Author: Ryukishio7
Manga-ka: Hinase Momoyama
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: December 2012

Synopsis: “Keiichi’s appeals to the Child Consultation Center receive an outpouring of support from his classmates and teachers, but still the authorities refuse to intercede. Hinamizawa is a village controlled by three powerful families, and without the support of the Sonozakis-and their fearsome head, Oryou-the Center will not budge. As Keiichi struggles to convince Oryou, Rika feels her dream of living a happy life beyond the summer of 1983 begin to fade away. Does Keiichi have what it takes to make a miracle happen? Can Satoko be saved? Can Rika…?”

This volume of Higurashi only lightly indulges it’s supernatural-conspiracy side, pushing the more outlandish elements into a corner to make room for more worldly problems like child abuse and small town politics. It makes for a strange tone, as even though the weirdness level is low, the manga stays as intense as ever – it’s just instead of murders and massacres we get lots of scenes of people in meetings. The strange part is that the manga treats the two as if they are equally dramatic, giving this volume an unintentionally funny edge.

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Author: Ryukishio07
Manga-ka: Hinase Momoyama
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: September 2012

Synopsis: “The ‘Curse Killing Arc’…The ‘Time Killing Arc’…As each incarnation of the terrible events in Hinamizawa unfolds, Rika Furude must watch as her friends descend into madness and despair, knowing the only fate that awaits her is death. With the unique ability to see all of these worlds, Rika desperately searches for the common links between them that will help her stop the cycle and give her and her friends a happy future beyond June 1983. But with less than a month before the cotton drifting in her current life, will Rika be able to change destiny in time?”

Before now you could read the individual Higurashi arcs and still be able to understand well enough what was going on. With this volume, however, everything that has come before gels together and starts building towards a climax that brings all the previously unrelated events into one story. With the bigger scope comes bigger stakes. In the Massacre Arc it’s not just the lives of everyone in Hinamizawa that’s in danger but the very fabric of reality itself.

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