Umineko no Naku Koro ni – episode 20: zugzwang

episode IV-II: zugzwang

Hmmm… This episode was pretty much a flashback of Maria’s and Ange’s lives. Nothing much this week other than Lambdadelta trying to close a deal with Ange to keep Battler from winning for all eternity. Uhuh, yup, that’s right, -nods-.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 19: end game

episode IV-I: end game

For the beginning of this new chapter, we have Battler being given a new power; the Blue Truth. It’s a technique he can use to have Beatrice respond to his explanations, but only if their content is about denying the existence of magic. He also has Ange-Beatrice by his side to assist him in this game. The episode revolved around Ange’s story, Maria’s magic, and the Ushiromiyas coming up with a theory concerning their father’s life.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Bernkastel and Lambdadelta: Who are they anyway?

Aww... Aren't they adorable?

We’ve all noticed how our beloved witches, Frederica Bernkastel and Lambdadelta resemble a lot to characters from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: namely Furude Rika and Takano Miyo. So, who are they? How did they come to be? Well, in this -relatively small- post I’ll try to make things a little more clear… I guess.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 18: swindles

episode III-VII swindles

After all, moe Beato isn’t as moe as we thought. Umineko brought us another plot twist this week… Moe-Beato is revealed to have been acting to be good all along, according to the plan Virgilia (who was also acting) made, to have Battler sign his own defeat.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 17: promotion

In this episode, Battler decides to aknowledge Beatrice as his opponent again only after she proves she’s a “real witch”, who actually uses her magic to help people, as magic was supposed to exist for. So, this time we see a totally different moe-Beatrice, who keeps on changing. She revives Shannon with the help of George and in the very end of the episode, she wishes to do the same with Kanon, even if that costs her her life. After all, she wants to keep playing with Battler no matter what…

The episode picks up from where the last one left off, with Eva and company discovering the corpses. Eva cries over her dead husband’s corpse as Battler tries to realize what’s happened. George tells him to hang in there, and for that he’s scolded, having already lost a lover and a parent and still worrying about others.

Game room: Battler monologues about the worth of life with Virgilia, Ronove and MoeBeato as his crowd. Since humans only live for a limited time, they live their lives with everything they’ve got. For Beatrice to toy with them and stepping on their worth, Battler can’t forgive her. Beato tries to stop him and explain herself but she’s soon put well off her place by Virgilia, who tells her to keep quiet and listen to what Battler has to say. Battler keeps on telling her he kinda understands her situation though, having to continue the murders in order for her ressurection. However, any unnecessary actions of cruelty are nothing more than her bloodlust going wild. Controlling over people’s lives has made her forget how to respect life itself. Battler refuses to aknowledge that as his opponent. Virgilia makes a comment on how Endless Witches play with life and death like if it were a game. She is then asked by Battler the reason Endless Magic exists. Her answer is simple enough for Battler to pronnounce Beato as a failure of a witch and definitely not worth being his opponent; it exists to bring happiness to the human world. Beato stands up and asks him when will he finally accept her again, and what does she have to do for it, were it to happen. Battler just tells her to think about it herself, or ask Ronove or Virgilia if she feels confused. As she puts on a crying face, Battler promises not to let go of her game –wait for her untill she finally becomes a ‘real witch’. She oaths she’ll make sure to have this happen and thanks him.

Back to the mansion, the Ushiromiyas were now locking up so to stay safe. Of course, little obstacles such as locked windows and doors wouldn’t be a problem for the Golden Witch, Beatrice, but that they don’t know… yet. Krauss announces to the rest they were unable to find the guns and key of Kyrie and Rudolf. The kids move into their room, silence overrules the whole place. Battler wonders why do people have to die since that brings so much sadness to the world. Jessica joins him and brings up the example of their Grandfather, who was so obsessed over reviving Beatrice. Not being able to stand up another minute like this, George leaves the room to get coffee, refusing the idea of the others tagging along.

Halfway through his way, Beato calls out his name and appears before him, asking him if he wants to see Shannon again. George, although starled, states he’ll give her anything she wants in exchange for that wish of his. Beato however felt like granting it for free, trying to become a witch who is able of helping people. She tells him that now she’s abandoned the title of an Endless Witch, her magical power is insufficient, and so she asks for George to help her with it. He agrees gladly, and they both teleport to someplace else. Their actions have been well aware off though. Eva-Beatrice, who was outside with Ronove, the Siestas and a Sister noticed something strange from the guesthouse. The Siestas apologise for not noticing as well, and so does Ronove and Lucifer -although the last two seem to be faking it.

Eva was now sleeping in a room with Krauss and Natsuhi, the rest of the adults minus Dr. Nanjo. While taking that rest of hers, she talks about things with Eva-Beatrice through her mind. She says that she was wrong by thinking that by attaining the Ushiromiya family headship she would be satisfied. At the time she saw that huge pile of gold, she started lusting for it, wanting it all for herself. At that time Eva-Beatrice was born. All because she couldn’t overcome that temptation. Eva-Beatrice isn’t just her heart from her days as a girl, she’s also the evil part of her heart. In that case though, Eva would be held responsible for the deaths of Rosa, Maria, Rudolf, Kyrie and even Hideyoshi himself. Upon hearing her husband’s name she loses it, crying out to learn the reason Eva-Beatrice killed him. Eva-Beatrice tells her that he was being noisy and obnoxius, and also blames her for choosing a husband like that. Eva finally breaks down to tears and tells her that a kid like her would never understand anything about how good Hideyoshi was. Kinda irritated by her, Eva-Beatrice reminds her she made all her dreams come true. After all, she had found the gold and obtained the headship. All the other dreams Eva made during her adulthood matter not for the witch, who now takes an aggresive stance over her. Eva makes clear they’re not the same person anymore and orders her to get lost. She does so, pissed off, leaving Eva behind her wondering if she really killed Hideyoshi.

Krauss lights up a smoke and Eva starts acting up to it, coughing. He immidiately apologizes and asks Natsuhi to bring her some water. Eva tells them she’s just fine and leaves the room to get some fresh air, telling them she’ll make coffee once she comes back. Natsuhi realizes that her husband actually cares about his brothers and sisters, who he’s been bullying so arrogantly all this time, after all. Someplace outside, Eva-Beatrice orders the Siestas to take both of their lives, which they do moments later using those cool arrows of them.

We now move to see Beato again, who had teleported with George to where Shannon’s dead body was lying. Having to use both her and George’s powers to give life back to Shannon, she asks him to try and remember Shannon’s form from when she were still alive. While the spell is being casted, she tries to realise the worth of a human life, seeing how hard George was trying for his lover’s sake. For her, death meant nothing more than just the front or back of a coin, which she could flip anytime. She comes to the conclusion that Endless Witches like her are somewhat inferior to humans, who live for a limited amount of time. At that time, the spell is cast and Shannon’s lifeless corpse is brought back to life. While they finally embrace again and exchange lovetalk, Eva-Beatrice orders the Siestas to shoot their new targets, who are no one other than our lovebirds. Another bolt of light strikes them in the form of an arrow and takes their lives away forevermore. Surprised and annoyed, Beato abandons the room, leaving their bodies behind. The Siestas ask Eva-Beatrice if it were a good move not to attack Beatrice herself at that time, where they had the upper hand. Eva-Beatrice assures them that Beato won’t be taken down so easily, and that they should wait before they make their move.

Meanwhile, Eva regroups with Nanjo and the rest of the teens, who are in search of George and Jessica’s parents. They start by searching at the rose gardens, where they come across two corpses. Natsuhi’s and Krauss’. Jessica goes mad, and so does Eva, who’s now more worried for her son’s life than ever. They both dash off to different directions, with Battler following Eva who searches for George, and Nanjo going after Jessica who’s crying over her dead parents’ bodies.

The scene moves on with Eva and Battler. They’re now inside the mansion searching for Eva’s (dead) son. Outside one of the mansion’s doors their’s another bloody symbol, this time having numbers drawn on top of it. The numbers read ’07151129′ and coincidentally, Battler’s birthday is on the 15th of July. Eva writes them down before she unlocks the door to the room her dead son was at. George was lying next to Shannon, at the exact same spot they died at; nobody had moved them. Battler worries that he’s up next, ready to die and leave his little sister Ange behind, all alone. Jessica dashes into the room angrilly, Dr. Nanjo trying to calm her down. She blames Eva for the murders, since she was the only one who was with Krauss and Natsuhi. Eva pleads innocent and asks her why is George dead too, then. Jessica gets pissed off and attacks Eva, who shoots at bullet at her by accident, luckilly not hurting her more seriously than just a discharge injury at her eyes due to the fire. Eva flees the scene and Battler follows her, while Dr. Nanjo takes Jessica in for treatment.

Jessica’s injury was a minor one, only taking away her visibility for a small amount of time. All the time she was treated she babbled about how Eva is the real culprit, the one behind the murders. Dr. Nanjo however wasn’t as convinced as her and tried to calm her down before leaving the room to find Battler. That would never happen though, he was the next one. Eva-Beatrice herself appears before him to carry out the ninth twilight, which will let her free. He pleads for his life and tells her he has a sick grandchild to take care off. That wouldn’t stop her, of course, from killing him. Moving on, her next toy would be Jessica, who had zero anti-magic power and resistance, due having lost her sense of sight. Jessica cries out for Kanon to save her one last time.

For the episode’s grand finale, we have Beatrice deciding to bring Kanon back to life, so he can save her. Ronove warns her that there is a huge risk in this that she may lose her life. Still, she’s decided she’ll do it to prove Battler her worth. She orders Ronove to hide himself while bidding her farwell…

-

My thoughts:

Not much this week either, it was an OK episode I guess. Beatrice sure did it this time though, she hated Shannon so much for living her love and now there she is, giving back life not only to her, but risking her life to do the same for Kanon. Of course, we all know how’s Kanon gonna end up again, in case he’s brought back to life…

Beato dying right now is out of the question too… Right?

episode III-VI promotion

In this episode, Battler decides to aknowledge Beatrice as his opponent again only after she proves she’s a “real witch”, who actually uses her magic to help people, as magic was supposed to exist for. So, this time we see a totally different moe-Beatrice, who keeps on changing. She revives Shannon with the help of George and in the very end of the episode, she wishes to do the same with Kanon, even if that costs her her life. After all, she wants to keep playing with Battler no matter what…

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 16: queening square

Eva-Beatrice is still in the spotlight. In this episode, she ditches the Seven Sisters of Purgatory after two of them fail to serve her rightly, and finds new ones. Yeah, they’re bunny girls… Oh right, Battler is still angry at Moe Beatrice, who is now more upset than ever. So, expect more Eva, more deaths, bunny girls and moe Beatrice~

The Ushiromiyas are gathered behind a door, worried about Rosa and Maria who went to find the rose but never came back. Since they’re not coming back, Rudolf decides to go alone outside and check things out. Hideyoshi returns to his room, where Eva was resting. She asks Hideyoshi what’s going on, and gets really upset when she learns they went out to search for the rose, telling him there’s a witch waiting for them at the gardens. Hideyoshi, however, doesn’t give much attention to what she’s saying, believing she just had a nightmare.

Meanwhile, in the gardens, Rudolf had discovered the corpses of Maria and Rosa. We’re immideatly sent to the game room, where Battler was sitting in again. Last time we saw him he leave it, after giving Beatrice what he though she deserved. Virgilia gives us a little information on how the victims died, much like to an autopsy. Battler still believes Beatrice is actually in control of Eva-Beatrice, and for that he says he’ll never forgive her. Poor Beato tries to explain the situation to him, but noooooo, he’s not willing to listen to a word. Instead he plays his move and blames the murders on Rosa, who accidentally killed Maria while trying to stop her from crying. Rosa herself died of bad luck, as she slipped and fell on the fence, still being upset with what she’s done. Beato tries to disprove him but she’s soon told to shut it and leave. Battler is just too angry to play games with her; a cruel witch who had -since the very beginning- enjoyed torturing people. Beatrice do as she’s asked, leaving Ronove behind her as her representative for the time being. Battler wants to resume the game now. By supposing that Rosa is the culprit and died in an accident, he denies witches. Renove disproves that possibility, as he states in red that both of them were killed by other people.

Rudolf has now regrouped with the Ushiromiyas and brought back Rosa’s shotgun. After examining it, they find out it still have all five of its bullets, leading them to the assumption the one who killed her must’ve been someone who she would let her guard down to. Natsuhi asks them to stop suspecting each other, and instead try to stay as safe as they can. Eva is struct by a headache again and as she sits down, time freezes and Eva-Beatrice appear, informing her she was the one who killed Rosa and Maria, and that she will continue following the ceremony, so her powers as a witch will be complete. Eva cries that she never wanted any of this, just the gold and the headship were enough, and so she begs her to stop. Tough luck. Eva-Beatrice tells her she’s not willing to stop, since she’s not the same as her anymore. Time unfreezes after she claims she’ll avoid killing Eva’s family to complete the epitaph. Hideyoshi, worried by her headache, leads her to their room once more, while Kyrie watches them in suspicion.

In the next scene, Kyrie tells Rudolf she wants to go outside to the mansion, get some canned food. Since it’s brightest outside now, the wisest choice would be to do it now. The lucky people who’re going are none other than Rudolf, Kyrie and Hideyoshi, who will be carrying the cardboard boxes with the food. Leaving with two men with shotguns and Kyrie’s intelligence, their survival chances are pretty much higher than Rosa’s; or so they believe…

They get into the mansion, and after Hideyoshi tries to play commander, they dash into the kitchen. Have I mentioned before I love this guy? Anyway, Eva-Beatrice decides to make this event fun and so she starts locking doors while unnoticable. Right after locking the whole mansion, she summons two of the Seven Sisters of Purgatory: Leviathan of Envy and Belphegor of Sloth. Eva-Beatrice orders them to kill as brutally as they can Rudolf and Kyrie, but leave Hideyoshi alone. But to that, they’re afraid they can’t do, since Beato has asked them to refrain from unnecessary cruetly.

In the kitchen, Hideyoshi finishes packing up food in a cardboard box and suggest it’s time they left. Kyrie feels a chill, as though they’re gonna get ambushed really soon, and agrees with him. Having everything they needed, they don’t waste time and Rudolf tries to unlock the back door of the kitchen. Too bad for him it’s locked. With no other choice, they leave from the front door, only to meet with the sisters a few moments later. The sisters are actually surprised mere humans like them predicted their ambush, but, well, it’s Kyrie we’re talking about here. Quickly, Rudolf and Kyrie (who were now holding the guns) shoot them but they’re faster to teleport and appear onto the air. The group of humans decides to retreat for now, splitting into three directions.

Now someplace else, Belphegor catches up with Rudolf and tells him she’ll kill him gently and fast. Rudolf howerver, smiles calmly and compliments her; much to her surprise. Soon enough they start fighting, and their powers are seemingly balanced. In the meantime, Leviathan had caught up with Kyrie and introduced herself offically this time. Kyrie laughs her title off, after all, she’s the only one who knows what true envy is; the same feeling she felt when Rudolf was tricked by Asumu, the mother of Battler, into marrying her. She shoots her right after. Returning to Rudolf, Eva-Beatrice makes her appearance in the scene and surprises Rudolf, who believes it’s her sister. He also shoots her, but she’s saved by Belphegor, who uses her body as a shield to take his bullet. Kyrie also catches up with Rudofl, and it’s now the two of them versus Eva-Beatrice. Or not…?

Eva-Beatrice had been pissed off at the Seven Sisters of Purgatory since their first meeting and so she decides to seek new furniture. She uses her powers to summon even stronger furniture to serve her. Out of nowhere, two bunny girls, Siesta 410 and Siesta 45 of the Dragon King appear to the scene. Rudolf and Kyrie now outnumbered decide to run for it. Resistance is futile however, as they’re soon shot by the Siestas, who are nothing else than a living sniper. Eva-Beatrice appears to be is quite satisfied by her new furniture. She decides to make the corpses sacrifises for the next twilights, but for now she’ll just play with them. It’s then Hideyoshi comes to the rescue to scold her! (That guy never lacks to surprise me).

Hideyoshi slaps and shakes her while trying to beat some sense into her. He tells her to stop acting cruel when she’s really a coward who actually understands how important and fragile a life is and calls her continuesly an idiot. Then, something unexpected happened. Eva-Beatrice got so pissed at him she shot him with one of the shotguns lying on the floor. So much for letting him live… Hideyoshi is now the sacrifise for the sixth twilight.

Eva-Beatrice is once more interested in playing with the dead -soon to be alive- corpses. She is halted, however, from Beato, who rushes into the scene to ask her why she disobeyed her. Eva-Beatrice asks her if she’s doing this to please her opponent and convince him he’s a witch, something she learned from Ronove (Who I think talks a little too much~). Eva-Beatrice explains that unlike Beato, she can be a witch without anyone aknowleding her, but nevertheless she’ll respect her out of her own free will. To set an end to this scene, she summons the Siestas to see Beato off, who leaves while saying she’ll enjoy seeing what Eva-Beatrice will get herself into.

Game room. Virgilia continues the reteling of the story from where we left it. Battler, Eva, George and Nanjo found the corpses lying in the mansion hall. They had stakes in the forhead, chest and stomach -same as ever. Battler asks Ronove to confirm the death of the corpses in red. He refuses to do so unless Battler accepts Beato as his opponent again. With a little further pushing from Virgilia, he agrees to. The servants then set off the room.

While the time was being frozen, Beato was sitting at the exact same spot Battler met Virgilia at a few episodes ago. Virgilia approaches her and tells her there’s a large difference between her and the current Beatrice. While Eva-Beatrice is satisfied with being a witch in this world, Beato wanted to be aknowledged as a witch even outside the game board and challenged Battler as her opponent to do so. She thought that if she showed him proof she’s a witch and made him surrender he’d aknowledge that. Virgilia explains that it’s the exact opposite, as Battler didn’t become her opponent to aknowledge her, but because he refused to aknowledge the existence of a brutal witch like her. In the end, she tries to make her understand that in order to make Battler accept witches, she has to act a little more sincere.

-

My thoughts:

None… I guess I would’ve appreaciated a little more Bern but… meh….

episode III-V: queening square

Eva-Beatrice is still under the spotlight of Umineko. In this episode, she ditches the Seven Sisters of Purgatory after two of them fail to do justice to her orders, and finds new servants. Yeah, they’re bunny girls…

Oh right, Battler is still angry at Moe Beatrice, who is now more upset than ever. So, expect more Eva, deaths, bunny girls and moe Beatrice~

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 15: isolated pawn

Beatrice makes Eva-Beatrice (The younger side of Eva) the new Beatrice, and passes down both the title of the Golden and Immortal Witch to her. We get to see tsundere Beato, even to the point of stealing repeating “Urusai” three times, and Battler using magic to teleport out of the room, annoyed. But the best thing about the episode is that we finally get to see some more Lamdadelta and Bernkastel. Yays for Umineko becoming more awesome week by week.

Eva was now in the room where the gold was stored. Without noticing, Rosa also enters and congratulates her for being faster to solve the epitaph’s riddle. Had she been five minutes faster, it would be her to be awarded the Ushiromiya head title. They both know they can decide the winner by shooting each other, but that’s out of the question since it’s too risky of the police finding out. They now move out where it’s raining, and instead, Rosa asks Eva to share only a bit of the gold with her, namely 150 million yen, by March. To that, Eva replies that she also have something to ask from her. She wants Rosa to wait a little before announcing they found the gold, as she wants to think of a fitting way to dethrown Krauss and Rudolf of their Ushiromiya head titles.

Back to the room, the other side of Eva (Future Eva-Beatrice) is complaining about how she should be the one to recieve the gold, and not them. Beatrice, who aknowledges that, appears before her and tells her she’ll be giving the gold, along with her title of the Golden/Endless witch to her, leaving her surprised. Beato congratules her on solving the riddle by giving her the Ushiromiya head ring and transports them to another room, where Ronove, the Sisters of Purgatory, Lamdadelta and Bernkastel are waiting to celebrate. Following, Eva kneels before Beatrice as she passes her titles and powers to her. The portrait of Beatrice in the background changes, and the new Eva-Beatrice appears into it as Eva accepts and takes the magical stuff from Beatrice’s hands.

Ronove, the Sisters, The Witches and the Goat Headed servant, all of them clap to congratulate her. The first to talk is Ronove, who introduces himself as her new personal assistant. Lamdadelta, reintroduced as the Witch of Certainty, furiously gets close to her and tells her to thank her for reccomending her to become the new Beatrice. Beato explains how Lamdadelta reccomended Eva to become the current Beatrice and how she became her guardian. Eva-Beatrice thanks her, kinda scared, something that displeases Lamdadelta who wants to take her reccomendation back. Bernkastel joins the conversation and tells Lamdadelta to take responsibility for what she’s done. She also says that from her point of view, Eva’s succession is more of a coincidence than a miracle, and thus, not worthy of her recommendation. Well, since she’s not too talkative, Beatrice makes the introductions instead. She says that Bern is very hard to please, and that Eva is lucky just to have her joining the celebration party. Bernkastel clears things by saying she only came because this is a rare event which only happens once in a thousand years. The Sisters of Purgatory have now the chance to introduce themselves too, to the new Beatrice. The kneel down and ask her to order them however she wants.

Time freeeeeze~ Back to the game room, Battler is confused once more. After all, his Aunt has just became the new Beatrice. Beato tells him she was also surprised by this; she never thought anyone would solve the epitaph. Battler asks for Virgillia to clear things up for him. She asks him to calm down, for starters, and then explains that this is just the way of passing down the title of the Golden Witch to Eva, and that everything the say up untill now is nothing more than a performance which shows how that title was passed on in a way that fits with her interpretation. A phony ceremony, as Battler calls it. It’s true that Eva solved the epitaph’s riddle and achieved becoming the Ushiromiya family headship and so, Beato acted that out as a succession ceremony. Putting that aside, he asks who that person who looks like a younger version of Eva is. Beatrice refuses to tell him, as he doesn’t believe in magic anyway. Ronove and Virgillia suggest that the most approporate way to think of her as of now, is as a representation of a being inside of Eva for now.

Since Beato has passed down her name to Eva, she must think of a new name for herself. For that, she stands up and asks for Battler’s suggestion. Her name has to be refined, elegant and just a little cute, as she says. Battler finds ‘Beato’ just good for her and decides to go by that, much to her displeasance.

Back to the Ushiromiyas now, Rosa and Eva return to the rest of the group, who have all woken up by now. Eva excuses themselves as being late because they were talking outside for a minute. Since she didn’t look really well, Hideyoshi checks for her temprature only to find out she has a fever. The two of them leave the others and head to their room so Eva can rest.

In their room now, Hideyoshi is trying to cool down Eva with his hands. Eva comments on how his hands are so cool, and that have never failed to make her fevers disappear. She wonders if magic exist. Hideyoshi replies that it exists for those who believe into it. Eva never believed in Beatirce. She though that if a witch did, in fact, exist in Rokkenjima, it would be the witch inside her heart. Hideyoshi listens to her explanation confused, as she keeps talking. That witch is nothing more than another part of her, who has always encouraged her. She’s scared because she knows that the witch has been provoked by Beatrice, and is becoming stronger and stronger, changing her to something she really isn’t, ready to swallow her. Screams can be heard from the outside and Hideyoshi leaves to check out what’s going on.

Of course, it was Maria, who was crying over her rose again, and Rosa who was trying pointlessly to make her shut up. Hideyoshi asks them what’s going on. Rosa relpies that Maria is worried about the rose in the garden and won’t listen to her. Hideyoshi leans forward and asks Maria kindly to be quiet, since Eva is trying to rest in the other room. Unwillingly to listen to him, she keeps on crying and Rosa breaks down and decides to do what she wants.

They are now in the gardens and Maria searches for her rose. Ultimately, she finds her. A beautiful flower with a golden tie tied around it. A lightning strikes, and Eva appears out nowhere. She tells Rosa she wants to talk about Kinzo’s gold again. Rosa asks her not to do it in front of her daughter and says she’ll keep her promise, so the only thing Eva has to worry about is giving her the 150 million. Upon hearing that, Eva bursts into laughter and Maria asks her who she is.

Back in Hideyoshi’s room, Eva is screaming in agony and asks him not to let her hand go. She says it feels like she’s been kidnapped by someone who isn’t her.

Returning back to the gardens now, Eva -who’s in two places at the same time, guess who’s the witch- refuses to give Rosa any money. She turns into her witch form and introduces herself as the Golden Witch, Beatrice. She’s no longer the one who was Rosa’s sister, and as a new Beatrice, she plans on making her own resurrection ceremony. For that, she asks Ronove for information about her powers, who tells her she can do whatever she feels like. Firstly, she sends Maria and Rosa into flying, and then crushes them to the ground -killing them. Afterwards, she ressurects them and makes them nearly drown in a sea of jelly before throwing a huge cake over their faces.

In the game room, Beato is enjoying the show put up by Eva to the fullest, something Battler is not. He asks her to make Eva stop but she refuses, saying she reminds her of when she also started using magic, messing around with everything. Desperate, he now turns to Virgilia to save Rosa. She tells him they can’t interfere with the game board, as they only exist outside of it. Beato pushes her luck further and asks them why are they making such a fuss over it, betting they both love this sort of thing which is happening. Battler had enough of her and slaps her, telling her he thought she might’ve been a little fun, but after this, he completely stopped believing it. He tells her never to appear in front of him again as he leaves the room. Beatrice wonders why did that happen. In a kinda childish way, she asks Virgilia’s opinion about it. Her teacher replies she has nothing in particular to say other than she may continue to watch this if she finds it fun. She leaves the room. Beato now asks Ronove who starts laughing. Even as a demon he is, he actually understands Battler’s feelings to a degree. Beato wonders if Battler really hates her that much… Is this the start of a new romance?!  Ronove calls her thick headed for not understanding Battler, and she replies somewhat tsundere-ish, repeating “Urusai” three time. She points at Ronove and dismisses him.

And now, back to the gardens for our finale. Maria is crying while Eva-Beatrice is making fun of them and wonders what they should play next. Beato comes to the rescue and tells her to be a little more elegant about her killings. Eva wonders where did that come from, as she heard from Ronove a while back that Beato’s magic was much more brutal. Beatrice replies that she might’ve overdone it a bit. She tells her to step back and let her handle it for this once. As Beato gets ready to kill them, Rosa begs her to at least spare Maria. Maria cries and asks her what’s gonna happen to their promise about going to the Golden Land together. The witch says she can no longer keep that promise, now that she isn’ Beatrice anymore. The only thing she can do as an apology is take Maria’s life peacefuly, using the same technique Genji used for Shannon and Kanon. For Rosa though, her death is a bit more brutal. Beato lifts her to the skies and drops her to the fence which pierces her.

Eva is disappointed by Beato’s use of magic, which she now calls elegantly. Nevertheless, Beatrice decides to take leadership for now and show her how things are done. Followingly, she summons Ronove and the Sisters of Purgatory to announce them her decision about how killings will now be taken out -less flashy, that is. With that, she dismisses everyone and asks for Eva to be a litte more reasonal before leaving the area.

-

My thoughts:

First of all and most important: I was really looking forward for more witches, or rather, more Bernkastel. Seems like my prayers were finally answered. Those few minutes she got on screen were perfect for my eyes.

Moving onto the new Beatrice, this is something Beato didn’t plan. I wonder what is she gonna do now and perhaps, if she’ll fight against Beato at a certain point.

And talking about Beatrice, she seemed a little childish in this episode and less serious, as we’ve seen in the past. Is she undergoing some character change or something? Oh well, again, nothing new about her eyes this week either.

Generally, this was a really nice episode. We got to see more witches than ever, more Lamdadelta, Battler getting pissed of at Beatrice, Eva torturing Rosa and Maria (Why do these two always have to die like this?) and of course, Frederica Bernkastel!

Oh well, that’s all for now. Perhaps I’ll be blogging the rest of Higurashi before next Saturday but meh… See ya~

Akio~

episode III-IV: isoalted pawn

Beatrice makes the other Eva (The younger side of Eva) the new Beatrice, and passes down both the title of the Golden and Immortal Witch to her. We get to see tsundere Beato, even to the point of repeating “Urusai” three times, and Battler using magic to teleport out of the room, annoyed. But the best thing about the episode is that we finally get to see some more Lamdadelta and Bernkastel. Yays for Umineko becoming more awesome week by week.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 14: Positional Play

Episode III-IIII

Positional Play

The battle between witches we were all waiting for took finally place, Battler found a new ally, Beato had a hard time arguing with him and the gold was found by Eva. Wow, what an episode, anyone else feeling confused? I sure do.

Picking up from where we were left, Virgilia (That’s how we’ll be calling ex-Beatrice/Kumasawa) is now giving a lecture to Beatrice who’s been messing around with innocent people. The fight is about to start, and so Renove and the Sisters of Purgatory get out of the way. Get ready for a big fight with awesome graphics and lots of twists. Virgilia proclaims her retrieval of the title of Beatrice/Endless Witch in case she wins. Just so they can warm up, they clash, and their powers cause a huge explosion. Unless they’re willing to tear the island apart, a decisive fight can’t happen. With that in mind, Beatrice summons what seems to be two towers behind her, which start shooting at Virgilia. To counter back, Virgilia summons a huge godlike-spear for her. Beatrice dismisses the two towers behind her and summons a bunch of golems in one turn. Virgilia though doubts those giants can block her spear of gods. As shields appear on the golems’ hands, Virgilia launches her attack, and her spear multiplies. Beatrice seemingly blocks her attack, only for Virgilia to have vanished from sight before Beatrice realised what was going on. The result is a bloody Beatrice lying on the floor, nearly dead. Virgilia is now ready to cast a spell to return Beatrice to her original form, her form from when she was a child. With Beatrice seemingly dying, the only thing that could save her is a miracle. Or perhaps it’s a strategic move? Whatever it is, it happens. The spears which were pierced through her, along with her blood which was pouring out dissapear, leaving everyone but Ronove confused. At the same time, spears appear pierced on Virgillia’s chest and blood is pouring out –It was all Beatrice’s plan from the very beginning. Remember the two towers Beato summoned? Well, they weren’t just two, they were four. Two behind each witch. Virgilia was pierced by spears before the match had even began with no one noticing. But despite that, Beatrice didn’t want it to end like this, so she used her Endless Power to revive Virgillia and keep playing with her, so she could enjoy it better. Virgilia was now lying on the floor, dead.

Back to the game room, Battler is now having major trouble understanding what’s going on. He is on the verge of accepting witches again, and I don’t blame him. After watching a duel like that, it’s only natural to start believing in magic. Beatrice’s evil laugh echoes in the room as she (And Renove) teases him. Changing scenes, we’re now moving to the less interesting part of the story -in my opinion-, the Ushiromiyas. Rosa has finished with her story and it’s now late, nevertheless, they’re still up -all of them. Natsuhi proposes they eat breakfast and head to bed. Everyone agrees. As they get out of the room though, a horrible smell hits their noses. Guess what it is? Yeah, another bloody room with something drawn on it’s door. Rosa is extremely worried about the children and so she, Hideyoshi and Kyrie head to their room. The rest are left behind to look around the mansion.

The children seem to be doing OK. Jessica and Maria are sleeping together and boy, the look hot. Dr. Nanjo, who was walking around and happened to see the group of the adults who were checking on the kids, joins them and asks them what’s going on. Just where exactly was he…? In the meantime, Krauss was returning to where Eva and Rudolf were, after making an attempt to get in touch with his father. According to him, the servants are, too, out of reach. Natsuhi was apparently making out with Dr. Nanjo, seeing she is also late to regroup with the others (Okay, that was a joke, but she was late too). She comes back to tell them the keys which were supposed to be in the servant room aren’t in place.

Rosa’s group was now walking outside, in the rain. Hideyoshi spots Shannon sitting in an armchair in a nearby room. They think she’s asleep and attempt to wake her by knocking the window but to no avail, after all, she’s dead, right? Krauss and Rudolf, who came out running to find the other group, covniniently had a small rock with them, which allowed them to break the window and gain access to the room.

Shannon’s clothes were dyed red by her blood and Mr.Clean’s (Errr, Genji’s) rose tattoo was also nowhere to be seen. That also contradicts what we saw on the last episode. As Nanjo attempts to check her up, time freezes, and we’re moved just a little to the outside where Meta Battler was sitting. He’s all gloomy and helpless, ready to give up hope again, wondering on whether he can actually do anything else than lose. I guess I’ve gotten used to his sudden change of moods after all.

As he’s about to give up, Ex-Beatrice appears before him to provide support. Being dead by now, she explains her existance as merely a piece taken out from a chessboard, and offers to teach Battler about magic. Having nothing else to cling to, he lets her continue. The witch brings up the example of what was called magic in the ancient years in Japan. A rain ceremony which included the users to start a campfire in order to make rain appear. Battler simply explains it scientifically, saying that the rain is caused by an updraft created by the fire. But that’s excactly Ex-Beatrice’s point: that magic is something you don’t know the principles it’s based upon, and so, a rain ceremony is just about the same as magic. She brings up a second example, this time claiming that there are magic fairies called Gremlins inside TV’s which make them work using magic. Of course, that sounds ridiculous to Battler who proceeds into telling her that if they open up a TV, they’ll see there are no fairies for themselves. Again, the Witch asks him why he denies something he’s never seen, leaving him at loss of words. He tells him that untill he opens up a TV to see it for himself, both their scientific and magic explanations can exist at the same time.

Battler says that, even if two truths can exist in this world at the same time it’s impossible to defeat an opponent in an arguement. There, he is proven wrong once more, as Virgilia reminds him of how he surrendered to Beatrice before. The witch finally introduces herself as Virgilia and offers Battler to advice him from time to time; it was the birth of a new alliance and the rebirth of Battler’s will to fight. He returns to the game room and starts countering on Beatrice. He says he refuses to believe a fight took place in the garden, since none of their creations are there anymore. The fact there’s nothing there is a proof that nothing happened.

Renove calls this the Multi-layered Worlds Contraction Technique. The power of a Finite Witch which has an extremely powerful effect when used against Endless Witches like Beatrice. Surprised by his comeback and while wondering who taught him that, Virgilia enters the room to cease her questions. The real game had just begun…

Back to the Ushiromiyas for a second, Rosa, Eva, Krauss and Rudolf were loading their guns while Natsuhi and Nanjo (The notorius new forbidden couple which has only recently blown up its cover) are confronting a crying Jessica and George. Eva points out that they and the person behind the murders are both trapped in the island, untill the typhoon is over at the very least.

And now, heading back to the game room once more. Since Beato has proclaimed in red that there are no more than 18 people on Rokkenjima, Battler finally resorts into suspecting one of them; one of his own. It’s showtime and Battler asks Virgilia to reconstruct the crime scene. As instructed, Former Lady Beatrice gives further explanations about the murders and how the corpses were found. Shannon was found first in the first floor parlor of the mansion. The doors and windows were locked, thus, making another closed room. Battler stops Virgillia for a second and asks Beatrice to confirm the definition of a closed room.

“It means all ways in or out of a particular room are completely sealed. Of course, not only is intrusion from the outside impossible, it’s also impossible to intervene from acrouss that boundary.” Beatrice refers to that as “Beatrice’s closed room definition”. Neat, eh?

Virgillia continues by stating that there was a single master key on Shannon’s body. Battler stops her again to ask Beatrice to confirm the number of the master keys -five, one for each servant. Moving forward, right next to Shannon’s body was an envelope with the family crest. It contained a key to the second floor’s guest room, where Kumasawa was found dead. It was another closed room. On Kumasawa’s corpse they found a master key and another envelope, which contained the key to the third floor’s waiting room. Another closed room, and also the place were Gohda’s corpse was found. Like the other cases, they found a master key and an envelope which contained the key to the second floor’s VIP room. Needless to say, it was yet another closed room. Genji’s corpse was found lying on a bed in that room, with a master key and an envelope which contained the key to the underground boiler room, where Kinzo’s corpse was found. The next key lead to the chapel, where Kanon was found dead (Genji’s tatoo was also missing from his chest). With that, we have 6 corpses, 5 master keys and 6 closed rooms.

As Beatrice says, the six closed rooms form a single massive one together, where all the master and individual room keys were closed up within. And thus, murder from outside these rooms would be impossible. Battler brings up the possibility of the victims locking the door themselves and being killed by a trap, creating a closed room. Beato speaks in red and confirms that none of the six were killed by a trap.

Battler turns the chessboard around. He says the real question isn’t about how to kill people outside of the room, but about how the victims died inside the closed rooms. If only the culprit is one among those six, it’s possible to explain the closed rooms by assuming the last “victim” commited suicide. The basic idea is that the culprit commited the murders, entered the final closed room, locked it and then commited suicide. This way, everything can be easily explained.

Battler asks Beatrice to repeat that all six victims were killed by other people. That brings her to a hard position and refuses to do it, making Battler thinking he won. Beatrice however, decides to do as she was asked in the very ending, saying in red that none of the six commited suicide. That’s a tricky one. Notice how she changed Battler’s words? Well, Battler didn’t but fortunately for him, Virgilia did. For her to change the words like that, he comes into the conclusion that one of them was neither a homicide nor a suicide; it was an accident, something that couldn’t have been forseen. The culprit was planning on escaping or hiding somehow after carrying out the murders but suddenly lost their lives in an accident and creating a closed room they didn’t even want.

Beatrice is sweating as she’s getting cornered every second, but nevertheless she decides to respond in red. “An accidental death among the six d-” were her last words before Renove shut her mouth and asked for a time out. Tough luck Battler… The witch and the furniture move out of the room.

And for our closing scene this week we have something spectacular and new. The Ushiromiyas were now sound sleeping (Well, everyone but Hideyoshi who was snacking). Eva is suddenly woken up by her alter ego’s voice who’s trying to assist her into solving the Twilight Epitaph. What seemed to be a river in the riddle didn’t turn out to be one, as she realises something and runs to the mansion’s lirbrary. She searches for a certain book which gives her the answer to what the sweetfish river meant. With that in mind she finally realises where the gold is hidden.

Fast forward, Eva is now climbing down a staircase someplace. At the end of the stairs there’s a door with the words “On the tenth twilight, the journey will end and you should reach the village of gold” written on it. She opens it and what’s behind ir is nothing more than a room filled with the gold. It had finally be found…

-

My thoughts:

Another decent episode from Umineko. Is it just me or does the show keep getting better each week?

So… I couldn’t be more confused while watching the Beatrice vs Virgilia duel. I mean, Beato got pwned, she was spitting out blood… I really thought she was long for for a second. It didn’t turn out like that though.

Virgillia seems to be a nice asset on Battler’s behalf, maybe now we can actually get to see some real fights between him and Beatrice. And, speaking about her, nothing new about her eyes this week either. I’m pretty sure they play a major role on her character.

I couldn’t care less about Eva finding the gold but I wonder what’s she gonna do now. Perhaps her alter ego I’m-a-witch will take action.

And finally, I really liked the idea about two truths existing. I guess we wont be able to find out until we check it out ourselves.

…Right?

episode III-II : positional play

The battle between witches we were all waiting for took finally place, Battler found a new ally, Beato had a hard time arguing with him and the gold was found by Eva. Wow, what an episode, anyone else feeling confused? I sure do.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 13: Gambit

Chapter: III-II GAMBIT

Things get a little more complex, more characters are introduced, we see another side of Beatrice and get a nice plot twist. This chapter will follow Rosa’s story about killing the human Beatrice and conclude with the beginning of the first twilight.

Rosa recounts of the story of twenty years ago, when she was still a child. At that day her mother scolded her pretty bad and so she decided to run away from the mansion. Having no way to leave Rokkenjima, she wandered in the woods in search of Beatrice the Golden Witch, as the legend had her, in hope she could grant her a wish.

Getting deeper into the forest she finds an old mansion and decides to enter it. Drinking tea in its garden is no one else than human Beatrice, lacking her light blue eyes and instead having gray ones. Rosa apologises for entering her garden without permission. Beatrice asks her for her name, and she’s overjoyed to learn Rosa is a relative of Kinzo. She invites her to have tea with her. God, what’s with her? Beato is all moe-moe now…

As Rosa describes her, she’s somehow childish and ignorant of the outside world. That’s because she’s been lied that wolves live outside and it’s dangerous to approach them, thus, forcing her to stay disclosed behind the fences of the mansion.

Of course, Beatrice is surprised to be informed by Rosa that wolves don’t exist in this island. Rosa gets into explaining the concept of a zoo to her, which Beatrice finds similar to her position: being rised behind bars, in a cage.

Despite everyone calling her a witch, she rejects that, believing she’s just a simple human. While she questions about her existence, Rosa asks her if she wants to go beyond the fence with her and walk outside. Beatrice immideatly responds to this and since there aren’t any wolves she accepts. As she stands up and asks for Rosa to leave- tic toc, time freezes.

Witch Beatrice and Battler have moved into the old mansion now. The witch explains how this human side of her is nothing but a “cage” created to withstand her powers, made by Kinzo. He, who fell in love with her, bound her with such a strong barrier, so powerful the only way to break it was to discard her body. Battler refuses to believe it however, and she dissolves into butterflies.

Renove (yay), comes to the rescue to enlighten Battler some more. He adds to what Beatrice said that her soul was captured, and so, given a new life as a human again. And now? Renove talks in red, confirming the existence of a hidden mansion called Kuwadorian in the forest of Rokkenjima.

Battler questions the truth of the story about human Beatrice, which Renove decides to confirm in red: In the year 1967, in the hidden mansion, Beatrice existed as a human.

Rosa and human Beato are now staring at the sea from a distance. As they walk down the cliff, Beatrice missteps, resulting in her falling on the ground and more moemoe. Rosa helps her stand up and they continue. Beato looks forward to seeing the sea from close but that was never meant to happen. You see, she was being careless again. Careless to the point of missteping to close to the edge of the cliff and falling doooooown.

Not responding to her name when called out, Rosa rushes to where she fell. There lies her lifless body, covered in blood. As Rosa mourns, witch Beatrice is now free of her eternal boundry. Her soul is released of the body and her memories of being a witch return. However, her blue eyes don’t. What’s with that?

Time freeze again. All three of them (Battler, Beatrice and Ronove) were present to see Beatrice’s rebirth as a witch this time. Beatrice confirms the lifeless body before them is cetrainly dead, and, that there are no more than 18 people on the island of Rokkenjima, much to Battler’s shock. Right now, he either has to suspect one of his own or blame it all to Beatrice’s magic.

Moving forward to our time, Shannon is sitting outside after being proposed by George. Of course, she’s wearing the ring. Kanon and Genji come to pick her up, as Kinzo has called them all to his room. Upon arriving, they meet with Beatrice -who was playing chess with Kinzo- and Renove, who was also there. This isn’t the first time they meet, however. Renove turns out to be an old friend of Genji’s, and has seen Shannon in the past. That leaves us only with Kanon, which I assume joined Kinzo later than the others, since he was the only one not to know him.

Beatrice has brought good and bad news to Kinzo on this day. The good news is that he managed to be reunited with her before the completion of her ceremony. The bad news, though, is that he was chosen to be one of the first six sacrifises of the first twilight. He aknowledges his lost is unavoidable, and as Beatrice check mates him, he burns into flames.

Genji notices the ring on Shannon’s finger and assumes George gave it to her. He questions on whether she has any regrets to it, as they’re gonna get killed by Beatrice sooner or later. We see Shannon confident as usual, satisfied just by the fact she’s been treated as human for once.

Putting that aside for now, Beatrice wants to play a game with Kanon. If he accepts and manages to defeat Beatrice’s furniture, the Seven Stakes of Purgatory, he’ll have the previlage to choose two of the five people who will escape becoming one of the thirteen sacrifices. Shannon attempts to stop him from doing it but she’s turned down by an emotional Kanon. Now he and Lucifer (The first sister of the Seven Stakes of Purgatory which Beato summoned) step forward.

So full of herself, she puts up a fight but not for long; with that attitude of hers she couldn’t just beat Kanon. Beatrice congratulates Kanon on winning but Lucifer wouldn’t let it end like this. She transforms into one of these daggers and attempts to kill Kanon, who sacrifises his hand in order to block her and win once again. He asks Beatrice about his prize, but soon realises he had been mislead by her. The deal was about beating all of the sisters, not just one, as he believed.

The rest of the sisters get summoned and transform into daggers. In an attempt to save her brother, Shannon joins the ‘fight’ and sets a barrier around them to protect them for some longer. Having recieved the ring by George, lived as a woman and protected her brother, she says she can die without any regrets. Of course, Beatrice is pissed off again by her actions, naturally. That girl tends to do that a lot lately…

Jealous of Shannon having lived a fullfilled life, she oaths to crush them alive and torture them untill they finally die. That would never happen though. Genji walks into the barrier and gently takes both of the servants’ lives using his powers after command, so they could at least die peacefuly. He proceeds by asking Renove to do the same to him, ultimately turning himself into the fourth sacrifice.

With four dead people on the ground there are only two sacrifces left. The sisters take off to accompish them. First one to be taken of is Gohda, and second to be attacked is Kumasawa, who seems to possess a big amount of magic power -enough to deflect the sisters’ attacks and ask them to bring Beatrice to her. They get enraged by how casually she adresses her, but nevertheless, Beatrice herself (Who arrived to the scene) doesn’t seem to mind.

She introduces Kumasawa as her ex-teacher, the previous lady to hold the name of Beatrice. Golden butterflies surround Kumasawa as she shines brightly, transforming into her original appearance we’ve seen in the previous episode.

-

My thoughts:

OK, one, human Beatrice was really moe moe. I was kinda hoping we’d get to see more of her… Meh. Now I wonder what’s with her eyes. As a child, they were blue. When she was reborn as human they turned grey, and following that, after becoming a witch again, they were still grey. How come the Beatrice of now has blue ones? Thinking they might’ve changed back to blue after Shannon broke the magic mirror, I checked episode six only to find the witch having her natural blue eyes…

Not much Battler in this episode either. Meta Battler is kinda cornered again… I dont believe he can prove the murders were taken out without the use of magic. I don’t see any flaws…

Kanon proved to be somewhat stronger than what I had imagined. Shannon was being *cough*useless*cough* again. And Genji’s power seems like quite the killer.

With Kumasawa being the former Lady Beatrice, I’m wondering why has she joined Kinzo’s furniture and how did she die so easily on the first and second chapters… I also sense a 1 on 1 fight between her and the current Beatrice, as seen in the new opening.

That’s pretty much everything for now, I’m off~

Akio

Episode III - II Gambit

Things get a little more complex, more characters are introduced, we see another side of Beatrice and get a nice plot twist. This chapter will follow Rosa’s story about killing the human Beatrice and conclude with the beginning of the first twilight.

Rosa recounts the story of twenty years ago, when she was still a child. At that day her mother had scolded her pretty bad and so she decided to run away from the mansion. Having no way to leave Rokkenjima though, she wandered in the woods in search of Beatrice the Golden Witch, as the legend had her, in hope to have her wish granted.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 12: Castling

This chapter is totally different from what we’ve already seen. Just by watching the new Opening scenes, I realised it will be mostly focusing on Beatrice and other witches. And yes, I couldn’t be more right, it seems…

The episode starts in the past, where the Beatrice we know is still a kid, having trouble at home because she broke one of her father’s vases. A golden butterfly flies around, and a witch she calls Beatrice magically appears before her. She adresses her as ‘Princess’ and is willing to help her fix the vase in a way the Master (Her father, most probably) won’t be angry at her, using magic, of course. She tells her that the source of magical power is no else than the power of belief, and so, he asks her to wish for it strongly. The vase is back to normal but not for long, as she explains that the fate of something breaking can’t be avoided easily. As she finishes her sentence, a cat runs wild into the house and breaks the vase -again- leaving the servants who run after it in a state of panic.

Further explanation about magic is given, concluding that it’s really hard to fix something that’s broken. However, it’s not impossible. The person who taught the witch (The Beatrice of that time, that is) about magic is told to be able to use Eternal Magic, a kind of magic which lasts forever, on the contrary of the temporary magic Beatrice used to fix the vase. That level of magic is a level all witches should reach, and the ones who achieve it are given the title of an “Endless Witch” –a kind of witch who knows no limits, who defies the concept of breaking. According to Beatrice, these witches are freed from the sadness of losing things and are promised eternal bliss. As she walks off, young Beatrice asks her if she’ll also be happy if ever she becomes one. The witch gently pats her head, and tells her that it’s possible with lots of training. Young Beatrice finally asks her to become her disciple and she agrees.

Someplace else, a younger Kinzo is arguing with Eva, who wants to have the same responsibilites as Krauss in the family. He strongly refuses to it, telling her her place should be to leave their family and marry a man who’s gonna be profitable to him. As he starts coughing due to his health issues, he orders her to get out and leave him alone with his son. Eva is later seen alone, sitting outside and talking to herself about her feelings of hate about Krauss and Kinzo. Ultimately she accepts her fate and wishes to become a good lady and find someone worth marrying -someone Krauss wouldn’t even be a match for.

A woman appears in front of her out of thin air, probably an even younger incarnation of herself. She claims to be the same being as Eva and strongly refuses to give in to Kinzo’s arrogant wishes. This meeting is not their first one, however. Sometime in the past they swore together they’d become the head of the Ushiromiya Family no matter what. The mysterious girl tells her to turn her anger into magical power and believe in her, so her magic can create a miracle. Eva agrees to believe in her, and as everything turns dark, she chants about the Golden Land.

The Eva of now finally wakes up from her dream (Which we were witnessing). Their boat has reached Rokkenjima. This time we get to see another one of the younger characters’ picnic, where the four cousins and Shannon attend. Battler learns about George’s relationship with Shannon through Jessica, and later they all make an oath they’ll always stay friends, putting their parents’ matters aside.

Back to the game room now… Beato and Battler have both taken their respective seats and the Witch declares the beginning of their new game. Winds, thunders and waves gather around the island, cutting it off from the rest of the world.

Remember the rose Maria was always searching for? Well, after the explanation about magic on the beginning of the episode, it’s now kinda clear what happened. The scene changes to the gardens, where Maria asks Beatrice to fix the rose they marked earlier (As seen in Chapter I). The little girl is amazed by the Witch’s powers and wishes to become a witch like her one day. Beatrice gives her a letter and concludes to telling Maria she also had the same wish when she was a child. The little girl takes it (along with Beatrice’s umbrella) and runs off.

As the rain keeps falling wild, Kinzo throws his ring into the air and a lightning strikes it, throwing it towards Beatrice’s position. She stretches her hand out to take it, only for a male witch dressed like a buttler to appear and catch it instead. The scene changes once more to the game room and Beatrice starts with the introductions. The new witch’s name is Renove, a great demon ranked as the 27th noble of Hell, another piece of Beatrice’s furniture.

Back to the mansion’s dining hall, Maria is reading the letter given to her by Beatrice. Natsuhi finds the letter as an insult to the Ushiromiya family and her husband, who’s officially the one to take over after Kinzo’s death. The other siblings agree and decide to go ask Kinzo for themselves, thus leaving the cousins behind along with Gohda, Genji and Kyrie -a new character introduced into this chapter. Kyrie asks Maria more about the person who gave her the letter. Maria’s responses are the same as ever though…

The cousins procceed into a sleeping room, where Maria falls asleep. Battler, who hasn’t had much screentime the whole time, theorizes that this all is a game by Kinzo, and Beatrice’s name is used to cause an uproar. Jessica has less trouble believeing in what Maria said, however, as she knows of an old rumor about someone they dont know about lived on the island.

The elder siblings gather again, having been rejected by their father. Out of all, Natsuhi suspects the servants who used the excuse of being too busy making beds to see Maria in the gardens. Much to her displeasment though, Rudolf brings up a rumor of over 30 years ago: The rumor about Kinzo’s mistress who lived in the forests of this island. From her words on the letter, Krauss assumes she has the gold, leaving the other siblings worried. After they think again however, they start doubting her being in possesion of the gold, mostly because there was no reason to reveal that. Kyrie turns the chessboard around for them, agreeing with their previous statements that Beatrice most likely has the gold. The Ushiromiyas wouldn’t just give the inheritance to a mistress who declared a game by herself, unless by the use of a compelling force, of course. A condition that would make them glad to give her the inheritance, in other words -According to Eva- ten tons of gold. The game is now seen as a good trade by everyone except Natsuhi, who thinks of it as an insult. Nobody cares about what she says anyway. Rudolf brings up the possibility of the gold costing as much as 20 billion yen in the market. That’s a lot more than the inheritance. Eva disagrees with giving her the inheritance but her reasons are stopped by her husband who reminds her she wouldn’t get anything of the inheritance in the first place. While Kyrie explains that by writting that letter Beatrice has created a risk with her, Eva is busy listening to the “Other Eva’s” thoughts about how this is their final chance to become the family head.

Tic, toc, the clock rings again and we’re moved back to the game room. Renove is now serving his master and Batter tea and cake. Battler has now come with another theory for himself, that Beatrice might exist on the island not as a witch, but as a normal mistress. This way, he cant suspect any of the 18. The witch tries to scare Battler by telling him she can prove only 18 people are on the island by saying it in red letters. This time Battler takes up the challenge and asks her to repeat that there are no more 18 people on the island. This brings her in a tough position. Ensuring there are no more than 18 persons on the island would mean the culprit is someone among them, and that the deaths weren’t carried out by a witch’s magic. Beatrice refuses to repeat that. Good job Battler, you have her cornered now… or maybe not?

That brings Battler into believing no one of the 18 is the murdere -that there is a 19th person on the island, the human Beatrice. This time he orders her to repeat that there are at least 19 people on the island. She refuses in confusion. With this, Battler can now use a 19th person for his theories, or maybe even a 20th, a 21st or even more theoritical characters. Beatrice decides to show why she refused to speak in red for Battler’s first move…

We’re back to the room where the siblings were discussing again. Rosa seems to be acting weird and Hideyoshi is the first to realise. He asks her if she’s okay, and as everybody’s listening to what she says, she reveals that Beatrice cant be alive because she killed her.

-

Thoughts:

Hmmm, the episode was really good. I liked to learn more about Beatrice’s past. It seemed like we knew nothing about her… As I said before, now that the concept of magic and witches is generally accepted by the series, what chance does poor Battler stands? Beatrice seems to be always a step ahead him.

I liked the addition of new characters. Now the game room is full of life! OK, maybe not… Battler brought Beatrice into a difficult position for the first time now, interesting. The reason she wouldn’t respond to his first request was shown, but what about the second? If the human Beatrice is dead, there are now supposedely 18 people on the island and we have actually someone to suspect. Hmm, maybe Eva? I doubt it though.

Kyrie seems to be a big influence toward’s Battler’s way of thinking. What could her role in this story be? I dont remember her talking the other two chapters… And what about Rosa? She killed Beatrice? That’s a new, wow. I guess we’ll have more than one adult staying alive for longer in this chapter. Then again, we might not, as Eva is the main adult to be featured. I wouldn’t mind some more Rosa though… She came to be my favourite of the adults.

Episode III-I Castling

This chapter is totally different from what we’ve already seen. Just by watching the new Opening scenes, I realised it will be mostly focusing on Beatrice and other witches. And yes, I couldn’t be more right, it seems…

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 11 – Back Rank Mate

Woah… So much happened in this episode, where do I start from?

Picking up from where the last episode left us, Beatrice appears besides her servants and declares that the roulette has chosen Shannon and George this time. She’s happy to see Shannon full of regrets, as she’s gonna kill her before she can even spend a night with her lover. In the meantime, George who was still struggling to open the box finally manages to do so.

As Beatrice orders her servants to attack the couple, Shannon materializes a magic barrier around her and George, annihilating the enemy servants in the proccess. She says she’ll never forgive Beatrice for disgracing Kannon the way she did. And the witch’s reply? She simply snaps her fingers and summons another Kannon who charges at them.

Disgracing the dead in such a way twice, Shannon is unwilling to forgive Beatrice. She fights back “Kannon” using her barrier and ultimately ends up winning after leeching energy off the magical mirror George was holding.

Beatrice characterizes her as a furniture you accidentally slam your little toe at, to which she refuses to believe. She thinks of Beatrice being pitiful for believing she’d have regrets. It’s true that there will be regrets between a couple who love each other, however, the regrets she feels aren’t the ones Beatrice is wishing for. By accepting George’s ring they swore to love each other forever, and thus, completing their eternal vows leaving her with no regrets whatsoever.

Beatrice unleashes a powerful attack at the barrier and soon, Shannon gives up hope, saying it’s impossible to beat her. George tells her it’s OK and that he’s happy she fought for him. She asks him for a final request before their departure of this world, that is for him to say he loves her one last time. He embraces her, but before he can finish telling his lines Beatrice stabs both, leaving their last oath unfullfilled for eternity.

Now outside, Genji discovers Dr.Nanjo and Kumasawa’s corpses. This is the first time I find someone suspicious… I mean, what was he doing outside, in the rain, when he said he’d be waiting in the kitchen in case his master decides to ask for something? He runs back to the room where Rosa and the others are so he can report of what he found (Now, notice how ALL THE FURNITURE blocking the door on the previous episode weren’t there in this one. Magic?). Rosa accepts to go check and unlocks the door.

Seeing the bodies for the first time, she assumes they were sliced with a japanese katana or something of the sort. Upon noticing the small blades (Beatrice’s trademark blades) stabbed in the corpses, she asks Genji what they are. Before he can reply Maria interferes, repeating the verse of the seventh and eight twilight. Battler immidiately notices that the fourth through sixth twilights have been skipped, and upon thinking of that he asks Genji where the others are. He replies that they left two to three hours ago to search something at Natsuhi’s room, to where Battler sprints at.

As expected, the door to Natsuhi’s room is stained by bloody palm marks. Battler is given the key from Rosa and opens the door, only to find behind it what he expected to: bodies killed in a way of reproductive the skipped cereomonies. Desperate now, Battler recalls the verse of the ninth twilight, where the witch will ressurect and everyone shall die.

They return to the room they were previously relaxing at and dismiss Genji, who leaves them once again. On the table there’s yet another letter from Beatrice which Battler picks up to read only to find himself being pointed at by Rosa’s shotgun. According to her Battler is the only one to have been able to place that letter on the table, and if he can’t prove her false, he’s a wolf. He says the same applies to Rosa, that she could have stealithily placed the letter there when he wasn’t noticing. She replies that if she were a wolf, she would’ve shot him with her weapon long ago. Battler turns the tables around, saying it’s suspicious of her being the only Ushiromiya adult not being in the chapel. He explains that it’s possible Rosa invited them at the Chapel so she could kill them.

Maria starts crying and begs them to stop, blaming everything on Beatrice’s magic. At that time Battler also breaks down, being tired of everyone suspecting each other. As desperate as he could be, he, too, blames everything on the witch and calls out her name in an attempt to summon her, so she can confirm it herself.

Beatrice is quite the star… Kinzo was also asking for her in another room, hugging her portrait in teary eyes (Wow, we found another mad otaku). Luckily for him, a certain somebody was behind his door… Guess who~

Moving on, Battler was having a drink in the dining room when Genji knocked the door. He tells him it’s about time he learned everything and guides him to the master’s room. Battler soon finds himself in a room full of golden butterflies, where Kinzo was playing chess with Beatrice. Naturally, he orders her to answer all of his questions, among them the reasons behind this whole incident, the closed rooms, the true nature of the witch and her goals. She agrees to it, with the only condition being to kneel down and kiss her shows when he finally acknowledges her existence.

Meanwhile, Rosa was dragging Maria at the chapel, were they’d steal Beatrice’s gold. Maria lets out her hystericall laughter again, overjoyed she’s gonna get to meet Beatrice. Rosa asks her where the witch is and she replies she’ll meet her soon at the land of gold.

Back in the house, Genji and the rest of Beatrice’s servants are rejoicing for her revival. The scenery is beautiful: red carpets, golden butterflies and loyal servants are there for her. Now get ready for it… a naked Battler appears out of the room, wearing a steel collar like a dog and being led by The Golden Witch. He had finally succumbed to her…

Clapping echoes into the room when Lady Bernkastel makes her appearance. Well, wearing a goat mask on her head it was kinda hard to spot her in the crowd… She takes it off and, after chatting a bit with Beatrice she walks off.

Beatrice thanks everyone for attending and points at the clock, announcing that that the door to the Golden Land will be opened really soon. Golden Butterflies gather up, materializing to no one else than Kinzo who’s been summoned there. He asks her to take him to the Golden Land with her but instead he gets tens of goat servants ripping his body appart. The same fate applies to Battler after a few moments.

Outside, Rosa and Maria were being chased by Golden Butterflies and servants who wanted their gold back. Suddenly, Maria trips and falls down, calling out her mother to save her. As expected, Rosa goes nuts and starts shooting at the servants, killing lots of them. Gradually she runs out of bullets, leaving Maria in charge of reloading the shotgun while she moves on to close combat, using the bag’s weight that’s been carrying the gold in as her weapon. She is soon overnumbered by them to the point she accepts death. She asks Maria if she still wants to be with her, after all she’s done. The loli answers possitively. She realises she never needed the gold in the first place, that it’d be better if she just pulled her daughter’s hand in the end. She hugs Maria for a last time before she tells her that they’re gonna stay together forever. Only the ecchoing of bullets could be heard after that…

Rosa wakes up tied into a chair by a dinning table, facing Beatrice on the other side. After Battler accepting The Witch’s existence, the only person left not to is Rosa. By a simple click of Beatrice’s fingers food appears on the table, along with two of her servants, ready to provide them with their best of service. At Beato’s command they stuff in all sorts of different flavours inside Rosa’s mouth, such as Krauss’ blood, Eva’s tongue, Rudolf’s skin and in the end Maria’s talking head. Rosa is freaked at the view of the latter one, especially when it started talking, asking her if she’s been a pain. Beatrice finally questions whether she believes in her existence or not. Rosa answers possitively, aknowledging her witch once again.

Beatrice then wears a flat smile and declares her win. Too bad it woulnd’t stay there for long though, because… Battler pops out of nowhere! Yup, he does, and he also asks The Witch to cut those cow boobs of hers and make him a sandwich! He explains that after seeing Rosa’s perseverance he regained all his will to fight and challenges Beatrice once again. The game was yet to finish~

With the second round coming to an end, Beatrice returns to that white room of hers where Bernkastel is also waiting. Bernkastel wasn’t moved by the last round, as she detests one sided games like these. Beatrice replies quite interestingly to this, hinting that Frederica might actually be something much more than a simple observer to this game of hers. She’s overjoyed to learn that she’s been granted to fight with the great Lady Bernkastel in a game. Her monologue though is cut by another witch who enters the white room, her name being Lambdadelta. Turns out she’s an enemy of Frederica and holds some kind of grudge against her. So when she learned Bernkastel was betting on a game, she decided to join forces with Beatrice and bet against her.

Having her plans exposed, Bernkastel decides to take her leave, setting their new rendesvouz point on the next round of the game.

My thoughts:

This was hell of an episode… Well, the first 10 minutes were completely forseeable but what happened next… gosh. I never expected Battler to fall so low, and seeing him chained up like an animal made me feel sick. Of course, what followed was also gruesome to the point I wanted to pause for a second. When did Umineko became Higurashi?!

I expected something like Rosa’s final moments though, where she would understand her previous mistakes and start valueing her daughter. The last “Mama” scream really killed me :<

As for Frederica, we shall see what’s her role in this game pretty soon. Now that she’s taken action I guess Battler has more of a chance of winning. The thing is… can he really do it in the end? We’ve seen Beatrice use magic countless times and the existence of witches is accepted by the general concept of the anime. So in the end, what is Bernkastel trying to pull off by betting at him?

Episode 11

Woah… So much happened in this episode, where do I start from?

Picking up from where the last episode left us, Beatrice appears besides her servants and declares that the roulette has chosen Shannon and George this time. She’s happy to see Shannon full of regrets, as she’s gonna kill her before she can even spend a night with her lover. In the meantime, George who was still struggling to open the box finally manages to do so.