/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Summary of the new Mei chapter, which mostly has the characters discuss the current situation in Hinamizawa:
Keiichi wakes Nao up and takes her to the Sonozaki mansion, where Rika and Mion are waiting.
Mion tried to invite Rena too, but she didn't come.
Keiichi, Rika, and Mion all retain memories of at least the previous two worlds, while Rena only remembers the previous world, making her "Reina". Keiichi was the first to remember, followed by Rika, then Mion, and finally Reina.
Satoko does not retain any memories from previous worlds, and nothing is said about Satoshi in this regard, so his condition is unknown, but he probably doesn't remember anything.
Satoko's personality is similar to that of the previous world, with her being notably brattier than in a world where Satoshi disappears. Rika, before regaining her memories, was also a kusogaki, though surprisingly she actually gets along with Satoko well enough here, with her comforting Satoko whenever she ends up crying after Keiichi throws hands with her.
Hifumi's research wasn't recognized, and as such the clinic is called the Irie Clinic again.
However, the Curse of Oyashiro-sama went very differently.
While the first year's incident went as normal, with the dam foreman being killed and main culprit disappearing, no further incidents took place, leaving Satoko's and Rika's families safe.
As a result, no rumours about a curse started, and while the dam project was suspended for a while, it restarted not long ago. This is why Keiichi ended up moving to Hinamizawa instead of Okinomiya.
There's no strong (visible) sentiment against the pro-dam faction, due to the mayor spending considerable time convincing Oryou out of speaking out against them. As a result, Satoshi and Satoko were never caught up in the village's hostilities, though there could still be negative sentiments buried underneath.
Kazuho's father Minoru became acting head of the Kimiyoshi family again after Kiichirou fell ill, similar to the last world.
He's considered controversial amongst the elderly due to being an outsider who cares little about the village's traditions, but his popularity amongst the younger families enabled him to take on the role of family head more formally.
Oddly, he meets up with Rika's parents on an almost daily basis, though Rika doesn't know what they actually talk about, as they caught her when she tried to listen in.
Nao worries that this could lead to a conflict between the three families, though the vastly superior power of the Sonozaki family would almost certainly lead to the other two being crushed completely.
They spend a lot of time talking about the Great Hinamizawa Disaster after that, but I don't think there's anything new in there for us. It's pretty much the usual cover story for the genocide.
Rika also explains her looping here, and how she was eventually thrust back into it after the Tsukuyami came into play.
She also believes that her imprisonment in the previous world was a punishment for not being fully open to her friends, due to the appearance of the weirdo time travellers. Nao thinks that idea is completely ridiculous.
Nao eventually leaves after Mion says she wants to talk to just Keiichi and Rika. Nao is somewhat frustrated because the other three are clearly hesitant to talk about Kazuho for some reason, and Nao never learns anything about either the main Kazuho or the child Kazuho native to this world.
She eventually passes by the garbage dump, which she decides to view as a symbol of her own existence, since she has only ever seen it in worlds where her mom cheated on Mr. Ryuugu.
She meets Reina here, who expresses doubts that Mion is really "Mion", which causes Nao to suddenly become unsure if the Mion she was talking to was really the same Mion as her first world, or if it's Shion pretending to be Mion again, which is where the chapter ends.