English Dub Review: Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou “Demon-Deceiving Chapter, Part 4”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Keiichi is out of his mind with worry that Rena was spying on him talking to Oishii, using a sudden cold as an excuse to skip out on school, though when he stops by the clinic, several faceless men in uniforms shoo him away, telling him it’s being remodeled. He then decides to go to school anyway, where thing seem to be normal between him and Rena. Sensing something is up, Rika pulls him aside and tells him that whatever he thinks is going on with Rena, it’s probably just him overthinking things and his friends are behind him no matter what. That night, Keiichi’s parents go out of town for a bit and ask Rena to bring him dinner, which is a real shock, but after taking a minute to think over his fears, he decides that he doesn’t have anything to fear from her. He even seems to remember a moment where he killed her with a baseball bat! So, when Rena does come over, he lets her in and looks forward to a nice home cooked meal with his friend.

…only for Rena to have brought a ton of torture equipment and come at him with a knife while scratching at her neck until it bleeds. She rambles about keeping her dad safe and that she’ll be the one to disappear while Keiichi dies in order to fulfill Oyashiro’s curse. This leads to bloody struggle between them as Rena stabs Keiichi several times while he bashes her head with box until he passes out. He awakens a few days later in the local hospital, unsure what happened and how much was real, but no one is telling him what happened to Rena no matter how much he asks. Eventually, Mion visits and tells her that not only is Rena dead, but so are Rika and Satako, though whether it was a murder or suicide is unclear. However, once Mion leaves, a nurse comes in and asks Keiichi if he’s been scratching his neck, which causes him to scream.

OUR TAKE

So ends the first arc of this new season of Higurashi, and just as with the first arc of the first season that this is revisiting, we end with more haunting questions than answers. Which makes sense, seeing as that first arc, the “Spirited Away by the Demon Chapter”, is one of the “Question Arcs”, which then has a corresponding “Answer Arc” that either tackles the same scenario as the question from a different angle or approaches the core emotional conflict of the question in a different way. Again I hesitate to explain everything here because what does and does not constitute a spoiler here is a bit murky, but the ranting that Rena goes on her is definitely more in line with her in this arc’s Answer than its Question. In fact, there seem to be many deliberate steps taken to avoid the original outcome of the Question Arc, which was that Keiichi’s increasing paranoia and loosening grip on reality would eventually lead him to pummel Rena (and Mion, who was also there) to death with a bat that belonged to…actually, hang on, they haven’t even mentioned that guy’s name yet. What’s that about?

But yeah, we do know that Rika is still aware of the time loop and seems to have pulled Keiichi aside to get him to avoid killing Rena, which seemed to help jog his memory of when he did kill her and lead him to avoid that ending. Which is then surprising when it turns out Rena’s seemingly innocent visit with food was actually a very real attempt to kill him and not a hallucination, as she is seen putting out a bone saw and handcuffs while Keiichi isn’t even aware what’s happening. This also might point to why Rika and Satako were killed, as Rika may have heard of Rena’s death and decided to rage quit, though the fact that it’s not confirmed makes me pause to assume that. My brain is definitely a rush with possible theories about what’s coming next, which was certainly part of the appeal for previous installments, though I do have to say that, for whatever reason, it wasn’t that scary to watch, which is a shame as the horror is the other main component of Higurashi that stands out. Next time sees the beginning of an arc around Mion, though obviously there’s more Mion than you might expect.