#higurashi no naku koro ni spoilers

[coolstuffiseverywhere]

I have a kinda batshit insane theory that might make sense?

So, I like Tohya and Ikuko’s existence, but Ikuko always felt off to me. We don’t have enough to really grab onto to start building much of a character from her writing unlike Tohya, despite her writing more of it. I know Sayo=Ikuko is a common theory, and I think it works by the logic I’m about to suggest. This is another alternative that I find interesting though.

Ikuko is Rika. Hear me out. Tohya isn’t Battler, in other words, he isn’t the detective. The closest we have to a detective of the future is Ange, who can still see magic. Meaning we don’t actually get an objective viewpoint of the future ever.

This works based more off Featherine, but let me explain how it works in reality: Sometime after breaking the loops, Hanyuu leaves, etc(ignore Gou I’ll get to that) she decides to leave Hinamizawa, setting up a remote place to live with some servants. As heir to the furude family, she has the funds. This doesn’t actually have to be 1986, as finding Tohya and bringing him back immediately aren’t necessarily true and are also a little lucky. My guess would be she finds Tohya while on the way to look for an estate, brings him to the hospital, and they later live together. Together, they lie about her age upon finding him, as she often uses makeup to appear older(and by the time Ange or anyone meets them she’s old enough for it to not matter), to feel more her age after the loops.

Now, my actual reasoning: Featherine on the meta level always seemed weirdly divorced from Hanyuu. I can see some connections of course, it’s all the parts of Hanyuu that got buried in Matsuribayashi. But I never really could get what all their lines about master/servant meant, considering some lines Lambda said and some implications that don’t seem true in Higurashi. Thus, I suggest: Featherine is a mix of their author persona and a witch for Rika to deal with Hanyuu leaving despite being there for her entire life.

This explains Featherine being more of a recorder(although you could also read this as Ikuko’s influence, recording both Ange’s thoughts and Tohya’s story) and watcher then a writer despite also writing. It explains what Bernkastel means by “you taught me”, as she’d be quite literally talking to a manifestation of Hanyuu and Rika, the second of which presumably making Bernkastel as a way to deal with the looping and her trauma, as well as to personify her depression. Hanyuu ofc did teach actual Rika, but Featherine was always not actually Hanyuu, and a lot of the commentary was always more about Featherine anyway. The broken horn thing may make more sense as well: it’s a combination or the Hanyuu inspiration and talking about Rika’s loops.

It also explains the higurashi as a book references: they probably did also write those, Sayo might of read them!

In this scenario, Lambda would be written to be her way of dealing with Takano and her not really getting consequences, as well as her separated friendship with Satoko. Which, on that note:

Gou! I think this would be Ikuko and Satoko, but mostly Satoko, writing it! For the same reasons as the show. And I think it works better as an actual book. She’s trying to use loop’s mechanics more to understand Rika’s experience better, and also they’re both trying to process their friendship ending. I think in this scenario either Rika left before they started high school, or they just went through all of Saint Lucia’s without a loop. Regardless, I think Satoko tried to go to Rika’s school, which was likely fancier. This was just their way of trying to see how that’d actually go for them, and better process that their past relationship was unhealthy.

I think she may of also helped write some of the Lamba parts of Umineko, but that’s mostly conjecture.

This was a bit of a mess, and I’m sure more contradictions and evidence is around, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else suggest that some of the last book’s non-Ange future scenes are fantasy scenes. So I hope that at least helps.

[bluejewel5535]

On Higurashi ch2 watanagashi rn and I think it's interesting that Keichi's stradegy for winning in a lot of these club games is convincing other people to be on his side.

With the board game on this chapter, telling his opponents that if he wins he'll use the club members special penalty for Sakato and Rika to go on 'dates' with the opposition.

In zombie tag weaponizing Satokos usage of other players to his advantage (this does backfire). And in Cluedo where he gets Rena to share their cards together but that plan goes awry when Ooishi appears and destabilizes his trust.

(Even in the introductory card game Old Bachelor they play Mion's tactic at the end was for Keichi to overthink her actions and trust that she would make a complicated play)

When the story derives it's conflict from the idea of outsiders vs established community it's interesting seeing the MC functioning with the community until it is ruined by the uncomfortable reality of what has happened in the past.

(I'm barely into the story so I'm not yet ready to make generalizations on the games overarching narrative but it feels like to me that if Ooishi didn't tell Keichii what was happening then he would properly acclimate to the town and not be spirited away by next year. But admittedly Keichi was already sleuthing what happened with the dam lynching so maybe that's an overoptimistic perspective)

(In fact it occurs to me now that, Tomitake had been coming to Hinamizawa for a few years now but only died after telling Keichi what the curse was.)

[simikae]

MION SONOZAKI IS THE BEST FRIEND I COULD EVER HAVE

[confirmation-roll]

[clubpenguinkiller]

nurse takano's fun fact!

[nymdraws]

a smile you would do anything to protect

[trashcan-train]

Thinking about the doomed fragments. The love was there, and it mattered.

[lightprkdraws]

If only my finished drawings looked as good as my WIPs (in terms of lighting & colours)

[deformed666doll]

Higurashi When They Cry

[lunulu]

That one part in minagoroshi

[felixcloud6288]

Somehow, I'm currently engaged with three different media where the plot is about someone trapped in a timeloop.

[coolstuffiseverywhere]

My unhinged Higurashi theory is that Hinamizawa Syndrome doesn’t exist, Irei and Takano are just desperate to find anything, and ended up making a psychotic drug. Rika’s brain is different from Hanyuu & the loops and Satoko’s brain is different because of abuse+trauma.

All the effects of Hinamizawa Syndrome are from stress+existing issues/conditions+Hanyuu being around those who are being affected. I think you could even argue she is actively revealing herself, either to comfort someone or make them go crazy so Rika gets less progress in the loops and has more obstacles. See: Beginning of Onikakushi

After all, Hanyuu was actively trying to get Rika to just give up hope but also keep looping.

Hanyuu is arguably the logic error of Higurashi itself. How could Rika win if a god doesn’t want her to.

[mochasucculent]

Meguri panel redrawwwwww

[levenlyne1]

Takano

[anawkwardlady]

Noticed interesting parallels

When the ability to play with life and death you gained at a young age alienates you from humanity so much it doesn't make a lot of sense anymore whether it means endlessly killing and bringing back or ditching yourself to another fragment and letting it burn when things don't work like you intended to. Also you're a bit frozen in your age and sometimes it clearly shows.

And you might want to cope with drinking too.

Witches have it rough. They should be at the club.

[clambrulee]

Ok but one of the things that people miss is that Rika is basically the reincarnation of Hanyuu's actual daughter. And that makes her a bit more nuanced than what some people take away from her character. It's always "Hanyuu is selfish and only kept Rika in the loops because she was lonely." I know it's outright stated at some point. But I feel like that's a very surface-level take, if you can't get anything else from their relationship.

Of course she'll be sad when Rika's gone. They've been physically and emotionally connected since she was a baby. She basically raised her. She knows her better than her real parents. They're literally inseparable. Not to mention, Rika is the spitting image of her real daughter. It's literally her chance to start over as a mother, without the guilt of the burden she placed on Ouka.

And although Hanyuu loves Rika, it's only natural that after being together for so long, she would be terrified of going back to being a single entity. Their existences have been intertwined for so long that the thought of being apart-of being independent- is terrifying.

And I'd go so far as to say that Rika feels the same. Hanyuu does get on her nerves, but she's relied on her for so long that the thought of losing her isn't even something that crosses her mind. Because Hanyuu has always been there. She'll always be there. Hanyuu is the only person who understands her grief on a personal level. She's the only person she's shared her pain with for all those years.

Rika is Hanyuu's daughter. Hanyuu took on the burden of raising a child who wasn't her own and in doing so ended up in the position of a mother who would do anything to ensure her daughter lives a happy life. Especially after she loses the ability to send Rika back far enough to even attempt to save her parents. At that point it isn't just a desire to protect Rika, but a responsibility. The responsibility she must bear for selfishly touching the world of man and choosing to adopt a child who wasn't hers to begin with.

Sure, she places the burden of having to live through endless suffering on Rika. But at the end of the day she only wants Rika to live. She wants to see her reach her happy ending. Being lonely is just an excuse, so she doesn't have to divulge into the deep-rooted guilt she associates with her powers. Her powers are what got Rika into this mess. They're the reason Rika will never eat dinner with her family again. The reason Rika began to reject her real mother and sabotage any semblance of a good relationship she had with her. And even if Hanyuu isn't the direct cause for that, she probably still blames herself for it, as someone who meant to keep Rika safe.

She can't let Rika go until she knows for sure that she'll be fine without her. Even if she doesn't really believe it will ever happen. She needs an excuse to hold on. Because the thought of letting Rika die for real without doing everything she can to prevent it is too much to bear. Maybe Rika resents her for it. But Hanyuu is fine with that. So long as her daughter survives.

One thing I can't wrap my head around is that, if Hanyuu really truly didn't want Rika to be free, then why did she decide to put her feelings aside and fight with her in the final hour anyway? Why did she decide they'd succeed and attain happiness together when she could have easily kept Rika trapped forever and prevented her from ever accessing the final fragment? And then she leaves after Saikoroshi/Sotsu/Meguri anyway once she believes it's time for Rika to be independent. She lets go willingly despite the uncertainty, because she thinks that's what's best for Rika's development and she wants her to be able to move forward and live the normal life that was robbed from her so long. So sorry. but I can't see Hanyuu as just some irredeemable bitch who only wants Rika to suffer.

I get making the Umineko connections with Featherine and trying to come up with an explanation for how everything ties together between the connected universes is fun but this one just doesn't sit right with me.