always have a bias towards the part of the work that marks the point where i start "getting" it, and this was where i started to really get higurashi. distorted and obstinate love underneath pit-of-your-stomach helplessness, hellish with its turns to a level the other chapters cant touch

the most consistently great and empathetically written part, centered on a character who, i dont think should be controversial to say, may be the best in this whole thing. "daily passing by (celesta)" breaks me

where the story starts its slide into more and more erratic pacing but is v worth it for how much it risks and pays off for its themes on forgiveness and understanding. higurashi's big ass heart is evident throughout, but here its arguably taken to its most passionate n melodramatic climax

rly solid introduction that, even through its sillier first half, makes the town and the mystery and most crucially the narrator's perspective feel v believable. keiichi tries so hard to believe even in the worst situation for him

should technically put this lower..it peaks early and then gets worse in pacing than anything before. esp stuff leading up to the festival which, while appreciate the sentiment behind it alot, a good chunk of it had me feeling like its eating its own cake (a feeling which continues into matsuribayashi). but cant deny that it is at times pretty rewarding to see after the previous arcs, taken with the folkloric embellishment and emphasis on collective action put to the forefront here. it gets extra points just bc that early peak is my fav moment in the entire vn too

largely good w my fav parts being its slight breakthroughs of the paranoia from onikakushi youre coming into it with, but its missteps are harder to ignore for me than those in something like tsumihoroboshi. felt v odd for how it moves btwn its events, esp getting into the climax n resolution.

its lacking in much of what makes higu special to feel much for it, but i also dont have serious issues besides that and it doesnt overstay its welcome as a side story. its ok, just nothing special enough to neither praise highly nor criticize all that harshly

super interesting antagonist and i kinda liked the fragments bit taken by itself for its "sorting and standing the dominoes" feeling (if not for the meta itself which i dont care too much for), but everything else feels overly long, ironically feeling more out of order in its series of events than the part that is actually out of order, and it loses a lot of its energy long before the end. parts are nice to think about after the fact i guess, but its the one chapter of the game i felt like i needed an extended break from out of exhaustion with it, and not in a good way