This review contains spoilers
When I first watched the anime for Higurashi, I always felt the most mixed about this arc. While the ride is fun for its duration, it ends up feeling incredibly pointless when victory is snatched away at the very end. I have a different opinion now, and I think it actually contributes a lot to the message of the entire series. Nonetheless this arc is still significantly more flawed than the previous ones, especially compared to the prior two answer arcs which were nearly perfect.
One of the surface level issues with this arc is that it's unfortunately the 7th game out of 8. With the themes of this chapter being all about fighting against fate and not falling to pessimism, it's somewhat harmed when you know going in that it's doomed to failure. It's worth noting that I now feel this perspective is somewhat invalid, as the journey there is incredibly important and Rika's eventual failure is critical to showing how this chapter developed her and her perspective. Nonetheless, my first thoughts when I finished the anime version of this arc were "that was pointless," so I felt the need to note this down.
The more pressing issue with this arc is regarding it's main antagonist, the Child Welfare Office. This government agency is depicted as so comically incompetent that it's hard to take the arc seriously. The employees don't know anything about the case, and the social workers and administrators are made out to be incredibly stubborn for the sole purpose of establishing an antagonist to work against. The interactions with the office are incredibly slow and boring too, since it basically bogs you down in a slew of government bureaucracy alongside the main cast. Ryukishi even admits that his depiction of the office was poor in the Staff Room, and apologies for it. Government corruption is an interesting topic to tackle, but this arc handles it poorly and is extremely one-note.
As for the positives, the entire first section of this arc is a 10/10. Being able to see Rika's perspective is awesome as a twist from the previous chapters, and Hanyuu just being dumped on you without much initial explanation is really funny. There's a ton of cute interactions early on, and it's lovely to see how Keiichi is able to break down Rika's negative mindset and encourage her to work towards changing her own fate for the rest of this chapter. The character interactions are genuinely at their all time peak for the series in the first half. When Teppei eventually shows up, it elicits genuine emotion and it's heartbreaking to see how Rika desperately struggles to save Satoko before eventually giving up. She even goes as far to request that the Yamainu and Takano assassinate her uncle (which is a different issue I'll discuss later).
Even after Teppei shows up, this arc stays positive. The scene with Keiichi and Shion's argument over how to deal with Teppei is amazing, and I love how Shion is made to directly parallel Ch.3 Keiichi, even repeating the 1500 seconds line again. It's another great aspect of his character development and a fantastic continuation of his role from the previous arc.
Overall though I think the flaws of this arc become the most noticeable once it shifts back to a Keiichi POV. Staying with Rika's POV could've allowed the Child Welfare Office segment to have a more unique perspective as well as give the new character of Hanyuu more time to shine. Although Keiichi is not a bad character by any means (quite the opposite really), it still takes away one little change that could've kept the arc more unique. As per usual though it's still fun to see him band together a crowd to fight for Satoko. The section where he convinces Mion's Grandmother is where the arc finally starts getting good again.
After Satoko is saved, the arc switches back to a primarily Rika POV, which is a breath of fresh air. Probably the main benefit of the sluggish government bureaucracy segment is that it almost makes you forget that Rika is still going to get killed soon. This makes the sudden snap back to reality after their success feel a lot more impactful, which I thought was really well executed. Everything from Rika's preparations up to the Takono reveal and her execution are really enthralling to read. I really love the Hinamizawa Syndrome lore dump too, though its questionable how Rika knows so much about it and yet never suspected Takano seriously. The scene where Takano walks up to each restrained club member and shoots them in the head is honestly kinda peak. Rika's execution scene is also beautifully done, and I love it for the same reasons I love Satoko's resolve in Ch.5. The Emergency Manual 34 segment at the end is also harrowing, though I think it was probably one of the most underwhelming endings compared to Ch.3, 5, or 6. I guess it's because the main cast is already dead at that point, so you're only hearing about unnamed villagers being killed.
Another issue that people take with this arc/Rika as a character is how she never once suspected Takano/the Yamainu as being her killers. This is honestly completely understandable, and has always been Higurashi's greatest structural flaw. This is especially the case with Hanyuu introduced, the sole supernatural element in the series who explicitly goes out and about with her sole ability being to observe people. However, in her defense, the Yamainu and Tokyo represent Rika's critical blind spot that she has no reason to ever suspect of killing her. As explained in the chapter, they're actually the people she suspects the least of killing her, since they know best that her death could cause a potential disaster. It's also stated that she has suspected Takano individually of being a potential culprit, although that topic isn't explored much more than as an offhanded remark.
Hanyuu is another good addition to this arc as well, and having Oyashiro-sama be a useless crybaby is a very funny twist (I love her). Her role as an unwitting antagonist is incredibly interesting, and partially explains why Rika was unable to solve her murder after 100 years. Her pessimism has been the primary reason for Rika being so reactive as opposed to active in the previous chapters, and the fact that Rika is the sole person she can talk to/be seen by can partially explain why Hanyuu never particularly helped to save her, instead keeping her stuck in the loops forever. I love how, by the ending, the goal shifts from breaking Rika's pessimistic attitude to instead breaking Hanyuu's, with Rika's perspective now fully changed. The implication that Hanyuu's existence is the cause of Hinamizawa syndrome is another interesting aspect of her character that is often left undiscussed. Overall I think she's really well executed here, but I'm more interested to see how she's handled in the following chapter.
The biggest issue with this chapter is definitely that it's the first one that requires a significant level of suspension of disbelief. Hanyuu (and, by proxy, Rika's looping) is the first outright supernatural occurrence in the story that cannot be explained by anything else. Additionally, the laughable incompetence and stubbornness by the Child Welfare Office is really hard to believe, making it harder to really get immersed in the story. An issue that arises at the end of the chapter regards the Yamainu, Takano, and the club itself. The Yamainu are meant to be an elite assassination unit, and yet they get their asses whooped by the unarmed club members and are only bailed out through their numbers and by Takano. This is an issue that only gets worse in Chapter 8, and it's really hard to take seriously and not just laugh at. It's arguable that it can just be seen as an extension of the club games though, but its still silly when they're beating actual soldiers in a hand to hand combat scenario and somehow not just getting immediately gunned down like Oishi was. The Emergency Manual 34 and Takano's motivations are also somewhat hard to believe, but I think that's a topic better discussed in Ch.8.
Overall though I still think this is a fairly solid chapter, but it's definitely shakier than 5 or 6. The beginning is fantastic, but the middle is a difficult-to-believe slog. The ending is once again really gripping to read though, and overall is the perfect setup for Chapter 8.
One of the surface level issues with this arc is that it's unfortunately the 7th game out of 8. With the themes of this chapter being all about fighting against fate and not falling to pessimism, it's somewhat harmed when you know going in that it's doomed to failure. It's worth noting that I now feel this perspective is somewhat invalid, as the journey there is incredibly important and Rika's eventual failure is critical to showing how this chapter developed her and her perspective. Nonetheless, my first thoughts when I finished the anime version of this arc were "that was pointless," so I felt the need to note this down.
The more pressing issue with this arc is regarding it's main antagonist, the Child Welfare Office. This government agency is depicted as so comically incompetent that it's hard to take the arc seriously. The employees don't know anything about the case, and the social workers and administrators are made out to be incredibly stubborn for the sole purpose of establishing an antagonist to work against. The interactions with the office are incredibly slow and boring too, since it basically bogs you down in a slew of government bureaucracy alongside the main cast. Ryukishi even admits that his depiction of the office was poor in the Staff Room, and apologies for it. Government corruption is an interesting topic to tackle, but this arc handles it poorly and is extremely one-note.
As for the positives, the entire first section of this arc is a 10/10. Being able to see Rika's perspective is awesome as a twist from the previous chapters, and Hanyuu just being dumped on you without much initial explanation is really funny. There's a ton of cute interactions early on, and it's lovely to see how Keiichi is able to break down Rika's negative mindset and encourage her to work towards changing her own fate for the rest of this chapter. The character interactions are genuinely at their all time peak for the series in the first half. When Teppei eventually shows up, it elicits genuine emotion and it's heartbreaking to see how Rika desperately struggles to save Satoko before eventually giving up. She even goes as far to request that the Yamainu and Takano assassinate her uncle (which is a different issue I'll discuss later).
Even after Teppei shows up, this arc stays positive. The scene with Keiichi and Shion's argument over how to deal with Teppei is amazing, and I love how Shion is made to directly parallel Ch.3 Keiichi, even repeating the 1500 seconds line again. It's another great aspect of his character development and a fantastic continuation of his role from the previous arc.
Overall though I think the flaws of this arc become the most noticeable once it shifts back to a Keiichi POV. Staying with Rika's POV could've allowed the Child Welfare Office segment to have a more unique perspective as well as give the new character of Hanyuu more time to shine. Although Keiichi is not a bad character by any means (quite the opposite really), it still takes away one little change that could've kept the arc more unique. As per usual though it's still fun to see him band together a crowd to fight for Satoko. The section where he convinces Mion's Grandmother is where the arc finally starts getting good again.
After Satoko is saved, the arc switches back to a primarily Rika POV, which is a breath of fresh air. Probably the main benefit of the sluggish government bureaucracy segment is that it almost makes you forget that Rika is still going to get killed soon. This makes the sudden snap back to reality after their success feel a lot more impactful, which I thought was really well executed. Everything from Rika's preparations up to the Takono reveal and her execution are really enthralling to read. I really love the Hinamizawa Syndrome lore dump too, though its questionable how Rika knows so much about it and yet never suspected Takano seriously. The scene where Takano walks up to each restrained club member and shoots them in the head is honestly kinda peak. Rika's execution scene is also beautifully done, and I love it for the same reasons I love Satoko's resolve in Ch.5. The Emergency Manual 34 segment at the end is also harrowing, though I think it was probably one of the most underwhelming endings compared to Ch.3, 5, or 6. I guess it's because the main cast is already dead at that point, so you're only hearing about unnamed villagers being killed.
Another issue that people take with this arc/Rika as a character is how she never once suspected Takano/the Yamainu as being her killers. This is honestly completely understandable, and has always been Higurashi's greatest structural flaw. This is especially the case with Hanyuu introduced, the sole supernatural element in the series who explicitly goes out and about with her sole ability being to observe people. However, in her defense, the Yamainu and Tokyo represent Rika's critical blind spot that she has no reason to ever suspect of killing her. As explained in the chapter, they're actually the people she suspects the least of killing her, since they know best that her death could cause a potential disaster. It's also stated that she has suspected Takano individually of being a potential culprit, although that topic isn't explored much more than as an offhanded remark.
Hanyuu is another good addition to this arc as well, and having Oyashiro-sama be a useless crybaby is a very funny twist (I love her). Her role as an unwitting antagonist is incredibly interesting, and partially explains why Rika was unable to solve her murder after 100 years. Her pessimism has been the primary reason for Rika being so reactive as opposed to active in the previous chapters, and the fact that Rika is the sole person she can talk to/be seen by can partially explain why Hanyuu never particularly helped to save her, instead keeping her stuck in the loops forever. I love how, by the ending, the goal shifts from breaking Rika's pessimistic attitude to instead breaking Hanyuu's, with Rika's perspective now fully changed. The implication that Hanyuu's existence is the cause of Hinamizawa syndrome is another interesting aspect of her character that is often left undiscussed. Overall I think she's really well executed here, but I'm more interested to see how she's handled in the following chapter.
The biggest issue with this chapter is definitely that it's the first one that requires a significant level of suspension of disbelief. Hanyuu (and, by proxy, Rika's looping) is the first outright supernatural occurrence in the story that cannot be explained by anything else. Additionally, the laughable incompetence and stubbornness by the Child Welfare Office is really hard to believe, making it harder to really get immersed in the story. An issue that arises at the end of the chapter regards the Yamainu, Takano, and the club itself. The Yamainu are meant to be an elite assassination unit, and yet they get their asses whooped by the unarmed club members and are only bailed out through their numbers and by Takano. This is an issue that only gets worse in Chapter 8, and it's really hard to take seriously and not just laugh at. It's arguable that it can just be seen as an extension of the club games though, but its still silly when they're beating actual soldiers in a hand to hand combat scenario and somehow not just getting immediately gunned down like Oishi was. The Emergency Manual 34 and Takano's motivations are also somewhat hard to believe, but I think that's a topic better discussed in Ch.8.
Overall though I still think this is a fairly solid chapter, but it's definitely shakier than 5 or 6. The beginning is fantastic, but the middle is a difficult-to-believe slog. The ending is once again really gripping to read though, and overall is the perfect setup for Chapter 8.
This review contains spoilers
Once again Higurashi delivers a amazing story. I'm not sure if I prefer ch 6 or 7 but both are 10/10s in different ways.
I'm planning on writing a more complete review of all of Kei once I'm done so I wasn't going to do a spoiler review here however I gotta say this chapters too good to not mention some stuff.
First of all Rika & Hanyuu are amazing. Pre ch7 I wasn't sure what to make of Rika, she was very interesting but I wasn't certain of what it could be, so I suppose that was a part of the story I was unable to figure out for myself (sorry r7) but this chapter was a amazing look into Rikas character. I adore the way Ch 6 & 7 have been using perspective to tell the story, being able to see different characters views on thing is really cool, and Rikas very pessemistic outlook compared to Keiichi is a great contrast. If I explained more it would be pointless but I gotta say I adore the way perspective shifts around. And I love the strange 3rd person perspective that doesn't really seem to be first person, but there I'm not really sure if that's just a intential way of writing or if it's meant to be from Hanyuus perspective, because for example in this chapter when Ooshi gets killed, the perspective is not one of either of them but of noone, it feels like 3rd person but I distincatlly recall some things that seemed out of place if it was. anyway enough perspective talk
Rika is a super amazing character and she's grown on massivley. I never disliked her in the past chapters but she was always the character I was most disinterested in, but here she turns it around to become maybe the most interesting character, I adore her arc in this chapter. I adore the way we see previous chapters that previously seemed unconnected tie in here and how it shows that the entire story was planned very indepth from the start.
I love the way it changes you're perspecitve on scenes in the past, like Takano in Ch3, and how the disease affected everyone up to a point and the footsteps.. it's all so good. but my input here is really nothing special so I'll try not to drone on throughout the whole review.
Another thing I adore is that despite not remembering the past events how all the characters are clearly growing after going through their whole character arc, it's neat being able to see them change despite the fact that they techincally shouldn't. Though I guess if I had to have any complaint about the writing it's how come the gang didn't start remembering past shards before? I'm not that bothered since the rest of the game(book?? I still don't know if I should really call this a game)is super well written,and honestly regardless if there is a explanation or not... I kinda don't care honestly.
Music was amazing here, all the songs at the end especially are spectacular, just great music all round (but thats normal for Higurashi at this point). Also it's nice that some of the more overused sounds aren't being used as much, sure some stuff like the general Higurashi etc are fine, but if I hear that god damm mangled string insturment sound again I'll break, there was a scene in Ch5 where they played it after like every line Shion said so it just overlaps a billion times. and that piano too gets overplay alot in the Qs arc.
Obligatory the Steam sprites are horrrible, in Ch1 I was ok with them but I honestly despise them now, they are just horrible. (sorry to the artists that worked on them though...)
I'll stop here but very very final rough thoughts, Hanyuu is great and I love her basically being the explanation for everything, very funny. Also she's just great in general. Again Rika is written really great here, and so is everyone basically. the main cast dynamic is great, but I gotta say after ch6 Keiichi and Rena work so well together I love them both, I can't believe how well written everyone is honestly. BUT I almost forgot but why the fuck was there mention of the ps triple in this chapter?????? I think I had the translation set to 0 so there was no censor but like...??? break all the canon for a cheeky 4th wall break about the ps 3?? I don't actually mind it, it's cool to see such a obvious thing from the time the game came out that I ended up finding it super charming, but god that took me out of the game so hard. Also speaking of there were way more 4th wall breaks here right? like I can't really recall a single one before this, bar the after party. Again I don't mind it that much but it's still kinda strange. Also I kinda miss the afterpartys, they were fun. though I guess being in the answers arc theres no need for them to theorise and stuff. also the new messages with R7 are super nice he seems cool.
Also I read all this in 2 days which is pretty impressive for me, shows I've been infected with Higurashi brainrot, though the game crashed like 4 times somehow, very odd (espeically since I rarely saved as I was reading non stop for a while) anyway review over.
Ch7 peak, consistent super high quality writing and providing very nice conclusions to the mysterys set up in previous chapters.
I'm planning on writing a more complete review of all of Kei once I'm done so I wasn't going to do a spoiler review here however I gotta say this chapters too good to not mention some stuff.
First of all Rika & Hanyuu are amazing. Pre ch7 I wasn't sure what to make of Rika, she was very interesting but I wasn't certain of what it could be, so I suppose that was a part of the story I was unable to figure out for myself (sorry r7) but this chapter was a amazing look into Rikas character. I adore the way Ch 6 & 7 have been using perspective to tell the story, being able to see different characters views on thing is really cool, and Rikas very pessemistic outlook compared to Keiichi is a great contrast. If I explained more it would be pointless but I gotta say I adore the way perspective shifts around. And I love the strange 3rd person perspective that doesn't really seem to be first person, but there I'm not really sure if that's just a intential way of writing or if it's meant to be from Hanyuus perspective, because for example in this chapter when Ooshi gets killed, the perspective is not one of either of them but of noone, it feels like 3rd person but I distincatlly recall some things that seemed out of place if it was. anyway enough perspective talk
Rika is a super amazing character and she's grown on massivley. I never disliked her in the past chapters but she was always the character I was most disinterested in, but here she turns it around to become maybe the most interesting character, I adore her arc in this chapter. I adore the way we see previous chapters that previously seemed unconnected tie in here and how it shows that the entire story was planned very indepth from the start.
I love the way it changes you're perspecitve on scenes in the past, like Takano in Ch3, and how the disease affected everyone up to a point and the footsteps.. it's all so good. but my input here is really nothing special so I'll try not to drone on throughout the whole review.
Another thing I adore is that despite not remembering the past events how all the characters are clearly growing after going through their whole character arc, it's neat being able to see them change despite the fact that they techincally shouldn't. Though I guess if I had to have any complaint about the writing it's how come the gang didn't start remembering past shards before? I'm not that bothered since the rest of the game(book?? I still don't know if I should really call this a game)is super well written,and honestly regardless if there is a explanation or not... I kinda don't care honestly.
Music was amazing here, all the songs at the end especially are spectacular, just great music all round (but thats normal for Higurashi at this point). Also it's nice that some of the more overused sounds aren't being used as much, sure some stuff like the general Higurashi etc are fine, but if I hear that god damm mangled string insturment sound again I'll break, there was a scene in Ch5 where they played it after like every line Shion said so it just overlaps a billion times. and that piano too gets overplay alot in the Qs arc.
Obligatory the Steam sprites are horrrible, in Ch1 I was ok with them but I honestly despise them now, they are just horrible. (sorry to the artists that worked on them though...)
I'll stop here but very very final rough thoughts, Hanyuu is great and I love her basically being the explanation for everything, very funny. Also she's just great in general. Again Rika is written really great here, and so is everyone basically. the main cast dynamic is great, but I gotta say after ch6 Keiichi and Rena work so well together I love them both, I can't believe how well written everyone is honestly. BUT I almost forgot but why the fuck was there mention of the ps triple in this chapter?????? I think I had the translation set to 0 so there was no censor but like...??? break all the canon for a cheeky 4th wall break about the ps 3?? I don't actually mind it, it's cool to see such a obvious thing from the time the game came out that I ended up finding it super charming, but god that took me out of the game so hard. Also speaking of there were way more 4th wall breaks here right? like I can't really recall a single one before this, bar the after party. Again I don't mind it that much but it's still kinda strange. Also I kinda miss the afterpartys, they were fun. though I guess being in the answers arc theres no need for them to theorise and stuff. also the new messages with R7 are super nice he seems cool.
Also I read all this in 2 days which is pretty impressive for me, shows I've been infected with Higurashi brainrot, though the game crashed like 4 times somehow, very odd (espeically since I rarely saved as I was reading non stop for a while) anyway review over.
Ch7 peak, consistent super high quality writing and providing very nice conclusions to the mysterys set up in previous chapters.