Higurashi Season two, disappointment strikes back

Look, i don't care how good you are with that, you can't beat bullets with a bat, shut up

Higurashi season two

Now last time, I wrote a flowery review, endlessly praising this anime series to the hilt, so here is where I put on my objective pants and start actually bringing out the actual complaints about the show. First off, the title. Fans of the series will note I’m just calling the seasons basically “Season one and Season two” and aren’t using the proper Japanese names. And there is no way I can say this without coming off as a western ethnocentric elitist, so I’m going to just go with my gut and say, that I can’t understand any of the season differences. The words are very similar, and hard to pronounce, especially for me who doesn’t know more than 4 words in Japanese (long days of watching Kurosawai films has taught me the word for moron through), so its hard to difference, especially for the various “story arcs” within the series, each with its own Japanese title. I just wish fans would translate it, so I can tell what part of the story I’m referring too. But western elitists nature aside, lets move on to other criticisms, and by that I mean season two.

Now if your reading this, you either don’t care about spoilers, or have finished season one, so let me put it here, I don’t hate the second season, I was just really disappointed by it. The first season ended wonderfully, and I know this is a cliché, but after a series of multiple homicides the series finally ends with all of the characters learning the power of friendship and how to work together, and the final episode they all walk off, alive and sane. And I liked that ending. It may have been cliché, but at least it fit the theme of the story, and I don’t mind cliché story endings if I feel like the characters earned it and it wasn’t achieved through massive Deus ex Machina. The characters eventually worked together and over came the curse of paranoia. And I liked that, it fit the theme, it came at a hard cost, and it really explored the theme of friendship vs. isolation within the series. And the second season started off well. After an utterly forgettable first episode, the first arch of the season picks up where the last left off, except the group, having overcome their own internal paranoia and infighting, they eventually try to move on to overcome the sinister nature of the town. They make some headway, but it is clear that the town is still nasty, and then….they die. They all die, the whole lot of them, town wins, and the groundhog loop starts again. And I liked that, I mean, just as I fell into the lure of the heroes being undefeatable not that they have found the power of friendship, then they are all brutally slaughtered. And I’m always a fan of the whole cast being massacred, keeps the audience on their toes. And so we are back to the first seasons formula, of various story arcs as where the characters try to fight against the corruption nature of the town. This season is on a more optimistic note however, as the characters, while unable to remember past lives (except for our heroine Rika of course) seem to have overcome their total inability to trust each other, and are acting more functional and loving towards each other, implying the last season wasn’t a complete waste. The next “life” are almost like repeats of season one, except when the characters are placed into these dangerous situations, they learn to trust people and turn towards others rather than go into paranoia and hatred, except that Statoko’s abusive uncle has returned. The next arc is rather interesting, not even really about restoring the town and overcoming evil, but instead dealing with the actually legitimately hard issue of child abuse. And the series actually handles it rather maturely, showing that the Social Services often don’t know when to step in, and how hard it can be for them to determine actual abuse (especially hard in Japan where the standards are different and blaming the victim is ok), an issue made even worst when the victim often refuses to help. Child abuse is a real life problem that is still pretty hard to figure out, and I applaud the show for not having somebody just beat up the uncle and everything solve itself (a method show explicitly to not work in season one). But there way of solving it, while plausible, doesn’t seem to be very helpful, I mean, most abused children don’t have powerful mob dons ready to step in to help them out. Regardless, the problem is solved, everything is wonderful, and then, yet again, it ends horribly and the cycle goes on again.

Now season two had me going, and I was almost willing to place it better than most, when it shot itself in the foot. They explain the town. You know how the town is some weird evil presence, weather it be gods, or haunted presence, or spirits, but something sinister, mysterious and almost beyond mortal understanding. Hell, it could be in part just insanity in the part of some of the characters, trigged by the town, or maybe not even the town at all. Maybe all of the cast are just nuts, and the town is good, constantly time looping everything. But importantly, it isn’t known and that is why its scary. Its like in the shining, nobody actually really knows what’s up with the hotel, or to how much of an extent its effecting Nickleson, except it is a TV show rather than a movie, and can draw it out more. And yet…..they explain it. And not just in a cool way, they explain it less than half way through the series and call it simply a weird scientific illness that effects people’s brains, but can only grow in this climate and blah blah blah. Now, I like realism, but seriously? Scientific plague? There is time looping in this series, why the hell do you need to a weird scientific explanation. Also having the entire village being a weird government conspiracy and a massive scientific experiment, its just tacky. It ruins any sense of suspense or horror, and makes the whole appeal of the series mute. Most importantly, it ruins the sense of guilt. While the various characters who go mad are clearly influenced by something supernatural, all the magic seems to do is take their already existing urges and desires and amplify them to the point where they are willing to kill other people. But the characters still bear some guilt, Shion is a ruthless, jealous bitch with control issues, and her family problems are still just as real. Keichi is still an egotistical selfish brat who thinks himself above everybody, and Rena is an emotionally disturbed nut with a death wish regardless of weather or not the town is haunted. And yet, by making it an illness you remove any sense of guilt or responsibility from the victims. Jack’s madness in The Shinning is the product of the hotel, but the foundations for his abusive nature were laid before he ever came, it just preyed upon the darkness already in him. Part of the appeal of the show was the feeling that the characters were acting this way because of their own sins, and thus the moral at the end of the first season wall all the more fulfilling, recognizing their faults and moving on. If its an illness, then it should be impossible to ever over come it, and even then the whole point of the show seems wasted. The main villain is revealed to be non other than the nurse to the town doctor Takano. Now don’t get me wrong, she was a pretty nifty side character as the intelligent but clearly mentally disturbed detective, but as a main villain she just comes off as uninspiring, pathetic, and childish. While I like he back story (Horary, Japanese militarism) it lacks any feel of humanity and the “FOR SCIENCE” feel to it just lacks any real punch. The only part of the reveal I liked was that the janitors were revealed to be a tactical military unit, and in the first half of the season are just as sinisterly competent as they were early, with some shocking scenes as they ruthlessly purge the local police. But by the last two arcs they lost any sense of competence and are easily beaten by a bunch of kids. Now, the second to last arc almost redeemed itself, even with the silly premise. The heroes, after defeating the secret service, uniting the town, and discovering the mystery of the illness, the main characters are about to defeat the main villain with a friendship speech to defeat all friendship speeches when…they are all killed by a rapid fire gun. Ok, that’s awesome. And after all the suffering the main characters have endured, I would be inclined to forgive most annoyingly cliché happy endings, but the final arc took it to a level of absurdity that was just annoying. Basically, every character in the entire series showed up to fight the bad guys, and…

Maybe I am somewhat ignorant of the working of the secret service in Japan, but seriously, no matter how good of you are with a baseball bat, you can’t just beat elite agents trained agents with guns. I mean, the main characters take out dozens of elite agents, relying on a few police men, some mob hit men, and things picked up around the house. These guys are elite, they are special opts, there is no way you can justify the ease in which they are taken out. I mean, they have access to machine guns and sniper rifles, and yet seem unable to use them. The last few episodes are essentially a wish fulfillment as the main characters just run through every obstacle thrown at them, and we get to watch the main villains yell really loudly going “this can’t be happening” again and again and again. In short, it was just sort of a flop at the end, and honestly, I’d be happy if the second season never happened.