Well, I don’t have time just yet for the next episode of ‘Jokrono understands more about Umineko than he thought’, but I want to make a post before the podcast happens, which, by the way;
TOMORROW, 5AM UTC, February 10th 2018, the FINAL Rokkenjima.org Tea Party Podcast will be recorded Live
So check out the discord to get in on those shenanigans.
Episode 8 was just incredible. I think that will go down as one of the greatest media experiences I’ve ever had, and I only hope that something can beat it, because that is a high benchmark.
I didn’t actually enjoy Episode 8 as much as I think I should have. There are parts of Episode 8 that I really didn’t find myself enjoying. Particularly the ridiculously long sequence of fights. Moment-to-moment, those scenes were really cool but they just went on for way, way too long as a collective whole, in my opinion. In part, I think that having to record and perform those sequences for about 6 hours straight really took away from it for me because I was just exhausted by the end. Even with that taken in to account, I would much rather have just seen that visual and have it summarized than have to read through that entire fight sequence from the end of Bernkastel’s game until when the Key is retrieved. I think that writing engaging, long form fights is one of the hardest things to do effectively, and Ryukishi certainly got close in my opinion but I certainly was left wanting a summary and some animated visuals. More on that in the big post, though, I think.
Despite that, much like Episode 4, those problems couldn’t even come close to scratching the surface of how unbelievably good this episode was. Not only was it incredibly vindicating to have all of those theories proven right, but the fact that I understood those moments going in to them made them so much more incredible. The entire opening sequence up until the end of Bernkastel’s game was some of the most fun I’ve had in this novel. There’s a certain point of view I’ll go in to a bit more in the big post but I really, really loved picking apart the alternate perspective on the family that Battler held. Also, I’ll probably end up restating myself in the big post, when I get the chance, but I honestly don’t care, I’m happy to restate this as many times as I can; the moment Battler and Beatrice got in to the boat, I already had my suspicions about what would happen next, but the moment Beatrice said ‘close your eyes’ I knew exactly what I was in for, and I was biting back tears the whole rest of the night. And that was before we got the Tea Parties. Sure the first one was a bit of goofy fun, but if I know Ryukishi, I knew that meant I was in for turmoil next, and boy was I. That scene in the Fukuin house was just astounding. I feel like whipping out a thesaurus and sticking every long word of praise before it I can would still be doing it a disservice. Normally Ange’s voice is a hard one for me to perform in sad scenes because the physicality of doing that voice makes it hard to hold back tears, but even once I managed to push past that I was in Battler’s voice, one of the easiest ones for me to do, and it still had me closer to tears than I would have dreamed this book ever could. I’m still honestly a bit hazy eyed just reflecting on this now.
So yea.
Holy shit Ryukishi.