Support the channel through Patreon and help to decide which videos I make, get access to extended commentary and Q&A podcasts covering each upload and more! www.patreon.com/BessYT
@@_bess funny story I started higurashi due to gou, since I thought that gou will be a remake of the original but it turned out to be a sequel so basically I got pissed off and was going to watch the original 2006 adaptation but I couldn't since I heard it's a flat adaptation, so I decided to play the original vn with the original sprites and what a journey it was... But later on as I reached the final arc I kept thinking does this even deserve a sequel, since the ending is so satisfying and well deserved for the characters as I started gou I felt frustrated that after all our efforts it's been stripped away from us... While waiting for sotsu I dove into umineko and another remarkable.journey it was and gou started to hit differently after u have knowledge of both series but I still preferred higurashi due to its more emotional stakes along with the cast of characters... Sorry for the rambling really love your videos tho
Always has been. I think a significant chunk of people have a hard time getting through the lengthy slice of life sections in Watanagashi but it’s packed with characterization and context. Worth it.
I really like how Keiichi just kicks over the bike in the VN. It is funny, stupid and totally the sort of thing a lovestruck teenage boy might actually do, since in that moment he is filled with exuberant energy and does not think of anyone else but him and Mion in the world.
I'm barely halfway through and this is like...... oh my god. Watanagashi-hen is my absolute favorite arc and I could sometimes figure out which was Shion and Mion, but it was really hard for me to put my finger on why--and even then, I would still get it wrong when I wasn't completely sure. This is a great explanation of how you can tell. ETA: Also, the fact that Mion and Shion were permanently switched really explains why they both feel the way they do now. Mshion (current Mion who was Shion) was abused as a child and now, she has suddenly become loved. She, of course, wants to forget about her abuse and pretend everything is fine, but at the same time, Mshion knows that her family's love isn't real. She is only loved because she is pretending to be her sister. Further, the idea of switching back and coming clean is like starving someone, giving them food, and then telling them you'll starve them again. She knows its wrong, but she can't bear to go back to the abuse. And then, later, she repeats the cycle with Keiichi--she only feels loved when she is her sister. Then, there's Shmion (current Shion who was Mion), who went from being the beloved heiress to being abused. No wonder she is filled with resentment: not only has she gone through all this abuse, but now she knows that the love she had from her Batcha and the rest of her family was never real. It all depended on the first syllable of her name. And now, with the Keiichi situation, Shmion is again using her sister to get love that Mshion cannot get. And at the same time, you can see Shmion and Mshion's relationship mirror Satoshi and Satoko's. Shmion and Satoshi are the elder siblings who sacrifice for their younger siblings and feel resentment over it (though they do feel guilty about it and realize that the abuse is not their siblings' fault), while Mshion and Satoko are the younger siblings who rely on their elder siblings too much, and though they realize this, they're too scared to step away on their own.
The switch is absolutely key to understanding the twins (I talk about it properly in a few of my other videos, mainly my Shion analysis), its omission from the 2006 anime is one of the biggest issues I have with that adaptation as you lack a huge chunk of the context for their actions (e.g. Shion pretending to be Mion at the end of the arc to take back her identity and her pain over Satoshi's disappearance being exacerbated by the fact that if she had been recognised as the elder twin, she might have been able to save him -- as she falsely thinks her family are responsible, as well as her role within the siblings' relationship as the elder twin and the parallels with Satoshi that you noted just to name a few things)
I feel like a large reason why Mion and Shion are so misunderstood was the result of DEEN's adaptation. The VN does a great job at revealing the feelings and intentions of these two characters, and all of these scenes at Angel Mort are ESSENTIAL to reading between the lines to understanding them. Your analysis was perfect! Thank you for this video!
DEEN had done the worst of omitting mostly the differences between Mion and Shion when they were swapping their roles at random times. This is really an insult to Ryukishi07's writing!
Deen really did the Sonozaki Twins dirty. And with Gou it seems that they're trying to rectify all the mistakes from the original anime, while becoming something new entirely.
@@lunastie39 Forgot about this comment, rereading it now it's obviously not about it being a remake, dunno how I misread that 💀 More importantly, can't believe Gou is that old now wth
I really appreciate that Ryukishi has no qualms about making it this difficult and mostly including hints that require multiple reads to pick up on, it shows that he writes things on his own terms but also that he respect his audience enough to challenge them
It took me three readthroughs of the VN to get here (plus however many hundreds of times I've gone back to re-read the same scenes or seen them in adaptations) so I understand lol
@@_bess The easiest way to understand which is which in each scene is reading the manga. It's much easier to re-read the important scenes there than in the VN.
@@yuuhanmicu5737 Agreed though the manga still makes changes and leaves out some detail, I go through all the versions every time I make a video as I often compare adaptations -- I just meant I'd read the VN three times in general over the years!
Mion really is my favourite Higurashi character. She's so precious, sweet, caring and kind. Not to mention wildly funny, a great club leader, and her relationship with Keiichi is just the best. She does have a darker side when it comes to her family but it's not her fault. I feel like some people tend to overlook the twins in favour of Rena, and it's kinda sad, but it's nice so many people here love Mion and Shion.
I adore Rena and her dual characterization. Her storyline of trust perfectly encapsulates the themes of the story of trust and communication, and I love that about her character. But I have always gravitated toward Mion/Shion's characters and their personal tragic life situation the most in the story. It's so harsh and brutal, and the hyper traditionalist dynamics of their family that dictates their lives and how they are treated is one of the most engaging aspects of Higurashi for me. I love Mion and Shion's storyline.
Holy shit so the "shion" we actually met for the first time in angel Mort when first playing watanagashi is actually mion our classmate in school... I didnt catch that Shion(from St Lucia) when wearing angel Mort is more bashful and less embarrassed while mion(our classmate) is easily embarrassed since she's feminine then she acts.nice job Bess sonozaki Edit:dang didn't expect the likes but thank u very much
I didn't think much of this arc when I watched the 2006 anime many years ago, in fact I thought it was the weakest arc in the series by far. All I got from it was "okay I guess Shion is the feminine sister and Mion is the tomboyish sister, whatever" After I watched this video however I became really interested in, you know... actually experiencing the story. So I decided to read the whole VN and all the manga. Now weeks later, the Watanagashi arc is by far my favorite. It all makes perfect sense now. So thank you for making this video. I never would've known how masterfully written it was otherwise. Meakashi is also amazing. I used to really dislike the cold and manipulative Shion before but now she's my favorite character in the series and one of my favorite villains ever. She is an absolute genius who somehow managed to stay fifty steps ahead of everyone else. Even the smartest ones like Rena and Ooishi had no idea what was going on. And it felt like Shion was barely even trying, but still managed to get away with all her crimes while leaving everyone else confused as to what even happened. Also I never thought it was possible but somehow she managed to gain my sympathy in the end. What an unforgettable story overall. I love all the characters but especially Mion and Shion now.
Keichi x Mion is the best ship. Of all pairings, I think it would result the healthiest relationship. Makes me feel like going though the Wataganashi VN again. The old anime really messed up.
Yeah, although in Watadanashi Mion finally confesses to Keiichi, she is already poisoned by Satoko. Actually, the fact she doesn't kill Keiichi even having 5 stage syndrome and tries to keep him "safe" from whatever dangers she hallucinates actually shows how much she really cares for him. Basically, when she is completely deranged, she still tries to protect Keiichi and wishes for him to be safe and live. To bad danger she sees is not real. It's extremely sad that this world, where Keiichi gifts her the doll and were she comes to terms with her feelings is stolen from her and corrupted.
I'm not sure when Satoko injects Mion as she's behaving very lucidly and acting according to reason -- she rightly suspects Satoko and the Yamainu and is aware multiple people are dead so the danger isn't at all imagined, she is taking measured and carefully considered action against a real threat. H-173 immediately brings people to L5. It's possible she is only injected with this at the very end. It is also possible she is injected with whichever slow-acting drug Satoko uses on Rena, but again Mion isn't behaving like we'd expect from somebody in the later stages of HS at all. Perhaps she's just largely able to resist it, but a past depiction of her at L4/5 had her become extremely anxious and frenzied like everyone else
Your tired confusion at describing whatever the fuck the 2006 anime did had me in _stitches_ XD I was introduced to Higurashi through the anime so this hit especially close to home lol
But seriously. Seeing Mion finally say it out loud to his face in Gou. HOOOOO BOYYYY I jumped out of my seat in tears of joy. (Ignoring the whole... Murder stuff going on, obviously)
Thank you. Finally someone brings this up. There are so many people saying things like shion and mion are exactly the same etc. Mion is actually my favorite character of fictional works (just like anko mitarashi too, that‘s why my pfp looks like this.) and i think mion and shion both get misunderstood so often. I’m actually happy to see that i could tell them apart. To me the Video was a great repetition. I love your videos and i‘m glad that someone finally talks about mion the way i always wanted to but yeah my lack of self confidence stood in my way. ^^“
It's crazy how much meaningful character development was cut from the anime series. Not only with Mion, but with pretty much all of the characters. Learning more about how much story is actually within each of these unique characters has made me only appreciate it even more. Great video :)
Wow… I’ve only ever watched Studio Deen’s adaptation back in the day and still love the Higurashi series. Deen handles the Mion/Shion thing so poorly because I thought it was actually Shion in all the beginning scenes for years until I watched your video. Now I understand what people mean when they say Deen cut out so many important things from the VN. Your videos are great btw Cheers!
I wish I could forget all I know about Mion and Shion... Just so I could play through the visual novel all over again. I'm not sure if this is my favorite arc, but it's definitely the one that made me stick around.
this is a fantastic video on every level. while mion is "only" my 3rd favorite higurashi character (behind hanyuu and satoko), she's among my top 10 favorite characters in any fiction. i feel a bit hurt and frustrated when people write mion off as being too plain or "perfect", because perhaps more than any other core cast member she suffers from being misunderstood by both other characters and by fans. she has such a big heart and so much to offer, both due to and despite her flaws, and she's one of the only people who can't see her worth. you did an amazing job at drawing out what makes mion such a special, nuanced character. i relate a lot to mion's struggles with vulnerability, emotional honesty, and loneliness. her confession to keiichi was easily one of the best parts of gou. she finally realized that she was worthy of love and didn't have to live in fear of rejection.
@statesminds I know you didn't ask me this, but I despise what Satoko has become in Gou/Satsou . They made her such a vile evil character. She is somewhat engaging as a villain and I think her targeting Rika has a much more personal antagonist than Takano where Rika suffers as a by product of Takano's strong will, vs Satoko as a slighted friend actively torturing her. Just the same, the level of character assination Satoko suffers to be basically Lambdadelta is awful. And that's another thing. I dislike that the story of Higurashi is being cheapened to being just a prop for an umineko witch gameboard. I like that subtle connection of umineko and Higurashi being connected but only if they get to stand on their own as independent things. Discount Feathrine playing a significant role and implying that Hanyuu is a her playing piece really put me off. As for Satoko, I think she had all the qualities to be wickedly awesome as villain, since she has a mean streak. She made a false abuse claim against her step dad and was a petty bully to Rika in an alternate fragment in Rei. But the way gou/satsou went about depicting Satoko taking on a villain role was so stupid and disrespected the integrity of her character in order to do it.
This is the kind of 07th expansion content I love seeing, thanks so much. Ive re-read this arc a couple times and I still get confused so this helped clear up a ton of small details.
Thank you for this video, it made me so emotional & it’s my favourite arcs! Even I was a bit confused at the beginning, since Deen made it very vague about when Keiichi actually met Shion, and not Mion pretending to be her. Ryukishi’s writing is amazing, it’s a shame it never got justice.
I just got done reading Meakashi for the first time and my mind is blown...this video did a great job clearing some things up. When Shion is talking about how she gave Mion her name when they swapped and how Mion "must have known what was gonna happen that night" I didn't quite get what they were referring to, I thought she was talking about how she thought Mion failed Satoshi by not begging for him to be saved in the torture room. And that she was just being delusional and imagining that they had incidentally switched on that day and that Mion planned it that way. But it makes waaaaaaaay more sense that she was talking about the day Mion was tattooed in her place. Man. What a way more satisfying story. It really puts things in perspective about how she becomes a demon- that was her birthright all along, not a delusion. Also WOW that is so heartbreaking for Shion to suddenly be rejected by her family like that. Mion understands what it is to be loved after years of rejection and Shion knows what it is to lose that love- that is why they both lament so deeply about how they wish they could be one person.
I binged the anime last year, and ok currently reading the VN. Just finished Watanagashi-hen. I thought I already knew everything since I watched the anime, but I was so confused as to who was who while reading. Thank you for the video! I really ended up liking Shion a lot.
Even though the anime left out sooo much from this arc I still felt it was a masterpiece, just shows how spectacular the writing is for this arc. I hope the answer arc in sotsu does a lot more justice to the Sonoazaki twins and their story, same way it did for Renas descent into madness.
I liked both parings with Keiichi after seeing the 2006 anime, but omg , after reading this part of the manga I feel in love with the KeiMion so hard, I love how they developed around each other until the sad ending. And make me love Mion a lot more because, she did more things than in the anime, a lot more. Love your essays, and hope for you to have more to say about this beautiful franchise! I especially love in this one how you make the clear differentiation between the sisters.
I started the When They Cry series back in 2019, and with some pauses in-between i finished Meakashi-hen in may-june of 2020. After that i decided to take a pause, but couldn't exactly say why... Until now. After watching your video, i realized there was various loose ends i didn't understood, and subtle details i couldn't grasp (specially the Tips). Maybe i inconsciously paused the reading to give me some time to comprehend it all. I remember believing that Shion was the feminine alter-ego of Mion, and how beautiful was that Keiichi and "Mion" got closer after going on a date, and he decided to give Shion the doll to make amends. And then Mion appears as the store clerk, cutting all the vibe, music and smile on my face. I had to automatically save the file, close the game AND my eyes in extreme agony to at least accept the harsh reality. Got i little off track there, but my point is: Your video made me remember how big my passion for the novel is, and it gave me motivation to keep reading, since i can only watch the rest of your videos after finishing it all! Also i'm thinking about reading it all from the start, since i read the original novel, and with Onikakushi-hen being free, maybe i could read arcs 1 and 3 again. Great video, and thank you for clarifying so much about my favourite arc!
Another wonderful video as always!~ You have such a gripping way of words and a deep understanding of Mion and Shion’s character’s respectively~ Watanagashi-hen is usually just brushed off as some sort of set-up to Meakashi-hen, so thank you so much for diving deep into it and letting us fans appreciate this arc more~~ Coincidentally, I’m currently translating a radio segment involving Mion and Shion’s seiyuu, Satsuki Yukino~ There was this interesting segment where she talked about playing the Sonozaki twins, about the differences she had to take note of when it comes to playing Mion and Shion’s parts~~ Again, thank you for letting us appreciate Mion more with this video~ Keep up the good work!~
With this I finish your videos on Higurashi. As a new fan, one who put all the various Anime on hold to read the visual novels, I can't thank you enough. Excellent essays. My heart has learned this night.
since i first read watanagashi when i was in grade school, i probably was one of the few people who got fooled by that switch up so this was a great way to clear up a lot of my hazy memories abt that arc all these years later. great video!! (and also using kage/shadow a.k.a. one of my fav higurashi bgms for the ending was just spectacular, it'd be interesting if you could list out the bgms used in any future videos you'll make in the future!!)
I have been streaming watanagashi hen lately but I was so uncertain about the twins' identities, THIS video has blown my mind and now I need 1/2 hours of higurashi meditation.
You've really made me love and appreciate Mion a lot more. Such beautiful writing, I'm definitely revisiting the VN after this. Fantastic presentation and delivery on everything, thank you for this lovely video
When I read this arc, I really didn't think bout this. I suspected there is a switcheroo going on, because of course there is, and especially the scene, in which Mion is bringing Keiichi lunch makes it really clear. Only in the fifth arc did I actually realize how active Shion was during this time.
i know you’re not a let’s player or anything, but watching all your amazing analyses made me think i’d love to watch a let’s play by you of the higurashi visual novels. you have so much passion for the series so i think it’d bring a lot to them. i’ve been really interested in seeing the series from its original point of view since i’ve only ever experienced the anime adaptions, but i’m not one to play games myself. this was just a random thought i had. i love this video analysis between the twins. while watching both versions for some reason i didn’t catch on to what mion was up to, so this really helped me understand her better. thank you for making these!
The thing i love about the question arcs is just how well made the mysteries are. I was able to figure out the culprit in watanagashi-hen, but a lot of the actual place switchings i did not understand until this video, so thank you :) this also applies for gou (which btw is great since im trying to put theories together before the new ep)
Wow, looks like I've got to read the Gou manga then. That artstyle is to die for, and Mion's confession here is something else, I don't remember it hitting me this hard in the anime. It sucks the answer arc is kind of lousy, but I won't let it detract from this really nice moment!
The Gou manga was significantly different to the anime and its sequel manga (Higurashi Meguri) is presenting a different answer arc to Sotsu so definitely a must-read.
Damn, Deen adaptation made me mistakenly thought that the first time Keichi met Shion was at Angel Mort It makes much more sense now thanks to this video. Before that, I was wondering why Shion was so shy around Keichi and then later she wasn't. GOU kinda makes it a little easier for me to understand that it was Mion.
Your videos on Higurashi helped me see the more deeper aspects of the characters and story. Thank you. I'm just a boy on the internet who's a fan boy of Higurashi.
Even before watching Higurashi, I knew that I would prefer Shion instead of Mion when my sister told me about their story, so I never really tried to understand Mion as I was thinking she's just the innocent one because she never got sick, while her sister was the most interesting one with her arc where we see her background with her family, her first love and her states of mind (and her beautiful self). But now that I understand Mion, I can tell she's as great as her sister and that she deserves to be understood as well. I used to call both Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen Shion's arc but now, it's clear that Watanagashi isnt just Meakashi from a different perspective, but Mion's understanding arc. Thank you for making me understand this ^^
Just started Higurashi 3 weeks ago. And it seems I found gold when reaching this channel. Thanks for the clarifications on the Watanagashi arc. I knew that Mion was almost all the time putting an act, I even started to believe halfway throughout the arc that Shion didn't exist, till she last meets her in person and we see again that direct and bold behaviour typical of the real Shion we last saw on Angel Mort. (I was even a little bit surprised when the two sisters meet, so nice job from Ryukishi07 there) Nice video, you earned a new sub.
As someone who's planning to read the VN soon, I was so confused by the old anime series that I thought I wouldn't understand the arc in Gou, but thank good it was better.
I knew something felt off when I watched so the '06 anime. I could never tell the difference between the twins and it felt like they were meshing their personalities together at some point. I don't know what your opinion is on Gou, but I do like some of the changes they made with the earlier arcs.
I liked how Watanagashi hen shows mion's her very vulnerable side, and how she to have her own wounds when it comes to feeling like she is not enough for K1.
I didn’t know that I needed this video but now that it exists the world is better. I’ve always found Mion’s character to be endearing especially when tries to hide the fact that she can be girly. Gives more food for thought behind why she’s acting that way instead of just being tomboyish. Great video, Bess! Rena soon? ;)
Your video of Mion made me love her so much that I could tell it was Mion even though she was trying to act like Shion sometimes. It really made me love her more. She's so cute. Thank you for making this video!
this happens everytime i think abt one of these kids but i love mion,,, so much,, shes so good,,, would like to pat her on the head and tell her shes doing great,,,, great video! and also thank you for having subtitles!
I had watched the 2006 adaptation when I was about 12, and never picked up that the early 'Shion' scenes were actually Mion. Due to this when reading Watanagashi, I was still under the false impression that Shion was always actually Shion, not Mion. It made everything a bit confusing, so I'm so glad you posted this video! Now I feel like I understand the arc much better. Thanks for another fantastic video!
Oh wow, I just finished Meakashi and I thought I understood who was Mion and who was Shion. I did not understand. This changes everything. Mind blown stacked on mind blown.
Mion is my favourite higu character and I'm super happy this video exists, as it expresses a lot of my own reasons to love her. She's fantastic and deserves all the happiness.
I own all 8 VNs, but I've never given them a try. Thought the anime portrayed the series well, but I guess I was wrong. So yeah, I'll be starting the journey. Thanks for the eye-opener. As a unrelated sidenote, I liked the decision to include Kage at the end of your vid. Been listening to it for many years despite never hearing it from within the source material itself lol
You raise good points and I can say that I like Watanagashi a bit more, but for me, it still remain my least favourite arc of the original 8 arcs. Not saying that it's bad at all, it's still a really good arc. I think my problem rely on just 2 problems: 1) While I can try understand why Keichii would do that, it's still rather stupid for me to believe that both him AND Rena would trust "Mion" and let her have alone time with Keichii, considering how she admitted of killing their other friends. Not to mention the scene at night when Keichii try giving her the doll, I didn't really feel sad, but more like "you honestly deserve it, dummy". 2) Mion for me is both one of the most interesting and at the same time least interesting of the club members. The reason is that she NEVER had a truly central role, even in Watanagashi where she can be the MC. In fact in Watanagashi halfway in she gets swapped with Shion until the end. That's also why I'm so curious to see in the new anime Sotsu, the arc Wataakashi, since it seems she'll finally be the MC of an arc and, if it will be the case, I'm curious to see how she would act if injected with H-173 which would send you at minimum L4, if not L5.
I had watched the anime years back and had forgotten a lot of shit years later. Finally read the VN, and Watanagashi was such a mindfuck. Then Meakashi came in, and there was an even bigger mindfuck. Truly, Ryukishi07 is an exceptional writer.
I've only seen the animes for higurashi and watanagashi was always my least favorite arc with meakashi being my favorite, but this video made me reconsider that. I can't wait to read up all of this when i get to reading higurashi after i finish the umineko bonus arcs and ciconia!
Maybe it's because I read the manga more than the VN, but I always assumed that the first time Keiichi met Shion was the bike bit, although that may have just been because that was the case in Shion's arc, which otherwise had very few differences between Watanagashi and Meakashi.
It technically is if you mean when he intervenes while she's being harassed, but he thinks it's Mion, so the first time she actually tells him who she is is the same in both Watanagashi and Meakashi.
Heh now that you played the Gou clip where Mion accidentally refers to herself as ouji-san it's obvious, but the DEEN anime conditioned me to gloss over the switch at Angel Mort so that even in the VN/Gou I assumed it was always actually Shion.
gou being written by ryukishi himself really solidified all of the important scenes. It’s a bit different, and a sequel, and I wish we got a proper adaptation of the original story. The manga is the closest thing I can think of, which I think is the second best way to consume the story besides the visual novel!
I myself watched both anime’s and read the visual novel of Watanagashi-hen, and didn’t realize Mion ever impersonated Shion until the manga made it explicit.
I know this is from a year ago, but then just to make sure I haven't misread, the "Mion" with Rena and Keiichi at the end of Watanagashi in DEEN's adaptation is Shion, and the one with them in Gou is actually Mion because Keiichi gave her the doll, correct?
Support the channel through Patreon and help to decide which videos I make, get access to extended commentary and Q&A podcasts covering each upload and more! www.patreon.com/BessYT
Is this actually a birthday special? Since the twins were born on 10th july?
@@Lara_MFZB Yes!
@@_bess ouuh! I thought so! :3 because i had a lot to do lately i couldn‘t do anything sadly :c
Thanks for the incredible video! Also looking forward for Sotsu 👍
@@_bess funny story I started higurashi due to gou, since I thought that gou will be a remake of the original but it turned out to be a sequel so basically I got pissed off and was going to watch the original 2006 adaptation but I couldn't since I heard it's a flat adaptation,
so I decided to play the original vn with the original sprites and what a journey it was... But later on as I reached the final arc I kept thinking does this even deserve a sequel, since the ending is so satisfying and well deserved for the characters as I started gou I felt frustrated that after all our efforts it's been stripped away from us...
While waiting for sotsu I dove into umineko and another remarkable.journey it was and gou started to hit differently after u have knowledge of both series but I still preferred higurashi due to its more emotional stakes along with the cast of characters...
Sorry for the rambling really love your videos tho
Man, Watanagashi is way more clever than I gave it credit for.
Always has been. I think a significant chunk of people have a hard time getting through the lengthy slice of life sections in Watanagashi but it’s packed with characterization and context. Worth it.
@@goobermagoob9160 This means he pulled off "without love, it cannot be seen" before Umineko...
@@orlandomoreno6168 Watanagashi/Meakashi are def the origin of "without love, it cannot be seen" imo!
I really like how Keiichi just kicks over the bike in the VN. It is funny, stupid and totally the sort of thing a lovestruck teenage boy might actually do, since in that moment he is filled with exuberant energy and does not think of anyone else but him and Mion in the world.
Ah yes, 23 minutes straight of Sonozaki stanning. This is what I live for
I'm barely halfway through and this is like...... oh my god. Watanagashi-hen is my absolute favorite arc and I could sometimes figure out which was Shion and Mion, but it was really hard for me to put my finger on why--and even then, I would still get it wrong when I wasn't completely sure. This is a great explanation of how you can tell.
ETA: Also, the fact that Mion and Shion were permanently switched really explains why they both feel the way they do now. Mshion (current Mion who was Shion) was abused as a child and now, she has suddenly become loved. She, of course, wants to forget about her abuse and pretend everything is fine, but at the same time, Mshion knows that her family's love isn't real. She is only loved because she is pretending to be her sister. Further, the idea of switching back and coming clean is like starving someone, giving them food, and then telling them you'll starve them again. She knows its wrong, but she can't bear to go back to the abuse. And then, later, she repeats the cycle with Keiichi--she only feels loved when she is her sister.
Then, there's Shmion (current Shion who was Mion), who went from being the beloved heiress to being abused. No wonder she is filled with resentment: not only has she gone through all this abuse, but now she knows that the love she had from her Batcha and the rest of her family was never real. It all depended on the first syllable of her name. And now, with the Keiichi situation, Shmion is again using her sister to get love that Mshion cannot get.
And at the same time, you can see Shmion and Mshion's relationship mirror Satoshi and Satoko's. Shmion and Satoshi are the elder siblings who sacrifice for their younger siblings and feel resentment over it (though they do feel guilty about it and realize that the abuse is not their siblings' fault), while Mshion and Satoko are the younger siblings who rely on their elder siblings too much, and though they realize this, they're too scared to step away on their own.
The switch is absolutely key to understanding the twins (I talk about it properly in a few of my other videos, mainly my Shion analysis), its omission from the 2006 anime is one of the biggest issues I have with that adaptation as you lack a huge chunk of the context for their actions (e.g. Shion pretending to be Mion at the end of the arc to take back her identity and her pain over Satoshi's disappearance being exacerbated by the fact that if she had been recognised as the elder twin, she might have been able to save him -- as she falsely thinks her family are responsible, as well as her role within the siblings' relationship as the elder twin and the parallels with Satoshi that you noted just to name a few things)
@@_bess I really hope sotsu adds that detail. It would really give context to the anime only fans
@@meowono7218 It didn't do it
I feel like a large reason why Mion and Shion are so misunderstood was the result of DEEN's adaptation. The VN does a great job at revealing the feelings and intentions of these two characters, and all of these scenes at Angel Mort are ESSENTIAL to reading between the lines to understanding them. Your analysis was perfect! Thank you for this video!
Yeah I definitely think the twins' characterisation suffered the most in the 2006 anime ): Thank you!
DEEN had done the worst of omitting mostly the differences between Mion and Shion when they were swapping their roles at random times. This is really an insult to Ryukishi07's writing!
Deen really did the Sonozaki Twins dirty. And with Gou it seems that they're trying to rectify all the mistakes from the original anime, while becoming something new entirely.
This aged poorly, I honestly would have preferred if Gou stayed as a remake.
@@graphite7898 this comment was after gou finished, and sotsu had already started airing
@@lunastie39 Forgot about this comment, rereading it now it's obviously not about it being a remake, dunno how I misread that 💀
More importantly, can't believe Gou is that old now wth
Unraveling who was who when was extremely entertaining when reading this part.
I really appreciate that Ryukishi has no qualms about making it this difficult and mostly including hints that require multiple reads to pick up on, it shows that he writes things on his own terms but also that he respect his audience enough to challenge them
Oh my god, I did not understand the begining of Watanagashi-hen at all. I should read it again. Thanks for the video!
It took me three readthroughs of the VN to get here (plus however many hundreds of times I've gone back to re-read the same scenes or seen them in adaptations) so I understand lol
@@_bess The easiest way to understand which is which in each scene is reading the manga. It's much easier to re-read the important scenes there than in the VN.
@@yuuhanmicu5737 Agreed though the manga still makes changes and leaves out some detail, I go through all the versions every time I make a video as I often compare adaptations -- I just meant I'd read the VN three times in general over the years!
Mion really is my favourite Higurashi character. She's so precious, sweet, caring and kind. Not to mention wildly funny, a great club leader, and her relationship with Keiichi is just the best. She does have a darker side when it comes to her family but it's not her fault. I feel like some people tend to overlook the twins in favour of Rena, and it's kinda sad, but it's nice so many people here love Mion and Shion.
I adore Rena and her dual characterization. Her storyline of trust perfectly encapsulates the themes of the story of trust and communication, and I love that about her character. But I have always gravitated toward Mion/Shion's characters and their personal tragic life situation the most in the story. It's so harsh and brutal, and the hyper traditionalist dynamics of their family that dictates their lives and how they are treated is one of the most engaging aspects of Higurashi for me. I love Mion and Shion's storyline.
Holy shit so the "shion" we actually met for the first time in angel Mort when first playing watanagashi is actually mion our classmate in school... I didnt catch that Shion(from St Lucia) when wearing angel Mort is more bashful and less embarrassed while mion(our classmate) is easily embarrassed since she's feminine then she acts.nice job Bess sonozaki
Edit:dang didn't expect the likes but thank u very much
same, l felt really dumb after it like holy shit
I didn't think much of this arc when I watched the 2006 anime many years ago, in fact I thought it was the weakest arc in the series by far. All I got from it was "okay I guess Shion is the feminine sister and Mion is the tomboyish sister, whatever" After I watched this video however I became really interested in, you know... actually experiencing the story. So I decided to read the whole VN and all the manga. Now weeks later, the Watanagashi arc is by far my favorite. It all makes perfect sense now. So thank you for making this video. I never would've known how masterfully written it was otherwise.
Meakashi is also amazing. I used to really dislike the cold and manipulative Shion before but now she's my favorite character in the series and one of my favorite villains ever. She is an absolute genius who somehow managed to stay fifty steps ahead of everyone else. Even the smartest ones like Rena and Ooishi had no idea what was going on. And it felt like Shion was barely even trying, but still managed to get away with all her crimes while leaving everyone else confused as to what even happened. Also I never thought it was possible but somehow she managed to gain my sympathy in the end. What an unforgettable story overall. I love all the characters but especially Mion and Shion now.
Keichi x Mion is the best ship. Of all pairings, I think it would result the healthiest relationship.
Makes me feel like going though the Wataganashi VN again. The old anime really messed up.
Yeah, although in Watadanashi Mion finally confesses to Keiichi, she is already poisoned by Satoko. Actually, the fact she doesn't kill Keiichi even having 5 stage syndrome and tries to keep him "safe" from whatever dangers she hallucinates actually shows how much she really cares for him. Basically, when she is completely deranged, she still tries to protect Keiichi and wishes for him to be safe and live. To bad danger she sees is not real. It's extremely sad that this world, where Keiichi gifts her the doll and were she comes to terms with her feelings is stolen from her and corrupted.
I'm not sure when Satoko injects Mion as she's behaving very lucidly and acting according to reason -- she rightly suspects Satoko and the Yamainu and is aware multiple people are dead so the danger isn't at all imagined, she is taking measured and carefully considered action against a real threat. H-173 immediately brings people to L5. It's possible she is only injected with this at the very end. It is also possible she is injected with whichever slow-acting drug Satoko uses on Rena, but again Mion isn't behaving like we'd expect from somebody in the later stages of HS at all. Perhaps she's just largely able to resist it, but a past depiction of her at L4/5 had her become extremely anxious and frenzied like everyone else
Thank you for this. I get confused even trying to talk about the twins.
Your tired confusion at describing whatever the fuck the 2006 anime did had me in _stitches_ XD
I was introduced to Higurashi through the anime so this hit especially close to home lol
But seriously. Seeing Mion finally say it out loud to his face in Gou. HOOOOO BOYYYY I jumped out of my seat in tears of joy. (Ignoring the whole... Murder stuff going on, obviously)
Thank you. Finally someone brings this up. There are so many people saying things like shion and mion are exactly the same etc. Mion is actually my favorite character of fictional works (just like anko mitarashi too, that‘s why my pfp looks like this.) and i think mion and shion both get misunderstood so often. I’m actually happy to see that i could tell them apart. To me the Video was a great repetition. I love your videos and i‘m glad that someone finally talks about mion the way i always wanted to but yeah my lack of self confidence stood in my way. ^^“
It's crazy how much meaningful character development was cut from the anime series. Not only with Mion, but with pretty much all of the characters. Learning more about how much story is actually within each of these unique characters has made me only appreciate it even more. Great video :)
Wow… I’ve only ever watched Studio Deen’s adaptation back in the day and still love the Higurashi series. Deen handles the Mion/Shion thing so poorly because I thought it was actually Shion in all the beginning scenes for years until I watched your video. Now I understand what people mean when they say Deen cut out so many important things from the VN. Your videos are great btw Cheers!
I wish I could forget all I know about Mion and Shion... Just so I could play through the visual novel all over again. I'm not sure if this is my favorite arc, but it's definitely the one that made me stick around.
this is a fantastic video on every level. while mion is "only" my 3rd favorite higurashi character (behind hanyuu and satoko), she's among my top 10 favorite characters in any fiction. i feel a bit hurt and frustrated when people write mion off as being too plain or "perfect", because perhaps more than any other core cast member she suffers from being misunderstood by both other characters and by fans. she has such a big heart and so much to offer, both due to and despite her flaws, and she's one of the only people who can't see her worth. you did an amazing job at drawing out what makes mion such a special, nuanced character. i relate a lot to mion's struggles with vulnerability, emotional honesty, and loneliness. her confession to keiichi was easily one of the best parts of gou. she finally realized that she was worthy of love and didn't have to live in fear of rejection.
What do you think of what Satoko has become in Gou and SOTSU?
@statesminds I know you didn't ask me this, but I despise what Satoko has become in Gou/Satsou . They made her such a vile evil character. She is somewhat engaging as a villain and I think her targeting Rika has a much more personal antagonist than Takano where Rika suffers as a by product of Takano's strong will, vs Satoko as a slighted friend actively torturing her. Just the same, the level of character assination Satoko suffers to be basically Lambdadelta is awful. And that's another thing. I dislike that the story of Higurashi is being cheapened to being just a prop for an umineko witch gameboard. I like that subtle connection of umineko and Higurashi being connected but only if they get to stand on their own as independent things. Discount Feathrine playing a significant role and implying that Hanyuu is a her playing piece really put me off. As for Satoko, I think she had all the qualities to be wickedly awesome as villain, since she has a mean streak. She made a false abuse claim against her step dad and was a petty bully to Rika in an alternate fragment in Rei. But the way gou/satsou went about depicting Satoko taking on a villain role was so stupid and disrespected the integrity of her character in order to do it.
It's honestly really interesting, and kind of funny, that if you do confuse the two you're still technically correct.
Tell me how I’m able to watch even your hour long videos despite my attention span issues?? Your voice is the most soothing thing i swear
This is the kind of 07th expansion content I love seeing, thanks so much. Ive re-read this arc a couple times and I still get confused so this helped clear up a ton of small details.
Thank you for this video, it made me so emotional & it’s my favourite arcs! Even I was a bit confused at the beginning, since Deen made it very vague about when Keiichi actually met Shion, and not Mion pretending to be her. Ryukishi’s writing is amazing, it’s a shame it never got justice.
I just got done reading Meakashi for the first time and my mind is blown...this video did a great job clearing some things up. When Shion is talking about how she gave Mion her name when they swapped and how Mion "must have known what was gonna happen that night" I didn't quite get what they were referring to, I thought she was talking about how she thought Mion failed Satoshi by not begging for him to be saved in the torture room. And that she was just being delusional and imagining that they had incidentally switched on that day and that Mion planned it that way. But it makes waaaaaaaay more sense that she was talking about the day Mion was tattooed in her place.
Man. What a way more satisfying story. It really puts things in perspective about how she becomes a demon- that was her birthright all along, not a delusion.
Also WOW that is so heartbreaking for Shion to suddenly be rejected by her family like that. Mion understands what it is to be loved after years of rejection and Shion knows what it is to lose that love- that is why they both lament so deeply about how they wish they could be one person.
I binged the anime last year, and ok currently reading the VN. Just finished Watanagashi-hen. I thought I already knew everything since I watched the anime, but I was so confused as to who was who while reading. Thank you for the video!
I really ended up liking Shion a lot.
i SERIOUSLY do not get how small you are, most of your videos literally bring me to tears and i really appreciate the effort you put onto this channel
Thank you!!
Even though the anime left out sooo much from this arc I still felt it was a masterpiece, just shows how spectacular the writing is for this arc. I hope the answer arc in sotsu does a lot more justice to the Sonoazaki twins and their story, same way it did for Renas descent into madness.
I feel for Deen. Cramming a 80+ Hour VN in 20+ ep Seasons gotta be hard. Specially considering how detailed Higurashi is.
@@FriendlyNeighborhoodCityzen they could have just adapted 4 arcs in 22 episodes instead of 6 arcs in 26 episodes. Or better 6 arcs in 39 episodes.
I liked both parings with Keiichi after seeing the 2006 anime, but omg , after reading this part of the manga I feel in love with the KeiMion so hard, I love how they developed around each other until the sad ending.
And make me love Mion a lot more because, she did more things than in the anime, a lot more.
Love your essays, and hope for you to have more to say about this beautiful franchise!
I especially love in this one how you make the clear differentiation between the sisters.
I started the When They Cry series back in 2019, and with some pauses in-between i finished Meakashi-hen in may-june of 2020. After that i decided to take a pause, but couldn't exactly say why... Until now.
After watching your video, i realized there was various loose ends i didn't understood, and subtle details i couldn't grasp (specially the Tips). Maybe i inconsciously paused the reading to give me some time to comprehend it all. I remember believing that Shion was the feminine alter-ego of Mion, and how beautiful was that Keiichi and "Mion" got closer after going on a date, and he decided to give Shion the doll to make amends. And then Mion appears as the store clerk, cutting all the vibe, music and smile on my face. I had to automatically save the file, close the game AND my eyes in extreme agony to at least accept the harsh reality.
Got i little off track there, but my point is: Your video made me remember how big my passion for the novel is, and it gave me motivation to keep reading, since i can only watch the rest of your videos after finishing it all! Also i'm thinking about reading it all from the start, since i read the original novel, and with Onikakushi-hen being free, maybe i could read arcs 1 and 3 again.
Great video, and thank you for clarifying so much about my favourite arc!
Another wonderful video as always!~ You have such a gripping way of words and a deep understanding of Mion and Shion’s character’s respectively~ Watanagashi-hen is usually just brushed off as some sort of set-up to Meakashi-hen, so thank you so much for diving deep into it and letting us fans appreciate this arc more~~
Coincidentally, I’m currently translating a radio segment involving Mion and Shion’s seiyuu, Satsuki Yukino~ There was this interesting segment where she talked about playing the Sonozaki twins, about the differences she had to take note of when it comes to playing Mion and Shion’s parts~~
Again, thank you for letting us appreciate Mion more with this video~ Keep up the good work!~
Thank you so much and I'm really looking forward to that video!!
Mion rlly is such an innocent bebe and we must protect her
Amazing breakdown. Very thorough and a very good way to revisit the chapter without having to read through the entire thing!
With this I finish your videos on Higurashi. As a new fan, one who put all the various Anime on hold to read the visual novels, I can't thank you enough. Excellent essays. My heart has learned this night.
Yay! A new Bess Sonozaki video!
since i first read watanagashi when i was in grade school, i probably was one of the few people who got fooled by that switch up so this was a great way to clear up a lot of my hazy memories abt that arc all these years later. great video!! (and also using kage/shadow a.k.a. one of my fav higurashi bgms for the ending was just spectacular, it'd be interesting if you could list out the bgms used in any future videos you'll make in the future!!)
I include the music in the description!
Oh my god, the way you ended the video actually brought tears to my eyes. That was beautiful, thank you.
I have been streaming watanagashi hen lately but I was so uncertain about the twins' identities, THIS video has blown my mind and now I need 1/2 hours of higurashi meditation.
Mion was the most innocent character In Higurashi and sanest
You've really made me love and appreciate Mion a lot more. Such beautiful writing, I'm definitely revisiting the VN after this. Fantastic presentation and delivery on everything, thank you for this lovely video
When I read this arc, I really didn't think bout this. I suspected there is a switcheroo going on, because of course there is, and especially the scene, in which Mion is bringing Keiichi lunch makes it really clear.
Only in the fifth arc did I actually realize how active Shion was during this time.
i know you’re not a let’s player or anything, but watching all your amazing analyses made me think i’d love to watch a let’s play by you of the higurashi visual novels. you have so much passion for the series so i think it’d bring a lot to them. i’ve been really interested in seeing the series from its original point of view since i’ve only ever experienced the anime adaptions, but i’m not one to play games myself.
this was just a random thought i had. i love this video analysis between the twins. while watching both versions for some reason i didn’t catch on to what mion was up to, so this really helped me understand her better. thank you for making these!
watanagashi was always one of my favorite arcs, poggers video
The thing i love about the question arcs is just how well made the mysteries are. I was able to figure out the culprit in watanagashi-hen, but a lot of the actual place switchings i did not understand until this video, so thank you :) this also applies for gou (which btw is great since im trying to put theories together before the new ep)
Wow, looks like I've got to read the Gou manga then. That artstyle is to die for, and Mion's confession here is something else, I don't remember it hitting me this hard in the anime. It sucks the answer arc is kind of lousy, but I won't let it detract from this really nice moment!
The Gou manga was significantly different to the anime and its sequel manga (Higurashi Meguri) is presenting a different answer arc to Sotsu so definitely a must-read.
Because of this video your gonna skyrocket in views
Damn, Deen adaptation made me mistakenly thought that the first time Keichi met Shion was at Angel Mort
It makes much more sense now thanks to this video. Before that, I was wondering why Shion was so shy around Keichi and then later she wasn't.
GOU kinda makes it a little easier for me to understand that it was Mion.
Your videos on Higurashi helped me see the more deeper aspects of the characters and story. Thank you. I'm just a boy on the internet who's a fan boy of Higurashi.
Even before watching Higurashi, I knew that I would prefer Shion instead of Mion when my sister told me about their story, so I never really tried to understand Mion as I was thinking she's just the innocent one because she never got sick, while her sister was the most interesting one with her arc where we see her background with her family, her first love and her states of mind (and her beautiful self).
But now that I understand Mion, I can tell she's as great as her sister and that she deserves to be understood as well.
I used to call both Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen Shion's arc but now, it's clear that Watanagashi isnt just Meakashi from a different perspective, but Mion's understanding arc.
Thank you for making me understand this ^^
23-minute video of best girl? LETS GOOO!!
Damn, I need to watch Gou. Also thank you for the amazing, comprehensive explanation, Bess!
I only keep learning more and more about this great universe and damn I'm surprised by every little detail
Thanks for the video.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who gets confused whether I'm seeing Mion or Shion.
Thank you so much for this. even after I finished reading higurashi I was still confused on which was mion and shion in the first part of episode 2.
Thanks for the great video, I certainly wasn't expecting to walk away with such appreciation for Mion's character.
Just started Higurashi 3 weeks ago. And it seems I found gold when reaching this channel. Thanks for the clarifications on the Watanagashi arc.
I knew that Mion was almost all the time putting an act, I even started to believe halfway throughout the arc that Shion didn't exist, till she last meets her in person and we see again that direct and bold behaviour typical of the real Shion we last saw on Angel Mort. (I was even a little bit surprised when the two sisters meet, so nice job from Ryukishi07 there)
Nice video, you earned a new sub.
As someone who's planning to read the VN soon, I was so confused by the old anime series that I thought I wouldn't understand the arc in Gou, but thank good it was better.
I knew something felt off when I watched so the '06 anime. I could never tell the difference between the twins and it felt like they were meshing their personalities together at some point.
I don't know what your opinion is on Gou, but I do like some of the changes they made with the earlier arcs.
this arch confused me so much, this video cleared everything up
Oh no, I'm crying!! Thank you for giving me a new understanding of my fav arc, now I love these characters even more!!
Ok, watanagashi is way better than I thought. I feel kinda dumb for not noticing when it was Mion.
I liked how Watanagashi hen shows mion's her very vulnerable side, and how she to have her own wounds when it comes to feeling like she is not enough for K1.
I didn’t know that I needed this video but now that it exists the world is better. I’ve always found Mion’s character to be endearing especially when tries to hide the fact that she can be girly. Gives more food for thought behind why she’s acting that way instead of just being tomboyish. Great video, Bess!
Rena soon? ;)
Thanks Kevin! A Rena video isn't off the table!
It's like bird watching , but instead of looking for birds you're looking for a good characters
Your video of Mion made me love her so much that I could tell it was Mion even though she was trying to act like Shion sometimes. It really made me love her more. She's so cute. Thank you for making this video!
Ahaha, no wonder it's so infamous. It was just published yesterday, great video (I love it) keep it up! :D
Im very excited for to see how sotsu interprets mion thru the events that happen there in wataakashi hen
is it bad that whenever you brought up the less than stellar 2006 adaptation i was like "yes, yes drag her!!" great stuff as always!!
Lmao I try not to be mean about it but it is hard to find much to praise
this happens everytime i think abt one of these kids but i love mion,,, so much,, shes so good,,, would like to pat her on the head and tell her shes doing great,,,,
great video! and also thank you for having subtitles!
Challenge: Not get emotional with a Bess video
Challenge lost again
I had watched the 2006 adaptation when I was about 12, and never picked up that the early 'Shion' scenes were actually Mion. Due to this when reading Watanagashi, I was still under the false impression that Shion was always actually Shion, not Mion. It made everything a bit confusing, so I'm so glad you posted this video! Now I feel like I understand the arc much better.
Thanks for another fantastic video!
Thank you for making this! I admit, I was very confused.
The fact that this is 20 minutes long says something about these two characters
7:25 AGHHH I DIDNT EVEN NOTICE THIS UNTIL YOU POINTED IT OUT. 😂😂😂😂
I’m glad Higurashi is getting more popular ✨
this video explained so much id be wondering about omggg. i love ur channel
Thank you so much. I always thought it's strange where Mion is not the one who met keichi at the restaurant.
God this series is so good. Good analysis! What do you think you of Gou and have you been watching SOTSU?
I've answered this in a few other comments! I spoke about Gou in my last Higurashi video :-)
Oh wow, I just finished Meakashi and I thought I understood who was Mion and who was Shion. I did not understand. This changes everything. Mind blown stacked on mind blown.
Mion is my favourite higu character and I'm super happy this video exists, as it expresses a lot of my own reasons to love her. She's fantastic and deserves all the happiness.
Bravo
I own all 8 VNs, but I've never given them a try. Thought the anime portrayed the series well, but I guess I was wrong.
So yeah, I'll be starting the journey. Thanks for the eye-opener.
As a unrelated sidenote, I liked the decision to include Kage at the end of your vid. Been listening to it for many years despite never hearing it from within the source material itself lol
Kage is possibly my favourite OST from the VNs! It's first used in Meakashi. Happy reading!
I’m so dumb I never noticed mions voice changes
I actually thought it was shion there until the part where shion says “mion told you that”
You raise good points and I can say that I like Watanagashi a bit more, but for me, it still remain my least favourite arc of the original 8 arcs. Not saying that it's bad at all, it's still a really good arc. I think my problem rely on just 2 problems:
1) While I can try understand why Keichii would do that, it's still rather stupid for me to believe that both him AND Rena would trust "Mion" and let her have alone time with Keichii, considering how she admitted of killing their other friends. Not to mention the scene at night when Keichii try giving her the doll, I didn't really feel sad, but more like "you honestly deserve it, dummy".
2) Mion for me is both one of the most interesting and at the same time least interesting of the club members. The reason is that she NEVER had a truly central role, even in Watanagashi where she can be the MC. In fact in Watanagashi halfway in she gets swapped with Shion until the end. That's also why I'm so curious to see in the new anime Sotsu, the arc Wataakashi, since it seems she'll finally be the MC of an arc and, if it will be the case, I'm curious to see how she would act if injected with H-173 which would send you at minimum L4, if not L5.
there is so much good in higurashi and it's story telling ....
i wish it could be represented better in it's tv adaptations
I had watched the anime years back and had forgotten a lot of shit years later. Finally read the VN, and Watanagashi was such a mindfuck. Then Meakashi came in, and there was an even bigger mindfuck. Truly, Ryukishi07 is an exceptional writer.
All i know is Mion and Shion are both insanely hot.
Now I wish Mion and Keiichi could be happy in a normal generic romance anime ;__;
Grat video, have you watched the last Sotsu episode? If you did, what do you think about it?
I made a post about it in my Community tab!
I love mion so much, so disappointed we didnt get much of her (and her sister) in gou still
That's crazy. I actually thought this entire time it was shion working at the restaurant 😅
I've only seen the animes for higurashi and watanagashi was always my least favorite arc with meakashi being my favorite, but this video made me reconsider that. I can't wait to read up all of this when i get to reading higurashi after i finish the umineko bonus arcs and ciconia!
Maybe it's because I read the manga more than the VN, but I always assumed that the first time Keiichi met Shion was the bike bit, although that may have just been because that was the case in Shion's arc, which otherwise had very few differences between Watanagashi and Meakashi.
It technically is if you mean when he intervenes while she's being harassed, but he thinks it's Mion, so the first time she actually tells him who she is is the same in both Watanagashi and Meakashi.
Heh now that you played the Gou clip where Mion accidentally refers to herself as ouji-san it's obvious, but the DEEN anime conditioned me to gloss over the switch at Angel Mort so that even in the VN/Gou I assumed it was always actually Shion.
insane video. subbed
gou being written by ryukishi himself really solidified all of the important scenes. It’s a bit different, and a sequel, and I wish we got a proper adaptation of the original story. The manga is the closest thing I can think of, which I think is the second best way to consume the story besides the visual novel!
I myself watched both anime’s and read the visual novel of Watanagashi-hen, and didn’t realize Mion ever impersonated Shion until the manga made it explicit.
I know this is from a year ago, but then just to make sure I haven't misread, the "Mion" with Rena and Keiichi at the end of Watanagashi in DEEN's adaptation is Shion, and the one with them in Gou is actually Mion because Keiichi gave her the doll, correct?