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It’s finally here! Thank you so much for your patience and support throughout the process of making this absolute mammoth of a video, it really has made all the difference. I’m going to keep this post relatively short: it’s far easier to be objective about a video when I’m not right off the back of making it, but one thing I can say is that How Higurashi Scares Us marks a new standard for my channel, and so I think it’s a great way to finish out the year (if a little tonally dissonant with the holiday season). This one perhaps more than any other video on my channel is also very emblematic of who I am and as a result extremely important to me—I’ll leave you to ponder on what I mean by that as you watch.

I promised some more activity on here to mark the end of the year but I frankly have an awful lot of uni work to be catching up on, and then some much-needed rest time to grab if I can find the opportunity! I also want to carefully consider my options before I make a poll for the next video (which I am not in any rush to jump into after this) and watch and play a few things to prepare. I’ll be back on here next month for that, as well as a post about my general plans for the year content-wise. I’d also like to sneak in a retrospective on all my videos so far somewhere as I’d hoped to manage doing before the end of the year. Whether I’ll have the chance to record it as a podcast (unlikely due to my current living situation and time constraints, but we’ll see) or write it up as a blogpost remains to be seen, but do let me know what you’d prefer. Suffice it to say, no videos from me in January—I don’t think that’ll come as a surprise to anyone after watching this!

With all that to come, for the moment I’ll just say another thank you to you all for being here. It’s unbelievable how far the channel has come in the last few months in particular. In all honesty, the main thing that held me back from making a YouTube channel sooner was the fear that on the off chance it somehow gained traction, I wouldn’t be able to deal with the attention—not the inevitable mean-spirited comments, but all the silent eyes weighing down on me when I already put plenty of pressure on myself. It’s true that as my channel grows I feel that set of pressures weighing steadily more—all boil down to a want not to disappoint, whatever that might mean. But it’s hard not to disappoint at least one person when you have an audience that can number in the thousands. Impossible, in fact. I’m still learning to be okay with that, and I welcome each and every way this endeavour has challenged me as both a creator and a human. It’s also the price I pay for choosing to be vulnerable with my content, and to make it true to who I am, as opposed to putting up a firm barrier that divides the critic commenting on the art from the human who receives it. The importance of breaking down this barrier is one of the many things running this channel has already taught me, and the way it opens me up to very personal criticisms is a price I’m willing to pay. Still, it means that, as I’ve said before, putting names to those daunting numbers and having an oasis of kindness, support and honest to god humanity existing around my content to return to is nothing short of essential in making it sustainable long-term, and an endlessly giving gift that I never expected to be blessed with. Really, thank you.

I sincerely hope you all enjoy the video (and being the very first people to see it!) and, of course, let me know your thoughts. Otherwise, I also hope you’ll all be able to have a restful and healing break after a long, hard year, whatever you are or aren’t celebrating! I’ll likewise take the time to recharge before I see you back here in the sparkly new year, ready to keep creating. Take care!

Files

How Higurashi Scares Us

Support the channel through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/besssonozaki Tip jar: https://ko-fi.com/butterflyswimmer Twitter: @mionswife Higurashi is a fantastic horror series, but its scares are often discredited as being little more than skin-deep. In this analysis, we'll untangle the series' cultural context and underpinnings in psychology, sociopolitical commentary and national trauma. Video sources: Footage from Showa Era Japan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DfafrMVQJE https://www.youtube.com/user/HuntleyFilmArchives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_qi8XVP8W0 Footage of Ryukishi07: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jP1dij0SPI Footage from Siren: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q31KHcK0Irk Footage from Fatal Frame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UctONvrppg8 Portraits from a Psychiatric Ward: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cndx3Z9uIhE Anti-war protest footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kpgRk06Ld8 Things Not to Say to Someone With a Facial Disfigurement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWD12X0FfvU Information sources in order of mention/relevance: Inside the Well of Loneliness: Towards a Definition of the Japanese Horror Film: http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/discussionpapers/2006/Balmain.html Pruett, C. (2010). The anthropology of fear: learning about Japan through horror games. Interface, 10, 9. Torrey, E. F., & Yolken, R. H. (2003). Toxoplasma gondii and schizophrenia. Emerging infectious diseases, 9(11), 1375. Owen, P. R. (2012). Portrayals of schizophrenia by entertainment media: a content analysis of contemporary movies. Psychiatric Services, 63(7), 655-659. Information on the relationship between schizophrenia and violence, attitudes towards anti-psychotic medication and suicide rates came from the following textbook, specific sources to be added (I'm away from my copy): Davey, G. (2008). Psychopathology: Research, assessment and treatment in clinical psychology. British Psychological Society. Menezes, A., & Moreira-Almeida, A. (2010). Religion, spirituality, and psychosis. Current psychiatry reports, 12(3), 174-179. Friedli, L. (2000). A matter of faith: Religion and mental health. Journal of Public Mental Health, 2(2), 7-13. https://www.rethink.org (for stats on hearing voices) Furnham, A., & Murao, M. (2000). A cross-cultural comparison of British and Japanese lay theories of schizophrenia. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 46(1), 4-20. Ando, S., Yamaguchi, S., Aoki, Y., & Thornicroft, G. (2013). Review of mental‐health‐related stigma in J apan. Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, 67(7), 471-482. Totsuka, E. (1990). The history of Japanese psychiatry and the rights of mental patients. Psychiatric Bulletin, 14(4), 193-200. On Hotokukai Utsunomiya Hospital: http://www.yoshabunko.com/medicine/Mentally_ill.html A brief note on the history of psychosurgery in Japan: https://thejns.org/focus/view/journals/neurosurg-focus/43/3/article-pE13.xml Mennen, F. E., Kim, K., Sang, J., & Trickett, P. K. (2010). Child neglect: Definition and identification of youth's experiences in official reports of maltreatment. Child abuse & neglect, 34(9), 647-658. Stoltenborgh, M., Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M. J., Alink, L. R., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2015). The prevalence of child maltreatment across the globe: Review of a series of meta‐analyses. Child Abuse Review, 24(1), 37-50. Davies, G. M., & Beech, A. R. (Eds.). (2012). Forensic psychology: Crime, justice, law, interventions. John Wiley & Sons. Bosmia, A. N., Griessenauer, C. J., & Tubbs, R. S. (2014). Yubitsume: ritualistic self-amputation of proximal digits among the Yakuza. Journal of injury and violence research, 6(2), 54. Fusé, T. (1980). Suicide and culture in Japan: A study of seppuku as an institutionalized form of suicide. Social Psychiatry, 15(2), 57-63. Yoshida, T. (1981). The stranger as god: the place of the outsider in Japanese folk religion. Ethnology, 20(2), 87-99. Jamrozik, A., Oraa Ali, M., Sarwer, D. B., & Chatterjee, A. (2019). More than skin deep: Judgments of individuals with facial disfigurement. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 13(1), 117. Stats on suicide in Japan came from: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hh/1-2.html Sato, M. (2006). Renaming schizophrenia: a Japanese perspective. World psychiatry, 5(1), 53. Huge thanks and credit to user LAMBDADELTO for all the Higurashi visual novel footage.

Comments

Theleux

54 minutes, wew. Looking forward to this one. Hope all your uni activities are going well, totally understandable to focus on those more after dropping this hefty video haha.

Laura

I don't have anything eloquent to say except that your videos never fail to leave me reflecting on everything that was said even hours later. Thank you for putting the love I feel for Higurashi into words. Also please don't overwork yourself, we understand! I'm amazed you manage to put out such quality content considering how much of a time sink uni is

Sarela Helaine

This video convinced me to become a Patron. Beautifully written, you clearly put so much time and effort into it. I love the worlds of When They Cry immensely, so I'm thankful for the spotlight you've given it through your channel.