Wow, it's been far too long since the last installment. Especially since I've finished the VN a while ago, and my memories are already getting fuzzy.
Episode 4, Bonus Scene 1 : The Second Day
Nothing at all happens the second day.
Battler spends the whole day looking around, finding the various corpses. Maria is found poisoned in the dining room with the first six victims. Battler even breaks into the garden shed to confirm Gohda and Kumasawa's death. Only Kanon's corpse is missing : as he fell into the well, it's now inaccessible for some reason. No trace of "Beatrice", either.
Despite his growing paranoia, nothing at all happens to Battler. Even after he finally fells asleep. Nobody attacks him at all. There seems to be noone else alive on the island, though he obviously can't search it comprehensively.
And so he finds himself wandering in the garden at midnight of the second day. Time for a final duel with Beatrice !
This time, Battler has prepared his argumentation for all of the four iterations. Basically, he argues that Grampa has always been dead, in all four of them. Yes, even the fourth one (this wasn't his original argument, but Beatrice forces his hand by stating in red that "Grampa's status at the beginning was the same in all four cases"). This opens room for an unknown 18th person, which explains most of the mysteries.
Beatrice counters by upgrading "there were no more than 18 people alive on the island" to "there were no more than 17 people alive on the island". Oh, Crap!.
Battler nicely recovers through clever if sometimes ridiculous theories (some people faked their deaths in the first iteration ! Some elaborate traps were set to kill people bizarrely - for example Natsuhi in the first case ! There were some impersonators - for Kanon in the second case, and Grampa in the fourth !). Each time, Beatrice seemingly cannot counter. There is a lot of What Do You Mean, It's Not Awesome? imagery with Battler's theories piercing Beatrice's body. It's a bit ridiculous.
But Beatrice reserved her best weapon for the end : "Only Battler is alive on this island right now. Nobody outside the island can affect you. I WILL KILL YOU. And, of course, I am not you !"
At this point, we get the usual cast list and summary of how everyone died. It's interesting how Ange's is just "died in 1998", which opens a lot of possibilities for what really happened...
Episode 4, Bonus Scene 2 : The Witches' Tea Party
Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are hanging around in some bedroom (Les Yeah !). Lambdadelta complains a bit about Beatrice's taste for theatrics : she deliberately waited until the end of Battler's assault to strike back. Even though she had tons of ways to cripple Battler's theories all along. Then Lambdadelta proceeds to lampoon most of Battler's arguments by denying them with red text. She even overdoes it a bit by stating that Natsuhi was definitely killed by a normal human being.
From this conversation, it's obvious that Lambdadelta knows the solution to the murder mystery, but not Bernkastel. Or does she ?
There's also some talk about Ange, as Lambadelta is impressed by Bernkastel using and sacrificing such a powerful pawn so quickly. But it had to be done.
And then it appears that Lambdadelta and Bernkastel are much more friendly than would be expected, as they agree to gang together against Beatrice if it appears she has any chance of winning. Which is logical : Bernkastel wants Beatrice to lose, while Lambdadelta yearns for a perpetual draw. So Beatrice has no chance of ever winning...
My thoughts on Episode 4
Well, this was certainly different.
I liked the future elements a lot : it's a complete Genre Shift into an action thriller, and it works. I'm not enamoured with the ending of that thread (I find the magic battles the weakest element of the novels, and the knife-girls are borderline Scrappies for me), but by then the main focus had thankfully shifted back to the past.
The endless flashbacks could have been a chore, but they're handled rather well. It helps that Maria's sugar-coated narration is subverted at every instant. Overall, it bridges some gaps in the backstory, and raises a bit more mystery about "Beatrice". Ange's flashbacks were a bit more painful, partly because I don't like the knife-girls, but chiefly because her dreadful childhood experiences resonated a lot with me (although, of course, I was never sent to an horrible boarding school).
There was a lot to like in the past sequences, but I at times got the feeling that most of it didn't matter (since it becomes clear that barely any of it is real), and the author is indulging himself in truly ridiculous fight scenes. I could just barely buy George suddenly knowing capoeira and the asthmatic Jessica being able to handle herself in a fight against frigging Ronove, but the completely nonsensical battle between Krauss and the big goat was just stupid. Fun, but completely stupid.
The real meat of this chapter is of course the battle of theories between Battler and Beatrice, now that Battler finally has a decent fighting chance and more facts to his disposal. Still not enough, but he's getting there.
Now, we get a lot of interesting information in red here :
- Grampa has always been dead for the duration of the weekend. Which means that not only are all his scenes fake, but anyone ever seen interacting with him is suspect. Krauss, Genji, Natsuhi and Dr Nanjo are constants, with the addition of Kanon and Shannon in most cases. Most of them had every reason to hide his death (or could have been bought), so I can see it working.
- Does "Beatrice" really exist, or is someone pretending to be her ? The "no more than 17" statement seems to exclude her existence, which makes Rosa, Maria, Genji, Kanon, Shannon and Kyrie suspect in the second episode - and, actually, most of the adults, because of the chapel scene. What was the deal with that ? (Battler seeing her at the end is no problem, as he's drunk by then.)
- In the fourth episode, "Beatrice" can be dismissed as trickery : Battler only sees her from afar, and only confirms everyone's death after. There's nothing to prevent, say, Jessica or Shannon, from impersonating her.
- The "Battler is not Asumu's son" revelation is an interesting twist. It's heavily suggested that he's really Kyrie's son (which would make for some tragic irony), but my main concern is the suggestion that the "real" Battler could be running around. Especially with all those orphans employed by the Ushiromiya (isn't it right, KANON ?).
- Speaking of which, this is the third time Battler can't confirm Kanon's death himself. Hum.
So, let's think back about all the suspects :
- Grampa is dead, so he's out. Except that I'm not completely sure Beatrice said that much in red. For all I know, the "always been dead" character could have been Kanon or whoever. Anyway, the more interesting aspect of Grampa's death is the number of people who must have been in on it (at least 6 by my count), which does make me wonder about what else they've lied.
- Krauss & Natsuhi... I have a hard time seeing them as masterminds. They obviously hid the death of Grampa, but that very fact gives them no motive for the massacre. Their involvement must be limited to wildcards who have no reason to play nice with our killer(s).
- Eva and Hideyoshi : ditto. I take Episode 3 as a scenario where the original killer(s) lost, and Eva took over the massacre. Beatrice was barely able to save face on that one.
- Rudolf and Kyrie : there's something very dodgy here. There are tons of hints that they have some clue about what's happening (Rudolf knowing he'll soon be dead in Episode 1, for example). Also, I've read a WMG stating that the Episode 3's initial six deaths felt very Kyrie-like (clinical, and a bit too clever)... and I cannot help agreeing with it. The "Battler is not Asumu's son" revelation adds to the mystery of what their game really is.
- Rosa. Oh, Rosa... Her role in Episode 2 is very suspicious indeed (the chapel scene alone !). She's also one of the few characters to have seen "Beatrice"... and twice, both in Episodes 2 and 3.
- Jessica : alas, she looks a bit too innocent to be true. She's one of my prime suspects for "Beatrice" (with some MPD, of course). Is her asthma an act ? Did she know about Grampa being dead ? So many questions, so few answers...
- George : Ditto, he's too good to be true. On the other hand, he could just be wild card, like his mother (but not necessarily on the same side).
- Maria : pitiful dupe, or Complete Monster ? The jury's still out. She's got one hell of a Freudian Excuse, for sure. On the other hand, her movements are mostly well-documented, so she can't be the main killer.
- Genji : an obvious accomplice to the killer(s), that's for sure. I can't quite fathom why he's taken out very early in Episodes 3 and 4, but his actions in Episodes 1 and 2 are very suspicious indeed. Not to mention that he must have been aware of Grampa's death.
- Shannon : another prime candidate for "Beatrice". Various scenes have proven there's a hardened steel core behind the Dojikko façade. Also, she must have known about dead Grampa too.
- Kanon : where to start ? No corpse seen in three cases out of four, some very suspicious actions, an orphan background that could hide anything... And he must have known about dead Grampa too.
- Gohda : I'd say completely innocent and unrelated to all this madness. Which would make him the only one...
- Kumasawa : I have a deep suspicion she's the original "Beatrice", but the Virgilia connection may just be a red herring.
- Dr Nanjo : his complete failure at notifying everyone that his old friend was dead makes any of his later diagnostics a complete joke. He's clearly been bought out (possibly by multiple parties), and is not to be trusted.
- Battler : we've got a clear account of most of his actions... but his background has enough holes to drive whole buses through. I wouldn't exclude a secret agenda, whether with or without his parents.
- "Beatrice" : I can't completely exclude yet that she does exist as a separate human being from all of the eighteen, but I do find it highly improbable. The most obvious suspects are Jessica, Shannon and Rosa (I find the flashback of their meeting in Episode 3 highly suspicious), but I'm not completely closed to highly bizarre suggestions (such as Kanon, Natsuhi or Battler himself).
That's for the "who". The "why" depends highly on it (though there are lots of possible motives, and hardly anyone motiveless). As for the "how", with all the bizarre closed room murders... I'm mostly dumbfounded.
My only conclusive guess is for the final deaths (the "10th twilight") : I suspect some sort of landslide that obliterates most of the island. It would explain the last victims dying without anyone to kill them, the authorities never finding any clue despite all the traces we find, Eva surviving in Episode 3 (she was in the hidden mansion on the other side of the island), and Ange not even bothering with exploring the main mansion in Episode 4.
Anyway, that's it for the Umineko No Naku Koro Ni VN Live but Delayed-blogging. Hope you enjoyed it ! I may start a new thread for Episodes 5 onwards when they're translated, but it will be called a different name (Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru).
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