Live Blogs Umineko Visual Novels : the Live But Delayed Blogination

Jhiday2010-12-09 10:48:55

[Note: this liveblog was originally published in the forum, starting in July 2009.]

Tonight, the anime version of Umineko No Naku Koro Ni will start being broadcasted. In anticipation for that, I've started looking into the original visual novel. Fortunately, it is quite easy to import, and the (unofficial, but authorized) English fantranslation project has recently caught up completely with the Japanese version.

So hey, perfect fodder for a Liveblogging thread.

Except it's not exactly "live". I've already started this on another forum a couple of weeks ago, so I'll be slightly reformating my initial comments. It'll still follow the spirit : each comment was written with no knowledge of what would come next.

I've gone into this relatively blind. I've (mostly) avoided any kind of spoilers. I know it's a supernatural murder mystery with a bunch of people trapped on a remote island, but not much else. I've already watched Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, so I expect each chapter will be a different version of the same basic scenario, with more clues to the whole explanation. There will probably be some Kill Em All versions, and at least some gruesome murders. I certainly doubt the answer will be the same.

This thread should be spoiler-free for Higurashi (if I do go into that direction, I'll mark them clearly). Anyway, I don't expect many obvious link to Higurashi beyond thematic resonances. The few common characters to both series seem to use obscure codenames (I know there's someone called Bernkastel running around in the background or something, for example), so there shouldn't be much risk of unintentional spoilerage.

In your comments, try keeping spoilers to the minimum, especially on parts I've not watched yet. I'm currently starting episode 3, but I certainly have no idea what the heck is really going on.

[Edited to add : I'm now done with episode 6. I should start watching Ep 7 soon.]

Okay, let's start.

THE PREMISE

This is the annual reunion of the rich Ushiromiya family on their private island of Rokkenjima, in 1986.

The head of the family, Kinzo Ushiromiya (hereafter called "Grampa") doesn't have much time left to live, but certainly is taking his sweet time. His four children are squabbling over the inheritance. Their respective spouses (minus one, for some reason) and one child each are also there. Add to this five servants and the family physician, and you get a total of 18 people.

There's a weird rumor that Grampa's got tons of gold stashed somewhere, and that he's used it to build the family fortune. He's supposed to have obtained it from a "witch" called Beatrice. He worships her and has been supposedly dabbling in black magic. Anyway, he now lives as a recluse in his study, barely allowing anyone inside. (There's been various ghostly sightings of Beatrice among the staff over the years, who assuredly live in fear of her.)

The weather is very bad, making the island completely isolated. And then people start dying...

THE GAMEPLAY

This is a Visual Novel in the truest sense of the words : at least the first chapter is completely uninteractive. Your only action is to control the flow of the scrolling text. Behind the text (which takes the whole screen), you can see a background scenery of the room/place the scene happens, and usually some basic sprites of the people talking.

The When They Cry series are often called "sound novels", and it's accurate. The soundtrack is very well done, with appropriate sound effects, and average-to-quite-good music.

Also of note is the "Tips" menu : instead of random bits of background info presented as deleted scenes (like in the Higurashi VNs), it's just a collection of the various important (but cryptic) documents appearing in the plot. This way, you can go back to them at any time to give them another look.

There's also a diagram of the cast of characters, with short profiles, as a reference of who's who. It gets updated everytime someone dies or disappears.

THE CAST

By order of appearance, mostly. I'll add my initial impressions on their possible degree of culpability.

Warning : Grampa is in love of occidental culture (he made his fortune in the post-war occupation), and decided to give weirdly western-sounding names to his children, and the tradition has carried over to the grandchildren.

• Kinzo Ushiromiya : Grampa. See the premise for more details.

Obviously he's a key player. On the other hand, it would be far too simple for him to be orchestrating everything. Other agents are probably around to screw his plans.

• Doctor Nanjo : The family physician, and longtime friend of Grampa.

I wouldn't exclude him being in league with Grampa or whoever else, but it has a low probability. Maybe he's just there for the "character with medical knowledge" quota.

• Genji : Head servant of the Ushiromiya home, and Grampa's right hand man. The "reserved butler" archetype.

If he's involved, it's obviously by following Grampa's orders.

• Battler Ushiromiya : Our protagonist/POV character, at least for the first chapter. Son of the third child of Grampa. 18 years old, in high school. Thoroughly despises his father, who apparently remarried only instants after the death of his first wife, six years ago. Battler has been living with his maternal grandparents ever since, and is only coming back into the fold now that they're dead.

Battler is rash, outspoken, prone to bad jokes, but very far from stupid. There's been a mention of him having a little sister, but she's not here.

An ideal POV character : involved enough to remember various bits of backstory, but his long absence means he's completely out of touch with most recent events (as well as everything he was too young to be really aware of).

I really doubt he's an active conspirator for the murders. Maybe he'll pull a Keiichi and kill some people out of paranoid delusion, but some of the events are too well-planned to be just that. And we get too much into his head for him to be deceiving us.

• George Ushiromiya : The son of the second child of Grampa. Oldest of the "child" generation. 23 years old, already working as an apprentice. The ideal son, calm, soothing. Deeply respected by Battler.

I doubt he's involved much, but who knows ?

• Eva Ushiromiya : The second child of Grampa, George's mother. A sneaky bitch with a serpent tongue. Somehow, she's managed to keep her position in the family despite her marriage (We'll get more details later).

I wouldn't put it past her to be involved in some way, or to be plotting something.

• Hideyoshi Ushiromiya : Eva's husband and George's father. A cunning businessman who built his business from scratch. Affable, pleasant, and certainly far less stupid than his (fake) accent lets on.

I don't know. He'd obviously be following Eva if she was involved, but I don't see him as the instigator.

• Kyrie Ushiromiya : Battler's stepmother. Interestingly, he has a very healthy and pleasant relationship with her, considering her a Cool Big Sis.

Again, I don't know. She's very nice, but that doesn't mean anything in When They Cry. Also, she seems to have a very sharp mind.

• Rudolf Ushiromiya : Battler's father, and the third child of Grampa. A former (?) womanizer (it's implied his relationship with Kyrie predates his first wife's death), and overall not a very pleasant person (we're not told in what branch of business he works, but it seems a bit shady). The object of Battler's scorn, though he doesn't seem to mind that much.

Possible suspect, but nothing definite.

• Rosa Ushiromiya : The last child of Grampa. She seems to be quite nice and fading in the background, but her relationship with her daughter looks quite strained. Her husband is the only spouse absent to the reunion, with the implication that he left her a while ago.

You know what they say about sleeping water. Very high in my suspect list.

• Maria Ushiromiya : Rosa's daughter, 9 years old. A gothic lolita if I've ever seen one. Interested in black magic. Her childlish speech patterns get annoying very quickly (she aims for cute, and misses the mark), and not just to the reader (it's one of the reasons her mother Rosa is displeased with her).

Again, high on the suspect list, though maybe manipulated by someone else.

• Jessica Ushiromiya : Daughter of the first child of Grampa, and thus the heir of the family. She really doesn't care for it, though, and acts like a tomboy (though her speech patterns don't translate well).

I really doubt she's involved, but who knows ? Maybe she'll pull a Shion at some point.

• Kumasawa : The old family servant, and token gossip hen.

I'd be laughing extremely hard if she was the mastermind behind everything. Maybe she's an accessory, but I even doubt that.

• Gohda : The cook. Very professional, but distrusted by most of the staff : while they were all hired by Grampa, he's Krauss' man (the first son).

Maybe as an helper to Krauss, but that's it.

• Kanon : A young male servant. Orphan, and around 16 if I'm not mistaken. Very sullen, he barely talks at all and seems to have low self-esteem.

Following Grampa's orders, probably.

• Shannon : A young female servant, around Battler's age. A bit clumsy under pressure. It's not her real name : all those young orphan servants take one of those "xxxon" names while working.

Ditto.

• Natsuhi Ushiromiya : Wife of the first child of Grampa, and Jessica's mother. She seems to be in charge of the island mansion (since neither Grampa or her husband can be bothered). She has a perpetual headache, and obviously doesn't like her awkward position in the family.

Maybe as a support to Krauss, but I doubt it. She's too impulsive for this.

• Krauss Ushiromiya

Very high suspect, of course.

Next part : the first day of Episode 1, setting the stage for the tragedy.

Comments

74.105.17.177 Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 23rd 2010 at 10:56:20 AM

(Arbane here - I can't log in on this computer.)

Very nice analysis! And it matches up pretty well with my own wild guesses so far.

One nitpick about EP 2, though. I'm reasonably sure that Shannon really was dead when Battler & Co. found her - he mentions that after the Stake fell out, he could see the inside of her skull, which would be hard to fake...

Jhiday Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 23rd 2010 at 11:41:22 AM

Darn. I really wanted Beato to still be alive at the end of EP 2, but I can't think of a good loophole around this. Sigh.

76.175.202.223 Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 23rd 2010 at 1:18:24 PM

Jeremy Kopczynski from RPG.Net here.

Thank you so very much for finishing this. Your analysis seems spot on.

My only real comment is that before Battler confronts Beatrice in EP 4 he only sees the body of George. All of the other deaths could have been by a depressed and enraged Beatrice who then killed herself to match the fake story. George might have been killed because he violently rejected the plan and its implied Battler/Shkannontrice pairing. He did say in his test he would kill anyone who got in the way of Shannon and him after all.

arbane Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 23rd 2010 at 2:55:11 PM

One thought on Episode 4: From Episode 2, we know that someone found the hidden gold, and Beatrice red-texts that Everyone acknowledged Kinzo at the family meeting!. My guess is that Shkanon announced their finding the gold to everyone gathered, announced that they were taking Kinzo's place as the new head, and then Stuff Happened.

Heatth Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 23rd 2010 at 7:07:28 PM

Awesome. As I expected (by seeing your general remarks), your main theory is very similar to mine, yet it is quite different in the details. So, please allow me compare our theories a bit and present a bit of nit picks. I naturally do have some foreknowledge regarding EP7, of course, but I promise avoid the topics realized in this Episode as much as I can, to avoid letting some spoiler slip.

First, I am obviously in accord that Shannon = Kanon = Beato (and yes, there are people who still denies this). I originally thought this was something I had to swallow, but that were unbelievable, since Krauss family does obviously not know. But, I guess, if Genji and Kumasawa helps, it could be explained. I would add that Kanon 'birth' must happen after Kinzo's death, otherwise he would also have to be in the secret, witch is unlikely, I think.

I will then propose a small backup theory (that mostly fits yours): EP1 and EP2 are what Beatrice, i.e.Shannon, was planning to do, while the rest are scenarios where something goes wrong. This is based on the Message Bottles and, more important, in the 'Forgeries' we learn of in EP6. The message bottles were written by 'Beatrice', and are scenaries she imagined for her plans. The rest is Hachijo playing 'what if'.

That being said, lets go Episode by Episode:

Episode 1: I frankly never even considered Eva helping the murder here. Personally, of the 4 siblings, she, Krauss and their spouses are the ones I find less likely to commit cold blood murder. You theory is plausible, of course, but if we think through, Evan and Hideyoshi involvement are not needed. Outside the first twilight, Shannon can pull it alone. Even the first can be done without help, if she has guns or used poison.

Also, there must consider why would Eva agree. One must remember that, with 3 siblings dead, the last one will be the one more likely to be considered culprit. We know the police cleared Eva in Ange future, but could Eva (or anyone) predict that far?

Episode 2: As Arbane said, Shannon was pretty much unmistakably dead. Her stake is the only one not firm, which is explained if it was suicide (something like Rika in Meakashi I suppose).

Another thing to note, is that this time I agree Rosa have, at some level collaborate. That would explain the Capel lock (it was never locked) and why we saw her with Beatrice. Naturally, despite helping a bit, she is not found of helping a murder, which is why she is so aggressive against the servants (who she knew were on it). What is not so easy to explain is why Rosa suddenly decided to run away with Maria in the end.

Episode 3: The one I disagree the most. I don't think Kyrie and Rudolf were on it. In fact, I will stick with the old "Eva did it" theory.

What goes 'wrong' here, by my theory, is Eva (and Rosa) actually solved the Epitaph.

We agree as far the First Twilight goes. After that, Eva solves the Epitaph, becomes "Beatrice" and as a result, made the "real" Beatrice give up the murdering (yes, I am assuming she will actually follow her letter). Unfortunately, Eva accidentally killed Rosa (they struggle and Rosa slipped on the rain) and, in panic "silenced" Maria (note Eva starts to get really disturbed after that).

Rudolf and Kyrie called Hideyoshi out for the reason Battler and Virgilia exposed originally, to interrogate him about the fake alibi. They end up killing themselves in the hotblood of the discussion. The stakes are placed by either Nanjo (who was not be aware the plans changed) or Shannon (to... make things interesting?).

Krauss and Natsuhi are killed by Eva, who see no solution other then finish them after the 3 new deaths. Nanjo is killed by either Hideyoshi or Kyrie on their last breath (he staked them or, at last, lied on his autopsy). Eva kills Battler after he accuses her. I agree about George, though.

I have no much reason for that other then I believe Beatrice has no much reason to lie in the letter. However, this is also to support my theory about the letters and the forgeries.

Episode 4: I am very sad you have no clue here, because I don't either. ^^; What I can suppose is that the "what gone wrong" is the cause for the early murders. All Episodes have the murdering happening after the first day, so it is safe to assume this is the culprit original goal. My guess is Shannon was discovered early here, so she had to take hostages.

Episode 5:

I am really impressed here, because I wouldn't be able to reason that far. Your conclusions about the midnight conference and Shannon are very interesting.

However, there is a gap in your theory. I believe it was said in red the 6 of the first twilight have, in fact, died (the time of the dead, is, of course, hidden). This goes against my own theory as well, but I can't think anyone other then Shannon to be able, or have reason, to do the killings.

Anyway, I loved your theories. While I prefer mine, thanks to you I will have to rethink my own conclusions about EP1 and EP3. Your theory about EP5 is quite telling as well.

Sorry for the massiveness of my comment. And also sorry if such thing was uncalled for. If you find it annoying I may edit it out (I think I overdid a bit by stating my own theories as well).

There is something I have to say: you do realize the TIPS menu after each Episode (the one you access in the main menu) may contain some Easter Eggs? I am not talking about the extra tips, but the 'extras' you can find in the character profiles. You know, you can change the normal sprites for the alternatives ones (like Shannon and George in EP2) and even find hidden profiles like Sista556 in EP4 onward (you can revive her as well). More important, you can 'execute' Erika in EP6(but not EP5), both profiles actually. There is a hint there one can not ignore.

arbane Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 23rd 2010 at 7:32:28 PM

@Heatth - Yes, we do get told that the 6 people 'killed' in the first twilight of Episode 5 really did die... but only at the 24:00 point in the game, when everyone is usually already dead anyway. We were also told that "After (victim) died, their body was never moved!" for all the 6 victims, which tells us that they weren't dead until AFTER they disappeared.

Edit to add: It occurs to me that there's now a good explanation for one relatively minor mystery in Episode 1: The bloody handprints on Natsuhi's door could be just due to Shkannon trying to freak out Natsuhi, even without knowing about the scorpion charm.

Heatth Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 24th 2010 at 3:31:30 AM

Really? That would make things simpler. However, we still have Krauss death. He was killed just after the phone call. That I am pretty sure of.

Jhiday Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 24th 2010 at 5:21:47 AM

@ Heatth : we disagree less than you think. I was mostly concerned with the effects of the Shkanon retcon, so I left alone all the events she wasn't involved in, like Rosa's chapel door trick in EP 2, or Eva's rampage in EP 3 (do note that the only murder I have Beato commit after Eva finding the gold is Dr Nanjo, and even this can be ascribed to — for example — preventing him from killing Jessica).

I don't get your point regarding Kanon and Grampa. First, we have concrete evidence to the contrary : I'm pretty sure Kanon was stated as starting working in Rokkenjima "three years ago" (as opposed to Grampa's death a bit more than a year ago), and he has to been there longer than Gohda (two years there) for him to be trusted by Natsuhi into the "Grampa's still alive" mascarade. Anyway, what does it matter if Grampa knows (and I don't think so, as he was already a recluse and Natsuhi's the one in charge of the household matters ; SHE is the one who should be hard to fool) ? He's dead...

I did notice that some TIPS were unlocked on completion, but I have to admit I didn't think to re-check them since my first completion of EP 6 months ago. I'll give them a look next week when I come back home.

Heatth Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 24th 2010 at 9:23:06 AM

I see. I suppose we agree a lot then. I still don't quite buy the Beatrice allying with one couple each time, but I can't deny it is a clever theory. Even better if you consider that, by that theory, the only adults Shannon did not allied herself to is Natsuhi and Krauss, which make sense if you believe she just dislike the woman.

My point is Kinzo is the one giving the right to bestow the One Winged Eagle. I just don't like the idea of him being fooled to give such honor to a non existent guy. I believe Kanon is there for 2 years, not 3. But I haven't considered Gohda, so I guess I will just accept Kinzo is being fooled too for now.

Please, recheck the TIPS. Not the 'TIPS' itself, but the characters. Specifically, 'execute' Erika (both 'human' and 'magical'). I don't think it is such a big thing, but it definitively worth a mention. Since you haven't commented, I can only suppose you missed it.

Happy Christmas (eve). =)

Crinias Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 27th 2010 at 9:44:00 PM

@Jhiday : Just gonna clear up some details regarding EP 3 and what the hells happened in EP 4.

Prepare yourselves for a Wall Of Text.

The details of EP 3’s closed room chain are a bit confusing, but here I go: The order in which the adults found the corpses is: Shannon, Kumasawa, Gohda, Genji, Kinzo and Kanon. We know that they are all 'dead' and that there is no one hiding in the room, but the order in which they searched the rooms is key: they first check on Shannon, and Nanjo confirms that she is dead, but he could have easily been conspiring with her. They take her master key, close the room, check on all the corpses up until Kinzo, find the key to the chapel… and during this time, Shannon/Beato goes to the chapel (which was presumably open), dresses as Kanon, closed the door of the chapel from the inside (it probably has a manual lock) and plays dead. She took Kanon’s master key and the key to the parlor (which she had used to open and close the room after the adults closed it), and left it there for the adults to find. Nanjo of course covers for her again. That should be enough to clear the details on that one. It’s worth noting that if they had decided to force open another room first, like say the second floor’s guestroom, the whole thing would have been blown apart.

As for EP 4… well, it’s a hell of a complicated theory, and potentially contains SPOILERS for the Howdunnit and Whydunnit. However, I would like to say that everything below could have been reasoned out from the first 4 Episodes.

We already know that Shannon is Kanon. We already know that she (or he) is also Beatrice. Episode 5 confirmed to us via red text that Beatrice was in possession of the gold, but you could have guessed from the first 4 Episodes that she already had it. Maria and a whole bunch of people say it, and Maria turned out to be right about a lot of things, including the fact that Beatrice ‘exists’. We also know via Ange in EP 4 that some if not all of the remaining family members received money from ‘Beatrice’, and that the cards with PIN numbers came in letters meant to arrive after the whole Rokkenjima Incident (because they were sent one day before the incident). If anything, this can only mean that Beatrice was planning on using her gold to coerce the servants into helping her kill everybody and that the money she promised to each of them (100 million yen IIRC) would arrive after the whole incident was over.

What proof is there that she actually did this? Aside from having little difficulty to convince the servants into helping her, Rudolf said in EP 1 that he expected to be killed. I think that Rudolf may have had second thoughts about Beatrice’s whole plan, and upon informing to Beatrice that he refused to do things for , he expected her to kill him as well. He simply didn’t have the nerve to tell Battler and Kyrie as well (Speaking of those two, Beatrice paying Rudolf money to force him to reveal that Asumu is not Battler’s mother could work its way into this theory, and it would explain how she knew about it, and was able to say it in red.).

Where am I going with all this? If you have ten fricking tons of gold, it wouldn’t be hard to convince a lot of people to do things that would normally be against their nature. How do I know that she convinced a lot of people? Gohda and Kumasawa informed the cousins in the guesthouse that Kinzo had gone mad and had started killing everyone, but we already know that Kinzo is dead and that Gohda isn’t even supposed to know he’s dead. The whole thing was Beatrice convincing people to do and say stuff that has already been scripted in advance (and that she herself eventually fulfilled to make it look true).

I don’t know how she killed Gohda and Kumasawa. That seems like the hardest part of the Howdunnit. It might be possible if you could shoot Gohda and Kumasawa from the shutter to the storeroom, but I don’t remember the details on its structure.

However, I know what happened near the end. Beatrice talks to Battler and tells him to atone for his sin from 6 years ago. We are told that Battler’s sin is forgetting something. We know that this sin isn’t against Beatrice. And we also know that Shannon and Kanon are Beatrice. We also know that Battler notes that Beato’s eyes seem to be saying that it’s a sin against her, even though that was just denied by the red. Therefore, the sin is against Shannon.

What could he have possibly done against her? EP 3. Before any of the murders, Jessica asks Shannon if she remembers anything embarrassing that Battler might have said. “Let's see. ......I'm sure that he said something like this when he left. 'I'll be back, <see you again>. I'll come to greet you riding on a white horse.'" “Without love, it cannot be seen”… the truth, and the motive. Shannon loved Battler, and Battler himself admitted in an internal monologue that he did used to have a crush on Shannon.

And we already know that he didn’t come back because he had a fight with Rudolf. In the six years before he returned, things happened and she hatched a plan to kill everyone on Rokkenjima.

(A bit of a side-note here, related to the Whydunnit. George loves Shannon. Jessica has a crush on Kanon. Maria is treated by Beatrice as a very dear (maybe her only) friend. Meta-Battler and Meta-Beatrice developed feelings for each other, and in fact started flirting with one another from the moment they met. In other words, s/he was the source of affection of all 4 cousins. This plays very heavily into the Whydunnit.)

So when Battler says that he doesn't remember his promise, she is heartbroken, and most likely, asks Maria to die with her, in peace. I guess you could call it a double-suicide pact. Shannon’s corpse was found near the well which leads to the Kuwadorian, and her death is explained via suicide: she shot herself in the forehead while leaving a stake lying around, and after shooting, the gun falls thorugh the bars of the well.

Maria was killed by poison. Maybe Beatrice convinced her that drinking it was a way to go to the Golden Land, or maybe she chose to kill herself as part of the test.

Battler waits for a whole day, but nothing more happens. At midnight on the second day, he is killed. And that’s where it ends.

Wall Of Text ends here.

PataHikari Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 6th 2011 at 11:17:58 AM

My guess is that Shkanon announced their finding the gold to everyone gathered , announced that they were taking Kinzo's place as the new head

I figured it was something like Shkanon said "screw this" wheeled out Kinzo's corpse, said she's in charge now, and they'd better play along if they want any gold.

arbane Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 11th 2011 at 10:52:06 PM

Heh. I hadn't thought of THAT possibility. And all the red text says is that everyone "Acknowledged the existence of Kinzo."