while far from perfect, higurashi's answer arcs are an incredible subversion of what could have been a bog standard mystery novel, instead going for an incredibly earnest story insisting upon the importance of communication, friendship, personal growth, and atonement. i think, despite how raw and unpolished the experience is as a whole, the ideas it's trying to convey land incredibly well.

i didn't really "get" this until certain real-life experiences of my own, and i think it's long past due to revisit higurashi as a whole again.