English Dub Review: Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou “Village-Destroying Chapter, Part 3”

OVERIVEW (SPOILERS)
Satako and Rika have been drifting apart since they started school, so Satako decides to pull one of her classic pranks!…by dropping the big chandelier in front of everybody. Unsurprisingly, this bad idea gets one of Rika’s friends hurt, and while Rika tries to cover for Satako, another one of her friends remembers one of Rika’s stories about Satako’s pranks and rats her out. Instead of suspension or expulsion, the school elects to put Satako in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, which has her regretting coming out to this school in the first place. And instead of deciding to say enough’s enough and leave on her own, she decides to stay even though her grades suck, the teachers hate her, and she thinks Rika has abandoned her.

Luckily the mood changes for the better when the two get invited to a reunion of their club, leading them right back to Hinamizawa to meet up with the old gang. They have their games as usual and have fun like old times, but on their way to the next stop, Satako decides to pay a visit to the old temple where the Oyashiro statue still sits. However, something about it breaks, somehow leading her to an otherworldly plain and putting her in front of a strange horned woman.

OUR TAKE
Okay, this is getting ridiculous, even for this show. I understand wanting to show how Satako’s well meaning (or at least not harm meaning) actions end up ironically driving Rika further away, further pushing Satako down her spiral until she ends up putting them all back in the time loop. We seem to have learned the one who causes said loop again by the end of this episode, but we’ll get back to her. For now, we have this episode and how it seems to really be pushing for the tragedy of the situation between Rika and Satako, even past the point that it makes much sense. Satako getting punished for her prank going awry makes sense, especially where it puts in a situation that only makes Rika feel further away. But where I really have to put my foot down is that Satako’s punishment is putting her IN A LITERAL PRISON instead of, ya know, JUST KICKING HER OUT OF SCHOOL.

Admittedly I have never been to a private school, but I have a feeling that IMPRISONING STUDENTS FOR MINOR OFFENCES HAS GOT TO BE ILLEGAL. And then they PUT HER BACK IN CLASSES?! How did Rika or Irie not know about this aspect of the school? Why would they EVER want to go here if they were aware of it? I bet Hanyuu would have a lot to say about what’s happening IF SHE WOULD FRIGGIN SHOW UP. But then to have Satako still choose to stay after all of that takes the cake. It’s not like Irie was putting pressure on her or Rika to stay, and even if there was a lot of money put into getting them there, I doubt he would care as long as his girls were safe, which CLEARLY THEY AREN’T. The one bright spot of the episode is the reunion of the club members, but it’s overshadowed by EVERYTHING ELSE BEING SO FORCED. The tragedy of previous arcs never felt like it needed to overlook so many holes in logic and plot like this, which might just be the death knell for the rest of this season keeping me invested. We still have four episodes left, but we also know that it’s not going to lead to any sort of resolution so…I’m honestly not sure what to expect at this point. But let’s soldier on and see how Satako does the time warp again.