As for for what happened at the festival... here’s what Rena recounts:
And here’s what I think of it!
-First, Rena’s description barely says anything. It doesn't even confirm that Satoko died at the festival, hence why my Satoko theory post suggests she might have died with Keiichi.
-Rena's description also doesn't necessarily prove that Ooishi was the one who killed everyone. Indeed, I think it would be more likely that he drew his gun to fight off another attacker in the crowd, and may have died himself. (Seeing Ooishi charge in was presumably what Rena saw right before the bloodshed started, and thus was the detail that stuck in her mind.)
-Unfortunately, if we rule out Ooishi, that leaves us almost nothing to go off of.
-However, we notably haven't touched on whatever made Takano and Tomitake disappear during the festival in previous arcs.
-We also have the question of what Rika was doing. Since she very clearly remembers Minagoroshi during Tataridamashi, then her first priority at the festival should have been to deal with Takano. Unlike in Onidamashi or Watadamashi, she would think Takano is the last thing standing between her and victory in this world.
-In Minagoroshi, Rika tries very hard to delay Tomitake and Takano from leaving the festival. What if something similar happened here? What if Rika prevented Tomitake and Takano from fleeing in that stolen truck?
-And thus, what if whoever or whatever scared those two actually caught up to them at the festival this time?
(The easy answer for "whoever" would be the Mountain Hounds and/or Tokyo betraying Takano and starting a shootout, but it doesn't have to be. Indeed, Tokyo waging a very public attack is almost as out of character for them as Ooishi pulling a mass shooting.)
-But at any rate, something goes Very Wrong at the festival, Ooishi pulls his gun in defense, and most of the club dies as a result.
-The club might even have been killed by Ooishi's gun if there was some crossfire, though again, Rena is vague enough that it doesn't have to be the case.
Satoko is definitely sus, but Hinamizawa Syndrome is just as good an explanation as supernatural masterminds.
Another half-theory half-fanfic outline like my Watadamashi post!
-Almost immediately, Tataridamashi shows something different, not about Satoko, but about Teppei. We *don't* get confirmation of Rina's death, and instead we learn of a bad smell in Teppei's apartment and that he is taking some kind of medical prescription.
That bad smell evokes the opening to the original Tatarigoroshi, and the discovery of Rina's body.
-So... let's say Teppei and Rina got into an argument over Rina stealing from the Sonozakis. And let's say something went wrong. Maybe Teppei hit her, but didn't mean to hit her so hard. Maybe a fight broke out with Rina's other accomplices, or even the Sonozakis themselves.
-Either way, Teppei now has a corpse stinking up his apartment, and he needs to get out of town ASAP. Where else to go but back to Hinamizawa?
-And so, Satoko is faced with her uncle coming back. But not only that, now Satoko also has to deal with Ooishi persistently harassing her again.
This time, Ooishi is here for Teppei, due to the even more suspicious circumstances under which Teppei left Okinomiya. But to Satoko, it all feels like a repeat of three years ago, when she had a breakdown when the police questioned her about her parents.
-Under that increased pressure, Satoko relapses even more rapidly than in Tatarigoroshi. If Ooishi says Teppei might have killed his lover, well then, of course he's going to kill Satoko! He probably killed Satoshi too!!
-And something else is new as well: an opportunity. Standing up to Teppei while he's right in front of Satoko is hard, but messing with his medicine while he's gambling with his friends? Child's play.
-So yes, Teppei is dead. And dead early too, killed by Satoko soon after the last scene he was confirmed to be present.
I believe this would be either his scene with Chie-sensei or the first call made by CWS.
The villagers gossiping about Teppei desecrating a shrine, though? That's not definitive at all, and he was likely dead already at that point. A wild animal did the damage.
-Obviously, hiding a dead body does not help Satoko's Hinamizawa Syndrome in the slightest. Given how stressed and high stage she is, she probably really does spend most of her time at home, feeling sick and feverish. (When she's not panicking or hallucinating Teppei...)
-Was the panic attack at school faked? Maybe it started with Satoko feeling she needed to imply Teppei was still alive, but given that she actually throws up, it probably ended as the real thing.
-Meanwhile, Keiichi and friends sending CWS people to check up on Satoko? Also not helping her mental state! Satoko begins to resent Keiichi, suspecting that he knows what she did and is using the CWS people to reveal her crime.
-So, when the CWS people and the police show up at her door yet again, Satoko firmly tells them that Keiichi is wrong, and the villagers are banding together to try and take her away from Teppei as part of their grudge against the Houjous. Case closed.
-But Satoko knows Keiichi won't like that. So, with the help of some vague memories she doesn't quite understand, Satoko spins a convincing lie about what might have happened, in another, better world.
-And Keiichi believes it. Just like the police believed Teppei was still alive. Just like the CWS believed Satoko's reports about her last stepfather.
Even at very high stages of Hinamizawa Syndrome, Satoko is quite good at lying and pretending everything is fine.
-Time to go to the festival and convince the rest of her friends of that story. But as we see in the shower and as she puts on new clothes, Satoko has no marks on her, since Teppei has been dead for days now.
It's true that the scene with Ooishi, Keiichi, and Irie suggests Teppei could abuse Satoko without leaving marks, but I think that's a red herring for new viewers. In the original Tatarigoroshi and Minagoroshi, Teppei leaves clear marks.
-Of course, Satoko avoids going to the clinic. She might be able to lie to her friends, but if Irie examines her, he'll know she wasn't hurt.
And he might keep her in the hospital again - just like after her parents died! Nope, nope, nope. Satoko has important things she needs to do.
-More specifically, she needs to do something about Keiichi. He'll probably find out that she told the police and CWS a different story than she told him.
-If Keiichi wants to enter her house and see Teppei's body so much? Fine, then. He wants to take the place of her Nii-nii? Fine then.
-Keiichi can become her Nii-nii... so he can take the blame in her place. So he can take the curse Satoshi left behind and disappear in her place.
You see, Satoko really has realized something about her Nii-nii. He had been asking for help this entire time, and she hadn't heard him.
So when this fake Satoshi has gone away, sacrificed to the curse, then maybe the real Satoshi - the Satoshi whose footsteps and apologies Satoko has recently been hearing - will finally come back.
And he'll be proud of her, right? She did it, she stayed strong and helped him, like he wanted!!
-Following her brother's footsteps, Satoko grabs Satoshi's bat from school and brings it home with her.
-She then lures Keiichi to her house, emphasizing that he’s her big brother now.
-At Satoko's house, she's has rigged a trap on the light switch much like the one she put in Keiichi's house in the first episode.
The room with the trap may very well have been the room with Teppei's dead body in it, but it doesn't have to be.
-Keiichi, ever the trusting fool as far as Satoko's concerned, enters the room, gets hit by the trap, and attacked by Satoko with the bat.
-After the first blow to the head, Keiichi hallucinates everything, conflating Satoko and Teppei.
Like the end of Watanagashi-hen, even without Hinamizawa Syndrome, Keiichi is not a reliable narrator when in a near-death state.
-But Satoko is not Teppei, and Keiichi is stronger than she anticipated. Keiichi ultimately overpowers Satoko, but passes out from his head wound.
Satoko might have died here, might have not. If she did, then by coincidence, we yet again follow the pattern of Satoko dying alongside one of the club members in a double-murder committed using the other club member's favored weapon.
Alternatively, after thinking she's successfully eliminated Keiichi, Satoko returns to the festival, only to die there.
-Regardless of where she dies, Satoko never reunites with Satoshi as she had hoped...
Ep. 13 of Gou... I don’t even know what to think. The turn of events in this season are so sudden. There’s like no build-up. Rena’s emotional outburst at the end was the best part imo.
But it’s also kind of interesting that Teppei returned to the house and Ooishi shot up the festival. Did Ooishi let Teppei go knowing what he was going to do? And why did Teppei’s eyes appear red? Are the characters actually being controlled by demons this time around?
while super tough to watch, I liked ep 10 for higurashi gou a lot. the pacing has felt the best of gou thus far. we got to sit with mion explaining the issue with child services, the teacher realizing slowly what was happening, and then rika in the background just defeated over her best friend being put back into this situation.
and I really liked the portrayal of satoko’s ptsd from her abuse, esp compared to the og anime’s version. felt a lot more natural (mainly taking away the ‘satoko pushes keiichi halfway across the room’)
but I also liked the different approach of her reacting once keiichi touched her head vs it happening right before he could. like, she swatted him away bc she didn’t want the contact and knew it would upset her, but swatting him away didn’t *stop* the rising panic and still put her into that tragic feedback loop
I’m pretty certain we gotta see Shion next episode with this arc having her protective of Satoko. It’ll be interesting to see between her, Keiichi, and the rest of the characters what will happen next
