Thoughts Higurashi Gou and Sotsu
Higurashi Sotsu has now concluded and that marks the end of the Higurashi Gou and Sotsu tale. Sotsu stumble its way through but wraps up Gou’s story pleasantly.
I will mark any spoilers like this
Click to show spoilers
Rika is incompetent.
Well let us be honest these sets of Higurashi arcs are not the optimal place for a new person to jump into the franchise. Best place to start would be either to read the Higurashi visual novel or manga of the original Higurashi arcs. The 2006 anime by Studio Deen is passable for introducing Higurashi. Newcomers can still enjoy Gou and Sotsu as the main topic and conflict is mostly standalone from the original story. The major issue would be a lot of the characters and world are left underdeveloped as it was previously explored in the original story. There are also spoilers for the ending of the original story.
Before Gou first aired, I was reading the Higurashi visual novel for the first time as the first arc was free on steam due to the pandemic. It was pleasant to revisit the series since it had been a long time Higurashi Kai and Rei aired. Higurashi Gou aired and quickly became apparent it was not a remake by episode 2. I finished the original visual novel when Gou’s first arc finished.
Now armed with refresh knowledge of the original story, I recognize Gou presented lots of interesting changes. This increase my engagement with solving Higurashi’s new mystery. I had an easier time seeing the differences and I know the rules for the curse. I would imagine a new viewer would be bogged down with comprehending the basic rules.
Gou was a lot of fun especially up until the final confirmation for the main culprit. The rest of Gou setups the motive and cause of the events. A new character shows up and starts saying things that may implicate the larger meta world. Leading me to catch up to the latest When They Cry entry.
I read Umineko as witch hunt was releasing the translations for the comiket versions so needed a refresher for that series as well. During the break for Sotsu, I went and reread Umineko and finally started Ciconia. In end, the references were mostly fanservice and did not have too much impact on the story.
Personally at the end of Gou, I felt like there was not a lot left as the last two Gou arcs essentially were enough as answer arcs. The When They Cry series has always divided up arcs into either the question or answer/core arcs. The question arcs is simply the mystery. The answer arcs presents a new story that provides larger hints or unveils events that recontextualize earlier arcs. Meakashi is the only original arc that told nearly the same story but with a different perspective. Even then Meakashi provided a decent chunk of backstory and world building.
Click to show spoilers for main culprit.
Half of Sotsu fun is the juxtaposition between redeeming Teppei and Satoko madness.
Now Sotsu issues stems from having to retrace very similar events. There are some tweaks and new scenes that keep things mildly interesting but there was no build up to anything new for a large portion of Sotsu. The only driving force was the big confrontation setup in Gou. I had a similar issue with later parts of Meakashi as it is rewatching events without any new information. It was more painful in Sotsu because the the episode was released weekly. I have almost 100% convince myself Sotsu elongated setup solely to get episode 34 to fit in somehow.
Click to show spoilers. Themes
A theme from the original story is the lack in bonds and communication would lead to sinful tragedy. Mental illnesses is also a major motif. Gou and Sotsu is one way to follow up on these ideas. It is the excessive clinging to bonds that results in this round of tragedy.
The root of the problem was shown during Satokowashi where Rika's dream and Satoko's dream are in conflict. A scenario that can occur during graduation where friends have to choose to split up for other life events. We are shown why Satoko does not like her lifestyle when following Rika to a strict school. Satoko faces deteriorating mental health with signs of abandonment and was not able to healthy cope with the new environment.
Satoko descent into madness shows once again the extremes people can reach in a stressful situation. Many times minor issue can escalate and everyone in part could have address the issue if they could have been more empathic. Rika could have push the issue with Satoko at St. Lucia earlier especially after the prank incident. That communication never took place and it lead to another loop of tragedy.
Sotsu Episode 14 was a nice visual treat but it was mainly a flashy way of saying Rika and Satoko needed to confront each other. In the end both, parties have dreams in direct conflict. They express why the other is not able to fulfill each other's dream and the solution is to go their separate ways to purse the next best option. Moving on to their own lives does not mean forsaking the other for all eternity. There will always be chances in the future to reconnect.
Lesson is that both parties need to communicate and agree that their dreams may not workout but they still can hold onto their bonds of friendship. Sotsu ends with a new version of You to fit into the new themes.
It can just be Ryukishi saw people still have clinging attachments to Higurashi and is telling us to graduate and move on to something new.
Higurashi Gou and Sotsu is more of a fun side story that cleans up some character arcs from the original story. This entry does slightly add flavor to the extended metaverse but the metaverse is usually just fanservice for the loyal followings. Well hopefully we can look forward to a new Umineko project or Cicona Phase II.