Higurashi is always a wild ride, and this was no exception. Himatsubushi is a fun shorter story from a different viewpoint, and the stuff it establishes is wild. I wish I was a lot blinder now than I am, because I can only imagine going totally nuts over this stuff while waiting for the answer arcs to come out and having all that time to come up with theories based on what we already know.

It was really fun to have a different perspective--many different perspectives, anyway. The TIPs were even more fun than usual this time around given all their Portentiousness. Also Oishi is a complicated shitty old man and it was fun to spend time with him in a different context because I like those sorts of characters.

That after party was also pretty buckwild, though as someone who could point and be like "I understood that reference," I had a good time.

Short but sweet.
The story itself is like an interlude between Question Arc and Answer Arc, the last piece of information they give you.
The ending was PEAK, I loved it, and the extra with the cast was incredible as always.

What he says in the extra about higurashi being a game because you participate in the story by creating theories, sharing and discussing is really cool, a different way of seeing a visual novel that has no choice or interaction of any kind.

Time to Answer Arcs, let's finish this!

Like they say in the VN, this is basically a "side story" that sets things up for the answer arcs to actually begin in Meakashi. Akasaka is interesting, and his emotional state hits hard. I just don't like him being weird towards Rika, but I'm a broken record about the VN having those moments, and they don't seem like they will stop, so this is likely the last time I'll mention them in these reviews. I'll attribute this in this one to Ryukishi wanting chapter 1-3 style comedy. It was also interesting to see Hinamizawa outside of its usual timeframe, with the majority of the cast in this one being adults, and usually police. Ryukishi's real-life experience with government work comes across here, which I like. Looking forward to the answer arcs.

Himatsubushi suffers a little from basically being a side-story, but this chapter is still one of the more interesting ones in terms of Higurashi’s politics. The dam protest can be mistaken as something that adds to Hinamizawa’s darkness and closed-off mentality, but as the series goes on it becomes clear that Ryukishi takes this backstory a lot more seriously than that. One of his strengths as a writer is that he always puts thought into writing about sensitive topics, unlike some of his contemporaries who use them as easy shock value. In this chapter, it becomes clear that the dam protests and the militant tactics used in them were ultimately a necessity. One of the best scenes in the chapter is Akasaka being asked by Rika about what he thinks they should do if the protests are morally wrong. His struggle to respond is pretty revealing. While he’s not the most interesting character, the chapter develops a good conflict of him having to confront his own morality. One thing I like about Higurashi’s portrayal of police is that even when cop characters are likeable as individuals they still maintain their role in a corrupt system. I like how Akasaka is given a stereotypically moral task of resolving a kidnapping, but finds that even this leaves him complicit in a greater structural issue that his role as a police officer requires perpetuating. Since there’s no moment where he actually needs to get his hands dirty the conflict doesn’t resolve in the most interesting way - if the chapter were a full-length one there might have been more opportunity to build up this moral conflict into something more impactful. The real highlight of the chapter is Rika, particularly the haunting scene where she predicts the future up to her own death. While this chapter doesn’t reach the emotional highs of the previous three, this might be the most compelling scene of the question arcs in terms of mystery and atmosphere. The difference in Rika’s characterisation compared to the other three question arcs’ use of their focus characters is that we remain somewhat distanced from Rika - she’s made more complex, but there are far more questions than answers about her character, making her somewhat inexplicable. You also get a lot of great material in the TIPS, to the point that the TIPS might be superior to the main chapter. I really love the exploration of Rika’s mother as someone who is not directly abusive (from my memory anyway) but who clearly holds her daughter in contempt. Rika’s ominous monologues are another excellent layer of mystery to her character. Overall the chapter is the least impactful of the question arcs and it being written as a short addition while Ryukishi was struggling with Meakashi does show, but these qualities make it a worthwhile addition to the series.

Since I got the need to play the console arcs I will be doing so and logging them as replays of Himatsubushi cause they don't have their own page

TARAIMAWASHI
Okay arc, I was kinda set off by it being too similar to Onikakushi and that made it a bit boring, and even the cast said that it was impossible to discuss because it was too short and said mostly nothing, so yeah, it's okay

SOMEUTSUSHI
Overall I felt like this was more worldbuilding than a proper arc, obviously it's because it's a question arc but even then I don't really feel like I got much out of this one, I did like how the relationships between characters played out in the end when I thought nothing of them in the start (I actually really like Chisato) and the mystery after was pretty nice, I'm looking forward to the answer arc

HIMATSUBUSHI
Pretty confusing and I thought at first it wouldn't really tell anything, in the end I found that Rika's real personality and her already knowing how it would all end didn't really need an arc of its own and could've been more comfortably put in the actual story
Also I hate Daisuke Ono's voice so this wasn't comfortable to read but I appreciated the Ooishi spotlight

KAGEBOUSHI
It was pretty boring at first and the changes in protagonists so often to avoid advancing the plot naturally wasn't something I liked much but the character building felt pretty good here, everyone has such a strong personality and Tomoe and Chisato basically carried the arc

Fourth chapter in the Higurashi novel series.
This is a little different from the other chapters, we don't play as Keiichi and the story is set 7 years before the event of the other three.
It's kind of a bonus chapter where we learn lots of new stuff including some info on the (younger) mysterious Rika Furude and how the village of Hinamizawa works.
Incredible writing and music as always (Dawn almost broke me).
This is also the last chapter of the question arcs, so from chapter 5 onwards we should get some answers about everything that happened in Hinamizawa.
nipah☆

Despite being a shorter “bonus” chapter, there is still a lot to like here.

Having a point of view mostly disconnected from the usual cast and setting allows the reader to experience Hinamizawa from a refreshing new angle. Having the story structured this way might make the reader question different aspects of the narrative, and come up with new answers for previous questions.

The cop procedure is a very fun read, seeing a properly executed action scene was enjoyable. I also quite liked the Mahjong scene, obviously.

The new song Dancers #5 is a very good detective tune. Whilst plenty of other new songs awaken their own emotion. From the mysterious “days of children #3” to the panicked and tense “meditation”. Lots of good stuff here.

Even if it might feel very disconnected, it still manages to weave a strong ending using the reader's pre-existing knowledge.

Whatever I was expecting this chapter to be, it definitely wasn't this. I came into this chapter expecting a short but zinging story that would jumpstart the quest for answers in Meakashi.

...Okay, admittedly I got exactly that but not in the way I was expecting, goddammit!! This was satisfying as hell to go through as a difference in narration but keeping the mystery in the background. First thing I should mention is that this probably is the end of me trying to review these chapters as if they were their own thing. Himatsubushi REQUIRES you know everything before getting into it, as it directly references events from Tatarigoshi (of course, that's without the mentioning the bonds you SHOULD be building up with the characters in the previous chapters).

In short, this is more of a savory appetizer than a full meal. It's here we learn more about Rika as a character (and her younger self is ADORABLE, btw) and just how much she knows about everything. The way she speaks, the way she was raised, and the way she thinks, elevating her to the character with the most potential for uncovering a MASSIVE rabbit hole.

Of course, we also learn a bit more about how the people in Hinamizawa run the show and get to empathize a bit with the methods the protestors use to try and fight to keep their village alive. But, me being an emotional bitch, I grew most attached to Akasaka and his wife's loving relationship for the short time that I saw it. I'm not going to spoil anything for this review in particular but this is where I'm realizing how ham Ryukishi's going with the emotional piano keys.

There was some stuff I was mostly neutral about, like the whole driving force of Akasaka going to Hinamizawa in the first place, but I still had a fun time with it! It was shorter, too, which is good because supposedly it's RIGHT before the second half when things get answered so I'm glad it didn't overstay its welcome.

One last thing. I'm aware that the console ports added alternate endings which is definitely something I'm interested in, but I think it would be better suited to be left out of my reviews for the purpose of neatening up how I review it. I definitely will be playing them when I'm done with the PC arcs of course.