today i finished reading the second arc of the original higurashi visual novel, watanagashi-hen. under the cut are my disorganized thoughts, with open spoilers for the full series beyond this arc, as i am a series veteran.
to get it out of the way first things first, once again this arc was littered with horrible sexualized fanservice-isms surrounding its young teen and preteen cast. this time in the earlier parts focusing particularly on keiichi repeatedly offering up rika and satoko as rewards for two younger boys. and then of course theres angel mort bullshit with shion and mion who are supposed to be 14 years old. 14. it sucks. it all sucks. i hate it. its all a big black mark on this series and the reason why i would never recommend it to anyone i know and dont particularly speak openly and enthusiastically about my interest in it. and this games tea party so graciously warned me that irie is going to be introduced next game!!!!!!!!!!!! i will continue to complain about this aspect of the series every time for as long as i continue reading it. if next game doesnt come right out and kill me on the spot
moving along

watanagashi is such a subversion of onikakushi, its almost funny how many times it hammers home how silly keiichi was behaving in the previous arc. over and over, keiichi is given information about the dark history of the village and he doesnt succumb to paranoia. ooishi approaches him tirelessly, and every time keiichi responds with distrust and suspicion, rena even comes right out and says ooishi is a horrible person whos using keiichi as bait. above all else, from this point onwards the universal constant of maebara keiichi has learned that he will never ever doubt the power of friendship again. its very fun to read.

keiichi and mions romcom dynamic in the early chapters is great. as an anime watcher when i was younger their relationship wasnt anything i ever had particularly strong feelings about, but reading the original text i almost feel possessed by the spirit of a teen who dedicates their free time to imagining fictional characters holding hands. it was very cute to read keiichi saying and doing things around mion without thinking, and then immediately afterwards in his monologue realize how inconsiderate hes acting and that he should do better. i was very surprised to find out that, with some heavy lifting from rena, keiichi actually figures out his doll goof all on his own early on. but then of course, with some heavy lifting from shion, he completely drops the ball and is unable to speak honestly with mion for the rest of the arc. mion is of course adorable, her being awful at pretending to be her sister is adorable, them both half-assedly keeping up the sister act despite them both knowing its really mion is adorable. theyre cute! i like them.

rena continues to be a standout character. while last time, i had a lot of fun analyzing her behavior with spoiler knowledge but found her actual writing to be somewhat basic, shes great in this arc. along with all the other points of subverting onikakushi, rena in watanagashi is repeatedly established as a rational, emotionally mature and incredibly caring friend. i remember when i was younger and watched the deen anime, i always thought the way rena was suddenly a cool-headed detective on the last day came out of nowhere. reading the original, she's actually behaving like that throughout the entire arc. first in the beginning acting as a middleman between mion and keiichi, being supportive for mion and gently elbowing keiichi into being more considerate. and then later on in the arc, being constantly vigilant as to whats going on in the village, rationally keeping an eye on keiichi and making sure adults know where they are, immediately knowing about keiichis taboo breaking as well as connecting all the dots to "mion" but calmly keeping it to herself. shes great. still really excited to get to tsumihoroboshi. i hope iries introduction in tatarigoroshi doesnt completely destroy my willingness to continue reading these.
of course, on the subject of characters...

shion. shion shion shion shion shion shion. shes awful. shes amazing. shes just like me for real. absolute girlboss. what do i even say? right from the start, her suddenly showing up and pretending to be mion pretending to be her to steal keiichi for a date is HORRIBLE. in the old anime mion-shioning is so abridged and this particular moment treated as such a joke, but in the original novel theres hours of buildup of keiichi and mions relationship developing, culminating in this date, and him deciding to make things right and buying mion the doll she wanted.... only for it to be shion, stealing it from under her nose while shes right there. its AWFUL. I LOVE HER. shes so evil, shes so destructive. shes SO BAD at being a murder mastermind. shes the most suspicious person in the world, and the only reason she manages to get away with it is because mion also just happens to be the most suspicious person in the world. what was she planning to do if her bluff of getting grandma on the phone didnt work???? what was she planning to do if her bluff of showing the demon tattoo didnt work???? shes amazing. perfect character.

i cant help but make comparisons to the deen anime in my mind as i read this. this arc was packed full of information and character detail, which the 2006 anime compressed into 4 lightning fast episodes where things just happen so much. there are so many moments of slowness and melancholy in this arc. moments of characters confiding in each other, moments of keiichi lamenting everything. i actually felt a bit teary eyed in the scene where keiichi walks up the hill and mourns rika and satoko, a moment which had 0 time to breathe in the old anime. the amount of expositiondumping in this arc is insane, and i enjoyed several of its moments of establishing the culture and history of the village. but the one time it felt egregious and out of place was right at the end, with shions fake confession. i truly admire ryukishi07s willingness to Go Off, but for me the scene of rena and keiichi asking "bestie why did you murder several people" and shion responding with "you guys ever heard of unit 731" really didnt land for me. i am all for going off about war crimes but it didnt sell me at all on rena and keiichi accepting that as an explanation for why their bestie went on a murder spree over a breaking and entering, it really shouldve just gone into a TIP.
smaller thoughts
-yukino satsuki is as always the absolute mvp. her staying in mion voice while making incoherent screams as the girl the narrative describes as shion is so, so so so so good. i wonder how many first timers who play with 07th mod notice and analyze that.
-i really enjoy the cat analogy scene between keiichi and rika. im gonna be honest, rika is actually one of my least favorite characters in the cast. i dont hate her by any means, but i actually just think the supernatural explanation for her character is kinda boring and hard to relate to in a cast with so many complicated and Real characters. for a minute, this scene really made me imagine rika as an actual kid who had the weight of a village thrust on her after her parents death, who has been given too much responsibility and knowledge and thinks she can use it to save her friends. of course thats not really whats happening in this scene, but it was fun to imagine.
-the banging of a child jumping up and down in the ritual storehouse................................ midichlorians hanyuu is so fucking funny shion really out there having a mental breakdown over the sound of a 10yo upset that a serial killer kinnie broke into her property.
-so sad that takano was born in 1960-something she wouldve loved the true crime podcast industry.
-incredibly refreshing to see every single character groan whenever ooishi shows up. he still showed up a ton, but at least now hes definitively portrayed as a bad person who Is Cop and Manipulates Children.
-the epilogue... kinda drags. it could be my fault for having blasted through everything from the festival onwards in a single sitting because i was feeling unhinged, but it really shouldve ended like three scenes earlier. it didnt help that ch12 had the 10 minute aside on japanese war crimes. the whole ending portion of the arc unfortunately ended up with kind of a whimper of pacing for me after almost everything up to that point had me hooting and hollering.
-kasai really just slept in a separate apartment next to shion having extremely audible and concerning mental breakdowns every night for (undetermined amount of time) until she abruptly died one day. my man youre supposed to be a bodyguard what are you doing.
overall, we love to see a girlboss lose her mind. i cant promise when i will start reading tatarigoroshi or if i will finish it due to the previously mentioned Concern please pray for me.