[DizzyRoro]

During the opening which I've watched a thousand times, I decided to take note of the order in how the characters appear on the chessboard. It's been stated before who appears (although there were some mistakes) but here's my list anyway.

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(Battler/Kinzo)

Rudolf, Kyrie, Nanjo, Krauss, Maria, George, Hideyoshi, Jessica, Shannon, Genji, Kumasawa, Kinzo, Gohda, Eva, Natsuhi, Kanon, <New Girl A>, (Stakes), (Siestas), Beatrice, Ronova, Virgilia, Gaap, Goats(?)

(Bernkastel & Lambdadelta)

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Missing on chessboard: Rosa, Battler,Ange

Spoiler for Personal notes:

I find this all quite mind boggling, and very interesting. I initially had the idea that it would be nice to take down the order of how they appear, hoping that there would be some sort of pattern. And in what I took down, there kind of is. There is obviously the idea that there is a definite two sides between Anti-Mystery vs Anti-Fantasy but there are other ways that it kind of appeared to me.

One in particular is that it somewhat progresses in who is closest to Battler personally, although there are a few strange points if you read it in this manner. Rudolf is exceptionally close, followed by Kyrie, then Nanjo. Nanjo is strange to be placed here in this order, but either I'm barking up the wrong tree, missed something, or will be informed. There are a lot of others in the middle, but the ends are somewhat more interesting. First, Kinzo appears on the gameboard, then Gohda, Eva, Natsuhi and Kanon. Although it's true that Battler enjoys Eva's playful humor at times, he often does have his moments where he butts heads with her, so it makes some sense that she would be further away. Natsuhi is interesting here, but technically, Natsuhi is not necessarily disliked but also not particularly liked by the cousins in the first place. She is a strict mother, a proper woman and carries a tense atmosphere for the cousins. In addition to this, there are many notes of some spotlight on Natsuhi in this arc, so we may be getting further explanation of her placement in the gameboard. Lastly for the anti-fantasy side is Kanon. It's definitely strange for him to be furthest away from Battler and sandwiched between Natsuhi and <New Girl A>, but if we take into consideration his insisting that he is furniture, the "newest creation of Goldsmith", it wouldn't be surprising that he is also closest to the fantasy side.

From this point on, it's mostly all of the anti-mystery/fantasy. <New Girl A> is up front, followed by the Stakes and Siestas. At the back are Beatrice, with Ronove, Virgilia and Gaap close behind her.

From a certain point of perspective, the set up is very strategic. If you consider Beatrice as the King, it would make sense for her to be both backed up by her most powerful specialized pieces, but also to be behind her two walls of defense/offense, the Siestas and Stakes. <New Girl A> currently is a variable, but if we look at how this could potentially be played, one could say that she is the Queen, the most powerful and valuable piece, aside from the King. This could explain why she was released so late into the game, putting her in danger too early could be fatal, but keeping her in too long is a waste of her potential as a piece.

Finally, outside of the gameboard, shown before the pieces are shown on the actual board, is a picture of Battler with Kinzo in the background. After a quick scene of Beatrice and Battler reaching for each other, on a gameboard as well but seemingly seperate, Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are present. I'm unsure whether it's the same gameboard, a different gameboard, referring to their "game" or speaking on a higher plane "game" than which Umineko takes place it.

Then the gameboard blows up and Bernkastel + Lambdadelta are nowhere to be seen.

The lack of Rosa is incredibly interesting, but I think I should sleep.

...Or the order means absolutely nothing and I'm completely wrong!

Edit:

Spoiler for Even more ranting!:

I decided that I might as well talk about what I've seen in the OP that have been of interest to me. There's a lot of pretty shnazzy effects going on and I'm liking every bit of it, down to the somewhat surprising song choice. I initially had to do a double-take when I heard the song come on, but I've come to like it quite a bit. I also found it somewhat similar to Miotsukushi-hen's OP in Higurashi Matsuri, but only marginally.

Another thing I noticed was that in the first "Golden Land" scene with the golden roses there was a gazebo-like structure. Finally, near the end of the video (1:28) another field is shown, except with blue and pink roses. However, if you look closely, particularly right by the bottom edges of the screen, there is gold. The shapes are somewhat similar to the roses, so perhaps this is either the same place, or somewhere/sometime else. In addition, behind what I believe to be Virgilia, there is a gazebo-like structure once again.

Finally, I'd like to clarify that Krauss is indeed in the "People shot" from (3:30-3:32) just to clarify, since I think he was missed by some people.

I'm happy Natsuhi may be getting more attention, I kinda like her.