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I really can't agree with the idea that Yasu's self-loathing is some kind of exaggeration at all. If anything, it's practically the defining point of her character. The fact that she sees herself as furniture, her hatred of herself for being unable to love, the constant self-vilification and mockery of her own beliefs that is so present in her message bottles...It's most certainly an important point, and really, I don't see anything that unbelievable about it. I'm honestly continually stricken by how genuinely human Yasu's character is, actually.
And as for whether she makes a believable culprit, well...the fact is, a lot of people commit murder, and many of those aren't people that would have seemed to be the type to kill to the outside, even to those who felt they were really close to the person in question. Self-hatred is seriously an incredibly destructive thing, as I know from experience; if it's kept bottled up inside for long enough, without anyone else knowing about it, it can definitely become all-consuming and yes, it can ultimately turn into a total apathy and inability to care about anything, like the Beatrice we see in some of Clair's scenes or in the EP4 tea party. Such a state of mind would more likely lead to suicide than anything else, but yes, I can see it leading to some kind of desperate, futile gamble like the one Yasu ended up pulling, on the basis that she has nothing to lose anyway and can't really bring herself to care about the consequences, however much she might intelectually understand them.
...And, well, whether that's something that can be sympathised with is ultimately up to the reader, I guess! But on whether it's actually believable or not, I honestly think that it is. A person can definitely be perfectly intelectually sound, even to the extent of being able to plan and write something as complicated as the message bottle stories (and indeed the murders themselves), while still being a complete and utter mess emotionally. With all the
complicated stuff Yasu's had to deal with, I can definitely see her getting to that point. Maybe you would call that "insane", but in the end that's just a label for a state that a normal person can't identify with. Being "insane" doesn't necessarily mean that one isn't capable of logical, rational thought; a person can intelectually know that something's wrong, but that really doesn't hold much power if they're too emotionally ruined to care.
...Man, I really should stop getting into these debates, they're not good for me at all. I just can't seem to help myself from trying to defend Beatrice as a character, since she's honestly what makes Umineko for me. I'll get back to proofreading Part 6 now.
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