Higurashi When They Cry: Dice Killing Arc
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| I have a friend who's a huge fan of Higurashi as well (she's the one who pulled me into the series, hehe), and she has the VN knowledge; she's given me tidbits here and there: like the whole broccoli versus cauliflower thing (which is green). So, the Berncastel thing was exciting to see, but not having played the games myself, I'm still a little hazy on that... Otherwise, I thought that this ep was a good close on the anime. I'm looking forward to the next episode, The Daybreak Chapter. By the way, the episode has been subbed, the subs are just pretty bad. Check Youtube to find it. |
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| Does the visual novel have an english translation? If yes where can I download the translated game? |
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HouseofTwinkies said: Prepare to be shocked. This is the worst single anime episode I have ever seen ever. All that happens in this episode is walls and walls and dreary boring text. Whatever message they were trying to convey could have been summed up in 5 minutes, but no. We are inflicted with a solid half hour of nonsense that ends up being entirely inconsequential to the story. All they do is prattle on about how both worlds are subjectively equal. I got the message right away. They kicked that dead horse till time was up. I thought this OVA was going to answer a lot about Himizawa mystery. Guess it was just filler. Sheesh, then you definitely wouldn't enjoy reading the Higurashi VNs. Either that, or I must have a godly long attention span (I've been known to play VNs for hours upon hours without losing interest). I really liked this episode, personally. It gave you a lot to think about and I'm a sucker for long-winded speeches. Also, about Bernkastel: (spoiler because you won't find any of this out until you read ALL of Umineko) |
| I was slightly looking forward to Rika killing her mother...rofl, but this OVA was surely worth watching. One more episode and we won't see these characters in anime ever again? I really hope not, but at least we get a slight lead in to Umineko ;D |
Bleed for me.  |
| Good episode, I guess. One thing that bugs me though: what happened to Hanyuu? Didn't she become real (i.e. possessing a physical body) during the final arc in Higurashi Kai? |
Confucius say man who stand on toilet is high on pot. |
| When I first saw Higurashi Rei Ep 4 without subs as soon as it came out and saw a conspicous lack of matricide or any violence at all I was disappointed. Episode 3 had gotten me excited for what would be Higurashi's last violent psycho murder. when I heard that the only way Rika would be able to return to the world she had spent more than a century trying to bring about was to kill her mother I thought we'd be getting a nostalgic return to season 1. What else was the point of Rika's rather gratuitous pummeling of her longtime best friend besides to establish how much of a toll this new world was taking on Rika's already taxed sanity? Maybe even insinuating that it might be enough to let the Syndrome to start taking hold. Rika was freaking SCARY the way she was talking to her after beating her. But no, after all that all we got was a lot of dialogue and then an "It was all a dream" ending. But after I had gotten a chance to see what was in those 25 minutes of almost pure dialogue and that it wasn't a true "it was all a dream" ending I didn't feel so betrayed. It's still not Higurashi the way we anime only fans know it as, but that doesn't mean it was a bad ending. The seasons have progressively grown to be more and more about Rika with the first season where Rika just a main character, the second the protaganist and finally in the third Hinamizawa and the rest of the characters cease to matter. Season three is simply how Hanyuu rehabilitates Rika so that she can live in the Hinamizawa that she had created with all it's imperfections. Rika needed to get over having temporarily granted some of the powers of a god . Because she had spent the past 100 years trying to fix Hinamizawa by using her knowledge of the future, which from her point of view was the past, she would continue to try doing so in her new life because she didn't have any experience being a normal human. Normal humans learn from memories. Dreams are memories that come from worlds we create with our unconscous mind. Neither the worlds Rika creates with her unconscous nor the worlds she had been to with Hanyuu existed in her new world. So Hanyuu's explanation of her trip to a different world as a dream was to discourage her from trying to apply memories which were essentially dreams to her life the same way she would real memories, because if she did then her vision of reality would be hopelessly skewed and she'd go crazy. The choice Hanyuu gave Rika was a test to see if she could give up the pride and aloofness that having the powers of a god inevitably gave her. In the world with the dam Rika was a pariah because of her cold demenor. This is what Rika's life would have become like if she were reborn and had to relive her life. Hanyuu wanted to see if Rika could give up what the way she had been living: trying to correct every problem to create a perfect world. The best case scenario if she tried to live that way is that she would somehow succeed but at the cost of everyone shunning her for acting arrogantly and interfereing in their lives. Of course, that would lead Rika to the conclusion that doing anything would just result in more problems and that isn't a very healthy attitude. So Hanyuu's condition that she must kill her mother to return to the new world showed her that by staying in her new world Rika had created she had killed all the people who were not alive in it like Satako's parent's and her mom whether she did it by acting or not acting. So ultimately Hanyuu's goal was to teach Rika that from now on her actions or lack of actions would have permanent consequences and that she would not be able to depend on Hanyuu to reset things if she messed up or her memories of alternate worlds to accurately predict the future anymore. There are multiple meanings to this episode which is why I like it even if I was disappointed that they cut out the scene of her killing her mother. I would have at least liked to hear more about it than one sentence after she woke up. I dont know why they didn't show it, They truck scene was just as bloody as any other Higurashi episode so it's not that they are trying to censor the blood. |
| Decent ep, not great, not terrible really, but it seemed a little too full of exposition. I got the point of it, but I wanted to see something actually happen. One point of confusion though: I get more or less who Fredrika Bernkastel (sp?) is, but is the episode implying that Rika is related to her, or is she just comparing herself to Fredrika? Looking forward to ep 5 though, seeing the Daybreak arc get animated was pretty much the reason I watched this OVA. |
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| Oh man, Rika got totally trolled by Hanyuu in the end. I like this ep though. I give it a 4/5 for explaining a few questions that I had about Higurashi for some time. |
SevenSwell said: You gave it a lot of thought, didn't You? Quite a nice explanation. The only thing I would like to add is what I thought about few minutes ago. "She had to kill her mother" If You think about it, it can be interpreted in this way: she woke up in a world where her parents were alive, where she could have a perfectly normal life as a kid. To return to previous world she had to kill her own parent... who was in fact already dead in her original world, right? To kill her may also mean to leave the past behind. She had to forget about her mother and accept that she is already dead. Even if she was happy seeing her in this world, if she want to return, she have to accept her death. Had to kill her in her own mind. Adds yet another interesting element to the interpretation of this dream-like world Hanyuu created for her, don't You think? Is pretty much how I intrepreted it, it wasnt a case that Studio Deen didnt want to animate another killing, the point is Rika DIDNT actually kill her mother, when she wakes up in the imperfect world she assumes she did the act, but its never confirmed. Hanyuu's interpretation is she 'killed' her mother by choosing to return to a world where her mother was already dead. |
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noteDhero said: I liked this episode. I thought it was a really brave choice to go for an actionless, line-heavy episode after all the build up from episode 3. The witch comment was strange to me, but besides that, really awesome. Yep, it was a very straightforward and hard choice to make, but the result is on par with the risk. One of the best Higurashi episodes ever, by far, and a masterpiece scenaristically speaking. A worthy ending for this wonderful saga. |
 In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
| All of these episodes have been pretty horrible and I am thoroughly disappointed; I feel like I've been wasting my time on these. Way too much explanation of the same thing over and over again, hugely anti-climactic, absolutely nothing going on action-wise, blah :( I still love Higurashi to death so sadly, I'll be watching the last OVA even though it also looks like a complete waste of time as well, but my rating will probably hit a 5 for these. |
| Here is what I think. Rika DID kill her mother, and Hanyuu is only telling her it was a dream to try and preserve her sanity. |
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Haylias said: Here is what I think. Rika DID kill her mother, and Hanyuu is only telling her it was a dream to try and preserve her sanity. I don't think that the sanity of Rika would goes off with that because of everything she had endured this far. I do think that Rika did kill her mother and that Hanyuu told her that all of this was a dream so that Rika feel more at ease, as a friend I think Hanyuu did well. If Hanyuu would have told Rika that she had kill her parent she would have regret, that would mean that the peace she have now has come with the price of her mother and she would always have this on her concious. Now Hanyuu did took this opportunity to teach a lesson to Rika |
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| So after all that .. turned out that its only a dream ... oh well .. great episode .. quite touching xD |
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| There is so much philosophy in this episode, which is very good. It shows that I am not the only one crazy out there..... In other words, suppose Rika lost her power to go between worlds. Then, whatever happened in the other worlds become completely MEANINGLESS to her, as if they were a dream. This is simply because what happened in these world never happened in the current one, they remain as "what if"s but never actually realize. To compare one world to the next is something only an entity that can travel between them can do, such as the witch Bernkastel, and to some extend the witch Beatrice (although it's a bit different). Man, want to finish Umineko already...... |
bla bla bla The endless debate between fans and haters. At one point, after spending a lot of time on MAL, you just realize it's totally pointless.Niko-kun said: On MAL, everyone who has used the lame rating system becomes a critic and an intellectual by default, haven't you heard? |
| I watched Higurashi (2 seasons and OVA) after 2 episodes of Umineko and... the references in this episode got me more hyped for the latter. ^^ So next OVA episode will be some random comedy? |
| Part of me wants to believe that this other "pure" world actually did exist and Rika choose to go back her "sinful" world by killing her mother and Hanyuu was hiding that "fact" from her in order not to add anymore "sin" in her. Another part of me with the aid of logic and common sense deduced (not without doubt..) that it was just a very weird and spiteful dream with the sole purpose of teaching Rika about her long forgotten sin of disrespecting her parents and her memories of them. A third part say "TO HELL WITH OVERTHINKING STUFF!! JUST SHUT UP AND ENJOY THE SHOW" and enjoy it i did ^_^ |
| Wow, Hanyuu was awesome in this episode. Though I still want resurrection to keep happening. I don't exactly agree with some of the theme. |
 Old avatar and sig retired for now. |
| Interesting end to the chapter, I expected a little more though. The final OVA seems.. really weird. |
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| Well that was mean, Hanyuu pulling a prank like that just to "bully" Rika into realising her sin. |
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Megiddo said: But Rika had already been world-hopping for 100 fricking years. She should perfectly understand the disconnect between the worlds. It made no sense. I completely relate to this statement. |
Old avatar and sig retired for now. |
| It was kind of a "Meh" episode to me. Could've been better in my opinion. But I can't wait for the next episode. CRAZY RENA!!!! =D |
| This is the episode that I probably like the best. The philosophy is something I enjoyed the most. It was brilliantly explained/executed that it was not boring to watch or hear. My thumbs up for this ep. Up next? I don't particularly look forward to it. It's somewhat just to end the show in feel-good manner, or is it? I wanted a twist. Hopefully, there will be. So now, I end up having something to look forward to. Ah... |
LieilaJul 29, 2009 6:35 AM
| While I would've liked to see a Rika killing scene ;P, this was still one heck of an episode. I was never a big fan of Hanyuu. but man was she awesome here. I just loved her conversations with Rika and what she did for her. Props to that. |
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| This ep was kinda tricky but... it made sense of everything up to now. Sometimes we're forgetting that we're no gods, aren't we? Anyway - after this one I can't wait for next one! ;) |
| <img src="http://i.imgur.com/0iMCA.gif" border="0"> <img src="http://i.imgur.com/PJuVE.gif" border="0"><img src="http://myanimelist.net/signature/GoMati.png" border="0"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/eXzr6.gif" border="0"> <img src="http://i.imgur.com/b6G3C.gif" border="0"> The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed. Cheers to people from Poland! ;> |
| Bernkastel :) |
| That episode was good. 4/5 I was shocked., I didn't think it was dream. I thought it was real, and that she really had to make that difficult choice.. and now that she is in the world she wanted with Hanyuu. She seems happy there. Ever Since the first season this anime got better and better. Can't Wait for the Final episode. ^.^ |
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| I hope to see bloodshed in this episode. but I love this episode nonetheless. This is perhaps Hanyuu's way of reminding Rika that she's a human. I think this arc is to make Rika realize that she's human. And a human only get 1 life. Rika, no longer remember she's human, have look down on all human like a god, and that includes her parents. She love and respect only the few individuals that fight besides her. Like a goddess and her trusted Heaven Knights. Then, she finally realize once again that she's human, so she'll be going back to live like a human again. It is a perfect ending for "Oyashiro-Sama reincarnation Rika". Rika, is now a normal girl, living in Hinamizawa. Whoever played Higurashi Daybreak on PSP would've got an idea of what the next episode will be like, I'm one of the lucky few I take it . ^_^ |
AirStylesSep 5, 2009 2:23 AM
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| That was a pretty deep discussion they had at the end. To some, living a life of complete peace may be much more desirable to those who weathered misfortune and couldn't get over it. But in the end, it isn't something that needs to be pondered over. Because ours lives are what they are and we can't change it. Unless you're Hanyuu, lol. I'm not sure what the point of Rei is... aside from giving Rika some unneeded character development? |
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| So it was all a dream (or was it?) never trust a God ;) I was kinda looking forward to see what glorious method Rika was going to use to kill her mother but I guess we moved on from needles killings about halfway in season 2. Loved philosophic Rena and her explication of why this world is better in it's own way =) |
| this arc has too many wtfness to me... if it was indeed Hanyuus way for punishing Rika it was stupid. Shes not and never was a normal girl and after thousand years of misery she didnt deserve something like that. Besides i dont think that Rika after all the fight she went through was willing to mindlessly throw her life away here and there from time to time, lol, i dont think she was ever fine with any life she lost, what happened to her cause of that truck was just accident -_- Hanyuu should just shut up and help, cause it was her not Rika who through this hundred or thousand or something years was whining all the time "oh no, we are helpless, we wont change anything, dont fight rika cause you will feel dissapointed, nanodesu ><" if not Rika, Keichi and the others she would never believe in miracle and would be still trapped in their endless loop, so whats with that high talk.... -______- also what was Hanyuu babbling about having kids if she herself is physically 8 years old?  jk, jk, but its still too sudden and too weird for me...overall this whole Rei was strange, i would ratherthink of Kai as a real end of the story, first and last episode of Rei was ok as a lighthearted stupid comiedies, but i just didnt like Saikoroshi-hen, i think it was unnecessary, thats all.... |
| ok don't get me wrong this episode was pretty cool and all but it totally ignored the previous episodes of higurashi and just focused on the tragedy of Rika's parents. What happened to the desease? Hanyuu did explain that since everyone's life is happy that there would be no signs of them losing it. However, the dam was still going to be built which meant that the citizens would be seperated from Rika, the Queen that kept everyone under control. So wouldn't they lose it and become level 5 if they were not with her? Yeah they are happy now but they would eventually become stress and lose it. So it seems to me that Rika didn't really have a choice. It was either going back to the imperfect world with her friends by killing her mother, or wait till all the citizens became murders and killing themselves from the disease after they moved. |
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| Splendid episode. I was hoping the OVAs would have violence and psychopaths in them though but I guess they weren't focusing on that this time around. vrockchick89 said: Umm I think in this world they didn't even have that disease? That would explain it.What happened to the desease? Hanyuu did explain that since everyone's life is happy that there would be no signs of them losing it. However, the dam was still going to be built which meant that the citizens would be seperated from Rika, the Queen that kept everyone under control. So wouldn't they lose it and become level 5 if they were not with her? Yeah they are happy now but they would eventually become stress and lose it. So it seems to me that Rika didn't really have a choice. It was either going back to the imperfect world with her friends by killing her mother, or wait till all the citizens became murders and killing themselves from the disease after they moved. |
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5layer said: Splendid episode. I was hoping the OVAs would have violence and psychopaths in them though but I guess they weren't focusing on that this time around. vrockchick89 said: Umm I think in this world they didn't even have that disease? That would explain it.What happened to the desease? Hanyuu did explain that since everyone's life is happy that there would be no signs of them losing it. However, the dam was still going to be built which meant that the citizens would be seperated from Rika, the Queen that kept everyone under control. So wouldn't they lose it and become level 5 if they were not with her? Yeah they are happy now but they would eventually become stress and lose it. So it seems to me that Rika didn't really have a choice. It was either going back to the imperfect world with her friends by killing her mother, or wait till all the citizens became murders and killing themselves from the disease after they moved. yeah that kind of makes more sense |
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| Hanyuu was little too harsh to Rika, but she got good means for her, and hopefully Rika understood it. Well I was hoping to see little horror scenes her, like Rika when she kills her mother, but that wouldn't be horror when I think again, but I would feel sad because there is no way Rika would show signs of syndrome with that murderous intent. :1 Rena explained nicely situation, even Rika was amazed how she didn't think it through. Only she didn't say us that u gain something loose something and those bonds connected with your pain and their pain is what reminds u who are your friends, in Rika's case. |
| This episode made me think about if id rather live in a world where i hadn't experienced any sadness, any hardship etc..i guess rena's words had an impact on me. Only one more episode left T_T |
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| Okay, so maybe this was just me as I haven't read the manga/played the games, but what the crap was Hanyuu's backstory really about? She had her daughter kill her....why? And how did this affect her daughter? And then why can only Rika see Hanyuu as the 8th reincarnation, but Rika's mother can't? Doesn't it make sense that if her mom's the reincarnation, she should be able to see Hanyuu? That really made no sense whatsoever to me. And why does Hanyuu suddenly care about any reincarnation at all? What's so special about Rika? I was really lost and confused on that. The anime did a TERRIBLE job of trying to explain (or really rather, NOT explain but just sorta hastily allude to) that. |
| Lovely episode. It's quite meaningful when Rena compared Rika's situation to flowers and illustrated it using sweets for the game. All hail Rena!<33 |
| Awesome arc! And more awesome ep. I think it's a very good idea to place this serious arc between fan-servise episodes =P Rika's dream, Rena's speach about flowers and candies, other characters support all this in sum makes very deep impression. And btw I think that Rena's speach is very beatiful (at least I really like it) Rena owned <3 Many worlds full of riddles and a lot of the dialogues, seeming empty and senseless but if to listen, you will find something for itself. That's why I love Higurashi ~_~ Also that phrase "I must return to being Furude Rika, rather than the witch Bernkastel...". This But where is explanations for the non-VN players? T_T zonnikku said: |
| I wasn't going to watch this OVA series at first b/c I thought like most OVA series it was going to be nothing but comedy and fan service (Which is not bad by any means) but, in this case I didn't want to lose the heavy impressions the first two installments had made, they were so powerful and kept you on the edge of you seat the whole time, and even paranoid a lot of the time, kinda let you know how the characters felt in the show. But, after reading about the OVAs on ANN and finding out that they were not all comedy/fan service, I had to watch them. Disregarding the two fan service/comedy episodes (Which were great), I have to say I nearly cried. Rika had been my favorite character since episode one of the first installment, at the time I thought she was side character and Keiichi was the main. When she was going down that road on her bike my heart was pounding insanely b/c I knew Higurashi and I knew that if you think something bad could happen in Higurashi, then it would. And, low and behold guess what? Something did happen. Then that "dream" nearly made me go insane, I could never live in a world like that, if I was Rika I would have probably reached Level 5 in that "dream" within 5min, thank God she made the right choice in the end. Amazing series through and through, although it was hard for me to watch them all get slaughtered over and over again in the first part of the show, I mean Jebus, that shit was intense. Also, I read on ANN that the creators of Higurashi are starting a new manga, I never read manga but, I may have to pick this one up :O. |
| I love how it the plot and the scenes are executed well together; and I also like the theme or the lessons in this chapter. Just some beliefs and fictional story. But it's Higurashi!!! XD I just can say that I love time/world/space-travelling stories... I missed these guys alot... Most specially, Rika and Rena. |
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