Update Eighty-Four: 23 November 2017

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

All of Higurashi is good, but Meakashi is when it gets really good.

The fifth arc of the eight-arc visual novel series marks the transition from the first half’s ‘question’ arcs to the second half’s ‘answer’ arcs. It starts off with a bang, placing the reader in Shion Sonozaki’s shoes rather than the previous protagonist, Keiichi Maebara. The game starts off a year before the first three arcs do, and then continues on to follow the plot of the second arc up until its conclusion, all from Shion’s perspective.

This is wonderful. Shion, the one main character introduced in the second arc rather than the first, had always been a bit of a dark horse. By seeing things from her perspective, the narrative opens up and 07th Expansion begins to give readers answers to their questions as well as rounding out her character and her twin sister Mion’s as well. The end of this arc shows us a change that starts a pattern that will repeat in the upcoming answer arcs, eventually setting the state for the finale arc.

I’ve read through all of Higurashi once before, so reading it again lets me pick out all of the foreshadowing I didn’t see the first time. Shion is probably my favorite character, so of course I’m going to love a whole episode from her perspective! That perspective isn’t always a good one, though - while her situation is sympathetic, Shion takes things way out of line by the end. She’s an interesting, complex character and it shows how far someone can go when pushed - but how that same someone can be so single-minded to forget incredibly important things that end up making the situation way way worse by their own hand.

This is all, of course, meaningless taken on its own. Higurashi is meant to be read all together in order. If you’re at all interested in Higurashi, start with the first chapter and go on from there. Each one is better than the last (well, except the fourth one, but that’s an extra one anyway).

Note on graphics: I dislike the MangaGamer sprites and used the PS3 sprites and Voices patch to play with the PS3 release’s sprites, which I love. I also want to note here how lovely the background art is - it’s very detailed and lively in a very appealing way.

Higurashi has been on my Visual Novel Masterlist since the beginning - I’ve added this review for reference.

Next up: I won a Playing Appreciated giveaway!

See you soon!