Am I... the one that’s gone crazy..? Or Hinamizawa?
Y’know, until this arc it was a lot easier to have an answer to that question. While the focus is on Satoko this time, it turns out she’s a catalyst rather than an instigator. No, Keiichi’s going to be looking a lot closer to home for the cause of all the problems this time around...
Phew, this whole story turned into a marathon rather than a sprint. In fact, my biggest complaint is that this volume weighs in at a whopping 300 pages and change, which is a lot of mystery to wade through.
That said, it’s a very, very good story. Definite trigger warnings for abuse, but the way Satoko’s situation goes out of control and, likewise, Keiichi’s attempts to restore normalcy (and in this village that’s the very definition of falling at the first hurdle) spiral into madness are quite well done.
And this volume does such a good job moving all of its established pieces in new, novel ways. We end up skipping over the festival, reality may or may not be warping in crazy ways, there’s a very interesting new angle on the formerly helpful Ooishi (or was he ever actually helpful?), and that final chapter... oof... let’s just say the creepiness is back and then some.
Coupled with an increasingly unhinged Keiichi and the events following in his wake and you have an arc that goes to pure bedlam by the time it’s done. It offers an end to its own story, but it leaves behind even more enticing questions in its wake (to say nothing of an unsolved murder and a suspicious suicide).
I mean, like I said, the downside is how much is stuffed in this volume. It’s absurdly dense and keeping it all straight can be a thing. There’s certainly a specific sort of reader who will be in heaven tracking down all the possible clues. At this point I am happy to bob along in the narrative and see where it takes me. Both approaches are quite reasonable and you’re likely to find the story rewarding either way.
3.5, but rounded up this time. This section is intense and crazypants, but it’s the best one since the first two volumes and leaves so much unanswered while still being mostly cohesive. I’m already looking forward to the next journey through the village, just to see where it might lead next.