[haguruma]

Originally Posted by AuraTwilight

Just because he's a replacement doesn't mean she doesn't love him.

Let me turn that around. Once she truly loves him he's more than a replacement.
That is what I mean with, it depends on your idea of love. Because it's not actually spelled out in the plot.

That, and the possibility that she's apparently willing to cover for people like Battler's parents, as implied in the EP7 Tea Party. Her standards aren't very high for the "Who I'll Shame Myself For" list, given that she has like NO self-esteem.

But that would require your theory of Yasu knowing about somebody else commiting her murders, which would again raise the question of why she didn't call off her murder game when she knew it was going to be taken over by a murderer. What I don't like about that theory is that it's going in circles.

She send the message bottles and the letters at least one or two days before the family conference. This does fall into place with Battler's phonecall to Jessica, but it just doesn't explain why she wouldn't call off the whole thing if she knew of somebodies plan to murder.
If she knew, why would she send letters indicating towards her being the culprit? Especially when she had people like Battler or Maria whom she wanted to protect? Who was that person who knew about the whole set-up long enough to highjack her plan (implied in the plan, as you yourself said that you forbid conjecture)? If she actually cared enough to pay out people's families, why not actually destroy the bomb-mechanism, cast away the guns, warn at least Battler or Maria? Why would she carry out a game with the knowledge that it is going to be used by murder?
The only person pressuring Beatrice into her role was Lambdadelta...well, according to your theory we should maybe check out a George-delta theory.

Bull. Gohda is a bumbling oaf consistently shown to be bad at lying, Kumasawa is Yasu's only mother figure and whenever her characterization is touched on by Yasu she's described as literally sinless (Virgilia's introduction at the First Twilight for instance), and Nanjo didn't even like...DO anything.

Is Gohda really portrayed as bad at lying? We know that he knows about the pranks by "Beatrice" in the past, yet he never dropped a word in front of Natsuhi as it appears. He was a bumbling mess in EP2 after the Kanon accident, but unless we assume that this actually happened, he was lying to Rosa. And in EP4 he convinces the cousins of a massacre in the dining hall that was created by Kinzô (and you could argue that goat-kun was maybe Gohda's development). I'll admit that for the most part EP4 is nothing but fiction (and above that not created by Yasu), but you could argue that the parts that Battler witnessed could actually be what happened to him during those 2 days.

Is Kumasawa really just a sinless mother figure? Yes, she even protected the newborn Beatrice in EP6 from BATTLER's rage (which is probably indicative of what she did for Beatrice II in front of Kinzô). But she is also a lying, conniving old witch. She created those thoughts of a ghostly Beatrice connected to demons and evil spirits in everybody (not only Yasu), she probably actively hid the real truth of the shrine-vanishing-accident, she probably knew about the path to Kuwadorian, yet she refused to act at any time during Yasu's narratives.
Also in EP4, like Gohda, she was the one telling the story of the dining hall massacre to the cousins and instigated them to lock them into the shed (with the key in their possession).

And Nanjô's sin is exactly his passivness. He knew about Yasu, he knew about Kuwadorian, he knew about Kinzô's death, he knew just about anything. His only excuse is (as said in EP3) that he has a sick grandchild and needed the money. He lacks any moral fiber within the stories once you know what he actually knows. In EP1 he is probably very much aware of who was behind the whole set-up, he could have raised his voice from the moment the letter arrived as he knew who was in possession of the ring AND the title of Beatrice given in the message. Instead he just sits there, bumbling about how he was playing chess with a dead guy.

Plus, it's not consistent with Yasu's self-image or system of values as depicted to kill everyone else because she's afraid of romantic rejection,

Is she actually depicted that way? Where? I see her depicted as killing those who made her or people close to her suffer, because she sees it as justified. That might be misguided and weak, but what did she learn in her life? The strong always has to conquer the weak or he himself will be destroyed...the whole island lived for that motto.


Yea right. Maria is the most innocent character in the series by leaps and bounds. She never does anything to hurt anyone at any point except in a goddamn dream where she vents her frustrations at her horridly abusive mother, and even then once she wakes up goes right back to sucking up to her and praying for her to love her.

Then why not kill yourself? Why do you have to kill everyone else? What the hell did Jessica do to deserve being killed? What the hell did Genji do? Why does Hideyoshi need to die?

You could ask that question to almost any murderer in the history of time AND in every mystery fiction ever written. If you hate your life that much, why not just kill yourself? Because it doesn't amount to anything? Because it's not satisfying? Because something needs to be done in order to change things?
Just look at the the Ushiromiya family and household without the (however misguided) love that was evidently there in both Yasu and Tôya. They are at least portrayed as a pretty rotten bunch, all of them. There are things you stop seeing once you add love.

Jessica was lusting after "Kanon", yet she was shown as pretty eager to kill whoever was responsible for the tragedy in EP2. Imagine what conflict that must have created between them. She wasn't killed in EP1 where she was just a sad victim of circumstances as a "cast away future".
Genji was actually hoping for it as it seems. It is implied in many parts that he was "hoping for the day where he could finally rest in peace" and that he "sadly did not get that chance as early as he hoped because of somebodies foolishnes" (EP2 execute screen) or that he finally got his wish at the end of EP2 "to rest peacefully in the Golden Land".
Hideyoshi was, while he was also portrayed as a loving husband, also ready to sacrifice things for this love. He lied for Yasu in EP1, which shows that she sees that potential within him.

I'm gonna stop you right here and suggest that the most logical course of action was that Yasu planned a murder mystery game, using the only thing she had in common with Battler to try and spark his memory and revive any love he might have had for her, and that way he could have the gold and her heart and she could be happy and everything would be awesome. Then someone ursurped it.

This is even hinted in EP5 and EP6, so booyah.

It is highly possible that she planned it as a murder mystery game in the very beginning, that she was hoping for it to be a fun night. Yet she confesses that it is Battler's return that triggered so many people to die. Due to your sin people die. Triggered by your sin, the people on this island will die in large number. Nobody can escape, they all die.
It is actually implied in EP6, that "the 1st twilight" was supposed to be nothing more than a stand off between the lovers to try and decide who would actually succeed. Only EP5 hinted towards a fake murder plot...though EP5 is a whole other problem in itself, because it raises the question of why Battler actually continued to further the witch's illusion during the family conference by creating the event of the letter and the knock.

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By the way...EP6...all the fights during the "1st twilight" make some sense. George confronts Eva about allowing his love for Shannon. Beatrice confronts Natsuhi, the mother who cast her away. Kanon and Shannon confront Rosa and Maria, the two who were responsible for both the white and the black magic.
But why does Jessica confront Kyrie? Why Kyrie of all people? Why not her own father? What is there about Kyrie that she needs to overcome? (I definitely have to reread that part...)

Considering it is Battler who is not seen to be killed by any of the contestants. Considerig he is the one left alive by Erika (who is filling in for Battler as the detective). Considering that this basically amounts to the same setup as the locked room chain in EP3...this would only leave us, if we would exclude Yasu-culprit, with Battler culprit.
Battler-kun is not the culprit!
Battler-kun did not kill anybody.
This can be said for all the games.
If we actually go with AT's Covering for Culprit X theory, this is the only solution I can arrive at. She created a set-up within her games where Battler could never be the culprit, where he was always free of sin, because he was the detective.
The only one who could have highjacked Yasu's plans and had enough influence on her to make her cover for him is Ushiromiya Battler himself.
The only two people he ever truly loved are Ange and Yasu, therefore he lead Eva on to escape and care for Ange, while he escaped with Yasu.
He knew that Eva was weak and that she would care for Ange.
Therefore the terrible truth that drives Ange insane is the fact that her beloved brother, the one person she wanted to return, was a murderer.