if we pulled the strings to everything, it’s a practice of bluffing.」
K: 「………Bluffing,……！　A bluff？！」

M: 「Yeah. If something happens in our favor, it doesn’t even have to be an incident or anything. It could be the good weather, or even the winning lotto number. As if everything happened because the Sonozaki Estate desired it so, we act as if we knew the result.

Then what? It creates this image that we’re an astounding Overlord of all things, right? Meaning that’s it. This is an oral tradition passed generation to generation down to only the Sonozaki Estate Head, a secret tactic of image. A tactical image that makes us larger then we really are.」

K: 「……huhーーーーー…………。…th、…then、hey、during the Dam War didn’t you guys plan on taking over the Ministry of Construction?! What about that?! Moreover, for that purpose you had weapons and did training…！」

M: 「ku ku ku ku! That’s exactly the same thing, Kei-chan. You really think we’ll go through with that stupid plan?

Our greatest objective was to apply this pressure, they might be crazy enough to do it, see what terrifying people are, to give them this illusion was our greatest objective. Mean, this is another strategic image again.」

By making preparations and doing the training, they achieve their goal of applying this pressure, and had no thoughts of actually executing it, …just a Sonozaki Bluff.

Well, of course. Of course…！
There is no way they can occupy the Ministry of Construction, and even if they did, it wouldn’t solve anything, by giving it a little thought that’s obvious!
Say they did successfully occupy the building, the police will then push their way in with great numbers, and in a blink of an eye, suppress them!

K: 「Then, the weapons and the training is……」

M: 「Concerning the weapons……Ahaha、no comment, okay☆　But we did the training. So the Bluff will stand, we really did！

As Kasai-san as our Leader, my father gathered the youngsters, and played war games with a trainer in the Texan desert, then after that we laid-back and went sight-seeing in San Franciscoー. Ahahahahaha.」
K: 「Then, then,……then…………,」

I couldn’t think of anything else. …It was completely, obvious.

I was, no, Rena too.
……We were just being played by Takno-san’s delusional scrapbooks…….

-----------------------------
/end Convo
-----------------------------

Then it goes off with Keiichi seeing the white van again at the school yard with Chie-sensei talking to the man named Okonogi. Keiichi sees the Principal and asks him who these men were. The Principal replies they are Landscapers hired by the school. They got lost yesterday taking a shortcut to the school which is relatively easy to get lost here in Hinamizawa if you're not familiar with all the small roads.

The day before, also, Keiichi overhears the Principal and Chie-sensei talking about the envelop the Okonogi Landscapers gave them. The Principal was asking why the number on the envelop won't work which Chie-sensei responds that the envelop is from their old office and they just mistakenly to put it in the wrong envelop.

Please someone add this to the TIPS thread!

[JaoJao]

ok im lost, so how was keiichi able to see wut he did in the first question arc? and what keiichi did in the first question arc was all an hallucination by keiichi or a dream? so does that make the first question arc something that never happened? or it happened only in keiichi's dream/mind?

mm i also want to know, doesnt rika die in almost all of the question arcs? so is rika oyashiro-sama? and if she does die in all the question arcs, then this anime is basically about her turning back time trying to live each time she turns back time correct?

[Klashikari]

i'll try to answer, correct me if i'm wrong.
1)

Spoiler for how keiichi did see what happened at Watanagashi-hen:

there is no logical explanation to this. basically, rika said it was a "miracle". the same kind of miracle required to defeat the gloomy fate.

2 & 3)

Spoiler for about watanagashi:

yes, most of the "oyashiro-sama" speeches were keiichi's imagination, due his extreme paranoïa. but, things have happened : keiichi discovered the strange curse, he made contact with takano, tomikake and oishi. keiichi DID kill Rena and Mion. keiichi DIED. he was "just" misinterpreting several facts because of his delusions.

4)

Spoiler for rika:

yes, rika died in all the 6 arc (including the final anime arc,Tsumihoroboshi-hen, which was'nt told by the anime.) Rika is NOT oyashiro-sama, but she is related with it (KJ1980 topic "your questions answered" did mention about who is oyashiro-sama ).

true that the anime has absolutely no "conclusion". though, there are many clues to determine what's going on.

[JaoJao]

ohh thanks alot, that kinda helped me, this anime needs a second season, its intresting to see how the japanese portray things like paranoia or how a crazy person would react or do.

also, are all the question arcs somehow 'linked' or something, because keiichii remembered killing mion and rena in the past. do they follow like a timeline, or do each of the question arcs 'reset' back to a certain point or something?

[raikage]

Originally Posted by JaoJao

ohh thanks alot, that kinda helped me, this anime needs a second season, its intresting to see how the japanese portray things like paranoia or how a crazy person would react or do.

also, are all the question arcs somehow 'linked' or something, because keiichii remembered killing mion and rena in the past. do they follow like a timeline, or do each of the question arcs 'reset' back to a certain point or something?

Going off of what I've read in these forums (notably the Your Questions Answered thread):

Spoiler for Just in case:

Every time Rika dies, Oyashiro-sama reboots the world back to a certain point. Oyashiro-sama does not want Rika to die.

Rika retains the memories of all the past occurences, and is trying to find a way to live past June of 1983.

I don't know how Keiichi suddenly remembered one of the past occasions.

It's vaguely alternate-universe, vaguely time-travel.

[sasuke13]

Sorry for going of the subject a bit, but I wanted to clear something up I couldn't get my mind off of. Since the explanations of the "poison and the injections were said and everything. Back in Watanagashi-hen, is that also the same thing as to what Shion was talking about as "Orge Blood?" Or was it really orge blood?

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by sasuke13

Sorry for going of the subject a bit, but I wanted to clear something up I couldn't get my mind off of. Since the explanations of the "poison and the injections were said and everything. Back in Watanagashi-hen, is that also the same thing as to what Shion was talking about as "Orge Blood?" Or was it really orge blood?

Spoiler:

the pretended "demon blood" within hinamizawa people is just a myth.
by comparing onikakushi-hen, meakachi-hen and tsumihoroboshi-hen characters' insanity, you can obviously conclude they had the same paranoia and delusions. (athough the 3 characters had huge differences in their path to madness (triggers), and their whole life)
the nature of the disease/poison/whatever-is-the-cause-of-the-berserking-state, it's plain real and rationnal. (it was not explained in the anime, but you can guess from the materials you get)

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Spoiler:

the pretended "demon blood" within hinamizawa people is just a myth.
by comparing onikakushi-hen, meakachi-hen and tsumihoroboshi-hen characters' insanity, you can obviously conclude they had the same paranoia and delusions. (athough the 3 characters had huge differences in their path to madness (triggers), and their whole life)
the nature of the disease/poison/whatever-is-the-cause-of-the-berserking-state, it's plain real and rationnal. (it was not explained in the anime, but you can guess from the materials you get)

Spoiler for my idea:

I've thought there was something in the water supply from day one. I'm not sure where Hinamizawa's reservoir is, but it may be possible that the volcanic gasses (depending on what the gasses are) leaking into it in small quantities could cause the paranoia and psychosis we've been seeing.

[Eishu]

It's been some time since I saw this episode, but I still remember it clearly. I give it a nine out of ten for chilling the shit out of me!

Perfect is hard to reach to, so I refrain from that.

[blitz1/2]

After watching this again, I am confused. If the needle was a marker then what the hell killed Keiichi?

Did he hallucinate himself that he would scratch his own throat?

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by blitz1/2

After watching this again, I am confused. If the needle was a marker then what the hell killed Keiichi?

Did he hallucinate himself that he would scratch his own throat?

Oh~ ho ho ho...
Now that would be telling

I guess you'll just have to watch the show again. And make sure you read the tips this time.