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We know that the "mini-arcs" in Higurashi (When They Cry) all start with a
sudden rollback. After some terrible events, the town looks normal again.

Closer to the end of the anime we are being shown that

> It's Hanyū who is responsible for the rollbacks, and she helps Rika keep
> (some of) her memories of what happened before the "rollback"

Now my question is about what those "rollbacks" really _are_. The wiki
article, for example, says that they are

> time travels, and what Hanyū does is reverses time to let Rika relive those
> days again.

However, when I was watching the anime itself, I clearly remember Rika saying
that

> what they did was traveling between "worlds", trying to find a "world" where
> everything was right (i.e. no murders).

Basically, if the first version is right, then

> all the murders didn't actually happen, because the time was reversed each
> time. In the second case (changing "worlds"), however, all those murders
> would be for real in each particular world.

Was that possibly just a bad/false translation of the subtitles I was using?
And which version is right, after all?


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higurashi-when-they-cry
What exactly are the rollbacks in Higurashi?


I think the correct answer lies between what you're saying and what Wiki is
saying.

Here's a definition of "kakera" (usually translated as "fragments") from
Umineko no Naku Koro ni (the installment of WTC after Higurashi) EP4's TIPS:

> Worlds of different fates and circumstances are called kakera, and witches
> who are able to cross the ocean of endless kakera are called Voyagers.

Hanyuu is taking Rika through different kakera, but she is also going back in
time. If she just went to the same time in a different kakera, it might be too
late for Rika to do anything. I believe towards the end of Higurashi, Hanyuu
also states that her power is weakening and she can't go as far back in time.

If you're interested in knowing why/how Hanyuu has these powers, I'd
definitely recommend playing the Umineko no Naku Koro ni sound novels or maybe
even reading the manga. Don't watch the anime though... It doesn't cover that
far into the story.


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