Higurashi Chapter Five Drove me to Madness (A Comprehensive Story Analysis)

[@insertfunnynamehere1673]

now I want a "I was dragged to the Sonozakini family torture dungeon, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" shirt

[@therethan-family1234]

One unmentioned part of this arc that really stuck with me was Shions diary/research booklet inbetween the chapters. While it initially looks like diary entries on what she learns, by the end we learn that the booklet is evidence read through by the police after everything ended. Just because the chapters end after the protagonist's death, doesn't mean that the world stops existing. Oishi read that book and learned the truth of the murders (or at least this one). He has to wrestle with the fact that his desperate mission to find out the truth pushed several people over the edge, as he was at the very least an enabler in most chapters of Higurashi. If it wasn't for Rika's death a few days later, Oishi would've needed to accept that there was not conspiracy behind the murders, that his goal was for nothing. (I read the VN almost a decade ago the last time, so I might be wrong in some places.)

[@fawful9992]

I think the only mistake you made is that Rika's death was due to Shion in this arc, so Ooishi does have to accept that there's no conspiracy.

[@Bashamo257]

2:49:02 I find it interesting how this scene rhymes with Umineko. Keiichi cant bring himself to suspect his loved ones, so he buys in to the supernatural culprit theory, while the real culprit begs him to figure out the mystery.

[@CrossTrash]

The more I think about it the more I realize (Umineko spoilers) The plot of Umineko is just a heavily extended version of this chapter. I guess Ryukishi looked at the mystery of chapter 2 and 5 and went "holdup I can make an entire story of this."

[@bl0ggsM4rbl00d]

I find interesting that any character at any given time can appear to be going crazy for different reasons. It's almost as if anyone that was born in Hinamizawa or, at the very least, resides there for long enough is as likely as anyone among themselves to go crazy. Maybe something's wrong with the place and not the people living there 🤔

[@garrettallen7427]

3 HOUR HIGURASHI VIDEO LETS GO!

[@EmerathLizanEndilix]

I think my favorite part of the first answer arc is the fact that they answer the relatively simple mystery with a much bigger one. Yeah, you can maybe guess who *a* culprit is in each question arc for stuff that changes. But who is *the* culprit for the stuff that doesn’t change? Higurashi masterfully pulls off the “bigger bad” when you had no reason to think there was a bigger bad. At least one that wasn’t already, supposedly, obvious in the Sonozaki family. Them clearing up that red herring early actually is crucial to the masterful shift of the goal post. I can’t wait for chapter 6. It’s all coming together.

[@eternal_magician4810]

Meakashi is my favourite chapter of Higurashi. I just love the complexity and the tragedy of Shion's character and story. I especially love Ryukishi's question in the Staff Room section, asking to what point we can sympathize with a murdered and connecting it to Shions action in the story. How it actually makes us question the person we have been following this entire time Absolute masterful story telling. I also heavily suggest that people read the Meakashi manga even if they have read the VN. The Higurashi Manga is great, but Meakashi almost reaches beyond it (the only thing holding it back is the lack of Confession... that song is just to good...). The final pages are especially harrowing after they show Shion hitting her head then deciding to fall to her death. Because as she does the fantasy of her playing with the rest of the crew are shown, ending in her final monologue. Shion playing with Satoko. "But... it's okay, right? To make it into something like this?" A double page of her dead, bloody body "It's okay, right...?". Final page of her dead body lying on the ground, surrounded by the police "I'm sorry... for being born." But this was an excellent recap and story analysis of Meakashi, both from you and the VA's. Immediate subscription and I'm looking forward to your next Higurashi video. I also hope you'll cover Umineko one day. I love Higurashi, but Umineko is something else to me. Reading it changed me and how I think, and I'd love an analysis of it.

[@HectorCotto97]

The interesting thing about Higurashi is how much you learn looking back with information you gain later on. For example in Chapter 1 when Rena and Mion mentioned that they called someone over to Keiichi's house, at the time both the player/reader and Keiichi might be incredibly suspicious and paranoid but if you look back on it by this point then you can just easily assume that they called Dr. Irie to check up on Keiichi which is a completely normal thing but since Keiichi was paranoid at the time he never learned that fact and did what he did. Another interesting thing is seeing what things change with each Chapter and what stays the same, like for example: Tomitake and Takano sneaking into the storage house off screen, it's one of those things that even if you don't necessarily see it happening you can assume it's still happening behind the scenes.

[@torrik-8722]

...Saint... Lucia? My mind immediately went to the Opera Lucia di Lammermoor, where the pivotal character Lucia is in love with her family's enemy. Her older brother manipulates her into thinking her lover has betrayed her. She proceeds with her wedding to a man she does not love. She goes mad and kills him, unable to tell reality from fiction. Mistaking her own brother for her lover and other characters for others.

[@Filimaua13]

I always did love how behind the creepy horror and violence of Higurashi are sad tragic tales of people falling victim to their own insecurites and fears and their need to blame someone or something for their terrible circumstances. At the end of each arc we're always left with the same questions. Why did it end this way? How could have things turned out differently? Why do these people end up hurting the people they love? Who is to blame for all this tragedy? I look forward to the next Higurashi video!

[@captain_malaysia6855]

Answer: Miyo Takano

[@itssky8302]

This chapter was wild to me on my first read through because in Chapter 2, on the day after the Watanagashi festival, in that first scene when Mion showed up late to walk to school, I LITERALLY thought; "Hey, what if that's actually Shion only pretending to be Mion?" As the chapter continued I started to give up on the theory, especially when "Shion" and "Mion" were in the same place at the end and both seemed to "agree" which one of them was which- so, I figured I was wrong, shrugged, kept reading. Then I got to Chapter 5, and all of the small little hints stuck out to me Immediately to remind me of my theory- Shion doesn't like canned food, Shion has a taser, Shion doesn't like Satoko and that matched up with the ladder scene, Shion doesn't like Oryou and she was one of the listed victims in Chapter 2, so on and so forth. For me the moment when the twist of the chapter happened, it was a thrill because it meant I was right after all

[@bolinadegorfe5339]

when i started to watch the higurashi recap series, i kinda knew that it was a "cute girl vn becomes horror story" but god damn i wasn't expecting whatever the fuck is going on in this story and i can't wait for the next chapters

[@galacticgrandmas]

17:38 you do realize we literally love this? I adore the Uber long videos, they’ve been great to listen to as I’m doing work.

[@stagelights_]

i've had a theory since early chapter 3, that being when shion supposedly went missing after the night of the watanagashi, mion was actually the one who went missing, and shion took her place, pretending to be her, out of some sort of grudge against the sonozaki family or something. it made me feel like a big brained genius to be proven so thoroughly right in this way. its also kind of genius writing, because while the twist does come out of left field for some, it is possible to figure out on a first go around, and it answers so many questions. it doesn't feel like it was too obvious and it doesn't feel like a cheap twist for shock value. it works perfectly with the story and the pieces are in place for the reader to figure it out.

[@alternateperson6600]

Ryuukishi does say that Watanagashi is the easiest mystery. The story itself narrows down the list of possible culprits to just two; all that's left for the reader is to not fall for the misdirections and pinpoint the exact one.

[@TheReapers520]

So glad to have this series around. It's amazing to have someone break down the series so well and detailed.

[@shinkoryu14]

Ooof, the use of Dear You in the background of the emotional scenes is a punch to the gut. I watched the anime for Higurashi and Kai, but I hadn't experienced the visual novels. These are really detailed, well edited and acted, great work! If I recall correctly, Tsumihoroboshi-hen should be next, which is my favorite arc aside from the very last one, so I'm looking forward to seeing your team tackle that one!

[@twideslauriers7875]

i still cant believe this is the source of the “HIS PRONOUNS ARE THEY THEM!!!” image

[@lucadasillywolf]

Thank you for doing this chapter the justice it needs, this chapter completely changed how I viewed higurashi and I’m glad you retained using Festivals for the critical moments it is used in the VN. The VAS (especially your Shion and Mion) did amazing and is one of the few English higu casts I’ve actually enjoyed the direction of

[@becsnarblep3168]

Me watching episode 3 again: Man I can't wait for episode 5 to come out. *Episode 5 appears* Me: ... Oyashiro-sama?

[@thatitalianlameguy2235]

Do you know oyashiro sama? Yes, hinamizawa

[@Soul_Slayer]

I'm sorry but every time I hear Oryou's name, I keep thinking about Oreos and now I'm imagining a grouchy oreo cookie in a wheelchair.

[@scootie_scoot]

yippeee!!!! this chapter was one of my favorites. I love how it broke down a once simple and one dimensional “bratty sister” into a tragic and complex character. I haven’t finished the video yet, so I don’t know if you’ll go over this, but I love how the obsession of satoshi becomes clearer as the story goes on. You can see shion is in love with the idea of satoshi, how she sees him as her boyfriend and soulmate even though they barely know each other, which I find really cool. Anyways, can wait to listen to this while I clean ^.^

[@scootie_scoot]

slowly chipping away at this; god I love higurashi. Your analysis and reading makes me want to reread the series all over again!!!

[@LunDruid]

Wow this is a nice little bit of serendipity. I first experienced Higurashi back during the MangaGamer re-releases, and they had gotten up to Meakashi-hen at that time. I read through all five arcs up to that point and then spent the next few years waiting impatiently for each subsequent arc while being careful to avoid all internet discussion about the franchise in desparate fear of spoilers. And now the Almighty Algorithm has directed me to a series of amazing video essays, which at the time of this comment is up to Meakashi-hen, and I once again get to wait impatiently for the next entries. XDD I absolutely love this!

[@Designated_loser]

'If lovecraft is known for one thing besides the tentacles" bestie you forgot the racism

[@austinbusumbru123]

When I played in this chapter and I got to the part where shion sonozaki was going to put oryo into the well is when I realized oh my God I really have spent the rest of this chapter watching this mentally unstable girl go on a killing spree

[@Namepopo]

babe wake up new hedgehog's nonsense higurashi comprehensive story analysis dropped

[@Mystic_Shiki]

Babe wake up new Higurashi timeline video just dropped 🗣️

[@graphite7898]

I've been soooo excited for this video to release, been loving this series and it's high quality. Chapter 5 is easily one of if not my favorite chapter and to see it sitting at a whopping three hours has got me super excited to get around to watching this, interested to see how you breakdown the complexity of Shion and to see how the voice actors pull off some of these scenes.

[@madamrsir]

keichi is right about the socks

[@SarahWebb336]

I relate to shion so strongly. I had my own experiences of abuse at boarding school. That level of trauma, that you can't escape because you're stuck in the place without a way out, really does make you act like a sociopath. Not because you really are one - once you've recovered you really can empathise with people properly again - but because your brain can't cope with the empathy on top of protecting you from the consequences of the trauma. Shion isn't a sociopath in the way that you suggest. She never got the chance to recover the way she needed to be able to really think and feel outside herself. And telling yourself that you're not a good person so you don't deserve to have good things, as shion does in the end, is often a mantra an abused person will have in order to rationalise the world of abuse that they are forced to live in.

[@mthwr]

Letttttttttsssssssss gooooooooooooooooo !!! this will make my whole weekend for sure! thank you for the effort yall do!

[@FirstLast-lw5wh]

Feeling pretty big brained for figuring out that Shion took Mion’s place the first time she snapped about Satoshi

[@jaymaxwell8645]

Thank you for putting this together. It made the work day much more enjoyable.

[@spreadhappiness3250]

I adore Shion she is usually the type of characters I dislike but I couldn't help but to get attached to her. The voice acting is absolutely amazingly congratulations to everybody who worked on this !

[@jwriting7009]

This is straight up one of my favorite series on KZbin. I was taking a break from the platform for a week, and when I started back watching as soon as I saw this it went to the top of my list

[@widowmaker4976]

And hey, I wanna thank you for this video series. COVID messed me up last year, and due to that I couldn't really focus my brain well enough to read things more complex than newspaper articles, and the effects on my ability to focus have stayed since then. it cut my journey as a reader of this stuff fairly short, but this voiced and abridged version of the visual novel series has helped me a lot in being able to experience the story past the mid point of chapter 2.

[@AllergyPuppy]

Shion’s emotional arc here is trying to go from “self care” to “others harm”. Girlie please

[@Gocha0203]

I'm actually crying a lot lolol Your videos are so well done! Man.. that last scene really hurt. I barely knew anything about the series, in fact I knew about several spoilers due to the anime! And yet, all the context you provided has my heart in pieces LOL I'm very sad, but thank you so much!

[@rusPiglets]

After sharing the series of videos with my weeaboo friends "you know, like a liar" became sort of a meme between us. Thanks for that. Oh well, off to watch the next one.

[@Alexia-ys6yx]

Arc 5 is easily my favourite one in Higurashi, or hell, it's one of my favourite stories in general. Shion is my favourite character of all time, because of just how identical I am to her. Me and my friend group went through all of Higurashi together, with only 2 of us having any prior knowledge of it. We constantly set up lies, slightly false truths and then pretended we never did any of the sort, just to rub it in the face of who we watched read, when he realized we have been screwing with him the entire time. We were basically Mion and Shion just by how we acted with people. While the one who read was Keiichi. And those parallels just kept getting more eerie the further we got. By the time Arc 5 hit, I was basically emotionally synced with Shion at all times. I always felt the same as her, Basically predicted her emotions before they even happened and had the same feelings towards the cast as her at all times. At one point after that nail scene, I actually had nightmares about being in her position, yelling at Mion, but always waking up almost crying because I felt sorry. It got to a point where I had to actively restrict my own emotions from being angry at the person equivalent to Mion in our group, because my brain started to actually struggle to differenciate between them. I even called them Mion once by accident and I just carried on like nothing was wrong until they pointed it out to me. This all reached its peak in the final stretch. Once Shion completely loses it and goes to kill keiichi. I was emotionally drained by then. There was nothing going on with me for the who knowsn how many minutes that scene lasted. Then she slipped and died. I don't remember it from my own playthrough, but I do from when we did it together with everyone. Just before the screen fades black and the credits start. A small line shows up on the bottom right corner: "I'm sorry I was born". And out of nowhere, Dear You hits and from emotionless I go to basically bawling my eyes out like I have been trying to hold that back for hours. I have never seen a character in all of fiction, that I related to on such a huge emotional level, to the point my friends basically told me that it felt like they watched some fucked up autobiography about me after finishing this arc. I don't think I'll ever have an experience similar to this in my life, or will be able to revisit it ever again.

[@DrSQUIRRELBOY12]

Probably my second favorite chapter, I definitely think Shion is one of the most interesting characters in the story overall and really like her for that.

[@rebeccaberliner9687]

Ah, Chapter 5. The revelations in this one are crazy, and the exploration of Shion and Mion's characters is really interesting. I see why this and Chapter 2 are your favorites. However, my favorite is Chapter 6, no question! I can't wait for the next one! Well, maybe I can...

[@hedgehogsnonsense]

Hopefully it should be out within the next month! And I think it might be the best voice work that my cast has done so far!

[@Feather_Dancer]

Been watching these on a binge as a means of both seeing differences between the visual novel version and the og anime with bonus commentary which in it's self fascinating. Catching so much foreshadowing I missed as well as ones I did along with the glorious "Well shit" which is an utter mood when things start going horribly wrong. Wording this vaguely for spoiler reasons, then there's Rika's death. She mentions a name which is so so very easy to miss given right now it'd just be one of her weird noises and godamn does that completely re-contextualise that entire conversation. In the best/worst way.

[@linhtsumio2937]

I've never had the nerves to play these, but thanks to your videos (and some info from the wikis). I think I'll pay VN and experience them myself! Thank you for making such wonderful videos

[@3zethe3zr]

Just binged the entire series up to this point. Beautifully made, having a blast here :]

[@hoorenglish5732]

Im so glad this ended up in my recommended feed. Went back to watch all the other videos and I can’t wait to see the next parts!

[@shaandahar9091]

commenting for the algorithm, so stoked to revisit this chapter thru this vid

[@artbunny9199]

My "I will now watch this and only this" brain has officially attached to hedgehog

[@YOOT_JJ]

YES! WHAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR. This is gonna be one hell of a wild ride.

[@codrinmoisa4290]

Yeah, it's a new Higurashi video, let's gooi

[@keiichi.maebara]

this is one of the best higurashi breakdown i have ever seen

[@homuru.578]

Higurashi is Back!!! I'm gonna love see it

[@tinyplays95]

Hedgehog finally finished with her Higurashi video! ❤ Welp, time to binge watch from the first episode again!! Keep up the good work Hedgehog, and don't push yourself too hard! We love you ❤

[@Cthulhuawake_]

These were so good, keep them up!

[@Rvr221]

Can’t wait for the next one

[@krismccall5205]

Super excited to watch this , everyone did a great job voice acting !!!

[@justwolf3937]

Okay how do you not have more subscribers? Your videos are amazing and I can't wait for the next chapter

[@carolineschultheis9924]

Was surprised when I started playing the games and saw YT recommend your channel to me... back on Chapter 2. But I binged all the parts in a day. Very pleasantly surprised to see this at the top of my recommended today. Thanks for uploading these, they helped encourage me to play through all of them on my own!

[@Ganymedia9]

These breakdowns are iconic, I'm so excited to watch this!

[@lovkarts]

Oh yes, St Lucia Academy, keep this name in mind for when you're reading Umineko

[@eunioncivica]

really happy to see the series back :D such awesome games, and the love you put behind each video really makes them shine

[@sofiac3629]

So happy to see this entry in the series! And just in time for spooky season no less!

[@iamaunicorn1232]

We get a whole looooong chapter of Shion being complex and absolutely sadistic but somehow Rika manages to scare me more. With one scene. Meow.

[@austinbusumbru123]

I have been waiting for a video for so long god I love your videos ❤

[@crunter6523]

YOOOO NEW VID LESSGOOOO

[@nicoleruigrok6454]

ive binged this entire series this week through your videos and you are criminally underrated😭 the passion that goes into these is crazy

[@halowaffle25]

I can't believe this retrospective has been going on for over a year, that's crazy.

[@vampirekingdarkness9076]

27:07 to be fair, you’d have an awakening too if you were as touch and affection deprived as shion is at this point, i assume if he snuggled up to her she would literally have a heart attack Ps: i’m making good progress through the series, before i even watched any of these i’d already watched the first season of the 2006 anime (bought the series’s blu ray a while back, i dont watch subbed so after the atonement arc i have no clue what happens) and now i only have about 6 manga to get before the gou and meguri manga

[@lucifherbivore100]

When I saw the yt notif about this Video I nearly yeeted myself out of bed, thank you SO much for your hard work!!! All of y'all!

[@ruuuuuuuuruuuuuuuuuuuu]

Satoshi and Shion are so malewife and girlboss doomed yuri 💔

[@red_cosplay]

Ruin... has come to our family.

[@misstwila9421]

So glad this is back :D

[@hmm44523]

YESSS I'VE BEEN WAITING ON THIS VIDEO FOR SO LONG

[@carnage237]

This was really beautiful. Having missed some of these throw backs to when I last played the games ; I really appreciate the work you put into this it's really top quality.

[@AlterUndying]

I love this series so much so glad to see more.

[@puddang2379]

My favourite arc! Excited to get invested in it all over again

[@Eltipoquevisteayer]

tbh, as a merely petty "what would i do", Rika should try in one timeline with Shion to come one day to school and "accidentally" cut Mion's ponytail lol

[@s0niKu]

I love these videos and this is absolutely my favourite chapter. Shion is such a fun PoV character. It's been a while since I last read Higurashi so I'm excited to see the rest and refresh my mind on my second favourite VN series ever. (I also hope you have read/do read Umineko sometime - the storytelling preferences you've expressed in this series screams to me that you'd probably like it a lot!)

[@hedgehogsnonsense]

I’ve been told I would love it immensely. Only problem is that at the moment I think my current cast is a little too small to pull it off, especially when it come to female voices. Hopefully I’ll get there someday!

[@s0niKu]

@@hedgehogsnonsense That's entirely fair! I've seen a few duo LP channels tackle it and they usually run out of 'voices' to differentiate characters about half way through the cast. There are certainly a fair few more significant characters than in Higurashi!

[@LunDruid]

2:46:35 I actually think that this little inner monologue is Shion basically admitting another aspect to the twins. That being, as kids, they switched so often that they don't actually even remember who the original Mion and Shion were. Maybe our Shion was the original child named Mion as she claimed earlier (and honestly, most likely was)... or maybe she wasn't. EDIT: Whoops, this comment is incorrect, please disregard. 😅

[@noir2967]

It's clearly revealed that the current Shion is actually named Mion at birth

[@LunDruid]

​@@noir2967You are correct, and my comment was incorrect. Whoops. 😅

[@noir2967]

@@LunDruid haha but you were really onto smth

[@Daniel-D-Teach]

This has become my favorite series of videos on KZbin. Thank you so much for the hard work and dedication - I cannot wait to see more. I hope you never stop making these kind of videos, even after "When They Cry" is done - You and the rest of the acting and editing team are doing amazing work!

[@alyssa-star]

Excited to fit this excellent vid into my next few days at lunchtimes 🧡

[@flyffybunny5503]

Yesss Im so exited! Just in time for my last nightshift, thank you!

[@divvyn]

Im so happy to say your series is my first foray into hwtc and i am so happy that i stumbled upon your series, im gonna sleep to this series for many months if not years to come!!

[@Annehilation]

I can't express the absolute joy it's been finding your channel and content! I've had a deep love for Higurashi and to delve into it with these videos is a dream come true. Thank you for what you and your team have created! So excited for what's next!!❤

[@ghost-ev6oh]

just wanted to say, your analysis series has been wonderful so far and I really appreciate your work

[@ashcoolgirl8657]

I just recently started this series and seeing the new episode make me soo happy!! I love how hedgehog disect every section!! ❤

[@Rottentomato8]

Hope you keep on making these I love your storytelling!!! I love the story but I am not much of a reader , love your reactions !! It’s feels relatable 😭😭The story is also really good

[@Vampirlestat84]

This was so worth the wait!

[@HellsWaffle]

The yt bell worked for the first time in months for this video in particular nothing strange about that

[@cosmiccambion]

giving hedgehog all my watchtime by re-listening to these videos while i fall asleep so i have to keep going back to the last part i remember

[@TheNekoPastel]

My favorite chapter for obvious reasons 😂 I've really enjoyed this series so far! You have my sub 💞

[@adeebqunash3985]

I was listening to this on a 30 km walk, in addition to other Higurashi videos you posted! Time flew by lol

[@purelysmetalnightcore]

Haven't commented before but I really enjoy your Higurashi series thus far. You're very thoughtful, thorough, analytical, but easy to understand. You perfectly help refresh me on the game's events and give us good, thought-provoking summaries.

[@CreaturePhases]

Th ending was a punch to the gut holy shit

[@saucefreakystyle]

God motherfucking bless, new Higurashi vid 🙏🙏🙏

[@mydaloney]

Thank you so much for this.

[@l0l0jo]

Tyyy for this videooo 😼

[@divvyn]

I love your work, i recently got into a channel tiptoe the tank that has a similar vibe to yours, i like how comfortable you talk with your audience and your collaboration. Thank you for telling amazing stories, they do not go unappreciated

[@johnsmith8906]

Glad I caught this chapter early, will have to watch over a few days though, lol.

[@NeoBocchi]

As far as I know, the next chapter will be dedicated to Rena, so I'm looking forward to the next video on Higurashi with great impatience. For me personally she is a favorite character, who shows better than anyone else what message Ryukishi originally laid in his work

[@HallowPasta]

Can’t wait for the next video love this series so far the va are great keep honing your craft’s!