Higurashi Ch. 1 Onikakushi Spoiler-Free General

[WitchOfGames]

Onikakushi works really well as the introduction to Hinamizawa, in my opinion. Having read through the manga, watched the anime, and read the sound novel, I can safely say that the slice of life parts and the game club scenes (in this story) are meant to be a deconstruction of the harem genre, and characters dressing up is something Japan likes that doesn’t really hold the same kind of ideas in the West, since it’s also a look into 1980’s Japan. It’s also Ryukishi being over the top as usual. And I generally at least like that K1 gets his comeuppance when he gets too greedy.

A lot of the scenes make more sense in the later stories (well, in Kai, actually, so it’ll be a while before those questions ARE answered), and I like that things are slowly revealed so things are as shocking as they are.
I think the manga has the best version of the “嘘だあ!!” Scene, with the scene being given a two-page full-color dedication.

[Aspirety]

I’ve finally finished Onikakushi! It may have aged in parts, but I still found this immensely enjoyable to read. The slice of life half was a bit of a slow grind, but once the murders start, things become immediately super interesting. Watching Keiichi slowly slip into paranoia and eventually insanity was great. Up to a point, all of his reasoning is pretty solid. And it’s beautiful to watch just how hard he tries in his mind to justify his friends actions. He wants so, so much to believe in him, but he convinces himself that showing any weakness toward them would lead to his death. This is a kid who is extremely determined to survive. How ironic, then, that at the most crucial moment, for some unknown reason, he decides to take his own life.

I’ll save the majority of my thoughts for the Podcast, but I’ll start jotting down some interesting observations. These are purely deductions I’ve made based on knowledge from my reading here.

• Tomitake’s life is a complete mystery. Not to say I’m suspecting a victim, but I’m curious. Maybe if we knew more about him, we’d know why someone would want to take his life.
• The woman with him, Miyo Takano is equally interesting. The fact that we didn’t see her body means she’s definitely a potential suspect. It’s also very interesting to note that she was mentioned by name very early on as someone Keiichi met during his tour of Hinamizawa. He just didn’t commit her to memory, I guess.
• Rika is weird. She acts all sweet and innocent, but she has a very… Adult sense of humour. It’s amusing, but it gives me the creeps.
• Satoko is hilarious. While she didn’t do anything suspicious this chapter, she does have a very close connection to the murders, since her parents and brother disappeared as a result. That really strikes me as her being more a victim than a conspirator though. Jumping to the conclusion that “She’s a suspect” just because her name pops up is a pretty irrational jump in logic on Keiichi and Ooishi’s part. I don’t think Ooishi is the best detective, heh.
• Mion is definitely suspicious though. Like she said, “There’s nothing this old man doesn’t know”, and it really shows. More suspicion is cast on her because of her connection to the Sonozaki family and their influence on the town. Everything I’ve read so far seems to suggest so some kind of village conspiracy that everyone turns a blind eye to, as was described by Ooishi. Also, her argument with the Foreman. But dammit, I really like her character. I will admit though. That scene where she’s asking Keiichi to stop bringing the bat around felt very… Sincere. Maybe that’s my weakness, but it didn’t feel like the other times we spoke with her. It genuinely seemed like she was keeping things secret to protect him. Of course, the whole needle in the mochi thing doesn’t add up here. Why were they trying to kill him? Why did she admit to it? Or was it really just an obscure accident? Later scenes suggest otherwise. Aaaahh, it’s useless, it’s all useless!
• What’s the deal with Rena?? Does she really have multiple personalities? Or is this a case of her manipulating Keiichi’s feelings? Who’s the real Rena? I’m as confused as Keiichi at this point. I dunno how, but this Oyashiro-sama seems to be closely connected to her, to the point where there’s a blurring of the line between Rena and Oyashiro-sama, like they’re the same person. We have multiple instances where Keiichi feels a presence glued to his back, watching his every move. Sometimes he finds Rena there. Other times, he finds an apparition he calls “Oyashiro-sama.” Also, did anyone else notice that nothing she says seems to match up with her actions. She keeps saying how she wishes Keiichi didn’t get transferred, and that she wants to help him. Is that really something you should be saying to someone you’re trying to kill? Is she just batshit insane? Or…
• What the fuuuck was up with that scene in the doorway though. Ghosts? It really leads me to believe Keiichi is actually going insane, which if we assume is true, then we need to start questioning EVERYTHING. Is anything real?? Following Keiichi’s mental state, there definitely seems to be periods where he seems more lucid than others. but that could just be my bias. The problem is, it’s really difficult to try to get a foothold on what’s real and what’s not, if we start questioning everything he sees. It would certainly be easier to take it all at face value, and accept oyashiro-sama’s existence. But… Even if we did that, we need to explain Oyashiro’s motive, supernatural existence or not. Just what did they do, and why?

I did like Keiichi’s thought at the end though. Why not both? Maybe there’s a mix between human and supernatural culpability here.

Well, anything is possible. We have a lack of information, just plenty of contradictory evidence to leave us questioning everything. The easiest explaination is to assume Keiichi is delusional, but we can’t comment anything beyond that. That’s not an answer, that’s just leaving the mystery wide open at this point.

Well, I’ll leave you guys with those observations. Do you agree or disagree with my reasoning?

[Pepe]

While she didn’t do anything suspicious this chapter, she does have a very close connection to the murders, since her parents and brother disappeared as a result. That really strikes me as her being more a victim than a conspirator though.

That’s the reason why I tell myself I trust Satoko more than the rest but… I’m pretty sure that opinion will disappear soon enough over the next chapters

Mion is definitely suspicious though.

The only time I really started suspecting Mion of something was when I saw her reaction to Ooishi; she definitely does not like the man, and when half his time is spent trying to indict the villagers of crime, I can see why.

Why were they trying to kill him? Why did she admit to it? Or was it really just an obscure accident? Later scenes suggest otherwise.

I think that’s the whole beauty of it: it can go either way really. Maybe they were trying to get him to swallow a mochi with a needle and puncture his throat? Or maybe they were making a joke and were confident that he’d notice it before swallowing… One thing is for sure, that needle is one of the things that furthered his madness.

What’s the deal with Rena?? Does she really have multiple personalities? Or is this a case of her manipulating Keiichi’s feelings? Who’s the real Rena?

I’m definitely confident that Rena has a case of multiple personalities; or, at least, she has a hidden personality that only shows when dealing with deceit. But what is important here is her intents, I believe. What exactly did Rena want to do? Silence Keiichi from the knowledge he had recently gained? Or maybe just stop him from acting like a maniac? So when you say things like:

Is that really something you should be saying to someone you’re trying to kill?

My counter is that, while she was getting very VERY aggressive, she never actually tried to kill Keiichi. So the biggest compication I feel is that we only see Onikakushi from Keiichi’s point-of-view. And no human being will ever have an unbiased, arbitrary point-of-view of any situation that directly involves them.

As far as Keiichi goes, everyone was out to get him, and the writing was good enough to get us to feel that. But in the back of our minds, was that really what they were trying to do? I feel that there was a point in which Keiichi crossed the line of being a “paranoid guy swinging a bat” to “danger to hinamizawa” yet he himself never realized when he crossed that point. So with my re-read, I want to try and analyze at what point did that actually happen.

[RedEspeon]

Rika is weird. She acts all sweet and innocent, but she has a very… Adult sense of humour. It’s amusing, but it gives me the creeps.

I feel like that’s part of her appeal. Rika, although she one of the youngest, treats people and situations like a calculating adult. I wish she would have had a bigger role in this chapter, but who knows what she’ll bring in the future.[quote=“Aspirety, post:23, topic:40”]
It really leads me to believe Keiichi is actually going insane, which if we assume is true, then we need to start questioning EVERYTHING. Is anything real??
[/quote]

That’s what I find so great about the writing in this chapter. Who knows what the truth is? There is room for all the possibilities presented in the “Tea Party” (to use Umineko’s term) and more when talking about the truth behind Keiichi’s experience. You really feel like the people. and maybe even the deity, of Hinamizawa are either, watching him or out to get him.

Of course, this is coming from Keiichi’s perspective, so we have to take that into account, and consider that maybe his thoughts and how he sees the situation presented are completely different to how the people around him see it.[quote=“Pepe, post:24, topic:40”]
I feel that there was a point in which Keiichi crossed the line of being a “paranoid guy swinging a bat” to “danger to hinamizawa”
[/quote]

I’d probably say that he crossed that point when he swung at the people that were cornering him in the garbage dump. Up until this point Keiichi has usually just used the bat as a sign that he might swing at people if they come near him. Now he has defended himself and shown he was capable in his own mindset to actually use his weapon the way he intended to. This was directly after the scene with Rena following him with the axe, so in his own mind, that was probably the point where he knew that the town was out to get him.

Speaking of the garbage dump scene, I find it odd how Rena explains to Keiichi how she found him. The two men had closed in on him and now he was unconscious unable to defend himself. Then he wakes up in his room and is told that he was all alone and just lying on the ground. It felt like, to me, that the men were after there to hurt Keiichi and had a physical grasp on him, then as soon as he goes unconscious they just leave? Seems fishy.

Kinda makes me think about what @Aspirety said:[quote=“Aspirety, post:23, topic:40”]
Is anything real??
[/quote]

Beginning to question everything indeed.

[Aspirety]

Here’s the full album of my screenshots from Onikakushi. Grabbed a lot! Click the image to view the album.

[Album] Higurashi Ch. 1 Onikakushi Screenshots

[kyuketsukimiyu]

Of course, this is coming from Keiichi’s perspective, so we have to take that into account, and consider that maybe his thoughts and how he sees the situation presented are completely different to how the people around him see it.

This has always been my favorite part of this arc - the unreliable narrator aspect. Keiichi as the POV character who really loves his friends, doesn’t really definitively tell you how much Keiichi real or not really adds to air of mystery of Higurashi going forward.

[Isae]

Speaking of the voice Keiichi hears at the beginning, I like the contrast between his attitude here (“There’s no such thing as an irreparable mistake.”) and his response to Rena’s repeated apology later in the arc (“I won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you!”).

Also, I think it’s interesting that the arc starts with a repeated apology, has Rena’s repeated apology midway through, and ends with Keiichi’s repeated apology.

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…

[Aspirety]

Turns out imgur didn’t get all the screenshots, heh.

[SanjiSanada]

Going through my second playthrough now since the only time I touched Onikakushi was right before Watanagashi came out and I need to refresh my memory. I’ll give all my thoughts after I finish this playthrough but there is one big thing that stands out to me that I want to bring up.

When Keiichi hears about the disappearances and he begins losing sleep, he tries to sleep in class. At that point he overhears Mion and Rena talking about the Watanagashi and Tomitake. Mion sounds like she doesn’t know what’s going on and Rena seems to be quite scared herself. That leads me to question the validity the scenes when Rena and Mion “snap” later on, especially with Rena’s attitude in the scene when Keiichi slams the door on her hand. That one scene is drastically different from the other times when she “snaps” that it makes me wonder if all the incidents truly happened or if Keiichi’s grasp on reality has become so warped that he can only imagine the things he fears the most.

Also, I want to point out that one of the victims of the “curse” was a person who didn’t go to the Watanagashi. Keiichi’s parents didn’t go to the Watanagashi. Coincidence?

[Isae]

Hold on. This screenshot of yours:

In my version this scene is different. You wouldn’t happen to be using a mod that changed the text to match the console version, would you?

[Naomikon]

Of course, the whole needle in the mochi thing doesn’t add up here. Why were they trying to kill him? Why did she admit to it? Or was it really just an obscure accident?

A friend of mine who I’ve introduced to the series brought up the fact that both Keiichi and the police never found the needle. Their assumption was that, since even a thorough police investigation didn’t discover it, it was taken by whoever – or whatever – tampered with what was on the back of the clock. They’re pretty dead-set on that line of thinking, too.

If I recall correctly, one of the folks in the stream brought up the possibility that Keiichi was not a reliable narrator, and that is also a possibility. One person had the idea that most of what happened was just entirely his imagination.

And no human being will ever have an unbiased, arbitrary point-of-view of any situation that directly involves them.

Of course, this is also true. From an outsider’s point of view, much of Keiichi’s hysteria may have looked ridiculous, but, honestly, if I was genuinely convinced that I was under the threat of death in a location I was only just getting to know, from something that I didn’t even know the true nature of, I’d be pretty terrified too. Of course if it was me I’d just hole up in my bedroom, fall asleep for three days, and let them come kill me if they wanted because lord knows I’m not bold enough to pick up a weapon

With so little completely solid information, theories doesn’t have much ground to stand on at this point, unfortunately, but that’s really half the fun of speculation this early on, isn’t it?

[Funyarinpa]

With so little completely solid information, theories doesn’t have much ground to stand on at this point, unfortunately, but that’s really half the fun of speculation this early on, isn’t it?

Yeah!

BTW, what were the lines redacted from the letter at the back of the clock?

[Aspirety]

BTW, what were the lines redacted from the letter at the back of the clock?

“Please reinvestigate the victim from the dismemberment incident. He’s alive.
Tomitake-san’s death was from an unknown drug. This syringe is proof.”

The bit about the syringe and how they nabbed it makes sense. But taking out the bit about the dismemberment incident… Maybe he was on to something.

[Funyarinpa]

Thanks @Aspirety !

Another thing:

If we think Keiichi’s an unreliable narrator who’s delusional… Can it be that there was never a syringe in the first place?

Or… turn that around: Does the existence of the rest of the letter prove the existence of the syringe?

[Pepe]

Or… turn that around: Does the existence of the rest of the letter prove the existence of the syringe?

All it proves is that Keiichi was made aware of the existence of a drug that could have caused Tomitake’s death. The letter itself does not prove the existence of the syringe, but it gives the police a lead that there is a possibility that it hadn’t been suicide.

But a lead is just a lead after all, and if the autopsy still found nothing, then, well, the lead would be rendered useless.

[SanjiSanada]

I am very late but I finally finished reading it again. First things first, I’m still mad at how screwed over Keiichi gets in the end. He tried so hard and finally got leads for Ooishi only for someone to completely destroy everything he worked hard and payed his life for. I believe that people are behind the murders but demons/possession isn’t entirely out of the question. I was going along with the delusional Keiichi idea until Rena’s previous incident in the city is brought to light by Ooishi. Then there is the scene where Keiichi flees from Rena to the dam and is later brought home by her. That was where a big question pops up for me. If Rena had the intention of killing Keiichi like he imagined over and over again, there was nothing stopping her there, so why didn’t she? What was there to gain from postponing it? That is so out of character to the Rena that had been portrayed being cold, maniacal, and prepared to kill only minutes earlier.

There’s also that all the signs of the curse would and had attach itself to Keiichi in some way. His parents didn’t go to the Watanagashi like a previous victim which I stated earlier, he openly denied Oyoshiro, then the connection between Satoshi, Rena, and Keiichi picking up a bat and practicing their swing (Rena practiced on people and windows though). Rena flat out says that Keiichi is mimicing the same actions Satoshi had taken before he was demoned away. She also tells him what the feeling of having Oyoshiro around is like, and is relatable to him.

Even with all that though, I can’t make heads or tales of if Keiichi’s mind had shattered and he had imagined the instances where he felt he was followed/having someone behind him or if he was feeling Oyoshiro closing in on him, bending Keiichi to his will. I also can’t discern if the scenes where Rena and Mion snap are truly happening or not because of his state of mind. Also, Rena showed up EVERY TIME Keiichi was speaking to Ooishi or wanted to speak to Ooishi. If demons aren’t to explain, then Keiichi or Ooishi are under some serious surveillance. Hell, Rena and Mion flat out tell him they know exactly what he’d done when he talked to Ooishi in town. I can’t even think of how to explain that one unless Hinamizawa residents tailed 'em but we never got any signs of that through Keiichi’s narration.

A few last questions I want to raise before I’m done. Who removed the syringe from the clock? Was it the 5 people who were at his house before he ran? How would they know to check behind his clock if Keiichi only told his parents about it? Why would they only rip a few lines out of the paper instead of taking the whole page to remove evidence? What is the beginning scene of the novel portraying directly after you press start? Is that Satoshi being demoned away? What purpose does it serve for the rest of the chapter? What is Rena and Mion’s “true self” like? Are they the friendly, playful type we see in the beginning or are they the cold, threatening, potential murderers we see in the end? What about Rika and Satoko?

This is such a fantastic mystery because so much of the information given can swing either way if you think about it hard enough.

[cjlim2007]

Woo finished my first ever part of an 07 work unless Rewrite Lucia route counts? anyways, for one thing, I think the SoL parts were good. As it is the first chapter, the SoL stuff contrasts later in the game when shit hits the fan and I really liked that. Some stuff I’m wondering about for now is what if a lot of this stuff is explained by Keiichi’s mindset and something similar to the placebo (or nocebo) effect? One of the clearer examples for me is near the end when Rena and Mion are pinning him down and gonna use the syringe. I thought, What if the reason why they didn’t find drugs in Jirou was that the syringe was just water but he was lead to believe that it would fuck him up in that way? Or no, disregarding how mysterious Jirou’s death was, what if Keiichi’s belief that he was drugged and would have the same fate as Jirou caused him to end up killing himself in the same way? Hell, he didn’t even need to get the shot if he just believed it. And at this point, it was pretty clear his mind was in shambles and would probably believe anything that didn’t come out of the mouths of his former friends. But then again, the syringe was gone so maybe there actually was a drug.
Also I feel like there might be some kind of “ignorance is bliss” type of theme here but we’ll see when we get to the next arcs.

[kyuketsukimiyu]

Yay! Finished my re-read.

I liked this a lot more than I remember liking Onikakushi. I think it may be because I haven’t interacted with Higurashi in a long time that I wasn’t thinking of it as the mountain of an intro you have to go through to get to the good stuff. The balance between slice of life and mystery is pretty good for an opening arc, you really get a feel for how tragic it is for Keiichi when things start going to hell.

One thing I like is going back and seeing how well planed this whole thing was from the beginning. In anime and manga you end up with a lot of shows that feel like they are flying by the seat of their pants, but there is a lot of really good foreshadowing in this arc for all of Higurashi as whole.

HIGURASHI SERIES END SPOILERS

There were a few places in particular that stood out as foreshadowing or hints that I was really excited to see.

This basically spells out the whole thing. I know Rika is not the guilty party, but it calls your attention to every key element. It is shuffled in a way that makes it easy to overlook, but with the crime game it calls enough attention to it.

This felt like a call out to one of the series themes as a whole. The idea that even with the odds stacked against and the game seeming unwinnable you still need to struggle a bit more and you really might have your breakthrough.

One of my favorite parts of reading the VN as opposed to experiencing the story any other way is the TIPS sections. I especially like getting to read the newspaper articles about the murders - the ominous one about the housewife that basically instantly ended was a really nice touch. The uniform and one on Rena’s name are also interesting things that get you thinking. I like that it is also an in universe explanation for why everyone wears different uniforms besides “because they are a main character”

So one thing I do have to say, I am not huge on the naturalization of the Mangagamer translation. I was reading the Steam version, and while it was better than I remember reading on iOS previously I thought it was still pretty lacking. The vocabulary in the dialog had a lot words that didn’t fit with the tone of the character or conversation. It really could have used more work with one editor trying to unify it a bit.

I watched the Onikakushi arc to the anime directly after finishing reading through this - bad choice - but it was interesting. The anime is probably more of “ride” where things keep happening and it is exciting but it doesn’t feel like they give you enough information to really figure anything out. The novel is clearly giving you information in a way that says it wants you to be actively thinking about the mystery parts as you read.

[cjlim2007]

@Lishy in the discord chat asked, “Has anyone solved Higurashi just from 4 question arcs?” So I thought “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!” After each arc chapter whatever the hell, I will present my current theory based on the arc chapter at hand and the preceding chapters. I hope it will be mildly entertaining and also help me organize my thoughts on the vn as a whole. So without further ado, ridiculous unsupported theory time!

First, I believe the culprit is Oishi-san with the Knowledge Bombs in the… car! So basically people have already established that Keiichi is an unreliable narrator… probably. My earlier theory about the syringe thing suggests that maybe the syringe wasn’t even real. What if most of the occurrences were just made up in Keiichi’s mind? With all the evidence that Oishi told Keiichi in the car, Keiichi should have been thoroughly convinced that Oyashiro-sama did exist and caused all those deaths. But he refused to believe it. Or so he says. So maybe he consciously did not believe in Oyashiro-sama while he unconsciously did. This may have caused his split personality that becomes so prevalent at the end. One of Keiichi’s biggest conflicts was something to the effect of, “If Oyashiro-sama doesn’t exist, then my friends are fucked up murderers, but if he does exist, then they are just being controlled, but Oyashiro-sama can’t be real! But my friends aren’t fucked up either and my little sister cant be this cute!” So in conclusion, the new info he gets leads him to act all weird and suspicious of his friends which in turn makes them suspicious of him which makes a cycle of suspicion that may even cause him to become delusional.

Now you may be thinking? Why would it be caused by Oishi-san and not Tomitake-san? Well, let me take you on a journey of human psychology. I will try not to touch religion too much with this but its about a deity so it kinda has to. Basically, I’ve heard of people who normally do not believe of God who suddenly go to church or whatever after a big disaster occurs. Like, most people won’t acknowledge a god they if they believe it does not matter. But once something big happens, people are suddenly compelled to pray or whatever in hopes of basically getting off easy and they hope that that deity exists to save them from their troubles. So who’s to say that doesn’t apply here? What I’m trying to say here is this, Keiichi, seeing that Oishi came up to HIM and no one else, is lead to believe that he is the only one to help solve the crime because he is the next target since he’s an outsider. When he heard the story from Tomitake-san before, there was no real correlation between him and the other victims because by the logic before, only enemies of Hinamizawa would be targeted by Oyashiro-sama’s curse. But once Tomitake-san died, the logic extended to outsiders which obviously includes him. That causes his “I don’t believe in Oyashiro-sama but I do” personality split.

Ok so we know the suspect, and we know he’s delusional, so now what? Time to patch up the massive holes in this theory. Why did Rena and Mion suddenly have crazy eyes and say weird things? Most likely because again, he’s already gone insane. Why did Rena and Mion put a needle in whatever food that was presented to Keiichi? Who said there was a needle? Oh right, Keiichi. Who still may be insane and also the needle was never found. Why did Rena and Mion jump on Keiichi in his room? Remember the punishment for not guessing which one was made by Rena? Who’s to say they weren’t just punishing him by forcing him into a new ridiculous outfit? What about the syringe? Who said there was a syringe? OH RIGHT! KEIICHI! And that was never found either. Seriously though, who in their right mind uses a baseball bat to bash their friends’ heads in? No one, because Keiichi is not in his right mind. And well, he scratched his throat to death so he was probably hallucinating those people at the end too.

So there is still one more question. Why did Oishi-san kill Keiichi? Well it could’ve been an accident. Oishi-san DID say he could stop talking at any time as long as Keiichi said so. But you guys don’t think Higurashi could be explained by mere accident so my other motive of why Oishi killed Keiichi could simply be just this: Oishi was jealous of Keiichi’s delicious loli harem.
BUT HEY ITS ALL JUST A THEORY, A GAME THEORY, thanks for reading.

Holy wall of text. I might actually add more to this if I remember something. Anyways this was the first absurd theory, but there shall be more when I finish the next chapter arc whatever the hell.
EDIT #1: I had so much fun writing this stupid sh*t lol

[Pepe]

Why did Rena and Mion put a needle in whatever food that was presented to Keiichi? Who said there was a needle? Oh right, Keiichi.

And Mion, at the final chapter, when he asks who put the needle~

But yes, the theory of it being “all in Keiichi’s head” is a valid one. He himself lists it down as one of the options, after all! I personally like to think of a more holistic approach: Keiichi was a little bit crazy, and people were a little bit after him and things built over and over until it became a big, sticky mess