Discussion topic for the Sonozaki twins. Feel free to discuss the entirety of Higurashi without [spoiler] tags, but please tag references to outside works, providing adequate context in parenthesis. This topic will contain massive spoilers, so if you have not finished reading Higurashi yourself proceed with caution.
I wanted to discuss both characters, thus I feel a joint thread is better for discussing it rather than their respective character threads.
After Mion and Shion’s switch when they were younger, I was a bit confused on how that impacted their personalities and who was the true personality of each. Since the anime focuses more on the action aspect and doesn’t even cover this part, and I haven’t read the VN, I’ll draw from the manga incarnation of it. Before Mion and Shion switched, they were… different from the Mion and Shion of when the story takes place. For one thing, their attires were the opposite of one another, with Shion, who is truly Mion, dressing in a tomboyish manner and having her hair in a ponytail, much akin to how Mion dresses and keeps her hair in the present and Mion, who is truly Shion, dressed in more feminine clothes and had her hair down and tied with a ribbon, much like present Shion. Now, these are just how their appearances have changed, and appearances don’t matter much, but their personalities were also somewhat different, well, moreso Mion’s. Mion, who is Shion, was meek from what I remember from the manga, dependent on Shion, and somewhat of a crybaby. This was probably due to the family not treating her with the high regard they treated Shion, who was to be the successor at the time. Shion, who is Mion, was very outspoken, independent and somewhat tomboyish, and she still retains the former two traits, so she hasn’t changed much. Mion on the other hand is now tomboyish, confident, friendly and independent, or at least on the surface. Whilst you can explain this by simply stating that their future environments in which they were to grow up changed (Shion became more feminine by being sent to St. Lucia’s, Mion had to become the successor, thus had to develop an air of confidence), I think it’s a bit more than that.
Would you say that because of their switch, they had to change their personalities as well, to fit with the previous name owner’s personality? That would be very painful psychologically and difficult to maintain. Rena once said that even though they look different, inside, the twins are one and the same, which may mean that they inherently have the same personality and can choose which aspects of it to present to others, while keeping the other aspects, which the other twin is supposed to have, hidden? Of course, they still keep some of their original traits, like for example, Shion being outspoken and independent, and with that type of personality only she would rebel the way she did after being cast away from the family, which is the starting point for her ‘Shion’ personality, with being trained to become the successor is the starting point for ‘Mion’s’ personality. And Mion also deep down is feminine and a little meek, like for example when showing her feelings for Keiichi.
Anyhow, I think Rena has summed it up well, with how they’re inherently the same, and that’s what I think, too. So, what does everybody think?