Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.8 Matsuribayashi

Kyute~

10/10. I will miss you hinamizawa <3

모두함께 싸워 이뤄낸 아름다운 세계

스토리가 무리수를 좀 많이 둔 거 같다. 오료 이 썩을 할망구가 느닷없이 졸렬잎 마을 멈춰 이러는데 너무 급작스러워서 노망이 났나 싶었고 호죠와 소노자키의 재회를 독백으로 때워서 좀 실망이였다. 리카 이 놈이 친구들을 믿으면 기적이 일어나요 니파~~라 씨부렸지만 기적을 일으키는 건 압도적인 힘였음.

The finale to the wonderful Higurashi series, serving as a climactic, engagingly beautiful end, albeit with a couple of plot contrivances thrown in the mix. Chapter 8 does something unlike any other Higu chapter, by actively forcing the player to engage more with the pieces presented to them. It isn't much, but sorting through fragments to uncover more of Takano's past and what built some loose ends from prior chapters is an incredibly engaging aspect of the this chapter's narratively, and arguably one of the more memorable parts of this series to me. There's not much I can say about the final act without outright spoilers, but in essence: Takano's Prologue was genuinely heartbreaking, connecting fragments was engaging, & the resounding finale afterwards served as a nice way to tie everyone's characterisations together in a wonderful batch. Genuinely my only complaint surrounding this chapter comes in the presence of Akasaka's character. Though he served as a refreshing change of pace in Chapter 4, his involvement in the final act frankly feels like a plot device intended to alleviate any power-scaling issues the story would've otherwise struggled with. I did feel his presence felt rather heavy-handed, but it's also something I can forgive, considering just how engaging everyone else's developments were. Higurashi is a beautiful series - one I don't regret getting into & one that I'm glad I entered through the VNs for. I really do think this finale serves as a culmination of this series' fantastic world & character building, & I can't wait to see where Ryuukishi takes the WTC franchise moving forwards when I get to Umineko.

真是好不容易走到这步呢，跨越百年后收集到的最后的完美碎片，照映出“真善美”的内核。我的雏见泽之旅也圆满了。