If ch. 1 is all about dread and paranoia, ch. 2 is about pure horror and regret. There are moments like the first chapter with a sudden pointed question that destabilises us; some aspects of the plot purposefully misdirect us and throw our sense of reality for a loop. But it doesn't finish off with a sort of inevitability, anxiety; it stops and stops and stops — each new ending in the story just ramping the horror up and asking more and more supernatural questions about the world as a whole. In this story it didn't feel so much like "are we crazy?" as "how true are these outrageous things in every other story?" Nearly the entire cast is dead, and the bleakness of the story and its resigned laughter play better with the world than the last story's ending, I think, which just asked some questions that happened after the events of the story, offscreen...

Between that and the slice of life having a nicer balance (though still somewhat outstaying its welcome...) it executes more strongly than the first chapter, though the first chapter had to introduce these characters; this chapter can just hit the ground running, after all...

I slept with the lights on last night.

The final hours of Watanagashi are my favourite part of the question arcs. Keiichi’s character in this episode is like a foil to himself in Onikakushi. In that chapter he is consistently paranoid and mistrusting of his friends, while Watanagashi shows a Keiichi who is intensely trusting and loving. Throughout the chapter he prioritizes the other over the self, experiencing intense guilt over what is essentially a silly action. It’s easy to look at Keiichi’s decisions in this chapter and make fun of his stupidity as many have, but I think this is missing the climax’s point. Keiichi’s decisions are questionable when looked at with reason, but Keiichi is operating on the principle of faith. One of the themes in Higurashi is applying this religious faith in the secular worlds of love and friendship, and from my memory this finale is the first time where it becomes especially evident. Keiichi’s journey with Mion into the basement of the Sonozaki house is a leap of faith, and Keiichi maintains this faith even when he is confronted with what appears to be pure evil. Even when he is told that he is being deceived he continues to have faith in his friend, outright denying the murderer in front of him as Mion. The whole climax is basically Keiichi being tested to maintain his love. Higurashi creates a really interesting mix of childish innocence and total bleakness. They’re often viewed as separate, but the series’ best moments are when these two modes synthesise into one.

While the climax is the standout, the rest of the chapter is also great. I don’t think it’s quite as gripping as Onikakushi’s second half is, which comes down to Keiichi having a much-needed ally in Rena this time around. That doesn’t mean it’s worse though - this chapter is where I really began to love Rena as a character. Here she continues to get more complex than her cutesy “hauuuu!” persona without ever betraying Keiichi like in Onikakushi. She’s also really fun in the detective mode, especially when she basically pulls a Columbo bit on Mion near the end. One thing I love about Higurashi’s time loop setup is how we learn more about the characters in their different variations, and how these variations suggest that the characters’ actions are driven by circumstance rather than anything innate to them. The paranoid Keiichi of Onikakushi and the trusting Keiichi of Watanagashi are not two different people, despite the apparent contradiction. For a first time reader I think the most key thing to pay attention to is the differences in characterisation between chapters. I think the most important thing to ask is what circumstances could resolve these contradictions.

I enjoyed this way much more than Onikakushi (which took me 5 months, vs like 12 days for this lol). It felt like this chapter has a much stronger structure, both in the slice-of-life parts (does Shion actually exist? What is going on with Mion?) and then once the murders actually start happening.

In fairness, I think the atmosphere wasn't as strong as the latter half of Onikakushi, but I felt more invested here once stuff actually starts happening, because the slice-of-life felt a bit stronger and not just there to bide time til creepy stuff starts happening.