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

Ce chapitre était étonnement RAPIDE ?!
Au début on nous dit que c'est un chapitre bonus mais je trouve qu'il nous donne pas mal d'infos dans la trame principale. Je trouve ça important de le faire, d'autant plus qu'il ne dure que 6h !!
Littéralement composé que de 6 chapitres. Le développeur a très bien compris comment gérer une histoire dynamique et il s'améliore de Tome en Tome. L'écriture de celui ci était tout bonnement incroyable et frissonnant.
J'ai enfin terminé l'arc des Questions, plus qu'à entamer celui des Réponses :D
Voilà. Merci
Nipaah~☆

Yeah,you can tell that that Himatsubushi wasn't initially in the planning when Ryukishi first outlined the story of Higurashi.
It's a much shorter installment compared to the previous ones,and the main task at hand for the protagonist,Akasaka,isn't nearly interesting enough to be the main focus of your attention,though it's still a decent crime drama,I guess.
The most important parts however,centered around Ooishi and,much more importantly,Rika,knock it out of the park.
We also get some of my favourite tips in the series here,between the philosophical ramblings of an unknown narrator and the eerie entries of a mother's diary by the end.
Plus the ending gets you ready even better than Tatarigoroshi to tackle the answer arcs,and the title drop is RAW AS FUCK.

5/10

meh

the worst one yet, not interesting in the slightest outside of the ending that was kinda cool.