And with this episode, a lot of the questions asked have been answered. The Hinamizawa-disease indeed produces hallucinations and makes the victim go paranoid, and every inhabitant of Hinamizawa suffers from it. The thing that keeps their disease quiet is surprisingly Rika herself. Once somebody distances him or herself from Rika, it starts to activate.
Satoko killed her parents that way, and Rena smashed the windows of her school that way (I nearly forgot about that one). Luckily, Irie was able to save both of them before the disease became fatal. The death of Irie was planned all along by Takano, and Shion and Rena both freaked out because they left the village. I’m not sure what happened to Keiichi in the first arc, though. I mean, he wasn’t a resident of the village to begin with, was he? He just moved. How did he get the disease?
The reason Oishi died in the third arc was probably how he ran into the Yamainu as they were trying to hack into the send-mast. As shown, they show no mercy to anyone. Probably because they know that an onslaught is about to happen anyway, so a few extra corpses never worry anyone. I’m suspecting that the ones who removed the corpse in that arc were also the Yamainu, to prevent Keiichi getting arrested and telling about Takano and how she gave him a ride. Satoshi probably went berserk himself, killing himself and his aunt in the process when he went away from the village at one time. (hence the money he saved, he was planning to leave the village all along and when he left, the disease took over).
There are still a few questions left, though:
– Why did Rika’s parents die? Did Rika become te queen carrier once her mother died?
– Why is the send-mast necessary for Takano? I mean, she could just kill Rika and the disease activates.
– What did Keiichi write on his note in the first arc and why was it so important that it had to be removed?
– How did Keiichi get the disease?
But the most important question left is: why did people survive? I originally thought that being isolated and unconscious was enough to be cured, but now that the existence of Rika is necessary to keep the disease at bay, then I do wonder how Keiichi, Rena and Satoko survived. The answer to this question will be crucial to escape the fate of dying over and over again.
It’s a shame that the mystery and chaos of the first season is gone now, though fortunately this series made up for it with some powerful characters. I’m excited for the Matsuribayashi. It’s supposed to be the longest arc yet, and I’m really interested in how the creators were planning to end this.