Higurashi Ch. 1 Onikakushi Full Series Spoilers General

[Aspirety]

Spoilers discussion topic for Chapter 1: Onikakushi of Higurashi When They Cry. Chapter 1 refers to volumes 1 and 2 of the manga, and episodes 1-4 of the first anime series.

This topic is intended for people who have finished the entirety of Higurashi and wish to discuss this chapter in light of future events. For those who have yet to finish Higurashi in its entirety, please tread carefully, because there will be untagged spoilers! Please tag references to outside works with the [spoiler] tag, with adequate context provided in parenthesis.

For those who have yet to finish the series and wish to discuss the story up to this point, please visit our Spoiler-Free discussion topic.

While this topic will serve as a general hub for discussion of the chapter, if a conversation ends up flowing in a certain direction, don’t be afraid to continue it in your own topic! Keep the “reply as linked topic” button beside each post in mind.

[Aspirety]

I have a question that may be answered later but it’s still bothering me.

How exactly was Rika pulled from this fragment if she didn’t die?

[Doldod]

I’m pretty sure she got killed by Takano in a gruesome way and Great Hinamizawa Disaster occurred, but we just didn’t see it, as it happens after Keiichi dies and that incident is investigated.

[rika]

Seconding @Doldod. Rika dies in every world up to Matsuribayashi.

[Restkastel]

Agreeing as well, probably just happens off screen.

[Sapphire]

Agreed, too, she probably dies after that. Though it is strange how such an important aspect of the series and the mystery itself wasn’t shown on the first chapter… That’s why I feel that from Watanagashi onwards the story starts to get expanded more and it feels slightly different compared to Onikakushi.

[Doldod]

It’s not that hard to guess why it wasn’t shown. The whole point of the mystery in Higurashi is that you are supposed to connect the dots and revise the previous chapters as you go along. Also, I like how the endings get comparatively bigger and darker with each chapter. (True for the first three chapters at least, but arguably it applies to some of the later ones as well.)

[rika]

I think it was a deliberate choice. I mainly see Higurashi as being split into two “mysteries” or problems: 1) the kids suffering Hinamizawa Syndrome and becoming violent and 2) Rika’s death and Takano’s conspiracy etc. They’re two separate threads, and the first problem has to be overcome before the second one can be. Moreover, the second problem becomes intertwined with and hidden within the first, which I think is quite clever, especially that we straight-up don’t see Rika’s death in this chapter. Forces readers to think more carefully about what might be happening rather than just expecting all the clues to be presented to them.

[Vayalite]

Does anyone here know what the opening was speaking about?

From the start, it seemed like someone talking about a lost love (I can’t remember exactly because I haven’t read this in a long time) or abandonment before what I assume to be committing suicide, I’m not really sure.

At first, I assumed this was Keiichi’s thoughts before clawing his own throat out, but the sounds are those of the bat being hit against an object, so it could also be the moments before he (I assume) murders Rena and Mion. Are either of these assumptions correct?

[Karifean]

At first, I assumed this was Keiichi’s thoughts before clawing his own throat out, but the sounds are those of the bat being hit against an object, so it could also be the moments before he (I assume) murders Rena and Mion. Are either of these assumptions correct?

Yeah the anime makes it pretty explicit that it’s the scene where he bashes Rena and Mion’s heads in.

[rika]

If this is what you’re asking, as I understood it, Keiichi was acknowledging for the first and last time he might’ve been in love with Rena, something he’d been trying to ignore up to that point as it made everything that had happened and was happening that much more painful. In this scene he battles with himself over admitting it, and in the end he decides to, and to let those feelings go with every swing of the bat and leave them there. As Karifean said, it’s the scene where he’s killing her and Mion.