Higurashi: When They Cry - Gou (Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW), the newest entry in the Higurashi franchise, initially appeared to be a remake of the first season with better animation, but slowly revealed itself to be a completely new timeline with more than one twist up its sleeve. It subverts the hard-earned happy ending of When They Cry: Kai by showing that when Rika attends the fancy private school St. Lucia a few years later, she makes Satoko’s life miserable by dragging her along and then ignoring her once her friend doesn’t fit in. Begging for some way out of this hell, Satoko meets with a mysterious goddess (?) who allows her to “live in loops” just like Rika. Only this time, Satoko’s goal isn’t to save her friends from horrific deaths – it’s to keep Rika for herself forever. Let’s reexamine Gou with this in mind and try to figure out what kind of insane ending this could possibly be leading to!

This article was written for Honey’s Anime, so please read it on their site.