Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni 16 - Shion the lunatic
This episode didn’t give me much respect for Shion. If I have to put it bluntly, I would say: DAMN WHAT A BITCH! And she sure is. On the one hand. Her behavior is explainable. Let me tell what happened. This will be all Shion, explaining what happened from her point of view. She escaped a distant school that she attended against her will, and she was seperated from her sister, Mion. An uncle helps Shion, and we see her a bit explain. She and Mion are twins. Duuh. But because of they are twins and there can only be one heir, Shions name is loathed. We can really see that in a picture of two freshborn babies, the one crying, still covered in blood from the delevery, the other one sleeping, smile on her face, clean and in a blanket. Shion is pushed away and her name is loathed.
But even so, she is incredibly close with her sister. Mion even wants to help her out and Shion can go dress herself up as Mion without anybody knows. Because if the family of them finds out, Shion will have some major problems. And that can’t be nice. Her sister talks to her about what happened, and of course, the Watanagashi appears. This is the year before Keiichi arrives, so this year, the notorious Satoshi and Satako’s ‘beloved’ aunt will have to deal with it.
She is completly tired, worn out, and her bag is ripped by some motor cycles. She is so angry that she kicks them all out of the way. She should have not have done that. That is the cause of all the problems for Shion this episode. Of course, the owners come to her, and she is in serious problems. Of course, we have a hero to the action. Satoshi. He tries to protect Shion, and the cops come. 
He smiles to her, and pats her on the head. Does anyone see a blond version of Keiichi? *raises hand* At that point, Shion feels that she has some feelings for him. After all, Shion didn’t had a lovable life as the hated one of the Sonozaki family. I think no one except her sister ever loved her. She is just hungry for love, and Satoshi gave all she needed.
In that evening, she asked Mion everything she wanted to know about Satoshi. Mion tells about that he is the son of the Houjou family, and that just being a relative to that family, isn’t a good thing. They are being mocked, bullied, and also the aunt and uncle have to deal with it. Then also have the children of the ones that agreed to the Dam Project, it must only have given hate. The younger sister of Satoshi, Satako, has no good relationship with her aunt and she is completly worn out. Satoshi must have too, but Satoshi is the kind of person that keeps all his thougts in his head.
The next day, Shion goes watching a baseball game with Satoshi and the more notorious bat. After that game, that really tired out Satoshi, Satoshi didn’t return. It made Shion so sad, and she meets Rena. Because of the rain, they find some sheltern, and Rena asks if ‘Mion’ likes Satoshi. Shion answers that she really does like him, and while they are talking, more and more it occures to Shion that Satoshi is worn out because he has to take care of his little sister. She gets so angry with Satako, because she is relying on Satoshi too much. Don’t expect much from a kid of 8. But after some thinking, it is understandable why Shion thinks this way. She has overcome all the sadness that has given to her with her birth on her own, because there was no other to help her. Rena is suprised with the thougts that Shion just blurted out, and then she tells that Satoshi might feel the same way because it’s so sad that Satako relies on him because he is her brother. Rena tells more that Satoshi is feeling the curse.
Shion is kind of scared for Rena, because she is the expert of living with the curse. Satoshi feels it too, because he wants to abandon the village and leave everything. Oyashiro doesn’t aprove it. In this monologue, you can really see how paranoid Satoshi must have been. Shion is so moved by it that she calls Mion asking if she can go to the school of Mion the next day.
The next day, both of the Houjou children just look terrible. Satako is too sad, Satoshi is gloomy. Shion just wants to be friends. When she can’t even talk normally to Satoshi and she sees Satako crying, she gets SO angry that it even scared me and let me loath her for a second. 
She beats Satako up. Because she keeps crying and that is the problem for Satoshi that he can’t be happy. A KID OF A YEAR OF 8! What else would you expect from someone that is completly worn out?! She finds a bit of happiness in her brothers live, is that so wrong to do that? I believe Shion is expecting unbelievable things from her. 
I loathed Shion right here. How can she completly beat up that poor girl? Rika came to the rescue of Satako when Shion wanted to throw a chair (!!) to her. Shion says that she doesn’t care and has to hit Rika as well. And then, also Rena comes. Shion stops, she is afraid of Rena. Coming to think of it, this might be the reason for the third arc that Satako didn’t ask anyone for help, because she was afraid that she might got beaten up again for it. That must be it.
Satoshi saves his little sister, and asked what did they do? It must have been hard, to have the whole village against you, just because of your parents. It must have been the Sonozaki family doing. Shion is just speacless, with a broken heart. Mion scolds her a bit, and the episodes end.
I loathed at the first sight Shion. Beating up peope IS bad. It’s okay to rely on other, there isn’t much that you can do all on your own. And it can be a support. Satoshi loved his sister, and he loathed the aunt. I think protecting the ones that you love is the right thing to do, even if it’s dragging you with them.
