Volume 18 (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Tsumihoroboshi-hen
ひぐらしのなく頃に罪滅し編
Story arcTsumihoroboshi-hen
Volume4 (18)
Chapters12-16 (74-78)
Pages276
ReleasedJune 21, 2008
ISBN978-4-7575-2307-4
978-0-316-12388-4
Volume Chronology
← Previous
"Tsumihoroboshi-hen: Volume 3"
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"Minagoroshi-hen: Volume 1"

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Tsumihoroboshi-hen (ひぐらしのなく頃に罪滅し編, When the Cicadas Cry: Atonement Chapter) Volume 4 is the eighteenth volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni manga and the fourth volume of the Tsumihoroboshi-hen story arc.

Chapters

Author's Note

WHAT IT MEANS TO CHALLENGE THE TRAGEDY, TO OPPOSE IT...

All the stories until now were about getting involved in, and helplessly falling prey to, tragedies that couldn't be anything but inevitable. At last, the main character sends up a beacon, announcing his counterattack against the tragedy...that is the image I had when I created the "Atonement Arc".

"Challenging the tragedy" does not mean "fighting the tragedies that have already happened." I t means not causing a tragedy, or rather, fighting against the mpending tragedy.

Thinking about it from the "Abducted by Demons Arc" to the "Curse Killing Arc," there was always a hasty conclusion calling for a violent solution, getting the story lost in tragedy...to fight against the tragedy means not using violent means of opposition, but to oppose the violent means that turn things into tragedy.

In that sense, maybe the opposition to the tragedy, where Keiichi and Rena face off on the roof, was a failure. Maybe it would have been best to try to clear up the misunderstandings before Rena took over the school...but faced with an incident that had already happened, Keiichi thought about the events and challenged them in the best way he knew how. And in the very end, Rena was able to choose not to let the cleaver fall on Keiichi...and maybe that is Keiichi and Rena's victory after opposing the tragedy.

That's exactly why in that last battle on the roof, if Keiichi had defeated Rena...in the context of the story, that would not have been a victory.

To challenge the tragedy, to oppose it, that means to not let a tragedy happen. That is the kind of story the "Atonement Arc" is.

Original story, supervisor: Ryukishi07