Fun fact: 2 weeks before the final episode was aired, someone leaked its summary on 4chan. No one believed OP and he was branded as a troll.
The ending was just that bad.

I genuinely believe GouSotsu was created solely because Ryukishi07 really wanted Watanabe to draw his characters. Maybe it was worth it after all! The legacy is forever tarnished and Ryukishi has lost the trust of half his dedicated fanbase, but we got a bunch of super cute figures and illustrations from that gacha game because of it.

it's funny how not only the characters are looping, but the audience as well, cuz gou and sotsu really are just repeating what was done before, only worse 💀

I despise basically everything about this anime but (and this honestly frustrates me more that it's in a show like this) I at least really like the concept of Satoko's inability to study. It's not explicit but with Ryukishi's other works I like to think Satoko's struggles with school is meant to show the experience of a child/teen with unmedicated adhd. It kinda makes me sad seeing people say that Satoko's motives were just that "she was lazy" since I had to go through a lot of similar things when I was in school.

doesn't change the fact that everything else surrounding her in this show is dogshit but yknow at least it's nice to see that kind of struggle portrayed in something

I dragged a friend who said they had no more patience for visual novels after I made them read Umineko with me into watching Gou together while it was airing because I bought into Ryukishi's 'this is for new fans and old!' bit. I thought it would be a fun way to show them what I liked about Higurashi and, well. That didn't quite go to plan.

Thank you for recommending Saikoroshi, though! That sounds much more compelling.

When ryu wrote original higu, he was a lot closer to his work and inspiration in child safety services. He cared for that sort of thing, he had to say something, he had it in him, a care for suffering of children. Original work were cruel in places, but ultimately exposed horors of violence, was a warning to reader, and offered a understanding of inner psychology of main characters a their lowest points.

Ryu is now a commercial writer for more than 10 years. His work is tainted by cynicism now. He just did an "anime", how he understands it now as industry professional, not as a guy that had a lot of things to say. Sotsu is ultimately very shallow compared to his early work.

Maybe he did it for money. It's most charitable explanation, for Ryu, that seems to betray his own ideals.

GouSotsu is basically Fate/Extra Last Encore again

What a coincidence. Sotsu also ruined my marriage with Satoko.

Satoko went from my favorite character in the VN to so terrible in Gou/Sotsu that I refuse to acknowledge it there is no Gou/Sotsu IMO

To everyone in the affected areas please take care with all the awful weather and tornados going on.  I will be wishing you all the best!

Next tier of the Type Moon Iceberg soon, like for real this time lol.  I hope you all enjoy me branching out from the ol' Nasuverse from time to time!

I think you’re honestly right about this. I often sit back and think about how Ryukishi feels about himself after having written this, especially with Meguri existing as well. It just leaves me with such confusion because, it’s exactly as you said. How can you write about a million words of dialogue, at least a hundred and twenty so hours of content, and still somehow forget these characters and how they act as though  they aren’t literally sewn onto your damn heart by that point? Ryukishi was a damn social worker for crying out loud and his portrayal of Satoko is unbelievably bizarre in GouSotsu, it’s slightly disturbing seeing how the same person could’ve written the tear-provoking character she was in the visual novel. In one of his interviews about Gou, he said that he personally felt that Satoko hadn’t been given enough of a spotlight yet, or that her role wasn’t active enough which is baffling to me. Her entire character is about turning her inactive role INTO an active one. Meakashi SPITS on this belief that Satoko would ever cling to Rika this way, she wouldn’t dare put her best friend through the same suffering she felt she put her big brother through. And Minagoroshi, that’s just the cherry on top. It’s the purpose of her character being YELLED at you. “It’s okay to be inactive. It’s even okay to feel powerless, but know that you AREN’T. Fight back!” That’s who Satoko Houjou is!! Why the hell did things go the way they did at St. Lucia?! Why?!

I think REALISTICALLY, the divot between Satoko and Rika IS thematically and narratively possible, because the one who still possesses significant character flaws is RIKA, not SATOKO. Rika is the one who would cling to Satoko, who said she couldn’t bear to live without her by her side. That’s how a real scenario like this could begin, but instead Ryukishi writes her as snobby and self-absorbed. I think her being self-absorbed is a little realistic and almost kind of natural for her character, she earned her victory and I feel like that premise of her letting her guard down at her most comfortable is a good place to stick a knife into her narratively. But the way it’s handled is ridiculous.

The way I see it, Rika would’ve just… drifted away from Satoko and Satoko meanwhile would fail and eventually maybe even get kicked out of the school. Then she’d return to Hinamizawa early, and then we could really get an introspection on how Satoko feels about it all. Maybe then, it could been a feasible idea to have small hints toward her being teased by Eua! This Satoko would then start to experience symptoms similar to that of the Hinamizawa Syndrome but instead of seeing Hanyuu… she sees a much older woman! And that could be the perfect start for a whole new BETTER version of these events imo! Also screw that “Satoko is cured” bullshit. God, I’ll spare myself from trying to even begin to write an improvement on the Hanyuu-Eua stuff, but you get what I mean.

This story was really not given the proper attention it deserved! It was full of so much attention to detail but to all the wrong things!

Hinamizawa Syndrome being relegated to Satoko pulling a Takano injecting Tomitake on Watanagashi night is stupid because it’s a blatant retcon! Hinamizawa Syndrome does not function the way it does in GouSotsu, and I feel like watching Satoko slowly learn her way around manipulating and creeping people out and inducing paranoia within them naturally would have been a far more interesting scenario! For example, I think Ooishi’s time to shine was something that could’ve been absolutely (ooishi) delicious!! (Pun intended). His desperation to solve the mysterious chain of murders is a great motivation point and having Satoko sort of trick him is a wonderful idea IF HANDLED WELL! I ALSO thought that the concept of Mion being forced into the role of the paranoid despite her apparent immunity was a cool idea! It really could’ve shown us as the viewers how powerful the ability of “certainty” is! GouSotsu really could’ve been an excellent tie-in for Umineko, but failed at every step of the way. I really do wonder what Ryukishi was thinking, and I hope to god that Ciconia’s future phases and any other future content in the When They Cry franchise isn’t deeply affected by GouSotsu’s shortcomings.

Keiichi not sounding like Sonic the Heghog in the dub is a crime, not funny and absolutely ruined my enjoyment of the show.
>:C

The fandom was so obnoxious and toxic while this was airing, it was ridiculous.
Satoko basically doing the equivalent of reading the entire VN and missing the point of it ended up being very emblematic of how some people treated the original story.

There are so many better ways for Ryukishi07 to make a KILLER; Yuri x Yandere..?
Higurashi Fanfic or completely divorced from it. Either way… The world could’ve totally appreciated something like that! If it wasn’t maliciously inserted into the ‘No Nako KoroNi’ Series💔

10:19 it was actually Tabasco sauce and the sharp burning sensation made him hallucinate a needle 😅

Thank you for reminding me why Sotsu was such a mess beside it banger of an op, I think the way I made peace is accepting that Ryukishi highly regret making irredeemable characters like Teppei and the hooker while at the same time is playing with his toys in ways he never did before…. For a good reason.

While the ending was truly unsatisfying, the one good thing that came out of the show was that it motivated me to finally read Umineko.  I truly believe one of the main purposes of this series was to intrigue the viewer enough about the extended universe enough to get them to read Umineko and Ciconia.  It kind just functions as one long teaser for the entire When They Cry series.

Original Higurashi Visual Novel or Manga is one of the best stories I have read
And I love Umineko just as much
This is honestly just a sad excuse to try and connect them

I never want to see another Higurashi Gou, Rebuild of Evangelion, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Dragon Quest Your Story, or Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution ever again.

Personally I feel that Gou and Sotsu were made for the fans that ONLY watched the anime and didn’t read the VN. The manga adaptation is definitely much better than the anime.