No. I know I hate Satoko, but I really hate torture - it is kind of surprising I like horror as a genre as much as I do I suppose. I have almost passed out during torture scenes in movies before. She didn’t deserve that, and from what I remember (haven’t hit that scene in the VN yet) she has one of her better character moments then.
Though, I suppose I am happy that when I get to that scene I wont be playing with a voice patch.
It’s okay, she doesn’t scream much 
At least Satoko was super brave. Her Nii-nii would be proud. Poor thing.
I used to not like Satoko because she was just annoying, but ever since Chapter 3, she started to grow on me.
I mean, I guess the only thing we have is that Akasaka used a similar alias, so there is the possibility that the guy is some sort of criminal investigator. But at the very least, I don’t think Meakashi gave us new info on Tomitake.
Tamae*
The biggest foreshadowing at the time would’ve been when “Mion” was shaking the ladder Keichi was on.
Also, as requested, here’s the Meakashi playlist!
I’m just gonna quote a bunch of great stuff posted in the spoilers topic, spoilers removed of course~ Don’t click on the dropdowns, or you’ll get the full spoilers!
[quote=“rika, post:4, topic:49”]
I just finished Meakashi last night. I don’t have many articulate thoughts, but one thing I did notice was the theme of “without love, it cannot be seen” being quite heavily present in this chapter, which was a nice surprise as I feel like that aspect of things was kind of omitted in the anime with the lack of internal monologue. We get far more of an insight into the thoughts behind Shion’s actions, and most blantantly, she decides in the end she won’t kill Keiichi if he realises who she is. Of course, as she says herself, Keiichi hardly knew Shion that well to figure out this was her, though he did succeed in so far as protecting both Mion and Shion in his heart and seeing the person before him as a demon instead. Then, in the end, she does spare him, amongst realisations that there’s much more to him than she’d thought, and an achieved understanding of why Mion fell in love with him. Then there’s the heartbreaking tip at the very end seemingly depicting a conversation between Akane and “Shion” - probably the twin we know as Mion - about why Akane was ex-communicated. The twin in this scene thinks Akane and Oryou have a bad relationship due to the way they behave in public, but Akane explains they don’t at all. She surrendered her status, married the man she loved, and went through the same nail-peeling torture as Shion does later to atone, but was fully satisfied with her decisions, and she points out Oryou ended up peeling off her own nails as a kind of punishment towards herself. I feel like this scene really brought home how tragic the whole arc is - if Shion had known his much or remembered it, she might not’ve become so suspicious of her family and been able to trust they didn’t do anything to Satoshi however they acted on the surface. However, she was raised at a kind of distance and clearly felt unloved and unneeded to some extent. On both sides, here, the lack of love lead to a series of tragic misunderstandings - right until the end, where Mion tries to explain to Shion the Sonozakis didn’t do anything, and she can’t believe her, probably at this point because it would be unbearable to after everything she’s done. Without enough love between Shion and her family, she wasn’t able to see the truth, and nobody fully understood her feelings, either. What the tip at the end really brings home is how much even a single conversation could’ve affected everything - which of course leads perfectly into Tsumihoroboshi’s themes. I guess Meakashi is a kind of unique, bridging arc - we’re presented with the usual tragedies, but not the salvation of a solution or any kind of happy ending. The clues to the mystery begin to form quite blantantly, but the characters themselves still haven’t quite taken the steps they need to to reach the future they desire. There’s also Satoko’s torture scene, where Shion realises the crucial difference between the two of them - Satoko had love, had the belief the other characters end up fighting so hard for - and always trusted Satoshi would one day come home. Others might have seen that as weak or childish, yet even in spite of that, Satoko held on. It’s not a side to her we really see before this point, and just brings home why Satoko is one of the strongest members of the club from the get-go. You have to wonder if it’s part of the reason she’s so dear to Rika - this is the very belief she fights so hard for so long to gain within herself. It also reminds me of the messages behind Umineko, and Ange’s struggle to come to terms with the death of her family. In fact, it’s shockingly similar, when you consider Ange and Satoko are both fighting particularly with the grief of losing their older brothers. Satoko, at her young age, has already found a way through life for herself, a way to cope with the circumstances.[/quote]
[quote=“sii_kei, post:6, topic:49”]
Speaking of Ooishi, I am starting to like more and more the adults of Higurashi. I never really cared for Ooishi in the anime or manga, but the VN made him so flawed and human-like that he has become one of my favorite characters overall. Kasai also got quite the spotlight this episode and I feel like he was more of a parent towards Shion than her own dad was (who’s very rarely mentioned).[/quote]
I’d be interested in hearing who you guys’ favorite characters are as of this chapter~
So I’ve decided to take notes while reading, though unfortunately I was already three chapters in when I made that decision. Maybe I’ll go back and reread Chapters 1 and 2 after finishing, but for now this’ll have to do.
I’ll be keeping these notes spoiler-free in that no references to anything past Meakashi will be made - there may however be references to things happening later on in Meakashi.
[details=Chapter 3 Notes]-I’d be interested in seeing Mion’s perspective on this whole switching to give Shion time to shop and work business. While I’m sure she gladly does it for reasons already alluded to, man has it got to be a wrench in her own plans, doesn’t it? According to Watanagashi Rena apparently doesn’t know of Shion’s existence, generally speaking, which is interesting since that makes me wonder what Mion was even doing while “disappearing”.
-Good old motorcycle callback. Though really Shion, you see three motorcycles falling down and your first thought is that it’s a beautiful sight?
-“This is an accident, but it must also be God’s will. But God… you can use me to punish these guys, but how will you compensate me later…?” Shion’s stance on spirituality is pretty interesting, isn’t it. Perhaps with what happened to her it’s easier for her to imagine there being some sort of ‘fate’, and that all the bad experiences she makes will only lead to more good experiences in the future.
-She’s damn good at keeping her cool though isn’t she.
-And then there’s how she just wants to see these guys suffer, so she goes full-on manipulation mode. Kind of scary, ngl ^^;
-Satoshi~ what a cute sprite.
-Man, from the very beginning Shion is constantly narrating things in the most positive manner for him. Gotta say, Ryukishi is pretty damn skilled at making characters narrate in a way that tells you, the reader, something about the character that they don’t even realize (yet) themselves. You can really feel the disappointment as Shion narrates that, oh, right, he’s planning on leaving now.
-Haha I didn’t even remember Satoshi being this cheeky. Getting one up on ‘Mion’ must be quite an experience. They get along well, but the difference in status is one the village is not about to let them forget.
-Interesting choice, having the ‘Notebook’ cut in right there. As if we needed any more confirmation it does tell us that Shion did indeed fall for Satoshi.
-I can so imagine pieces clicking together in Mion’s head as Shion points out that Satoshi must be exhausted, though Shion introspectively criticizes that insensitivity.
-And Shion can’t deny her own feelings anymore.
-Figured that it would be suffocating to constantly have to match schedules with your twin. With the Sonozaki house aware of her escape any single wrong move could have severe consequences. And yet that doesn’t leave Shion with much to do at all. From that, even beyond just her crush on him, it’s easy to see how these rare meetings with Satoshi are such a heavenly break.
-The whole scene where Shion and Satoshi shop together is really cute~ not much to say on this front.
-“A Crumpled Diary” shows just how stressful Satoshi’s everyday life actually is. His feelings towards Satoko are complicated for sure. More on that later.[/details]
Hmm, that’s an interesting thought, I like your theory. Can you elaborate more on your theory of the timelines overlapping? Like, you know, if they are overlapping, what’s the purpose of that or well, their purpose in itself, really?
[details=Chapter 4 Notes]
-Heh, Shion criticizing Satoshi for not trying hard enough. Sometimes it’s easy to pass as Mion, isn’t it 
Though hmm… (Matsuribayashi Spoilers) I wonder if Irie, beyond just giving them an outlet, partly works as coach so he can closely monitor the boys’ conditions? You know, just in case…
-It is rather interesting to see the Houjou family circumstances described from the other side - usually it’s “Satoko’s” mother who’s remarried a few times, “Satoko’s” uncle and aunt who are such terrible people, but now, of course, from Shion’s perspective they’re “Satoshi-kun’s” family. It’s a small touch, and it makes sense.
-And there comes Shion’s jealousy towards Satoko. It’s not like her feelings towards her are unfounded, but well, she’s expecting a lot from a brat.
-“I’d objectively looked at the situation and made a modest proposal.” and literally the next line is “To be honest, I was simply afraid that he might leave the team.”
-Enter Rena. I do like how Higurashi defines the relationships between all of its cast members pretty damn well. Like it’s not all just revolving around Keiichi. Especially Shion could’ve fallen into that trap, but Meakashi blew all those worries out of the water.
-I do like how Shion, kinda unlike Keiichi most of the time, is good at picking up a lot from relatively minor details. On the one hand it’s just satisfying to follow a POV character that’s good at keeping up with things as they come, on the other hand it’s also just another element that makes Meakashi feel so distinct from everything we’ve read so far.
-The entire scene with Rena is really damn chilling tho, isn’t it. I don’t feel like I can just casually comment on it any more though =P
-Nice Hinamizawa Bus Stop reference.
-“Notebook Page 21” You know, since Rena was shown not to know about Shion in Watanagashi (and from what I remember the circumstances make it unlikely she was just playing along) I do wonder what Rena must’ve felt when her existence finally became public knowledge. Did she think back and re-evaluate all her interactions with Mion? I wonder if she ever did come to realize the one she talked to in this scene was actually Shion.
-“Notebook Page 24” Hmm, now I wonder how Shion reacts to first experiencing the extra footstep herself. I don’t quite recall.[/details]
[details=Chapter 5 Notes]
-Couldn’t even stop to write during this whole school scene. Such a charged moment. Even though Shion is acting totally unreasonably (and my god Mion must’ve had such a great time picking up the pieces afterwards…) you can just feel her frustration so strongly.
-Oh hey is that another version of You I hear? It really is the leitmotif of this chapter, huh.
-And the notebook page tells us that Shion did come to realize eventually that she didn’t really care about Satoshi’s feelings in the matter, just about her own.
-Midway point already… been slacking on my note taking a bit. I blame Meakashi for being so damn engaging.
-Kasai is such a good guy. He doesn’t have much of a presence at all for a long time, but whenever he is there he’s pretty cool.
-I really wish we got some more insight into Mion’s perspective during this whole fiasco. I’d imagine she’s quite annoyed at what she has to deal with occasionally, but can’t really let go of her feeling of responsibility, which really does perpetually affect Mion and Shion’s relationship.
-Shion being so continuously reluctant to take care of Satoko is really kind of heartbreaking.
-“A Torn Diary” Well, is there anything left to say at this point?[/details]
[details=Chapter 6 Notes]
-Figures that the terrible relationship between the Houjou family and the villagers was kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Though I doubt it would’ve taken long to get sour either way.
-Witness Satoko and Rika’s epic stare-and-Nipah-down!
-“It’s already been decided.”
-The descriptions of Satoshi’s state of mind do seem awfully familiar, don’t they.
-Hahahaha oh man, thanks for the mental image of Oryou looking at a bag of small goodies, being like “fuck this” and going out to buy electronic equipment, while the people leading the raffle could only stare in disbelief.
-Heh, nice one, Irie. He’s pretty good at handling Ooishi, isn’t he.
-Ooishi prodding Satoshi for a reaction.
-This Shion-Satoshi scene is the most upbeat in a while, huh. All this light-hearted teasing. It’s so nice, especially knowing that in the timeline, as far as we know, it’s almost time for Satoshi to be onikakushi’d.
-And then Shion gives up her safety to give Satoshi an alibi.
-The characters for ‘poetry’ and ‘sound’, huh…
-“Notebook Page 29” Isn’t it a little hard to just ‘make up a culprit’, even for the Sonozaki family?[/details]
[details=Chapter 7 Notes]
-This scene really makes you remember just how intimidating the Sonozaki family can actually be at times doesn’t it…
-Aaaaaaaah, the nail ripping scene. It never gets any easier to witness no matter how many times I go through it. Seeing that for the first time in the anime I legitimately feared for my fingernails for a while. Reading about it only made it worse. What gets me now though is how utterly helpless Shion is in this scene. “I realized that this was really happening, and there was no escape.” And then how she desperately tries to calm herself down enough to actually do it… and then how that all breaks apart once she starts going through with it. It hurts to read. It’s one of those scenes I’ll probably never forget.
-Can’t help but wonder how Kasai must feel in the follow-up. Perhaps he did feel a little disappointed in Shion placing Satoshi’s safety over hers, his and Yoshiroh’s, but after seeing what she put herself through I doubt he had much on his mind besides staying by her side. Even though he also had to be the bearer of some unfortunate news for Shion.
-It breaks my heart to see Shion take comfort in knowing her sacrifice got the result she wanted, moments before being informed of Satoshi’s disappearance.
-Ooishi is playing this in a rather shrewd way, isn’t he. He’s probably well-aware that Shion doesn’t know about Satoshi’s disappearance. It’s more like he’s deliberately creating a situation where she won’t have anyone else to turn to or anywhere to run when he does hit her with it. He wants her to be his ally in uncovering the truth.
-The mystery of what happened to Satoshi on that day is well set up, isn’t it. Something I’d actually like to see the newcomers tackle. Curious what you guys think is the truth of the matter~
-Despite being in it for his own reasons, Ooishi really comes across as likable to me in this scene. It kind of resembles the end of Himatsubushi to me, where he peptalks Akasaka that they still have a job to do in uncovering what actually happened. I doubt he actually believes Satoshi will come back, but he doesn’t deny it to Shion’s face either.
-“Notebook Page 34” Heh, I didn’t even remember this TIP.
-“Notebook Page 42” This is the sort of thing I do love about Higurashi in general though. How individual events leave different people with totally different impressions of what actually happened, and the story acknowledging this. In that sense Higurashi is actually a pretty complex story.
-I’m really loving the soundtrack btw. I did remember Meakashi being a serious step forward in the OST department but even so I didn’t quite recall just how good it actually was.[/details]
[details=Chapter 8 Notes]
-And then all of a sudden out-of-nowhere-culprit-kun shows up and throws a wrench in everything.
-Ooishi trying to get info out of Shion, nice try, man.
-Shion’s really putting a lot of thought into all this, isn’t she. It’s nice of her to gather all that information for the reader though isn’t it I guess getting the perspective of someone who’s been around Hinamizawa for a good while already but still uninvolved enough to be confronted with this as a huge mystery was about as good of a choice for the first answer arc as it could’ve been.
-Oh hi there Takano. Apparently she keeps running her fingers through her hair, but all I can see her doing is stroking her boob with her hand.
-Feels like I haven’t heard one of these ‘research infodumps’ in a while, heh…
-Eventually we get to what I believe is the last chapter in 1982? Mion and Shion meeting in Shion’s apartment.
-That instant switch when Mion expresses wonder as to where Satoshi went… chills.
-And then the reveal of Mion’s own sacrifice… such a beautiful moment.
-“Notebook Page 50” Not much to say.
-“Notebook Page 64” Sounds a lot like the way Akasaka and Ooishi were forced to end their own investigation in failure to uncover the truth, doesn’t it?
-“Notebook Page 85” ‘Time heals all wounds’ they say… at least it will numb you, whether you want it or not.
-I do like how these three TIPS let us transition to the present relatively smoothly. The story of the past has been told, it’s finally time to continue where we left off.[/details]
Alright everyone. I kind of skimmed through this thread to some extent but I’ll try to get to going into more detail.
Well, this wasn’t how I expected this chapter to go down. I remember being excited that we’d get a chapter from Shion’s perspective…
So, as we know, this chapter flips the script a bit. Certainly, it’s hard to imagine opinions of at least two characters in the story not changing.
I actually predicted a couple of the twists before they happened: that it’s Shion who is the perpetrator, and that Shion and Mion were supposed to be reversed. Though the latter seemed like it could be unreliable narrating, but Ooishi seems to have caught on to it.
I suppose it’s worth noting that the importance of Satoshi as a character seems to have increased: we now know he was a driving force in both arcs 2 and 3.
I’m really glad the post-credits scene is there. It’s such a stinger.
You know what I find bizarre though? The fact that Oryou and Kimishiro still don’t have sprites, but Shion and Mion’s mother does, despite the latter appearing less than the former two.
So I have a theory about how the answer arcs could proceed. If each corresponds to a question arc the same way, I think the next one will be Onikakushi, then Himatsubushi, and then ending with Tatarigoroshi. I can sort of explain this.
Tatarigoroshi is a logical last one. It was intended to be the last question arc, and it presents the disaster which has the potential to occur in 1983.
Himatsubushi, as an unplanned chapter that took place in the past, seems like it would be a very strange place to end. Keiici wouldn’t even be there.
Onikakushi’s reasoning for not being last is weaker, but it doesn’t escalate as much as Watanagashi and Tatarigoroshi do. And revealing the secrets of the first chapter would probably make more sense, but you could argue against that.
So why would we see Onikakushi’s before Himatsubushi’s? Well, I can’t answer this one much, but I think we’re about ready to learn about Rena, whereas I think Ryukishi wants to dangle what Rika revealed to Akasaka over us a little longer.
Of course, this could be utterly wrong.
If I think of anything else to say, I’ll try to add on.
EDIT: Oh yeah, already thought of one.
The confrontation towards the end feels EXTREMELY different in this. It really delivers on the perspective thing.
Also, does anyone have screens of the part where Shion was talking about the stuff from the war? I need to have a look at the wording again.
EDIT 2: Honestly, the fingernail scene didn’t bother me that much. But I tend to be a visual learner.
EDIT 3: People like to shit on Satoko, and more talk is given to her having bad behavior, but out of her, Keiichi, Rika, Rena, Mion, and Shion, Satoko seems to be the one that is the least of a “demon”. If anything, Satoko looks like the most innocent cast member at the moment.
EDIT 4 because my memory sucks: My biggest questions at this moment are “What is Takano’s deal?” and “What is Irie’s deal?”
There really are two schools of thought one can follow here:
Well I was more thinking as to what actually happened on that day. Did Satoshi buy the stuffed animal? Was it already gone? What happened then, was he abducted on the way home? Or did he never make it to the toy store in the first place and he actually went missing earlier?
Either way, here are some more notes~
[details=Chapter 9 Notes]-Helloooo déjà vu.
-Haha, the differences in how Satoshi and Keiichi handle the situation is just hilarious.
-Jesus fucking christ Keiichi.
-Good old Ryukishi narration. I guess you could read this in a sort of longing tone, but to me this really reads as Shion having to remind herself that Satoshi would’ve done things sooo much better than Keiichi because she doesn’t want to accept that she could actually move on and find someone new to take a liking to.
-That being said, Shion thinking back to Satoshi and how his existence is being forgotten is pretty saddening, ngl.
-It’s so easy to imagine how the tug-of-war scene came to be, isn’t it. If Watanagashi had gone slightly differently that totally would’ve been how it went down =P
-Though then Shion mentally berating herself for ‘forgetting about Satoshi’ and totally convincing herself that Keiichi stroking her head didn’t make her happy at all is just tragic…
-And then there’s the extra footstep. And Shion doesn’t even rationally interpret it as her going through the same experience as Rena and Satoshi, she just emotionally accepts that it’s Satoshi’s footstep immediately.
-She continues talking to him the whole evening.
-And as Satoshi follows her daily life, it starts brightening again.
-This is so weird to read, heh.
-Man the storehouse scene reads a lot differently from Shion’s perspective, now doesn’t it?
-Tomitake to the rescue~
-“Notebook Page 172” Yay more talk about ancient ritualistic customs.
-“Notebook Page 173” And more.
-“Notebook Page 179” Heh, now that’s a fun theory, isn’t it.[/details]
[details=Chapter 10 Notes]-Ah yes, that night when everything starts going haywire in every single goddamn arc.
-Oh hey Shion finally makes the connection between the footsteps she’s experiencing and the ones Rena was talking about.
-And then as Mion intimidates Shion, she finally takes it too far and Shion snaps.
-Shion ‘waking up’ kind of reminds me of Keiichi’s experience in Tatarigoroshi. All that’s missing is Dancers7.
-Unbelievably unfortunate how Shion inadvertedly killed Oryou with that stun gun so quickly, isn’t it?
-Shion is so dominating in the interactions with Mion, but even she falters when it comes to the curse.
-“While there were only ones and zeroes in the world, she believed there were numbers with decimal points.” Now that’s poetic. I do like how the likeness of Shion and Oryou is emphasized here though.
-I really do wonder how this story would continue if Shion actually got to interrogate Oryou…
-Seeing the utter explosion of Shion’s violent emotions at the family that neglected and mistreated her all those years is pretty heavy though. Even Mion is not exempt from it.
-“Notebook Page 183” Sometimes I can’t help but wonder when Shion took the time to take these notes…
-“Notebook Page 185” The relationship between the Sonozaki sisters and their dad is never really given much attention as far as I recall. Makes me wonder how easily Shion fell into her obvious bias of wanting him to be innocent even though she so readily condemns the people she doesn’t like, like Oryou.[/details]
[details=Chapter 11 Notes]
-Even having disposed of Oryou and locked up Mion, Shion is still afraid of the retribution she’ll face for sneaking into the storehouse. Though I guess it’s more her being scared at the fact that everyone just ‘accepts’ that horrible things happen to people for ignorant shows of disrespect.
-Now I can finally point out how “Mion” teasing Keiichi in their meeting was such an obvious Shion tell, especially with how Keiichi himself points out that that was totally out of character for her =P
-Keiichi really is a terrible actor and liar though, Shion’s definitely not wrong there. That instant comparison to Satoshi though.
-Scheming Shion is a delightful sight though, in a way. Even knowing how it ends, there’s a feeling of excitement to any good thrilling story.
-Hmm, I haven’t heard Shion mention God in quite a while now that I think about it. I wonder if she prefers just attributing anything she could consider an ‘enemy’ to a human, such as the curse. Though I guess Oyashiro-sama works too.
-Goddamnit Ooishi. YOU RUINED EVERYTHING.
-That council meeting really is chilling though, isn’t it. Everyone casually accepting that death is perfectly reasonable retribution for entering the freaking storehouse.
-Man Kimiyoshi was doing so well, but then he had to go and say that the Houjous deserve to be cursed. You could hardly have made a worse mistake, dude.
-And then Shion goes berserk on him.
-Shion comes up with the same idea for a curse that was brought up in Himatsubushi and the podcast, IIRC. It’s a clever system, getting around laws and basically making it impossible to charge the leader with anything.
-Ah man I almost forgot this was the same phone call where Keiichi starts ranting like a madman. Of course Shion is a lot more shrewd than he realizes.
-Seems like such an obvious conclusion in hindsight than Satoshi is probably at the bottom of that well, doesn’t it?
-This scene where she talks to Satoshi is genuinely moving… I didn’t remember it being so poignant.
-And then when she blows up at Mion… man this arc is just so good.
-There’s the ‘give me my name back’. I remember this being so weird in the anime because they completely and utterly omit the part about them having been switched. Not even joking. Even though it tells you so much about their relationship.
-“Notebook Page 188” Man Shion really is fully committed to this, isn’t she…[/details]
No idea, really. If that plush Keiichi wins in Onikakushi is the same bear, then Satoshi obviously didn’t buy it, but if it’s not, then I don’t really see much hints for either case being true.
Man that IS weird. I didn’t notice since I was playing with the 07th mod which places PS3 sprites where Mangagamer ones are missing, so those two did have sprites for me. But why did the Mangagamer sprites include Akane, but not the other adults? Weird!
The original sprites also only have a sprite for Akane, so that might be why. Mangagamer could have easily said, “we are only making new sprites for the sprites that appear in the original”. Still, why did Akane get a sprite when the others didn’t in the original? Was she intended to have a larger role in the story and then something changed last minute? The world will never know.
[details=Chapter 12 Notes]
-Goddamnit Keiichi, yes that’s what I’m doing right now.
-Shion you do realize Rika was dancing on stage while you guys were sneaking into the storehouse?
-“I’m the shrine maiden of Oyashiro-sama, don’t you know?” Heheheh, the wonderful implications~
-It’s kinda tragic how blatant Shion is projecting her expectations of the Furude Family Head onto Rika, not even attempting to consider the fact that she might be a little off base.
-These lines remind me of that one exchange in V for Vendetta. “What was done to me was monstrous!” “And so they created a monster.” Shion is the same way right here. Because she suffered so much - in her mind at the hands of the very ones she’s now planning on torturing - her baseline for terror is extremely tilted. Even hammering nails into people’s fingertips seems appropriate.
-That instant switch to “I really liked him”. Though it only takes her a few lines to realize her trust was misplaced.
-Shion’s fantasy of Satoko being the fourth year’s victim instead of Satoshi is all sorts of tragic. So selfish. And yet so saddening to hear.
-And she suddenly realizes she’s become everything she’s ever hated… and then instantly scrambles to find an excuse as to why she’s not that terrible after all. I love the writing in Shion’s narration so much.
-There’s Rika.
-“I’m pretty good at pouring soy sauce into a funnel, you know…?” xD
-Suddenly the music cuts out completely as we read about Rika matching Shion’s footsteps. How ominous.
-The smirk.
-‘Torture Maniac’, I remember the line just being ‘sadist’ in one of the anime subs but I like this expression a lot better. It’s right on the mark at this point, too.
-Urgh, that sure is one way of committing suicide though… and Shion squees.
-And then as Shion gets elated she recounts how her life became total shit in the first place. Surely she knows at this point that her life is heading into a dead end, so she doesn’t care anymore. Time to indulge in all those sweet feelings of pettiness and vengeance and taste what things would have been like if they had never gone horribly wrong in the first place, thus taking back her original name and reclaiming her position with it.
-I’ll still call her Shion though.
-It started earlier already of course, but from this point forward especially Meakashi is just… unbelievably tragic to me. As Shion completely loses it and as she’s already accomplished what she set out to do (or rather, she thinks she did), there’s nothing left for her. Nothing but to indulge in her most vulgar desires, pouring all her frustration and madness into atrocities. She reclaims the name Mion in the only environment she will ever be acknowledged as being the real Mion in. And in doing so irreversibly abandons Shion.
-Satoko, it’s a trap! Aren’t you the master of traps?
-I remember the anime showing this phone call wonderfully though. Where Shion, while talking to Keiichi in a totally distressed voice, casually wipes her fingers clean of Rika’s blood. It was perfect.
-Shion stahp, this is not a good idea, bail, baaaaail.
-Heh, and she feels inferior to Rena as a demon. Well we’ll just have to wait and see how much there is to that, won’t we? =P
-Jesus christ the berserk buttons.
-Great, even the inner monologue is becoming intelligible. Shion’s just drowning herself in more and more hate. Doesn’t help that she has Satoko locked up in her basement.
-Ooishi’s info network is really impressive though. Dude’s probably the most consistently well-informed guy around.
-Phew, that was a long one!
-“Notebook Page 195” Oh you know Shion they built a Rika Cloning Facility for everyone’s amusement.
-“Notebook Page 196” The way this TIP keeps bringing attention to how some parts are just scribbles really mirrors Shion’s mental state, doesn’t it?[/details]
[details=Chapter 13 Notes]
-“Hey everyone, are you still alive?” sure makes for a catchy greeting, doesn’t it.
-One of the most memorable scenes from the anime, though I distinctly remember its conclusion being so much more poignant in the VN. Let’s see how it holds up.
-Satoko’s determination on showing her growth as she strives for the future is such an incredible contrast to Shion who deliberately drove herself into a dead end as she wanted to sort out her past.
-Even though, well, we’ve already seen the major downfall of Satoko’s determination in Tatarigoroshi.
-Shion’s not wrong though. Satoko’s strength came too late for Satoshi. But then again, would she have gotten that strong in the first place if things had never played out the way they did? That’s something only the voyagers can really know.
-As she finally realizes she really did cut her future away from her, she breaks down once more.
-“That thing… is me.” Almost feels like a 4th wall break, doesn’t it?
-“Hurry and corner me. Hurry, let me be… free.”
-The duality of what Shion does here, both wishing for her own destruction as well as attempting to struggle as much as she can manage, is really interesting. On the one hand she has nothing more to lose so why not cause as much havoc as could still bring her joy, on the other hand she’s deliberately coming up with excuses not to do it, and rooting for Keiichi and Rena to stop her. And when Keiichi still shows her affection after all this, she calls him a fool for it but is still clearly touched by it, even if her cynicism hides most of it.
-Also, as much as she dissociates herself from, well, herself, I do really like how introspective Shion still is at this point.
-Ah yes, the Sonozaki Bluff. In a way it’s the perfect coup de grâce for such a tragic story isn’t it? The realization that in the end it was a complete and utter fuckup. And of course, even though she just admitted in her thoughts that she couldn’t imagine Mion and Oryou lying, she has to deny it. She simply has to. Otherwise, every single reason for her falling into this dead end of her own making evaporate, and all that’s left is… a punchline.
-RIP Mion.
-“Notebook Page 199” And there ends the notebook. Written on June 1st? Was that a typo?[/details]
[details=Chapter 14 Notes]-I’m guessing this typewriter bit is identical to the Watanagashi one, at least partially.
-So we went from Satoshi, to creepy ghost thing, to yourself, and now Mion. Man you have a lot of people following you.
-In the end, Shion still has one final bit of vengeance to enact on Mion.
-Man this constant laughter in the narration is kind of distracting xD
-Poor Keiichi. No clue what’s going on, even after all this time.
-And then Shion misses her step, and falls down onto the elevator housing two stories down, initiating the end of this arc. That single final moment of complete clarity is really magical to me. Right before Shion rolls over and falls down headfirst towards the concrete ground.
-In her final moments, Shion swears to herself… that she wouldn’t make the same mistake again. And so she hears Satoshi’s voice as she’s about to hit the ground.
-“I’m sorry that I was born.” Those words…
-And in the alternative timeline where Shion remembers her promise, we finally get to see her pretty sprite after all this time. Such a nice, lighthearted scene at the end of it all.
-“A Happy Diary” Ultimately I do agree with Ooishi though. Shion really did love Satoshi. Yes, she acted on that love in entirely selfish manners and completely ignored what Satoshi himself would have wanted, but I could see them having a much, much healthier relationship if the circumstances had been a little different. And while Shion’s feelings for Satoshi were twisted by virtue of him being literally the only interesting thing in her life, that’s not all there was to it. Absolutely not.
-“Disowned” Just a little sneak peek at the behind-the-scenes of the Sonozaki family.
-And finally… the Staff Room. It should probably come as no surprise, but I certainly sympathize with Shion. That doesn’t mean I think her actions are in any way, shape or form good, but I’m not looking to justify them in the first place. I simply think that I can sort of understand why she followed the path she did. It is what it is. In the end, that’s all there is to it. I’m not looking to make her actions good. I just strive to see them as human, and understand them as such.
-So basically, I care not for justifiable murder. Only for understandable murder.[/details]
And that’s Meakashi. I really love this arc. It made Shion into my favorite Higurashi character and she still holds that spot today. She’s a very tragic character in my eyes. That moment when she decides to enact her revenge for Satoshi’s supposed death, she cuts off her own future for the sake of sorting out her past. Reminds me of another particular plotline in a 07th Expansion work, heh.
Meakashi to me is the first arc that truly exemplifies Ryukishi’s incredible talent at writing human characters, and for that it will always have a special place in my heart. As for whether or not it will remain my favorite Higurashi arc by the end of this reread though, well, we’ll see about that.
Also I was surprised - the standard You didn’t even play in this arc, did it? I thought it played during the end credits but, uh, there were no end credits!
Well now, that was one heck of a ride! I was thinking of posting small updates while reading but I ended up just going through everything and boy was it worth it. It’s amazing the amount of catharsis and emotional impact this story had, compared to the previous chapters, and for this, I mark it as the best chapter of Higurashi…so far. So to start, let me open up some discussion from the previous posts…
I honestly think her actions up to zapping and imprisoning Mion and Oryou were justified. Oryou’s death was an accident after all (though it is less justified putting a taser to an elderly woman). Everything after that? Well… nope.
Hey man I loved the OST since the question arcs :’( [quote=“VyseGolbez, post:19, topic:48”]
After all, in Watanagashi, Keiichi met both Shion and Takano one day earlier, so saying “It’s been forever!” wouldn’t make much sense. Or am I just dumb and seriously misremembering things?
[/quote]
That was actually Shion saying “it’s been forever”… wasn’t it?
But yeah the whole motorcycle falling seen is quite suspicious…
This opens a veeeeery big can of worms. There are changes in Meakashi compared to Watanagashi but that begs the question… if there were minor changes there, whose to say there aren’t more major changes? Like the butterfly effect, maybe the changes we saw were enough to make it such that Meakashi actually had it as Mion being the true culprit
I’m starting to believe that these sounds are made by an actual supernatural being… A “presence,” if you will, who Rika can interact with on a very close level. Is it Oyashiro-sama? Is it Frederika Bernkastel? Or is it something else?
And something from the previous topic, since I can read the spoiler tag:
This is what I both love and hate about these two chapters: It can go either way, and everything still falls into place! I definitely knew back then that Shion replaced Mion at the very least on the day after Watanagashi, and I was open to the possibility that it was Shion all along who was torturing and killing everyone… But there was no solid evidence. It was just up there. But that by itself makes this whole turn of events even more fun. If it were easy to figure out, then reading this chapter would, well, just be a bore. It makes me think that it wasn’t intended to be solved in the first place.
I’m suddenly pressed for time so I’ll leave my personal thoughts for a later date 
Yes it was, which is why it wouldn’t make sense. After all, if Keiichi met both, that also means that Shion met Takano the day before. Why would she say “It’s been forever!” in this case?
I remember a Japanese person on Steam also saying that the end credits were missing. Did the original version of Meakashi have end credits? Did MangaGamer forgot to include it?
