How Higurashi Scares Us

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.

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Music used (all unattributed tracks are from the OST for the Higurashi console games):
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Tomoyuki Nakazawa, Kazuya Takase, Eiko Shimamiya
Taishou a - inazawa, Dequar String Quartet
Shinobiyoru kehai
Kourin to Seitan to
Oyashiro-sama
Furuki omoi
Hitori
Remember
Urameshikodama
Soul Scour - dai
Taidou～Kodou-Colors-
Tsuisou no Despair Inst Ver.
○Kareta rakuen
why or why not - Oshima Hiroyuki, bermei.inazawa, Dequar String Quartet
Watanagashi
Dream Music Box
Minna, Inakunatta
Matsuri - dai
Shikkoku no Saidan Inst Ver.
Conviction - dai
Sorayume - dai
Kage - dai
LIVE - dai

Video sources:
Footage from Showa Era Japan:
   • History's Verdict: Japanese Emperor H...  
   / huntleyfilmarchives  
   • Nostalgic Footage | Japan 80s HD | Pa...  
Footage of Ryukishi07:    • Old Ryukishi07 Interview  
Footage from Siren:    • [PS2] FORBIDDEN SIREN - All Cutscenes  
Footage from Fatal Frame:    • FATAL FRAME All Cutscenes (Game Movie...  
Portraits from a Psychiatric Ward:    • Видео  
Anti-war protest footage:    • Anti-war protest as Japan introduces ...  
Things Not to Say to Someone With a Facial Disfigurement:    • Things Not to Say to Someone With a F...  

Sources:

Inside the Well of Loneliness: Towards a Definition of the Japanese Horror Film: http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/dis...

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.

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/Me...

A brief note on the history of psychosurgery in Japan: https://thejns.org/focus/view/journal...

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/databa...

Sato, M. (2006). Renaming schizophrenia: a Japanese perspective. World psychiatry, 5(1), 53.

Huge thanks and credit to users LAMBDADELTO and むつひがしチャンネル for all the Higurashi visual novel footage.

#Higurashi #WhenTheyCry #Horror