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Unpopular opinion but Watanagashi is my favourite question arc

🧭

The only message I got from Shiki is that the blood suckers should've got purged a lot sooner.

Satoko is not Lambda’s piece. Doesn’t even make any fucking sense. She isn’t Lambda’s origin either. I’m a Lambda purist and will stay that way. Unless of course Ryu07 makes an original work (VN) that explains the shit he pulled but even then I’d be skeptical. It’s so frustrating.

higurashi Kira is the canon ending. everyone lived happily ever after and Rika lived with her goofy friends and later went travelling around the world (as a parallel to Takano collecting all the flags of the world as a child). She occasionally visited Hinamizawa as an adult to meet her friends. I don’t care what anyone says, Gou Sotsu doesn’t exist and I will never watch em.

I'm glad I cosplayed her

Masterpiece !!! 💪💪

Great job. Thanks for the hard work!

I feel like a more realistic version of Mion with hinamizawa syndrome would be her inviting the club to stay at the sonozaki house and keeping them there indefinitely. She’d keep her friends close to her while she investigates who wants to hurt her them. There’d be an unspoken lockdown on hinamizawa until Mion found out who was trying to hurt her friends which would lead to a Salem Witch Trials scenario.

This really does make me wish that Gou was actually a remake. I do think what Gou/Sotsu did was really interesting but I'm both rereading the manga while group watching the original anime with friends I'm realizing how much was left out that I didn't even know about in my first watch.

8:45 does anyone know the exact OST name for this scene?

Mion was the first character I was drawn to in the anime. I never played the game but she’s stayed my favorite character. I like Rena a lot too, but it’s not the same. After listening to this video, my best friend came to mind. They were horribly abused growing up, but chose happiness and positivity. They are also an amazing leader and funny. The strongest person I know.

Omg a 6 hour long vid abt higurashi? I think I’ve found heaven. I’ll make sure to watch it all and then give my thoughts :D

this arc is really gonna convince me to read the vn i guess

16:09. I always said “guess” to my kids (even adults actually) in Japan when they asked if I’m a boy or girl. I also didn’t wanna give them the easy answer because keeping them confused and asking questions was more fun lol. I haven’t really had people confused over my sex in the US. But I spent 7 years seeming androgynous to everyone in Japan. It was interesting and fun.

I first watched NHK when I was in high school, I didn't really get it and rated it rather low. Fast-forward 5 years, I've dropped out of university due to depression, decided to rewatch NHK and oh boy it hits different.

Higurashi is already my favorite story of all time, and I\ve only read the original 8 chapters and watched the anime. I have no idea how I'm supposed to get my hands on all these extra arcs, do I just torrent them or what?

being Higurashi fan is suffering. very lonely experience

I was going through a _really_ tough time when this first dropped, so I hadn't gotten the chance to watch it yet. Glad I finally did! This was a really fun and insightful travel-log, and it definitely gave me some ideas of what I'd like to do when I eventually make my way over there, someday (So, so jealous of the Shirakawa-Go trip, though, lol). I might have to tap your shoulder about some travel tips when that day finally comes.

Gou? Sotsu? No never heard of those. Fairly certain they don't exist

So finally got around to watching Shiki and I absolutely loved it. The horror's fantastic, the initial "mystery" and build-up to characters finding out what's going on, the OST's great, for the most part I love the art (there's a few character designs I felt too distracting and outlandish but whatever not a huge detail), the messages, characters, respecting and building on pre-existing lore of vampires while being able to keep it horror which not many anime do. There's so many shades and call-backs to certain movies I love like there's a lot of Fright Night and The Lost Boys mixed with Higurashi and that feeling of summer paranoia. Something else I really loved is, and I mentioned this to Hunter after he posted his video covering it, after about the midway point of the series, the POV of horror and fear is flipped. We initially start out fearing what the Shiki are doing, they're monsters toying with our emotions and feeding off of us. But once Ozaki's piecing it together [SPOILERS FOR PEOPLE WHO MAY BE READING THIS] and they get his wife and he starts experimenting on her?? That's where our fear POV flips and our sympathies start to lie with the Shiki. We become fearful of what the humans are capable of doing once they find out about their existence, be it horrible experimentation and essentially vivisection and live autopsy which...holy shit...or what eventually befalls the Shiki, mass hysteria and eradication just for doing what they have to to survive which is where we do understand why some humans may sympathize and want to protect them by any means. Side point to mention, I'm very split on the inclusion of "werewolves". Part of me *really* likes conceptually that werewolves are essentially just incredibly rare mutations of vampires, which by the logic of the series would make someone like Dracula a "werewolf" as he's able to be out in the sun and is incredibly difficult to kill. The other part of me does wish they went more traditional werewolf though as that type of monster gets like no representation in anime outside of I believe Dance in the Vampire Bund and maybe Okamikakushi? (Just off the top of my head)

I couldn't get through the live action movies. Takano's actress was the only one I remember liking. I think Rena's was fine too. But the rest were terrible, imo. In no way do I think the movies do a good job of representing the story. Had it been the only way to experience this story, I would have long given up on it. To consider it superior to the anime is ridiculous. It doesn't even hold a candle. I would even place Gou/Sotsu on a higher rank than the god awful live action adaption you seem to be praising. The drama adaptation from 2016 was far better, in that most of the characters actually felt representative of their VN counterparts, not just in looks but also the way they speak and their personalities. I really enjoyed the performance of Mion/Shion's actress in that one. The audio drama CDs are also pretty good, though I haven't listened to all of it yet. In any case, I do believe this story deserves a better adaptation, preferably an anime, but I don't think we'll be getting one now.

4:23:45 Kinda funny that you used _this_ footage to say hat she's careless when this is argueably the only time in *all* of GouSotsu that she's actually careful (she waited for Rika to _double_ the WR of keeping her breath before finally deciding that she was dead).

Hey Bess, long time fan/first-time commenter. Love your work despite the fact that I'm not in a position to support it financially. I don't really know if this is the appropriate place to reach out about this but I figured it was worth a shot: Have you ever checked out Serial Experiments Lain (the PS1 game, not the anime)? It's a psychological horror that touches on many of the subjects you usually cover on this channel (women's issues, mental health in Japan, the effects of broken/destroyed family/social connections on the psyches of individuals, etc.) so I was surprised to see it hadn't been featured on this channel yet. If you ever feel like taking a wild ride I'd highly recommend hunting it down. You can find a fan translation of pretty decent quality (enough to understand what's going on despite a few specific translation errors that aren't really worth detailing) floating around online relatively easily. Regardless, cheers on your successes in life and hope all is well!

These series are not particularly known for their good art but ciconia has so much anatomy and pose issues it makes it hard to focus ngl

DAMN... This makes the movie a whole different beast now, the aspects are there and I saw them only at the biggest up points (like the rape scene) but I took the horror of the movie at face value, missing on this perspective until the end and thinking this was some weird body snactcher shit after they killed Me-mania because before that I thought of the movie as a way of showing the horrors of being a public figure. Thank you very much ma'am.

The when they cry rabbit hole is not for the weak 😂

I only seen orginal season 1 It betrayed me i invested a lot of time But ending explanation f*#kd me with time loop alien virus bullshit But it had great potential I was really invested in it

A lot of the discourse surrounding this film has been very insightful, but it's refreshing to see a female commentator share her two cents. I remember first watching it and immediately catching onto so many themes and messages relevant to the treatment of women in the entertainment industry. Everything about this film touches on how the world wants to commodify you based on your level of attraction or sex appeal, and how you often must fight for your own identity because the people around you have already conceived a notion of you that they want you to fulfill. It's quite scary, even for women who aren't celebrities, because the objectification and sexualization that Mima combats is so universal.

Higurashi ended with Saikoroshi, nothing after should be considered canon, also I don't like Satoko being a villain.

why do you talk about victim blaming when these are all fictional character's? honest question because its really bizarre for me to hear. i don't understand it.

Bout time someone pointed out how Homura is isolating Madoka from anyone except Homura and Madoka's family.

Damn watanagashi got done dirty by studio deen

Cool story But what is it ?

Great analysis that I enjoyed, many other analyses seem to focus far too much on selfishness and selflessness as absolute things that can never be linked (idk how to word it better). The inclusion of the similarity to adolesence and growing up was nice, since it seemed so obvious to me ever since kyubey called becoming a witch "maturation". I apologize for any strange wording choices I might make, for I am not good at writing. But I do disagree with the Homura wants Madoka for herself only part. In her world, she keeps the other girls around anyway, when she could have very well just got rid of them. She also seems to panic and resolve herself to stay away from her in the hallway scene, and making Madoka a transfer student I feel could very well just be a result of her own experience being one being effectively the best thing to happen to her in her life.(once again, idk how to word this better) Homura is, in a way, always trying to sacrifice herself in one manner or another for Madoka's sake, and if she truly wanted to be with Madoka I think she could have repeated the same situation where she was the transfer student. I don't say she doesn't want anything for herself, just that it's not a desire to isolate Madoka from other. I've always gotten the impression that Homura's love is far more toxic and hurtful to herself than it is to Madoka. I also want to add on the point that Homura's not just 'dissatisfied with the world', Madoka made a decision that very much affects Homura without any choice from Homura. This leaves Homura in a situation where she's able to do anything but the one choice she wants to make, which I think is comparable to Madoka's situation after rebellion, minus the memory loss of course. (This might have already been mentioned in the video without me noticing, though.) Homura isn't happy to take away Madoka's choice and it seemed to me that this was the reason why she branded herself as a "devil". Additionally, Madoka's choice at the end of the series is simply death. Is it right to accept every single choice a person makes, even if it's that extreme? Can Homura truly be called abusive and controlling for denying that? Because then, I think you could make the case that Madoka is not in the right for making her wish either, because it takes away Homura's choice, and Madoka is in the wrong for "saving" Homura when she was entirely willing to become a witch and get killed by Kyoko and Mami. Like you said, indeed, rebellion, just like the original series, has the point of fighting against the world for what is considered a better future. And in both, they don't get a perfect ending. In my view, maybe the ending does not require the audience and the characters to decide that one of them is right, but for Madoka and Homura to understand each other, and continue to to fight against the world for the sake of their happiness.

This is so well put together :,) I love higurashi too. I wish more people talked about it like how you do !

NIPAAAAAH

I just finished watching the anime. Overall, I enjoyed the story. LIKES: - The 1st opening. The music and animation go together really well. Has a doomed sort of vibe, but still rocking. - Dr Ozaki. How he tried to figure out what was happening. The scene with his wife was one of the most unnerving. - Nao's flashback. How it generates sympathy for her, but then the music turns sinister and her bloodlust takes over. - When Akira is tied up and the clocking is ticking down for the shiki he originally came to kill to wake up. Creepy! - How the shiki try to take over the village. Not sure that I quite follow their logic, but the steps they take are spooky. DISLIKES: - There is this one funky sounding track that plays at times. Just messes with the vibe of the show for me lol. I could say more about whether I think the portrayal of the shiki being somewhat sympathetic leaves a bad taste. They all, including the villagers that are turned, seem to cope in different ways. Same for the villagers who stay human. Can't put all shiki or all humans into one bracket I guess. That fits with the ambiguous vibe of the show.

I just finished watching the movie-I knew it had some feminist themes but as a man this is really informational and eye opening, tysm❤

I literally just finished watching it lol, yt algorithm doing its thing

Geeeeez., is true! Hahaha everyone in VocaCommunity make a come back (even Hachi did this year xD) I started going apart in 2014 too and now I'm again here in a nostalgic mode since an little event started two years ago here in México. Of course now many things had changed (I mean the amount of voice banks is insane, the quality of voices that started increasing with the chinese vocaloid, now synth V and the usage of IA... Even Teto became canon haha), but there still something about all this that could keep you into it.

Appreciate the time it took to make this video, i saw the original Higurashi when i was in secondary school back in the early 2010s, and not really understood what the story wanted to tell and just passed it off as an edgy nothingburger, now after more than a decade later and being in my late twenties i finally decided to rewatch the whole canon anime series with a friend who was interested in the show, i fully expected to cringe and laugh at the show i remembered from my edgy teens, only to almost fully 180 on the original series and especially Kai when looking at it with an adult perspective, only for gou and sotsu to ruin it all for me and my friend, making it a parody lf itself ans becoming what i thought the original was many years ago, an edgy nothingburger that actively lies and has so little faith in the audience that it feels the need to make the awfull red eye satoko smirk every couple of minutes just to show she is indeed the bad guy, i don't have the vast experience you had with the series since i didn't play the Vn or other spinoff, but i will never forget the enjoyment i had rediscovering the series all those years later.

Shiki is an exploration of Human nature. There are no heroes, no villains, and in the end everyone just goes mad.

I first saw Shiki as a teenager. What was supposed to be just another anime about vampires(my guilty pleasure till today) turned out to be experience about human nature that i´ll remember forever. People will deny everything unless it hits them directly. And also the way they all bonded together in a masacre in the end is a good way to show what things, that are otherwise seen as terrible, are people capable of in a large group. I still rooted for humans when i watched it. Nowadays i feel more for shikis. They never decided to be this way. Life as a vampire is neverending strugle, yet they are scared of dying again so they do what has to be done. For more than 10 years a strugle with depressions. That ultimate feeline of wanting to live, yet not wanting to live and wanting to die yet being scared of death, is very familiar to me. When people hear about my condition, they deny existence of it. And if it´s shown in it´s full form, they banish me(even if temporarily) from their social circle. So i mask. I do what i have to to live and feel more and more for shiki, since they too are trapped in neverending charade while trying to not hurt those around them. We all know one day this suffering will end, but the wuestion remains: Is there even a way to end the suffering without ending ourselves?

I dont understand why they just did not do a remake…

great video, i really enjoy the way you storytell wish i could be in at least one of these places someday

chat shes back

Great video. I'm gonna have to study the real life information and history you brought to the table so I can appreciate it more

I think you displayed stunning emotional intelligence in your analysis of Shion. Your insight into her and your love and knowledge of the story are great. You made a fantastic video and I thank you for your contribution to this one of a kind story. It's one of the best pieces of literature to come from Japan