Recap / Umineko When They Cry Episode 7

Warning: This page contains unmarked spoilers for "Requiem of the Golden Witch" and previous Episodes

Prologue

BATTLER and Virgilia give Beatrice the final funeral. An Inquisition's branch called SSVD arrest a maid through Kangaroo Court, but are interrupted by Willard H. Wright and his Van Din's Twenty Rules. In the real world, Will visits Kinzo's mistress Beatrice's funeral, attended by the rest of the family. Krauss introduces his another child and the true successor, Ushiromiya Lion. Bernkastel hired Will from a retirement to finish the mystery as requested by Featherine, even if he doesn't like her, with Lion as his sidekick.

Will asks Rosa about what happened 19 years ago, apparently she has told Genji about the cliff accident. Bernkastel gives Will a Theatregoing Authority, an upgrade of Detective's Authority that lets him see memories of the person confessing. Shannon realizes she doesn't remember Lion despite working for Lion for 10 years. When Will asks Shannon to call Kanon, she breaks up, so he settles on speaking with one at a time.

Will and Lion explore young Kinzo's memories after he was elected as the family head and joined the navy hoping to die. Rokkenjima was a submarine harbor where massive Kaiten torpedoes were developed. Kinzo is summoned as a translator for the Italian nazi allies, and Beatrice Castiglioni is the only one who knows English. Lieutenant Yamamoto tries to blackmail Lieutenant Angelo to leave half of the gold with him. All soldiers kill each other. Kinzo bribes Nanjo to treat Beatrice. Later, Beatrice dies while giving birth to a daughter and Kinzo used gold to get enough status to hide everything.

Will can't find Battler, so he questions MARIA about her meeting Beatrice the Elder for the first time. Will asks Jessica's perspective, who sneaked into VIP room, only to find a Creepy Doll inside, who disappears when she got distracted.

Will makes a final deduction that Beatrice the Elder Maria knows is one of the servants who has been roleplaying with her, and because the Golden Witch doesn't exist in Lion's timeline, Lion's existence have prevented the tragedy from occurring. Meaning he is the son of the Kuwadorian Beatrice in a timeline where Natsuhi didn't push the servant over the fence, and is the What If? identity of Beatrice the Golden Witch. Bernkastel salutes Will for figuring everything out so quickly. Will summons the true culprit.

The Gospel

Zepar and Furfur, with a new narrator and another clone of Beatrice, Clair Vaux Bernard, describe the life of Natsuhi's new maid "Lion"/Beatrice III/Yasuda in 1976, hired from Fukuin House when she was a kid, who joins human Seven Stakes and Shannon. Genji brought Yasuda so there'd be a friend for Jessica of her age, while planning to reintroduce her to Kinzo if he admits his sins.

Yasuda keeps losing her stuff and a "witch Beatrice" Gaap harasses her to make her stronger. Yasuda grows more attached to the occult and Mystery Fiction. New maids who bullied Yasuda get pranked in increasingly impossible ways. Yasuda gives up on being human and takes the Beatrice title, erases Shannon's memories, and gets a white dress (Clair's).

Yasuda questions Shannon in her dream why does she still obey Natsuhi, even rejecting the Golden Land. Battler, Jessica, George and Shannon play together. Battler invites Shannon to her home and promises to return for her next year. But years later it's apparent Battler forgot Shannon despite writing letters to everyone and isn't planning to return. Yasuda feels responsible, so she creates Kanon to keep Shannon company and takes her pain by Battler into herself. Kinzo orders a portrait and Yasuda adjusts her profile accordingly.

MARIA gives all demons their names and teaches Yasuda about demonology. Yasuda tries the Epitaph and solves it. As a reward, Yasuda is given Beatrice's golden dress and is presented to Kinzo. Everyone tells Yasuda / Lion her origins and give her the family ring. Once Kinzo atones, he dies to a heart attack. Yasuda rejects the rewards, but is free to stay.

Clair finishes her confession and asks Will to end her by slashing all murders from Episodes 1-4. Clair bows and disappears. Bernkastel says Will's job is now over and leaves. Will also leaves Lion.

Tea Party

Lion suddenly finds himself alone and is met by Ange, both held prisoner by Clair, who needs to finish what happened. Going though a new "Game" similar to Episode 1, the adults work together on the Epitaph. Battler remembers the promise, but doesn't take it seriously. Shannon reveals she long realized that and that's why she went with George. Eva leads everyone to the Gold Room. "Beatrice" reveals herself to everyone and tells how she'd bribe someone to kill everyone, and if nobody would have reached the room, a clock set by Kinzo would blow up the mansion. Yasuda also gives a bank account where some of the gold was converted. Despite Eva's paranoia, the clock passes midnight with no explosion.

While bickering, Krauss makes a point that they can't exchange 10 tons of gold without alerting the authorities or his connections. Natsuhi and Krauss get shot by accident and an argument breaks out. Eva gets the idea to use the explosion to hide the corpses. Kyrie shoots Rosa, Hideyoshi, Eva and Yasuda. Rudolf calls the kids to take a fake test at the mansion. Eva has survived, even if injured. Kyrie kills Gohda and Jessica. Rudolf kills George. While Rudolf waits for Battler, Eva shoots Rudolf, then kills Kyrie.

Bernkastel tells Lion and Ange that this is not a Fragment, even uses Red to say this is what happened. Ange is so hurt, she implodes. Bernkastel continues, showing Lion a world where he survived, but when he turned 20, the same events occur, before killing Clair and mocking her for seeking hope in Alternate Timeline. Will returns and rescues Lion from his intended fate, claiming there's no proof what was shown really happened either. Bernkastel summons an army of monster cats and Will hols her in a duel, but it ends on Bolivian Army Ending.

Bernkastel asks Featherine if she's satisfied now, who says she is and goes to sleep forever. Bernkastel takes the board from Featherine, not wanting the game to end. BATTLER meets young Ange, and prepares the "final truth" that is going to be a happy one.

---

Tropes:

• Allegorical Character: Bernkastel's cats represent the extreme of Schrödinger's Cat analogy. Similar to the candy trick, as long as it's ambigious, one can claim something more positive than what actually has happened. By showing that the real Rokkenjima tragedy had no witches or magic invovled, you get the Awful Truth with no room for theories. Will claiming there are still other possibilities while fighting the cats is like him trying to apply Death of the Author literally. invoked
• Alternate Self: Lion Ushiromiya is the alternative identity of the Golden Witch Beatrice / Yasuda, discovered by Bernkastel in an Alternate Timeline where several mistakes haven't creates Yasuda the way she is now.
• Always Second Best: MARIA believes herself to be the daughter of the Holy Ghost who can do anything, but only in theory. Beatrice the Elder showing "actual magic" with the candy trick proved to her that MARIA has yet a lot to learn.
• Ambiguous Gender: Lion's gender is addressed and left unspecified both by Lion and by Bernkastel. Will considers that with the cases of Ambiguous Gender in past game's, Lion is intentionally designed as a Composite Character of different culprit theories.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • After everything has been revealed, Bernkastel reminds Featherine that it's just one of Alternate Timelines and what happened on the real Rokkenjima may still differ. Will also claims that the Awful Truth is just another possibility Bernkastel has created, even if she uses the Red.
  • A quick scene shows Kinzo was the one who has started the fight between the Japanese and the Italians, which contradicts his flashback. Another scene implies there's something wrong with either the second or third Beatrice's body making her "incapable of love".
  • Will's deconstruction of Illusion of the Witch uses metaphors, still leaving it up to the readers to piece together the sequence of events.
  • Despite it being extremely heavily presented that Shannon has the same knowledge, location, and motives as Yasuda and the culprit, the narrative avoids calling them the same person, even if Yasuda being present in certain flashbacks would contradict her own narrative of being a ghost.
• As the Good Book Says...: MARIA recites Matthew 1:23 comparing her disappeared father to virgin birth, also correcting Will about Matthew 1:20.
• Ax-Crazy: Kinzo sometimes came down to the self-destruct machine and set it on, turning it off when he comes up with some good ideas.
• Because Destiny Says So: Unwittingly, Kuwadorian Beatrice's daughter has solved the riddle meant for Kuwadorian Beatrice's daughter. Kinzo had a hunch but left everything to fate, while the servants who knew the truth nudged some clues to her.
• Big Bad: The killer of the Rokkenjima Massacre is Kyrie Ushiromiya. Yasuda, also known as Lion Ushiromiya, also known as Beatrice, has planned to kill everyone herself if the Head succession didn't go according to plan, but Kyrie shoots her shortly after the Epitaph was solved.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Shannon remarks that if she wanted to be with Battler, she could have called him any time, but considering he did forget about her, she has a right to be upset.
• Butterfly of Doom: In a timeline where Natsuhi didn't accidentally push the baby off the cliff, Beatrice the Elder never evolves into Beatrice the Golden Witch and she remains just a myth. The Epitaph isn't added, Lion inherits the family as originally intended, Battler never comes back, and the sacrifices don't occur. This doesn't avert everyone dying.
• Call-Forward: MARIA says she may evolve from a Witch to a Creator who can create new world, a terminology Beatrice the Elder doesn't know but it was used before. If the interpretation that Maria is the author of Rokkenjima Massacre tale in Episode 1 is correct, this likely what this refers to.
• Cerebus Retcon: In EP 4 Beatrice jokes that Kinzo was quite a Sex God in his younger days and she enjoyed being abused. Depending on which Beatrice she refers to, there's nothing funny about it.
• Clueless Mystery: The full solution to the Epitaph requires 1. knowledge of Taiwan's geography 2. knowledge that Kanji may contain Alternate Character Reading. While a Japanese reader can guess what to do, like Eva did in the library in EP 3, this still requires doing research outside the game. A certain Arc Words explicitly highlighted in EP 5 would allow skipping the first half of the riddle, however.
• Commonality Connection: Kinzo and Beatrice Castiglioni have bonded over being offsprings of aristocrats who weren't allowed to do as they please and wished to die. Thanks to this, both overcame their Death Seeker mindset.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Lion has never encountered the supernatural before, but Lion has heard enough of Kinzo's insane ramblings to understand that Lion's stuck in Time Stands Still.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: When Yasuda hid Belne's master key in seemingly impossible way, she got an insatiable taste of magic power, and decides being human has no future for her.
• Entitled Bastard: Gaap tells Yasuda to be thankful for the bullying, because of them Yasuda talked to Kumasawa about it and has learned some helpful "rituals". Later, she becomes a Friendly Enemy and intentionally provokes her so she wouldn't be careless at the job.
• Evil All Along: Kyrie and Rudolf were after the gold the entire time. While they didn't plan to kill everyone, they would and did when the opportunity presented itself. If Battler doesn't take the gold, he'll die too. Kyrie wasn't above getting rid of Rudolf and even Ange to do as she pleases.
• Eviler than Thou: Kyrie kills the remaining adults, except Rudolf who is an accomplice, and also kills Yasuda and the servants. When Rudolf dies, Kyrie finds it amusing she can keep everything.
• Forced to Watch: Lion and Ange are tied to theater seats, with Clair and Bernkastel showing what truly happened.
• A Glitch in the Matrix: When Will probes into why Shannon and Kanon can't appear to him together, Shannon starts glitching out. He retracts his request so she can continue.
• A God Am I: MARIA combines her Witch of Origins title with an impression that she's a reincarnation of A Saint Named Mary, starting to think that she's a God's chosen even above Beatrice.
• Gold Fever: Even after Natsuhi and Krauss accidentally get shot, the rest of the adults only think how to share the gold without getting attention of the police. Kyrie decides to keep everything to herself.
• Groin Attack: As a hostage, Beatrice Castiglioni kicks Yamamoto in the crotch, distracting him enough for Kinzo to shoot him.
• If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: Kyrie asks Rudolf to kill George because he is yet to shoot anyone, and to not do any villainous monologues. Rudolf fails to do it on the first try and talks too much, but he finishes the job and is surprised how easy it feels.
• Ignored Epiphany: Manon says it first that boys like to say cool phrases without thinking, but Shannon still thinks Battler has made some kind of trial for her. Yasuda can't take it and decides to steal this emotion.
• Info Dump: The entire Episode is just exposition of what happened before and during the Rokkenjima Massacre.
• Innocently Insensitive: Jessica and George keep telling Shannon how Battler must be happy with his new life, not realizing that Shannon wanted to be a part of that life too. When everyone gets a letter from Battler, George gives an empty envelope to Shannon.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Kinzo lets Will and Lion see his memories from 30 years ago when he has met Beatrice Castiglioni.
• Lost in Translation:
  • One of the early steps of solving the Epitaph involves a wordplay with Kanji. This is not something a non-Japanese reader would be able to do, though the solution is given in both languages for clarity.
  • The step at the tenth line of the Epitaph also contains a wordplay. The MangaGamer translation alters the line to be more explicit about what it could refer to.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
  • Jessica argues the doll in the VIP room didn't move by itself. After all, Yasuda did tell a few servants that she's planning to break in, so they could have prepared some contraption beforehand. However, for a prank it was too elaborate.
  • Yasuda's personal belongings keep disappearing when she's not paying attention. She blames it on demons, but considering she fell off a cliff as a child, she may have developed short term memory impairment and eventually schizophrenia.
  • Kumasawa teaches Yasuda to attach strings to items so she'll stop losing them, and to also designate certain places as "homes" to return items to. It sounds obvious, but Yasuda buys that it's a spiderweb ritual meant to repel evil and Gaap feels annoyed by it.
  • Belne's stuff kept going missing and appearing in different rooms. Yasuda has an alibi, and Belne would have noticed the master key being removed from the ring and then put in her locker, so the fear of Beatrice has intensified. The next scene shows Gaap possessing Yasuda and teleporting the key with unknown magic.
• Missing Main Character: BATTLER is present for only two dialogues and is almost completely absent from the Episode.
• Nominal Hero: Bernkastel helps Will and Lion to expose the truth of Rokkenjima, only because Featherine has ordered a wrap-up. Considering the truth is an Awful Truth, she enjoys Ange getting a Mind Rape.
• Parental Incest: Kinzo says that by viewing his daughter the same person as his mistress, he's done some things he's not willing to mention even when confessing. Lion breaks into tears realizing the implications. Lion is even more shocked that Lion is the child of Kinzo and Kinzo's daughter.
• Retcon:
  • In Episode 3 Predecessor Beatrice previously held the Beatrice's name before deciding to name herself Virgilia as an aid to Battler. Here, Virgilia was created when Yasuda and MARIA hanged out, and Beatrice was Gaap's temporary title. Either Yasuda or Hachijo got Episode 3 mixed up, or Virgilia being repurposed from "Land of the Golden Witch" created an error.
  • In Episode 4 Beatrice concludes that Battler doesn't remember the promise because he's not the real Battler Ushiromiya, that part being correct. This Episode shows there was no switch, both Battler and the Shanon actually did not forget The Promise, Battler just didn't think it's too important and Shanon had already given up on him.
• The Reveal: Get ready.
  • Kumasawa was the wet nurse of Kuwadorian Beatrice.
  • Kuwadorian Beatrice's mother is Beatrice Castiglioni, daughter of a high-ranking Fascist Italy official.
  • Rokkenjima contains an abandoned World War II submarine base underneath.
  • The one-winged Eagle and the fortune came from Benito Mussolini's Italian Social Republic, making the Beatrice's 10 tons of gold a literal Nazi Gold. Kinzo altered the seal on the gold he used in public dealings to avoid unwanted attention.
  • Nanjo has been a Secret-Keeper about Beatrice Castiglioni for decades.
  • Since Rosa didn't have time to spend on Maria, one of her tutors was a priest, who taught her the entirety for The Bible, which she found relatable in many ways. Because Rosa didn't want to talk about her husband, she went along with Maria's religious delusions.
  • The ones who can "see" Beatrice the Elder are specifically Maria, Genji, Shannon, Kanon, Kumasawa, and Nanjo, who have already known her for a while.
  • Jessica's asthma is the result of her regularly doing "frail noblewoman cough" when she wanted to change the topic, until it actually hurt her lungs.
  • The baby from 19 years ago mentioned in Episode 5 is not just an orphan Kinzo gave to Natsuhi, but Kinzo's and Kuwadorian Beatrice's actual child (and Kinzo's grandchild also).
  • Beatrice is the young maid from 10 years ago, Yasuda, intended to be named Lion Ushiromiya. She is also the child from 19 years ago. Nanjo and Genji have faked her death diagnosis to reintroduce under a different name and to reveal the truth at a better time, so Kinzo wouldn't think of her as Beatrice.
  • The Seven Stakes are based on Jerkass hired maids in Natsuhi's care. They are paid handsomely and the Orphanage of Fear rumor is false.
  • Beatrice the Elder has a fear of mirrors because they remind her of her Yasuda identity.
  • Battler did make The Promise to Shannon and made her wait for him. Then he quit the family. She hoped he has done it so he can take her to a new home, but he never called for her, then pretended nothing happened when he returns.
  • Kanon did not exist originally, he's an Imaginary Friend created for Shannon due to Battler's absence.
  • Yasuda has solved the Epitaph first and never took the Epitaph literally as Human Sacrifice. Each game represents different alternative plans for her to use found gold to bribe someone as an accomplice.
  • The reason Kinzo seeks Beatrice's resurrection and wants to give everything to her, is to apologize for the terrible treatment of Kuwadorian Beatrice. Meaning if Beatrice's child miraculously survived, she'll be entitled to his wealth as an apology, which is the true purpose of the Epitaph.
  • Kinzo's beloved hometown refers to Danshui, Taiwan (reads as Freshwater). The river means the Danshui railway from Taipei to Kirigan Station, pronounced Qilian in English (and as "shore village" in Japanese). Attaining power means 10 twilights to the 4th power of treasures, twice, ten "quadrillion" (involves some Alternate Character Reading in the original translation), which is 11 letters and is also the plaque at the Chapel, which contains buttons. When you subtract two words, you get "u dr l o", rearranged getting "lord u", and pressing the rest activates the secret tunnel behind the lion statues. Genji knew the solution the entire time and has a shortcut access to the Golden Room.
  • The tunnel to Kuwadorian goes through the Golden Room, meaning anyone who passed it would have solved the Epitaph as well.
  • Yasuda rejects the headship. Genji, Kumasawa and Nanjo agree to keep everything a secret, but she's still privileged to anything and had the Family Ring with her the entire time.
  • Twilight 1-1 involved a fake victim. Twilight 1-2 involved a fake lock. Twilight 1-4,5,6 involved a fake victim. Twilight 1-5 involved a fake victim. Twilight 1-6 involved a fake lock. Twilight 2-1 involved a fake lock. Twilight 2-2 involved a fake victim. Twilight 2-4,5,6 involved a suicide. Twilight 2-7,8 involved a fake account. Twilight 3-1 involved a fake victim. Twilight 3-2, the culprit is already known. Twilight 3-4,5,6,7 involved a fake account. Twilight 3-7,8, the culprit is already known. Twilight 4-1 involved a fake account. Twilight 4-2 involved a fake account. Twilight 4-4,5,6,7,8 involved a fake account. Twilight 4-9 involved a fake account.
  • Lamdadelta gave Yasuda powers for just these two days.
  • The island contains a stockpile of explosives underneath the mansion and a self-destruct mechanism from the war days. Yasuda set it to 48 hours, it can be disabled from the Gold Room, alternatively the winner can hide in Kuwadorian and let the bomb go off.
  • The shore shrine got destroyed when Yasuda has tested if the explosives are still working.
  • Krauss and Hideyoshi's death were supposedly accidental discharges after arguing over the gold. The rest, including Yasuda, were killed by Kyrie with Rudolf. Eva miraculously survived and after defeating Rudolf and Kyrie, let the bomb go off to Make It Look Like an Accident.
  • Eva never told the full truth and took responsibility because the reality would be too cruel to Ange, before starting to Believing Their Own Lies. Eva did describe how the Massacre happened, but it got dismissed due to evidence being destoryed.
  • All of the above are still suspect because Bernkastel is shown to still have ulterior motives.
• Sanity Slippage: Kinzo was already not in the right mind for grooming his own daughter to become the reincarnation her mother and even impregnated her. "Beatrice" dying the second time made him completely detach from reality. Nanjo correctly decides to wait until he's Older and Wiser before reintroducing the third Beatrice.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Nijima fishermen avoid Rokkenjima because of the rumors told by Kumasawa, but the rumor hides from unwanted eyes a World War II base and Kinzo's conspiracy about three Beatrices. This legend was reused to keep the new maids in check.
• Shared Identity: "Beatrice" refers to multiple real people. Kinzo's mistress from 30 years ago, Beatrice Castiglioni. Beatrice's daughter who Rosa has met 19 years ago, Kuwadorian Beatrice Ushiromiya. And someone taking the identity from Kinzo's Urban Legends, also known as Beatrice the Elder, also known as Yasuda / Lion, who becomes Beatrice the Golden Witch. This doesn't count various clones in games with Battler and other people taking that name.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Beatrice the Elder shows MARIA the same candy trick as usual. When MARIA asks if she can take it home, Beatrice the Elder says the candy is super fragile and she can't touch it. When she did touch it, the caramel has already melted due to heat, and MARIA feels sorry for breaking the magic.
• Tactful Translation: Since Beatrice Castiglioni and Kinzo are the only ones who know English, they privately say how they dislike their superiors in front of everyone.
• Take That, Audience!: The entirety of Tea Party plays out with Lion, a casual reader who was already satisfied with the open-ended explanation so far and willing to put it to rest, and Ange, someone who wanted to know the real truth for so long by "opening the box", getting the answers and not liking them, until "the author" shuts down any further discussions on the matter.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Lion is shocked by Will's deduction that Lion is not Krauss's child, but Kinzo's child, who has allegedly died in the 5th game flashback after being adopted by Natsuhi. Him being the Alternate Self of the Golden Witch further makes him lost for words.
• Unfazed Everyman: Because Will is The Protagonist, nobody thinks too much why he knows everyone's private information. He also asks everyone to not question why Lion doesn't fit in the family's hierarchy despite being the next family head.
• The Unsolved Mystery: The Episode shows that Kanon is an Imaginary Friend, but doesn't answer how everyone acknowledges him.
• War Is Hell: The gunfight between the Japanese and the Italians is described as monstrous and pointless.
• The Watson: Lion is just a normal person from an Alternate Timeline, while Willard has descended from a higher plane of existence and knows all the previous Games. Thus, most of the time Lion is just being confused how Will knows so much and asks to elaborate. Will even nicknames him Watson explicitly.
• We Can Rule Together: Lieutenant Yamamoto promises Kinzo some gold if he keeps quiet about the shootout. He rejects.
• Wham Episode: Since there's no opposition from the Game Master, Will is free to dig out a reveal after the reveal until there's no much left to discuss about 1986.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • After the baby miraculously survived, instead of letting the baby escape the Beatrice's curse, Genji decides it'd be best to send her back to Fukuin House and present her to Kinzo "when the time comes". The maids rightfully hate Yasuda for skipping the selection becuase she was chosen through secret Nepotism, she lived for years not allowed to know her own identity, then would be stuck in the abusive family where her mother died after a forced incestious relationship and where Yasuda was seriously injured as a baby in the first place. It's not surprize Yasuda found her life miserable despite it going relatively well.
  • Kumasawa has taught "magic" to Yasuda as a memorization technique, who in turn taught it to Maria as a coping mechanism. Both grew incredibly distant from humanity. Yasuda also has read And Then There Were None with Shannon, which has greatly inspired both.
  • If the interpretation that Yasuda and Shannon are the same person is correct, she took Battler's words that he enjoys figuring out the culprit's Freudian Excuse too literally. His casual promise to take her to his home like a prince on a white horse also didn't help, since he has completely forgotten about her.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Bernkastel claims to have searched for 2578917 worlds, and only in one of them Lion exists instead of Beatrice, and the Rokkenjima Massacre still happens in that world too.

---