As predicted, Shiurei doesn’t stay away from the palace for long. It begins with Ryuuki sending her all sorts of ridiculous gifts, like three chunks of ice, a pile of flowers, a pile of boiled eggs, and one straw doll. Shiurei is of course totally freaked out by this. Ryuuki also keeps having dreams of Shiurei, running away with Seiran, which aren’t too good for his sleep, as Ran and Kouyuu find out later. ^^

We also have the introduction of a new character. He seems to have come to the castle for some reason, but permission to enter is refused. Then, Shiurei runs into him, offering a bit of food and a place to rest. It then appears that this guy, who’s apparently named Ensei, is an aquaintance of Seiran. Though the latter isn’t too fond of the former, which leads to interesting discussions. Ensei used to have a big function, though I couldn’t understand what kind of function, unfortunately.

That evening, Kouyuu and Ran pay Shiurei’s family a small visit, in the name of the emperor in order to ask her to come back. I couldn’t catch the reason behind this, though I wonder what excuse the emperor tried to use. Shiurei eventually gives in, while Seiran sends Ensei along with her, probably in order to protect her.

Ensei isn’t the only new character to be introduced, as we also get to meet with a masked guy, at the end of the episode. We see some quick flashes of him during the entire episode, though we really get to see him introduced by the end of it, near the cliffhanger. I’ve no idea what this guy is, but apparently, he has an important function.

Kourin also moved away from the royal castle, as Shiusui tells Shiurei’s father. She seems to be doing well, wherever she is, and the two of them hope that she’ll become okay again. Shou Taijin (apparently, that’s the name of the advisor-old guy) also behaves weird in this episode, but that’s probably because he carries a little pot, which contains the ashes of the other old guy who perished in the last episode.

Overall, this episode was fun to watch, especially the emperor doing silly things again. But still, the show remains a bit boring. But that can also be because I couldn’t understand half of the things which happened.

.Hack//Roots really is the king of the anti-climaxes. At the climax of the last episode, Haseo, Tabby and Sakisaka are about to be teleported towards some unknown areas when the cliffhanger set in. What do you think happened at the beginning of this episode? Yes, they ended up in the lost grounds which Shino and Ovan seem to have labeled as their favourite place. Still, this doesn’t make this episode bad. In fact, apart from episode three, this was the best .Hack//Roots episode yet.

So many different thing happened, so many unexpected events played. So many questions introduced and so many questions answered. This episode really was a roller-coaster ride. And then to think that this was just an intermezzo, an introduction to the ninth episode! I can’t wait to find out what might happen then.

Haseo was great once more. It really seems now that he wants to please Shino in some way, and he wants to be with Ovan. That’s why he got the idea of what the function of the pillars might be, and that’s why he listened to Shino when she asked him to continue searching for the Virus Cores. I guess he doesn’t like Tabby and Sakisaka too much, which only makes him more adorible. He really doesn’t know how to deal with people, that’s clear now.

Ender also has the worst timing in the world, that also became clear after this episode, though I’m loving her evil character more and more. Especially now that she’s beginning to show more and more weaknesses. I just loved the fact that she just appeared after Sakisaka vanished, and then kept wondering where they went. This means that even she doesn’t know about these bugs. For the rest of the episode, she got assigned to watch Haseo, as Shino decided that the three of them were better to be moving alone, after she heard that Ender showed up again at the church. She then really gets surprised when Haseo suddenly disappears in front of a marking again, and you can see that on her face for the rest of the episode.

Goad also is planning something. He wants to prove Ovan that he’s better than him, and gets one of the virus cores which was in the posession of another PK-guild, named Kestrel. Phyllo calls him with a little brat because of this, with some good reasons. Still, I like Goad. He’ll definately play some great roles in the next episodes. I also loved the fight he had this time. It was short, and some strategy was included in it. And why does he think he can beat Ovan when he can’t even beat a guy like Phyllo? ^^

Tabby was adorible this time, especially in combination with the rapid succession of the different scenes. She really is determined to find out about the Virus Cores, so she decides to check out the church a bit, in order to find another one of those teleporting markings. When Haseo and Sakisaka are talking a bit, she’s busy checking the wall in order to find some secret entrances. Instead, she finds a doorway into a bug which doesn’t let her move at all. It takes her a while in order to find out she’s dealing with a bug and teleport away. (Yes, I absolutely loved the scene in the church. Roller-coaster rides at its best!)

Sakisaka remains in his sceptic and sarcastical self. When Tabby suggests them to take a look at the church, he finds that they’d better look for the virus cores instead of the markings, though he gets taken along against his will. Inside the church, he has no idea where to look for, and makes a couple of sarcastical comments about this. Though, when Tabby has her accident, he reacts to this, faster than Haseo. Only to wind up getting blocked as well. He, however, gets out faster than Tabby does, he meets up with Shino faster and fulfills goes to take care of one of her requests before the other two arrive.

Tawaraya had a bit of a sad role in this episode. He has a Virus Core, and for some reason, he’s supposed to give it to the members of the Twillight Brigade. His earlier attempts failed, and he can’t seem to think of another way to do it. But why does TaN want to give some of the Virus Cores to the Twillight Brigade? I mean, can’t they just take them from Haseo, Ovan and Shino and use them themselves? I mean, they seem smart enough to do it.

Naobi has another cryptic discussion with Ender. Apparently, their plan is about to enter a certain “Phase One”, and they need Haseo for it for some strange reason. Tawaraya doesn’t need to know anything again, despite him having one of the Virus Cores. Apparently, the thing he wants is Ovan’s character data. Once Ovan is caught, their mission will be lots easier. Their plan to do this seems to be all set up, though Ender is not sure whether it will work. Naobi’s silouette also appears when Ovan starts talking about the fact that the Key of the Twillight might already be near them. Does that mean that Naobi has got something to do with the Key of the Twillight itself?

Shino also seems very keen on being the one to break the good news to Ovan. She has another cryptic discussion with him as well. It seems that Ovan might disappear for a while once the Key of the Twillight is found. She also reveals that she knows Ovan in real life somehow, though she makes it seem that there’s more than just that. Though, why is she reluctant to let Haseo show his own findings to Ovan?

Ovan seems to be getting energetic at the end of the episode, up to the point at which he even priorizes the Key of the Twillight above his own job. It really seems to be his plan to go and get the Key of the Twillight in the next episode. But still. Haseo has two Virus Cores. One he got from Shino and the other one he got in the strange space he visited during this episode. Shino also has one, and he has the fourth one of the Twillight Brigade. Then there is one in the hands of Goad, and Tawaraya posesses the last one. But how was he planning to go there without having the last two of the Virus Cores? Or could it be that Haseo just managed to discover the seventh Virus Core? After all, it was found in an unknown area. In any case, his little pep-talk at the end of the episode really managed to make Haseo enthusiastic.

Sakisaka also states a nice point: everything seems to happen a bit too convenient. And it’s true. The Key of the Twillight is about to be found, and we’re only at episode eight. This must mean that there’s something about to happen which will turn over the entire plot of the anime, like a giant pancake. It probably has got something to do with Haseo’s strange ability. It would be too great if all the different parties manage to break up afterwards, making the Twillight Brigade and TaN to be disbanded.

The brilliance of .Hack//Roots? The fact that there are so many different characters, with each and every one of them acting independantly. Because of this, there are so many different opportunities for different kinds of conversations, which makes each character different. And not just once, but during the entire airtime of the anime. Each of the different characters has his or her own meetings with other ones of the different characters, and it’s executed perfectly.

It’s just as I hoped: xxxHolic continues to get better and better. I guess I’m really into shows which tell a different story for each episode, as I just totally loved Mushishi and Jigoku Shoujo as well. Okay, there are no such things as cliffhangers, the endings of the episode don’t make you feel curious about what is going to happen afterwards. But still, I find myself wondering about the next story to be told at each of these anime I mentioned. This works just as strong as cliffhangers, maybe even stronger. Especially if you consider that a cliffhanger’s power mostly lies in the moment it happens. The minute the story continues takes its power away again, in most cases. When you have shows like xxxHolic, Mushishi and Jigoku Shoujo, this power doesn’t get taken away at all.

This episode probably was the best xxxHolic episode yet. It already starts with great references, both to Tsubasa Chronicle and the xxxHolic movie. Watanuki is bringing all of Yuuko’s stuff outside, in order to thoroughly clean them, just like in the movie. He encounters Mokona again, this time not in a box, but disguised as a stranded pillow. Maru and Moro are meanwhile hitting a rug, stitched with a couple of butterflies. Maru uses a bat (if I do recall it correctly, it’s the same bad as the one Yuuko bought in the sixth episode, after which she labeled it as a sword), while Moro uses Fye’s staff. To make things even better, The butterflies on the rug seem to be avoiding the bat and the staff. This truly was one greatly excecuted scene. So many things happen at once and Watanuki’s reaction was just perfect.

Then, the real story of the episode begins. It’s about a woman who’s collecting all kinds of rare and ancient stuff. She then notices a closed, cillindric, ceramic box-like thingy, and she asks Yuuko if she can have it. Yuuko warns her not to open it at all costs, and she gets pretty serious when she does this. The woman eventually gets to have the box, though I wonder what she had to give Yuuko in order to get it. I think that Yuuko’s advice was enough of a price, as the rest of the episode shows.

The woman appears to be a new teacher on Watanuki’s school. This means that Domeki and Himawari also are a bit involved in the case. The woman immediately recognizes Watanuki when she sees him, along with Domeki and Himawari. Then, Himawari accidentally opens the box, and a sealed monkey-pawn shows up. The woman tests this out by asking for a day of rain. She hears a loud “knack”, and the rain starts. The next morning, it appears that in order to make it rain, the monkey pawn took all of the water from the school pool.

What follows is a beautiful story about the woman who begins to lose herself more and more. She first wishes for a mirror she wanted to have for a long time. This mirror is probably the most valuable mirror in whole Japan, so once she wishes for it, the monkey pawn goes to steal it for her and brings it to her. She then notices that every time she makes a wish, one finger of the pawn breaks. She makes her next wish when she’s in a writer’s block, and wishes for a great paper for her to turn in. Of course, the pawn steals this from another brilliant student. In the meantime, she happily tells Watanuki, Domeki and Himawari about what she did, and doesn’t even realize she’s going into the wrong direction. Watanuki gets more concerned by the minute, as well as Domeki, although he shows less signs of it. Himawari doesn’t notice anything, while Yuuko remains as serious as she was when she handed the pawn to the woman.

Then, she misses her train, and just like all ordinary people, she wishes for an accident to happen. She really breaks when she sees a person getting ran over by a train, right in front of her eyes. To top this, she gets to pay the price of plagiarizing, and this makes her think that she’ll also be accused of the person being ran over, and she begs the pawn to undo all the things she did. Then, it strangles her, leaving no trace of her, it returns everything like it was before, and so it comes back to Yuuko. I so loved this story. Especially when she saw the person being ran over. Even though it was just a colorless figure, it did make an impact.

I’m also beginning to love the art more and more. Okay, so what if the long limbs aren’t natural. You never hear anyone talk like that about chibi-characters, do you? The facts that the art is messy and illogical are really starting to grow on me, and I’m really beginning to like the character designs more and more. Even normally dull-looking characters like Watanuki and Domeki look more interesting by the minute, and Himawari looks less annoying after every episode passes. And yes indeed, the “extras” aren’t even bothered to being colored, or given a face in the first place. Still, it’s better than method that most anime attempt: every “extra” has the blandest clothing, the most common face ever, and an extremely dull haircut, while the main characters suddenly have hair in the wildest colors, in huge amounts, and each have something unique. Though they still try to simulate some realism while trying to be as natural as possible while spending as little budget on it as possible. xxxHolic at least recognizes that the anime isn’t about these unimportant extras, and just gives them a quick outline and places a number of these on the scenery, in order to fill the screen a bit. In fact, this works so much better than those cheap attempts at realism.

The final episode of the Watanagashi-arc answered so many questions. But then again, for every question it answered, it somehow managed to introduce two new questions. So, we’re back where we started. Overall, this arc wasn’t as worthwile as the first one. The only part I really enjoyed was when Keiichi met Shion and Rena overall.

Ah well, it seems like my theories from last time were totally wrong. We start with Rena giving Keiichi a list of people missing, which includes Rika and Satoko, along with a certain Kimiyoshi Kiichiro, who must be the village-chief. Keiichi finally accepts that because he sneaked in the storage house, he’s the one at fault, and Rena slaps him for this, as she feels that he has yet to be punished for this. Rena heard from Mion what he’d done, and she was indeed very angry about this. The two are talking like they’re very close at this moment. It still feels strange after the first arc.

Then, Keiichi finds some notes about Rika’s talk on the phone, and she indeed spoke with Mion. Ah well, there goes my theory about Rika faking her own disappearance. It seems like everything indeed went as Rena thought it would. They plan to visit Mion, in order for Keiichi to apologize. They then get disturbed by Oishi once more. Rena proves her detective skills once more when she finds out that Oishi plans to use them as bait, in order to get permission to search Mion’s house. The two of them leave Oishi, while Rena gets really angry. Though not in a demon-way.

They walk to Mion’s residence. Apparently, they’ve got a huge back-yard. Once inside the house, Keiichi confesses, and sincerely apologizes for his actions. Mion acts like she doesn’t care, and Rena scolds her for this. Keiichi and Rena then tell Mion that they know that Rika and Satoko have been at her place, and she freaks out once she realizes that the two know that Satoko wasn’t supposed to come along. She begins laughing in a demon-like way, and then turns serious again. She then puts up the Shion-voice and explains that the Hinamizawa Village’s original name was Onigafuchi village, or Demon’s Abyss. Like explained two episodes ago, the people of Onigafuchi carried the bloodline of demons. As people began to oppose them, they worked together in order to defeat them, as demonstrated in episode five. Still, if Mion knows about the demons, then she must have been there at that time, which means that she was the one working at that restaurant at that time.

She also explains that, as the heir of the Sonozaki family, there’s been a demon carved into and onto her. She wants to show Keiichi and Rena the scars the demon left on her body, though Rena tells her that that’s not needed. We can get the general idea when we look at the OP, though. She also reveals that she was indeed involved in some of the Watanagashi-murders. In some of them, she was directly involved. In some of them, indirectly. She was also the center of every one of them. Then she indeed reveals that she did kill Rika and Satoko. This brings up an interesting issue: the sequence shown in the first scene of an arc doesn’t have to be its climax. While speculating about what were to happen next, I always kept in my mind that Rika was to die at the end of the arc, not during the middle of it, and so I came up with the theory of her faking her own disappearance. But instead, she wanted to protect Keiichi from Mion, so she went to confront Mion, and somehow ended up stabbing herself. At least, that’s what I like to believe. The fact remains that Rika knew that Mion was after her. Then why would Mion have to lure her to her house, and why did Rika want to involve Satoko in it as well? In fact, if Satoko wasn’t supposed to come, what did Mion make to kill her as well? Suspicions?

Rena then mentions one person which Mion didn’t want to kill, and managed to save by her own will. Mion then turns this one person into a “them”. This could be Oishi and some police-officers. But then again, why would Mion want to save them, over persons like Rika and Satoko? Mion then asks Rena to leave her and Keiichi alone for a while.

When they walk outside a bit, Mion confesses that she liked him, just as Shion liked him. She also reveals that Shion’s still alive. Keiichi then proves that he has a strong heart. A very strong heard, as he promises to believe in Mion, and that she remains his best friend no matter what happens. An interesting thing to promise to a mass murderer, but let’s put that aside, shall we? Because Mion then makes a very interesting statement. She can understand why Mion liked Keiichi. This means that Mion isn’t the one speaking at that time, which gives options for two possibilities. 1. Shion’s been the one talking to Keiichi for all this time. 2. The demon has completely taken over Mion. I was first inclined for the first option, though the scenes that followed changed my mind.

They’re in a secret basement at the moment, full of torture devices like the one in the storehouse. Mion firstly reveals that the torture devices were meant to inforce the Onigafuchi laws. Anyone who was to break them, was to be slowly tortured by these in public. The Sonozaki family built these torture devices in order to continue the tradition of the Watanagashi. She then reveals that the basement was the place at which she performed Watanagashi on everyone. When Keiichi asks about Shion, she takes him to the prison. What follows a really great scene. Shion lies there, broken down, only triggered by Keiichi’s voice. She gets incredibly happy when she sees him, though she really freaks out when she sees Mion. Mion then breaks the fun by grabbing a large boulder and dropping it on Keiichi’s head.

When he wakes up, he’s put into some torture device. Shion still screams in the background, while Mion explains what she’s going to do to him. She has fifteen nails, which she’s going to run through his hand. Before she does it, she gives another fact. The demon in her has dwelled inside her for a long time, though it was Keiichi who awakened it, because he didn’t give Mion the doll he won in the first episode.

And suddenly, everything makes sense! Okay, not everything, but still, the basic concept of Higurashi suddenly is clear. Why was Rena so humane in the second arc, while she was horribly scary in the first one? Of course, because she has a demon inside of her as well. In the first arc, Keiichi awakened her by stopping to help her get that doll from under the garbage. As this didn’t happen at all, Keiichi also didn’t make Rena sad in any possible way, so that’s why she acted so friendly towards him. Mion’s demon was also awakened in the first arc as well, though I can’t remember why that happened, unfortunately.

Anyway, this development gives for two possibilities. 1: Every citizen of Hinamizawa Village has a demon inside of him/her. 2: There are only a few people with a demon inside of him/her. The people beating the punks in the fifth episode point to the first option, though the OP, which shows Mion with a scar, and Shion without one points to the second one. Still, I think that Rika’s demon, while she was about to be murdered by Mion, awakened at that time, and stabbed its host in its confusion. I’m also guessing that demons go to sleep in their hosts when there’s no action for a while. It’s never explained in the anime, but it’s the only explanation I can find for the other Watanagashi-murders.

Anyway, Mion tries to put the first nail in, but the Mion manages to stop the demon from doing so. Keiichi asks the demon to let Mion and Shion go. Mion wonders why he can’t even think about himself at a time like this, so as a third wish, he asks her not to kill him. Mion can’t give into the first two requests. Shion will be killed by the demon no matter what, and the demon also won’t be able to give Mion’s body back. She doesn’t give any reasons at all for this, strangely enough. However, she does listen to his third wish, in order to let him live. She’s forced to do this, as she hears some policemen trying to open the doors of the basement. Rena must’ve warned them. She also warns Keiichi to stay away from her, as from that moment on, she’ll be posessing Mion’s dead body. But then, if demons can posess dead bodies as well, why didn’t Rena and Mion come back to life in the first arc after Keiichi killed them?

Mion uses an electrifying-thingy in order to bring Keiichi unconcious, while she gets away and the police barges in. Rena looks worried about him, and Shion’s saved as well. The bodies of the other victims, however, have yet to be found. And this is where the amount of questions multiplies faster than a herd of hyperactive guinea-pigs. Keiichi’s moving away from the village again, for some reason. Rena’s sad, because she’ll be the only one in the village left. That evening, Mion drops by. The two talk normal for a bit, but then Mion starts resisting, and the demon takes over again, stabbing Keiichi. She then freaks out even more when she starts yelling that she killed everyone with her own hands. But what about Rena, Shion and Oishi? And what does she define by “everyone”? Rena seems to have been disappeared into oblivion for the rest of the episode. Whether she’s killed or not remains a mystery. Shion is found after having jumped from her hospital room, from about eight stories high, though I think that Mion paid her a visit before that happened. Oishi doesn’t have anything to do with Mion this time, and Keiichi managed to survive.

While Keiichi talks to Oishi from his hospital bed, the number of plot twists and questions introduced really gets up high. It appears that Mion HAS been found, along with all of the other bodies she disposed off. Keiichi told the police about some kind of well, which would contain all of the victim’s bodies. Where did he get that information from? Anyway, the well indeed contained the bodies, along with Mion’s. To make things even better, it seems that Mion dies on the day that the police barged in. So, if it indeed was the demon posessing Mion’s dead body, then how come Mion still was acting like Mion at first, before the demon took over again? And if it all was the demon playing an act, why did it leave Mion’s body in the first place, and why did it go through the trouble of walking all the way to the well, only to leave Mion’s dead body behind?

Oishi only makes things better when it seems that Takano died before the night of the Watanagashi. This means that she also had a demon inside of her, which was controlling her dead body at that time. This explains why she knew a lot about the rituals of the Watanagashi, and that she might’ve been the one who killed Tomitake (after all, he and Takano weren’t found in the well, so someone aside from Mion might’ve killed them). But then again, she was BURNED, which throws this theory in the trash can as well, as she looked perfectly fine at the night of the Watanagashi. No burning marks at all. And how about the first arc. Was she burned at that time as well, though she was never found? Then, a blood-covered Mion shows up, pinning the nail through Keiichi’s finger after all. The only explanation I can find for this is that when a demon takes control over a dead body, then it leaves the physical dead body behind, only to create a new body, identical to the one it posessed. Or something in that direction, as that theory is flawed as well, as it still doesn’t explain the little part of Mion which got shown right before she stabbed him.

It was an interesting arc. Each of the characters will indeed end up reacting very differently during each different arc. The paranoid Keiichi stayed mostly calm, with a small number of breakdowns on the second arc. The crazy, demon-posessed Rena turned caring, sharp and serious. The demon managed to control Mion much more than during the first arc (there’s got to be a reason for that. Either the thing that Keiichi did to her in order to awaken the demon, or Rena’s prescense. It seems that Mion really listens to Rena). Satoko turned from sadystical to casual. Rika turned from silent to cute and caring. Oishi turned from friendly to more business-like (another interesting detail I managed to notice: whenever he’s about to deliver harsh news, he starts smoking cigarettes). Tomitake’s become much more obedient. Takano’s the only one who didn’t recieve any change in personality.

More changes with the previous arc:
- No syringe in the second arc.
- The strange men who arrived at the end of the first arc also don’t appear in the second arc.
- Keiichi doesn’t get paranoid in the second arc, so he doesn’t write the note about the things he knows.
- The first arc ended with the deaths of Mion, Rena, Keiichi and Tomitake, while Takano disappeared. The second arc ended with the deaths of Rika, Satoko, Shion, Tomitake, Takano and Mion, with Keiichi and Rena unknown.
- Keiichi moves again at the end of the second arc. Something that hasn’t been mentioned in the first arc.
- Mion and Oishi have no relationship in the second arc. At least, she doesn’t mention him at all. In the first arc, she immediately suspected him.
- Keiichi was never attempted to be tortured in the first arc.

Before I’ll quit (damn… my entries for Higurashi are getting longer and longer… this one managed to get to 2500 words), I have to say that Rena’s an awesome character. I liked her more when she was in scary-mode, though. The fact that this arc ended with so many questions also took its toll a bit. It just feels a bit incomplete. A bit too incomplete. I believe that the problem with Higurashi is that it has a great concept, but at certain points, it certainly could have been better. Keiichi’s reactions also have been extremely unnatural. I know he was calm at that time, but his behavior during this episode was just a bit too calm. After all, he knows that Mion’s about to kill him. Why doesn’t he freak out like in the first arc? Ah well, let’s hope that the next arc will be full of paranoia again.