Higurashi When They Cry: Massacre Arc, Vol. 2 - manga (Higurashi, 20)

Child abuse is a terrible thing. We've witnessed the horrors that Satoko suffers in the Curse Killing Arc. This time, Keiichi wants to save her without murdering her abuser. Though he only has fragments of memories of these past lives he's lived, he knows that violence is the solution. He has to work together with all his friends to save Satoko.No, he has to unite the entire village to get the government to act and protect Satoko. But the village sees Satoko as a traitor because of her dead parents. During the Dam War, the Hojos wanted to sell to the government and let the village be flooded by the dam project. No one is willing to lift a finger to help the young girl. Not because they hate her, but because they are afraid of the Sonozakis.To defeat this tragedy, Keiichi is going to have to channel the matriarch of the Sonozaki family himself. He will have to defy the most powerful woman in the prefecture. A woman whose power extends both into the government and the criminal underbelly of the region. Those that defy her pay.But his friend needs him.The Massacre Arc puts together all we've learned over the course of these stories. All the lessons of how isolation, mistrust, and fear breed acts of desperation and darkness. Acts that destroy the soul. While killing Teppei would be satisfying, we saw what it did to Keiichi. How it plunged him into madness.Will Rika finally get to see her happy ending? Will she finally get to live beyond the Summer of 1983?This large volume is an amazing read, especially the phone scene. The artist brings it all to life over some of the tenses images ever inked. It's amazing and shows the power of storytelling. Ryukishio7 built this story up over the course of all the previous arcs. HE laid the foundation for this moment, all the obstacles that must be overcome. None of it comes out of the left field.That is the mark of great writing.Now we have to wait to find out if it is enough. Will the tragedy of Hinamizawa come to an end?

Following along with their choice to release the first two volumes of the Massacre Arc in one chunky issue, this volume contains volumes three and four of this arc. It's a fairly wise decision on their part as this is a rather long arc and drags slightly at various points. This is one of the more important arcs, as it's the penultimate arc and reveals the identity of the true villain behind everything, but I have to admit that at times I got a little impatient with the pacing of things.All issues with pacing aside, this really is an interesting story arc even if only for this glimpse into Rika's emotions. The arc is the "answer" to Satoko's abuse arc (Curse Killing Arc), but the main focus is giving us a deeper look into what effect a 100+ years of death and rebirth have had on her. The previous chapters in the arc showed us that it had a large effect on her mental well-being, with Rika somewhat readily ditching worlds at the slightest hint that it would have a bad ending. This sense of depressing passivity has some far reaching implications for the series, making me question exactly how many of the worlds were unsavable more because of Rika giving up and putting only a superficial effort rather than unchangeable events. This volume plays more upon that theme, although the presence of another arc after this one tells me that in this case the cast might still face an unhappy ending. If this is so then her actions have still had an effect on the true mastermind behind the series of murders, forcing them to show themselves and give away valuable clues behind their intentions.Art-wise, this is more of the great artwork you've come to expect from the series. There are some wonderful splash pages in here and while I love the upbeat "happy plot point" images, the series' strength has always come from the plot points where contorted faces and exaggerated emotions appear. You get one of these from Teppei, making it one of the more creepy scenes in the volume.I'll continue on with the series and while I liked this volume more than its predecessor, I admit that part of me is slightly ready to see the end of the Higurashi series. I hope we get the remaining side arcs, but I think that this arc is driving home that at this point we've seen all that we really need to see for these characters.

I purchased this for my grandson for Christmas, and he loved it.

Thanks

As all others numbers of this manga, the quality is on high levels. Way better than the anime adaption, it follows directly the original novel. A must have for all fans.

Arrived damaged