Higurashi When They Cry: Festival Accompanying Arc, Vol. 4 - manga (Higurashi, 25) (Volume 25)

I love the early volumes of Higurashi. With the exception of Time-Killing and Beyond Midnight, they are among my favorite books. I believe they deserve a spot beside the classics like Akira and Nausicaa for their emotional storytelling, dramatic pacing and intriguing premise.I even liked the Massacre arc despite it's preachiness, and I would have been happy if the series had ended there, if only because what came after was so bad.In this the final volume of Higurashi we finally learn the true fate of Satoshi, which is perhaps the biggest reveal in the entire series. There is the final confrontation between the forces of Miyo Takano and the forces of Keiichi and gang. Higurashi has suddenly become an action manga because you can't have an ending without lots of people shooting guns and fighting even though no one dies, right!? Let's get into the facts of this volume.Number 1, Karin Suzuragi is a terrible artist. I've said it before but it still holds true. Any of the other artists would have been a better choice for this arc (except perhaps Yoshiki Tonogai), but I guess Karin Suzuragi was the cheapest or something. Her characters' expressions still look wooden or awkward, she still can't draw hands, and her page layouts are still really boring. There's no life in her drawings. This point is important to keep in mind because it stacks with all the other negative aspects of the volume.Number 2, There are so many nonsensical or awkward moments in this volume I don't know where to begin. None of the earlier volumes suffered from this problem NEARLY as much as this arc. Why? Because those arcs were focused on telling a story, and this one is focused on tying up every possible loose end, and finding ways to avoid having the main characters kill anyone.SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!Page 16, Rena says "At times like these pretty girls never die" in a way to suggest that she's stating some kind of universal truth (the font is adjusted too). I could have seen this line working as a tongue in cheek side comment but not as something serious! The reason it's so awkward here is because Higurashi is especially KNOWN for pretty girls dying in unexpectedly tragic ways.On the next page Shion says "I won't die, even if they do kill me!" What!? I know this line keeps cropping up in various anime and manga but that doesn't make it any less asinine.Page 41, Takano says "They've found R. Her movements coincide with the signal from the tracking device we planted on Irie." Um, how do they know that? Why would they risk sending such a huge force out into the mountains when they don't even know if Rika will be there? Just send a scouting team. Or is Takano not thinking clearly because she's suffering from Hinamizawa syndrome?Plus, the last time one of her men saw Rika (page 484 of the previous volume), Tomitake was nowhere in sight.For that matter, why would Keiichi and gang assume that Takano would follow the tracking device in search of Rika? Sure, they might send a squad out to capture Irie, but not divert their entire force on some wild goose chase. This highly illogical decision is at the core of all the awkward and nonsensical moments that are to follow.Actually, there's something even more nonsensical than the tracking device, and that's Okonogi's actions after getting beaten up by Akasaka at the end of the last volume and the beginning of this one. He and his men have to retreat because Keiichi, Shion and Kasai come out of the woods with machine guns. Fine. They retreat all the way back to the clinic where one of Okonogi's men tells him "We've lost the signal from Irie's tracking device. We believe they've gone underground." Shouldn't it be extremely obvious that Irie and gang are still hiding under the Sonozaki mansion? Okonogi was JUST there with his men and he KNOWS that the Sonozakis have an underground tunnel system. Why doesn't he round up some more men, give them all guns or those stupid tasers and surround that whole area!? Instead he just stays at the clinic and says "They can't stay in hiding forever! Keep your eyes open and be patient. Don't rush anything!" Yeah.The whole scene where the "Wild Dogs" go looking for Rika on the mountaintop is a good example of why this is the weakest story arc. One of the main issues is how confusing the tone is. I would assume it's serious since a bunch of guys are coming to try and capture Rika. A bunch of grown men get incapacitated but not killed by some of Satoko's traps and Keiichi knocks a few guys down a well. This isn't TOO unrealistic, but the tone is slowly starting to become hazy by some of the comments made by the wild dogs like "How could they know our movements!? I don't see any aerial drones!" Isn't this set in the 1980's? Were there drones back then?Pages 68-70, "skylark 13" has Satoko cornered but needs to run ten steps to get her. He then hears one of his comrades say "don't step on the stumps! They're rigged!" Another one says "Don't walk through the grass!" and yet another one says "they've got stuff set up on the bare ground too!" Are these guys all in the immediate vicinity that skylark 13 can hear them all clearly? Even the guy down the well? (they aren't holding walkie talkies and don't have anything in their ears) Doesn't skylark 13 already know that there are traps set up everywhere? Why is one of the guys wrapped in a mattress and being patted on the head by Rika? Is that supposed to be cute or funny, because it comes off as bizarre and doesn't fit with the intensity of the rest of the scene. What happened to skylark 13's taser? Why doesn't he have a gun? I give up.The scene with Shion and gang breaking into the clinic is also riddled with strange moments.Why are there no guards at least keeping watch from inside? The guys in the guard room are just sitting around drinking coffee. Really?Page 63, how does Irie know that there are only six guards left in the whole clinic? Did one of guards they captured tell them that?What was the point of disguising Kasai and Akasaka to look like guards? It only bought them like one or two seconds of time.Irie's rant about maids on pages 127-132. Do I even need to say anything about this? I know Japan is obsessed with maids far beyond any reasonable degree. Earlier volumes of higurashi did feature some little stupid moments involving maid outfits, but they were mostly confined to Keiichi suffering a punishment game, which made sense and was funny.However, Irie takes it to a whole new level of anime stupidity. A guard is holding Shion hostage WITH A GUN TO HER HEAD and Irie is the only one around to help. Irie fools the guard into thinking he injected him with the hinamizawa virus. Fine. Irie tells the guard that he has the antivirus and will give it to the guard, probably in exchange for Shion's life but this is not specified. Fine. Irie says "The antidote must be injected into the buttocks." At first this line seems retarded, but then I thought "Oh! Maybe Irie is doing that to put the guard in an awkward position so he can knock him out and save Shion." Then I realized the extent to which Higurashi and Ryukishi07 have succumbed to the anime and manga virus (maids being only one of it's many forms).I honestly have no idea how Ryukishi07 could have thought this scene was a good idea. It actually started out sort of promising. Shion was about to see Satoshi again when she was seized by the guard, creating tension. Never mind that she was dumb to go rushing off alone, or that the guard was dumb for not just shooting her or snapping her neck as soon as he caught her.This rant from Irie was the nail in the coffin for me. This was when I knew that Ryukishi07 had officially ruined the ending of Higurashi.Page 145, why does Irie make Shion keep Satoshi's existence a secret? Wouldn't Satoko be happy to know he's alive and come visit him everyday? Sure she might be upset to hear about his condition and he still might die, but at least she would have some closure.Page 148, Akasaka says "If we try and take a detour, the sun will set before we get there." Why is the sun setting an issue? Takano can't do anything without Rika and the watchdogs don't have any specific deadline for when he can contact them. Take the detour!Pages 154-155, a bucket lands on Nightingale 13's head. I seriously expected him to say "Who turned out the lights!?" Instead he says "What the hell is this!?" What the hell Indeed.Pages 164-166, a group of special forces agents are crippled with fear after Hanyu says creepy things to them over the radio. Also, Rika says Keiichi's screams sounded like someone was strangling a chicken? Is that supposed to be funny?Pages 178-194, Shion and Kasai decide they should wait til the last possible second to take out the guys with rocket launchers instead of clearing out the area or at least suppressing them before Tomitake and Akasaka try to ram through. Also, Kasai doesn't shoot out the tires of the van blocking the road. Why not? He sure seems to be firing enough bullets to easily disable that van. Also, even though Tomitake is supposed to be such a great shot, he doesn't shoot the tires of the van chasing them and instead tries to "scare" the driving into giving up.These are all very specific issues, but now I want to talk about the main reason why Higurashi took a nose dive.The first couple story arcs use an alternate world approach to storytelling, which works very well. As soon as this alternate world approach BECAME an element in the story itself (at the beginning of the massacre arc) I could feel that something wasn't quite right. The focus of the story was originally "kids struggling with forces beyond their control or comprehension and trying to come to terms with their world." There was no element of meta-fiction in the earlier volumes but then it slowly starts to creep in during the atonement arc. The story could have been told with much more impact had the meta-fiction angle been left out.The conclusion of the story in which the kids stumble upon the truth and have to fight to stop it could have just been another alternate world. There was no reason to connect all the worlds with the convoluted and forced Rika/Hanyu plot, which ends up becoming the core of the story . All this does is cheapen and dilute the characters' previous struggles and confuse the direction of the story.I liked it when the direction of the story was "real kids trying to find real solutions to real problems that grip their lives in fear."Then for some reason the direction of the story became "a little girl who is hundreds (or thousands?) of years old and her invisible (and invincible?) floating companion who is also a little girl that is very old (and has abilities which are totally arbitrary and confusing) have to struggle to retain their memories (exactly why they are struggling with this is never made clear) from each time the world resets so they can find a way to convince their friends to believe the truth of what's happening in the village so they can all work together to stop it but without killing anyone because that would be bad even though they've all been killed or killed each other countless times already."Having a story direction like that is a good way to disconnect readers, but no one seems to have noticed this besides me. Am I just crazy? The thing I loved about Higurashi was that it gripped you because it FELT REAL. Does an invisible little girl with horns who floats around but can't help out until she really wants to "believe" in a miracle feel unrealistic to anyone else?Irie's rant about maids is really just the icing on the cake because the real problem with the Festival Accompanying arc (and portions of the Massacre arc) is the story direction. Takano's sudden role as a main character was a nice twist, but it was also completely unnecessary. Painting her in a sympathetic light also dilutes the struggle of Keiichi and gang.Higurashi was a fantastic series from volumes 1-6 and very good from 11-21. Read those. It had it's share of little plot holes and some anime stupidity here and there, but overall it was the best manga I'd read in a while. It's just a shame how it ended up. Right now the most promising looking thing for me is Flowers of Evil. I'll check out Umineko but with Ryukishi07's growing fascination with meta-fiction I'm not holding my breath.

It's the final push for Rika and her friends to escape their fate and live past the Summer of 1983. She finally has a hope, but their enemy is strong. Takano and her Wild Dog mercenaries have them outnumbered and outgun. The Hinamizawa Study Group will have to unleash all the skills they've honed through their hyper-competitive group activity.They have a plan to lure Takano's forests in the mountain slopes were Satako has spent the last few years honing her traps. It's their only hope to defeat the enemy. While Mion leads the battle, and Keiichi and Rena ambush the enemy, Shion leads a force to retake the Irie Clinic.But it's heavily guarded still. Will they succeed? Will Takano's mad plan reach it's apocalyptic conclusion?While the series is over the top, it's fun. Finally, our heroes are fighting back. They're working together and using all the talents they've shown over the countless worlds we've seen. It's their last chance for a happy ending.And they're going to take it.The art is great. The emotions are powerful. If you've come to love these characters, then you are rooting for them to get that happy ending after all the tragedy they've endured. Twists, turns, action, and tragedy are drawn across the pages!This is an amazing manga! I'm glad to have read it!

This is the end of the line for rika-Chan and friends, and I don't mean as in they die or anything like that. (There has been enough of that in the earlier issues to literally last a few lifetimes, :p bad joke I know)Basically as the title of this review State's, this is the best possible ending to a simply fantastic series.To ryukishhi07 and friends I hope that seventy years from now you can give your grand kids a box set of these (or an Ebook box set or whatever they use for reading then) and tell them two things:1. I wrote these!And 2. Sleep with the light on.Why 5/5? Read it and see for yourself!

And with this arriving, I now own every Higurashi manga volume. As a dedicated fan to the series (anime, games, vn's and manga) it was a must have. And the manga is by far the best adaption of the story.

This is was actually no words can I took some thing learned that can apply to my life some good lessons and it had epic storyline

Like the previous from this arc, the draw is awesome and the story his good. The end make us thinking and happy and the same.

Arrived with a dirt mark