#in other news tho i read the whole of higurashi in japanese now which i am v proud of :D

[gayleviticus]

Higurashi - Matsuribayashi Thoughts

At long last i have finally finished matsuribayashi and i'm not entirely sure how i feel. i think it's telling that it took me the second longest out of any higurashi chapter to actually finish (about a month and a half), after onikakushi (5 months), which I almost but not quite outright disliked.

i would say it's decent, but i think it's more interesting to talk about the stuff that didn't work for me than the stuff I did, so the following is going to read as probably more negative than I actually feel (so beware if you are a huge higurashi fan who hates criticism, I don't want to cause you pain)

to be honest a lot of matsuribayashi was a Slog. I have a big aversion to stories that are just way too long for their own good, but the thing is up until now I genuinely felt that Higurashi managed to keep things fresh and interesting enough this massive sprawling length never became a detriment. That's not to say Ryukishi isnt way too verbose and repetitive for his own good, but on the whole every instalment felt like a cool and interesting twist on the Higurashi formula with its own distinct atmosphere, without needing to pull crazy genre shifts or resort to gimmicks. Even the unnerving creeping sense of doom of Watanagashi is very different to the tragic descent into madness of Meakashi, for instance.

Matsuribayashi… to be honest, I did not feel accomplished this. For sure, it's a new type of story for Higurashi, more of an actiony conspiracy theory with a dash of politics. But while perhaps new for Higurashi it feels like a fairly generic story in general. Stuff like 'the games club manage to successfully wage guerilla warfare against hardened mercenaries' is easy to criticise on the basis of unrealism - I don't personally think unrealism or being shonen-esque an inherently bad thing, but it feels weird and off for the kind of story Higurashi has been up til now, and especially by comparison seems like a cheap resolution.

Now, I get that this is a deliberate bait and switch in a sense. Ryukishi offers you a psychological horror where you can trust nobody full of the threat of monsters at every turn, and then gradually takes it apart to promote trusting your friends, working together with your community, extending grace even to the monsters. I get the reasons why it's being done, I get there's a thematic point to Scooby Doo-ing it all. But the sticking point for me is that I feel like the story Higurashi turns into is a lot less interesting than the one it began as.

I'm certainly not against these kinds of bait and switches (ask me why Hell Bent from Doctor Who is one of my favourite pieces of fiction ever). But the crucial thing for me is that the story it ends up as should be just as, if not more interesting than what was promised, or at least more satisfying (even if the initial story has more of an allure of deep lore and shocking reveals).

But I don't know, I… just don't feel like creepy rural horror mystery with ambiguous magic descending into action thriller with a single explicit magic element is an interesting turn of events. And ironically even though Ryukishi justifies the switch by saying that Higurashi's worldview is a nonviolent one, it still turns into the kind of story where the primary means of solving problems IS through action (if not actually killing): breaking into the bad guys' base with guns.

Now, with all that said, it's not a bad ending. None of the narrative decisions it makes are bad. It's no Rise of Skywalker, making such actively ridiculous choices the promise of the previous entries is ruined. It has good moments, and Takano is such a fascinatingly sketched character. But I can't help but feel like it's largely an exercise in ticking plot boxes.

And maybe that's just an inevitable result of a finale to a mystery where the mystery has already been revealed, but part of me feels like the entire government conspiracy angle just pushes the stakes too high where the story has no choice but to shift into an action thriller to solve it. Teenagers in a horror story might be able to fight a monster, but how can they fight hardened mercenaries? There's no choice but to shift genres.

But at the end of the day the above is largely a personal gripe. Obviously I feel strongly about this and it diminished my enjoyment, but I get where Ryukishi is coming from enough I hesitate to say This Is A Flaw, and I don't want my criticms to basically just be 'you should have written a fundamentally different story'.

One thing I did think was actively bad tho and tbh has probably seriously hurt my opinion of Matusribayashi is Fragment Connecting. It felt like 90% painstakingly spoonfeeding you plot points you should already know or have been able to piece together. We often hear 'show don't tell' but I genuinely think Fragment Connecting was an example of this gone way too far; some things can be left to casual exposition.

Ironically it felt like the anti-Onikakushi; it's even more useless filler but at least this time it's purportedly plot relevant! Admittedly I'd imagine this would have been a helpful refresher if you were actually reading the Higurashi installments as they came out.

The rest of Matsuribayashi is better, although it still feels like it doesn't really pick up til Irie escapes the clinic, and even then the action scenes are kind've annoying (I did like infiltrating the clinic though). But it's fine and servicable.

Aside from that, Hanyuu still feels like a bit of a weak link characterisation wise, especially since Matsuribayashi brings a lot in to weigh on her. She's not bad or unlikeable, but I just… don't feel the same attachment to her I do the others. I think Higurashi's strength on the whole is generally the characters, and I think Matsuribayashi did a great job with fleshing ouit Takano last minute tremendously, but Hanyuu is just… I don't know.

On the whole I would say I enjoyed Higurashi, and I wouldn't say my tepid feelings for Matsuribayashi are enough to drag the rest of it down, but I also don't think I especially love it (tho I still need to read Saikoroshi). Keeping me engrossed enough to sit through one million words and eight arcs is an impressive feat in itself, and I'll always have a soft spot for the characters, but I don't know that this will be something that stays with me. But my feelings about Matsuribayashi are in flux even now so I guess we will see.

[ryuuguu-rena]

→ R ・U ・L・ E ・S

Rules { last UPDATE - 04/10/2017 }

x- I will not rp with everyone, I’m currently indie but very selective.

I have a personal HigurashixUmineko RP group. But it's not here on Tumblr. However, those guys are really important to me. Meaning I usually spend most of my time with them on discord. But some of my friends from the group are here on tumblr now too

please note that my blog here is highly selective. I will only interact and rp with people I know well. With other words I can be picky when it comes to whom I follow. If we aren't mutuals it doesn't mean you can't send me asks or memes but please know that it's very unlikely that I will start a rp with you if we aren't mutuals. I will however, always try to answer everything as much as I can.

posts&threads

I can write starters but not particularly fond of doing so since I’m not skilled enough to come up with an interesting plot. Sometimes I'll post starters however...

Each day, there is a chance I reblog at maximal 5 memes. Exceptions can happen but it will never go beyond 7 memes per day. I don’t want to spam your dash.

If you want to reply to an ask or meme , then please post a new thread tagging me in it. I don’t like reblogging asks.

When I reblog memes, feel free to send me some it can be either ic, on anon or off. I will definitely try my best to reply to each ask

my writing style differs via mode. Sometimes I write a lot, sometimes not. My preferences are para-semi and novella. There is absolutely no need for you to do the same in return.

I’m not a professional writer so please expect me to have writing flaws. English is not my native language after all. But I try my best.

roleplay

Planning to kill my character? Notify me first and we’ll discuss it. mentally or physically tormenting my character is okay, no permission required.

When we start a roleplay, I try always strictly to stay in character, Rena will not just appear in your timeline/world without a proper plot.

I approve of M!A’s but I have a right to refuse them when I don’t like them, or think of them as too ooc;

If you are part of a MMOFRPG group and would like to rp with me, don’t be afraid to approach me. I used to rp at citta for an entire year and I don’t mind roleplaying with you just because you’re part of a group.

I do have mains, And I don’t intent to ever replace them. Chances are very high I will reply to my mains first before to anyone else. but that does not mean I ignore you, I will get to your reply too. If you however think I missed it, hit me up pls

I try my best to make each roleplay enjoyable for my roleplay partner, I’m even trying to meet your way of writing, to please you and I surely hope it will be the same for us. So feel free to roleplay with me and have fun.]

I can be very slow with replies, please be patient.

Threads come and go. Don’t take it badly when I drop our thread, we can always start a new one. If I drop a thread it can have many different reasons but certainly not because I didn’t enjoy to rp with you. The same goes vice versa.

smut

Mun is over 18 years old 

Muse in canon verse isn't but that doesn't mean I won't rp any smut here. However, Rena will never be underage during these type of events.

Everything I consider 18+  will be tagged accordingly and put under a read more.

Personally, when it comes to smut, I prefer noncon themes, Unless you rp Keiichi. because Rena loves Keiichi and out of her own will she wouldn’t even consider to sleep with anyone else. However, she often deals with people that clearly cross the line. Making her more insane.

why do I approve of triggering content such as noncon?

That’s because Rena was almost raped in the past in Ibaraki. By the only male friends she made, 3 classmates- one of them ( Kouhai ) was related to her best friend Ozaki Nagisa. During the rape attempt , she injured  the boys with a baseball bat, and smashed all the windows of the school. After that happening and after Nagisa’s death ( who was actually murdered ) she was left with a major trauma. Increasing her to believe more strongly into Oyashiro-sama’s curse. This is not made up or a headcanon, but it’s actually canon from Higurashi Sui - Tokihogushi-hen. You can look it up , if you wish to do so. The reason I mention this, is because not everyone knows about Tokihogushi-hen arc and that it is canon. I approve of that kind of rp during smut because I absolutely love angst-themed rps.

mun&IMPORTANT details!

Please not that what I write has nothing to with the real me. Though, I won’t lie that my muse and me are very similar, I’m in no way supporting everything that my muse does. Just because I rp a murderer doesn’t makes me a murderer in real,  just because I approve of noncon, doesn’t means I like rapists. It’s honestly just a preference of writing angst and seems to be more in character for me.

Furthermore, I know that RP is just for fun indeed, However. Rena is REALLY important to me. I rp  Rena since a long long time and never got bored of it and never will.  Rena is not just a muse/character for me, it's basically part of my life and very strong influence on me. Not to mention we share lots of things in common. Rena helps me to keep my cool. This character means all to me. It's literally a part of my heart, a healing effect and with that very important to my soul. So much that I changed my real name to Rena long ago.

This is also why , I'm trying absolutely always my best to be absolutely ic; and that's not difficult to do for me because I know all the higurashi games and even study japanese. You may will realize this whenever I talk/rp with someone of my rp partners in kanji. 

Due to learning japanese, I keep using lots of japanese verses during rp's. However, I never use anything that may seems too hard to be understood. So please do not let this be of a disturbance to you , If you ever want to know what I'm saying however, please just mention it in your tags. 

Now as for myself, there isn't much to say. I told you already my real name is Rena and I'm a hardcore 07thExpansion fan. I'm actually mysterious and not very open hearted. Some may even see me as arrogant for being an INTJ. but that's not true at all, I'm just a picky person in general. I have a sideblog that I use mainly to reblog and post all kind of 07thExpansion stuff. rena-nata-onna

Discord/SKYPE/TWITTER: is eventually available upon request

this blog will have trigger warning contents.

RP’s can get quite dark, angsty, psychotic and bloody. Trigger warning content such as gore, homicide, torture, self-harm, can or will happen, but will be tagged accordingly.

IMPORTANT: Again, I will never approve of a smut rp with my muse being under 18.

coding

Edits, Icons and Layout are made by myself unless otherwise stated. Most of my icons are edited and cleaned by me, please don’t use them.

I'm not the best editor however and I really suck making themes so chances are low that I will update my theme often. However if you're skilled and talented in editing and making themes, then you're absolutely free to help me out, Like, totally  ~

I sometimes use scripting and sometimes not, it’s always up to my laziness  and it often depends on me being mobile or using my laptop

about rena

Rena has been through a lot of shit. She is bad-ass insane at times. However, Rena isn’t just a killer-loli, She’s much more than that. Despite her usual cheerful and childish behavior, she’s actually one of the most matured characters in Higurashi with a really deep personality. And I will roleplay here accurate to the games not the anime.

You may consider Rena as a Yangire which isn’t wrong, but please keep in mind that her deceiving treats come from her delusions most of the time.

Rena has the highest number of murders of the club members because in Yoigoshi-hen (the alternate version of Tsumihoroboshi-hen) she successfully blew up the whole school which killed 15 children (including herself, Mion, Satoko, Rika and Keiichi), likewise, she murdered Houjou Teppei and Mamiya Rina. (multiple murders of one person do not count towards the total).

Rena is not mentally labile, tho she may seems evil at times, she is neither good or bad. One could most likely say she’s very ‘sick’ at times. Very delusional.  If I had to categorize her, I’d say she’s “chaotic good”.

For further information about her mental disorders, please follow this LINK