Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, Episode 18 : Analysis, Thoughts, and Random Comments

[Disclaimer]: This entry might contain MINOR spoilers. However, while the analysis might push you to these minorspoilers, NO foretelling spoiler is present. Therefore, please follow the same guideline, and understand that any spoiler can just ruin this critical part of the story for any reader. (NO spoiler will be tolerated. Any borderline hint either. Don’t even try to test me, instant edit/delete might fall without your permission. You have been WARNED). Good reading!
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The past is now completely exposed. Things have formed a clear picture. However, some shady details were “overlooked”. Before engaging Rika’s last attempt, we might get some nice speculations…
Matsuribayashi-hen Analyses: [三四], [Ugomeki], [Owari no Hajimari], [Bouryaku]

Be sure to have watched the episode before reading this!

Today, I will focus mainly on the following points:

1. Satoshi’s whereabouts
   
2. “I’m sorry, I”m sorry”
3. KAKERA MUSUBI
   

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[Analysis]

I. Satoshi’s whereabouts

This episode was quite valuable to demonstrate what exactly happened to Satoshi. As we already figured that Satoshi was indeed the culprit of the murder in 1982, it was rather obscure what happened afterwards.
Let’s summary a bit what happened:

1. Satoshi is shielding Satoko from their aunt’s abuse. As the time passes, his stamina is worning out as well
2. Tormented by the pressur, Satoshi begins to feel apathic and guilty towards Satoko, as some parts of himself would like to abandon her to the clinic.
3. Satoshi decides to stop his activities with the Hinamizawa fighters, planning to get a part-job. However, he asks Irie to let him borrow his bat.
4. As he is trying to buy a huge teddy bear for Satoko, Satoshi begins to be really worn out, sensing Hanyuu’s footsteps. Nevertherless, he is withstanding the pressure.
5. Satoshi begins to have some unconscious wish to run away. Consequently, this doesn’t ease him a lot, as he is thinking himself as a failed brother. After discussion a bit with “Mion” about that and the Curse of Oyashiro-sama, Satoshi lets Satoko under “Mion”‘s care, and will do the irreversible
6. The very next day, Satoshi is still worried that the teddy bear might be bought before he get his paycheck. Fortunately, “Mion” arrives and they are able to reserve it. On the same time, Ooishi investigate both of them, increasing the pressure on satoshi’s shoulders.
7. Thanks to Shion’s alibi, Satoshi’s is presumed innocent and is left free. As he finally got his paycheck from his part-job, he bought the giant teddy bear. By chance, Doctor Irie is around and helps Satoshi to transport the teddy bear. At this moment, Satoshi’s resistance to the syndrome collapses, turning quickly into L5. Irie and his colleagues take him into custody, while Takano is quite amused.

As you probably guessed, Satoshi’s situation is far from being good. Reaching L5 isn’t exactly good news, especially past some point, sealing the fate of the subject.
It isn’t really clear if Satoshi survives or not, but several odd facts are raised :

1. It has been nearly a year Satoshi disappeared.
2. Since Satoshi bought the teddy bear, it is impossible for him to be elsewhere, as he poured all of his money in this purchase. Therefore, the “satoshi” which was supposed to be witnessed at another train station is a cover.
3. A junkie was taken as a scapegoat, giving an alibi to Satoshi.
4. Satoshi reached L5.

These 4 details make no doubt: Something complicated happened to him. Of course, I’m not talking about L5, as it is obvious. What I mean is actually the consequences: since Satoshi reached LEVEL 5 to the point he already had the urge to scratch his throat, he is a perfect sample for Takano and her research.
Considering that he killed his aunt, his situation would probably make him quite labilized as “lost for good”.

Remember that Satoko, who was a LEVEL 5 as well wasn’t covered much, and she was treated, with feedbacks to her brother. In Satoshi’s case, the Yamainu simply did a double cover: the fake Satoshi and the junkie. Why would they pretend that Satoshi disappeared if he could be treated? And why even after a whole year, Irie didn’t say anything at all?

Things are still in speculation phase. However, Satoshi’s whereabouts aren’t really that great. Since the Yamainu is behind the cover, and how Takano is pleased by the “curse”, you can tell the odds that Satoshi was taken as a guinae pig are high.

II.”I’m sorry, I’m sorry”

Hanyuu was pretty much… well hard to “understand” in the past. Basically, she is repeating I’m sorry quite a lot around. Some people would actually think that she is somewhat a trigger for worse symptoms of each “crazed character” in each chapter.
That might be true. That said, Hanyuu’s position is far from being easy.
It doesn’t seem that she can actually materialize easely, and… what would she able to do even if she did? Barely nothing, as she is quite the “outsider and monster”, as I explained before.

However, I should hint you something: What hanyuu did was far from being useless. In a way, she was relieving the “victims”. Both Satoko and Rena didn’t have a pretty childhood. Their life was shattered, and Hanyuu was kinda present to “lift” their misfortune, using her own mystical presence to be accused of.
I believe Piece #39 is fairly self explanatory for Satoko.

As for Rena, you could see in this episode that… she was committing suicide. Cut wrists + hot bath combo… As you might expect, the hot water prevents blood to coagulate. The flow of the water also accelerates the hemorraghe. If you also add the fact that the water “soothes” the pain, and makes the person dizzy if s/he stays too long in such situation, you can tell it is kinda the “good” way to do so.
Why Rena would want to kill herself? Basically, Rena’s life was utterly destroyed, as her happiness was gone along with her family unity. This is reinforced by the fact that Rena felt guilty because she actually knew about Akihito.
She felt so filthy that she begun to have a delusional parasitosis. You can quickly conclude that she is trying to do atonement, and “purifying” herself. She actually knows she will die and that is the objective.
Because of that, Hanyuu was the “savior”, because she could be the one who forgive her (as Rena wanted forgiveness), but also “steal” her guilt. It wouldn’t her “fault” anymore, and this actually trigger her the mention of Oyashiro-sama and more accurately, the curse. I guess Piece #03 will give you more details about that.

Hanyuu had another big role, as she was required to “recruit” Keiichi. How so…? Well… remember that Keiichi’s arrival isn’t a certain event. As Rika already said in Minagoroshi-hen, in some worlds, Keiichi didn’t move in Hinamizawa at all, which probably result into a very dull and boring result for her.
And how it is possible? Not only Keiichi’s “misfortune” is required, but also his father, Maebara Ichiro, must be attracted by the scenery and such. As he could see girls being so lively, it really help in the process. See Piece #33 for more insight.

That said, Hanyuu is now invited by Rika, as she is truely the last piece to defeat Takano… and you will see the aftermath with episode 19!

III.KAKERA MUSUBI

Here we go, the last batch of pieces !
Considering what they left out, there isn’t much to shuffle about. Here is the list of the pieces we got.

• 01:50 – 02:40 [Piece #33: Lot for sale tour]
• 02:40 – 05:16 [Piece #35: Establishment of the club]
• 05:16 – 06:56 [Piece #03: The red capsule]
• 06:56 – 08:11 [Piece #37: Ryuuguu Rena]
• 08:11 – 09:18 [Piece #32: The footsteps of the fourth year]
• 09:18 – 10:33 [Piece #31: Leave of absence notice]
• 10:33 – 10:48 [Piece #16: Aunt Houjou’s battery-murder case]
• 10:57 – 14:55 [Piece #08: Sacrifice Number Four]
• 14:55 – 16:37 [Piece #33: Lot for sale tour]
• 16:37 – 20:25 [Piece #34: The new wind]
• 21:56 – 23:54 [Piece #36: Maebara Keiichi] &
  [Piece #50b: Matsuribayashi-hen Piece]

As expected, they left out the “gameboard” pieces, but some others as well… see the previous Analysis for Tomitake pieces.
What is missing :

• [Piece #30: Houjou Satoshi]: some insight about Satoshi and his view about Satoko’s hostility against her mother and Houjou.
• [Piece #39: Houjou Satoko]: Satoko’s thoughts…
  
• [Piece #02: H170]: details on the research for the warefare objective of the Irie institute.
• [Piece #41: June 1983]: Frederica’s summary on the important pieces and reasoning for the battle.
• [Piece #43: Himatsubushi-hen Piece]
  
• [Piece #44: Onikakushi-hen Piece]
  
• [Piece #45: Tsumihoroboshi-hen Piece]
  
• [Piece #46: Watanagashi-hen Piece]
  
• [Piece #47: Meakashi-hen Piece]
  
• [Piece #48: Tatarigoroshi-hen Piece]
  
• [Piece #49: Minagoroshi-hen Piece]
  
• [Piece #50a: Matsuribayashi-hen Piece]

And… the final and so called… batshit piece. Piece #51, A sliver of a piece.
Frederica discovers a broken world and things are really unexpected.

Random note: Why was I so slow with this article? Basically, I thought this piece wouldn’t get any justice without any BGM. Yes… you guessed right, I kindly uploaded the BGM for ya !

[Piece #51: A sliver of a piece]
Note: please follow my indications to optimize the experience of this piece. Whenever I mark “silent” or a bold name track with a specific italic underlined event, do it. Otherwise, keep the same BGM looping ^^

• The piece start with Frederica, with this BGM:
  squall (by pre-holder@137)
  

• Once you reach “beep! Za-za!“, it is silent, with some rain sound.

• At “…This is Akasaka, copy. Let’s go.”, loop this BGM
  primal_beat_of_horrow (by DJ NETA-RAW)
  

• After “The two guards standing beside him suddenly lopped into the air…!!”… this is my favourite ^^
  assault_operations (by DJ NETA-RAW)
  

• A brief silence with
  “ “Akasaka, are you alright?! Come in, Akasaka!!”
  “…This is Akasaka. We’re on our way.” ”
  and then, immediately followed by
  Door (By pre-holder@137)
  

• When the new paragraph begins with “We see Akasaka training inside a dank dojo filled with the smells of sweat and fungus.“, it is dead silent, with some punches noises, explosions (no kidding XD), etc.

• Then at “ ….The main reason why Akasaka started karate was exactly what the one of the trainees said. …It was Yukie’s death.”
  ふたり。 ひとり。(Futari Hitori by Dai)
  

• Finally, at “…Please…give me another chance to go back to that time…! I swear…I will come to both of their aid and save them from their deaths…!!”, it is silent until we get on
  “….Thank you Akasaka. …We really needed your strong will that you showed us right now.” which will be the last BGM:
  Over_the_sky (by Pre-holder@137)
  
  This BGM is played to the very end.

Well then, I hope it pleased you. I’m sorry for the long process (It took me like 4-5 hours for that…). Why? Well… first, I wasted 1-2 hours on possible plugin for some music player on wordpress… the system didn’t exactly accept the various codes I was trying to input. Good grief, Deathy found the solution, as WordPress ALREADY got a buildin player, requiring just a link of the hosted music track… I felt dumb, but it accelerated a lot the process. Then, I had fun time to actually REDO the KAKERA MUSUBI (you CANNOT go back in the KAKERA MUSUBI already completed. You must get through the first 50 pieces before ending in Akasaka’s piece… VERY tedious). And once there, I saved on a slot, so I go back and forth with the in-game juke box, to actually identify the track name, and also toyed a lot with my installed folder to host them (as some aren’t in the game OST, and most of them DON’T have their in-game name…).

Well, I hope it worthed… I’m curious how are your reactions with that ^^”.

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…Beyond the clockwork start of the fate of june 1983…
…tragedies of the past were replayed…
…the timeless witness is resolute…

…taking part of this battle for everyone…

Will the miracle be realized? Will everyone be happy?
This is your decision to accompany everyone in their last battle…
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai continues…

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Completely late entry… I’m unable how to word my apologizes this time, as it is not really forgivable. That said, I hope my efforts would actually be good enough to compensate that wasted time.
The pieces are finally forming the whole picture, and Hanyuu is now resolute to join the battle against fate and Takano. How will she act then…? I guess you already saw though…
Next episode is the true beginning of this chapter, Matsuribayashi-hen, episode 19: 幕開け – Makuake – Opening.