Oh boy where to begin. After the plot twist that happened back in episode 3, I thought that I had a high expectations for this series but none of that could have prepared me for being blown out of the water like this. Simply put the entire "latter half" of episode 4 was one of the biggest mind fucks I have been through but at the same it was one heck of an enjoyable and satisfying ride <--- understatement. There were countless times where emotion comes into play and the thrill of having those emotions go up and down like a rollercoaster is like the best experience ever. This is where I scream that Ryukishi is a fricking genius!
In fact I was rather surprised to hear that this was going to be the final question arc for the series as you know everything will begin to be revealed once we get into the answer arcs. A part of me wants to know the answers but then again another part is sad to see that this is going to be the beginning of the end and well, I was hoping for more development of the minor characters like Natsuhi, Krauss and on Rudolf's side after knowing the delicious fact that Kyrie isn't the kind of woman I once thought she was. But then again I still have hopes for more depth of their characters with the upcoming answer arcs. Yea...
Well back onto the game and naturally I expected this episode to be heavy with Ange moments of growing up and whatnot. I wasn't surprised either to see that it was also a Maria centred episode since it was about time we got the full story with her and Rosa and it was quite a heartbreaking story indeed.
However while the background information was definitely needed for those two, Ange in particular, I can't help but feel that it was a little bit too long winded and at times I did fall into periods of boredom (god forbid!). Unlike the previous episodes, this one also had places in the story where you do feel like you have lost all sense of directions and it becomes a messy blur all of a sudden. I think this is the biggest downer on the episode as a whole, the pacing at times wasn't done well enough for the full impact to become truely effective and while reading about the background of Ange's painful and tragic past was emotional...it could have been so much better if more brakes were taken in between to focus on Battler instead of having the first 8-9 chapters devoted to solid setup and flashback.
That said though the negatives about this episode were definitely out weighed by the positives to the point of where after one play through, you can't help but want to play it again (making this game more addictive to me than any drug). Although the real enjoyment from the game wasn't up until the main event but once it got there it was simply full steam ahead until the end!
The main difference with this episode compared to the previous ones was the involvement of Kinzo and surprise surprise, the entire episode was basically about his madness in making his ceremony complete as opposed to before when he basically left it up to chance. The best surprise for me playing this episode was finding out just which side Kinzo stood and well, there was no arguing with it once we see him summon ALL 3 SIESTAS (00 is the BEST mind you), RONOVE, VIRGILLA and GAAP. As if in a twist of fate where the previous episodes have always been Beato's spirit leading the attacks on everyone to complete her summoning this time round it was Kinzo leading the attack...who would have thought that the joke name that Battler made up in ep 1 was actually Kinzo's true title:
LORD GOLDSMITH! MUHAHAHAHA!
Actually it was extremely interesting and expected to have him show up like the GAR mofo that he was at the meeting. From the way he entered the room to laying a smackdown on all his sons and daughters it was all done in a way in which you could really feel the manliness of this man. Then for him to be convinced by Nanjo about his grandchildren I suddenly begin to feel a slight chill down my spine when he claimed that none of his children will be the next head but they still have another use. It was then I actually counted how many people was in the room and lo and behold, there was 13 + Kinzo. This simply screamed "sacrifice time" for me and damn I hate it when I'm right
So with Kinzo going batshit crazy in revealing his true aim of gathering the people to the dining room I think we got one of the best scenes to have ever come from this series. The shock, surprise and suddeness of it happening right in front of everyone was so surreal that it wasn't until after a few deaths that had occured did they realise that something was seriously wrong.
But this is also the very first time in which we witness the reaction of the family to the usage of magic in front of their eyes. All the previous cases have been them being killed off before being able to tell anyone that "magic was used" so this much be the plan for the witch in this game. The way to make Battler believe in magic without him having to witness it happen first hand would be to have people to tell him afterwards of course.
The introduction of new characters
00 and Gaap was most welcomed with 00 instantly hitting to the top spot of my moe meter with the look and personality. Interestingly with the introduction of new characters it came also with the depreciation of others and in this case it was Virgilla...more later...
Up to this point I would have said that nothing else could have surpassed this in epicness but...I would have had to eat another hat for such a claim.
The tests that were given to both Jessica and George were brutal but again what surprised me was how they took it into their own hands to simply KICK THE SHIT out of Ronove (sorry dude) and Gaap. This scene was really a cheer from the human side for me since throught the entire series, the humans have never really fought back properly against the demon furnitures so see it happen once like this was extremely enjoyable for me. That is also an understatement since such joy can't be easily expressed in words but it was like the feeling of getting up from your seat and yelling at the screen, cheering at them to fight on whilst scrolling through.
For
Jessica VS Ronove it was simply a battle of endurance. Jessica pulling out the kunckle dusters and giving Ronove a swipe to the face was hilarious and shocking at the same time. Yet the same old graceful Ronove never gets made or change his temper. To be so elegant in such a situation is amazingly entertaining and COOL to see. And how they both fought against each other with Jessica taking the offensive and Ronove being on the defensive was great to watch. I think in a sportsmanship sense they both enjoyed the thrill of being able to fight like this on an equal level and for the very first time, we get to see what Jessica is truely made of and certainly, her bark is exactly as powerful as her bite.
Then the same thing occurs for
George VS Gaap with the role reversal of George being the "gentleman" here. I knew that Eva wouldn't allow Geroge to skimp on learning martial arts and fuck yea has that paid off greatly. Whilst admittidly I also find Gaap to be hot as heck, she did deserve and ass kicking for George for underestimating him so much. Once again I was cheering for the human side and their pain in this fight but frankly, George showed that he has the stuff to be the next head by showing off his FORCE as not a destructive thing, but as a deterrent. His aim was to make the opposition know his power without actually killing them so that they step down from the fight willingly. It takes a big man to do this and George's image simply shone like the sun when he was able to pull off such an act of grace and extreme GARness. Seriously.
For both of them their fights were for those who they have lost as well as those that are still alive so it was painful to see the outcome of the fight due to foul and sly play...but what do you know, they are demons afterall. I was left speechless at such a conclusion when they were trying their best to kick so much bad ass, so much so that I had to let it all sink into me before being able to carry on.
I simply mourned at the injustice that they were killed off and it was extremely painful that it had to end like this...
Meanwhile the GAR levels never stopped and in another highlight scene of mine was the revolt great escape from the captives. Shannon and kanon in particular as they fought at overwhelming odds to outsmart and beat the Siestas at their game. Once we saw Shannon and Kanon link up it was clear who they were base from when they were made but it still was an unfair matchup given that they were just furnitures when the Siestas were powerful weapons...still through teamwork we saw how the underdog was able to nail the Siestas and cause them to...lol reboot.
This was another thing different about this episode as we had a lot more humor injected into the scenes that ever before. I think Ryu must have been in a good mood when he was writing this episode since the humorous side of things had been significantly increased but I felt that some were just too much. Well those that I felt were too much was generally all of those based around Virgilla and how far her character has fallen from grace of which we saw from the previous episode.
This episode completely changed my view of
Virgilla and it was in a bad way. Her personality has completely been degraded in my eyes to a mere comedy character and a klutz. I was quite sad to see her lose her graceful and mature attitude from the last game and for her true colours to be such a change from what I initially imaged and loved. I can't help but say it was a bad move to turn her into a comedy klutz...the most noticible example being when her goat lost a fight against Krauss due to a stupid "loser flag" cliche. Okay I did laugh a bit when the "bingbongs" were sounded but I wasn't impressed with how random it just came about during such serious situations. Other stuff that made me see her as a degraded character included her losing her cool when Gaap teases her...why virgilla, whyyy! ;____;
Places where the humor did work though were still plentiful and namely Nanjo finally getting some cameo phrases when his profession made him tend to the fall goats as well right after they fall from Krauss and Kyrie's fierce attacks. Speaking of which, Krauss and Kyrie make a GREAT couple with their intelligence and personality and I would have seriously choked to death with laughter if Krauss were to ask Kyrie to marry him if they get out of this bloody mess alive XD
Oh boy this is fanfic material indeed!
Kinzo also have many moments behind the scenes such as those teasing the bunnies...actually he was just damn right cruel and abusive to them whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Nasty, meanie, bully kinzo bullying the Siesta sisters made me hurt and especially since we know that he was actually digging up their old wounds which sent them flying to Virgilla...
Still have to give him credit for the "carrots" comment...a stroke of genius ^^'
I can babel for so much longer about such feelings but since I don't have that much time and I want to actually get some sleep today I will speed things up to the end...
The actual playtime of the chessboard this time round was actually shorter than expected. Well with Ange coming onto the scene like this I would have though that they would have worked together more to tag team Beato into submission however this did not happen and surprisingly, Ange's role endded up being less on the chess game fighting on Battler's side and more working in the background.
Flashing into the future showed scenes of Ange and her path to self discovery. At first I thought she was going to the island to discover the true of what happened in the past but then it turned out to be more of a "paying her respects to the dead" type of thing. It was a bit disappointing how this came about but with this being the final arc, understandable that there won't be a long story of her going through the mansion and whatnot.
Her lifestory was truely sad and tragic but all of that was already drilled into me before getting to this point. In the end she ended up being a sacrificed piece to help Battler get his soul back after it was banished due to a cheap trick Beato used...now that scene was brutal...very brutal...the description of her being torn to pieces right behind Battler wasn't even sugarcoated by Beato for the simple fact that Beato wanted him to turely hate her guts so the game can end once and for all.
Infact the section before this was another area which I think wasn't done very well and that was because all of a sudden...everything turned into a blurred mess and by that I meant the story direction.
While I may not be writing up theories on how each murders happened I will still try to question the mysteries of the episode. One such big one was the scene between Beato and Battler as he took that test. So Battler's
sin, just exactly what could that be and how has it affected Beato or in this case "the culprit who is killing everyone". strangely enough Battler's sin happened 6 years ago but it was not something connected to Beato...so implicitly it must have been some thing indirect that cause a knock back effect to something of this magnitude. Since Battler can't remember any sort of sin then he himself must not have thought it was anything big at the time...I certainly don't think he witnessed anyone dying like Rosa did from her youth.
But this then leads to Beato having a complete change of personality towards the whole game and thus leading her to suspend it...why exactly did she do this is still a complete mystery to me but what is even worse is her drastic change. She was disappointed of Battler's response but the thing that he did had nothing to do with her. Unless she is play around with words again by saying that herself is Beato and not the culprit in which the connection is being directed to. So as well as suspending the game she had also changed her personality which was completely unseen of before.
It wasn't as if she become completely soft but rather she had lost her own sense of self and had become insecure. It was a very weird feeling that I felt from her which was just confirmed when she went away with Maria in the 2 people alliance.
Oh but before this she erased Battler by a loophole blah blah blah...Battler isn't Asumu's real son? FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF...
I have only 1 response to that...
Rudolf is a PIMP!
So the witches allince that MARIA formed was turned black due to the corruption of having Rosa tear apart Sakutarou and causing her to lose her mind. Which did bring use that amusing chapter where Rosa got her just desserts from a very angry Maria. The reason why Beato wanted the alliance to just contain herself and Maria was so that they can no longer be hurt anymore and that they can live in a perfectly happy world...just the two of them.
Well I can easily understand Maria's motives for agreeing but for Beato it was highly unnusual. Once again I get a feeling from her that she had lost herself and was very insecure which brings me to think of her character as a whole. What if maybe she had just as bad of a past like Maria and was just a lonely witch but then to link it to how this change came about when Battler failed the test is mind boggling. So forgetting that for not I wouldn't be surprised if Beato before being a witch lived a very pitiful and abused life...and even now her powers were being exploited by Lambda as if she was a doll...a play thing...so in actual fact Beato's heart could be very soft and fragile and held a deep scar from the past and present.
She doesn't want to play this endless game anymore, no in fact, she just wants to be free and happy hence she took maria to that fake gold land and that unholy alliance of just them two. She is sick of being treated as a play thing but also doesn't want to die so maybe the only way for her to escape was to be able to suspend the game and leave and excuse for Battler to be banished...
Suddenly amist all of my self ranting, I am beginning to understand a lot more about Beato's motives for such a big change of personality, but still it happened all of a sudden and it was due to Battler's response.
Confusing...
Well anyway Ange had barged into their little game of house and sorted things out but it was really what happened before Ange came here that was more of an importance to me since right before that the reader goes back to present time and witness he be taunted by Kasumi and her goons on the island.
It isn't until the end scroll that we see that Ange of the present time was also killed in 1998 and while there was no timeframe specified I seriously could not think of anything other than she was killed by Kasumi on the island. Even with her illusions for Mammon and the others killing the goons, but a particular scene seems to imply that Kasumi was able to shoot Ange. Thinking about this in human reality I would guess that Amasaka sniped the goons but was too late to kill Kasumi before she fired at Ange but at the time Ange was still having her delusions of using magic...which is really a sad and tragic ending for Ange might I add.
So she was then brought back by Bern to go and kick Beato out of her fake gold land and to challange Battler where she was also used as a sacrifice to bring his banished soul back and to fire him up for the final fight before dying...in a horrible fashion...
As for the rest, it was simple history of Battler smashing Beato with the blue but in this case Beato seems to have completely lost her fighting spirit. It was almost as if she was unwilling to fight and would rather throw the towel to Battler just so she can have a peaceful death rather than being a play thing for Lambda. Well she did regain some seriousness after Battler flared up at her but in the end it was still her loss...
But the game is evil in making us think that when the ending actually states that Battler of the real world dies in the end...
Also while it was a good fight from Battler overall, in the meta world we have Lambda here blasting away all of Battler's blue theory with her red like nothing. Obviously Beato had been easy on Battler yet again and they both even suspected that this whole thing with Beato running off was an act
AGAIN. However, I for one cannot accept this this time round since it is the truth that these two are just evil bullies towards Beato...the sheer fact that they sniggered at the fact that noone is betting on Beato's side is a cruel remark and a pitiful truth that Beato is nothing but a doll to them, to be used and ultimately thrown away after (and this probably means when Beato loses and is killed off by Battler).
As both Lambda and Bern states...Beato has absolutely no chance of winning and no miracles will happen either.
Well I guess I'll leave this for now since it has taken me so long to type up in the first place. But the bottom line is...this game is a complete mind fuck but it does so with style. I completely love Umineko ^^'
2009-05-18, 15:12
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