Well here it is, just a bit of extra information regarding extra thoughts I had about Higurashi that I really wanted to talk about, but was unable to due to spoilers. So now here we have a spoiler filled article if any of you are interested in what I have to say!
You can also go read the original article if you like which can be found here:
http://kreekspot.blogspot.tw/2013/12/mostly-final-thoughts-on-higurashi-no.html#more
It should go without saying that the following will have MASSIVE SPOILERS. Do not click on the read more button if you value the purity of your brain!
Read on after the break!
Mainly since I spent a lot of time rambling on how much I loved the series last time, this time will be considerably more negative on some more things I don't like, or just weird things I picked up.
In Kai, particularly the second half, I really didn't like how Rika, and everyone else started portraying Keichi as some sort of be-all, end-all savior who will come to unite them against destiny.
In my opinion, besides being cheesy, this diminished a lot of the series's overarching moral/meaning. The point of the series at least the way I saw it was supposed to be, was revolving around all your friends working together, and overcoming what seems like an unwinnable force.
Pouring all their attention onto one person greatly diminishes this in my opinion, because you are longer truly being rallied fully together. Pouring a "slight" amount of extra attention onto one character in these type of cases I think can work just fine, but I think they overdid it on Keichi to the point of making it feel like to the viewer that all the cast had to do was cuddle around him, listen to his epic speeches, and everything would be fine. It takes away greatly from overcoming a hardship being a team effort when there is so much focus on one person being "key".
Thankfully, at least as I remember it, this was not overpushed for very long so it could've been much, much worse, but I think it ended alright. (Still has the problems I mentioned above in spoiler-free town)
The next thing I feel like talking about a bit is not so much a complainant (Will be in a bit) as it is an observation:
Throughout the majority of Kai, "overcoming fate" is a major recurring theme in the series. For the keen of eye however you will notice likely the same thing I did.
If you don't count the rules of each world which say that someone must go insane (Which not counting them is silly I know, but just for sake of discussion), and just the main overarching one which results in Rika's death, and the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, then there arguably is NO FATE.
The main result of the "fated destruction" in the series is a result of Takano's unwavering determination to prove her grandpa's research to the world. She is actually working extremely hard to be the one that destroys our main cast's lives, and ignites the great Hinamizawa Disaster.
It is basically her working super hard to screw everyone over.
Hilariously enough this is exactly the same thing/belief our main heroes try to employ to defeat destiny: "Believe in your goal strong enough, and you can create a miracle!"
See what I'm saying?
This is unfortunately also where this observation will delve into a bit of a complaint. In the end the heroes did not win by simply even getting a stronger will/belief in their ability to beat Takano. THEY CHEATED WITH TIMELINE HAX.
I would've really liked it if the plot had been written so that while timeline hax played a part in the final arc in their winning, but mainly was still resulted from by their newfound determination, and/or bonds. Unfortunately it worked the other way around, and turned into a "Destiny Tower Defense Game" where the main cast had a detailed strategy guide in their hands.
A example of this having been done well is actually in the last arc of the first season of Higurashi. Keichi realizes what is going on through deja vu, and vows to prevent it from repeating itself with Rena. However this ISN'T the main thing which saves them. It is merely the motivation that drives Keichi into realizing what has to be done, and at the very end he uses his wits, and friendship to win Rena back, and save everyone. It was an amazing ending, and the timeline hax only played a supporter role in all of it.
Even though I hope for this, I can see some of why it had to be this way (Without massively re-writing the plot) The opposing force from Takano was basically unbeatable without employing insane amounts of timeline hax from what I could see.
Still maybe there could've been a way to re-write it so we could've gotten the best of both worlds, and gotten a truly spectacular ending build-up.
No comments:
Post a Comment