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Old 2014-04-27, 09:20   Link #34410
Dr. Casey
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Tennessee
Age: 36
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjblue1
I've the feeling that even in their past Kinzo and Genji weren't that nice. Probably they weren't as bad as they'll be as adults but as youths they were probably closer to Rudolf (who did money in illegal ways even prior to getting married but wasn't as bad as he'll become later) than to... let's say Battler or George.

Growing up in the wrong environments probably pushed everything downhill so that Kinzo wouldn't stop in front of nothing and Genji basically would let him do whatever he wanted.
Kinzo and Genji being unremarkable petty crooks during their youth's an interesting idea. That goes along with my mental image of the two of them being nowhere near as tainted as young men as they grow to become as old ones, while being more consistent with their overall characterization than my original interpretation of "Kinzo used to be an angel as pure as the driven snow, before suddenly developing a criminal streak during middle age."

And for everything you posted about Genji being infinitely supportive of Kinzo while severely neglecting Yasu, that's something I find fascinating about the older characters (Kinzo, Genji, Nanjo) and something that contributes a decent amount to Umineko's charm, incidentally - the group gives off a rather strong feeling of being insular, though some members of the group are worse than others (I won't count Kumasawa here since she's a social butterfly that's taken plenty of interest in the younger generation and is in no way stuck in the past). Kinzo's by far the worst offender, given the way he's notoriously bad for playing favorites. Kinzo has his very small group of people that he cares about and to whom his loyalty and affection knows no bounds, but anyone outside those chosen few who received the Kinzo Seal of Approval can go kill themselves for all he cares. With the exception of Lion, the only people Kinzo cares about much are those he met when he was young or fairly young - Genji, Beatrice, Nanjo. Unless Kinzo met you in the 1940s or before, he don't give a fuck about you. I know I'm rambling here because I'm not very well-rested, but I did always find it an intriguing character trait somehow how Kinzo's so incredibly stuck in the past. The 'rebirth' he went through in World War II could be considered short-lived in a way, since he spent the rest of his existence mired in nostalgia for the years of 1944 through 1948.

On that note, does Kinzo ever comment on Kumasawa in any way, or does the narrative ever give any insight into their relationship or what Kinzo thinks of her? To my memory the subject is never broached at all, but Umineko isn't exactly a short story so I might be forgetting something.
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