Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai 2, Start of Yakusamashi-hen Arc

I’ve been down with a flu for the past few days and spent my Friday dismounting shift time sleeping most of the way. Been rather tired and lethargic so far since I’m definitely not going out to do my usual runs due to flu. My trigger finger has also suffered some sort of pain in the middle, so I’ve gotten myself excused from the SAR-21 assault rifle range I’m supposed to go for tommorrow.

But enough about my real-life. Ayu Anime has just released episode 2 of their version of Kai and so far, I have to say it is the best. I thought Shinsen-Subs’ typesetting was excellent, but the quality of the raw Ayu used and the skill of encoding is far superior. For this blogpost, I’m using screenshots from Ayu’s version.

For more on how potent Ayu’s fansubbing skill is, click me.

After rewatching the OP from Ayu’s version, I have to say I’ve really fallen in love with it. The quality really bowls me over. I’ll try to save up for the first press edition when it comes out, but due to my other purchases this month (Manabi Straight! figurines, LE Suzumiya Haruhi DVDs 2 & 3), I might have to settle with the regular edition.

Episode 2 of Season 2 marks the start of the extra anime exclusive-arc. For those confused from my previous post, the first episode of the second season does not belong to any arc in HnNKnK. The purpose of this arc is to fill up all the missing parts in season 1. Basically Studio Deen’s attempt and patching up their errors in season 1. And there are ALOT of them.

Episode 2 lightens up the mode alot and is mainly a light-humoured episode. However, similar to the first episode of the first season, it is still littered with clues. For example…

This is a set-up for another big clue later in the episode that I will mention later.

Honestly, what the heck is she drinking? I mean I don’t think Ribena existed in Japan in 1983, especially not in a rural village. Could it be a serum or potion that has some purpose, like preventing her from being killed by poisonous gases? Who knows?

In fact, the first part of the episode focuses a lot on the drink. Really suspicious if you ask me.

Well, apologies for those who can’t take the uncensored shot but.. Satoko injects herself with some stuff everyday? Apparently she is some specimen for nutritional research. That might explain why Keichii found her so tired back in Tatarigoroshi-hen.

I found the humour scenes to follow to be drawn really well, especially the out of proportion Satokos.. LOL. They just all contradict one another..

O RLY? Or maybe the Sonozakis are collaborating with the Furudes to experiment on poor ol’ Satoko. Wait till I tell Irie-sensei… or maybe not.

Well.. the rest of the episode is nothing much and in my opinion repetitions of the previous season. However, this is an important flashback to be considered:

That pretty much sums up the important expects of Yakusamashi-hen 1. I’ve highlighted the points, but have no evidence or foundation for a proper theory… yet.

I believe the reason why I don’t have a proper theory is because far too little was revealed in season 1. And I try to keep my theories anime exclusive with as little extra info to help as possible. Perhaps Yakusamashi-hen is constructed for people like me, to solve the mystery before Minagoroshi-hen airs without delving too deeply into the visual novels. Becuase the little clues revealed in this episode have already started to stir up some questions in my mind…

Doujin Work – ED, Yumemiru Otome sang by Mizuhashi Mai

I’m not supposed to be blogging Doujin Work per se, but today I just acquired the HD version of the ED from DiVX’s Stage 6 video upload and download service and… have been watching it quite alot of times.

Doujin Work’s ED is seemingly nothing fantastic. In fact, it is probably the most spectacularly unspectacular anime ED of all time. Just a few girls hopping and twitching around. However, I found it mesmerising, entrancing, and most importantly, enjoyable.

I’m the type who appreciates a good, high quality anime OP or ED. Kyoto Animation has never failed to make my eyeballs pop out, bleed badly and explode in the past with their killer animation budget. I would go so far as to say I was blown away by every one of their OPs and EDs from Fumoffu to Lucky Star, except AIR’s ED. Never got into that one.

Its the simplicity of the animation and the song that makes Doujin Work’s ED so good. The song is very jumpy and catchy, really good stuff (I’m getting it as soon as it is available online). But its the context of the animation which makes Doujin Work so distinctively Seinen.

I mean, all young males have probably enjoyed looking at girls in gym shorts (unless you are, err… never mind). And looking at girls from the back and wondering what the front is all about is what makes the experience mesmerising.

I’m not saying you need to have feelings for any of the characters in Doujin Work, but the fact is that we (males at least 19) have all experienced this sensation before. Its a combination of nostalgia of my school days (I’m a soldier now), and the fact that most girls in gym shorts wouldn’t actually do anything the Doujin Work girls are doing in this ED that makes it interesting. And irresistible, I might add.

Ok I knew that was random, but a brief intro to my second favourite character from Azumanga Daioh, Kimura-sensei. Don’t worry, I love you as well.

Lucky Star 14 : Yutaka MOE-ness!!!

I thought I’d skip forward to episode 14 simply because with the introduction of one cute moe thing it OWNS MY ASS SO BAAADD!!! I re-watched it 3 times already…

Ok I admit, I’m somewhat a lolicon. And Yutaka was designed SPECIFICALLY to appeal to all loliconistic tendencies. Its so obvious. I mean JUST LOOK AT HER! She is THE epitome of MOE. Her eyes, and her personality are simply PERFECT!!

I refer to this article that Impz has written on loliconism. Yoshimizu Kagami, the mangaka of Lucky Star, must have put ALOT of thought into the creation of Kona-chan’s younger cousin, with the weak body and personality. And from later on in the episode you’ll discover that she gets teased alot so she doesn’t have the time to like anyone. Lolz. If you’re male, its undeniable that the thought of protecting her has at least slipped into your mind AT LEAST subconsciously. DON’T deny it!!!

….riiiiigghhhttt… The only trouble that you can ever generate is giving me a moe-overload-heart-attack if you do anything too cute. Like this for example…

GASP!!!

Reminds me of a manga panel from Kodomo no Jikan, for those who have read it: “Sensei, mind if I lick your brush?”

BASTARD!!! That’s why manga and anime are fiction. Like judging by my current situation in life, my chances of having a cute younger cousin like Yutaka staying at my place is very, very close to zero. I lose.

HAHAHAHA… I actually replayed this scene 5 times. Kona-chan’s father’s voice in this situation is PERFECT. “Hmm… Naru hodo….”

I don’t know about you guys, but I think Kona-chan is in deep shit if she wants Yutaka to continue thinking she’s the best older cousin in the world and admire her to death.

Well.. looks like Lucky Star is taking an interesting twist here with the addition of 2 new characters (although I only blogged extensively about one of them). It will be interesting to see whether Kona-chan changes her Otaku lifestyle abit and meets her weak and fragile cousin’s expectations, or crushes them brutally…

Either way… good luck Kona-chan! You’ll need it!!!!

(Oh yeah, for back episodes of Lucky Star, I’ll be doing them randomly from now on, but should eventually cover all of them.)

Yotsuba&!

I am a big fan of two of Azuma Kiyohiko’s latest works, Azumanga Daioh and Yotsuba&! Both of are Seinen Slice-of-Life manga, which are his speciality. In fact, I own all of his manga published in English:

It was arguably his genius 4Koma manga Azumanga Daioh that made him famous. The anime adaption of the manga only helped blow up his popularity world wide ten-fold.

You can sample some of his strips from Azumanga Daioh here.

Yotsuba&! is his next manga after Azumanga Daioh finished serialisation in the Seinen manga magazine Degenki Daioh. Both are serialised in the same magazine and carry roughly the same type of humour, although Azumanga Daioh arguably had much more mayhem compared to Yotsuba&!, which concentrates much more heavily on the slice-of-life aspect.

Above: Chiyo-chan.
Below: Yotsuba& uprooted sunflowers (WTF?)

If you have read the strips I have provided, you will notice that Yotsuba bears very close resemblance to Chiyo-chan from Azumanga Daioh. However, Yotsuba is the polar opposite of Chiyo-chan personality wise. Firstly, Chiyo-chan is from a rich family while Yotsuba is an orphan. Chiyo-chan is very smart while Yotsuba is… very dumb. Chiyo-chan often gets bullied while nobody dares to touch Yotsuba because she is an orphan.

The biggest difference between Yotsuba&! and Azumanga Daioh is that Yotsuba&! is not primarily a 4Koma manga. The larger panels allow Azuma Kiyohiko a much greater stylistic and artistic expression, but arguably at the cost of the tight yet incredibly funny claustrophobic humour packed into the 4-paneled goodness of Azumanga Daioh.

However, today I broke open my 4th volume of Yotsuba&! to have a look and I got a pleasant surprise.

Usually, I read about 5 or 6 series of manga and light novels simultaneously. I keep them all in this handy military khaki bag to bring around camp easily. Whenever I get bored of one manga or light novel I will switch to another quickly. I currently have Shinigami no Ballad, Yotsuba&!, Nodame Cantabile and Genshiken manga in my bag flanked by 2 light novels which are Boogiepop and Shakugan no Shana.

Anyway, about 2/3 through the manga, I found 4Komas in it! Yotsuba&! 4Komas!!!

I was pleasantly surprised. I have to comment that even if Azuma Kiyohiko kept Yotsuba&! as a 4Koma, it would sell equally well. Although it lacked the amount of mayhem that Azumanga Daioh had, they were still drawn well and are very enjoyable.

I’ll just scan one as a preview, but I would prefer if everyone would just go out and support the king of Seinen Slice-of-life, Azuma Kiyohiko, and get his books.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai 1

Recap for general info on Higurashi (also for those who are new to this anime):

1. There are 4 question arcs and 4 answer arcs in the game. For the anime, the first season has covered the first 4 question arcs and first 2 question arcs. The second season (Kai) will cover the last 2 answer arcs and contain an anime-original arc.
2. Each question arc keeps the same characters, but due to different events occuring have different endings. They all more or less have the same startings, except for qns arc 4 which serves a different function. Thus they are seperate stories and are not directly linked.
3. The mysteries raised in the question arcs can be solved without watching the answer arcs if u are observant enough. This is through the indirect link between the question arcs.
4. Watching the answer arcs in the anime does NOT solve all the mysteries at all. Its up to u to decide what is right and what is wrong. That’s what makes Higurashi exhilerating to watch.
5. There are two main schools of thought for any mystery solving : The rational side and the supernatural side. Solutions for both schools are argued out in the same manner despite them being opposites.

For Season 1 -

Meakashi-hen (episodes 16-21) is the answer to Watanagashi-hen (episodes 5-8). Tsumihoroboshi-hen (episodes 22-26) is the answer to Onikakushi-hen (episodes 1-4). There is no answer to Tatarigoroshi-hen (episodes 9-13) or Himatsubushi-hen (episodes 14 and 15) in the anime simply because the creator of the game had not released these arcs when the anime was being developed.

This is my comprehensive theory for Season 1.

OP Commentary -

I felt that the OP animation was directed very well, on par with the first season or better. The OP focuses heavily on Rika-chama, indicating that the second season is going to revolve around her. The other characters are featured in flashes and very briefly.

So… I’m going to provide additional theories I wrote up about Rika:

SUPERNATURAL explaination for her behvaiour so far is that-

She is a reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama. This is very obvious from Himatsubushi-hen, and thus explains how she can forsee the future. This is supported by the fact that she is the last surviving member of the Furude household, and she is also the shrine maiden during the Watangashi festival. She killed herself in Watanagashi/Meakashi-hen because she could not handle the pressure of switching between being Oyashiro-sama and a small little girl. She is aware of things that cannot be explained, for example Keichii entering the festival storehouse. This is further strengthened by the fact that whenever Rika dies, Hinamizawa falls. So if the guardian is absent, the demons of the Sonozaki family will destroy Hinamizawa due to their instability. This is apparent in BOTH Watanagashi-hen and Tatarigorosihi-hen. After Rika died, the police stormed the Sonozaki household in Watangashi-hen. After Rika died, the gas fumes from the Onigafuchi swamp killed everyone except Keichii (we can say that Rika sacrificed herself to protect Keichii as a last ditch effort against the Sonozaki demons) in Tatarigoroshi-hen.

However, the RATIONAL explaination is-

Rika is an extremely cunning and intelligent little girl who has EXCELLENT acting skills. She uses her small size and cute outer appearance to fool people into thinking the way she wants them to. She does not actually predict the future, but obtains her information by eves-dropping during Sonozaki family meetings which is also revealed in Himatsubushi-hen. She acts blur during these meetings so that the Sonozakis think she is unaware of anything. She deciphers what they say and is thus greatly disturbed due to her age. This thus makes her behave the way she does in Hinamatsubushi-hen (who is not afraid of dieing?). She kills herself in Watangashi/Meakashi-hen because she was aware of what the drug was going to do for her (rip out her own throat etc.), but lied to Shion that she does not want to be totured. Further evidence to support this includes how she used her cuteness to “seduce” a guy in order to come closer to winning a card game. She was clearly aware of this, back in Watanagashi-hen. Also if she is really a god, why does she have to kill Shion manually?

Brief Episode Summary:

30 years have passed after the Great Hinamizawa disaster. Ooishi-san, the detective working on the mysteries of Hinamizawa 30 years ago together with a Self-Defense Force soldier and Akasaka Mamoru are back in Hinamizawa to search for answers to the disaster. The Self-Defense Force soldier was tasked in quarantining Hinamizawa when the disaster occured, while Akasaka-san had a brief meeting with Furude Rika 35 years ago.

Above: The soldier is on Akasaka-san’s left and was his junior (Kouhai) from collage.
Below: Ooishi-san has aged considerably.

Until now, I haven’t the slightest as to why Tatarigoroshi-hen ended this way. Considering that I made quite alot of progress for the first two question arcs, I’m slightly disappointed with myself…

Until I saw this:

NOW I’m disappointed with Higurashi for bringing UFOs into the picture. I really don’t like this supernatural aspect of Higurashi. Why? I’ll let Ooishi-san do the talking:

However, I’ll just know that we’re not going to get a lame sci-fi conclusion as demonstrated by my theories above. I just want something out of this world, not just a normal mystery conclusion. I have that much hope and faith in Higurashi, so Studio Deen better not disappoint!

Juz a shot of grown up Rena, but I’ll leave the psycho part out I guess.

End of episode impressions:

With Rena joining up and Akasaka’s in-depth research, I think this team has a fighting chance. That’s if Ooishi can convince Rena to open up and let try her best to remember everything that has happened.

The SDF soldier seems like a useless dumbass, but after thinking abit I believe he may try to thwart their plans to find out the real truth. I mean he is the only one supporting the dumbass UFO theory, so he may want to cover things up. This could lead to some violence later on in the arc.