#and it’s not surprising for him to do that since Teppei is a scumbag and sees Satoko as his maid so :/

[roseofcards90]

wait what did i miss how did my satoko get sexually abused by teppei??? 😟

I believe this is more heavily implied? (please correct me if I’m wrong) but there is a TIP in the Tatarigoroshi VN that shows statistics from the Showa Era on conditions of reported child abuse using reported cases from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, and along the list of stuff are cases of various abuse which include physical, psychological, sexual, etc. Since the rest of this stuff on this list Teppei has been shown to do to Satoko (like physically abusing her and preventing her from going to school) I assume the rest of the statistics also relate to her in some way as well. Teppei has also been shown to have thought that Satoko could “satisfy him sexually” if she was older, although I don’t think this completely rules out any other kind of sexual abuse he did before to her either since he could’ve obviously still done stuff without assaulting her or anything.

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Curse Killing Recap

I'm going to open this by saying that I initially wasn't looking forward to this arc, but as it progressed and I started putting my thoughts down, I ended up loving it.

This is the evil ending to Abducted by Demons's bad ending and Cotton Drifting's neutral ending. Instead of trying to solve and stop the curse, Keiichi chose to wield it for his own purposes.

And though we may get some cathartic joy out of seeing a scumbag get what's coming to him, the arc's ending shows that Oyashiro-sama's curse cannot be used for good.

If Higurashi as a whole were a three act performance, I'd put Curse Killing as the finale of the first act. We've been introduced to the initial hook of a series of murders that have been collectively referred to as Oyashiro-sama's curse and then given an answer to the cause of the murders.

Then we read this arc, maybe expecting to learn the more secondary details about the series of murders since Keiichi doesn't have any interest in the main mystery itself. And while we do get some extra details, the arc ends with Rika unexpectedly murdered and the village wiped out.

So now we're heading into the next arc realizing that Oyashiro-sama's curse is far more than the series of murders. The murders were just one aspect of this curse that plagues the village.

Now let's talk about Jiro Suzuki's artstyle. Her artstyle is very different from the other artists who contribute to this series. The drawings in this arc are much looser and more prone to a lot of caricature drawings and overly-exaggerated expressions.

But at the same time, this art style allows for silly antics that you can't pull off with Suzuragi or Houjyou's more down-to-earth style. They wouldn't be able to add antics such as Satoko dropping a wash basin on Irie, Rika drawn as a cat, or Keiichi suddenly dressing as a lawyer to make an argument about his lunch.

And Suzuki's silly art style manages to play excellently into the narrative tone. Once Teppei appears in the plot, all the artwork becomes just as down-to-earth as Suzuragi and Houjyou's. Whereas the curse and murders left the cast with a sense of fear, unease, and dread; Teppei's actions have left them with despair, powerlessness, and hopelessness.

Then once he's gone, Suzuki starts going back into the looser art style but instead of the characters becoming silly and goofy again, they become unnerving. Everyone is pretending to go back to what it was like before Teppei appeared and the artwork is just as off and awkward as the cast's actions.

Suzuki truly nailed the sense of uncanniness that happens when something is seriously wrong.

Choosing a favorite panel for this arc was actually pretty tough but I ultimate gave it to this one:

In an arc where everyone is so highly expressive, how do you make it clear that something is exceedingly wrong with someone? You give them no expression at all.

There is nothing on that face. No fear, or surprise, or anything.

(This is the third time in a row Rena was the image highlight of the arc. I'm trying to diversify, but she just keeps getting all the good scenes.)

And now let's compile all the info we have about the characters, setting, and mysteries. Bold text is new info.

Character Info:

Keiichi Maebara: He moved to Hinamizawa three weeks ago. He was a generally average student but excelled when he started cram school. However he became frustrated and his father decided to move to Hinamizawa after some things happened.

Rena Ryugu: Birth name “Reina”. She had moved out of Hinamizawa when she was younger. At some point she assaulted three boys with a bat and smashed every window in her school. In her psych evaluations, she frequently talked about Oyashiro-sama as if she is possessed by it. She moved back to Hinamizawa a year ago.

Mion Sonozaki: Leader of the group’s after-school club. She has several misdemeanors due to her actions during the village’s protest against the dam project. She’s the heir to the Sonozaki family and lives with her grandmother. She was involved in several of the past murders. She has a demon tattoo on her body.

Satoko Hojo: Related to the second and fourth set of victims. She and Rika live together. She had a bad relation with her step-father to the point she falsely accused him of abuse. She relied heavily on her brother when they were living with their aunt and uncle. She believes herself cursed because she had damaged the statue of Oyashiro-sama a few years ago.

Rika Furude: Related to the third set of victims. Rika is the head of the Furude family which is one of the main houses of Hinamizawa. She’s in charge of the priesthood.

Shion Sonozaki: Mion’s twin sister. Shion lives in Okinomiya with their parents. She's the manager for the Hinamizawa Fighters baseball team.

Curaudo Ooishi: A detective with the local prefecture who wants to figure out the cause of all the deaths. He suspects a group within the village is behind the deaths. The villagers call him Oyashiro-sama's messenger because he's interacted with every victim prior to their deaths.

Jirou Tomitake: A photographer who visits Hinamizawa several times through the year. He died by scratching out his throat. Jirou Tomitake is not his real name.

Miyo Takano: A nurse at the local clinic. She's interested instudying the doctrines of Hinamizawa. She went missing after the Cotton Drifting Festival. She was strangled and her corpse was cremated. Her autopsy suggests she died the night before the festival however. The night of the festival, Takano was driving off the main road with Tomitake's bike in the backseat.

Kyosuke Irie: The main doctor of the Irie clinic. He is also the coach to the Hinamizawa Fighters.

Satoshi Hojo: Satoko’s older brother. He used to be part of the after-school club. He disappeared a year ago. Prior to his disappearance, he started carrying a bat and practiced his swinging. He also became distant from the club. Satoshi may have been the one who killed his aunt. It was believed that he had been saving money to buy Satoko a doll, but then he withdrew the money and vanished on her birthday. However the doll Satoko wanted had been purchased that day.

Village details:

Hinamizawa was originally known as Onigafuchi. The residents were believed to be descended from demons and the nearby villages offered tribute out of fear.

Oyashiro-sama is believed to be a god who gave the demons human form so they could live amonst humans

After the war, Mion’s grandfather, Souhei Sonozaki, used black market funds to bring great prosperity to the village.

There are three main houses in Hinamizawa: The Sonozakis, the Kimiyoshis, and the Furudes.

Murder Mystery details:

Since 1979, someone has died each year during the Cotton Drifting Festival.

The first death was the director of the Dam Project. He was murdered and dismembered by several people. The person who took the right arm is still at large. However, the Director might still be alive.

The second death was Satoko’s parents. They fell off a cliff. The wife’s body was never found.

The third death was Rika’s parents. Her father died of an illness and her mother drowned herself in the swamp. Her body was never found.

The fourth death was Satoko’s aunt. She was beaten to death. Satoko’s brother Satoshi also went missing around that time. While a drug addict had been convicted for the murder, it may be possible that Satoshi was the actual killer.

The fifth death was Jirou Tomitake. He clawed out his throat after apparently being attacked by several people. Tomitake’s death is suspected of being drug induced.

Miyo Takano was also murdered. She was strangled and then burned.

Every death has a pattern of one discovered death and one missing person. People in the village refer to the disappearances as the person being “demoned away”.

The villagers refer to the series of deaths as Oyashiro-sama’s curse due to the connections to the dam project. However, each new victim is less and less connected to the project. Tomitake had no connection at all, and Ooishi suspects the murderers are just targeting outsiders at this point.

Most if not all the murders were instigated by the Sonozakis to protect the village from outside threats.

Oyashiro-sama's Curse and other mysteries

Rika Furude was found disemboweled outside Furude Shrine. The reason and perpetrator are unknown.

Poisonous gas erupted from Onigafuchi swamp enveloping the village and killing its residents. While it could be called a natural disaster, there are some inconsistencies that could call that into doubt.

back