Oh boy, even more questions are asked throughout this episode, but at least the premise of this series is starting to become a bit clear now. It’s indeed a series very much like Higurashi, but the whole iterations are much more similar and the whole ghost world around it has a much bigger role here than it had in Higurashi. I’m not sure yet whether or not the endings for each arc are going to be the same, but who knows?
In this arc, it was pretty clear that some of the scenes are viewed by ghost Beatrice and ghost Battler, while others aren’t so much and are rather a speculation of how Beatrice would make Battler believe things went. Otherwise I can see no way to explain Beatrice suddenly summoning walking bunnies and two of the seven sins to kill a bunch of people. Also, Battler never mentioned the deaths of Kanon and Jessica even though he was very much trying to explain the deaths of the first six corpses.
Speaking of which, he’s really been reasoning with the assumption that Maria had nothing to do with the murders, but she’s been acting so evil that she’s turning into some sort of reverse red herring. I mean, for a girl with a bipolar disorder who doesn’t seem to think it weird that blood is everywhere, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did turn out to be the killer in the end. A lot of things would make sense if this was true in any case.
In any case, this episode destroys the theory that one of the six people who were murdered first might have prepared a fake body. Instead of Maria’s mother Rosa, Natsuhi got killed off this time, Shannon stayed alive in exchange for Eva and Gouda wasn’t killed in exchange for Hideyoshi. This could mean that Shannon, Rose or Gouda did use the trick of the fake body in the first episode, but this time decided for a different strategy.
Another big difference with the first arc is that the killer showed some of the gold. This is going to bring actually finding the gold as a much more important goal than it was in the first arc. On top of that, the second set of sacrifices is also going to be different this time. Who know, perhaps this arc is going to end in an entirely different way.
Oh, and when discussing this episode: please refrain from mentioning events that happen after this point in the visual novel.
Rating: * (Good)]]>
Umineko no Naku Koro ni – 08
Is it bad that I cheer whenever Maria is bopped on the head? Kid is freaking creepy. Don’t know if she is the killer, but she at least seems to be functioning as Beatrice’s little helper girl.
Do you realize Maria is a 9-year-old girl vs. a bunch of people older and stronger than her? Not to mention she’s got an alibi for most of the murders since she’s with the cousins most of the time.
Besides, what would her motive be? Just carrying out the fake magic ceremony because she thinks Beatrice will revive that way? That would be pretty lackluster.
I´m assuming that everything in Red and what the “Real” Battler sees/proves/accepts is actually true with other scenes being hazy.
I don´t think ALL of it is untrue or irrelevant but most likely misleading. For example the (real)Battler never meet Beatrice – yet she makes a great scapegoat which is I suppose to good to be true.
It´s interesting what that means for the first Game.
“I’m not sure yet whether or not the endings for each arc are going to be the same, but who knows?”
You probably shouldn’t ask questions like this if you don’t want people to give you spoilers without thinking. ^^;
All I’m able to say is that, unlike Higurashi, this has a lot of twists. Hopefully the anime can make them at least half as awesome, shocking, etc. as the original.
“ghost Beatrice and ghost Battler”
Why do you call them ghosts? Even the Visual Novel has yet to explain their existences so people generally refer to them as ‘alternate’ or ‘meta-‘. Also, the anime hasn’t given proof that Battler even died in the first cycle. Theoretically, there’s a chance he’s still alive watching everything repeat. Perhaps from a higher plane or something?
“Also, Battler never mentioned the deaths of Kanon and Jessica even though he was very much trying to explain the deaths of the first six corpses.”
I think they may have re-organised this. I’m pretty sure the Battler VS Beatrice chapel conversation took place before the Kanon fight.
“Speaking of which, he’s really been reasoning with the assumption that Maria had nothing to do with the murders, but she’s been acting so evil that she’s turning into some sort of reverse red herring.”
That’s because Studio Deen is going way over the top with her character, as I’ve said before. Unlike the anime, her alternate personality is more ‘kinda creepy’ (and has even been explained pretty well) rather than ‘totally evil and batshit insane’. There’s also the fact that the Visual Novel covers several times more content yet Deen uses all of Maria’s unusual comments (exaggerating them with those facial distortions they love) while skipping most of her normal dialogue.
This isn’t a spoiler, just a note: Those “walking bunnies” are supposed to be goats, I believe.
yes the “walking bunnies” are goats and “ghost battler” and “ghost beatrice” are Meta Battler and Meta beatrice because they are in the META WORLD
@Juni: The anime shows that battler goes missing in the first arc and the police conclude everyone dies, the information is in the official web page and was translated
Here it is:
http://img26.imageshack.us/i/webtea1p.jpg/
This was a bit of a surprising turn of events, particularly the magic battle, but I think the red text provides a lot of useful fodder for speculation as long as we can actually trust it. Beatrice seemed genuinely surprised at Battler’s ability to use it against her.
Rosa seems the most obvious suspect for this arc’s culprit at the moment, but there’s probably more than one person involved considering she wasn’t present when Kanon and Jessica were killed. I’m with psgels in that there probably was a fake body trick during the previous arc, though that seems unlikely right now.
By the way, it seems a given that the gold does exist, after this episode and what Krauss showed Natsuhi during the first arc, but we still don’t really have any clues about where the rest of it could be hidden.
The Kanon/Jessica death scene is supposed to be taking place simultaneously with the argument in the parlor, so that’s why Battler doesn’t say anything about it yet.
the red truth is ABSOLUTE is not a lie, the excuse that if ALL IS A LIE IS THRUTH don’t aplly here because ryukuji 7 is a genius he will never use a poor trick like that.
Just wait and you will see that the red thrut is the truth this is just beginning
The red text is essentially the only basis from which you can form any arguments, since it’s pretty clear that anything else we’re shown is from the point of view of an unreliable narrator. It makes sense then, that without something being explicitly true that we can trust, there’s no point in speculating since everything may as well be a lie.
Well you see Maria is like that girl in Zetsubo Sensei… She looks so evil that you don’t wish to judge a person by her looks so you let her off so you won’t seem like the type that judges a book by its cover. But just like Matou in Zetsubo Sensei she really is just evil XD
Head Hurts
Maria is not that strange. It seems, she doesn’t get much love. You can think her mother hits her because Maria is insane, or – she became insane, because her mother hits her.
Rosa seems to be the most likely suspect. I noticed she wasn’t killed even though she was there at the chapel when everyone accepted Beatrice’s existence at the end of last episode. Where did she go afterwards? How come she wasn’t killed? And why was she so surprised after seeing the death scene?
My guess is that Rosa’s alter ego killed everyone and Rosa wasn’t able to remember what she did afterwards (some kind of mental disorder perhaps?), or alternatively, Beatrice possessed her and made her kill everyone. Also, Rosa could’ve swapped Maria’s key (assuming it was fake) after she took it from Maria’s bag.
That could be a rational solution, although there’s still the matter of Jessica’s and Kanon’s death which is currently impossible to explain rationally…
I agree with SpaceIdiot. My head hurts so much it’s spinning. I don’t know what to think or guess because by the next episode I’m even more confused. I feel like Alice going down the rabbit hole.