[AuraTwilight]

What about things like Feathering writing Lambda into death however she wanted. The magic narration says it's because she's a witch on the level of a Creator way above Bern and Lambda. But then is Hachijou a witch in real life then? Real life should be perfectly normal.

What does Featherine killing Lambda in a fictional story have to do with Hachijou being a real life witch?

If the Metaworld is real, why would Hachijou keep a cat called Bern when she is really Featherine and the real Bern is her miko and also a cat?

Hypothetical scenario: Hachijou finds the first two message bottles which includes Bernkastel in them (who may or may not be based on the Higurashi character; it's irrelevant); she writes her own stuff, and creates the Featherine character, who becomes real in the Meta-World the same way Yasu got Beatrice powers and whatnot. In the same vein, Hachijou got a cat and named it Bernkastel afterwards.

This would suggest that the Metaworld isn't real then. Or Yasu actually met Bernkastel and wrote her in.

Or that the Meta-World is a psychic plane of existence which is shaped by the collective consciousness of humanity.

Also Beatrice only says that in Battler's game full of lies.

Lies, or truth? Battler's game for Ange is never proven to be full of lies, and even if it was, the mention of other message bottles is completely irrelevant to the reason Battler WOULD be lying. Telling Ange there's a third message bottle does nothing to help her move on and come at peace with herself.

One thing ep 8 makes clear is that Featherine is able to pass back and forth between the Meta World and the 1998 world and retain her identity and powers. She uses the Red Truth in 1998, communicates to Bern through the cat form when no one is looking, and is able to hold a conversation with Ange crossing between the two worlds. She also does not age (and this is clearly noted) in the post-1998 world years later. The cat also seems to be able to pass between the worlds and change back and forth to her witch form.

Then Bernkastel turns into a cat when she enters the human form. Sure, whatever.

I agree that the Meta World is as real and relevant here as it is in Higurashi--that is to say it is part of the mechanism that facilitates the story and observation of it, but is not in itself a part of the actual core puzzle. As such, I think the cat is actually the 1998 world avatar/piece of Bern, not the other way around.

So yeah, I guess I'm thinking meta-world witches are "real", just not the culprit.

I agree.