same as the last compilation, a landing ground for all my answer arc reviews + an average combined score
7.75/10, rounded up to 8
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Meakashi:
9.5/10

all the boring ass, poorly paced sol shit that plagued the first half of every episode, is gone. this more than makes up for that. its definitely my favorite by faaaaar, and turns watanagashi on its head with wild ass twists, recontextualizing everything from the viewpoint of my favorite character, well also characterizing characters i didnt like as much and turning them into ones i did. and boy, if this is only the first episode of the answer arcs, i cant wait to see what else i have in store, man. what a thrilling start.
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Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Tsumihoroboshi:
8.5/10

I can really see why people say this is the best higu chapter, or "peak fiction" as the kids say. the ending was a blast, and the mysteries were epic. but i never felt the absolute tension i did during meakashi, so i enjoyed meakashi way more. heh, maybe that says something about human nature and how we enjoy the suffering of others more than happiness, but im not getting into that right now. i like how its finally delving into the timeline/loop business that we've had brief glimpses into in previous arcs, and i loved how takano's scrapbooks were portrayed. i honestly still think what rena was gaslighted into beliving wasnt gaslighting at all, and there was a lot more truth to it than on first glance. rika is once again showing her badass side, and i think the furude family has a loooot of explaining to do. if the sonozaki's dont know who killed tomitake each arc, and we've determined that rika has access to those syringes, its gotta be the furudes. thats agenda's running theory. miyo definitely knows something within the two most important notebooks she gave rena, and she is the cover character for episode 7, so we'll get insight on that next time im sure. overall kept up the epicness that meakashi made me expect from the answer arcs, even if it was paced like shit at the beginning and made me think it was back on the regular higurashi grind.
think im gonna leave my ranking of the arcs so far as my final piece this time.

1-meakashi
2-tsumihoroboshi
3-tatarigoroshi
4-onikakushi
5-watanagashi
6-himatsubushi

see you in episode 7
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Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Minagoroshi:
7/10

so, the penultimate chapter. theres a lot to get into here. firstly, I WAS FUCKING RIGHT!!! I CALLED THAT BOTH THE FURUDES AND TAKANO HAD SOMETHING TO HIDE! I KNEW TAKANO WAS TELLING THE TRUTH IN TSUMIHOROBOSHI! Now, im still curious how rika got those syringes in a few chapters, but damn the consistency of foreshadowing all the way back in onikakushi with the mountain dogs rivals trail's consistency. great fucking writing. and everything just seems to fall into place with all the reveals. but. i have not mentioned the "main" scenario of this arc, ive only mentioned my reactions to the "epilogue/prologue"(to episode 8), and with good reason. i mean... it was more interesting than the water gun fight or other sol segments that bloat higurashi, but overall it was extremely dragged out(i just kinda skimmed the night before watanagashi scene, looking up every now and then, and 45 minutes coulda been summed up in 5.), and teppei was more comically evil than in any other higu episode. at least in tsumihoro, he had like a whole badger game thing going on, but here it's just super "im evil hahahahaahaahaahaah" kinda deal. which sure, in tatari, he was kinda like that but it was fresh, and we got the murder plot to make up for it. here it just recycles and adds nothing new to it. and, ill say that the """"""funny"""""""""" """""""gags"""""" with satoko are extremely uncomfortable and not funny in the slightest, their just creepy and weird. that 15 minute scene in angel mort was just gross to sit through, and i ended up skipping it.(like most of the sol segments, get trolled) but bottom line, i enjoyed the start, and the end to this arc. so, 2/3rds. ill say that the saving satoko part was the most interesting not necessary addition yet, but it was still pretty boring. since im taking that into account, i think im gonna have to give it a 7/10. it wasnt as consistent as tsumihoroboshi or meakashi, but the setup to the final episode was pretty fucking great, if a bit dragged out after the credits sequence. but if ep.8 entirely focuses on this part of the story, i can see it knocking meakashi off the throne of favorite arc. with all that taken into account, along with the unnecessary gross stuff about satoko, thats why im giving it a 7/10.

to the final episode, after which i will finally be free from 07th expansion prison, at least until i start umineko(oh no!).
1-meakashi
2-tsumihoroboshi
3-tatarigoroshi
4-onikakush
5-minagoroshi
6-watanagashi
7-himatsubushi
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Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Matsuribayashi:
6/10
ok to preface this
i have played only higurashi for like a month straight, absolutely despise slice of life, and by the time i reached matsuribayashi, i just wanted out. absolute fucking burnout. ok, with my unintentional burn out bias of the way, now we can get into the review

i mean, that was it? i thought it would have some glorious climax like tsumihoroboshi or meakashi, but overall outside of a few high points i mostly just glanced at it on auto while browsing reddit(and even skipped at times, more than any other higu episode), and still understood everything. this leads me to believe that, damn this writing was slow. like, man, what a let down. meakashi really was peak and its a shame higu never reached those highs again, or even the highs of tsumihoroboshi. and yeah, i am absolutely aware that my burnout is affecting this, with me wishing for it to end at every corner, but like
at some points i was enjoying myself, so some of it just has to be boring, right? i think so. but yeah, am i glad i played this instead of watching the anime? not really. with some 60-70 hours i dropped in a single month it was absolutely not worth it. watching the anime woulda been a much better experience i think. in fact, im probably gonna go see a few scenes and how they were adapted
but uh, also one mystery i wanted to find out never got solved sadly, which was why rika had the takano syringes
(or i couldve skipped over it, who knows)

welp, now im finally free. feels good.

ill play umineko eventually. but not in a long, long time.

now. wheres my ds twewy ?

oh right i should rank the chapters one last time
1-meakashi
2-tsumihoroboshi
3-tatarigoroshi
4-onikakushi
5-minagoroshi
6-watanagashi
7-matsuribayashi
8-himatsubushi

~~~~~~~
ok so the question arcs are a 6.8 averaged
the answer arcs are a 7.75 averaged
all together is.... 7.31?
damn.... this was a waste of my january huh

just read meakashi and tsumihoroboshi, save yourself the pain