More Higurashi content? Why not!
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei serves as an epilogue to the main Higurashi series and deals with the aftermath of Rika's liberation from the century-long time loops of murder, torture, and despair in the village of Hinamizawa. Unfortunately, Rika is then met with a similar tragedy: [spoiler] she loses her life after recklessly riding her bike in Saikoroshi-hen.
Soon after, Rika wakes up in a world where everyone but Rika lives their ideal lives. A summary of everyone's 'ideal lives' is presented below:
- Keiichi never shot children with an airsoft gun, so he never moves to Hinamizawa to rehabilitate.
- Reina's parents never moved away from Hinamizawa and therefore never divorced, so Reina never becomes "Rena".
- Satoko and Satoshi live happily with their mother and stepfather, as the Dam War was resolved peacefully, and the Houjou family is therefore never ostracized by the village. Therefore, Satoshi never kills their aunt, and Satoko never gets abused by Teppei.
- Mion and Shion maintain their birth identities; they never switched places. The 'real' Shion is happily attending St. Lucia in this world.
- Miyoko Tanashi's parents did not die in an accident, so she was never sent to the orphanage where she experienced abuse, preventing her from becoming the antagonist of the series. Because of this, Miyoko Tanashi never becomes "Miyo Takano" and never researches the Hinamizawa Syndrome, and she and her supporters therefore never visit Hinamizawa.
Rika must decide whether to remain in this new, "sinless" world or return to the original, flawed world of Matsuribayashi-hen. In order to do the latter, she must find and destroy a fragment from the realm of gods that slipped into this sinless world. Eventually, Rika learns that the fragment resides within her own mother, who is the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama in this world. Some time later, she wakes up in the Irie Clinic, indicating that she has successfully returned to Matsuribayashi-hen. However, Rika is left with the painful conclusion that, in order to make that return possible, she must have killed her own mother.
What I find so beautiful about Saikoroshi-hen is that Rika still chooses to return to the flawed world, because she believes her life is shaped by the struggles she and her friends endured together. We are who we are because of what we have experienced; without the hardships in our lives, we would not be the same people we are today. I think that is a powerful message! [/spoiler]
Batsukoishi-hen and Hirukowashi-hen are extra stories with silly content that is not relevant to the main plot. The only thing I want to note is that Batsukoishi-hen taught me to ship Keiichi and Satoshi wholeheartedly =)
