Originally posted by Wanda ½:

(no spoilers please)

Okay, I won't say anything, then.




But seriously, this series is presented partly as a mystery, similar to old murder mystery novels, where you are encouraged to try to figure out what's happening before the answers are revealed. Things like, "Were Keiichi's friends really out to get him? Or was he just delusional?" (Incidentally, did you look at the All-Cast Review Session from the first arc? It's something that's unlocked once you finish the scenario, and the characters-as-actors discuss questions like those.) Maybe this apparent reset is another mystery to be solved.

I will say, the series is divided into "question arcs", wherein mysteries are presented, which are the first four; and "answer arcs", wherein you are given sufficient information to understand what was happening, which are the last four. (There are many additional arcs, which explore alternative scenarios and other fun things. But that's another matter. Also, most of them are console-exclusive.)

Just out of curiosity, since you knew there was more story, what were your expectations of later arcs? Different perspectives on the same events, perhaps?

I did read the ACRS but I took it with a grain of salt as it seemed like a bit of meta humor. I expected either a different perspective (Tomitake's?) or something that happened much earlier. But I understand, I'll try to be patient. It's just that I played Ever 17 before this one and I didn't think I'd be back in a spatio-temporal vortex so soon :)

Originally posted by Wanda ½:

it seemed like a bit of meta humor.

That's certainly part of it, what with the characters talking as though they're actors, and yet still behaving exactly as their characters. Ryukishi07 seems to be fond of meta jokes, especially anachronisms. A good example, actually, is early in this arc, although maybe you haven't quite gotten there yet. It's in the second chapter (end of a chapter is signified by the Higurashi logo letterbox thing, where the logo fades to black along with the background, and you usually get new TIPS), so don't read this spoiler until you've finished that.

Card Master Sakura is obviously intended to refer to Cardcaptor Sakura. However, that series only started in 1996 (the manga, specifically), which is 13 years after the setting of Higurashi.

There are others that are more like the ACRS, too. Quite a few instances where a character will break the fourth wall.

Simplest way to look at it is that each arc is its own self-contained story.

There are connections between each arc, but there not always easy to parse out (apart from the obvious: the pool of characters, the overall setting, etc.). Indeed, finding the common threads is part of the challenge.

Three Words... GroundHog's Day Scenario