Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2019-03-19 08:33 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2019-03-19 08:33 pm
Entry tags:
I, Furudo Erika, Have Packing Tape.
I've now finished the sixth instalment of Umineko: When They Cry!
NEW BEATRICE, DON'T CALL BATTLER 'FATHER', I DON'T LIKE IT
Battler brightens instantly when he hears that Beatrice is awake. But, alas, she's not 'his' Beatrice.
Battler's heart begins to race in anticipation of seeing Beatrice again. I'm really sad that he's about to be let down.
He rushes up to her and hugs her!
Poor New Beatrice. She just wants to be good. But Battler doesn't want her to be good; he wants her to be the terrible arrogant arsehole he loves.
Please don't hate the Beatrice you created, Battler. It's not her fault that she's not a monster.
I'm very concerned that Battler is going to end up like Kinzo, bitter and miserable, chasing eternally after a Beatrice who's lost to him.
There's probably a substantial chance that Battler will turn out to literally be Kinzo due to time-travel shenanigans, come to think of it. Will the Beatrice he created turn out to be the original Beatrice as well? Did she end up being so cruel because he neglected her for... not being cruel?
THIS THEORY MAKES A WORRYING AMOUNT OF SENSE, I'M CONCERNED. But it wouldn't fit with Battler realising what he needs to apologise to her for; why would he then make exactly the same mistake?
I love how offended the narration is that Erika doesn't bother to thank her lifejacket.
I can't believe George is a reformed incel.
BATTLER, STOP BEING A DICK. I'm glad Kumasawa is standing up for New Beatrice, at least.
Battler's so pissed off that New Beatrice had the audacity to give him NON-POISONED COOKIES, BEATRICE WOULD NEVER HAVE DONE THIS.
Ange concludes that Battler probably viewed Beato '...as a friendly rival, if not something more.' Even Battler's sister, who loathes Beatrice, has picked up on their weird pseudo-romance, and she's very dubious about it.
Turns out Battler remembers the time Beatrice stripped him and dragged him around on a chain! I wasn't sure. I love him fondly going 'ah, remember our wacky adventures' about it.
Battler's finally realised how awful he's been to New Beatrice and he feels bad about it! Please apologise to her, Battler.
Are George and Jessica outside the game board???
Jessica, don't murder someone for your teen crush! It's not worth it!
Did... did Kyrie kill Battler's mother? That is very bad stepmothering.
OH, OKAY, I GUESS SHE JUST PLOTTED TO MURDER BATTLER'S MOTHER. Still not great!
Umineko: the story of how romantic love can only be achieved through murder.
Jessica, seriously, don't murder your aunt. There will be other boys you can have a relationship with without murdering anyone, I promise.
'For the sake of love, a woman should be prepared to kill at least once in her life.' BAD ADVICE, KYRIE.
I can't believe the magical envy-based speed calculations are showing up again.
Does Kyrie die from a booby-trapped phone?
Maria says she'll kill Kanon 'just like Mama killed all of them'. Was my theory that Rosa committed the murders in the fifth game correct?
Battler goes straight from 'man, I've been really cruel to New Beatrice, I should be nicer to her' to 'hey, New Beatrice, sorry I was a dick, I murdered someone in a trial of love for you'. He's never been one to do things by halves.
The person Battler killed has to be Erika, right? There's no way it's not Erika.
Or did Battler kill Battler?
He did! This is the first game in which Battler hasn't been killed last.
'Everyone got so pissed off at Erika bragging about her detective ability that they set up a fake murder to make fun of her' is my favourite theory.
Thinking back to my Rosa-as-culprit theory: if there's a single culprit for everything, is it one of the people who don't have anyone they love on the island? Nanjo, Genji, Gohda, Kumasawa. Or Rosa? Rosa's relationship with Maria is complicated: does she love Maria? Whether she does or not, she certainly feels that her life would be easier if Maria didn't exist. Unless we're dealing with a culprit who's prepared to kill even people they love, Rosa's the strongest candidate of the Ushiromiya family members.
For once, I think I'm one step ahead of Erika! Battler could have hidden in the bathroom, set up the shower trap, and slipped out while Erika was distracted by it.
The first truth... that Battler is the culprit... has already been hit upon! Is Battler the culprit in all games? I hope not. I want Piece Battler's distress over the murders to be sincere.
Oh shit, is Erika guaranteeing everyone's death by being the murderer?
I love that Battler just goes '...Erikaa...aa', as one might say to a misbehaving child. That scamp, murdering all those people.
Battler tried to avoid actually killing anyone; everyone was playing dead! That makes a lot of sense. I was wondering how easily Battler would be able to take over the 'murdering the Ushiromiya family' role. He was trying to do it without any actual murders involved, BUT THEN.
He just wanted to tell the story of a prank! And it all turned horrible, AS IT ALWAYS DOES.
I'm weirdly more upset by this than I was by any of the previous games. Maybe it's the sheer horrifying ridiculousness of the fact that everyone was fine, and then Erika was so determined to solve the fake murder that she turned it into a real murder.
Love is a hint to the impossible closed room? Do you... seduce Erika so she lets you escape?
Beatrice is nineteen years old? Was Beatrice the baby Natsuhi murdered? If Battler wronged her six years ago, then, she would have been thirteen.
Honestly, I still struggle to care about the George/Shannon and Jessica/Kanon romances even when magical duels to the death are involved.
Of course heaven has paperwork.
I'm going to laugh so hard if my 'BATTLER SEDUCED ERIKA AND THEN SHE SEALED THE DOOR AFTER HE LEFT FOR NO GOOD REASON' theory turns out to be the answer.
That wedding scene was horrifying.
DON'T YOU DARE KILL NEW BEATRICE FOR THE SAKE OF THE BORING GEORGE/SHANNON ROMANCE, UMINEKO, SHE'S BEEN TRYING SO HARD ALL THIS TIME
I love that it turns out Beatrice exists to be Battler's dream woman, with the sole and notable exception of murdering his family. You were almost spot-on there.
I have to wonder: when Beatrice dehumanised Battler, stripped him nude, led him around on a chain and then fed him alive to goats, was that also something he wanted from his dream woman? I could believe it.
Shooting at each other with bullets of truth? This is all very Danganronpa.
BATTLER GETS A GROUP HUG FROM A BUNCH OF DEMONS, HOORAY.
I think Dlanor's my favourite character after Battler. I love that she genuinely cares about Erika; someone has to!
SORRY, ARE YOU SAYING THERE WERE ORIGINALLY ONLY SIXTEEN HUMANS ON THE ISLAND, WHAT
HOW MANY MORE TIMES IS THE NUMBER GOING TO BE REDUCED
Are we drawing a distinction between humans and 'furniture' here? Does 'furniture' apply to all servants, or just to Shannon and Kanon? If Shannon and Kanon are considered to be only half a human each, that explains the number: there are fifteen humans other than Shannon and Kanon, the two of them together make the sixteenth, and then adding Erika makes seventeen.
Interesting that Battler's recorded as having died on the first twilight in the credits, despite the fact that we know he was actually faking his death.
I... think Beatrice and Battler just got magically married. Back when she'd just been introduced and was gleefully murdering everyone in front of him, I would not have anticipated this. But, hey, I'm not complaining.
I've been playing Baba Is You, and, honestly, these impossible Umineko murder puzzles seem like nothing compared to some of the levels in that stupid game. It's such a good puzzle game, but I'm so bad at it!
NEW BEATRICE, DON'T CALL BATTLER 'FATHER', I DON'T LIKE IT
Battler brightens instantly when he hears that Beatrice is awake. But, alas, she's not 'his' Beatrice.
Battler's heart begins to race in anticipation of seeing Beatrice again. I'm really sad that he's about to be let down.
He rushes up to her and hugs her!
Poor New Beatrice. She just wants to be good. But Battler doesn't want her to be good; he wants her to be the terrible arrogant arsehole he loves.
Please don't hate the Beatrice you created, Battler. It's not her fault that she's not a monster.
I'm very concerned that Battler is going to end up like Kinzo, bitter and miserable, chasing eternally after a Beatrice who's lost to him.
There's probably a substantial chance that Battler will turn out to literally be Kinzo due to time-travel shenanigans, come to think of it. Will the Beatrice he created turn out to be the original Beatrice as well? Did she end up being so cruel because he neglected her for... not being cruel?
THIS THEORY MAKES A WORRYING AMOUNT OF SENSE, I'M CONCERNED. But it wouldn't fit with Battler realising what he needs to apologise to her for; why would he then make exactly the same mistake?
I love how offended the narration is that Erika doesn't bother to thank her lifejacket.
I can't believe George is a reformed incel.
BATTLER, STOP BEING A DICK. I'm glad Kumasawa is standing up for New Beatrice, at least.
Battler's so pissed off that New Beatrice had the audacity to give him NON-POISONED COOKIES, BEATRICE WOULD NEVER HAVE DONE THIS.
Ange concludes that Battler probably viewed Beato '...as a friendly rival, if not something more.' Even Battler's sister, who loathes Beatrice, has picked up on their weird pseudo-romance, and she's very dubious about it.
Turns out Battler remembers the time Beatrice stripped him and dragged him around on a chain! I wasn't sure. I love him fondly going 'ah, remember our wacky adventures' about it.
Battler's finally realised how awful he's been to New Beatrice and he feels bad about it! Please apologise to her, Battler.
Are George and Jessica outside the game board???
Jessica, don't murder someone for your teen crush! It's not worth it!
Did... did Kyrie kill Battler's mother? That is very bad stepmothering.
OH, OKAY, I GUESS SHE JUST PLOTTED TO MURDER BATTLER'S MOTHER. Still not great!
Umineko: the story of how romantic love can only be achieved through murder.
Jessica, seriously, don't murder your aunt. There will be other boys you can have a relationship with without murdering anyone, I promise.
'For the sake of love, a woman should be prepared to kill at least once in her life.' BAD ADVICE, KYRIE.
I can't believe the magical envy-based speed calculations are showing up again.
Does Kyrie die from a booby-trapped phone?
Maria says she'll kill Kanon 'just like Mama killed all of them'. Was my theory that Rosa committed the murders in the fifth game correct?
Battler goes straight from 'man, I've been really cruel to New Beatrice, I should be nicer to her' to 'hey, New Beatrice, sorry I was a dick, I murdered someone in a trial of love for you'. He's never been one to do things by halves.
The person Battler killed has to be Erika, right? There's no way it's not Erika.
Or did Battler kill Battler?
He did! This is the first game in which Battler hasn't been killed last.
'Everyone got so pissed off at Erika bragging about her detective ability that they set up a fake murder to make fun of her' is my favourite theory.
Thinking back to my Rosa-as-culprit theory: if there's a single culprit for everything, is it one of the people who don't have anyone they love on the island? Nanjo, Genji, Gohda, Kumasawa. Or Rosa? Rosa's relationship with Maria is complicated: does she love Maria? Whether she does or not, she certainly feels that her life would be easier if Maria didn't exist. Unless we're dealing with a culprit who's prepared to kill even people they love, Rosa's the strongest candidate of the Ushiromiya family members.
For once, I think I'm one step ahead of Erika! Battler could have hidden in the bathroom, set up the shower trap, and slipped out while Erika was distracted by it.
The first truth... that Battler is the culprit... has already been hit upon! Is Battler the culprit in all games? I hope not. I want Piece Battler's distress over the murders to be sincere.
Oh shit, is Erika guaranteeing everyone's death by being the murderer?
I love that Battler just goes '...Erikaa...aa', as one might say to a misbehaving child. That scamp, murdering all those people.
Battler tried to avoid actually killing anyone; everyone was playing dead! That makes a lot of sense. I was wondering how easily Battler would be able to take over the 'murdering the Ushiromiya family' role. He was trying to do it without any actual murders involved, BUT THEN.
He just wanted to tell the story of a prank! And it all turned horrible, AS IT ALWAYS DOES.
I'm weirdly more upset by this than I was by any of the previous games. Maybe it's the sheer horrifying ridiculousness of the fact that everyone was fine, and then Erika was so determined to solve the fake murder that she turned it into a real murder.
Love is a hint to the impossible closed room? Do you... seduce Erika so she lets you escape?
Beatrice is nineteen years old? Was Beatrice the baby Natsuhi murdered? If Battler wronged her six years ago, then, she would have been thirteen.
Honestly, I still struggle to care about the George/Shannon and Jessica/Kanon romances even when magical duels to the death are involved.
Of course heaven has paperwork.
I'm going to laugh so hard if my 'BATTLER SEDUCED ERIKA AND THEN SHE SEALED THE DOOR AFTER HE LEFT FOR NO GOOD REASON' theory turns out to be the answer.
That wedding scene was horrifying.
DON'T YOU DARE KILL NEW BEATRICE FOR THE SAKE OF THE BORING GEORGE/SHANNON ROMANCE, UMINEKO, SHE'S BEEN TRYING SO HARD ALL THIS TIME
I love that it turns out Beatrice exists to be Battler's dream woman, with the sole and notable exception of murdering his family. You were almost spot-on there.
I have to wonder: when Beatrice dehumanised Battler, stripped him nude, led him around on a chain and then fed him alive to goats, was that also something he wanted from his dream woman? I could believe it.
Shooting at each other with bullets of truth? This is all very Danganronpa.
BATTLER GETS A GROUP HUG FROM A BUNCH OF DEMONS, HOORAY.
I think Dlanor's my favourite character after Battler. I love that she genuinely cares about Erika; someone has to!
SORRY, ARE YOU SAYING THERE WERE ORIGINALLY ONLY SIXTEEN HUMANS ON THE ISLAND, WHAT
HOW MANY MORE TIMES IS THE NUMBER GOING TO BE REDUCED
Are we drawing a distinction between humans and 'furniture' here? Does 'furniture' apply to all servants, or just to Shannon and Kanon? If Shannon and Kanon are considered to be only half a human each, that explains the number: there are fifteen humans other than Shannon and Kanon, the two of them together make the sixteenth, and then adding Erika makes seventeen.
Interesting that Battler's recorded as having died on the first twilight in the credits, despite the fact that we know he was actually faking his death.
I... think Beatrice and Battler just got magically married. Back when she'd just been introduced and was gleefully murdering everyone in front of him, I would not have anticipated this. But, hey, I'm not complaining.
I've been playing Baba Is You, and, honestly, these impossible Umineko murder puzzles seem like nothing compared to some of the levels in that stupid game. It's such a good puzzle game, but I'm so bad at it!
no subject
Episode 6: Dawn of the Golden Witch; or, How Uncomfortable Can We Possibly Make These Narrative Parallels? I think I spent the whole first half intermittently watching chick!Beatrice and Battler's interactions through my fingers.
That scene is so perfect. It's just... such distilled essence of Beatrice/Battler. I hope she'll make him lots of poisoned cookies on their honeymoon.
EP6 is the point where I started to need a straight-up diagram to keep track of all the meta levels in play. You've got the normal gameboard and meta levels, plus Bern and Lambda's wider view of the multiverse, but now suddenly there's a weird in-between level for the love game that's above the rest of the gameboard but still below the standard meta level, and a whole new level above that for Ange and Featherine's frame story outside a frame story, which Chick Beatrice can also access. (And that's before you get into the headache of how Storytime with Ange and Featherine relates to their human counterparts or the real-world contents of Hachijō's forgeries...)
The whole Ushiromiya family: Kyrie is such a mature, reasonable, well-adjusted adult, I wish I could be more like her! I bet she gives great advice.
Kyrie: The secret to a healthy romance is to kill any woman who looks at him funny. Oh, and you could also break his legs so he can never leave you. :)
I think she means her friends. :( Like the ceramic rabbit, and Sakutarou...
I can never get over how proud Battler is of dramatically killing himself off. He even plays "Requiem" for the body discovery! What a drama queen.
Classic Erika, really! Feel free to imagine that scene with a laugh track.
It does feel like a whole new level of sheer, heartless malice. There's committing murder for whatever tangled and painful reasons Beatrice has, and then there's doing it seemingly just to stick it to Battler as sadistically as possible, right in the middle of his sappy nobody-dies love letter to Beatrice. (Not that Erika doesn't have her own existence on the line here, but the way she's acting tends to distract from that.)
I'd read that fic.
Yeah; I think it says a lot about Kanon and Shannon's lives that the sole shining beacons of hope and happiness that they're willing to kill or die for are, respectively, a girl Kanon's barely ever talked to who dragged him out on a pretend date once and likes him by virtue of him being the only attractive boy her age she knows, and... George. I imagine the romances look a lot more beautiful and miraculous from that vantage point. (Or the vantage point of a wide-eyed young romantic who grew up under the Ushiromiya family's thumb.)
That wedding scene might just be the single most horrifying scene in Umineko, honestly. Probably not the hardest to read period, since Maria and Rosa exist, but still. (I played with PS3 assets for the voice acting, too, and they add CGs for that scene.)
Young Battler, probably: Or if she really wanted my undying love, she could find a way to teach my old man a lesson! I'd fall for any girl who could do that in a heartbeat, ihihihi!
Beatrice: (furiously taking notes)
The Dlanor/Erika relationship is really good! I honestly wish it got explored further than it does; it has a lot of potential to go interesting places.
I unfortunately can't comment on your speculation or furniture math, but this is me right now:
On a much sillier note: the original Comiket release of EP6 came packaged with the bonus story Game Master BATTLER! Game Master BATTLER! is... uh, it's something. Something that involves a lot of Battler creeping on women who are mostly related to him, fair warning. The rest is genuinely delightful if you're willing to put up with that, though.
The other highlight from around that time is Cornelia the New Priest, a longer piece about Dlanor's aide Cornelia that I really liked. The VN version contains brief spoilers for the beginning of EP7, though, so you might want to avoid it until you've played the first scene of EP7.
(...If you want even more crack, there's also two shorts about Jessica summoning demons: Jessica's Mother's Day Present and Jessica and the Love Charm. Apparently Ryukishi07 was busy in 2010.)
I've heard such good things about Baba Is You! Someday I'll have to find the time to check it out.
no subject
I think she means her friends. :( Like the ceramic rabbit, and Sakutarou...
Oh nooooooo!
I can never get over how proud Battler is of dramatically killing himself off. He even plays "Requiem" for the body discovery! What a drama queen.
Ha, yes! This is even more hilarious after the 'it was just a prank' reveal.
(I played with PS3 assets for the voice acting, too, and they add CGs for that scene.)
I'm simultaneously curious and way too scared to go looking.
I went looking, nooooo
Young Battler, probably: Or if she really wanted my undying love, she could find a way to teach my old man a lesson! I'd fall for any girl who could do that in a heartbeat, ihihihi!
Beatrice: (furiously taking notes)
This is a tiny masterpiece and I'm adopting it as canon immediately.
Something that involves a lot of Battler creeping on women who are mostly related to him, fair warning.
Let's be honest: I'm here for this.
Aunt Natsuhi... uh... I want you to become my lap pillow... A-And then... can I call you M-M..."Mother"...? I-It's not like I'm gonna force you into it, though, okay...? Well, if you can, I'd like you to be wearing a swimsuit...
BATTLER
yesssss, hit on all your aunts, live your dream, I love itMy husband throws a snowball at me, and when I catch it and split it apart... I find an engagement ring inside.
This is very cute, Natsuhi, but you guys are already married.