/jp/ - Otaku Culture

New thread up: >>39731579

>>38378991
>Keiichi has never killed or purposely harmed satoko not ONCE throughout the entire series.
Come to think of it, that's actually quite surprising. It could conceivably have happened in any fragment where he isn't channeling Satoshi like in Tatarigoroshi. But that cheeky brat is just too cute and unhateable.

Remember when Gou was just starting and people started suspecting Satoko _because_ she was getting killed?

It's simply mind-blowing that it took until Gou before people started realizing and discussing how central Satoko is to all of Higurashi despite not being a protagonist before Gou. Hell, many still don't get the extent of it despite actively participating in some part of 07th fandom.

There would be no Higurashi without Satoko. Other characters tend to be defined through their relationship to Satoko, and many are more replaceable than her--some so much that such replacements made it into what we've always known as Higurashi. Mion was too boring as a standalone character, too impersonal with Satoko, and thus a twins gimmick was added with nee-nee on the other end of the pendulum. Irie's character, along with the whole fucking plot, was rewitten because it was too evil towards Satoko. Takano only exists as the bad guy because of Satoko, so any kind of Takano-Satoko-Lambda discussion is meta as fuck because it reaches into real life before Higurashi was released. The pre-release history of Higurashi is fascinating. All of this also means that Satoshi is also extremely important and central to Higurashi despite being a goddamn vegetable throughout almost all of it. Damn those cursed Houjous.

It is not hyperbole to say there would be no 07th Expansion without Satoko. Higurashi would have flopped without, while other characters could be and actually were adjusted quite a bit.
I appreciate all the love Ryuukishi's given to his girl. Even Gou. It could ruin Satoko for newcomers to the franchise, but I don't think so. Everyone who has love and understands Ryuukishi's writing can overcome it. Also, Teppei getting his own arc completes the Houjou story. I can't bring myself to hate it even if I think that Teppei's transformation was terrible, nonsensical, character-breaking writing. If only Satoshi's role in Gou/Sotsu hadn't been so terrible. Maybe in Meguri.