Recap / Umineko When They Cry Episode 2

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

Prologue

Some time ago, George and Jessica are at the family meeting on Rokkenjima. Eva summons George to discuss his potential fiances for the sake of the family, and tells Shannon that she'll make her regret dating him. Natsuhi is similarly offended by her underperformance. Despairing, Shannon complains to the portrait of Beatrice, after which a very entertained Beatrice appears in the flesh and promises to help her love life if she breaks a mirror at the shrine. Kanon chases Beatrice away.

Later, Beatrice checks on Shannon that her relationship with George and her family standing have improved significantly. At the school festival, Jessica has a pretend date with Kanon, who starts to appreciate her. Jessica notices that and assures him he too doesn't have to be obedient, but he rejects wanting to be human. Beatrice appears and tells Kanon that Shannon is her toy to fiddle with and break later.

On a train, Maria gets a candy from a granny, and Rosa beats her on the station. Admitting her unstable temper, Rosa pretends being a victim of a witch. Krauss is stressed over his business. Rudolf's trial puts him into debt. Servants prepare for the "special guest". Beatrice tells Meta-Battler that preparations are in place and she's ready to begin again, determined to challenge Battler for as long as it takes.

The First Day

Everyone discusses the history of Halloween with Maria. Once everyone leave, Rosa beats Maria up. Rosa and Maria meet Beatrice in a school uniform, who fixes Maria's crushed candy with magic. Beatrice gives Maria and Rosa envelopes each and leaves to meet with Genji and Kyrie. Kyrie notes that the guest doesn't actually introduce herself. Beatrice's portrait changes to her younger version.

Beatrice fails to enter Kinzo's study due to scorpion seal and leaves to VIP room. Kanon makes a deal with Beatrice so Shannon would more likely to be spared if he gives up on George, which he later tells her about. Back at the Tea Party, Meta-Battler is annoyed by the events playing out differently and tries to explain Maria's candy with hand tricks. The adults decide the guest is Kinzo's illegitimate daughter and can't be a heir. Shannon thanks Beatrice for everything and decides to Face Death with Dignity, but doesn't tell George about it. George single-handedly decides to marry Shannon right in his room. Kanon is angsting he didn't confess to Jessica.

Beatrice tells Meta-Battler that if he finds the gold, she loses. After some undisclosed discussion with Beatrice at the chapel, Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Kyrie and Rosa accept that she's real as a heir and a witch. Midnight.

The Second Day

Shannon, Rosa and Genji find the magic circle at the chapel and a writing "Happy Halloween for Maria". Rosa finally decides to check an envelope and finds the chapel key inside. The corpses of Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf and Kyrie are found, sitting in front of a party table with their stomachs burst open. Rosa has apparently stole the letter from Maria, who starts acting like last time. The kids follow Nanjo and see the scene. George finds the second letter, which is the same declaration as last time. Battler finds three gold bars.

Jessica accuses Beatrice and rushes to Beatrice's room. Beatrice is missing, leaving a note mocking the children. Kanon lets Jessica cry in her room. Beatrice appears and summons a goat butler as "her furniture". Kanon shows he's capable of Spontaneous Weapon Creation and kills the Goat. Jessica praises Kanon. Beatrice decides she's now good enough for the second twilight, summons Asmodeus, who stabs Jessica, then summons Satan, who stabs Kanon, taking Kanon's corpse with her.

Kinzo asks Shannon to write his last will about his first meeting with Beatrice, showing awareness of the "last time", but the scene cuts to black. Battler thinks there's something fishy about the chapel itself. Rosa assumes the only key was in Maria's possession the entire time. Meta-Battler realizes it's another Locked Room Mystery, meaning either Beatrice went out of her way instead of just using magic, or it wasn't her. Beatrice is tired of Meta-Battler's indecisiveness, so from there on when she speaks in red, he has to take it for granted. Meta-Battler quickly deduces that Beatrice is unable to answer where the key was between when Maria got it and when Rosa got it, mocking her for unwittingly revealing the key has gone missing at the time of a crime.

Golden butterflies follow Rosa to Kinzo's room without her noticing, then she returns with the rifle and claims Kinzo is sitting scared. The second magic circle is found at Jessica's room along with her corpse. Rosa calls Kanon as the culprit, as he's missing and had one of the master keys. Jessica's and Kanon's ghosts are complaining to Beatrice's amusement. Battler stops Rosa's argument as Kanon gave his master key to Jessica, and finds it with her. Battler fails to solve the room as he can't suspect anyone yet.

The servants get isolated in the kitchen by Rosa. Injured Kanon appears with red eyes, but Shannon quickly gets a spider handkerchief from the boiler room, which is a Supernatural Repellent. "Kanon" kills Nanjo and Kumasawa right away. The others restrain the demon and exorcise him with the handkerchief. Genji, Gohda and Shannon can't really explain to Rosa how another murder has happened. When everyone checks, the two corpses are gone.

Battler's last guesses are shot down by Beatrice, so he has no comeback other than Everybody Did It. Rosa takes everyone's keys. Battler yields to Beatrice, but the game has to finish first. George and Shannon try to put Natsuhi's mirror into the shore shrine, but Beatrice and her army of demons intercept them. The corpses of Kumasawa, Nanjo, George, Shannon and Gohda are found. Battler finds another letter. Rosa and Battler start blaming each other, but get tired. Genji escorts Battler to Kinzo, who admits his love for Beatrice. Battler sees the butterflies and Beatrice in person for the first time. Beatrice promises to explain everything... And the credits roll.

In the The Stinger, Beatrice and Kinzo join a demonic ball and Battler is reduced to a furniture servant. Bernkastel is very disappointed. Battler and Kinzo get Eaten Alive. Rosa and Maria are shown to have a Last Stand against goats, but die.

Tea Party

Rosa is invited to the Tea after-party. Beatrice offers one wish as a compensation for the trouble. Rosa recalls when they all were younger. Beatrice forces her to eat her family for her alleged Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. Battler comes to his senses and stops it. Beatrice frees him, as it is amusing. When she asks to explain the murders, credits roll.

At Witch Party, Bernkastel calls the game too unfair. Beatrice accuses her for interfering. Lambdadelta shows up. The three set up a match against each other. Bernkastel describes to the player that Lambdadelta prefers overwhelming her opponents, while Beatrice toys with handicaps, and herself being overly analytical. Lambdadelta vents to the player and hopes Beatrice loses next time.

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Tropes:

• Arc Words:
  • "Devil's Proof" is used repeatedly by several characters, that anything is plausible until proven otherwise. Beatrice calls it a boring fallacy, and insists that Battler should consider anything is impossible until proven otherwise, or she'll be able to stop any conversation with A Wizard Did It.
  • The later half repeatedly uses "the Wolves and Sheep puzzle" as there's one or multiple killers among the survivors and Rosa refuses to let children and servants to be together at all times.
• Arranged Marriage: Eva tells George that it's fine if his future partner is someone he already trusts... as long as it's financially beneficial to the Ushiromiya family and someone from the selection the adults have prepared for him.
• Artistic License – Chess: Beatrice describes Perpetual Check as "repetition of moves". Perpetual Check is when a king is checked repeatedly, but not necessary by the same move. The situation Beatrice refers to is called Threefold Repetition.
• Alternate Timeline: Beatrice restarts the game and gets physically involved to create a new mystery.
• Ambiguously Evil:
  • Beatrice flip-flops between being melancholic and sadistic. During the game she devalues human life and mocks people where it hurts, but on several occasions she shows pity to Shannon and Kinzo, and implies there are rules even she has to follow.
  • Rosa was shown to be with the first six victims at midnight, making everything she says since then highly suspect. She is curiously also the last one to live.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Battler and Beatrice from the previous Tea Party observe the events at the same time as Battler and Beatrice act in the present time, making it unclear if both Battlers are the same.
  • Battler makes a point that he won't believe in magic until he sees it. Ironically, the cases of most blatant uses of magic happen when Battler isn't present. He only sees a display of magic after giving up.
  • Beatrice insists that anything said in red is to be treated like a confession, but the part that it shouldn't be doubted isn't in red, so the player has no obligation to believe she's honest even with that condition.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: At the end, Maria says she knew there's no "bad mama" and accepts Rosa as she is.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Battler resigns early, as he can't explain the locked room murders without either literally everyone conspiring together or the culprit being able to walk through walls, and Beatrice accepts him as furniture. Only after the game ends, he finds just enough strength to stand again, and Beatrice is in the mood for another round.
• Be Yourself: A theme at the beginning of the chapter is that Shannon, Kanon and Jessica hate their life at Ushiromiya household and try out new personas where they can be whoever they want to be.
• Boyfriend Bluff: Jessica is the only one to not have a boyfriend before the School Festival, so Shannon makes Kanon to stand-in.
• Cerebus Retcon: One of the first things Rosa says in her introduction at Episode 1 is that she has almost missed the plane due to some sort of issue with the train. Here we see Rosa going out of her way trying to slap Maria into submission at the trian platform.
• Chekhov's Gun: George finds an English engraving near the chapel saying at least "the door is opened only at probabiliy of mbtq", but most of it is unreadable. What it actually says it explained in Episode 4.
• Company Cross References: Jessica's song at the school festival is a Word Salad Lyrics filled with terminology of Higurashi: When They Cry.
• Deal with the Devil:
  • Beatrice promises Shannon that she and George can be together, as a reward for her service, but if she breaks the talisman at the shore shrine. Shannon initially rejects, as she feels it will create trouble, but Beatrice then adds that until she does so, her days will remain the same as they are now, and she can see the future where George is married to another girl. Shannon breaks the mirror and her love life improves. Beatrice later confirms she just needed a new plaything and intends to sacrifice them regardless.
  • Kanon licks Beatrice's shoes in exchange of giving Shannon a greater chance of survival, but only if she rejects George. She doesn't take the offer.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
  • Kanon tells Beatrice to leave, despite recognizing her as the witch from the portrait. She's quite offended but leaves him be. He does it again and again even after she gets more powerful.
  • When it becomes clear Beatrice actually had no respect for her, Shannon throws her owns words back that she's no longer furniture and has no obligation to do as she says, even if it kills her.
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: For an evil witch, Beatrice is nothing short but friendly to Shannon and chats with her, having nothing better to do but munching cookies. For her sake, she even pretends to beat up Natsuhi since she can't see her. Later it's implied it really is because she doesn't have anything else to do, and once she gets her powers back Shannon becomes disposable.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Jealous schoolgirls don't know that Kanon is a butler from Jessica's family and not her boyfriend, so they get hysterical when he addresses her in high regard. One of them make a correct guess that he's a servant. Jessica beats everyone up so they'd shut up.
  • Natsuhi tells Krauss she was impressed by Jessica's dignified behavior at the school festival. She clearly didn't see her undignified pop concert and only met her at the student council meeting.
• Dramatic Thunder: Beatrice's arrival is proceeded by a lightning, signifying that now anything can happen.
• Enemy Rising Behind: Kanon is seemingly cut by Goat, but reappears behind him and stabs him.
• Exact Words:
  • Beatrice promised Shannon that she and George will be happy together. But not for long.
  • How the red text works. They eliminate some of Battler's theories, but are abstract enough to still leave a lot of possibilities. Sometimes Battler notices their phrasing allow scenarios he assumed unlikely.
• Everyone Can See It: George and Shannon keep complimenting each other despite master-servant relationship being forbidden. Jessica non-subtly tells George that he should treat his mysterious girlfriend better and he can practice with Shannon. Eva tells Shannon that others have also picked on it and she should know her place.
• "Everybody Dies" Ending: Beatrice took all 18 lives once again.
• Forbidden Love: It's quickly established George is expected to bring a woman of some influence to the family, so his relationship with a maid Shannon would be more than problematic.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Eva states that "no matter what's shown to us now on Rokkenjima, it can't be accepted as truth". She says it in regards to the mysterious 5th heir, but she does it repeatedly as if there's something to it.
  • While mocking Battler, Beatrice splits into three. It's only one gag, but it becomes relevant in other Episodes.
  • Despite the Chapel never appearing in Episode 1, it is describes as having an immense value to Kinzo and nobody is allowed to enter except for cleaning. Why is revealed in EP 7.
• For the Evulz: Kanon tries to protect Jessica by denying they are close so she wouldn't fit the second twilight. Beatrice tries to kill her anyway just because it'll be amusing to see him suffer.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Near the end, Rosa runs with a gun, a gold bar, and Maria in her hands. She fails to escape protecting all of them, only realizing late the gold doesn't worth it.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Meta-Battler points at Beatrice, saying if she's ready to torture him forever then he'll make it a torture for her instead. Later he does it every time she fails to disprove his theory.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Battler refuses to think someone he knows is the culprit, despite their blatant greed and him not seeing them for 6 years, which costs him the game. Beatrice brings up that him trying to pin all crimes on a 19th person with no evidence of them, while also denying the magic culprit, is desparate and irrational.
• Good News, Bad News: Rudolf gets two news from his agent about some trade deal, bad is that the trial will still be carried out, and "good" news is that the the other party can withdraw but with conditions of Rudolf's firm effectively going bankrupt.
• Hates Being Called Cute: Out of all things, Kanon takes offense to Asmodeus calling him a cutie.
• Holy Burns Evil: The scorpion sigil burns Beatrice's hand when she tries to open the door to Kinzo's study and she decides to go to her room. It appears as if she didn't know it was there until now.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Beatrice claims that due to Kinzo's improper ritual, she's been stuck on Rokkenjima with literally nothing to do and limited powers for decades. It's questionable if she really feels lonely, or only said that to gain Shannon's sympathy, as it turns out she is toying with her.
• Ironic Echo:
  • Beatrice quotes Eva about Shannon having no chance with George to provoke Shannon into action.
  • In the previous episode Battler was upset someone cruel smashed the victims' faces. Beatrice asks him to be thankful that it's not the case this time, also eliminating the possibility of body doubles.
• Kick the Dog: Eva whispers insults to Shannon and reminds her she has no rights, so she should stop viewing George romantically if she knows what's good for her.
• Language of Truth: Because Battler keeps stalling until he gets new information, Beatrice introduces a new rule. If she says something in red, he's not allowed to reject it. She doesn't have the burden of proof, as it would literally solve the mystery. Initially it works to his advantage, but later locked rooms leave him with no valid theories.
• Locked Room Mystery:
  • 6 people are found dead in the locked chapel and the only key is accounted for. Beatrice speaks too much and Battler concludes the key was not in Maria's possession before the murder.
  • While we see Jessica and Kanon get murdered by Beatrice's minions, Battler didn't see it. The second investigation turns into a questioning that everyone with the master key is accounted for, but Jessica's key and Kanon's master key are inside the locked room. Beatrice admits it's not a real locked room, but Battler refuses to consider one of the servants a traitor.
  • Nanjo and Kumasawa's corpses are locked in the servant room. Shortly later, everyone sees they've gone missing. Battler notices that "no secret exists" still means there can be secret hiding spots, but Beatrice shots that line of logic down.
  • George's, Shannon's and Gohda's corpses are found in a locked room, but at that point Battler is too tired to even bother with the reasoning.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
  • Unlike the first chapter, which was leaning on Beatrice being fictional, the very prologue establishes Beatrice as own person, and multiple people can talk to her at the same time. She is capable of direct feats of magic like One to Million to One, Telepathy, People Puppet, and more. On the second day she bluntly summons demons to kill multiple people, leaving little room for interpretation. However, almost all such scenes are something Battler doesn't get to see.
  • As with the first Episode, Battler needs to prove the murders have a human culprit, and he quickly deduces that for someone allegedly capable of going through walls, the culprit has been going out of their way to retrieve or hide the tools. He makes a good reasoning for the first murder, but fails at the rest.
• Mutually Exclusive Magic: Rokkenjima had its evils sealed by an ancient Eastern magician long before Beatrice arrived there. Because she's a Western witch, she couldn't break free and eventually lost almost all of her powers.
• Obvious Rule Patch: Battler argues that he doesn't need to prove the human culprit, he can just say there's a method he doesn't know of while denying everything Beatrice says and call it a day. Beatrice naturally calls it boring and introduces Language of Truth, if he can't come up with a theory Beatrice can't disprove as impossible, he fails.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Unlike Shannon / Saya, Kanon refuses to tell his name and dies before he can.
• Prequel: Episode 2 starts some months ago before Episode 1 before converging in the present.
• Plot-Based Voice Cancellation: Subverted. Shannon tells Kanon that he'll be human if he gains something. It's obviously "love" by the context, but the wind makes it inaudible. She repeats it clearly right away.
• The Power of Love: Beatrice says that Love is the prime element of the universe, as proposed by "that man", and what separates humans from other creatures. She also claims the real reason Kinzo can't see her is because he has obsession instead of love. At the end of novel, however, Beatrice gives a Motive Rant that all love is lust, yet Shannon's magic nearly matches hers while protecting George.
• Saved to Enslave: The previous chapter doesn't address what "furniture" means, but the servants are very devoted to the Ushiromiya family, and there is a rumor that they were picked up from a shady Fukuin orphanage to be used as sacrifices. Here, it's established very early adults don't even think of Shannon as a human. It gets even weirder when Beatrice refers to her summoned demons as "furniture" as well and promises to turn Battler into one.
• Say My Name: At the end of the first day, Beatrice monologues to Meta-Battler about the game rules and screams his name daring him to come up with something good. She makes an even larger scream when her gambit backfires on her.
• Shout-Out:
  • Kinzo says that people can spend time as they want, maybe wonder if 42 is the answer to the mystery of the universe.
  • Beatrice expresses disappointment that every Locked Room Mystery humans can come up with involve revealing an alternative way to get inside instead of just being unsolvable. Battler calls out that Agatha Christie wouldn't be happy to hear that.
  • Battler argues hiding in a cardboard box is a good way to sneak around unnoticed.
• Smug Snake: Beatrice introduces Language of Truth so Meta-Battler would stop wasting time on theories he can't prove and to throw him into despair. As soon as she makes her move, he deduces the exact timeline of the first murder and dares her to confirm his theory in red, making her absolutely humiliated, then he rubs her wounds further until Villainous Breakdown.
• The Stinger: After the credits roll, the game continues to show Rosa and Maria having a Last Stand.
• Summon Magic: Beatrice summons Goat as her assassin against Jessica and Kanon. Then summons Asmodeus and Satan to do the same. As the night progresses, the amount of her butterfly and goat minions only increase.
• Title Drop: When Battler succeeds with his first counter, he says he's looking forward to Beatrice's Turn of the Golden Witch.
• Try Everything: Beatrice confirms Kinzo has no talent as a magician, he just tried every ritual in the books until something helped to at least bring Beatrice in, even if he can't see her.
• Tsundere: Shannon calls Jessica's love insecurities as her being a "tsundora", which according to George may be popular a decade later.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: At the last locked room, as Battle is grasping at straws, Beatrice starts insulting him, in red text.
• Villain No Longer Idle: Episode 1 kept it ambiguous if Beatrice is even real. Here, she appears in person in front of multiple people to collect sacrifices and manipulates them to be where they need to be. On the second day she kills several people through summoned demons.
• Warmup Boss: The Chapel's Door mystery is the first one to use Red Truth and Battler resolves it with relative ease. The implications are that despite her reaction, Beatrice has intentionally started with a weak locked room to introduce Battler to the mechanic.
• Wham Line: "......I see. So, a heart was given to furniture. It would seem that even that man is capable of some quite amusing things, every now and then... *cackle*cackle*cackle*...!", after which all pretenses if Beatrice exists or not are dropped and it would require a bigger Mind Screw to claim that the 19th person is not a witch.
• Wham Shot:
  • Beatrice appears at the family meeting as herself and people can talk to her.
  • Beatrice literally summons demon assassins and multiple people die on-screen. Either Battler was wrong from the start or there's something more to it.
  • Kanon is capable of Laser Blade and apparently really is a non-human. Later, Shanon uses Mana Shield.
  • Battler completely gives up long before the time runs out. He regains composure after the game is over, though.
• Worthy Opponent: When Beatrice loses at the first murder deduction, she tells Battler he can call her by her Affectionate Nickname if he wants to. Later, after Battler admits witches are real, when he still shows fire in him, Beatrice allows him another game.

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