onikakushi-hen (demoned away arc)

answer arc: tsumihoroboshi

pov character: keiichi

timeframe: june 1983

alt ending: taraimawashi

reading time: 29/11/23 - 13/12/23

• opens with someone's internal monologue as they kill "her" via repeatedly hitting w blunt object ("she" is silent; presumably was already dead before the scene started)
• pivots to keiichis overnight train ride home with his dad from a funeral in the city. half-asleep, keiichi seems to hear someone incessantly apologizing, and thinks whatever they did cannot be bad enough to warrant that
• keiichi picks up rena and mion on his way to school. after a school day (introduction to rika and satoko), the three of them head home.
• tips:
  
We're a mixed grade?

the village is so small that all kids of misc ages attend school together in a single classroom
We don't have a uniform?
the club kids wear mismatched school uniforms that they chose themselves for fun via a store run by mion's uncle

• on their day off, rena and mion take keiichi on a tour of the town. miyo (clinic nurse) is briefly encountered (no sprite). they get to a hilltop by the mountain base and have a scenic view lunch rena made with surprise appearance from rika and satoko
• rena takes keiichi to the dam dump. there he meets jirou (a tourist) alone, who tells him a bit about the dam's history. when asked about it later, rena suddenly acts suspicious. she mentions wanting a statue buried in the dump, and keiichi offers to help her dig it out next time
• tips:
The Maebara Manor
keiichi pov; keiichi's intense, large house has earned the nickname "maebara manor"; people have started assuming the family is rich. they're not really rich; the house is so big to store the dad's studio spaces which he plans to turn into an open-house exhibition gallery
The dam site murder/dismemberment (Newspaper edition)
june 1979 newspaper: a report on the dismemberment case based on okinomiya police station's statements. details 5 perpetrators and 1 victim; one was arrested following a hospital visit the day after the murder wherein he alluded to the location of his portion of the body

• introduction to mion's after-school club about boardgames/games in general; keiichi is formally accepted to the club. they play old bachelor card game. at a severe disadvantage, keiichi gets last place and plays the punishment game (mion first place)
• on the walk home, keiichi asks mion about the dam's history, but she suddenly acts suspicious. keiichi heads out for the dam dump, where he finds rena and tries to help her with the statue she wants. when rena leaves to bring tea from her close-by house, keiichi finds a tabloid describing the 1978 dam site murder. rena returns with an axe instead of tea, startling keiichi. they agree to meet up another evening to get the statue.
• tips:
The Hinamizawa Dam Project
article by kiichirou kimiyoshi: in october of 1975 the dam project was announced wherein 5 rural areas with a total population of ~1000 would have been flooded. describes the "onigafuchi guardians" alliance of villagers and their attempts to protest against the government and its puppet construction company; the results was an infinite hiatus on the project rather than formal cancellation
Special tabloid report
tabloid theorizing that the construction site murder was a verbal dispute that escalated, then turned into each member dismembering and taking a piece of the body to keep each other quiet. the most hesitant perpretator confessed at a hospital visit the next day. the killers' leader has seemingly disappeared, along with the right arm of the victim
the onigafuchi swamp is considered bottomless per local legend; there's theories that the leader accidentally drowned while trying to dispose of the arm. cuts out into an ad

• the kids play zombie tag during pe class (mion and rena first place). heading out to the dam dump immediately after coming home from school, keiichi encounters jirou on his way there, and unintentionally threatens-scares him
• keiichi meets up with rena and retrieves the statue, which reminds him of the 1978 murder.
• tips:
What kind of name is Rena?
keiichi learns from mion and rika that rena's legal name is "reina" but she is insistant on her nickname

• after school during club activities, the kids tell keiichi hes expected to tag along for watanagashi festival club activities (watanagashi introduction). they play president card game, keiichi loses
• after school on the way home, mion and keiichi bump into jirou, who mion acts somewhat coldly towards.
• tips:
Community notice
a list of festival activities that need more participants (mentioned organizers are makino, sonozakis, kimiyoshis)

• the night of the festival, the club meets up at the shrine. rika is revealed as a shrine maiden. the gang bumps into jirou, who they pressure into joining them as an honorary adult member of the club. the club activities climax with a shooting game, competing for the biggest prize. keiichi wins a big teddy bear and gives it to rena. jirou comes last place.
• rika performs a ritual dance (difficult for her), then rena shows keiichi the cotton drifting downstream tradition. poem interlude; keiichi gets separated from the group, and finds jirou with miyo, who is introduced as his girlfriend. keiichi inquires about the towns mysteries, and learns about the yearly murders referred to as "oyashiro-sama's curse"; he gets progressively unnerved. miyo leaves, and keiichi regroups with the club members.
• as a punishment game, the kids grab jirou and write farewell messages on his shirt, as he is leaving town soon. confused and seemingly unnerved, jirou leaves to meet up with miyo. keiichi walks home with rena.
• tips:
Houjou couple's falling incident
satokos parents were killed; dad died in an accident involving falling off an observatory platform cliff
in another town(?) mom disappeared
The terminal illness of Shinto Priest Furude
rikas dad suddenly became ill, accredited to overwork around the festival; her mother seemingly committed suicide (no body recovered ergo disappeared)
Housewife murder
this tip is empty
Radio Log
relay of cops' radio as a doctor enters a crime scene. ooishi says the victim is done for
ch7
• at school the next day, the teacher is introduced. after school at club, the kids play a cluedo-like card game where the club members' names are murder suspects. keiichi steps out, signaling rena to follow him, with the intent to conspire to cheat at the game together. rena returns.
• before returning, keiichi is called to the school gate; ooishi (outsider detective) is introduced, and informs keiichi about jirou's apparent violent suicide (clawed out his throat) and miyos disappearance right after the festival. keiichi agrees to help the investigation via keeping in contact with ooishi, promising to not talk about any of this with the girls. he returns to the game distracted, and gets tied for last place with rena.
• tips:
There are more than four perpetrators?
third person pov; ooishi meets with a coroner. jirou's cause of death was suicide via clawing out his throat; his fingernails were torn out. he seems to have been attacked by a group of people, most likely four or more
Search notice
police notes on jirou and miyo's last known whereabouts. "tomitake jirou" is his pen name as a photographer
ch8
• keiichi is unnerved and starts missing sleep. napping during school lunch, keiichi overhears rena and mion discussing the disappearances. after school in club mion unusually leaves for her job. the rest decide to play yesterdays game again. keiichi notices a card marked as "satoshi"; unnerved, he asks rena if he was a transfer student, who then acts suspiciously.
• on the walk home, rena claims she only just transferred to hinamizawa last year, so she doesnt know much about the town. keiichi asks her if the group is keeping anything from him, to which she suddenly acts suspicious, and her eyes glaze over; she reveals she knows he met with ooishi; she screams at him that she knows hes keeping things from her (jumpscare, her eyes glaze over) then goes back to acting normal.
• at home, a very unnerved keiichi receives a phone call from ooishi, who explains the disappearances aspect of the festival curse to him. ooishi explains that satoshi is dead
• keiichis dad interrupts, cheerily informing him rena was in the house; she entered, telling the dad she would go upstairs and hang out with keiichi, but never knocked. a now terrified keiichi realizes she had stayed outside his door for the duration of the phonecall, listening in, leaving before keiichi realized she was there.
• tips:
Notice from the police chief
on police chief's orders, the hinamizawa case needs to be kept away from the media
ch9
• keiichi feels too unnerved to go to school, and claims he has a cold so he can stay home. he takes a nap on the couch, then awakes to a note with hospital visit cash from his parents saying they had to take an urgent drive to the town, so he needs to get checked by a doctor alone.
• keiichi visits the local clinic for his sudden illness, where hes told by an unseen male doctor its most likely a cold. he is given an unknown shot and some medicine to take later. on the way home, he bumps into ooishi driving, who takes him out for lunch at an okinomiya restaurant with dressed up waitresses.
• ooishi reveals the main lead is that an unknown drug induces mania then suicide in the victims. shion (not yet introduced) seems to be their waitress. there, keiichi inquires further about the towns legends. ooishi reveals each sudden death is accompanied by a disappearance. all the deaths until now have involved the club members' families, and the girls themselves are suspects. he reveals that rena grew up in hinamizawa, only temporarily moving away for a single school term, then because of a breakdown moved back. keiichi takes some of the medicine.
• on the drive home, ooishi reveals he is retiring soon, and keiichi realizes hes simply bait for this guys last job.
• at home keiichi hazily sleeps, awakens from a phonecall from mion, who asks to come over with rena. the two visit, giving keiichi a package of ohagi, telling him hes tasked with figuring out which of the 5 ohagi was made by rena. suddenly, both of their eyes glaze over as they inquire about ooishi. keiichi is dramatically startled. shortly after the girls leave, mion reopens the door to threaten him from outside. keiichi starts to fully doubt himself and the girls.
• keiichi eats one ohagi. the second ohagi is assumed to be renas, and once he bites in, he finds a needle inside it. he throws the rest against the wall in a panic, and loses the needle.
• tips:
What's a drug that makes you commit suicide?
ooishi discusses with the coroner. there isn't a drug that induces suicide per se, but inducing the swing state of bipolar disorder in a depressed person could have that effect. jirou was not known to be at risk for any related conditions so this case is very suspicious, it's suspected to have been an intentionally induced adrenaline problem
Threat
ooishi pov; about how the cops have instructions to drop the hinamizawa cases. ooishi is warned to possibly lose a lot of his retirement funds if he continues investigating
ch10
• keiichi is paranoid. on the way to school, he is terrified when rena asks him if he ate all the ohagi. keiichi recalls that in his last conversation with ooishi (wasn't on screen), he revealed renas breakdown lead to her needing counseling, where she claimed she was cursed by oyashiro-sama. her breakdown entailed freaking out on three male students (allegedly her friends) then breaking a lot of school windows with a bat. it seems she was diagnosed with a neurological disorder rather than a psychiatric one
• at school keiichi is not feeling up to usual antics, and leaves without participating in club activities. at home keiichi decides to take notes of his sudden paranoia in the form of a warning note, then tells his (alarmed) parents that he doesnt want to die, implying to them where he hid the note.
• tips:
Not feeling so hot
in this keiichi-less tip (pov unclear) mion and rena laugh hysterically together
ch11
• unnerved, keiichi goes to school early alone, where a white van nearly hits him. he retrieves an abandoned metal bat from the school lockers for self defence. before class, he practises swinging the bat, which unnerves the girls.
• after school he skips club again. on the way home, he spots a bewildered rena tailing him, and harshly yells at her. she timidly reveals that the bat is satoshi's, who was acting as odd as keiichi is right now before he (her eyes glaze over) "transferred out of school". she coldly requests that keiichi doesnt "transfer" as well.
• at home keiichi senses a presence, hears a seemingly invisible girl, and wildly swings the bat, breaking a shoe cupboard. later having calmed down, he heads downstairs for a phone call, where his mom reveals her and his dad stepped out again to tokyo for urgent business. panicking, keiichi sets up the house to appear full and busy as if his parents are still there.
• an unknown woman (miyo?) calls asking for his mom, to which he states she'll be home soon. ooishi calls telling him to retrieve the ohagi needle as evidence.
• suddenly, rena interrupts the phone call via a front door visit. there she says shes brought him dinner, but keiichi refuses, saying his mom is home, currently cooking dinner. she (eyes glazed over) reveals she knows his parents arent home as well as his exact choice of cup noodle dinner via having apparently followed him at the store at the time he bought it.
• keiichi freaks out, slamming the door on renas fingers, who starts incessantly apologizing, then he screams at her telling her to leave while holding the door on her. eventually he releases her, and returns to his phone call. keiichi asks about renas condition. it starts to storm. time seemed to have stopped during his altercation with rena. unable to focus he drifts towards the window, where he sees rena is standing in the storm repeating her apology.
• tips:
Split personality???
a tv spot about multiple personality disorder (known as dissociative identity disorder nowadays); as a form of escapism from environmental harshness. emphcizes that everyone has it on some level, but people worse off get it more intensely to a clinical degree
At the Seventh Mart
this is a sort-of flashback of keiichi recalling his supermarket trip, where he suddenly realizes someone had been following his shadow (like the presence he felt in his doorway)
ch12
• the next day, keiichi heads to school alone early even more wary, where he practices with the bat again. there, mion meets with him, and keiichi confronts her about satoshi, the curse and the ohagi. after yelling at eachother, very frightened by keiichis harsh reactions, mion claims the needle was just a prank. keiichi goes on a rant, leaving mion crying. as keiichi leaves for class, he hears mion bitterly start laughing about how she will kill ooishi "this time".
• on the way home, keiichi is around town chased then cornered by an out of control rena wielding a hatchet. time seems to stop. rena hysterically laughing says this time she wants to hear keiichi out, as she failed to hear satoshi out before he "transferred". seemingly before killing keiichi, she claims everything hes stressed out about was caused by oyashiro-samas curse; there is another elaborate flashback where the exact nature of renas violent breakdown is further fully disclosed. claiming she will save him [by killing him], keiichi manages to escape to the dam, where two unknown adults slowly pursue him. he is eventually caught by them.
• keiichi suddenly wakes up in his room, where rena is tending to him, claiming a doctor is on his way. she claims she helped a fully conscious keiichi walk home, and the two adults (he asks about) weren't there (suspiciously). realizing he needs to contact ooishi despite rena supervising him, he excuses himself to the restroom, but instead heads downstairs for the phone and sees mion enter the house, who ushers him back to his room. there, she claims the "director" is on his way.
• laughing hysterically, the girls ask if he figured out the ohagi question. rena then holds keiichis arms behind his back as mion approaches to give him an unknown drug via syringe. the scene cuts out
• keiichi, as if waking up again, slowly realizes he has killed both of them violently with the bat, as his room is covered in their blood; the intro was him finishing off rena
• outside his window, keiichi spots the white van from before, surrounded by a bunch of adults hiding, about to enter the house. he pulls out the previous note, adds more details (jirou, drug, syringe), tapes the unadministered shot to the note, re-hides it, and makes a run for it. keiichi is pursued and is suddenly experiencing maximum adrenaline.
• ooishi pov; his coworker chitchat is cut short by an urgent call from keiichi calling from a payphone who is in a complete panic. ooishi tries to send patrol cars to his location. keiichi starts to vomit and cough up blood, then claims he was overtaken by oyashiro-sama, and has been haunted for a while now. he then claws out his throat.
• police report: time period is revealed as june 1983. claims keiichi called the girls to his house, where he killed them with his bat. the shattered shoe cupboard and ohagi splatter aftereffects are listed as evidence. the note, missing the syringe with some of the text ripped out, is found and kept as evidence. the following year, the notes missing parts "are called into question".
all-cast review session

• a lighthearted curtain call where the cast tries to solve the mystery. notably lacks keiichi visually and miyo completely