I’ve been dying to find a game or book to immerse myself in recently (summer holiday! \o/ ), but nothing was really cutting it, so I decided to reread Watanagashi instead. Man I love the relaxing OST.
Tried to read the old release of Tatarigoroshi, but 4:3 with no voice acting and a very noticeably worse translation led me to drop it off. I’ll be waiting for the official retranslation, but it’ll be August before I can play that. :c
Anybody else planning to replay this chapter soon?
By the way, I’m planning to liveblog my replay since it is too much of a bother to take notes otherwise in this very post. Untagged spoilers for Watanagashi and perhaps Onikakushi following.
Just so you know, this liveblog and the theories it introduces were and will be influenced by a spoiler about this arc I had beforehand (as well as a more general spoiler). I won’t be referencing that spoiler, however.
Still with me? Good. I think we should try to untangle the mystery of the Mion-Shion duality first. It’s obvious that Shion exists as a separate person from Mion (unless you feel inclined to open innumerable cans of worms about unreliable narration and stuff), but knowing when we talk to which person, assuming Mion can pull a Shion disguise well enough to convince Keiichi, can be critical to solving the mystery. I’ll be liveblogging it encounter by encounter.
–MION/SHION DUALITY–
ENCOUNTER #1: I’m currently in the first scene in Angel Mort (Shion’s introduction basically). Besides the obvious stuff, there isn’t much to add save for a distinct change in voice but that can likely count as part of the disguise.
M/Shion mentions the maid punishment Keiichi endured when they first meet. Now we know that at this point Shion lives in the town and if memory serves, Shion and Mion rarely communicate. So the question is, could Shion have learned about that punishment before Keiichi came to Angel Mort for dinner? I think not, so I posit that the first time we see Shion is actually Mion in disguise.
ENCOUNTER #1: MION
ENCOUNTER #2: (this is right after the curry contest)
So, Keiichi hasn’t had a proper lunch and so collapses on the floor as soon as he gets home from exhaustion. Then, Shion visits him! We were told by Mion that Shion lives in Okinomiya and she does not come to Hinamizawa often. Now, why would this Shion:
- Visit Keiichi’s home, which she has supposedly talked to only once?
- Know where Keiichi’s home is? (this one can be explained by “Mion talks about it” I suppose…)
However, there’s one thing I am not sure about here.
We have posited already that Mion could be disguised as Shion in Angel Mort (E#1). Mion seems to imply that she’ll be at a difficult job she “isn’t used to”, then goes on to say that she’ll be working at the toy shop. I don’t think working at a toy shop could in any way be exacting or exhausting, nor could there be much of a thing “to get used to”. So perhaps, her complaining about how tiring the work is was a mistake (which is weird compared with her club activity persona, which is always cunning, not to mention all that mafia stuff I recall being uncovered later on). More importantly, though, is that this makes it seem likely that she’d be at work that afternoon. Perhaps she donned her disguise as Shion and visited Keiichi’s home along the way? I do not recall if Mion goes near Keiichi’s house on the way to town. I think there might be something related to this at the very beginning of Watanagashi (or was it Onikakushi?) but it’s probably not enough of a nitpick to comb for, not just yet.
Yep, she is on her way to work apparently. Well it’s either that or an excuse for Mion to don her Shion visage.
That gives me a third reason to suspect that this is Shion:
If she’s on her way to work and she is from Okinomiya, why the hell would she be in Hinamizawa?
I do not recall any excuse being made for why Shion is often in Hinamizawa, a visit or anything, so this is actually further definite proof for this Encounter being Mion’s doing if you ask me.
Moreover, Shion just deciding to bring him some “leftovers” out of the blue especially on the day Mion knows Keiichi ate no lunch seems remarkably convenient.
ENCOUNTER #2: MION
Okay, it’s far easier to write on my PC and my computer is usually offline when I’m playing Higurashi (shitty wifi reception in my room), so I’ll be recording my impressions in a Notepad sheet and then transfer them over to this post once in a while.
ENCOUNTER #3
-Chapter 3 TIPS: “It Was Delicious”-
This TIPS is Keiichi returning the aforementioned bento box to Mion per Shion’s request after giving it to him (what’d the deal with that be anyway? I mean, Shion supposedly sees Mion rather rarely so it seems inconvenient that she’d tell Keiichi to bring it to Mion. She could’ve visited the next day to pick it up or something, huhu. An excuse for visiting Keiichi’s house again as well. :p)
Mion acts all flustered and asks for Keiichi’s impression about the bento, and it is glaringly obvious that she sucks at lying.
This TIPS, I think, is pretty much an acknowledgement by Ryukishi07:
Mion can be disguised as Shion, so Shion’s presence or voice must not be taken for granted as it being Shion you’re talking to. This also means that Mion is capable of being (acting?) gentle, shy and kind the way the Shion persona is at will.
I entertained the possibility of it being Shion disguised as Mion , and maybe her gentler manners are the reason this “Mion” is kind of flustered at this point. This assumes that Shion can come (and stay, probably) in Hinamizawa according to her will, and that she’s cooperating with Mion over this. Seeing the later “love rivalry” of sorts between the two (it’s been months since I first read Watanagashi, that happened, right?), I have trouble believing that is what happened.
(edit: Ohohohohoho, Mion even thanks Keiichi for putting candy in the box. )
And thus, for me:
ENCOUNTER #3: MION
ENCOUNTER #4:
This is that infamous scene of Keiichi tipping over a bike and the Hinamizawa residents ganging up on the angry hoodlums.
Shion calls Keiichi “Kei-chan”, which seems a bit more intimate than expected of a mere acquaintance or a very new friend.
“My sister told me” is yet again the excuse for why she immediately knew that Keiichi was coming to the restaurant to pick up his key.
There isn’t much of an overall compelling evidence here otherwise pointing to this Shion being the Disguise rather than the Person.
Oh wait, this is getting interesting. Shion asks Keiichi who would he save if Mion and Shion were both dangling off a cliff and he could only save one. Sounds like something Mion would ask- In fact , there’s a suspicious slip of the tongue here. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
And now the dam project has come up, but not much there save for how Shion sends off Keiichi.
ENCOUNTER #4: MION
To be perfectly honest noting down all that as I play is both tiring and makes the game less enjoyable, so I guess I’ll be taking a break from liveblogging.
A friend who has played all of Higurashi told me that the spoiler I had was incorrect. I don’t know anything, I feel. D: It feels bad to question Shion every time she appears, especially since she ended up being my favorite character so far. How it ends makes the replay even more painful. ;_;
Edit: Shion gives some very compelling evidence that she was the one who brought the bento and did stuff about the ticket when she and Keiichi encounter Mion working at the toy shop. Now that I think about it, making Keiichi give the box back to Mion is beautifully cruel, but there’s still the question of how (if) she knew Keiichi didn’t have lunch that day.
Moreover, why would Mion keep telling Shion about this stuff, which is how Shion claims to know things happening between Keiichi and Mion?