The Priestess of Oyashiro and the Magician of Words (A Rika/Keiichi Manifesto)

[animenutcase.livejournal.com]

Title: The Priestess of Oyashiro and the Magician of Words
Author: animenutcase
Fandom: Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni
Pairing: Furude Rika/Maebara Keiichi
Spoilers: Pretty much the whole series
Credit: Myanimelist.net for the pictures.
Notes: I'm sorry this is a day late. I was rather sick yesterday.

The year is Showa 58. Or, as we Westerners call it, 1983. The setting is in the picturesque town of Hinamizawa. Our hero, Maebara Keiichi, has just moved to this small town of 2000 from the city. He’s made friends in the form of Ryuuguu Rena, Sonozaki Mion, Houjou Satoko, and Furude Rika, all very cute girls. He finds himself integrated into their game club, where they play many different games. In these games, the loser must play the punishment game. Usually this entails dressing up in silly costumes and obeying the winner. Along the way, he meets Shion, Mion’s younger twin sister, and Hanyuu, Rika’s cousin.

Keiichi‘s life is good. The air is fresh, the people are friendly, and sometimes it seems like Rena and Mion have little crushes on him. The club’s wacky hijinks will continue in this light-hearted harem love show forever, right?

HA!

You wish.

There’ll be hijinks, but you won’t be laughing.

Y’see, Hinamizawa wasn’t always called Hinamizawa. It used to be called Onigafuchi, because according to legend, the people of Hinamizawa descended from demons. They used to have these crazy as shit rituals that involved disemboweling sacrifices and eating their intestines. Bear in mind, while this is pretty disgusting and horrifying for us Westerners, for the Japanese (who are mostly Buddhist and Shinto), it goes beyond blasphemy.

Anyway, Hinamizawa had some horrifying rituals. There are some people who think that it’s still going on today, during the Watanagashi festival. Watanagashi means “cotton drifting”, but it could also mean “organ drifting”, so you can see why outsiders are suspicious. Plus there’s the fact that for the past four years, every night on the Watanagashi, someone dies, and another person disappears. It’s said that those who are spirited away by the demon are enemies of Hinamizawa and were spirited away by Hinamizawa’s guardian deity, Oyashiro-sama. Keiichi gets wind of this and begins to wonder if his friends are hiding some things from him. And that is where the plot begins…

Higurashi‘s Origins, How I Got Into It, and My Overall Opinion of the Series:

It started as a visual/sound novel by Ryuukishi07 of 07^th Expansion back in 2002 and was adapted into an anime in 2006, followed by a second season in 2007. This year, they’ve released an OVA based on Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Rei, which was released after the end of the series to thank the fans.

I’d heard of Higurashi before, but I didn’t get into it until (appropriately enough) June of 2007, shortly before the second season began airing. I believe hearing the theme song made me curious. I quickly fell in love.

This series kicks ass. The characters are absurdly likeable, with the notable exception of Satoko’s uncle Teppei and his lover Rina. Hell, even the Big Bad kicks ass. The animation in the first season is… notoriously bad, but give it a chance. It's not all about killer lolis like some would have you believe.

But let’s get to the couple, shall we?

THE COUPLE

THE MAGICIAN OF WORDS:

Maebara Keiichi

 

Keiichi has the honor of not only being the main character in the first three arcs, but of being my favorite character. He’s your typical teenage boy. He has an interest in girls, and is actually a bit of a pervert. He often loses in the club, so he’s often forced to crossdress. He’s a smart boy, and this contributes to his back story.

Keiichi’s father is a well-known artist. The reason Keiichi gives for moving to Hinamizawa is that his father wanted a studio there (in fact, Keiichi’s house is so big that it’s referred to as the Maebara Mansion by the villagers, but about 2/3 of it is taken up by his father’s studio). But that’s only part of the story.

Y’see, Keiichi’s smartness got him picked on at his old school. However, Keiichi didn’t exactly endear himself either. He looked down on his classmates. Eventually, he bought an air gun and started shooting at small children around the city. This caused a lot of panic. One night, Keiichi spotted a little girl and shot at her. However, it hit her in the eye. Keiichi panicked, and confessed. His parents felt guilty over not seeing the signs and they decided to move to Hinamizawa to get a fresh start. And it worked… at first.

In the first arc, Keiichi allows his paranoia to get the best of him, and kills Rena and Mion with a baseball bat in what he believes is self-defense. Finally, he claws out his own throat with his fingernails, just as Tomitake had done a few nights before on the Watanagashi.

Well, that sucks. I guess the series is gonna focus on Satoko and Rika from now on - WAIT A SECOND! What the fuck is Keiichi doing here? Didn’t he die? And Rena and Mion! They’re here, too! What’s going on?

You’ll have to watch to find out.

But Onikakushi-hen is notable for not only being the first arc, but also for being the only time where Keiichi‘s paranoia results in the death of his friends. From Watanagashi-hen and beyond, Keiichi shows a great deal of resolve in believing in his friends, even though he can’t remember what happened before. Well, at least until Tsumihoroboshi-hen, when he does remember. Perhaps it’s because Rena is going through a similar situation, but Keiichi suddenly remembers killing her and Mion, including a Tear Jerker scene that shows Rena extending her hands to Keiichi, asking him to believe in her before he kills her. He is filled with remorse. Rika calls this a miracle.

THE PRIESTESS OF OYASHIRO:

Furude Rika

 

Rika is a cute little girl who loves to say “Mii” and “Nii-pah!”. It drives the cuteness-loving Rena wild. Rika doesn’t get much character the development until the final question arc. This may be because she has a habit of dying, a fact that she is painfully aware of.

Rika behaves cheerfully, but it’s all an act. She knows that she’ll be killed some time after the Watanagashi, and half the time it’s after seeing one of her closest friends turn into a homicidal maniac. It’s no wonder she drinks wine at night.

The reason Rika is able to hit the reset button is because her “cousin” Hanyuu has the power to let her.

Still, after a hundred years of nothing but Bad Ends, it’s no wonder Rika has practically given up.

Along comes a boy named Keiichi.

THE COUPLE

Higurashi doesn’t really have any Official Couples (except maybe Tomitake and Takano). This may be because it’s largely driven by the Power of Friendship and the Power of Trust. Not that that stops me.

You may be thinking “Rika? But you said it was Rena and Mion who had crushes on Keiichi!”. Well, I personally think that all the girls have little tiny crushes on K1.

This series provides an interesting reversal of the optimistic Hero and the cynical Lancer (because Rika really IS the true Hero). Keiichi is a Determinator. Rika is a Cynic.

Keiichi has been noted to be very good at giving rousing speeches. I’ve even seen a doujinshi refer to him as the “Magician of Words”. And it was Rika who called him that. And it’s actually a pretty accurate description.

Keiichi’s speeches rouse determination in everyone, Rika included.

At one point in the penultimate arc, Rika finds herself in a situation identical to the that of Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen. When Keiichi notices her sad face, she explains that their positions in the game tournament (and the game they’ll play) have already been determined. Sure enough, he picks the same spot in the seating arrangement as Rika said, and the game is the same. Is this enough to convince Keiichi?

No.

He tells her that fate is a strong word, and that she shouldn’t use it lightly. He requests another game. And when the time came for Keiichi to give the doll he won to one of the girls, Rika is afraid, because giving the doll to Rena results in a murderous rampage from one of the other girls. To her astonishment, he hands it to Mion. This one gesture that prevents the events of Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen from reoccurring gives Rika the strength to keep going. Now, in that particular arc, it actually DID have a Bad End, but that was because Hanyuu didn’t believe. It’s really sad when you think of how close the Game Club was to smashing the Endless June once and for all. They get it right in the next one, though.

She needed hope and he gave her hope.

There are certain parallels and similarities between Keiichi and Rika. Keiichi lives with both of his parents. Rika is an orphan (which is why she lives with her best friend, fellow orphan Satoko). Keiichi is a carefree boy. Rika is the head of the Furude family. Keiichi is loud, Rika is generally more quiet. Rika is revered as the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama, while Keiichi was picked on in his hometown.

But the similarities are interesting. Rika and Keiichi are the only members of the club (besides Hanyuu, who I’m excluding because she’s Oyashiro-sama and therefore special) who don’t have any siblings. Mion and Shion are twins, Satoko has Satoshi, and Rena’s mom gave her pregnancy as a reason to divorce her father. Another thing of note is how Keiichi addresses Rika. She’s the only one he refers to with an honorific, calling her “Rika-chan”. In contrast, she’s the only one of the girls who doesn’t address him with an honorific, which is odd, considering he’s physically older than her. Granted, she doesn’t really address anyone with an honorific, but my point still stands.

Links:

Higurashi's Wikipedia page is a good place to start for people new to the series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higurashi_no_Naku_Koro_ni

Higurashi's TVTropes page is a good place to start, too. Be wary of spoilers: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi

Oyashirosama is LJ's main Higurashi community. The people there are great:
http://community.livejournal.com/oyashirosama/profile

First Blossom: Shameless pimping. This fic is one of mine: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5376968/1/First_Blossom 

Festival: A cute Rika/Keiichi fic:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4456540/1/Festival.

Comments

[thyried.livejournal.com]

Hm, I'm not much of a Keiichi/Rika fan, but I can certainly still appreciate this. I actually didn't notice that they're the only club members without siblings until you mentioned it here, especially with me forgetting about Rena's mom's pregnancy. And wasn't it Mion who called Keiichi the "Magician of Words" first (at least in the anime)? I might remember it wrong, though.