Character discussion - Maria

[Judoh]

Originally Posted by littlegal100

Well yeah Maria isn't evil at all. nor would she be anywhere close to a possible culprit or even an accomplice IMO. Although frankly that shoudn't affect her likability with the fans ^^

Well I disagree about her not being an accomplice. Unless you mean in murder. There are several instances where she probably is involved in somebody else's plot.

[littlegal100]

Originally Posted by Judoh

Well I disagree about her not being an accomplice. Unless you mean in murder. There are several instances where she probably is involved in somebody else's plot.

When I said 'accomplice' I did mean an accomplice for the murder act. I really can't see it. Although I'm not going to deny her possible involvement (whether intentional or not) in other schemes related to the whole incident.

[Disz]

I'm almost 100% sure she's being used.''Beatrice'' the culprit probably has been planning this ''game'' for a long time,so she probably toyed with Maria's mind to make it so she can fully creep people out at the time and make them believe in witches.Pretty much like telling one kid ''Santa died D:'' and making them learn about how santa ''died'' and when it's Christmas,that kid would surely tell everyone at the party.With all the commotion,the culprit would MURDE-steal presents.Then again the kid would just be asked who told her,and she would say the name.But in this case,the culprit went an extra level and dressed up and used the alias ''Beatrice''.

[pikablu]

Originally Posted by littlegal100

Well yeah Maria isn't evil at all. nor would she be anywhere close to a possible culprit or even an accomplice IMO. Although frankly that shoudn't affect her likability with the fans ^^

She was awesome at the end of episode 2 (Rosa musou!!) Although too bad she's too much of a failmum to be very likable after that (atleast for me)

What if Rosa isn't actually abusing Maria at all? What if Maria is just imagining it? I mean Battler himself has never witnessed Rosa treating Maria badly (maybe a little shouting, but I'm talking about the more harsh stuff like slapping her or something) + it's often just secluded moments between the two, so you can't discount the fact that maybe Rosa is quite nice. And unfortunately that would include the musou scene at the end of epi 2.

Also as for Episode 4:

Spoiler for Episode IV-IV:

At the end of the magic scene with Rosa being killed with Maria, it ends with Maria literally waking up as though that all was a dream, meaning what if Maria's done it before, who's to say she hasn't constantly been doing it

Originally Posted by Judoh

Well I disagree about her not being an accomplice. Unless you mean in murder. There are several instances where she probably is involved in somebody else's plot.

I so agree like with that, check out this (only if you've completely watched the first four episodes), that's why I don't think she could be discredited as being a culprit:

Spoiler for Episode IV-VIII:

With Nanjo + Kumasawa + Genji's murders of Episode 1: Maria was not the killer as said by Beatrice, but I think Maria was possibly involved, but not as the killer, but maybe an accomplice, she could have hid the guns and locked the door/window (wherever the culprit escaped from)

Originally Posted by Disz

I'm almost 100% sure she's being used.''Beatrice'' the culprit probably has been planning this ''game'' for a long time,so she probably toyed with Maria's mind to make it so she can fully creep people out at the time and make them believe in witches.Pretty much like telling one kid ''Santa died D:'' and making them learn about how santa ''died'' and when it's Christmas,that kid would surely tell everyone at the party.With all the commotion,the culprit would MURDE-steal presents.Then again the kid would just be asked who told her,and she would say the name.But in this case,the culprit went an extra level and dressed up and used the alias ''Beatrice''.

The only problem with that is that Beatrice doesn't seem to be 'evil' as such...I suspect that if Beatrice was really just trying to hurt Maria in any way, then she wouldn't have spent so much time with her and made Maria love her so much. It just seems unnatural for her to do something like that. Maria may have been used as an accomplice unknowningly true...but I don't think the culprit would have tried to tarnish Maria's personality.

[Bluemail]

Originally Posted by pikablu

What if Rosa isn't actually abusing Maria at all? What if Maria is just imagining it? I mean Battler himself has never witnessed Rosa treating Maria badly (maybe a little shouting, but I'm talking about the more harsh stuff like slapping her or something) + it's often just secluded moments between the two, so you can't discount the fact that maybe Rosa is quite nice. And unfortunately that would include the musou scene at the end of epi 2.

Battler saw Rosa slapping Maria in the very first episode... She did that in EP2 after she came back with the gun, though that wasn't in the anime. And was going to slap Maria in the servant's room before Battler stopped her (if I recall correctly). Though this all except the first one in the rose garden happened after the speculated "switch" to 'Rosa' in EP2.
Oh now I remember something I want to post in the speculations thread...

[Disz]

Contrary to popular belief,using someone doesn't neccecarily mean hurting them.And I also don't think Beatrice is eevil persay,but still very troubled.She didn't fake liking Maria,she just had to use someone vaunerable with innocence.Maria.

[UsagiTenpura]

Meh Battler smacks Maria plenty by himself in arc 1.
There doesn't need to be Rosa around. Maybe Maria is aware of how annoying she is and that's why she doesn't hate her mother...

[Nipah Neko Kisa]

The way I see it, a lot of the Anime-Only Fans compare her to Rena, by either saying

"Maria-Chan is so cute! Like Rena!" or "She's a wannabe Rena!"

However, I see Maria as a totally different character than Rena. I can relate to her in alot of ways and her personality is reasonable, considering the treatment she receives from Rosa. She's really a kind character. As long as she isn't completely and utterly selfish or OVER THE TOP MOE, I like her just fine~

I find the fact that she can create 1 from 0 very interesting for her character~ 8D

[SonozakiUshiromiya]

Originally Posted by Marion

And as Rosa said - they had no proof Maria was being abused other than being kept home along late nights. Maria herself never said she was being abused by Rosa. If she did THEN child services could do something. But she loves Rosa too much to fault her (even after Sakutaro is ripped to pieces she blames the black witch rather than her mother)

I agree they had no case on the abuse, but the social worker was thrown around the room like a rag doll. You'd think that's a clear cut case of assault.

Originally Posted by Bluemail

Battler saw Rosa slapping Maria in the very first episode... She did that in EP2 after she came back with the gun, though that wasn't in the anime. And was going to slap Maria in the servant's room before Battler stopped her (if I recall correctly). Though this all except the first one in the rose garden happened after the speculated "switch" to 'Rosa' in EP2.

You know what gets me, when we are shown the abuse in the rose garden(eps 1 & 2), there's ALWAYS a witness(ep1: Battler, Jessica, and George; ep2: Kanon).

[Leafsnail]

I think Ryukushi has something against social workers. I mean... always presented as so inept and useless (surely an obvious case of assault is enough evidence...?).

[Judoh]

Originally Posted by Leafsnail

I think Ryukushi has something against social workers. I mean... always presented as so inept and useless (surely an obvious case of assault is enough evidence...?).

Well he spent a big chunk of Minagoroshi's staffroom apologizing for how he portrayed the child consultation center in Higurashi, and saying that they're not really like that...

[beatler556]

I don't like Maria much. She's too annoying and that uu~ sound drives me crazy.

[C-chan]

She did annoyed me at first. But she was really cute and her attitude of forgiving people over and over again is really good. She may be creepy at times but I love the way she speaks whenever she turns into 'that' state. She speaks like an adult which makes her unique among the cousins.

[Linkin Battler]

Originally Posted by Disz

I'm almost 100% sure she's being used.''Beatrice'' the culprit probably has been planning this ''game'' for a long time,so she probably toyed with Maria's mind to make it so she can fully creep people out at the time and make them believe in witches.Pretty much like telling one kid ''Santa died D:'' and making them learn about how santa ''died'' and when it's Christmas,that kid would surely tell everyone at the party.With all the commotion,the culprit would MURDE-steal presents.Then again the kid would just be asked who told her,and she would say the name.But in this case,the culprit went an extra level and dressed up and used the alias ''Beatrice''.

Imho Maria is being used by Beatrice, it's sufficient to see the way she acts when people die: she doesn't mind it for the simple reason she is convinced everyone will resurrect in the Golden Land praising her because she was right - while everyone else were wrong - and being happy, as Beatrice (I mean a character, probably Shannon, who disguises herself as Beatrice) told her. That is why she does not worry for everyone else's death. Also, imho she is connected with the culprit: the only person present in both the two scene where a letter appears without anyone knowing where it came from is Maria and I don't think that could be a coincidence. Also, in the second scene (Rosa, Battler and Maria in the parlor) she is very disappointed for the fact that they are quarrelling because of the letter instead of believing in magic, as she expected (or better, as the culprit, the one representing Beatrice, told her), while she cannot say it was her putting the letter (because obviously Beato told her absolutely not to do it.

[Mihara Yuki]

Even with cuteness and forgiving isn't giving me much reason why I should like Maria.
I just dislike her 'uu' ,and I think Maria is suspicious enough to become culprit (alright...maybe she was an accomplice because of her age )

[AuraTwilight]

It's pretty much impossible for Maria to be a murderer due to her fanatic belief that a supernatural being is responsible.

[Cao Ni Ma]

Originally Posted by AuraTwilight

It's pretty much impossible for Maria to be a murderer due to her fanatic belief that a supernatural being is responsible.

Dont discard the probability of a character being the culprit just because of how they act, because of their age or gender. Eliminating a person from a list of potential culprits should only be done after all the evidence is presented and only if it that evidence exonerates that person. I still have a lot of unanswered questions regarding Maria and in my view she's pretty high on the list of possible culprits or at the very least an accomplice.

[Leafsnail]

Maria sticks with Battler almost all the time, though.

[Cao Ni Ma]

Originally Posted by Leafsnail

Maria sticks with Battler almost all the time, though.

Well of course, remember, as long as you hold her hand nothing bad will happen to you. If only Rosa had held her hand instead of the gun and the gold maybe she would have survived... dont worry Rosa, you solved one of the riddles but Maria solved them all...

[AuraTwilight]

Dont discard the probability of a character being the culprit just because of how they act, because of their age or gender. Eliminating a person from a list of potential culprits should only be done after all the evidence is presented and only if it that evidence exonerates that person. I still have a lot of unanswered questions regarding Maria and in my view she's pretty high on the list of possible culprits or at the very least an accomplice.

Pieces are unable to act outside of their character; in other words, we can take the characterizations of everyone on the island as factual. If you're going to insist that Maria is knowingly implicit in the murderers, you're tantamount to saying she's aware that these murders aren't being done by Beatrice, which pretty much unravels every single piece of character development she's ever been given.

In other words, it's loveless and antithetical to the information we've been given. The only way Maria can be involved is if she is witlessly, unknowingly helping the murderer without being aware of the real consequences of her actions, which is consistent with her presented behavior of innocently reading threatening letters and the like.