Umineko Episode 8 General Discussion

Oh my gosh, I thought about this theory of Erika and Ange too and played around with it for a bit. Especially when you consider Bernkastel and Ange’s connection as well, and then comparing it to Erika and Bernkastel - (even Bernkastel saying she lent Erika the same blue hair as hers).

Though Erika’s background story doesn’t seemingly match with Ange, and her relationship towards Battler is not sisterly at all - they also both hold the “Witch of Truth” title which implies a connection as well. I wonder what that connection is though, truly? Or Erika as a character herself? Perhaps she is an amalgamation of her own self, as Bernkastel’s piece, but also taking some manifestation of Ange’s desire to be on the island during 1986? It’s so interesting to think about and I’m glad I wasn’t the only one thinking it!

I’m commenting here hoping it’s the right place to do it.

Around a month ago, I kind of discovered a pretty big plothole, that was mainly created because of the manga, if you ask me.
I want to share it and hear your thoughts about it!

Okay, so as we know, Yasu was sitting and writing tons of “forgeries” and scenarios for Rokkenjima’s mass murder.

We know that EP1 and EP2 are her original uneditted versions, while EP3-4 were meddled by Tohya and Ikuko to fit reality (AKA: Eva surviving, for example)

Then of course, we have EP5-6 which are complete forgeries written wholy by them.

However, that leaves us with a critical question:
Why wasn’t Ange present in EP1-2 forgeries?

Ange didn’t arrive on the last minute. Yasu couldn’t know Ange won’t be present on the family gather. she was supposes to be part of her plans as well.

We know Ange arrived in the past, as well as knowing Beato was against joining her to the Marriage Sorcerie
I have one crooked blue truth to explain it based on devil proof that goes this way:
Since Yasu wrote 'Every possible scenario for Rokkenjima, she also wrote stories were specific people were absent. It’s impossible to disprove there aren’t versions where Maria isn’t present either, or George, or any other person due X reasons. The bottle messages of EP1-2 contained by chance, versions where Ange was not part of the mystery. It might be that the original versions of EP3-4 were including Ange but she was editted out by Tohya and Ikuko.

It does leave us with a manga hole where Yasu doesn’t mention Ange in her confessions and her planning at all though, which makes it a little crooked, but it’s the best solution I could make to close this hole for now.

I still need to reread and see if it’s mentioned how long before Ange was sick. Yasu sent the bottles a day before the tragedy. If she knew Ange was missing, she could draft all scenarios with her and release only ones without her
However as you see, it’s still a very crooked solution.

I think there’s a more efficient answer here.

Genji was asked to reach out to Kyrie and have her arrange for Ange to not be on the island for the family conference. Yasu’s motive was to prevent Ange’s severe anti-magic toxin, but Kyrie was convinced to do so by Genji referring to the known disagreements between Ange and Maria. With the goal of ensuring that the children, at least, would all have a fun harmonious time together, and since Kyrie had reliable family outside the Ushiromiyas unlike Rosa, Kyrie agreed to arrange for Ange to be left with family and used her regular poor health as just an excuse.

That’s actually super interesting! Especially because Yasu knew to send Ange the money, so it makes it seem like she was certain for long enough that Ange won’t be present on that day.
But there are few problems:
-It was not mentioned at any point, it feels like it’s too big to be ignored.
-Kyrie’s family isn’t all that friendly (see Kasumi), so I kind of wonder about it. We don’t really know what would’ve happened if Eva didn’t survive and Ange were to stay with the Sumaderas, I’m not very optimistic if you ask me.

Also, Ange has anti magic toxin, but not any more or less than the adults. Still, it might “get in the way” of using Maria as part of the mystery. It also means that Yasu intended to leave a 6 years old girl without her family, which kind of disturbs me even more than usual.

She meant to “take everyone with her”, so why with the expection of Ange? The lack of official information over it kind of makes everything a little crooked.

I do agree this solution is making more sense though.

Yes and no. Kasumi pretty blatantly went rogue because she was holding a grudge against Kyrie. Spending more time in the Sumadera family, Ange may or may not have been able to gather allies and friends there. I mean, Kyrie trusted them enough to leave her little girl with them during the trip one way or another, so there has to be someone trustworthy at least at the time of the last family conference.

I see what you mean about the disconnect of taking everyone but Ange with her though. It’s a bit fuzzy.

This has actually been a topic quite a lot over at the discussion boards of Animesuki. The simplest theory would be that Kyrie&Rudolf called a few days earlier to inform them that Ange won’t make it and Ange’s role being so small in the message bottle stories that she was easily removed from the stories. Not sure whether a consensus was ever reached on animesuki though.

However, the problem goes even deeper. Ange is only mentioned once in passing in EP1 and not at all in EP2. In fact, George (I think) claimed in EP2 how nice it was that all the cousins were back together. Weird, Ange is also one of the cousins. Seems rather spiteful. Or Sayo forgot to delete that line.

Ironically enough, Eva is the only one in both episodes that asked about Ange’s absence. Battler never mentions her at all (both piece and meta), if I remember correctly.

The next easiest solution is that Ryukishi kinda screwed up on that whole front or that Ange’s entire subplot only arose with the rewrite of EP3 (which however begs the question why she is even mentioned in EP1 in the first place if he had never any plans for her at that point).

The following are my thoughts on that, which included a LOT of assumptions. In fact I can safely say that “this is NOT truth”, merely an interpretation. … that I also haven’t written down in a long time so forgive me if I forget a thing or two.


This relates to Ange’s investigation and reminiscing in EP4. Ange claims that had she not rejected Maria, Sakutarou, and Mariage sorciere, “none of this would’ve happened” (paraphrasing).

The underlying idea is related to the importance of the Golden Land as a “promised land” in which Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice can be separate and full beings in love, all becoming “human”/a “real” witch by gaining “love” with their loved one (-> EP2, what it means to become human). Under that idea the message bottles had the purpose of “telling the lie that then becomes the truth”. Therefore, the Golden Land is in a way a very positive thing for Sayo, at least the moment Battler was announced to return, leaving her in an impossible three-way deadlock (as in EP6). Instead of deciding on one future, she used “magic” to make “all of them to come true”. In any case, the Golden Land is the land of release and of Kanon and Shannon becoming human (see EP2).

By rejecting and hurting Maria Sayo decided not to invite Ange at all to the Golden Land, therefore she is not part of the message bottles. Maybe on the urging of Maria.

So what would’ve happened had Sayo included Ange, but Ange got sick and didn’t attend the conference? The message bottles would portrayed events that couldn’t have happened due to Ange’s sickness, the magic would’ve been broken, and the apparent validity of the message bottles would’ve been even more dubious than it already was, what with witches and all. Thus endagering the magic of making “three out of one”. Ange wouldn’t have prevented the catastrophic events of 1986 (as portrayed in the EP7 Tea Party and Lion’s world, something would happen either way), but the “Rokkenjima Mystery Craze” might’ve not blown up as it did when the messabe bottles were made public. Because they would’ve been obviously bogus, the “magic narrative” of the message bottles wouldn’t hold up to the observable facts of Rokkenjima prime.

Whether Ange actually attended or not is the risk of the magic (see EP1). She tended to get sick, but there was no guarantee.

It is similiar to Battler’s return in 1986 causing “it all”. Yet still something would’ve happened 1986 (again: see Lion’s world), but the message bottles wouldn’t have been been released. Had he returned in 1985 a smaller incident would’ve taken place, since the tensions between the adults wouldn’t blown up for anoher year. Had Sayo written the message bottles then, the police would merely scratch their head when they find one of them on the day of the conference, especially once most members of the family came back. Again, no “Rokkenjima Murder Craze”.

Weak points are

  • the convoluted logic requiring points from multiple episodes to justify Ange’s absence from EP1-2
  • the necessity of Lion’s world meaning anything for Prime
  • and more

Your approach works too however.

One could even combine the two I suppose, merely means that there is no risk involved.

Besides, Ange doesn’t have to be right with her assumption that her rejection of magic led to something. Just feels weird to have a character say that, and it not mattering at all.

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Give how much foreshadowing there was in episode 1 (I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was Eva that mentioned her) and given how much Ange ended up being part of the core story (I would argue that she ended up feeling more like the true protagonist in episode 8 than Battler himself), I’m willing to just chalk it up to sloppy writing.

R07 had the whole story laid but he was still in the process of writing it all, so I don’t think it’s particularly weird and well, there are going to be some parts that feel a bit forced (Like… the whole Shannon and Kanon deal…). I don’t think we even got the confirmation that the message bottles were 1:1 of what we were reading anyway.

Makes perfect sense if Ange is the culprit (My non-canon joke theory)

For a canon answer however, the conversation about Ange being sick mentions that she has a weak stomach. If you take that as evidence that the sickness could be intentional, and add in Rudolf was an accomplice, then you get Beatrice ordered it to create the illusion of the witch. Would creating a prophetic message bottle not be considered magic?

Well, there’s also another solution, in my mind.

I’ve generally been of the idea that Yasu’s messages were more tales that had in them the skeleton of a story that told the events from start to finish, focusing on the mystery and the potential presence of the witch, rather than having all of the dialogue and exchanges written out. For example, Legend was signed by Ushiromiya Maria. However, the narration in Legend is such that it doesn’t really make sense to have been written by Maria. Not to mention, for something as massive as Legend to have been written on something that was described as a notebook scrap is a bit weird, too. As such, it’s entirely possible that the tale of Legend did not necessarily have all of the details or exchanges that ended up being present in the actual episode. Those were reinterpreted and expanded on through imagination and the meta-world itself.

So, for example, it’s entirely possible that Ange DID exist in Legend and Turn, but was not referred to directly. She could’ve just been made part of the group of ‘cousins’ or similar groups, and when it was established that Ange never went to the island that day, it was naturally interpreted the stories did not have her to begin with. After all, Yasu had no real direct connection or any sort of feelings towards Ange that we’re aware of. So she could’ve just chalked her down to a side role.

Tohya’s later forgeries would be his attempts to regain his memory, both through Yasu’s tales and the knowledge on the aftermath of the incident recorded in the real world. Since he knew the official chain of events didn’t have Ange on the island, he figured she truly never was there, and thus never included her.

Of course this leaves the door open for a theory where Ange COULD’VE been present on prime, was purposely not shown to be by Bernkastel to fuck with her, got taken by Eva to safety, and then from the sheer shock had her mental state destroyed, causing Eva to convince her she was never on the island to begin with and everyone else going along with it. This would mean that Erika and all her representations were actually manifestation of Ange’s psychosis and the desire to learn the truth; how Erika is allowed to exist on the gameboard to begin with, why the adults would’ve bothered to set up the EP6, and Erika’s appearance in the Trick ending.

Of course, it’s probably not the case, but. Y’know.

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I delayed writing my thoughts about Episode 8 for quite a while by now, but now just want to ramble on with my musings. Thing is, several weeks ago (shortly before I signed up here) in my noob-tastic attempt to make an Umineko MMV I scoured the entire Manga trying to look for pictures that I could use to tell the entire story of Umineko. For the Question Arcs that was my first reading of the Manga and it showed…

… because Episode 8 destroyed me. After I finished it, I was left a sobbing mess who couldn’t form a coherent thought for at least 30 minutes and even then my first reaction was to jump some unsuspecting acquaintances to gush over Umineko. Damn, this adaptation is bloody brilliant!

Thing is… when I read Episode 8 the first time, it was far from my favourite episode. It doesn’t have the twisting turns of Episodes 5 and 6 and for me, Episode 7 gave all the answers I needed to construct my truth. Ange’s journey was good, don’t get me wrong, especially since she had been my favourite character for a long time and is still among my top 3. I just thought that in the VN Battler was overdoing it with his insistence that Ange should deny the truth and construct a fantasy in which her family still lives. Treasuring their memories and moving on is one message, but I had the impression that during many parts of it Battler was insisting that she should totally reject reality, something that comes awfully close to what Yasu did and that gave me a really bad feeling that was only salvaged by the beauty of the Magic Ending. I chalked it up to Tohya messing up with the messaging, but that still meant that Episode 8 was kinda lackluster to me.

Then came the Manga. Now I am actually floored. Because it straight-up addressed all the issues I had with the VN version: Beatrice’s talk with Ange in Golden Land was a magnificient addition! In many ways, Ryukishi obviously listened to criticism similar to mine and softened up Tohya’s messages to Ange in a far more healthy way, the way I always expected the intention to actually be. Then came the additions to the magic ending and the bridge to the magic one, filling the gaps with events that came awfully, awfully close to what I already imagined happened, so of course I was just sitting there with a wide grin while watching my theories come to life.

The only odd thing was the inclusion of ‘Confession of the Golden Witch’ replacing Eva’s diary containing a retelling of the Episode 7 Tea Party. Simply because I thought it redundant. The Manga version of Episode 7 already lifted the veil (to a degree that I also found somewhat self-defeating, but that’s a different discussion), so I kept asking myself why I have to read the same painful story of Yasu again, especially when the Book of One Truth doesn’t have anything to do with the solutions to the gameboards. Oh well…

Still… I found the Manga version of Episode 8 to be far superior to the original VN and bloody hell, Ange’s journey really wrecked me. At least I can invoke these feelings whenever I hear a certain song that for me just completely encompasses everything I adore about the relationship between Battler and Ange:

Of course it is “Teo Torriatte” by Brian May, penned for Queen’s Japan tours. The lyrics are just… stunningly perfect for Umineko and especially Episode 8. I teared up the first time I heard it, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Ange and her survivor guilt and Battler’s attempts to give it closure.
If you don’t believe me, here the lyrics:

Lyrics

When I’m gone,
no need to wonder if I ever think of you.
The same moon shines
The same wind blows for both of us
And time is but a paper moon.
Be not gone!

Though I’m gone
it’s as though I hold the flower that touches you.
A new life grows.
The blossom knows.
There’s no one else could warm my heart as much as you.
Be not gone!

Let us cling together as the years go by.
Oh my love my love!
In the quiet of the night
Let our candle always burn
Let us never lose the lessons we have learned!

Teo torriatte konomama iko
Aisuruhito yo
Shizukana yoi ni
Hikario tomoshi
Itoshiki oshieo idaki

Hear my song.
Still think of me the way you’ve come to think of me.
The nights grow long,
But dreams live on.
Just close your pretty eyes
And you can be with me.
Dream on!

Teo torriatte konomama iko
Aisuruhito yo
Shizukana yoi ni
Hikario tomoshi
Itoshiki oshieo idaki

When I’m gone
They’ll say we were all fools
And we don’t understand.
Oh be strong!
Don’t turn your heart!
We’re all!
You’re all!
For all!
For always!

Let us cling together as the years go by
Oh my love my love
In the quiet of the night
Let our candle always burn
Let us never lose the lessons we have learned

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Could you sum up the scenes and viewpoints that brought you to that conclusion? I’m interested in seeing what the exact issues people had with EP8 as I thought it was excellent on first read, even moreso on reread (not just the ending and the purple game).

I can’t put my finger on single scenes because it is several years since I’ve read the VN. All I can say is that this whole thing about Ange being pressured into rejecting reality rubbed me the wrong way. I waited for the point in which Battler encouraged her to move on and keep going and that never happened, instead this whole ‘your family never died, you should still wait for our return’ shit went on and on and on and on. I really didn’t find that helpful at all and didn’t think it was a good thing for Tohya to forcefully shove down her throat. Especially when it reminds you so much of what Yasu did.
That’s why, when I indeed found these messages about keeping her memories in her heart and move on in the Manga, I was quite pleased.

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Episode 8 got a pretty bad rep from the fandom back when it was released, but I’m pretty sure that only happened because people wanted answers that Ryukishi was obviously never going to give us, or at least not give us so easily. Twilight is definitely the most meta of the 8 arcs, considering that it’s the only arc that has actual choices for the reader to make and the majority of the events take place outside the gameboard. Say what you will, but I think EP 8 and the magic ending in particular is the perfect ending to Umineko, because it leaves the catbox closed. Highlights of this episode for me include the Battle for the Golden Land, Lambda v. Bern, the Lixaxil duels, the boat scene, and Bern’s puzzle, which is one of my favorite moments in any episode of Umineko.

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I feel like the whole Battle for the Golden Land sequence deserves a lot more credit than it gets. It is so powerful and goddamn poetic. After so many fragments of the family members being pitted against each other, killing each other, their worst traits being exposed over and over again, the Ushiromiya family takes a stand, and not only fully embraces their negative qualities, but also highlights their positive qualities.

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Precisely! Seeing the entire collective Ushiromiya family fighting together was a real treat.

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Finished reading this a couple of days ago and wow, that hit me hard. It’s been over a year since I began reading Umineko and it’s hard to believe i’m done with it. I absolutely adored most of this episode, as I absolutely love what Umineko has become. I’m glad we were able to get a conclusion to Ange’s character arc, and with it firmly get statements on what the audience was supposed to get from Umineko. I was very happy that Lambdadelta got so many good moments, as she’s definitely a favorite of mine. Everything related to Ange and Eva made me want to cry, in a good way. The only thing I’d say I was slightly lukewarm on was the reveal Hachijo Tohya. I get why it happened, and it was very heartwrenching, and while it felt fitting the very end of the Hidden Tea Party was a bit to out there and strange for me. Small complaint though and I still loved the ending on the whole. The “where they are now” ending for the magic characters cracked me up.

Umineko will stay with me for a long time, I can firmly say that it has become my favorite piece of media, and I can’t wait to revisit it someday in the future.

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This CG is also the coolest cg in the entire game

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Are you sure it’s the coolest? Because these CGs give it a run for its money:

Open for CGs

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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.

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