Let’s Start Over – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei OVA 2

Author: nova

Just when I thought I had lost my ability to genuinely care about some anime franchise, Higurashi comes and makes short work of my futile efforts at declaring my inner fanboy dead. This post will contain a bunch of spoilers so be advised. If you are not familiar with the Higurashi franchise yet, then stop wasting your time here and start watching!

Hello friends.

Let me start with a brief refresher for the Higurashi veterans. The first season of Higurashi anime was sort of a general knowledge course on the story background and characters, mainly focusing on a murder mystery taking place in a seemingly peaceful town of Hinamizawa and following a newcomer in the neighbourhood, Maebara “K1” Keiichi. The second season, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, used the basis laid down by its predecessor to build a dramatic and thrilling story about a village doomed into an endless loop of destruction. Each time the inhabitants of Hinamizawa are killed in one way or another and reincarnated back to a time before the tragedy takes place once more. It’s up to a young girl Furude Rika to fight back and break this loop, as she is the only person capable of remembering events from the past cycles of destruction. With the help of Keiichi Rika ultimately manages to unite her friends and the townspeople to overcome the forces behind Hinamizawa’s tragic fate – a shadowy organization disguised as a medical research institute leading a study on mysterious parasites that infest the population of the village. This organization, lead by an ambitious and vengeful scientist Takano Miyo, is in part merely a subcontractor for a more influential group of conspirators known only as Tokyo. At the end of HiguKai Takano is defeated and her organization disbanded by governmental authorities and permanent peace is restored to Hinamizawa. After decades, perhaps even centuries of living through the repeating tragedy Rika is freed to live on as a normal girl.

What path does Rei take then? I judged from the first OVA release that it would be merely a fanservice ride and maybe explore some of the side stories in the franchise such as the manga arc Oni Sarashi-hen (NATSUMIIIIIIIII) – and granted, the first episode was rather hilarious with its Daybreak-references. But looks like I was wrong as the second OVA went and made me remember how and why I became a higutard in the first place. The episode does no less than completely change the entire setting of the story so far.

To say it bluntly: Rika dies (I accidentally the whole truck). And as it has been the case thus far, she is reincarnated into some point back in time before her death. Think it’s Miyo and co. all over again? Or some new evil that is threatening Hinamizawa? Think again. Sure these would have been easy picks for the production crew but instead the show pulls off something more original. As Rika explores the world around her, she notices that many things are completely different from every other “version” of Hinamizawa she has witnessed in the past. Seeing Satoshi and Rena she assumes that the it’s June 1982, just a bit before the disappearance of Satoshi. But it soon turns out that it’s actually the year 1983 and Satoshi is alive and doing well. The Takano Clinic is still there but instead of Takano Miyo or Irie Kyousuke it is managed by an ordinary doctor who has no idea whatsoever on such things as the Hinamizawa syndrome. At school Rika notes that Keiichi is not present – in this world he apparently never moved to Hinamizawa – and that she and Satoko have never become friends. She inquires Rena on the matter and finds out a whole lot of things that never appeared in the “past” Hinamizawas:
1. Rena still addresses herself as Reina – in this world her parents never broke up and now live happily together in Hinamizawa – thus there never was a need for her to abandon her old first name.
2. Satoko is doing well with her stepfather and her brother Satoshi never succumbed to the Hinamizawa syndrome – Satoko is no longer alone and thus never had the need to make friends with Rika.
3. The Dam War never happened – instead Hinamizawa’s leading families negotiated a beneficial deal with the government and so agreed to the dam project which would turn the entire village area into a lake.
4. The Takano Clinic was founded by Miyo’s guardian Takano Hifumi and apparently never had anything to do with shady parasite research nor did Miyo herself manage it – thus the danger of Hinamizawa being destroyed is eliminated as nobody is targeting Rika’s life.

So what’s wrong with Hinamizawa? WAKARIMASEN LOL. Because there is no parasite research that involves doing nasty things to Rika, there appears to be no threat to Hinamizawa’s existence aside from the dam project. GOOD END? That’s what it seems, but what about Rika? In this new world she’s left alone and without a purpose in a world where her old friends hardly notice her existence. Or is everything as fine and dandy as it seems? Where is this world headed and what is Rika’s role in it? Man, it’s been a while since I’ve last encountered as thrilling mystery in an anime. Hang in there Rika!

She can check out my Saimaa ringed seal any day if you know what I’m saying.

TL;DR: Dis shit be veri gud. Can’t wait for 22nd of May. Also, Tamura Yukari fucking rocks.