Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei - Irotoutoshi-hen - Vol. 4 Ch. 18.5

[MangaDex]

 

[SaitoZX]

Such a peaceful end...but it feels like hanging on something... like that syndrome or such

 

[KensouADV]

"Quite a few loose ends but who cares?" - Hanyuu, probably.

I thought it was funny how it looked like Inori had to walk back to touch Keitarou's hand at the last page.

 

[Roadwarior2]

Cute ending and all, but overall I’d say this answer arc was a pretty lame way to end a very much tacked on semi canon sequel series.

The series as a whole obviously hooked me enough to get me to finish it, but from the start when I learned that they decided to not pair K1 with any of the original 4 girls, that gave me a strong initial feeling that this wasn’t gonna be good, though I regardless pressed on to see how it would actually go.
You see personally I tend to ship Mion with K1, but I still would’ve found it mighty interesting to see a future where he married either Rika, Satoko, or Rena and what the fruits of those relationships would be, so it’s not like I’m just bitter because muh ship sank. An opportunity was missed, and that’s disappointing that’s all.

Maybe I’m making a lot out of a petty gripe, but since I’m 90% certain (I seem to remember an interview where it was mentioned) it was a safe and boring creative decision very blatantly made with not alienating any of the really hardcore shippers in mind, it instilled some expectation that this was all going to similarly be a very safe and pretty lame/boring story in the end; which it was.

Like Polaris people dress like they’re Amish for some reason, but oh no they’re not actually some kind of wacky new age cult, they’re just LARPing as one as a 4d chess move to intentionally alienate people into leaving them alone… okay?
Also for some reason they too managed to develop a completely separate species of alien parasite somehow.
Then there’s no shady, sinister government organisation behind anything, just some fucking asshole, Satoko‘s dumbass daughter, and some old dickhead; all of whom are set straight by either a stern talking to or some incredibly stupid sexual blackmail.

I don’t know, maybe I just need to go read it again just to refresh my memory on some parts and take it all in a little better, but I can’t be the only one who thinks that this project was kind of shit, right? Does anyone that marathoned it recently have a different opinion?

 

[godzilla1987653]

I rather watch Gou Sotsu again than read this story again

 

[Hopper123]

In another universe this payoff would have its intended actual impact.
This… is not that universe.

 

[Lunkli]

And then we get Higurashi When They Cry: Kei (Named for the Keiichi Era, obviously) in however many years and Keitarou and Inori have both married totally different people, Just like Keiichi and Mion / Rena had in this series.

 

[Roadwarior2]

And then we get Higurashi When They Cry: Kei (Named for the Keiichi Era, obviously) in however many years and Keitarou and Inori have both married totally different people, Just like Keiichi and Mion / Rena had in this series.

Nah, no one gave enough of a fuck about this story for Ryukishi to have to worry about having to appease rabid shippertards, not like with the original 4 when he’d have to worry about things like the Mion Crusade mailing him their own jizz or jihadis from the Islamic State of Satoko throwing dead rats in through his window (depending on what ship he sailed).

 

[Zafkiel_Aleph]

Kishimoto and Ryukishi would get along

 

[Clover_Zero]

There are things I like about this manga, such as:

• The art.
• The kids aren't exact copies of their parents. Keitarou is a bit different than Keiichi (and a bit more extreme on his ways). Kihiro is my favorite, by the way.
• It's nice to see the kids coming to an understanding and getting along.
• The depiction and treatment of people with trauma.
• The lesson Keitarou learned to not force people with trauma from communication to communicate. His fight with Kihiro is great, shounen-esque.

But overall, this manga is...meh. How they beat the antagonists is especially...lmao. I love When They Cry series, I love Ryukishi07 (I even played Higanbana and Rose Guns Days), but this is just not it.

 

[NeonDZ]

I think part of the core issues with this series end up leading to the underwhelming ending. This was basically designed to be as safe as R07 believed it could be. This future wasn't a dramatic evolution of the series, but a good ending for the club, so you couldn't have traumas and conflict comparable to the original series for the main cast with their children. That general trend of "safe" and "happy" just ends up infecting everything. No club pairings because R07 didn't want to lose shippers and thought this was the safest path, even announcing before the series started officually (but had already leaked) it wasn't a definitive future just a set of fragments, but it just causes him to lose most audience from the start. Heck, with 8 manga volumes he could have done 4 manga with 2 vols with different pairings, featuring Keiichi with a different club member in each one. Of course what would tie these stories together would need to be different though. Or, heck, if he wanted to stick to one timeline here, pair Keiichi with Rena or Mion and then pair Satoko with Rika, the mobile game Higurashi Mei has more Satoko/Rika cards than Mion/Keiichi, so there's probably a relevant audience for it. Then just have Satoshi/Shion's child replacing Satoko's (who could play the role of an actual nice aunt) - and make Sakiko an unrelated Kimiyoshi. I thought it really wasn't a good look that the powerful families of the village are all tied in this friend group, even going from father to children. It's clearly unintended since they're meant to be open and understanding, but it's aspect where trying to be too safe just hurts the series.

Moving on to Polaris, they're completely non-religious in spite of the purification ritual stuff in oniokoshi. Then you have the big oddity of the Polaris virus. It's basically Hinamizawa Syndrome, without an area limitation, and yet had no interest or focus in this setting at all, which is bizarre. You'd think the existence of a group of people from different origins who moved through different places carrying this virus would suggest something to contain it or study it, but there was nothing. It just exists to excuse the characters even more from their actions.

It's also kind of funny that in the Question Arcs, especially Hoshi, they act like getting close to Keitaro could be some huge advantage even though according to the final.arc Keiichi was already their supporter and in contact with their Holy Mother. It's all just badly planned. Makes me wonder how much the bigger role of the original club in the final arc was a late game change.