[turlingdrome]

Wow, feel like an idiot. I heard about the answers in the manga EP8, but assumed they were only in the chapters titled "confession", and didn't read much beyond that. Just checked up on that section, and it's beautiful. But it's a great example of Ryuukishi trying to get himself underestimated, something he's benefitted from ever since Higurashi.

Ryuukishi repeatedly warns us about simply believing information released later on, instead of using our own reasoning to process what we already have. Someone with a viewpoint like that would never release his final answer publicly, though he may release "a true answer", an answer that works completely given a certain limited rule set, an answer that affects how people act and is therefore no more or less real than Beatrice. Such an answer might be satisfying for casual readers, like a hardcore version of "the magic toxin" to explain why fantasy creatures never get witnessed. But it isn't the solution he wants us to find on our own. What would be the point, if the answer itself is meaningless unless you find it on your own?

The point of all Umineko is that the answer's only an answer if you can reach it before having someone tell you.

The fact that people are taking the "I don't like it, but it's canon" position suggests that they don't have as much confidence in Ryuukishi as he'd want them to. Given what Ryuukishi's said, I think he'd rather have people say "I don't like it, so it can't be true. There must be a way around it".


And in this case, I think I can prove it. Look at the part right after the lines you quoted, mentioning the cards with the seasons. Can you see how that part might disprove the rest of Erika's theory, or am I just imagining it?