higurashi (reread)

12 Nov, 2025

tatarigoroshi (祟殺し編) END:

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. keiichi is looking up at the daytime sky and thinking to himself “I killed someone.”

ah…. so much happened in the end of this chapter that i completely forgot. it was good. it set up a lot of foreshadowing for the answer episodes. there is so much bad stuff that happens in this bad end, just rapid fire from pretty much exactly where i left off last time.

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. Satoko is on the screen naked except for a large towel. She says “ ...Would you mind... telling me what's going on..?” Keiichi says

after killing someone, keiichi feels the whole world shift around him and from here on out everything does pretty much go sharply downhill. the first weird and bad turn things take is ooishi shows up and gets violent with keiichi (again, for the second time this episode I think)

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. ooishi is smirking on the screen. he says “… keiichi maebara san, is this a hobby of yours - digging holes on rainy nights?” “………” When I didn’t respond, ooishi took one of the buckets they were using to bail out the muddy water, scooped up some of it… and splashed the whole thing in my face.

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. ooishi is smirking on the screen. He says “what a rebellious look you’re wearing. Why don’t we use this opportunity to teach you a thing or two in that regard? We really do live in peace these days. When I was your age, corporal punishment was the norm for everything -“

interesting parallel with the adult-on-child abuse happening in satoko’s home this episode. being a kid is hell.

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. The screen is black. An unknown speaker says “He said it smelled. He said the food smelled. He said it smelled because I smelled. He said I smelled because I don’t take baths. He said to take a bath three times a day because I was a smelly person.”

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. The screen is black. An unknown speaker says “I won’t give in, I won’t cry. I won’t give in. I won’t cry.”

still image from the higurashi visual novel. Satoko is naked except for a large towel. She is frowning gently. She says “What's going on.....Why are there. so many
police cars...” and Keiichi thinks,
I gently put Satoko down in the shade of the thicket.

keiichi rescues satoko from her home in a confusing and sad scene that i think leaves ambiguous whether her uncle was still alive or what. also rika gets brutally murdered. im a rika kinnie so im allowed to chuckle darkly a little about this.

still image from the original higurashi novel. The screen is black and splattered with a lot of blood. Keiichi narrates: “ ...Rika-chan... ......she..............
..she.........she... her... her st-stomach...
...Was cut... wide open, vertically... completely open!!!“

satoko thinks keiichi killed rika and they have a dramatic standoff on a rickety looking, high-up forest bridge. satoko monologues and we learn that she has been perceiving herself as cursed by oyashiro-sama this whole time… i

when she uses the same language as keiichi did re: feeling suddenly transported to the some strange cursed world…. oof. going through something isolating and traumatically awful really does feel like that huh.

the confrontation ends with satoko pushing keiichi off the bridge, which I think is an epic culmination of her character arc this episode. she did nothing wrong

still image from the original higurashi visual novel. Satoko is standing on a bridge, naked but covering herself with a large blue towel. She is crying and shouting “I won’t… I won’t lose to the likes of you!! I won’t lose… to some stupid curse!! I will never, ever lose to you! I will never lose to you, not ever!!”

satoko’s reason for believing herself cursed is also heartbreaking…

still image from the original higurashi visual novel. A bridge is pictured. Satoko says “… I know. I understand… this is… oyashiro-sama’s… curse… his judgement… for messing up the ritual storehouse… and forsaking my best friend.”

as is the reveal that rika has also endured some amount of abuse…

still image from the original higurashi visual novel. The screen is black. Satoko says “ I should... have said it was me.
...I should have said so... to save my best friend from that false accusation... without being afraid of Rika's father's terrible temper.
Rika gritted her teeth and cried... at the crime she didn't remember doing...”

also brings us full circle with ooishi’s comment about corporal punishment, see above. being a kid is hell.

still image from the original higurashi visual novel. A bridge is pictured. Keiichi thinks to himself: “ Finally, everything came back into focus... and I saw Satoko.
...And I was surprised... at what an odd expression she had.”

still image from the original higurashi visual novel. A bridge is pictured. Keiichi thinks to himself: “ It was... the first time I'd seen it.
...It was an expression of righteous anger meant only for those who needed to die.”

things take another drastic turn after keiichi falls to his death. everybody in the village dies in an apparent volcanic gas explosion. except for keiichi. he gets knocked out and sleeps through the night on the riverbank. the scene where he heads back home in the morning and finds what’s happened in the village is extremely eerie.

still image from the original higurashi visual novel. keiichi is thinking to himself: “ It was the first time I'd heard Hinamizawa be so utterly silent.
...When I thought back, it seemed like birds always chirped in the morning, cicadas always cried loudly in the afternoon, and higurashi always rose up in chorus in the evening always something to hear.”

still image from the original higurashi visual novel. Keiichi thinks to himself: “…..As they passed, there was an awful smell that made me want to choke.
...It wasn't the same burned eggs smell as before... but an even worse one, like rotten crab meat.
What on earth was it?
...I'd been enshrouded in one terrible stench after another all day.“

he survives even though the place where he laid unconscious all night should have, by all calculations, been in the path of the gas. a big riddle, and a big clue.

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. The screen is black. A journalist is interviewing keiichi some time after the incident. He says “

there is also a neat sequence at the end of this chapter that shows a list of everybody who died and like what their official cause of death was - also a huge resource/clue for anyone trying to solve higurashi themselves!

still image from the original higurashi visual novel. Rika is on the screen smiling and saying “everyone died together as friends”

i think this chapter is maybe the most solvable of any of the question episodes (especially assuming you’re a first time reader). the first thing necessary to understand in solving higurashi is the mechanism of oyashiro-sama’s curse and i think this chapter has some big clues for that.

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. Satoko, mion, and takano are on the screen. Takano says:

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. shion and Rena are on the screen. Rena says “

there was also a ton of foreshadowing at the end (and in the all-cast review session) about where the answer arcs will go in terms of: what happens once we solve the mystery? is there any universe where the hinamizawa kids could see a good end??

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. satoko is onscreen and looking concerned, saying “ ..You know, I just thought of something. If Keiichi-san gave the doll to Mion-san... And if Ooishi-san and my uncle hadn't appeared... would we not have spent our time in peace. without anything happening?

OK whew I think that hits all of the major points that were memorable for me and that I wanted to document. I’m looking forward to being able to read through these posts next time I get the urge to reread higurashi lol. This shit is long. But it’s also really really good. I really like this story and I really care about these characters. A lot of other people have already written up incredible essays/guides/analyses/solutions and I know im not breaking any real ground here but im having a blast and I like having a receptacle to put my thoughts as I go. Yay yippee

a still image from the original higurashi visual novel. Rika is looked bashfully at the camera and saying “No chance of oyashiro-sama’s curse for me, is there?”

Now that ive gotten this posted I can move on to the next chapter! In the all cast review session they reference meakashi as coming up next but in the compilation from the original VN im reading it has himatsubushi next?

This looks to be a smaller chapter, I can’t remember if it was in the manga or why it’s between these first three arcs and meakashi but im excited to continue on. I think meakashi was one of my favorite chapters the first time. so… im excited to get there too! see ya!

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