When They Cry - Higurashi and Umineko

Btw, where'd you download the actual episode 8, not the patch?

I torrented it somewhere. There was this Live Journal blog which had a torrent of it.

Well, shit. If I'd kept reading another ten minutes before I'd have learned that Yasu is adorable and wouldn't have been so bored with episode 7.

edited 17th Dec '11 10:50:13 PM by Arha

Lol. Episode 7 have a lot of boring scenes, but it gets progressively better.

Where you are and where you have stopped, if I may ask?

I also have to start reading this, I guess. I've also been playing Dragon Age and I'm just around the climax, so I'm divided about which one to give priority. I should be finishing Tsukihime as well, but Ciel is boring, so I will leave it for later.

edited 17th Dec '11 11:36:38 PM by Heatth

I stopped reading right at the beginning of Yasu's segment, and I'm right at the point of Battler etc. first entering the story. It was amusing how Yasu went from adorable to delightfully bonkers. It's a good thing Belphegor Berune or whatever is pretty dumb since the solution to that trick seems extremely simple.

edited 17th Dec '11 11:38:46 PM by Arha

I have to say the Episode 7 was a great way to present the answers.

Ah, so you let just before the real meat of the story. I can see why you gave up where you did. Save for a couple of high lights, all before is quite annoying long exposition.

So, uh, have you figured out who Yasu is yet?

What do you mean, who is Yasu? Yasu is Lion and Shannon and Kanon and Clair and Beatrice. Sort of! Do you mean someone or something apart from those? I suppose you probably do since the story pretty much stated that outright.

edited 18th Dec '11 12:12:42 AM by Arha

No. I don't. I was joking around.

At last in the start of Yasu's tale, the story kept insisting Yasu and Shannon are different people, despite itself. Quite amusing, I would say. I wonder if they intended to fool anyone with that.

edited 18th Dec '11 12:18:38 AM by Heatth

I found it a little odd at first since Shannon appeared to know things Yasu didn't. I thought it was at least possible that there was a servant named Shannon who once worked there and after she quit Yasu made up an imaginary friend/alternate identity to replace her. But I decided it was just more unreliable narrator stuff.

And once again I am forced to conclude that this story will end super happily. With buttercups and rainbows.

edited 18th Dec '11 12:22:40 AM by Arha

You wish.

Oh, nonsenes. You're just being a complete pessimist. I see no way this could end badly.

Blind (and faked) optimism aside, this is totally George's fault isn't it. Well, I suppose I'll find out.

edited 18th Dec '11 12:28:01 AM by Arha

Heh. Lets say I am ambivalent whether this will end with a higher note or in a lower one.

Yeah, I was talking about that other Shannon. My trail of thoughts were about the same as yours, I believe.

George's fault for what, exactly? I think I may know what you are talking about, but I fear giving spoilers.

edited 18th Dec '11 12:32:46 AM by Heatth

Well, George said in... some earlier episode that he envied Battler for being able to talk to Shannon, and now we see George basically telling her "Oh, by the way, Battler isn't coming back. He's left the nest!" And while it hasn't begun happening yet, I presume at the next family conference he begins that relationship with her. Thus, taking advantage of the situation and putting stress on Yasu.

Adding to that, I find it odd that Battler would be thoughtless enough not to send word of any sort to her. The only person he could ask to send a message for him would be George or his aunts. Now, given that he always played with George and apparently tried to avoid his aunts and uncles, it would be reasonable to assume he asked George. Especially considering the class difference: I don't see Eva being too thrilled at her nephew marrying a servant, do you? Not unless he was ahead of her for the succession anyway.

Thus, I assume that Battler gave a message to George to pass to Yasu and a jealous George pocketed it. Building on that, the girl he likes (kind of, I got the feeling it's also a matter of sheer envy) is now vulnerable, which he exploits.

edited 18th Dec '11 12:36:22 AM by Arha

Heheh, yeah.

I once thought George would be an excellent Big Bad material. Unexpected, yet surprisingly plausible. With time, the notion only got stronger. Well, right now I doubt he has anything to do with the killings itself. But I still think he would be capable of such.

Hmm, was it ever explicitly stated that he did it? I don't remember anything about it, although it's very in-character for him. It's not stated in Episode 8 either, AFAIK.

Hm, well, I guess that's one more good thing about the ending. George dies. All of a sudden I really despise him. I mean, the intercepted message bit is one thing, but the direct manipulation seems awfully cruel and petty.

No, wait, I already kind of despised him. But more so now.

George's body parts did show up in one of the message in a bottle thingies right?

edited 18th Dec '11 12:51:41 AM by Arha

I don't think so. I was just agreeing with Arha speculation.

George died in more then one message bottle/fakery, yeah. But which direct manipulation you are talking about? I don't quite remember it. Am I forgetting something? Or you are speculating again?

edited 18th Dec '11 12:53:02 AM by Heatth

He's pretty clearly playing on Shannon's anxiety (let's just call her Shannon for now since that's the name she's using) and prodding her regarding the matter. "Yeah, he's totally abandoned you. And he's all happy. Isn't that great that he's completely moved on from us?"

Oh, yeah. I had forgotten he was so obvious about it.

As for myself, for some reason I've never found myself despising George, despite having convinced myself he was that despicable long ago. Weird.

All that talk made me want to start EP8 right now. Lets see how it gets.

When you look at their ages when George started getting interested in Shannon, it suddenly seems pretty squicky. He was around 17 years old, and as far as he knew, she was 10...

Yeah, I thought of that as well.

And so it turns out that I had a 0% chance of solving the epitaph. Good thing I never bothered trying to solve it. Though I probably could have just guessed that the chapel was part of the solution.

edited 18th Dec '11 2:13:02 AM by Arha

For us, not Japanese-savy(or Chinese) people, that solution is kinda of a let down (the game itself point out it may be impossible to solve depending on the language). Aside that, I believe the Epitaph was well made. The right solution have been reached about as soon as it was possible. Yet, it was not obvious, so even though it was right on the Internet, the mystery kept until the end.

Yeah... Even the corrected age is still bad. She is only 2 or 3 years older then that, isn't she?

edited 18th Dec '11 2:11:02 AM by Heatth

Three years. Yasu's age was 'lowered' by three years.

Also, first, I have to admit I like Genji more now. Second, I suppose if he was worried about Kinzo repeating his mistake, that means Yasu and Lion really are girls since I think no matter how pretty, Kinzo would have been slightly disconcerted when they got naked. Third, I suppose it is likely that rather than Yasu/Lion being flat, while pretending to be Kanon she simply bound her breasts and wore clothing that hid the bust.

13 ot 17 is still a big gap. Four years aren't much, sure, but even a single year is a big difference in childhood and adolescence. These 4 years are a big gap, comparatively.

I thought it was more probable that Shannon used padding, actually. Seems more possible. Bounding a bust so big must hurt. Also, why would Lion do it if she is so touchy about people not figuring out her gender? Although I can't rule out she purposely being raised by Kinzo and Krauss to be a man (they are old fashioned, after all).

I still think she is a girl, however. For the same reasons as you. Not to mention her relationship with the other maids (in fact, all One Winged servant apart from Genji seems to be girls).

I've started reading EP8 myself. The start has a pre-Chiru feeling, which I like. But I do not know what to make of some other aspects of it.

PS:Don't worry, Arha, I will probably not post EP8 stuff without tags anymore. That one bit is not a spoiler, but I believe anything else I feel like posting here will probably be.

edited 18th Dec '11 2:25:28 AM by Heatth