whenthechickencry

[whenthechickencry]

Last Note of the Golden Witch Part 2

Piece gives away more of her heart, she starts talking about how of course she didn't know who Ange is, how she had so many lovely conversations with Sayo and Battler. Battler starts crying and bawling from not having it figured it out earlier, I was going to give him shit if he didn't realize it after all her hints, I am not going to lie, so I am glad he did... it seems Asumu was at the end of her patience as well as that monologue seems to be flipping between Asumu and Battler (I assume since Battler wouldn't say do you not know who I am, so I assume statement 3 and 5 are made by Asumu)

Ange wants to be able to understand everyone in the Ushiromiya family as part of her role as the witch of the future, haha...

I figured Ange was brought here in order to be mean to her, I mean, she's a complete stranger to Asumu otherwise... It's interesting how we are both seeing the good and the bad simultaneously, from a character we were usually only allowed to see the perspective of people who think she's all good or all bad.

The act this arc allowed Ange to understand and love someone who wasn't a part of her life at all, and if she was she probably would have hated her, anyways, is really cute.

I have noted the translation seemed kind of... not great at times but this line made 100% it was a cleaned-up machine translation, so I looked up who was the translator and, lmfao?

Of course, Kinzo wouldn't approve of cheating, he is an upstanding man of good values.

Of course, this is a bit of a self-important fantasy, reality wouldn't have been that simple even if she had stayed alive. But she wanted to write a tale where her being part of the family left to a far better future than when Kyrie did, affirming that she was a better person than the person who (she blamed) for making her life shitty (it was actually Rudolf really, but).

The fact Ange was brought in the first place in order to hurt her and then she's frantically trying to make it NOT hurt her is very interesting. Makes me kind of imagine Asumu as someone who heavily tries to suppress her bad sides, which would line up with Battler and Rudolf thinking she's an innocent, naive, innocent flower.

Battler doesn't want to accept that her mother wanted to hurt Ange but also like, Battler how happy do you think Asumu would be about being replaced in her family by someone who literally had plans to murder her? Of course, Ange doesn't have anything to do with it, but Asumu knows that too! She hates herself for feeling like that, too! Even though it's perfectly understandable.

"Spit on and forget about me"... I don't know Piece, I think Ange can acknowledge your existence and your pain while not having to do that.

Asumu solves this whole thing by literally erasing herself, by erasing memories of her, by eating herself alive in order to ensure the happiness of Battler and Ange, and... I can't help but find this ending extremely tragic. Piece erased herself, thinking she was an evil monster for the thoughts she had, even as she was fighting those thoughts the entire time and before they were even revealed she was trying to make sure they wouldn't hurt Ange...

Battler is grumpy about the fact he didn't get the fun the Higurashi cast had, haha. Unfortunately, I don't think those kinds of tea parties would fit the atmosphere of Umineko, really. I wonder if what Battler is saying is implying that r07 originally planned for something like that.

Erika is fucking DEAD.

I remember Virgilius but they mentioned they are 3 and I don't remember the other 2, actually..

No. 1

Oh that's the original form of the goat servants, haha. Making them headless is kind of interesting...

Bernkastel and Beatrice make fun of Battler for being too horny, but it's kind of funny to imagine making characters just having a fuck golf club-sized crotch, haha.

I can see Natsuhi fitting the image of a mistress, but it's a little hard to think of her as a witch roaming the halls, haha.

Lambda agrees! Haha.

I think you are your own witch with your own magic already, Natsuhi.

That line huh.... I guess it is a line that is extremely significant to Beatrice as a character, so it makes sense to make someone trying to play the role of Beatrice to try it out.

Virgilius is the other one, though Beato mentions she actually hadn't designed anything more than a couple sketches.

Virgilia does the opposite of this, funnily enough... you can tell why R07 rewrote having a character meant to mislead you to be introduced in ep3 when a lot of people gave up on ep2, it's kind of unfortunate, but Virgilia is cool as well.

That's what Erika does in EP5, mostly, but in further episodes her role and character drifted in other directions, I feel.

It's kind of funny because like. I think EP1 is a harder Episode than Ep2 to solve? Eva's involvement is a lot less obvious than Rosa's, and Kanon is more obviously suspicious in ep2 than Shannon's death was in Ep1

Wow, that's rude Lambda, I think Erika's post-5 character is actually more and more interesting every ep.

I am not really sure what exactly they were referring to here, from all the post-Umineko WTC projects, I haven't read any so ...

Anyway, I really liked Last Note. The mystery was a little simple, but I did enjoy having to revisit another character Battler had written off as more simple than they were. The ending felt a little rushed, I would have liked it if the episode had been a little longer. All the characters had really strong moments so I would definitely recommend to read this one! Asumu was an interesting character to explore in more detail, especially since all the information we get from her in the main story are from very biased sources. This also served as a showcase for how Battler, Ange, and Beatrice would act after their EP8 development which is very neat to see. Overall I really enjoyed it. I wish the translation was better, hope to finish learning Japanese at some point to read it like that.

#umineko #umisaku

[whenthechickencry]

Last Note of the Golden Witch Part 1

I forgot this episode starts with everyone giving out their opinion on tea, haha.

well ok jeez that's an escalation Ange.

Witch of the Piece is certainly an interesting title for anyone romantically involved with Rudolf, considering his view of women... In general the act of making Asumu a witch is interesting... to be a witch you must be someone with trauma, someone who found their life miserable enough to not want to live as a human anymore... but both of the narratives we have about Asumu are 1. Kyrie saying she's a cold manipulative bitch who got what she wanted and was therefore happy and 2. Rudolf and Battler thinking she was an innocent, naive, and stupid woman who wasn't even really aware of all the ways Rudolf was shitty towards her. Just the act of her being a witch goes against both of these narratives...

Witch of the Peace is kind of a goofy title haha Ange, what would that even be...

The switch between goofy, silly Piece and formal, calculating Piece is already pretty interesting. It immediately brought to mind how Kyriie would describe her ditziness as a persona for a person who is in actuality really smart and calculating. Though the goofy, insane Piece is instead implied to be the true persona here...

This episode get its own opening which is kind of funny because the normal opening for this version of the game already uses Flauros and Piece for it. Oh god, back to the Halloween party Kinzo. I remember thinking this game was a kind of cruel one to show to Ange, implying everything in the family would be good if she wasn't born, but it has been a while since I read it.

Well jeez, Battler of course not considering Sayo's there 3x, but that's not really relevant to this game board...

It's kind of interesting how they are handling this game board as it if was Beatrice's ie where the locked rooms need to be broken for the culprit to be able to act, but Piece being outside the Ushiromiya family while Rudolf is with Kyrie and Rudolf going outside to let her in is a hint in of itself...

Kyrie brings up that she can never trust Rudolf, Rudolf basically tells her to stfu, Kyrie keeps talking about how Rudolf makes her go insane and Rudolf decides to push the conversation sexual instead..

Maybe I am going insane with overthinking, but this implies to me Rudolf can understand the women around him are drowning in misery from his actions, but he doesn't see himself as the attacker causing them to happen.

Beatrice is quicker than the others to understand what erasing someone means.

It's kind of interesting how Piece's power is something that in reality is Rudolf's power... the ability to erase and replace the women around him for his own benefit. Feels like a bit of reclaiming of her trauma for Piece to have this power. You can tell Asumu was perfectly aware of how much of an awful human and misogynist Rudolf was...

This game also acts as a way for Ange, Battler, and Beatrice to all work together with each other and it is very cute, haha.

Ange can't be tricked by Piece since there was never any point in time where she saw Asumu as Kyrie's wife, of course.

Bullseye, Beatrice!

Well... I guess so... Though I wouldn't attribute that power to Asumu herself, really.

Tbh the fact that the game points out all the relevant questions is a little lame, especially since there's not that many people that existed throughout the entire series...

Aka she's actually only able to erase Kyrie and Ange.

Haha... seems Piece is betting on Ange and Battler arguing about Asumu's identity and role.

Loud incorrect buzzer Battler.

To be honest... I am a little confused about the details here exactly. Kinzo is dead by 1986, Beatrice, Shannon, and Kanon can be erased by Sayo having a different life trajectory.... what the fuck happened with Genji, though?

I guess it's possible Genji just fucking retired, also Piece just reveals she fucking hates Kyrie and Ange... directly challenging Battler's view of her as a completely motherly, naive, kind innocent figure. This game does seem specifically targeted at Battler's misconceptions of her...

Wow ok, Ange I couldn't think of someone more far away, but I suppose you of all people would struggle with this puzzle...

The fact Ange can summon Erika and resurrect them like she can with her family and still considers herself to be in some sort of connection with her makes me kind of happy... Her theory is really wrong but it skirts around most of the red truth and does take the heart heavily into consideration, just maybe the wrong heart haha. This shows how this mystery requires knowing the heart of someone Ange had no way of knowing.

Beatrice changes sprites and gets pissed at this and Battler scolds her for daring Ange to think of this game like he once thought about it, which is also very cute... seeing the characters post-8 is very interesting!

Piece gets the first real confirmation that Battler is serious about this. Battler is serious about seeing her heart. He already made the mistake of ignoring the heart until it was too late once, he doesn't want to do it again. This scene is definitely a highlight, and it's nice to see how much Battler

Disgusted with yourself for having very normal thoughts when stuck with someone like Rudolf, huh...

Tbh, I think it's kind of interesting how Ange in development seems to be somewhere between the end of EP8 and the epilogue we see... makes sense Ange's change into how she sees others wouldn't be an immediate thing she would never falter on.

This time Beatrice wants to be the person who accepts the heart of someone who can't freely give it away...

A-sumu just broke out the red and nearly gave away the answer to go on a huge rant about how she is so good at riddles, lmfao?

Also, I guess Piece is up to date with her Umineko readings, and she feels really guilty about her role in taking Battler away from the island and not helping Sayo when she could have, also she switches giving birth to Beatrice (metaphorically) and giving birth to Battler (literally) mid-sentence as a way of misdirection. It makes sense that Asumu feels... not great about the timing of when she gave birth considering all the issues it caused with it coinciding with Kyrie.

#umineko #UmiSaku

[whenthechickencry]

Our Confession

I actually have read both this one and Last Note Before, it was a long while ago though... so I know the general gist but I don't quite remember all the details

The way Beatrice is doing her dead inside sprite before she realizes others were in the room and then she plays up her hamminess a bunch is really sad, aaa.

Dlanor constantly tells Beatrice she's a good writer and she's so excited but a little sad she won't get to see it as a full-blown game first, and Beatrice is like you don't need to flatter me but she's right Beato you should accept her compliments.

Iirc what the Booklet did for this was having the pages be sealed after this and you had to unseal them, which is actually extremely cool. They did their best here but a simple choice prompt just can't match that, I think.

Haha, the complaining about how Natsuhi is hard to make an accomplice... she's like the only person that cares about the headship as much as the gold, Eva as well but Eva isn't getting that without Sayo's help anyways, thinking about it even in Episode 4 she was one of the first to go,, so I can imagine getting her to cooperate is kind of hard. Granted, once you bring up Jessica to the equation you can probably get her to relent.

Beatrice getting a gun sprite is kind of uncanny, haha, really bringing it home was an early draft before Sayo had the chance to embellish the story with magic.

Kinzo being willing to explain to his children that he would blow them up if he felt like it worked in Sayo's favor when getting accomplices, I suppose.

You know, the fact Genji was like "hey! you are a product of incest. we rewrote your entire life for your incestuous grandfather. All your lovers are your cousins. Everything in your life is a lie. By the way, you have a bomb to blow everything up!" like okaayyy what were you expecting at that point Genji.

It's kind of interesting Beatrice tells accomplices that Kuwadorian is safe - technically Rosa could have probably survived Episode 2 with Maria if she just checked Shannon's corpses and realized she really was dead and just tried to make a mad dash to Kuwadorian, maybe.

Krauss is like yeah sure, sure, why not I guess. The fact that Natsuhi is the one more hesitant about this when she's the one thrust into solving all their problems, figuring out what to do, and she never had the option to not do her part...

This episode really does feel like tearing up the guts of Umineko... you can tell a lot of the accomplices act a little weird around Battler so you can guess Sayo probably told them vaguely of her plan, but it's the sort of thing you don't expect to be explicitly confirmed.

Kumasawa is grinning here, haha, she really does think she's a prank up to the very end.... it's kind of sad. She probably can't even imagine Sayo as someone who would do what she did, but I guess that also shows the way she didn't reach out to try and understand her enough...

It's kind of funny how sometimes you see the story going, ah, shit, sorry I have to embellish this more, right.

While thinking on how to properly kill 5 people she gets distracted by the fact she wants to draw a cute girl instead of a man, haha.

It's kind of funny because she does absolutely think they also did something wrong, but I guess talking to herself like this also makes it easier for her to justify herself to her...

Huh... now that I think about it most magic circles were indeed in places that people don't usually go to, ie the shed or Kinzo's rooms... I did think Sayo did the drawings in between murders, haha

The fact Sayo writes some of her tales while thinking about how the argument with Battler is going to go is kind of funny, haha. I wonder what the Japanese version said for metaworld here... it's not a sentence the translation has used so far and the side arcs don't have the greatest translation, so I am curious...

Beatrice is making fun of Battler for reading so many mystery novels but not being able to figure out the mystery, but also praises the person able to see the fantasy aspect of it...

The fact that so many of the mysteries in Umineko rely on several characters thinking that Shannon/Kanon wouldn't do X is very sad... like Sayo is writing these stories with the assumptions that no one in the family actually understands her and won't care to try to, so her mysteries are safe.

It's kind of interesting how in the episodes Sayo does this they mix up whether a Sayo actor is doing it or whether it's an actual conclusion the characters reached, in order to have more difficulty seeing the pattern. For ex: in Ep1 Eva, the accomplice, and Natsuhi both brought up this argument. Eva was an accomplice but Natsuhi isn't.

It's brought up that Gohda and Kumasawa don't know its actual murder, I knew about Kumasawa but didn't know about Gohda, actually... I think the roulette accomplices always know or at least figure it out early enough. Kumasawa's the one who is always clueless. Not really sure about Gohda in ep2, though. I think a lot of people were probably clueless in ep4.

This scene always fucks me up.... the way one of the few light conversations we see between Sayo and Kumasawa is here, the fact Sayo is crying after what she does before resuming the mocking Beatrice act. The use of "End of a Daydream" as the song...

In general this episode really highlights how? Disassociative? Sayo was during all of this. She constantly switches from doing the cruel witch that laughs at everyone's misfortune, to passing the blame on to Battler for what happened, to being fucked up about what is happening. None of these are Sayo on their own but all of them together make up Sayo. I think an episode like this really helps you see how all of the Sayos are one Sayo. Its role as a post-Umineko arc is interesting too. Even people sympathetic to Sayo occasionally role her as ie the innocent victim who did nothing wrong or flatten her into her relationship with Battler. Sayo is so much more than that and this episode forces you to confront that.

Shannon's words here hit so hard... Sayo here is affirming she was an incomprehensible being that was impossible to understand in the first place. In general, Shannon seems to be the persona most resigned to giving up... Beatrice might think its a long shot but her game and the meta arguments show that she does have a hope that she can be understood. Kanon might not think better is possible, but still yearns for it and isn't satisfied with what they have; as opposed to Shannon who seems completely resigned to the fact no one will understand them and that there is no hope for the future. Ofc all of these are the same person, so it's not useful to see them as totally different perspectives. But I think trying to understand each persona on their own is useful to analyzing Sayo. Like, why is the persona that has completely given up tied to George? Why is the persona that wants better but doesn't think its possible tied to Jessica? I think answering those kinds of questions can help you understand what was going on in Sayo's head during a lot of moments as well as help you contextualize their relationships more.

It's kind of funny how they do the missing corpse trick with Kanon constantly but never with Shannon, when Shannon's corpse appears its either after Sayo is dead or they hide the corpse another way entirely. R07 probably didn't want you to figure out they were the only corpses allowed to do this.

Dlanor points out that Beatrice surely wants to be understood by more than one person, Beatrice doesn't really answer to that remark and just says it's fine for her to just hope that one person understands her.

Of course, Dlanor did end up guiding Battler to Beatrice... and thankfully he didn't have to release her guts in order to do it, but... Battler still didn't understand her with just Beatrice's own words and actions. He needed to be guided and prompted by others to be able to get there, and it was still too late. This is still very sad.

Beatrice gets a shocked expression once Dlanor points out that said prince needs to have love for her or otherwise they won't get to her, and Beatrice relents in giving her the manuscript as long as Dlanor agrees to not release it before she is dead.

Now, on to the present.

Of course, Sayo didn't *just* want Battler to understand her. She wanted others to be able to see her heart. She wanted others to stop painting over her for the benefit of others. She wanted everyone to see her for the full person that she was. But that seems like such an impossible, naive dream that she won't even accept to having it.

There's just so much going on here... Dlanor begging for you to understand her, the reuse of the episode 4 red truth. Dlanor points out that just understanding what went on in the gameboards isn't enough to understand Sayo, there is still so much more for you to understand.

This is the first of all the side arcs I would say is completely required reading, Umineko's Saikoroshi basically. The writing here was excellent, allowing you to see the gameboard from a different perspective helps you understand Sayo much more. Being post-ep8 also lets them be so much more explicit with things they didn't have as much of liberty in the main arcs. There are so many heartbreaking scenes in this episode. If anyone reading this hasn't read this arc, I really beg you to do so.

#umineko #UmiSaku

[whenthechickencry]

Forgery No.xxx

We start the setting in a typical start of an Episode, with the cousins smelling the flowers together.

You can tell Battler is evil because he's being weird and creepy.

Now on ti the actual differences from normal Battler behavior....

We go to the meta and it seems Black Battler was called to the meta in order to create an entertaining game for the witches. This Battler is very not normal lol. Then he goes on to say the first person he will kill will be Ronove.

Interesting, this Battler seems to have really big issues about being mischaracterized by others.

Beatrice shows up and talks about how they are together in being written and rewritten for others' amusement....

Black Battler taunts Tohya about how the mischaracterization of himself and Sayo hurts him, about how even if he's satisfied with finding the truth by now he can't make all those heartless, merciless forgeries stop....

Kanon shows up and thinks Black Battler is a gross bastardization that no one should have called, but also Kanon can do nothing but help him spread, after all Sayo's own forgeries were the ones that allowed him to be born in the first place.

This one's interesting for expanding on the subject of goats, giving some insight into how Tohya felt about all the awful rewritings of the people close to him, and in general, showing the fucked up part of the forgeries and the effects they had on the future.

#umineko #umihane

[whenthechickencry]

Jessica and the Killer Electric Fan

I think all of the arcs from now on are post-EP8, so I guess I'll stop specifying when they first came out for context unless I am wrong and one is pre-ep8.

Jeez Jessica, you get THREE arcs based around you. I am not sure if those are equivalent skills but... Saku ends up roping Jessica into accepting to write a play script in 3 days. Jessica notes that Natsuhi warned her to not get swept up in the moment like this as it is something Krauss does as well, haha.

Jessica starts bragging about her script and... Lambdadelta takes note of that and reads it. I wasn't exactly expecting Jessica Lambdadelta interactions, that's cool!

Jessica half asleep says it will certainly be a success and Lambdadelta takes note of that and when about what she's certainly guaranteeing Jessica is too tired and just falls asleep.

Jessica shows the script to Battler and Shannon, who agree to do a performance of it. Battler is the prince and Shannon is the princess.

Lambdadelta's magic makes the script actually happen, and everyone goes along with it because it seems interesting.

Jessica's about to get killed by her script before Shannon shows off that she actually has experience creating tales and knows how they work, haha.

They are all kidnapped into Lambdadelta's play, lmfao.

Being written after episode 8 lets these arcs play around with the concept of game masters and observers and other concepts explored in later episodes, neat!

Jessica was frustrated with Saku so she ended up writing scripts where she ends up killing her over and over again, damn Jessica you are summoning your inner Sayo here.

Higurashi joke

Lambdadelta's enjoying the script, you did it, Jessica, I think, even though most of this is obviously nonsense written by a very sleep-deprived Jessica.

Battler's fishing to get a kiss from Shannon but apparently Jessica had removed that part since it might be too lewd for a school play, meanwhile Lambdadelta and Bernkastel are both spectating and awaiting the grand finale Jessica forgot she wrote.

The titular killer electric fan shows up! There are a lot of interesting Jessica Shannon parallels in this episode... her script being rewritten to be forced into a heartless tragedy obviously resembles many forgeries.

It's interesting to see Battler Shannon being written in a setting where their previous history can be freely referenced and talked about...

JESSICA WROTE FAN INSTEAD OF FIN???? omg, imagine getting handed that in a script.

This episode was interesting, the freedom from it being written in a post-EP8 setting really led to a lot of interesting parallels with a lot of things they weren't allowed to freely reference in other arcs due to it causing issues in the mystery side of things. Jessica Game Master is an interesting concept.

#umineko #umihane

[whenthechickencry]

Postscript

I think this one is more of a conclusion than anything, it's the last of the Tsubasa arcs here. We start with Bernkastel saying that if we are willing to look for our own fragments we are her partner and a voyager.

Bernkastel asking us if we enjoy reading or creating fanfiction more, lol

Bernkastel just ends by saying that she doesn't really care what kind of Umineko enjoyed we are but that she hopes we can meet on the seak of fragments again. And now cut to credits.

Yeah, that was really short, lol. It feels kind of weird that it was put in right before we are about to get a bunch of other arcs, but I suppose the original idea was to have it as a sort of epilogue asking you what you want to do after you have read all the content there is to read in the game itself.

Anyways, that's the end of the Tsubasa arcs. Now onwards to the Hane arcs.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

Angel of 17 Years / East Shi-44a

Released after Episode 8

We start with some people excitedly waiting in line, including "Battler Absolute Bottom"

Then cut to Ange and Virgilia being together in a hotel room, excited about how many copies they sold of their Umineko yaoi.

To be honest, the concept of Umineko Yaoi is kind of funny to me... I can't think of many m/m ships in Umineko that I would personally consider as very exciting or interesting.

I guess they are not allowed to say Touhou in the console releases.

Ange and Virgilia start discussing about which pairings to include next time, hey I was just thinking I can't think of many yaoi pairings here. Please enlighten me here.

Ok well, I guess that's obvious, I am stupid.

I guess Kinzo having similar dynamics as George had with Shannon is something that you already saw in the main arcs....

Ange disagrees with Virgilia's vision and instead writes Kinzo as the bottom.

Ange doesn't like old man yaoi.

Virgilia brings up Gohda x Kanon which is certainly not something I had ever given up a single thought about. They get into the same issue of who should be the top vs bottom. Thank you for your insight Ange.

They both talk about how they are into Will x Battler, which, sure. Better than Gohda x Kanon, I guess.

Then they go into Will x Lion and then they argue about who is the top and bottom and about whether old men can be hot.

Ok well, I wasn't expecting that ok.

After a disaster conversation about who should cuck who in this scenario, they move unto... Hideyoshi x Battler

Virgilia tries to get Ange into top battler by... doing Battler x Black Battler. Ange complains about old men as Virgilia gives more ship ideas and like, I feel if you were to be into Umineko yaoi you would have to be into old men?

Ange and Virgilia decide to stop being co-writers.

Oh no I haven't read Higanbana, I will probably not get anything of what's about to happen.

They made little chibis for this.

This one had a lot of unfunny jokes and a lot of jokes I didn't get but it had some funny screenshots so who can say if it's bad or not. The wiki page for this arc is funny because it dedicates all the notes to doing things like explaining what a bottom and what a shota is.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

Important Facts Concerning Magcic

Released between EP2 and EP3, we are going back earlier and earlier it seems.

Immediately setting up the fact that Maria is a very important person for Beatrice. Beatrice warns Maria that magic isn't something to be shown to others, but something to enrich your own life.

The descriptions are always a bit sad, no one wants to live their life as a witch, they are only witches because the only thing that can make them come true is magic...

I remember hearing there was some backslash after Episode 2 about how the magic stuff caused people to stop thinking, here you are being reassured that magic is in fact fully explainable and is there for a reason.

It's kind of neat seeing in all of these arcs things that will be explored further in future arcs, here we are talking a lot about anti-magic toxin which isn't something that was talked about at the time of episode 2, iirc.

Beatrice swears to eternally repeat her torture until Battler can finally accept her miracle....

Again, lots of hints, some characterization, and really short as well.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

Letter from a Summoner

Released between Episode 3 and Episode 4.

We start talking about summoning (ie creating magic that lasts for an eternity) vs short bursts of fancy magic. We start talking about dragons, too. Obviously, with the dragon symbolism, the word summoner, and the fact Kinzo's face is on the title card we are talking about Kinzo here, and his "summoning" allowing him to keep Beatrice for an eternity, even after Beatrice is gone...

This letter is framed as written by Kinzo himself, btw, so we

The concept of vessels was already discussed during the scene in EP3 where Rosa finds Beatrice 2, so you are being told here to consider that scene further. Beatrice 2 was Kinzo's "vessels" to summon Beatrice 1, and what would that mean in human terms?

The whole vessel thing is also going to be used later on in the game to describe the relationship between Sayo's characters and herself, so it's interesting to see it being discussed so early.

Haha... "Believe in their vessels"... aka delude yourself enough into thinking your daughter is your lover reincarnated.

This one was really short, damn. Also, this is the first one of these that is set right in the middle of the answer arcs in a while, and you can tell with it being a lot more based around giving hints. It was interesting enough.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

A Certain Witch Hunter's Interview Tape

Released between Episode 4 and Episode 5

We start off by discussing whether the Ushiromiya gold is a sham or not and whether there was ever more than one single gold bar.

Details are obviously not correct here, but you are being guided to the generally correct idea that Kinzo got the gold with something involving WW2 and, considering Beatrice gave him that gold, that he probably met her around that time, as well.

Woah, man gets a sprite. We also see how Kinzo's story is being rewritten in the future as a "scammer that never really had the gold, but was able to rebuild his family anyways" - except from Episode 3 we already know for certain that the gold definitely exists, so we are getting some set up into how the truth of the future is rewriting the truth of the past that we will deal with more in ep8.

It's kind of funny because arguing that Kinzo is a piece of shit isn't exactly hard, but you can tell how this person having the preconceived notion that Kinzo is a piece of shit is letting him rewrite any new information he gets as somehow proof that Kinzo is a piece of shit.

In other words, without love, it can't be seen.

Oh.... haha the arc will say it directly right after I make the comment.

And they are being even more forward with the fact that the truth of the future will rewrite the truth of the past, as well.... answer arc was summarized before the Answer Arcs even came out, haha.

Before this we start talking a bit about definitive proof of what happened during this day is definitely gone by now, so you can believe whatever and you can't be contradicted, but then if you understand the heart you should know what happened, anyways.

The attitude of Battler and others who think they can't understand Beatrice due to being an evil witch is being admonished here.

This arc feels like some last hints before we start the Answer arcs and some general guidelines you should follow for how to solve Umineko, as well as some set up for some themes that will be explored further down the line. It was actually really good, I think.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

Arigato for 556

Released alongside Episode 5.

We get a bit of an explanation into what caused the Chiester series of weapons to be created in the first place, and some comments about a war between Heaven and Hell.

The Chiester lobbyists, lmfao.

The sisters started becoming known as sisters because each of their individual abilities allowed them to make p for any other weaknesses.

45 thinks that isn't the case, though... she thinks the only reason 410 is so successful is because she's talented on her own and that 45 isn't strong enough to be able to reign her in. And since she's constantly teasing her and ignoring her instructions 45 asks for a partner change. 410 is really grateful, though, and even when she's boasting she means to praise both herself and 45, but 45, or anyone else doesn't really get that....

410 things that 45 gets her without words so she can tease her and she will get it, but...

Now we move to 556 joining the team and.... I wasn't aware 410 and 45 had a disastrous relationship omg I'm so invested in their relationship now lmao.

Their general dynamic is 410 gets jealous of 556 -> Tries to be mean to her -> 556 always takes it in a good way and tries to improve herself -> 410 gets pissed because she wants to be mean and not help.

Oh... but 556 is the one that's going to die before people can show her how thankful they are for her existence....

410 and 45 seem to be more in sync by the time the game starts, and 410 mentions how much 556 dying destroyed her emotionally at some point, so I guess she's going to realize how needed being honest which is other is at some point.

"Thanks for being born" starts playing, oh my god this is so sad I'm so invested in their relationship in the whole 5 minutes we have had them here.

Episode 5 is going to hit a lot of themes about Battler being too late for Beatrice, so I think this is a good companion piece to drive those themes home. It was some very nice characterization for characters Ia actually don't usually think too much about.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

To Mount Purgatory, Sakutaro!

Released between EP6 and 7

Sakutaro wakes up in purgatory, confused about everything and Virgilia starts talking to him about the trials he must face in order to get back to Maria. I guess this is happening right after Rosa murdered him.

We are going down Sakutarou's sins, I guess.

Sakutaro was forgiven for his sin of pride after 2 years of carrying the stone. Sakutaro's eyelids are shut off for his sin of feeling envious of Maria and Rosa sometimes. Another 2 years.

Maria hated the smell of smoke? Was Rosa a smoker? It's not like it was ever brought up but I suppose it wouldn't surprise me that Rosa had some other unhealthy coping mechanisms.

During every trial, Sakutaro becomes and more worn out, to the point it's doubtful the definition of "revived" would apply to Sakutarou's stuffed body....

The struggle over his body being ruined and unsure of whether they will still be loved like this does bring to mind Sayo's own perceptions about her body....

Sakutarou chooses to be revived, even if Maria won't recognize him he wants to be by her side. The magic of Ange BEATRICE is able to revive Sakutaro and bring him back to Ange.

It's interesting to have Ange finding the stuffed Sakutarou re-explained in magical terms, haha. It seems a lot of these later arcs have the goal of giving some screen time and story roles for the characters that didn't get to appear a lot in the answer arcs, which is neat. They are cute and short.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

Valentine's Day Letters

Released between EP6 and EP7

Oh, you get choices, lmfao. Lets go with Mammon I guess.

Well ok I expected something to do with Ange but that's okay, I will go in order then I guess.

They are all mostly variations of the same thing, an offer of chocolate with some lines representing the sin they represent. Now we move with... Anyways, hello 556.

Oh okay, rip, jeez.

Beatrice has caused Chocolate to be BANNED.

Now for...

Gertrude has a kitty :3

Chocolate terrorism is a good gag haha, I notice Cornelia speaks a bit more formally than Gertrude, which is certainly not really a character detail I had caught before reading her story, which is neat.

Oh haha, the game mentions it right after.

Haha, her team forces Dlanor to act more professionally.

Oh, I wasn't expecting you two here.

Makes sense they are really into it, though.

Now we get to the main event!

Beatrice engages in more chocolate terrorism and gives Battler a piece of chocolate of her own. Beatrice was going to send handmade chocolate even though that is not ALLOWED. Shame on her.

This is post-EP5, though, so Battler happily accepts Beatrice's awkward love.

Why are you surprised about that, Battler, damn. It's a little bit sad that even in this letter the time gap between Ange and Battler is emphasized... Just a little bittersweet reminder of all the time she wasn't able to spend with Battler.

Another cute and short one, just some characterization for a bunch of the fantasy characters + Beatrice and Ange. Some funny gags and some decent characterization.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

Whose Tea Party?

Released between EP6 and EP7

Bernkastel gets the letter, goes to the forest and ok. is that the first thing you think of when you see a lonely place bernkastel.

I guess Bernkastel is under the assumption that it's Lambdadelta sending the letter, I mean, that's a very Satoko think to do, lol.

Bernkastel goes down the forest and sees a bunch of drinks, games, etc., and does absolutely none of them because she thinks all of them are out to get her, meanwhile, Lamba is saying...

"You were the one that made her like that".... and then they argue about who knows Bernkastel better between them, with Lambdadelta swearing she's a different kind of person now.

Bernkastel sees through all of this and starts insulting Featherine. And then Bernkastel starts swearing that she totally doesn't want to see Lambda, not at all, absolutely.

In the end, she wants to participate in the tea party so she goes back to the beginning and falls into Lambdadelta's trap. Featherine starts insulting and demeaning her for having changed.

Bernkastel got to enjoy the Tea Party at the end.

This one was short and sweet, Lambdadelta is framed here as someone who soothes and helps Bernkastel grow and Featherine as someone who causes her to regress instead. We got some more set up into how Bernkastel doesn't like Featherine a lot, and this was pretty humanizing for Bernkastel in general. Neat placement since we were to see Bernkastel at her most vicious at the end of EP7, too, and seeing the witches interact is always nice.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

Cornelia, The New Priest

Released between EP5 and EP6.

The episode starts with listing how Cornelia's job betrayed her expectations, starting with her having more free time than she thought she would and having a "looser" atmosphere than she thought.

She then complains about her lunch break being 15 minutes more than in the books and how she is allowed to speak in normal language in the office, I am sorry Cornelia but oh my god would I hate having you as a coworker.

We dog et some background into why Cornelia is like this, though, apparently she used up any allowance money she received in order to attend weekly court language class, and her parents were poor. Certainly feels like they aren't taking seriously something she used a lot of effort to learn

Some foreshadowing for Will here, neat.

Cornelia isn't in the department she wanted, she is in General Affairs, despite top students usually getting their choice and Cornelia being top of the class. They mention it probably has to do with the interviews, which I assume they noticed she's kind of naive and probably too by the book for field stuff.

Cornelia's issue is not that she won't speak in normal language but she can't, despite very obviously speaking the same language others struggle to understand her. I can relate a little bit as someone that's bilingual but has an accent that I can't rid of, lol. Anyways, everyone kind of hates her after failing to order and considers her incompetent...

Cornelia and Gertrude meet, which fills Cornelia with newfound confidence as they both struggle to communicate, so if she can be promoted so can she. She admonishes Gertrude in her head about not speaking in court language, and Gertrude corrects her way of thinking.

Gertrude then recommends for Cornelia to submit to some projects, and that she has high hopes for her.

Cornelia I think some offices would kill you on the spot if you suggested this as a newbie.

Cornelia is struggling a lot between ideal and reality, how to make her dreams come true while still operating within what is possible. It's hard to not feel very bad for her as she goes on with this even if you don't agree with her at all.

Cornelia is pretty sharp about her flaws and about what must be done, all things considered... it's just a lot harder to apply what you know abstractly to be true when it's not what you are used to at all.

After talking with Gertrude about changing the world vs changing yourself, Gertrude resolves to first focus on becoming an adult, someone who can face the hardships of day-to-day life, before trying to change the world.

This episode is speaking surprisingly close to my heart right now. I used to feel really bad about how useless I thought I was, how little skills I had, how there was no point in even trying because I am incompetent. But internalizing that I have a lot of time to learn things, and that even if I might be a little behind compared to others that is perfectly ok, I will keep trying and I will learn the skills I want to learn, has helped me a lot.

Meanwhile, with Dlanor and Gertrude...

Dlanor's eternal youthfulness gets a bit of a recontextualization here, with the whole being naive and childish but keeping your ideals vs becoming an adult, you can see Dlanor as someone who managed to achieve both. This one was really neat, actually, I like characterization for the side characters and this story hit a lot of notes that felt were very needed to me at this moment.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

Beatrice's White Day

Released between EP4 and EP5, a sequel to the last event.

Asmo, Belze, and Mammon are pretty excited about what their day will bring, everyone else less so.

Satan whines a bit about how Kanon is certainly not going to give her anything, then Kanon shows up suddenly to give her some high-class chocolate, saying it would be rude not to.

wow, ok.

"The past is better forgotten" after a bunch of insinuations about the White Horse line in the last arc, aaaaaaaa.

Battler gets her a tea set. But, suddenly, a gold butterfly brooch appears in the box... I am going kill you Battler why can't you hand one thing to Beato.

Beatrice is... eating Lucifer's hair now. Then Beatrice and Battler's scuffle ends with Beatrice exploding the tea set. Am I going insane? Am I overthinking it or is this just a really clever hint towards the whole promise -> bomb thing?

There's a couple typos in these episodes, I think these translations were just couped from random sources online, not sure. They are clearly a bit worse than the main story translation. But anyways, poor Beato.

Chiester Sisters work on a sister unit for Cupid.

Beatrice isn't having it this White Day.

Amakusa is fucking dead.

Victims of Beatrice's attack: Amakusa's box gift, Amakusa, Gohda's Royal Family Chocolate, Ange's pancakes, Rudolf (2x, once by Kyrie), Kanon's perfume gift, and Battler (Attempted, deflected with Endless Nine). What the fuck Battler I hate you.

Beatrice goes to cry to Virgilia and Ronove and they force her to accept fault for telling Battler it was handmade. They tell her he will forgive her if she gives him chocolate that's actually handmade or chosen next Valentine. Beatrice laments waiting a full year, and Virgilia says she can turn back time.

By which they mean, everyone agrees to gaslight Beatrice into thinking this is before Valentine's Day. Beato goes to make chocolate.

Gaap pops up, who isn't on the plan, and tell her it's white day, not the day before Valentine's. Beato breaks down crying. Battler tries to cheer up Beatrice by going along with the plan, and yet...

Beatrice decides to believe in the Golden Truth.

Battler uses the blue truth to guarantee that he will be returning the gift...

The was fucking adorable, had great foreshadowing, and had some nice Beatrice moments, it was a really damn good episode, actually! Neat use of magic and the red and blue truth, too, in general, I really enjoyed this one.

#umineko #umitsubasa

[whenthechickencry]

The Seven Sisters' Valentine

Released between EP4 and EP5.

Ronove gives the introduction to the demonic game of Valentine Chocolate making, and she gives each of the seven sisters chocolate for them to hand to a man close to them. Then Ronove specifies women are fine too, actually.

Ryukishi bringing back attention to the white horse line, haha. Anyway, that's certainly not how I would describe Amakusa but yeah sure.

Well, it worked, and Amakusa now promised to give Asmo chocolate back, this gives Beelzebub the resolve to give her chocolate away as she wants chocolate back. Is she going to give it to Gohda, then?

Gohda is going on a hero's journey in order to make the best chocolate for White Day.

Mammon gives it to Sakutarou and Ange, aw.

Ange is buying chocolate for Battler and Amakusa, apparently. Meanwhile, Mammon starts nibbling on Sakutarou's ears. Belphegor gives her chocolate to Rudolf, and Rudolf starts flirting with her immediately. These episodes really aren't remotely subtle about what kind of person Rudolf is, I guess! Meanwhile, Leviathan uses the opportunity to give Kyrie chocolates as well. Levia tells her about Rudolf cheating on her yet again, and Kyrie mumbles about the fact that her endless days of envy hell aren't truly over....

Satan gives hers to Kanon, who denies it immediately. Satan mentions how Kanon keeps breaking people's hearts, and unsurprisingly that's a bit of a sore spot for Kanon, Kanon then tries to kill her.

Jessica steps in and tells Satan to fuck off, Satan begs them to eat it as otherwise Ronove will punish her and then fucks off. Jessica gives her her chocolate. Lucifer starts freaking out and thinks of throwing her chocolate for her, luckily for her Battler comes around who is probably the easiest guy in the cast. Battler also calls back to the <see you again> in the white horse scene...

Meanwhile, Beatrice is also on her way to give Battler his chocolate.

Boo fuck you Battler, she deserves this.

Lucifer shortly considers giving her chocolate to George but refuses because Shannon might get jealous like Jessica did, and now Battler is also being contrasted with Jessica and George in this scene...

Cute events, lots of little extra hints right before the Answer arcs start releasing, and some cute characterization for a bunch of characters, I enjoyed this one a lot!

#umineko #umitsubasa