Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei: Irotoutoshi-hen

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I'm not really going to talk about chapters 1-16, I think a lot of them are really amazing (Consistent 9/10 and 10/10 for the most part, albeit with a few more boring chapters towards the end, but its not anything too bad). It is unfortunate the last two had to be so incredibly different.


Right... I don't know what Ryukishi decided to create here but lets talk about the last two chapters.

Chapter 17. So apparently it is very normal to want to murder your spouse, and think to yourself "I will divorce you, I will kill you!!" and think that loads of times, "Same goes for ... any other person out there" according to Satako. I don't think I need to explain why this is NOT normal, and the rest of the higurashi series that Ryukishi have had pretty good takes on mental health and relationship dynamics for the most part, this one is just... wrong... According to others he allegedly also tried to push the "its normal to want to murder your partner" thing in the past (not read this myself, could be untrue), meaning it is not just a freakish one time thing that he's trying to pull.

Chapter 18. WHAT IS THIS??!!?! Why is the last chapter of Irotoutoshi a Higurashi Kira episode??????? You know that god awful episode of Higurashi Kira, well I admit it is not AS bad as that episode of Kira, but this is still ridiculous. Chapter 17 ended with a business card collected from the villain labelled "BBKB". The OG adult cast go to investigate this.

So what does BBKB mean? "Baby KinK Bondage"

So he's gone and willingly tied himself up and got himself ready for the whole experience, however unbeknownst to him and the readers, the entire adult cast infiltrated the place in BDSM gear (except Keichi who rocks up in a full suit). This was very jarring.

Mion opens the door, comes in and says "If you promise to change your ways and respect one another, give Kei-chan a holler!" followed by Rena who says something more generic, then Satako who says "Now then... It it time to start adult club activities?" swinging around some handcuffs in her full BDSM gear with devil horns.

This is up there with one of the most garbage things I have read. This chapter is arguably more tone shifting and worse than the Dragon Ball Z fight in Sotsu...

Yeah that terrible content summarises 18.1 - 18.3

This leaves 18.4 - 18.5 for the epilogue.

It is underwhelming and just delegates 10 pages for the children and a similar amount for the adults.

The potential for this was insane, the work that already existed in this arc was very good, why did the series have to end in this way???????

I could go into why the beginning of this arc is 10/10 peak content, but after reading the last chapter waiting a week for every 12 pages of this chapter, I do not have the motivation to explain why my rating is a 6/10, and not a 1/10.

I am quite literally too upset to complain more, but I can complain more A TON MORE, did not even talk about plot holes and the underwhelming epilogue in a good amount of detail. I'm sure another review will talk about this...