English Dub Review: Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou “Curse-Deceiving Chapter, Part 1”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Keiichi’s parents leave for a business trip suddenly, forcing him to cook for himself while they’re gone, but he’s saved from almost burning the house down by Satako and Rika. To his surprise, Satako actually quite enjoys cooking for him, which Rika thinks is because it reminds her of cooking for her older brother Satoshi, who mysteriously went missing last year. Later, Keiichi is lured to a “fight” that turns out to be a baseball game, where he meets the coach, Irie Kyosuke, who also informs Keiichi that Satako lost her parents some time ago, who were supporters of the controversial dam project, while Satoshi left to escape Oyashiro’s Curse. But when Keiichi tries asking Mion and Rena about the curse, Mion tells him that the topic will just upset Satako. However, Satako’s deadbeat uncle seems to have shown up, dragging her back to his house after being gone for awhile.

OUR TAKE

Higurashi does the time warp again, this time for a Satako focused arc as you can probably tell by now. This also means I can FINALLY start mentioning Satoshi, who I am quite surprised has not been named until now. From the first few episodes of the first season, Satoshi’s shadow loomed over the characters, though mainly over Keiichi despite the two never meeting. Satoshi’s disappearance was one of the first major indicators that things weren’t quite right in Hinamizawa, with it being speculated as many things, including being part of the village’s curse and even that he was killed by Mion and the Sonozaki’s. As for what the explanation is this time, well, it’s difficult to say given how much things have changed, but his absence is finally being addressed just in time for this dark part of the story. Yes, it’s somehow darker than what this season has covered so far.

Teppei, Satako’s uncle, is probably one of the franchise’s most despicable characters, even among its villains. That’s not to say he causes more deaths or is more destructive, but his abuse of Satako is the instigator for even worse things to come, showing what even good people will feel pushed to do in order to fight against such a horrible person. In that sense, he’s more of a tool and an obstacle than a character, but he serves that purpose well in that sense. In the original version of this story, as the next episode will get into, Keiichi became so invested in his role as Satako’s new big brother that he felt forced to kill Teppei to save her, though obviously this didn’t solve all of their problems since it happened with a couple episodes left in that arc, leading things to spiral even more before it was over. This new arc, like that old one, is five episodes, but I’m curious how they’ll balance things with the timing here. Pacing has not been shown to be this season’s strong suit, though there’s still time to correct that of course. And like the previous two arcs in this season, this arc will be combining elements from that first arc and its later “Answer”, but I’ll cover those when we get to them. Lots to get to next time, basically, so I’ll leave you with this: This Irie guy really shouldn’t be left around kids, you know?