This episode was surprising an a pletora of different ways.
- This time we have not a single story but two different stories alternating. the 4th game of 1986 and Ange in the 1998. No wonder this episode is that long!
- In the previous episodes everything happens in October 5, from 0:00 to 24:00. In this episode everything happens in October 4. That's quite a blow.
- The first episode was a classic mistery story, the second and the third changed the theme into a battle of twisted logic, certainly there was a bit of action in episode3 but episode4 really brought that to another level. Transposed into animation this could be seen as a fighting anime °°;
- The battle of red truths was a central part of episode2 and 3. In episode4 with a few exceptions everything happens in the tea party. Another major WTF °°;
- This is the first time that the pieces in the games are shown to be aware of the recurring games.
I found the whole scene where kyrie's group tries to escape incredibly hilarous. Virgilia dealing with the goat's stupidy while worrying about the wound she caused herself by biting her own tongue, the siestas making a parody of OS systems (an homage to the OS-tan I suppose), the comparison between the crowd og goats and the usual JR line scenario (Virgilia shouting to the goat who touched her butt to get off to the next station was priceless)
Now the whole "dead flag" thing was also hilarous but also mindfucking. I disconnected my brain to prevent irreparable damage. Okay we have already witnessed something pretty similar with the battle between Kyrie and Leviathan, so we shouldn't really be surprised.
However this goes to the pile of things that "they didn't really happened!" and can't be explained even with magic. They are just preposterous from any angle you watch them.
Now I don't know how to make an order of the mess I have in my mind so I'll just shoot things at random:
1) Obviously I couldn't prevent myself from seeing Gaap and the siestas long before I played this last patch. But I'm pretty sure I've seen various images of a fourth siesta... so I'm still baffled at the fact... I haven't see her at all... Does that mean it's just a popular fan made character, or did I miss it? °°;
2) Another thing that really bothers me is that damn cliffhanger Ryukishi put me in when Ange sees that thing at the Captain house and she finally understand magic... what the hell was that?! Any theory? Damn you Ryukishi!!!
3) There are very interesting facts that are brought to light from Ange's perspective. But one fact doesn't seem to match. It is confirmed that a person lived in the kuwadorian and it is finally explained how Kinzo managed to conceal all that (another harbour... simple but pretty effective...). More importantly it is confirmed that everything suddenly stopped in 1967 (actually he said "about 30 years ago" but that's pretty close). Now the part that doesn't seem to match is the fact that he said he's been deliviring goods to that kuwadorian for 20 years. That mean... it started around 1948. However it is been stated that the Main house construction was finished in 1952... more importantly the family transfered there in 1956!!!
Mind... this isn't necessarily a contradiction, it only mean that if there is no error we'll have to change our perspective. It's not like the kuwadorian was built so Kinzo could have her lover near the house... it's the exact opposite! In other words the kuwadorian existed long before the Mansion... also it is very possible that it existed even before Kinzo bought the whole island. In fact while Kinzo started rebuilding the family's fortune since 1923 it only reached its peak after 1950 when he made a lot of money thanx to the korean war. Before that he couldn't buy a whole island. Actually it's been said that it was due to his connection with the military (that were built during the Korean war) that he managed to buy a whole island.
4) If point 3 is true we can explain the existence of the gold in the island. It was there in the first place most probably somewhere in the kuwadorian basement.
However it is also clear that Kinzo didn't walk throught the forest to reach it, there is a tunnel that connects the mansion to the kuwadorian. So I don't think I was completely wrong when I theorized that the entrance to the golden land was near the Chapel. The Chapel is probably a starting point from which it is possible to find the entrance (or one of the entrances) to the tunnel.
"This door will only open at a probability of 1 on a quadrillion" that's what is written in the front of the chapel, and that is what appears in Kumasawa's photo.
Still... 30 mins walking... 2 kilometers? I hope kinzo bought a golf car or something to do the trip back and forth...
5) Obligatory comment to tea party. I understand I'm not the only one that noticed that Battler's attacks weren't really effective. Beatrice gave up on very debatable theories. My thoughts at the moment were: Ryukishi is playing with the fans again, he's basically making Battler saying all the popular theories that were posted in various forums. This was dirty trick, I imagine various people jumping on their seat screaming: "yes I knew it!!!" Too bad I've never liked any of those theories XD so it wasn't very effective with me °°;
Well you have to admit that the theory of people shooting each other was pretty lame. Also the mini bomb wasn't only clealry ridiculous, it didn't resolved the matter at all. I mean he had to explain how the hell they entered the chapel and how it was closed. So even if he the bomb could explain a remote murder... how the hell that explains how they entered in the chapel in the first place?!
Of course I can think of a theory of two, but that's beyond the point... by accepting that Beatrice wasn't even trying to not make me think he was faking.
6) Am I the only one that when read Shannon talking about the golden land couldn't help to think she was talking about the afterlife?
7) It is pretty much confirmed the connection between Ronove and Genji ("maybe he was my vessel" pretty self explanatory), and Kumasawa and Virgilia ("your prize will be mackerel curry")
8) About Ange's story conclusion I have different theories. Well of course I don't believe that she actually summoned the stakes. The most probable theory is that Amakusa sniped them one after another, simple as that. The bullets that were stopped is just a fantasy. Another theory is that Ange died there and she only imagined she was actually the one to kill her murderers. The last theory is that Ange died by falling from the skyscraper. However this one is a mindfuck. If that's true then I'll have to doubt anything she has found out during the travel that didn't actually happen.
9) Battler's sin. I connect this to the scene where we see Maria and Beatrice. They say that the two of them founded the mariage sorciere and it was a mistake to let someone else enter. Now Beatrice actually exists, we have to face it, Battler sees her, game over. If Battler could see things that do not actually exist, then he would see the stakes the siestas the goatmen and so on. However that doesn't mean Beatrice is an X person. Well I'm not denying that either, I'm just saying that we have two possibilities: Beatrice is an X person or Beatrice is one of the 17. However the latter leaves us with a few possibilities. I mean you don't really think that she's Gohda in disguise don't you? Jessica, Shannon and Kanon (yes Kanon!!!) are the only one that could pull such a trick with a few make ups.
So my guess is that the mariage sorciere started with Maria and one of those three: Jessica or Shannon... or Kanon... yes he wasn't supposed to be there... but who knows maybe he's got another name and identity back then.
Then Battler was invited in the group but... he made fun of them... he denied witches or something on those lines, or maybe he betrayed them by not attending the family meetings and therefore the witches covenant. In the end it is not possible to imagine how and why that caused the events of six years later, but consider Higurashi... a doll was behind the most tragic events in the whole series, so anything is possible.
10) Battler's is not Asumu's son... shock!!! Well frankly I don't think he's Kyries son. And BTW I wouldn't say for certain that he's Rudolf's son. I guess someone can point out that red truth says he's Ange's brother. However the red truth also says that Asumu is his mother. Which mean... family relationships are not bound to genetic. Even if Battler was an adopted child, Asumu would still be his mother and Ange would still be his sister. And that basically mean that he'd still qualify as Kinzo's grandson even if he wasn't related by blood to him °°;;; But well it's not like I believe so, after all it's been said many times that the two are very similar.
Anyway I think we can use this fact to explain the strange behaviour of Rudolf in episode one. He wanted to have an important family meeting. I think he was going to disclose the truth in front of Kyrie and Battler. And when he said he was probably going to die... well... considering the situation I think he was thinking that after telling them that Asumu never got pregnant he would have been killed by both his wife and his son. Now what is unclear is why he decided to tell them in that place. Is there any connection with Beatrice?
11) Kinzo is dead! OMGWTFBBQ!!! Jk, I knew all along... big deal. However this has a very huge impact on the approach we should take what we have shown.
Apart from the scenes we are shown with him, that could be all fake, there is to consider the vast number of people that claim they have seen/talked to Kinzo in front of Battler. Those are: Shannon, Genji, Nanjo, Krauss, Natsuhi, and Rosa. There's a whole 6 of them. How do you explain it? They are lying? They are hallucinating? Or is it another Kinzo as Battler theorized? Should I really accept this lame excuse? And who the hell that would be?
12) Shannon is Kanon? Truly this episode4 removed one of the major obstacle to the acceptance of this theory. A lot of people see both of them at the same time? Big deal, that also goes for Kinzo. So this kind of argument doesn't work anymore. The fact remains that Battler never sees both of them at the same time, and Battler is the only one we can trust at this point.
I guess someone could say: in episode1 he sees Shannon's body and Kanon is near. That's not exactly true... No one except Hideyoshi and Nanjo look at her face. But it's said in red that there was not mistake in the identification of the corpses! Yep, but does a fake body qualify as corpse? Of course not.
The problem is... Ryukishi is a real bastard... when he removes one obstacle to a certain theory he just add anther one.
First: Kanon was the first to die of the 5 people with Kyrie
You see the problem? If you answered: "if Kanon doesn't exist then he couldn't be the first to die", wrong! That's not the problem, Shannon was the first to die, and if Shannon is Kanon then that's settled. The problem is that "five". I could someone go around this problem by saying there was an unknown 5th person with them, maybe Beatrice herself.
The hardest part comes now: "Noone except Kanon himself can use that name" This was a major blow. Damn you Lambdadelta!!!
Why this is an incredibly hard problem? Well because... the theory is that a real Kanon actually existed and he died. Think about it. It's been stated several times that Kanon died, but it's never been stated HOW he died. Beatrice refuses to tell. Actually we know in one case it wasn't homicide, it wasn't suicide. I believe this is true for any game. Kanon died before the events of this game exactly like Kinzo. Yeah that's what I thought until Lambda used this inconvenient red truth.
However I haven't given up yet... I'm sure there's a trick to it...
After all if Shannon and Kanon are the same person a lot of mysteries can be solved.
There's another problem... red truth stated that there are 5 master key and each one of them are in possession of a different servant. If Kanon and Shannon are the same person then there are only 4 servants... what a conundrum... unless Beatrice is actually a servant...
Uh... actually this would explain a lot of things °°;;;;