This episode was evil. The previous episode left with a huge cliff-hanger, so I was really looking forward to see what would happen with Beatrice next… and here this episode comes and focuses entirely at Ange. That’s definitely not what I expected for a semi-final episode.
It wasn’t exactly a major episode, though for some reason the characters kept using different names for older Eva and Maria’s diary. For some reason, old Eva now changed her name to Kasumi, though this was probably to escape the links she had with the Rokkenjima murders. Maria’s diary somehow is called Mariage Sorciere. We still don’t exactly know the how and why of this, but my guess is that it’s Maria’s magical alter ego who wrote the diary, explaining why the handwriting is different.
I think the most confusing part of this episode was right after Kasumi showed up from out of nowhere, as it took a while to sink in what the heck she was talking about. Basically, Eva refers to Kyrie as her older sister, meaning that she’s actually a part of the Sumadera family. Then really, what does this mean for the Ushinomiya-family? Is Hideyoshi actually Kinzou’s child? On top of that, Kyrie was about to marry this mysterious Hideyoshi, but instead married Rudolf, who then had a son called Battler who isn’t the same Battler as meta-Battler. Damn, and I thought the previous episode was complicated.
EDIT: Ack, I just realized that there are two old ladies in Ange’s timeline: her first aunt is Eva, who apparently did die a few episodes ago. Her second aunt is Sumadera Kasumi, who is Kyrie’s sister. And I kept thinking that they were the same person! Well, this at least makes things a little less complicated, and this episode much more straightforward. Which is a bit of a shame considering that there’s only one episode left!
Ultimately, this was an episode of building up. Which is a goddarn shame considering we have to wait around two years before actually seeing it being paid off.
Rating: (Enjoyable)
For an anime episode, this was a great episode for building up.
But, for the VN adaption, this was terrible.
I have to say, it’ll be interesting to see how they pull the series to a close next episode, just enough so that the room for series 2 is still there.
Mariage Sorciere isn’t Maria’s diary, it actually refers to an alliance of witches where Maria and Beatrice are members of. this was implied a few epísodes ago, if I’m not mistaken.
lol he still thinks there will be a second season
Also, Maria has an alterego now? Where on earth are you getting this from?
I had a strong urge to throttle Kasumi’s underlings… how could they ashfdhj beat up a girl! Although fighting back probably won’t make much of a difference, I still kind of wished she tried to fight back halfway.
A lot of questions left unanswered… I was hoping for some insight into Battler’s sin this episode too. Anyway, I thought the 2 different handwritings were Maria’s and Beatrice’s…? But then again, Umineko left me very confused so I probably have forgotten about many things.
Anon: wait, what? There isn’t? Where did you read this?
@pgels: Well it doesn’t say anywhere that Umineko wont get a second season, although its not confirmed that there will be. A lot of People are speculating that a second season for Umineko wont happen due to the very low DVD sales.
@psgels:
It hasn’t been stated (though there’s a rumor that DEEN’s character designer for Umineko said in his blog there probably wouldn’t be one), but the DVD sales are worse than awful. Note 2 didn’t even make the charts.
Ugh, there goes another series that I’ve been looking forward to then. Such a shame.
Don’t lose hope yet, continuing series with low sales has been done before, and in the case of Umineko, the sales might be because of the slow pacing of the episodes (there’s hope that sales will pick up in the later episodes).
In any case, you can always try the games (which, in all honesty, is actually the best way to experience the series). The creator will continue and finish the story, so there’s no hope of leaving people without answers.
CD sales just might save the franchise, as apparently they’ve been not that bad. But yeah, that’s what they get for just expecting it to sell to a niche that’s mostly made (at least in Japan) of people who’ve already read the much-cheaper novel.
Just to clarify – not that the low DVD sales don’t suck for those people who were just getting into the series, of course :/. Or for the people (me included) who’d hoped that maybe a better studio or director would get a hold of the second season. I definitely hope that the rumors are incorrect.
where can I get the games?
i think in the final episode this arc and it drives me crazy is just SO EPIC EXTREMELLY EPIC but deen is goint to ruin it, they are so stupid that they made an entire episode with ange and left a lot of things into the final DEEN EXTREMELLY SUCKS.
Eva and Kasumi are completely different people. I don’t know where you got it from that Eva = Kasumi – Eva has been around since the very first episode and Kasumi only arrived episode 19.
Ok… that last bit with the sisters just blew my mind. Exactly how much of any of this episode was real? God, how much of any of the SERIES is real?
They screwed up this part?! Ugh… this part was _amazing_ in the VN. It was intensely emotional and just overall moving. Why DEEN? ;_;
Buy the VN here: http://www.himeyashop.com/product_info.php/products_id/11978
and download the english translation patch for free at http://www.witch-hunt.com
It is possible to find the game patched on the internet though, but I heavily suggest buying it…
Also, this episode was very well done as an adaptation, but I don’t know why they decided to adapt this scene better than any other so far…
The Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru EP5 VN’s translation is to be finished in less than 2 weeks.
So, most likely you could continue on to EP5 for Umineko’s story just a short while after the anime has finished.
You missed a line. Ange is Kyrie’s daughter. That has complete relation to what we saw last episode, in which we found out that Battler isn’t Asumu’s son.
You’re right on Kyrie.
And if you think magic killed the bodyguards I’d bet Alex, Ange’s bodyguard, did the job. And I suppose Eva’s second death would be more like an evil spirit exorcism of the black witch(maybe the evil side from Ange that she had to overcome).
When I read the VN, I already thought that they are killed by Amakusa using sniper gun. But now after watching the anime I think it’s impossible considering the direction where the “bullets” come from.
@4saken: I don’t have the game as a reference, but the particular direction of the bullets that would have killed Kasumi’s goons could be another artistic liberty exploited by the magical illusions we’re still seeing. In other words, as long as the result can still be produced through human means, details such as those can be waved away as part of those magical tricks.
Aside from the excessive bits of gore, I liked the episode, but I agree that the sudden focus on Ange was a little hard to swallow at first. However, it was necessary to conclude this part of her story and I’m expecting the next one to bring back Battler, so we’ll see how things go from there. I don’t suppose there will be a conclusive finale to the overarching plot though.
Actually, the anime scenes give even more credence to the sniper rifle theory, given the wounds inflicted. In the VN, the stakes were stated to appear and slash them, cleave them in half, etc… All this happened in a magic scene, however, which means its inherently unreliable, and the final state of the bodies aren’t actually described to us.
In the anime, what appears from the start are wounds consistent with what looks like bulletholes anyway.
There’s one problem with the sniper theory, and it’s not just the fact that the bullets seem to travel from Ange herself; it’s the angles themselves. Even if some of the guards were shot from behind (ignoring the way the wounds seem to have an entry point) there’s a wide range that Amakusa would have had to cover in order to kill them all front to back.
My theory? Gas on Rokenjima, inducing hallucinations that influenced the guards so they shot each other. As for Kasumi’s death, and the re-appearance of Eva, that I’m still working on.
Another theory of mine is that this has been an elaborate act of some sort (that or Akamusa was working behind the scenes for his employer); the guards were paid to kill the other guards without being told of the deals bartered with the others. The reason why none of them were told is because Ange (or other individual) had no intention of letting said gunman live; if he would betray one person, who’s to say he wouldn’t betray the one who paid him?
Again, it doesn’t cover the Kasumi/Eva problem, but I’m still working on that. At least with Eva, we know that it’s a hoax, and that her death can be naturally presented as it was; the gun backfired horribly onto her, and Ange put her out of her misery.