Umineko Requiem 46 [FINAL] – The Best Tea Party Ever

Only you Ryukishi. Only you. Requiem comes down like a hammer giving the world a metaphorical middle finger while it indulges in its theatergoer ways. And we are so ok with it. This Tea Party was the whole package. These games aim is to always top themselves on a different aspects. This Tea Party is practically everything everyone wanted to read, had theorized, and didn’t want to hear. The Best Tea Party Ever.

This entry is more than overdue so here other things that are also overdue: The Triad’s subs, Erika & Will getting their spin-off, the other half of Twilight of the Golden Witch. When we look it it isn’t that bad when you can get more snarky and theatergoer commentary at nearly no cost in one entry instead of two. Cookies and wine costs included to a game where humans check in they don’t check out.

Requiem has a soothing vibe that none of the other EPS did. END was intellectually brutal, DAWN was purposely uncomfortable, Requiem was enlightening. Requiem was mourning for someone we knew well yet didn’t. That is to say, EP7 was a strange game, a good kind, one that took the theater angle to the extreme delivering a spectacular final conclusion. The whole EP was soothing, but there was something that didn’t feel complete when the funeral ended.. Something was off. That element that makes When They Cry what it is, the final contrast of disbelief and reality buried deep down in your mind. I know that I wasn’t going to be disappointed by how this EP’s execution. You asked and they responded appropriately.

That awkward moment when you know you just stepped into the wrong fragment

Requiem is just two steps down from being Dawn awkward. Future Ange meets successor-san from another fragment. Ange’s monologue is shinning here. First they tear her into little bits, then they make her read. Can’t say that such odd turn of events wouldn’t be confusing for anyone. Of course Umineko is very pro-Ange because the way how things play out you just have to have some sympathy with Ange by this point unless you’re really mean or pathos approach don’t work you if the latter is the case then allow me to shake your hand. Ange is toyed by the witches then gets sucked again into this game at the last minute then she is forced to watch a play she didn’t ask for. If there was a special mode in a Hack and Slash game with Ange in it  it’d be called The Never Ending circle of Ange Must Die, Golden Edition – Witches May Cry. I’d say it is a serious match between Natsuhi and Ange for the title of “who is the Sakoto of Umineko”, but Ange wins it hands down.

and a map of Taiwan

Same as Ange all readers have moved from reading aloud to massive theatergoing. The siblings, pardon me, the goddamned siblings always fall into the same problem of gimmie-my-money schemes and are threatened by these letters that are (clearly) sent by someone who is in the island. I’ll give it to Umineko for how well they played this trick making the readers to some degree still believe that there was a reason to think there was more people than the ones we see. There could be less people in the island but there sure wasn’t more.  After Umineko I doubt anyone would buy into a Mr. X theory in any type of mystery story or any story for that matter. Sorry, 18th person, go home. We don’t like you.

Thinking back on it, the siblings’ reasoning in the FIRST game wasn’t off. Forgot about those? Let’s see there are no third parties, the servants are involved, the culprit has to be someone in the island. That’s a huge key part because as the story progresses the supernatural elements scale tremendously making us think the opposite of what the first game tells us so much. Something to keep in mind is to not disregard theories by the pieces and especially if they are from the first parts of any story. A lesson well learned, everyone. A lesson well learned everyone.

Battler’s rationale is a mystery in itself that not many are willing to crack

So game piece Battler he is kinda of douche, huh. We got this Pony theory older than I’d like to recall and Battler is the only one that doesn’t remember anything about that promise he made. Right. I’ve called this one of the weakest parts of the story and with a good reason. I’m subtracting points from Umineko’s writing when a person with no amnesia has such convenient memory loss. So Battler acts all surprised when the can of worms by the name of Shannon is engaged is opened? More infuriating is Battler’s surprise that Shannon existed when she is first introduced in the first episode. Guess what? George-aniiki likes Shannon, oh yeah, and btw I used to like Shannon too, right? Yeah everyone would forget that. Specially if your name is Battler.

There’s not much to be said about the cousins that haven’t been said already. Part of me wishes that there is at least one fragment out of the hundreds in which they have more personality than the ones they do. To say the least the level of enjoyment is compared to the first pages of Father Knox’s Footsteps at the Lock. Plenty descriptive, now get to the point if you will because I’m sure that landscape is as beautiful as you say it is. Sure, Battler’s half-baked amnesia works too well for the sake of the plot, but it sure could’ve been handled way better. People don’t forget that type of thing, readers. Yeah, I think I’ll save my positive Battler commentary for Twilight of the Golden Witch when he starts being awesome again.

This segment of solving the epitaph ought to be casually called Japanese do you speak it? Siblings only work together when they have money as an objective. That’s appalling and rich. Actually just about the same because only bad things happen when they find that money. This witch’s gold is like that treasure chest which is actually a trap, or that purple mushroom in a Mario game that you shouldn’t eat, or whatever Mario does with those things. Case in point, you’re better off leaving it alone.

Umineko has always kinda unique by having its the older characters to be the ones carrying the show so perfectly well. It’s always about kids and their teenage problems why not have a bunch of adults and focus on their problems while their kids’ problem pale in comparison, huh? Brilliant idea. I’d be sad to see it all end here. Why not be smart about and make another spin off with only the adults characters? I can see it now. That will one of the best things to have rocked my laptop since the time of Code Geass and Haruhi. Totally appreciated. Here have some Desperate Umineko Wives while you wonder what that link is about. Shameless fanservice I could actually care about bathed in murderous mysteries? I am soooo in.

wait till the honeymoon after he learns who she is related to

I’m deeply disappointed in Umineko’s romance, not that I’d expect R07 to do good romance but I could only dreamed.  It’s so blatantly cheesy that any other pairing trumps up this pair right here. Shannon and George are going for the big perfect dream of house, had perfect kids, and why not throw in a Labrador retriever in there (tentative: an Akita) to seal the deal. This discourse of the perfect life has been repeated more times than the Manga Gamers using term “wry smiles” for their English releases. You know Umineko has already met its quota of sappy romance when you wish the first twilights suddenly took a liking to the cousins rather than the siblings. They could use that screen time instead for Gohda, a documentary of the life of a goat servant, or a skit involving any of the Sister of Purgatory doing, whatever, sisterly things they do behind scenes. But that’s probably what Tsubasa will be about with any luck. Either that or wait for the Umineko anniversary so Deen can make something outrageous, unnecessary, and totally off the wall like that Higurashi Kira they’ll be airing soon.

Back to the endless sappiness. It’s not actually encouraging when Shannon tells George that he isn’t worse than Battler. That’s as bad as saying, “well, I’m a maid, I could do a lot worse than you, George.” Enough of that. George being jealous of Battler and killing his (own) family and the rest would the pathetic of pathetic earning the crown for the Kings of pathetic. Huge failed yandere attempt because it comes off as awkward and dull rather than a spectacular twist. George would be a poor’s man Tomitake gone yandere. If Shion would see this she’d be crawling in her grave from the world of Watanagashi. So many “hints” here about who might be responsible for the crimes by giving motives here. I have to wonder where does this talk about the heart goes when they might be explaining the culprit as a repressed rich boy with mania episodes who must kill everyone because he’s had it bad. Insert sad face. Only Twilight can save us from a half-baked explanation. And yeah in case anyone is asking this paragraph is totally unnecessarily long.

If I was in Umineko I’d be calling Natsuhi’s bluff unless I had other strategic moves in mind. Oh Natsuhi, you ever so loyal to the Ushiromiya family that emanates respect. It’s a bit endearing Natsuhi still tries to cover the truth no matter how hopeless the situation is with her Y-y-ou-u mustn-n’t touch Father’s (stolen) gold!! Father told me! You can’t enter Father’s study (because he’s missing!) It brings back the good Natsuhi moments in End of the Golden Witch. I recall those Beatrice and Natsuhi pics as allies when it first came out, I couldn’t believe the pics when I saw them. The witch side openly interacting with the human side, so much mind screwing it should be illegal. Luckily, it is legal.

Another incredibly odd detail is the reason why none of the cousins show sign of having aged at all in the flashbacks. That was, what? 6 years ago more or less? They look the same they did years ago! That defies time and space, and not in a good Umineko-ish way, btw.  I reckon the only character design that R07 did design was 1986 Ange and called it a day. I’m so not looking forward at how whatever anime studio handles Umineko Chiru. I’m afraid what DEEN is capable of with a script, I tremble at the thought of what they can do without one. Also for young Kinzo? Are they going to call Battler’s VA too? I think there’s enough incest vibes as it is. Oi.

And A culprit is YOU. Reminisce of End of the Golden Witch when the siblings go ecstatic upon finding the gold and all of this craziness is followed by a mandatory BGM Happiness of the Marionette because we can’t have finding the gold without Eva B’s theme. This event raises the question that has been asked before and opens possibilities for those that hadn’t: Of whether it was possible any of the siblings to meet Yasu/Beatrice in the underground VIP room in any of the previous games, got the gold, and learned the truth. It could answer a lot of questions such as how the “new” culprits learned of the not-so-obvious bomb device inside the clock that would blow up everything. Another possibility that it raises it that Yasu would actually surrender if she loses the game. The clear contradiction with this TP is that Yasu would not 100% act like she did here and be a sore loser instead regardless she wins or loses. Big questions here, because there is no sure answer.

One plus one equals two, that is, unless you’re Yasu. Ange ought to know this tale will not end nicely because there’s a always a high chance things won’t go according to plan in Umineko. Beatrice’s dropping the bomb here that she was going to kill everyone if they wouldn’t solve the epitaph. Everyone should know what’s coming next, but you still have to give it to the siblings though for solving the riddle. The siblings steal the detective’s job by revealing and catching the culprit of this story in this fragment by solving the riddle themselves. Cannot say that I wasn’t looking forward to this from day one. It’s a bit of payback for what she’s been doing to them via the Game board. Great team work, siblings. Now try to not backstab each other. Ok.. that might not work out after all. Because you know you are you.

Time for some confessions. I’ve never been that ok with Beatrice not giving everyone so little time. The first letter arrives on, what? Around 9:00 pm maybe? Then she starts her plan as soon as it hits 12:00 pm onwards? There’s not really that much time to solve it, it seems like a lot of time in a Visual Novel not much IRL. It’s even more difficult if you haven’t tried to solve it before, even more if you’re supposed to solve it then go outside to check your answer with a killer on the loose. Yeah, not making a lot of sense here Beatrice, then again she’s the one that goes on a rampage because she’s trapped. You public menace you.

That aside. Pretty serious statements here. Beatrice was going to take all their wealth and lives, not that they would actually serve for her resurrection as a witch from a logical point, but she’d still do it to keep the cat box closed. It’s not every day that you just learn that unless you took the A route you were going to get the B route – the Bad End. The general response to these events would be “you’re kidding, right?”. Beatrice kids them not, she was going to carry out 13 murders then let none survive. On a lighter note, me thinks Yasu has been fanboying too hard at those Agatha Christie’s books that she wanted to make herself a live action badly. There’s just something about secluded islands that incites mystery.

Eva is going to screw it up

I liked Krauss’ “I hope to do all we can reach a gentlemanly agreement” the only person in there that kept his cool. Too bad he never used it in past games.  Meanwhile, back to When they Get Greedy, Eva gets nearly everyone killed. EVAAAA!! Eva got me nearly screaming at my poor monitor. Don’t do it. Stop it, Eva. Oyashiro- sama-dammed it. Don’t touch that switch!!  If there was a sibling that was going to screw it up I had a strong feeling it’d be Eva and her explosive attitude. Puns always intended. Glad it didn’t happen because it’d be totally a lame death like those in old cartoons where the bad guy accidentally triggers his own trap and kaboom.

R07 pushes the limits here by inserting that oversized clock image in Umineko because when it hit 24:00 pm 19% of my blood froze.  Major points to Ryukishi07 by how well the bomb device + clock have been handled. It’s perfection. A) It has always been there. B) It’s an essential part in the VNs. C) There’s two of them in the story. STILL, he managed to make it seem irrelevant other than a way to tell time. In your face hasn’t sounded so accurate. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. That’s the sound of your life running out. Bravo, R07.

Turn of the Alliance Banquet Requiem of the Golden Witch

Holy golden mackerel. It’s the same scene from EP3! It’s Rosa vs. Eva and a mountain of gold is at stake. Eva screws up and kills Natsuhi and doesn’t want to take the rap and just like that the team work goes to hell. So far so expected as based on the details that’s how I’d expect Eva to act. So does Rosa who makes that strange face when she’s got the upper hand, that’s the RRF that it is seen rarely – Rosa’s Rape Face. Yes, Requiem’s Tea Party spews out the vilest coldest most rational truths. The siblings are opportunist as hell and they become horribly greedy and tragedy after tragedy happen. That mountain of gold is like that evil ring from Lord of the Ring making everyone quarrel and beseech its power that ultimately does no good. The witch’s precious if you will. Lord Ushiromiya. There’s a high chance Eva would be Smigel and there’s also a high chance there’d be no bromance undertones in it.

Mark these words. The ingenuity of this Tea Party is how much it can perfectly make reference to the other games and in immersing the reader in the world that it has created. It’s the same set up. Rosa and Eva (now with others) find the gold. There’s a major disagreement and someone HAS TO GO, otherwise the plan won’t work out. Someone has to go. It fits too well with Eva getting rid of Rosa in EP3 for those going for the Eva is the culprit theory or as I also mentioned as someone else (say Yasu) in the same episode getting rid of Rosa. The difference is that this Tea Party makes another person the culprit, that you know well who that person is. Rosa, the not-so-wise, I am disappoint, doing your math wrong like that and getting yourself killed. Losing so much respect here and I didn’t think it possible at this point of the game. That is so the reason why you’re only exclusive for the 360 system.

RIDICULE has for the first time entered the scene, rather it has creeped up behind you and waited until you turned around and shot you in the forehead. That’s the correct effect. Me. I adore ridicule bgm, it is so randomly eerie. I think this picture pretty much spoke for itself. Rudolf with that aura of dickery surrounding him like it is a passive attribute of his that he’s got maxed out. Kyrie with her creepy smile holding that gun. Can’t say that I was impressed after how much I theorized this theory but the show of seeing them actually do it still shocked me. Kyrie is the culprit theory time. Correct. Kyrie has always screamed suspicious character alert. EP7 Tea Party basically basing everything on Kyrie/Rudolf are the culprits theory is like reading everything I theorized about back at me. A really really odd and strangely thrilling experience. Ridicule bgm is just icing on the cake and I’m so getting that cake.

A bit luck, a bit of opportunism and a bit of irony all combined in a huge amount of theatergoing and Eva is betrayed by Kyrie and company. The mistake that Eva makes is that she thought Kyrie wasn’t going to turn on her, which is hard to believe for anyone who is not an infant. That’s as expected as getting two when adding one plus one. Fact one – there’s huge amount of cash. Fact 2 – there’s a bomb that can get rid of all evidence. It was a logical assumption that something horrible was going to happen. Eva, like all the others, didn’t think that far ahead. Kyrie did. Though that plan about going to some foreign country/place then disappearing sounds like a spotty plan to me.

The powerful contrast elements in Umineko is how something really off is happening on the island meanwhile not much is happening somewhere else. In guesthouse nothing is happening as usual. The cousins’ agenda is the following:  Ok, get to the island. Go to the beach (optional). Eat dinner and have some conversations, get booted once the inheritance topic is discussed -> everyone else to the Guesthouse. This Tea Party cuts to the chase to the part where all the cousins are called out one by one, which is another curious point because Genji in more than one episode mentions how the lines either internal or external were cut off. My guess is that either the lines were never cut off (hardly anyone checks) rather than they were fixed at some point. For episodes such as EP4-EP5 for example the lines were never touched because the culprit knew s/he was going to use them. Who knows? Huh, yeah, I’m so not worrying about that anymore.

Once again Requiem goes reference CrAzY like CrAzY YAasu. This part perfectly connects to EP4 when the cousins are called out one by one to take their tests and similar happen again. Jessica goes to her room and is killed, George is sent near the garden then is killed. Battler, Battler doesn’t suspect a thing that he is about to be killed. As for suspecting how things are going to work out, Requiem’s Tea Party does a spectacular job keeping the readers engaged when it does what it does best – making the readers scratch their heads repeatable. We sure are glad it isn’t our throats otherwise it might be a problem.

Getting kinda sympathetic for Eva at this point because I had no choice because I wouldn’t be an Eva fan if I could help it. From a theatergoer stand point I like how R07 makes Eva responsible for the tragedy then turns her into the hero. It’s plenty tragic and plenty accurate. It makes sense since Eva is the most obsessed with the gold and becoming the family head than anyone else in the story. I know! As if having a tattoo with the one-winged eagle on you arm wouldn’t send the message I’m deeply obsessed with this dysfunctional family. Seriously though, what is that thing on her arm? 50 picarats to the first to give me an answer. Just like that there goes  a Twilight jab.

Eva obaa-san goes rescue of anyone without a gun after rising from the dead because Kyrie and Rudolf have terrible aim at close range. There’s plenty of irony in this story to make a big cake out of it. Really, this Tea Party does it so well that I’m willing to overlook some of its flaws. This game is familiar, plenty familiar to the others. Yeah, it’s Banquet of the Golden Witch meets Alliance. Only an Ange couldn’t enjoy this Tea Party. Luckily I’m no Ange.

Beat the Gaap. Now try dodging a bullets a la Suzaku. I think that to make George character any worse Deen could’ve gotten Takahiro Sakurai to play the role, but we shouldn’t be so greedy. Rudolf and Kyrie split up the workload and Kyrie has Rudolf also do his fair share of dirty work which is totally ok by me if you ask me. As far villainy goes both culprits should evil or at least try to do their part. Rudolf is just a lazy villain. Expanding on that everyone knows who’s got the pants in that relationship like who’s got the brains in Natsuhi and Krauss’ relationship. Male characters matter in my no Naku Koro Ni? Madness.

Some simple theorizing would be that George was shot when he turned back (see bullet to the forehead in EP4) when he went to take his test. He’d still try to dodge it, which he’d still unsuccessfully do it, but a shot that accurate to the head ought to mean that it took him by surprise and the culprit shot him from a shot range. One those curious contradictions is that according to Rudolf he couldn’t bring himself to shoot George in the back, which is what happens (though in magic scenes) a couple of times in some of the twilights. Meaning? Either Rudolf went against his code or it was somebody like Kyrie or someone else did it. Just some simple thoughts. Wouldn’t Hideyoshi love to know who stabbed him in the back in EP5 though. Certainty not Eva. Worry not, I’m positive that wasn’t sarcasm.

To reminisce, there’s been a lot of old grudges in this tale that R07 brings us. Krauss vs. Eva. Eva vs. Rosa. Natsuhi vs. Eva. Is there a pattern here or what? Eva antagonizes just about everyone in this story that isn’t her immediate family. I’d say Eva is one of the biggest roots of discord in the Ushiromiya family with certainty. The way this story goes it was bound to happen that directly or indirectly Eva would do fair share of damage. This is a good example of it. She gets greedy. She screws up and as a result screws everything up. Requiem’s Tea Party did a masterful job proving this theory and how more or less the world future Ange is in came to be.

Another point this TP brings is the possibility that there could be deaths which the “culprit” isn’t responsible for. Mainly we refer to self-defense and the act of taking revenge on one of the culprits. Here’s to you Requiem for proving my accidental deaths theory correct. I knew there was no way for the culprit alone to kill that many people simultaneously  in the same room with a gun and that an accidental death would lead to more murders.

LAMBDA. The witch of Certainty’s presence in this game has been certainly been missed. Lambda always spices up all eps she’s in. She brings the creepiness, the yandereness, and she is far from the airhead image she’s trying to sell. An episode without 34 is like a meal without all the necessary spices – edible yet somewhat insipid.  I like how she suddenly pops up right behind Lion. Does Lambda always get the best seats in the house or what? I bet she has that a bucket of popcorn ready somewhere. On a serious note I’m terribly going to miss this pair once Umineko is over. I see so much potential in this pair that not including them in future series would be a disservice to the audience. On a less serious note Gainax  totally ripped off Bern and Lamda characters to create Panty and Stocking. Currently, I can’t think of Stocking without picturing Bern and vice versa. Similarly, I’m starting to seriously think Stocking’s VA should voice Erika in Chiru. Now they’ve really done it.

There it is – my Kyrie Is The Culprit Theory. In my version they made Ange sick on that day (which turned out to be a Twilight Theory), but I see that I was getting ahead of myself even before EP7. Crazy huh? But not as crazy as Yasu. I mean it fits perfectly with the story and also it explained why it was so hard for Ange to accept the truth, and yet and yet..

What it comes down to is that Requiem Tea Party really had everything that could have been desired of a true Umineko Tea Party. It’s brutal and with some sweet and sour moments. Eva against Kyrie. This was a match begging to happen since day one. The similarities between the two are obvious.  As I mentioned even though they have similar calculating personalities, Eva tends to get too emotional unlike Kyrie who is colder, which to me determines who is more likely to become a culprit. I could see Eva becoming the culprit by accident in the story. I could totally see Kyrie planning it since day one (and the day before that.) Requiem Tea Party is relentless, intriguing, the type that I’m sure every theory crafter might’ve fantasized and theorized about at some point in those rainy and windy days. I’m a fan of rainy days.

I can’t imagine how difficult it was for Bernkastel had to hold back from doing those troll faces in Requiem. Sure, she’s the cruel theatergoer she’s always been but compared to past games she has kept her trolling to a minimum throughout Beatrice’s funeral. Kinda decent of her. Right. That is so not the case. Ange and Lion are in the worst possible position, they were screwed up the moment they were stent to this theater which they want this play to end like this is a bad movie they gave a negative rating to or a terrible adaption.  Bernkastel as expected is getting a kick out of this one that the idiom add insult to injury is too accurate when the person doing it carries a scythe, which as far as I know it is stil Erika’s weapon of choice. Bad Bern. That ought to be considered trademark infringement, like someone else in Umineko walking around with smoke pipe in one hand. We can’t have any of that and neither can I end blogging Requiem without me saying Submarine of Desire. Sorry, it was impossible to get it to properly work in a sentence otherwise.

at that moment Ange realized those things on her head weren’t as cute as she thought

Ange Burgers. Come get them.  Terrible of me to have forgotten about Ange after Dawn ended. I know. Terrible. I’ll blame it on Requiem putting all its attention on Yasu, Yasu, and Yasu again that Ange didn’t cross my mind.  Where do pieces that are discharged from their duty go anyhow? It seems that no matter how quick another game starts time stops for them. It’s like a bad dream of state of nothingness like what happened to the protagonist of Death Note.  Ange practically turns into meat (what is R07’s deal with it?) and dies again. Truth be told Umineko pumps up the grotesque levels whenever Ange is on the stage because it’s obvious she’s going to be turned into meat. There’s probably a spin off /  parody waiting to happen of this that you’ll never see. It could be a game where you’re basically a formless red meat going through levels I’d call it Meat Girl. Now that I’m done with that, a little trivia. I chose Ange first on Ougon Musou Kyoku and I’m not a fan. Five seconds. Reason that one out. […] Excellent deductive reasoning.

So after all that talk about the Beatrice’s funeral and Ushiromiya folks coming clean anyone would guess it’ll be reasonable to assume things would go smoothly, but not if you happen to be in the When they Cry series. There’s a good ending out there but remember that it won’t be easy to get. Bernkastel is awfully specific in this part warping her to the place where Yasu will be killed by her aunt Kyrie. Pretty witch of her and by that I mean pretty bastard of her. So far Bern ranks high on best villains,  aims to keep it that way, and I’m damn pleased about it.

Long story short, sucks to be Yasu. I’ll also give it to Yasu for having one of the crappiest theoretical futures in the history of anime and video games. You can have tough life and you can have it tough in your 2nd and 3rd reincarnation, but eventually you’ll reach a reasonably decent fragment to stay in. It’s more than abusive to say that only in 1 out of 2,578,917 chances you’ll have a nice life AND in that one fragment you get brutally murdered. I don’t have to be a statistics major to know those are some remarkably bad odds.

it is forbidden to have a puzzle without an answer

When the cats are away the mice will play. Me I’m more of a dog person but don’t tell Bern. Bernkastel ending things on a happy note is like expecting Lambda to not go yandere. Please, you musn’t forget her heart, Will! Even though Bern had already absolved Will from his duties he comes back because Willard had already seen through Bern’s tricks before he left the game board. As if he’d buy that there are decent witches out there. Bern was waiting for Will to go away so she’d have no one to stand  in her way. It’s funny how I connected this behavior to the solution to most some of the closed rooms. Same as Bern did, she expected the other person to go away just like the culprit does then slipped out of the room right after the survivors would leave. I’d probably frown at people for not checking under the beds for the culprit I mean, it’s not like the culprit banished. Note to self and to everyone else. If you stumble upon a closed room scene, check under the beds people! It matters.

Van Dine rules were a huuuge teaser because we hardly saw many of them, but anyone can imagine how restricted Umineko would be trying to follow all 20 rules to the letter. It doesn’t follow all the Knox’s 10, expecting it to follow 20 it’d be too much to ask. I’ll put this out there too seeing Will spamming 20 red claims would be beyond epic. Red. Red. Red. Can you handle 20 continuous red claims? Well, Van Dine can, and so did figuring out The Greene Murder Case before I did. Funny note on that, if you ever plan to pick up a S.S Van Dine book I’d recommend that because how similar it is to the Umineko in a way. Not so friendly family, there are constant murders, said murders will continue, and no one has any damn idea who is the culprit behind it. Oh, and grand finale to boot.

So the battle I was looking for the most was cut short. I seriously wanted to see a full blown out Willard vs. Bernkastel fight but Requiem got the important point across anyway. There was never any “real” proof of anything even if they end it as a mystery because of the lack of tangible hard evidence in the story- at that point of the story – it was impossible to corroborate anything. That is about to just screw up anyone’s mind.

Personally, Lion didn’t grow much on me the first time I read Requiem, but after rereading the game one more time I think I got a better impression of *her* Part of the enjoyment of these stories is that there’s replay value when you’re trying to solve it. There was plenty of information that I missed the first time which my mind only recorded the second time. So by the second time I finished Requiem characters such a Lion and Will some gained points. For most part Will got most of the points because after I was done with Requiem again I gained a new respect for him, and that’s not even counting that scene in Twilight of the Golden Witch.

Will escaping from Bernkastel left me a sour taste. It’s the second time someone fighting with a Mystery approach is defeated in this story. Erika in Dawn, and now Will in Requiem. The worse fear is that because everything has been sealed inside the cat box the result might be necessarily be what we expect, think or want. If everything turns into fantasy then what exactly has everyone been doing all this time? That’s the kinda of risky move that can backfire if handled inappropriately.  And that’s the type of thing we’re dealing here. No idea how they can wrap up this story and please everyone is what I’d think, however for what I’ve seen EP8 has been doing a great job so far.

Bernkastel’s position as boss in the Umineko series is strong as it is. Probably goes without saying that she’s the type of boss that it is better to run away from until you level up enough to fancy retrying her because you’re certainly going to wipe. And she does just that even though she doesn’t directly throws herself in the front lines very often. What a teaser.

Speaking of huge teasers, Requiem never fully explored Featherine’s character either which I found disappointing. Judging by how Dawn ended anyone would figure Featherine would be hugely involved in 7th Game, but rather Bern is the only one fully involved while Featherine literally sat back and enjoyed the show in her rocking chair. Then again Featherine is more of a character that is behind the scenes but never becomes directly involved. To explain her lack of involvement I figured that it is because she’s hinted to be the most powerful entity in the story that she’s forced to be an observer to make the game work.  No idea if R07 is saving her the 2nd half of Twilight of the Golden Witch or any of his future projects, but Aurora is surely not a character to be messed with. Au-auh.

Lambda she is always there

 Twilight of the Golden Witch is going to be the final showdown against Bern the witch of miracle who is sure a miracles will not happen.  I guess that we never read a full game where Bernkastel was the Game Master. Sure, she carried out Beatrice’s funeral and all that but, but, right. Bernkastel has got to have her fun one last time before everything is over. They’re ending it the same way Alliance of the Golden Witch did. You got doubts, they got red and it isn’t pretty.  I wouldn’t expect less from this pair.

As usual we’re back to Ange. GM Battler plays the big brother role and the role of the only one who knows the truth and can show it. It’s a powerful contrast between the game the viewer just witnessed and what Battler is saying.  Battler is calm and collected reassuring that the truth isn’t as bad as Ange thinks it is. What happened on that day? That’s the biggest question of the whole game. So far there have been plenty of fragments of the truth but nothing absolute concrete. Bernkastel’s truth is ruthless and Battler’s truth appears to be the opposite.

The wait, the mysteries that will be solved, the truth that will be exposed. Off the readers go to Rokkenjima waiting for the boat that will take them Rokkenjima of 1986. Requiem of the Golden Witch.  The End. What, I’m not done? Blog Twilight of the Golden Witch? More projects? More theatergoing? You jest witches. You jest.

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