Back when I watched the first episode of Higurashi, I never thought I would enjoy the series as much as I did. With the exception of the hinting at a horror/mystery element, the first episode made it seem like the series was going to be fairly predictable, with a cast of pretty stereotypical characters. But now that I’ve watched all of it, I have a totally different view of it. Sure, it has its share of flaws, but for the most part, its great blend of suspense, drama, horror, and mystery, all conveyed through a series of story arcs, each acting as a slightly different reality of the same story, while also revealing more of the main and complex mystery of the series as whole, really makes Higurashi a very unique show.
As for the series’ ending, I think it’s somewhat satisfying. I know for a fact that I’ll definitely have to watch all the episodes again in order to put all the complex pieces of the plot and story arc continuity together, but I think the message that’s being conveyed is pretty clear; it’s basically, “if you’re scared or something’s troubling you, you’ve got to have the courage to trust someone, especially your friends…or else things will just get worse and you’ll end up hurting yourself and those around you.” I know that sounds a bit lame, but really, the whole tragedy of Higurashi was the lack of an important thing; trust. Yeah, the whole truth behind Oyashiro-sama’s curse was a very important factor, and once we realize(not until the last couple of episodes) that a virus is to blame, and that all along we’ve been dealing with poor sick people and not a real demon lord, makes it all the more tragic, yet thought-provoking too of course.
But anyway, back to the “trust” thing I was talking about, pretty much all the story arcs ended tragically because the characters who were suffering the most lost the will to trust in others; in the first arc, Keiichi lost his trust in Rena and Mion, and even ended up killing them(and ironically, we don’t learn until the final arc that he was the one who was sick with the “virus” and they were really trying to help him); in the second and fifth arcs, Mion and/or Shion(LOL, I’ve given up trying to figure out who’s who =P) lost nearly all trust in each other and everyone around them, especially Keiichi; in the third arc, Satoko lost her trust in Keiichi(Keiichi kind of lost his trust in himself too), and in the last arc, Rena lost her trust in everyone else…but finally, Keiichi was able to snap her out of it, and for the first time, prevent another tragic ending. Oyashiro-sama’s curse really just provided the kind of mysterious and horrific situations needed to test how much trust the characters would have despite their demoralizing circumstances. So each arc was pretty much a failure until the last one, when Keiichi and Rena finally broke the “chain of mistrust.”
And as for that last part with Rika and Ooishi, where we hear once again that Tomitake and Takano have been killed, reinforces the idea that the tragedy of Hinamizawa is destined to repeat itself, as we’ve seen already through all the connected yet different story arcs. But whether or not the outcomes will continue to turn out good like the last arc, or bad like the others, isn’t quite clear. But in spite of this, the last few episodes of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni definitely clarify a lot of the series’ mysteries, and they also provide a fairly satisfying and uplifting, yet slightly foreboding, ending to a great horror/mystery story.
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