Guys! I think we’re getting close and @Aspirety is trying to distract us. ahhhh I wish anyway.
On watching it the first time I thought that I was suspicious of whether or not Maria wrote that stuff in the notepaper. She’s 9 first of all. I very seriously doubt that she would know the kanji necessary to compress the story of what happened on the island down to a scrap of paper in a notebook. Kanji takes a while to learn but the tips do say that Maria has excellent powers of memorization. Having said that, it seems like her ‘powers of memorization’ are limited to occult trivia.
On my second watch I did notice that there were apparently so many body parts that nobody could be identified. This could mean just the children but it may also mean that all of the victims were butchered so that the killer could make sure to cover up their tracks since their ‘body’ (if they faked their death) would not hold up to actual police investigation.
I think I’ll watch it a third time to look at the pictures and see if they give me any clues or could symbolize something. I didn’t really pay much attention to them the first two times.
Does the writing attributed to Maria sound like something Maria would write? Just in terms of grammar and tone and whatnot. If not, why would that change if Maria was the one writing it? If it’s not Maria, why would someone use her name over just about anybody else’s, given how suspicious that would be for the reasons @Seraphitic already stated (she’s young, her particular stance on events, etc.)? For that matter, when would that have even been written? If someone’s writing notes and asking us to find the truth and then possibly turning up horrifically butchered, why would their killer have even allowed such a thing to be done? If it wasn’t actually Maria then someone else could’ve maybe written it after the fact, but why would they bother? It’s certainly not a very good confession if that was the intention.
So, I was doing some thinking about Maria today. What are people’s theories/thoughts on her? I’d be interested to see what people say.
Personally, I thought that it might have all been in Battler’s head. For one thing, we never see her act creepy until after the first twilight when Battler would be under intense stress and in an unstable state. I may be possible that he only interprets her as creepy when she isn’t really. This could be supported by his conversation with the servants that he has later when he starts threatening Kanon. He may simply be seeing their actions as strange or weird because of his psychological state. Also, other people don’t seem to really question it.
On the other hand Maria may actually be super creepy. Battler may not have seen it having been gone for 6 years but other people might have and that would explain why they didn’t really say anything. If she is actually being super creepy and it’s not just in Battler’s head then why? Is she insane? Is there actually some kind of possession or something like that (I don’t mean to rely on magic for the cause of the murders but there is nothing saying that we can’t say the same about weird things like this right?). Perhaps she is being told by someone else to act like this? In any case I don’t think we can say definitely what is happening but we may want to try and think about it. I’m looking forward to learning more about her and Rosa in the future as they are probably the people (setting aside the servants) about whom we know the least.
One other thing that I was thinking today, what if the body mutilation is not to fake a death. It seems to me to be a very obvious thing, make it seem like one person has been killed when really another person has, that I wasn’t ever really questioning it. However, it seems to be such an obvious trick that I felt silly for never thinking that it could be anything else. Perhaps there was another reason for the killer to mutilate the faces of the victims. Perhaps the method of death is easily observable on the victims faces, for instance, and the killer wanted to make sure that the method is not exposed or the trick might be exposed. It may be that the killer wanted to save it again for later and he didn’t want people to be able to know what it was that killed their earlier friends. This could also be a reason to burn the body of the third twilight and the final twilight’s mutilation. I’m trying to put that together with the idea that ‘Beatrice’ didn’t want Maria to ‘hear’ something that was going on. Now, one could interpret this as ‘Beatrice’ just not wanting to expose young Maria to the gruesome deaths that were about to happen, or it might be a killer protecting their secret method of killing. We never do learn about how they died in the first place so perhaps this theory isn’t that crazy. We also can’t rule out the idea that the mutilation may serve a dual purpose.
Upon finishing Episode 1 my brain was like fck this sht so I stopped thinking about the murders for a while. But what we haven’t yet discussed is the first part of the epitaph.
Behold the sweetfish river running through my beloved hometown.
You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream in search of the key
As you travel down it, you will see a village.
In that village, look for the shore the two will tell you of.
There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.
The one who obtains the key must then travel to the Golden Land in accordance with these rules
On the first twilight, offer the six chosen by the key as sacrifices.
On the second twilight, those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close.
On the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my noble name.
On the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill.
On the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill.
On the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill.
On the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill.
On the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill.
On the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive, and none shall be left alive.
On the tenth twilight, the journey shall end, and you shall reach the capital where the gold dwells
The witch will praise the wise, and should bestow four treasures.
One shall be, all the gold from the Golden Land.
One shall be, the resurrection of the souls of all the dead.
One shall be, even the resurrection of the lost love.
One shall be, to put the witch to sleep for all time.
Sleep peacefully, my most beloved witch, Beatrice.
It’s pretty hard to solve the first 5 lines without much background but what I really want to focus on is the key. Also I just pasted the epitaph for easy access for this topic. Anyways, my main question is “What is the key?” or maybe even “Who is the key?” (oops my Rewrite is showing). Another question, why are the stages phrased as twilights when they aren’t separate days?
Sorry I added more questions than answers but I’m gonna need at least a day to think over this whole thing again.
There’s actually quite a lot about the epitaph that doesn’t seem to get addressed in Legend. There’s talk of the key, and also of the village and a hometown and a river and stuff. Did any of that even come up in the story? And you’re right, why is it referring to “twilights,” as if it’s a multi-day journey or something, when that’s not how it goes?
Even if we potentially can’t figure out what some of those things mean yet, what does their seeming irrelevance to the events of the story so far suggest?
Well, first thing that comes to mind is that since you word it in the way you do, this must be something that scrolls at the end of every chapter.
Second thing is, it seems like it might have been “written” by the witch? So Im not sure how much we can actually trust it, then.[quote=“Renall, post:41, topic:25”]
What does that mean in the endscroll anyway, saying people were missing? How is that possible? It’s not like they could go anywhere; the island is isolated and there’s nowhere to go.
[/quote]
Well, apparently the police assumed they were just torn up into unidentifiable pieces, but like I just said, according to the Tips, the part about the kids being missing is labeled under “Witch’s Game Record”, so I dont know how much I trust what that means.
Concerning island though, its stated several times that the island is actually pretty big (and forested), and it would not be inconceivable that anyone who went looking for the “missing” people wouldnt have been able to ever find them hidden on that island.
Speaking of which, another theory I dont want to completely dismiss is the possibility of a 19th human being the culprit. It’s considered early on in chapter one, but is slowly brought up less and less as the murders continue. Im not sure what else to say about it besides that I dont think its impossible.
Considering the human side, the more people believe in the witch, the more distracted and less attentive they tend to be. Not only does it leave doubt in their minds, when people are worried about an apparently all-powerful, magical being hunting them down, they’re less likely to pay attention to little details that might point toward the real culprit.
Considering the other side… Im still not sure. Like Battler says, that kind of magic doesnt really make sense to me, especially considering what a spiteful witch Beatrice appears to be.
The strangest part is that this fragment seems to go against Maria’s entire attitude toward the incident. She wanted the witch to come, and didnt care one bit about all the murders. This seems to suggest that, if indeed it were written by Maria, she had discovered something that made her have a complete change of heart.
@EisenKoubu mentioned how it reminded him of Higurashi Ch. 1, and I’d like to elaborate on that a little: In Onikakushi, from an objective, outside perspective, Keiichi seems to be the one who’s crazy: carrying around a bat, shunning, screaming at, and eventually even killing people who had been his friends. But on the inside, we know that he is actually really scared, and truly believes that everyone is trying to kill him. Thats why he leaves the message behind about wanting people to find the truth.
Now this is not really a theory, but just a thought: is it possible that we are seeing Maria from that same “outside perspective” in this episode? Is it possible that, on the inside, Maria is thinking about everything in a very different way from what her actions and words seem to tell us? If that could be true, then it would explain the apparent contradiction in “her note.”
The game results roll doesnt really specify that the notebook fragment told the tale of what occured in episode 1. It just says “this tale”. And it definitely seems to be implied that theres something thats gonna go on where Beatrice will make the 18 go through these two days again? Im not really sure, but I guess Im wondering if the time dealio could have something to do with that.
The part I dont like about that is that… what noise could possibly be covered up just by Maria singing to herself? Personally, I think Maria’s singing was just to get the other four to come down into the parlor. Maria being so infatuated with Beatrice as she is, I think all ‘Beatrice’ would have had to tell her was “face the wall” and Maria would have obeyed unconditionally.
Something else that struck me as odd from the game results: "After all, no matter how large a mountain of gold they might have desired, it would have been out of their grasp."
Doesnt that… not match the epitaph? If the witch was supposed to bestow 4 treasures, why would she only bestow some. In fact there are other parts that dont seem to line up. Wasnt there supposed to be “no one left alive”? And werent the treasures supposed to be for the winners? Why were there any winners to bestow treasures to if the witch supposedly won? Didnt she say there would be no ties?
And last thing, it seems this was already brought up a bit, but really, why are the twilights called twilights? At first it kinda made sense: The first twilight occurred on the first night; the second twilight occurred on the second night evening. But then the rest of them all happened rapid fire between like 6pm and midnight. Is the term “twilight” just a spooky name for the murders, or does it actually have some meaning?
We only have a few more days until the podcast, so let’s get some more discussion happening!
I’d like everyone to turn their attention to the Tea Party and to a lesser extent the Ura Tea Party (Tea Party for those who are not human). Share your thoughts as they come to you.
I expected the Tea Party itself to serve a purpose similar to Higurashi’s All-Cast Review Sessions, where the characters converse with one another over what happened in that particular arc. The first Tea Party seems to play this straight, until Battler ‘spins the chessboard around’ and starts coming up with theories that deny the witch’s existence, much to everyone’s dismay.
And that’s when Beatrice finally shows herself.
I’ll wait until Episode 2 discussion I finish Umineko to start gushing about Beatrice’s character, but her showing up was the best part about the Tea Party. Things started getting extremely meta (and entertaining) by that point, with people dying left and right almost as fast as a fourth grader’s fanfiction as Beatrice taunts Battler into believing in her. Of course, he stubbornly refuses even though the witch exists right in front of him, which leads into a weird cliffhanger ending that I found hard to understand until I started reading Episode 2. More on that at a later date.
The Ura Tea Party gets even weirder, as it seems to take place in an unfamiliar realm where witches coexist. Beatrice is, at the very least, familiar, but a new figure soon enters who sets herself up to be a witch of roughly equal power as her: Bernkastel. They flirt compliment each other on how powerful they are before Beatrice mentions setting up a new gameboard, and leaves. While one might expect Bern to monologue to herself to bring about more exposition, this is Umineko we’re talking about, so her eyes turn to us, the reader, instead.
Now that we’ve seen a taste of what Beatrice can do, it’s important to know that the world of Umineko doesn’t play by the same rules as the real world, even though they look extremely similar. In order to expose Beatrice for who she really is, we have to play by her rules. What those rules are, I still have no clue, so Bern uses chess as an example. (Come to think of it, this episode in particular loves to use chess as a metaphor for the entire mystery when it would make more sense to liken it to a scavenger hunt or a game of Clue, like Higurashi kind of did. Now I know why some people in Rokkenjima are obsessed with chess… ._. )
She continues to use metaphors to illustrate how looking at the mystery from multiple angles is helpful, which kind of comes back to the whole ‘spinning the chessboard around’ theory this episode emphasized. It’s important to understand your opponent’s movements in order to formulate your own strategies, but it’s also entirely possible to keep running into a brick wall adhering to the same one-dimensional thinking. What I feel Bern is trying to tell the player is that while it’s not necessary to solve the mystery (you could just admit that witches exist in the world of Umineko and enjoy it as a story), for those like Battler that stubbornly wish to solve it, there are tools that exist to help them. You just need to actively look for clues that will help build your strategy.
Finally, Bern concludes her chat with us with a stunning declaration, summated as follows: ‘Even though I’m telling you all this, I’m not completely on your side’. Her explanation is that she acts strictly as an observer, watching these events unfold while empathizing with our actions, kind of like how people relate to characters they observe while reading a VN or watching an anime (How meta can this story get?! XP ) but are unable to directly affect what’s happening because there’s a perfectly soundproof screen in the way. However, she makes it clear that she is certainly not on Beatrice’s side, and wishes to see her defeated. So it leaves me to wonder how exactly I plan to go about reading this: do I simply read Umineko for the fun of it, like I do with every visual novel, or do I take up Beatrice’s challenge and expose her for who she really is?
Whatever the answer, I can’t wait for the rest of Episode 2.
You could almost think of us Umineko veterans like me and Renall as witches like Bernkastel, watching you guys (Battler) struggle with the story. We’re only observers, but we may come down to drop hints every now and then if we feel like you’re getting too lost.
But for me, just watching the different ways the story can be approached is fun in itself, so I try not to interfere too much. Certainly, this is helping stave off boredom.
Hmmmm. The Tea Party really is one of the more confusing parts of the story to me. I guess it’s what makes Umineko different from just a normal detective story like you might pick up in your local bookstore. The whole idea, I guess, is that it provides you with some kind of recap on the events and perhaps gives you some idea of some of the characters’ take on the events. First of all we see a lot of burden-of-proof swapping in the tea party. Battler is told that he has to explain how the things weren’t done with magic while he’s trying to say that we already know that they weren’t done with magic and that there are ways that these things could have been done without needing magic. There were a few things that they did point out that did strike me as a little odd. For instance, they pointed out that Maria respected the witch and so she wasn’t harmed. However, the servants also respected the witch and were all killed from what we can tell. Also, everyone seems to agree that it’s a witch, but when Jessica is dying again she tells Battler not to let the witch break his spirit. This would seem to indicate that Jessica thinks that there isn’t a witch and that Battler (and us) should try and unmask the killer.
I suppose one of the ‘problems’ of the Tea Party and the Ura Tea Party is the fact that we are now no longer certain on whether or not magic exists. On the one hand we are trying to figure out what went on in the mansion without just throwing our hands up in dismay and saying “It was a witch”. On the other hand, we’ve just seen, not one, but two witches appear in the game. We’re even told that they have their own unique powers. How do we reconcile this? In an attempt to do this I think the world works something like this: ‘Witches’ exist as a concept outside of the normal plane of existence that the characters inhabit. They can only ‘exist’ in the world in a very strange form. This would explain why everybody talks about Beatrice as ‘existing’. She both does and does not exist. However, the witch can take on an existance through somebody; our killer. The killer tries their darndest to make it seem like a witch did it. If they convince everybody that the killer must be a witch then the witch really can exist and use magic. However, if there is one person who can punch through the haze of the killings and mysteries then the witch cannot exist and ‘dies’. In other words, we are trying to kill the very concept of the witch Beatrice. I have no idea if I’m right but that’s just my assessment of how the world works at the moment. I’m sure later chapters will be more than happy to stomp all over it.
So, there was some things that Bernkastel said that I feel like I need to pin to my fridge or something. One is that Beatrice is not necessarily one person. By this she could mean that there will be a different killer in each chapter and/or that more than just a killer is at work here. Second, we are reminded that we don’t really know the game that we are playing. We have some vague sense of wanting to find the killer but we really don’t know how to go about that. We’re playing the witch’s game and only she knows how to win. Bern says that, if we want to win we’re going to have to learn the board, pieces and rules through the next couple games and only then can we emerge victorious. I think most of us can follow the analogy and see that the board is the island and the pieces are the people. What the rules are is a little more hazy but I have the gut feeling that it has to do strongly with the epitaph (though that is only my impression) and perhaps the purpose of the whole thing. What even is winning in this game? What is the goal? I highly doubt that it is merely everybody’s death. We shall have to figure that out with more gameboards. Some things that I took away from this: everybody has a backstory and we don’t know most of them. There is something about this mansion and we need to know what it is. We will likely be looking at a brand new case each time though we are going to need to build up all the information from the entire course of the series to solve them all. Finally, we know very little about how witches work but from what Bern said, she at least was human before, perhaps Beatrice was too. Witches also cannot die in the normal fasion so we may not be aiming to kill them.
(Take in mind, I’m entirely new to the world of Umineko)
Alright, well… I’m not going to try to theorize anything, as I’ve had someone accidentally spoil what I’d assume is a large part of Episode 2.
In any case, I figured I should try to post my thoughts at least on what I’ve seen so far, not what’s to come.
Before I say anything about Episode 1 itself… the OST. Not many soundtracks have made me immediately look up the name of multiple songs as soon as I heard them, but Umineko is already one of the few in that regard. It completely caught me off guard when I found myself tapping my fingers along with some of the songs being played.
Anyway, on to the character interactions. Something about them made each character stand out from one another, and the jabbing at each other made them feel very real and unique compared to many groups of characters I’d seen before. Some were obviously on very good terms with each other, ( One example being Jessica and Kanon, I figured Jessica had something going on for Kanon very early on) and some felt very much like they were holding back some malicious feelings. (Of course, even before they lashed out at each other, it definitely seemed apparent Natsuhi and Eva weren’t going to get along) This lead to, what I felt, was a very interesting atmosphere and feel. I don’t think I’ve come to enjoy such a large group of characters so quickly before, It’s always a good sign when you have no trouble remembering any character’s names at any point.
(P.S: Battler is great, and I really love his personality so far)
Once the murders started, I really began to feel the intensity this series had to offer, even though I’m sure it’s nothing compared to what’s to come. I could almost hear their pleading and screaming in my head, which definitely added to the experience.
Then… the ending came about. While it might’ve not been as intense as I would’ve thought, I seriously wanted to read Episode 2 then and there, especially once the credits were done rolling. I was hooked!
At that point, I noticed “Tea Party” on the menu screen. I was confused, but curious to say the least. Once I started it, that confusion only grew… I even had the thought “Am I… uhh… supposed to be reading this now?”, but after a short while it was clear I was indeed supposed to be reading that, and it started to raise quite a few questions in my head.
Of course, still being unaware of the fact these existed, ??? showed up. Now that raised even more questions, and that feeling of wanting to continue on became even stronger.
Despite being spoiled shortly after, that drive to read the second episode has not faded in the slightest. I’m very, very excited to see what comes next, even if I know part of it ahead of time.
(I apologize for this mess of thoughts, I didn’t even really attempt to organize them logically)
DISCLAIMER: I am not trying to figure out motive in this post! There are several things I am intentionally glossing over as well, or simply don’t find interesting enough to spend time on properly considering and reviewing. Usually this is because they are not interesting, or perhaps the difficulty really is too high, as Ryukishi suggests. In any case, this post is more so written for the purpose of entertainment. Whose entertainment, you ask? Perhaps that is a another mystery.
There are plenty of general reviews to Ellipses no Naku Koro ni Umineko’s first episode in general, so I’ll skip past that. More interesting to me is the mystery here. I personally find the setting of the mystery, and its peculiar “flavor” rather interesting. Though that being subjective means stating anything further would be meaningless. So let’s try to figure out something a bit less subjective: whodunnit?
Alright well, providing an answer at this point, if my experience with Higurashi carries over, would be rather difficult! Still, let’s not use that as an excuse and stop thinking just yet.
If I can just jump right in and say a few of my working thoughts.
Several identities in the rose garden’s storehouse aren’t confirmed. Definitely unconfirmed: Rudolf, Kyrie. Confirmed: Krauss, Shannon. Others: Rosa, Gohda. (I don’t recall whether Rosa or Gohda had their faces entirely pummeled or not.)
Nobody checks the storehouse after the murders. Only Natsuhi has the key, or so we’re led to believe. For a body to no longer be in the storehouse, the key would have needed to be taken. Or someone could have busted the lock, since nobody checked.
We only know that it is unlikely for there to be a hidden entrance/exit in Kinzo’s study, however this is not confirmed for anywhere else.
Beatrice never makes a legitimate appearance within the story. Her only appearances are in purgatory, which is separate from the mystery. I’m tackling this from the perspective that the reader is given everything they absolutely need to know in order to solve story at a high difficulty from the first episode, as with (the name of another Ryukishi work, spoiler tagged in case nobody wants a hint like this: this might be a bit of a stretch, but I’d say Higurashi is solvable from the first episode).
Kinzo didn’t die. At least there’s no solid proof he did. The dialogue and facts listed make this a very easy conclusion to reach. (Maybe that’s just a seed of doubt that they’re intentionally sewing though.)
Six toes? Hereditary. Could be one of the bodies from the storehouse, or elsewhere.
A special key being on his body? Like that matters. It’s one that people apparently knew about. Weak method of identification.
Further, none of these murders required magic.
Alright, let’s see how far along I can get here!
"Who handed Maria the letter and umbrella?"
The murderer, or an accomplice! :p More on that in my theory below.
"How were the six in the storehouse killed?"
With murder! They were killed by the kills. I don’t have anything more specific than that. Also, this assumes that all six were dead. Is that necessarily the case? Well, I mean yeah probably. But a trick could have been used. Doctor Nanjo was likely not interested in checking for such a trick, or a pulse, during that time. Even so, he did find that rigor mortis did set in on at least one of the bodies. (Did he check all? Did he really though?)
Okay, but let’s try our hands at reasoning… There was little blood found in the dining room. If we assume they were killed there and not led out into the storm, which would be a ridiculous thing to convince a bunch of people who are at each other’s throats to do, how about saying they were poisoned? We know Gohda was and Shannon were with them, so they could’ve been dragged into it at that time with a similar method. They didn’t all need to be in the same room together, but they did need to die outside of each other’s sites, or at roughly the same time. With poison, everybody would be affected differently, though. Likewise with some sort of sleeping aid. (The bodies could have been put to sleep, then dragged to the storeroom, then bludgeoned repeatedly.) Any of those methods would work, as far as I’m aware. Though I don’t know how far sound travels in the mansion, it doesn’t seem like a scream would carry over that far.
Wait wait, but what about the golden butterflies that Shannon saw? Well, I won’t dismiss it and state “people be hallucinatin’ yo.” That would be the same as saying witches are real! (In other words, it would be the suspension of thought so I could live in a world of my own construction, since the level of friction in my own law of physics would likely be much lower there!) Okay, then what were those butterflies? Are they important? Shannon did see them just before this took place, and nobody mentioned seeing any dead butterflies or anything like that. Plus this story didn’t take place at a time when technology was so sufficiently advanced that even the rich could create mechanical golden butterflies or anything of the sort. Okay so… what were they then?
Unfortunately I don’t know, but I’ll assume that they’re similar to hearing an extra footstep.
Awww! That’s not a fun answer! How about: “They were actually fireflies all along,” or perhaps “They were butterflies with glow in the dark wings.” Something like that maybe? cough cough Anyway.
"How were Eva and Hideyoshi killed?"
Drill-like Demons’ knives to the face! Or perhaps someone with one of those drill haircuts went to say hello to each of them, but in his bow managed to fatally stab each of them. Then, realizing he was in the wrong series, the drill-haired fellow leaped back to their own series. The end! Except not, because they also needed to kill Kanon! Okay, now the end! Oh wait, there were also those three after that… Man, this guy sure gets around a lot.
Actually though, there’s one thing I need to confirm first: Was it ever explicitly stated that Eva and Hideyoshi put the chain up, aside from Eva saying she was planning to? I know they locked the door, or so they thought (but never tested), but was this confirmed to have actually been the case? I know at least one trick to put the chain on the door as you exit the room. If you need to lock the door as well, depending on the type of lock on the inside, this trick can also close the lock. There are plenty of tricks like this; the one I know merely requires string/wire of some kind. (Well, the variation I saw of it also required tape, however through my own testing I found the tape was unnecessary.) You can also prevent the door from locking completely by doing something similar to what Eva herself did: put a receipt, or other wad of paper, in the door. Specifically where the lock closes at. (Or maybe if you have a master key, you can just unlock the door and enter.)
If the chain was up (and it probably was, really), then the following is potentially reasonable: Just break it and replace the chain. Not all the guestrooms were checked, but presumably if one room has a chain then another room is likely to also have a chain. Would the killer risk this though? Sure. If the killer is with the group, or has an accomplice, they can suggest rooms that aren’t the one with the chain they removed it from. Am I saying this is actually what the killer did in the case where the chain wasn’t there? No, but I am stating this is a possibility. There would be enough time to break the chain, kill the two, install the other chain, and leave before dinner is ready. That said, there’s probably a more elegant way to accomplish this.
"How was Kanon killed?"
It’s stated that the location of all 18 people were known, but that’s not actually true. As I outlined above, Kinzo’s location isn’t actually known and there’s no guarantee that all the people in the storehouse were the guests we saw.
A trap? Well, there are traps where the mechanics of them can destroy or sufficiently hide themselves, but let’s not focus on that. Instead we’ll say that there’s a tool that the killer uses, akin to a (potato) gun. (Come on Potato!) Though in this case, rather than shooting an ordinary fluffy dog or some sort of strange mysterious vegetable, it shoots “Demons’ Blades” instead.
So what I’m saying is that someone whose location was thought to be known could have used such a tool to shoot him with a cylindrical (read: aerodynamic) knife.
(realtalk: Kanon is such a bro in this scene where he provides everyone else with the clue that the knives actually are aerodynamic instead of letting someone say “Don’t disturb the crime scene!” thus allowing good clues to go to waste. And I mean, really, at this point in the story your life > crime scene preservation anyway.)
"Who placed the letter on the table in the study?"
If we assume the only candidates were those we knew to be in the room who were also physically near the table, then one of: Maria, Genji, Nanjo, Kumasawa, or Natsuhi. Those first four were stated already though.
If we assume that a trick could have been done by somebody we knew to be in the room, and it wasn’t Battler, then naturally: Maria, Genji, Nanjo, Kumasawa, Natsuhi, George, or Jessica. What would that trick be? Not sure.
"How were Genji, Kumasawa and Nanjo killed in the parlor?"
That tool. Maria claims she turned around and sung during that time. We hear a partial recording of this, but we don’t have any proof she didn’t place the call herself and start singing after she was a sufficient distance away. “Maria did it!” is not what I’d say here though. Sorry, no perfectly deranged lolis today. (Only partially deranged in my theories! My sincerest apologies if you were hoping for psychotic lolis in the recesses of my mind to leak into my written theories. Perhaps I can interest you in other half-baked nonsense though? If so, please exit this parenthetical statement and continue to the main topic of this section of this (overly verbose) posting.) So who did it, if not Maria? First, I want to state that nobody actually checked anybody else’s pulses! (And even if they had, one of the bodies from the storehouse could have been reused, or prepared in advance, since it was stated (IIRC) that they were only recognizable from their clothing. Maria did not see any of this take place at that time.)
“On the floor lay Genji-san, Kumasawa-san, and Doctor Nanjo, their entire bodies stained bright red with the blood… …But the only way we could identify them was by their clothes.”
OKAY, SO WHO DID IT NOTTALKINGKYON!?
Oh. I suppose I didn’t state that yet… Please wait for my theory below! It might be a few years (of text) before you see it, still, will you wait for it? It’ll be released from the shackles of its prison in only twenty years! Maybe twenty-five. Possibly three-hundred. It will wait for you at least! By which I mean it probably won’t do any waiting and will just as soon jump to the [... loading relevancy ; skipping unnecessary text ...] In short Genji, Nanjo, or Kinzo, if we assume there is no 19th person, and my assumption that Maria didn’t do it isn’t strictly incorrect.
"Why did Natsuhi shoot herself? Or, what exactly happened there?" Officer Delicious’ small knowledge bombs!
From the beginning I did not suspect that Natsuhi shot herself, but rather that the gun either backfired (due to a modification by the culprit), or she herself was shot by another gun. We already know that Kinzo enjoyed modifying that shotgun.
What were the contents of the letter that Natsuhi received though, I wonder? I can’t even wager a guess here. If she did intentionally shoot herself, I would suspect the letter was mostly to blame, and that whoever showed up at the end there just exasperated it all.
My Theory
The seagulls did it. The ellipses did it. The drill-haired guy from another series did it. Rika-chan, how could you!? This joke is getting old. Kinzo and Genji did it. (Maybe.)
I have some questions of interest, myself. “Beatrice ‘exists’.” ‘exists’Apostrophes no Naku Koro ni. Why is “exists” quoted so often? It’s not once or twice, it’s every time Beatrice’s existence is stated by Maria.
So hold on, let’s address another elephant in the room regarding Beatrice’s existence. Maria states, and has full understanding, that Beatrice can’t revive into her human form without having had the ritual on the “epitaph” completed. (By the way, the word “epitaph” is interesting here. More on that later.) However, at this point in the story, no sacrifices had even been made! (Except maybe Kinzo’s golden ring.) Yet, Maria believed that this person who handed her the umbrella was Beatrice despite knowing full well that Beatrice can’t have been revived yet. Why?
Further, why was Maria’s rose missing? Unless this was just a random event for narrative purposes, which would be unacceptable for a mystery IMO, then maybe it was a necessary event for the killer.
If we assume this was a necessary event for the killer, then the killer must have known about that rose being special in order to keep Maria out there. Unfortunately, we can’t go on much based on that alone. It’s such a novel thing that it could have been mentioned by anybody present to anybody else. It’s also such a random event that if the killer, who we would assume planned this all in advance, that it shouldn’t actually have been truly necessary for the killer.
DIDN’T YOU JUST STATE IT WAS NECESSARY NOTMAKINGSENSEKYON!?
No, I said maybe it was necessary! Then addressed that “maybe” and showed that it probably wasn’t a prerequisite. What I’m really trying to say here is that maybe it has a factor that we should consider.
I suspect that anybody who told Maria their body was being borrowed by Beatrice would have won Maria’s trust. The story sets up Maria as an extremely gullible person from the very beginning. The story also often points out that it told you “something” in the very beginning too. For instance, at/near the end of the story: “The rule that the witch would win when time ran out had already been revealed.”
Moving on.
Kinzo threw his ring shortly before then. Who would be prepared to find or catch it? Someone who was at the mansion for a sufficient period of time or who had been part of the planning, or both. Jessica, for example. Natsuhi, for example. Kumasawa, for example.
Alibis are pretty weak for most of the people in general at around this time. It’s never (iirc) stated whether anybody (or for everybody) left to go to the bathroom or anything like that. Nobody treated it like they would receive the inheritance if they solved the mystery of who gave Maria the umbrella and letter. It’s also never stated whether Maria simply found the umbrella, that letter, and perhaps a message that stated it was from Beatrice. (Nobody needed to actually be physically present!)
My understanding of Kinzo’s room, by the way, is that it faces the courtyard, which is only reachable from within the mansion. Meanwhile, the rose garden is reachable from anywhere, implying it’s on the opposite side of the mansion. (Though it doesn’t necessarily need to be.) Therefore, the culprit would have needed to retrieve the ring from the courtyard, then headed to the rose garden, then returned to wherever they were. A servant doing this would be the most natural.
"How would they know when to do that?"
The storm is the cue. It was an expected event, after all. Possibly even a prerequisite.
Press “Start” to continue. Presses “Start.”
How were the six killed?
I answered that earlier. Possibly poison. Possibly some other method. They were then moved to the storehouse. The exact method doesn’t matter, since that’s not the interesting part of my theory. They only needed to be severely beaten so one or more of the bodies could be reused later.
But how did whoever get back into storehouse?
Did you know you can actually get padlocks with identical keys and locks?
Did you know that you can break padlocks?
Did you know that it’s actually not that hard to pick a cheap padlock if you’re good at picking locks and had, I dunno, a year or fifty to practice?
This problem isn’t interesting since there are hundreds of readily available answers that would work within the story. Nobody ever checked the storehouse after everybody left! Even if someone went to check if there was damage, there were apparently other padlocks available that could have been used! If Natsuhi would have had trouble opening the storehouse again, the culprit could have merely asked to see the key to try opening it him( or her)self, then opened it with the actual key. It would have been storming at the time anybody would be around to check, and visibility would have been low as a result. (Not that anybody would be likely to want to check the storehouse anyway!)
Next up is Eva and Hideyoshi’s room. Their room… was it the same as last year’s? Probably. Their rooms were prepared for them, though. Servants necessarily have master keys, the chain could have been cut and replaced then locked from the outside using any of fifty stock tricks, or there could have even been a hidden entrance into the room that nobody but the servants (such as Genji) would have been familiar with. I stated as much earlier though.
How was Kanon killed? Kinzo could have easily used the tool. “But wait, isn’t Kinzo supposed to be dead?” Nah foo’(bar(2000(is a decent music player))), there was no proof and the story (painfully) goes out of its way to give you enough information to figure as much. Maybe it’s just trying to send you down the wrong path though… (In which case, I went down the wrong path! Uh oh. Ah, but we don’t know that in episode one at least. Phew)
How were the three killed?
Genji/Kinzo, and preparations by Kinzo. Genji would have placed the letter on the table in this scenario so that plans could continue. Genji’s build isn’t too uncommon, so someone else could have been put in his suit, possibly in advance. The phone call would have been made so the scenario could, once again, continue.
Who is Beatrice?
Genji. Or Kinzo. Or Genji/Kinzo placing messages/letters for Maria to find. Or an actual 19th person! (Though I don’t like that, so I won’t really suggest it since a 19th person so far isn’t necessary.)
But WHY would they do that!?
Not sure. I’ve never found it interesting in detective stories when somebody explains their motive. The only time this was ever half interesting was in the first Sherlock Holmes book, where the motive took up (meta, not content, spoiler: literally half of the book). So by the time you get through it you’re already so invested that you have no choice but to say you found it interesting because otherwise you would have put the book down!
I digress (which seems to be the theme of this post).
How do you explain the Tea Party!?
That’s a separate section! I’m treating it no differently than how I treat the “All-Star Cast Review” (err, I hope I have that title right) sections of Higurashi! Besides, it goes out of its way to tell you it’s taking place in “Purgatory.” Why should I care what happens in a separate dimension? It seems more like a meta-section to me than anything else. For discussing meta-things.
THINGS I AM AWARE THAT I AM IGNORING (that I remembered to list)
Kinzo’s strange dual personality.
Maria’s strange dual personality.
That those two have a strange dual personality. (That is, that both of them have a strange dual personality, not just one of them.)
Motive. (Huh, I feel like this might have been mentioned in the disclaimer.)
The tea party at the end.
The other tea party at the end.
My responsibilities.
Motive. (Did I state that already?)
Motive. (I don’t think I said this at all yet.)
Kinzo’s lover.
The orphanage.
The other two servants.
Motive.
Why the killer did it.
Also motive.
Whether a 19th person actually is on the island.
If a 19th person is on the island, where do they live?
What the killer(s) would have done if the storm didn’t happen.
What the killers would have done if they didn’t have a motive. Also their motive in case I didn’t mention that as well.
Some stuff that Rudolf and his wife said at the beginning.
That Rudolf has an exwife.
That everybody NEEDS MONEY RIGHT NOW (in all caps).
That the killer(s) probably had a motive, and what that might be.
That I started these last four items with the word “that,” but with its first ‘t’ capitalized, which the remainder of this sentence lacked.
Gold bar. Krauss knows it exists.
Shrine that got pwn’d (by lightning?).
Rokkenjima is a massive island.
Golden butterflies.
WHO’S SPOOKY FAST AT DRAWING STUFF!? (well, it was stated that “everybody in the room was good at drawing” or something along those lines)
Probably a few (or a lot) more things.
If anybody would like to list a few hints for things I should probably look closer at then feel free to list them~ ^_^
This post took roughly three years to write, so if I left something out, my bad. But also, let me know! I’ll add it in, or maybe I hadn’t considered that point altogether and need to address it.
For the most part I was only focused on figuring out how the killer could have pulled off these tricks, and moreover what wasn’t confirmed. In my opinion, dodging a confirmation is akin to giving an indirect hint, especially on important points.
Perhaps it would be more prudent of me to properly note who could and couldn’t have done what, and when.
I’m really looking forward to reading episode two. And by “really looking forward” I mean “why isn’t it the next tea party yettttt!?”
Also, I rated this episode 4/5. It was really decent IMO. Dunno how it stands up to the whole of the series, but I did find it really enjoyable even with a few minor pacing issues. The “we all died” ending didn’t bug me at all. Actually, I found that to be a highlight. It’s unexpected, but we know that a new episode is “coming out” (or in our case, already available), plus the tea party and ??? sections after the main episode highlight a new and interesting aspect of it all. The mystery isn’t so obvious that you’d figure it out right away I suspect. (Pretty sure I didn’t at the very least!)
Anyway, that’s all for this post; it’s gotten long enough.
Edit: Just kidding! There’s also the problem of Ange (Battler’s half-sister, mentioned near the very beginning). Now here’s something interesting, why was she the only one who wasn’t brought to the family conference despite this happening? Meanwhile, Rudolf showed a sort of prescience in stating that he was likely to die that night. If we consider this in combination with Ange being the sole beneficiary of the inheritance after the events that took place on Rokkenjima, where does it lead us?
Well, I’m not sure… However it is interesting to think about! I didn’t consider this when addressing how the murders took place. Perhaps it will lead us to a different answer though…
I was thinking, is anyone here particularly versed in Japanese history? I’d love some perspectives on the historical perspective of Umineko. I think the history of the world probably plays into everything the most with Kinzo’s life more than anything, and everything that resulted from that.
If anyone has any input here, could make some good content for the podcast~
Well, I’m not very well versed but I did just read the whole page on Wikipedia on 1980’s Japan (because Wikipedia is totally a legitimate source, right?). Basically, from what I can gather Japan in the 1980’s was amazing. It was at it’s peak economically and everyone was rolling in money. The Yen was appreciating and there was some kind of deal to depreciate the US dollar which continued on for quite a while. In other words, speculation ran crazy and people who had money to speculate had the potential to make even more money then they knew what to do with. There had been a slight economic downturn right before 1986 (when the story is set) but the economy picked right back up in 86, esp. the housing market. If you owned land it was worth A LOT. As in, there was one place in Tokyo where you could pay $1.5 million USD per square metre. There was also a scandal that happened called the Recruit scandal in which stocks in a company called Cosmos were offered to powerful politicians (the current and future prime ministers of Japan were involved) before anyone else. When the company’s stocks went public, the people who had shares already made millions of dollars. This was only outed in 1988, though, so at the point of this story there would be no clue. Also, 1986 was the year when Japan stopped doing commercial whaling and switched to research whaling. People were also moving from the country to the cities, though this seems far more important for Higurashi than Umineko
Basically, from what I can tell, the idea that Krauss was planning on making the island a resort and building a hotel actually would have paid off historically. The value of his hotel would have skyrocketed and he would have made all of his losses back. The slight downturn before would have lost him some money initially like the other siblings point out but we would know that he was about to make millions. Also, having money on hand to speculate would have been highly useful for any of the siblings because the Yen was so strong. To sum it all up: this year would have been one of the best chances that any of the siblings had to make a ton of money and it seems like they know that it’s a good chance.
Edit: Oh, and also this incredible economic boom was also referred to as the ‘economic miracle’. Make of that what you will.
