Well there´s Fata Morgana.
It’s been a curious thing to me to watch those who so vocally despise Umineko fall over themselves in praising Fata Morgana. I’ve not read it yet, but it looks similar in many ways and I’m eager to try it. However I’m not sure if one VN can constitute a trend, so I guess we’ll have to see if there’s more like it on the way.
I´ve heard that Fata Morgana is an arguably a more polished version of Umineko, but they´re still very similar which makes the fawning over FM in comparison to Umineko make no sense. Its like saying Madoka is horseshit but Utena is a gift from God-they´re both good and very similar, but one is better than the other.
I´ve heard that Fata Morgana is an arguably a more polished version of Umineko, but they´re still very similar which makes the fawning over FM in comparison to Umineko make no sense.
I can only speak in anecdotes on this, but from those I know to whom this paradoxical opinion applies, the explanation is “without love, it cannot be seen.” Umineko’s depth can only be appreciated by those who put in the effort to think about it, who read between the lines and understand the deep emotional rationale behind the events. Nothing is ever as it seems, every depicted event is being filtered through multiple interpretations, and if you stop at just the surface explanation then you’re just going to see a poorly written magical girl story.
So then when you have those who worship the opinion of certain outspoken Japanese VN fans, fans who express their disdain for Umineko and dismiss R07 as a hack, that say there is no depth to Umineko; then those worshippers aren’t going to invest the effort required to understand and thus love Umineko. It was cringe-worthy to see the extent that one of my fellow mods slowly changed her positive opinion on Umineko to match those she wanted to fit in with. Although even worse was the mod who liked to loudly express their hatred of Umineko despite having never read it. Being told that the Japanese fanbase hated it was enough for them.
Pretty much this. Umineko has tons of depth and its sad to see people latch onto a bandwagon without even trying to read Umineko for themselves or trying to understand the perspective of a fan. Just because ¨the Japanese disliked it,¨ doesn´t mean you have to.
Though, I do believe that 1-8 have a score of 7.5 combined on vndb.
…Oh my God, WitchofGames was right when saying Madoka ripped off Umineko.
Umineko is almost deliberately crafted in a way that only some people will get and appreciate. Ryukishi actually touches on this a bit in Our Confession, where he gets what can easily be read as being highly self-critical and introspective during a conversation with Dlanor and Beatrice.
[details=Excerpts from Our Confession]
[quote]“You wrote that it was for 1 in 1000 people, but I think it’s the OPPOSITE. Although you want all the other people beyond that 1 in 1000 to truly read your story, there is no doubt they won’t be able to grasp the half that is stripped down and buried AWAY.”
"Kukkukukuku. But isn’t that just fine? It’s extravagant literature where only the surface is preserved as story. And is not casting aside all those readers beyond the 1 in 1000 itself so very delightfully extravagant?
"…Are you happy with THAT? People paint stories to be READ. …To paint a story not to be read by anyone, to cast it into darkness by one’s own will, is beyond extravagance; it can even be thought to be FOOLISH.
“Kukkukku. But isn’t that just fine? If things written so that the 999 of 1000 people can understand them can be called “civilization’s” writings, then it would be most fitting if my story, written so that only 1 in 1000 can understand it, could be called an “oddity” writing. …It’s a story painted by a witch, so if it has an “odd” taste then should it not be called an “oddity” writing?” [/quote]
[quote]=====As a result of Lady Beatrice’s death, I am releasing this incomplete tale in accordance with her will.
In reading this work, I was reminded of her long years of sadness, and couldn’t hold back my tears. But at the same time, I felt pity for her.
Although she was searching for someone who had love, I am sad to say that ironically, her heart was filled with anger at those who did not. She once told me that it was fine if her story reached only one person in a thousand.
However, that was wrong. Out of those thousand people, she wished her story would reach even one more person. If you asked her, she would surely laugh and deny it. But those were without question her true feelings.
In the beginning, I was uncertain about releasing this manuscript. I thought that I should hide it, so as to preserve her mystery for the one-in-a-thousand savior she spoke so often about. But as I read and reread it… I began to realize that the manuscript was a message with no destination address.
It was a wish that even she never realized she had. But now I understand it, and I think it should be granted. That is the reason I decided to release this incomplete manuscript.
After you read this, it doesn’t matter whether your feelings toward the woman named Beatrice are love or anger.
But if you can, try to reach her feelings, buried in the deepest part of the story. She said that she wrote two stories and revealed one. However, that was also wrong. She wrote three stories and revealed one. By reading this incomplete manuscript, you will know two of those stories. I would like you to reach the third and final one with your own power. As another woman, I strongly wish that of those reading this work.
Without love, it can’t be seen.
They are her words. But I shall repeat them.
Love exists in everyone’s hearts.
Her true tragedy was that she couldn’t see it.
My deepest thanks go out to everyone who helped with the compilation of this book. Especially my assistant, アン ズー.
– Dlanor A. Knox===== [/quote]
Source: http://umineko.wikia.com/wiki/Our_Confession[/details]
I think Ryukishi was fully aware that Umineko would only reach a handful of people, yet at the same time he can’t deny that what he actually wants is for more people to see what he put so much effort into. It’s for this reason why I think Episode 8 turned “preachy” sometimes, not that that helped his image in the slightest. But I think that’s partly why he decided to make the manga more explicit about things. Even if there’s a certain beauty to the visual novel being this really esoteric work of art that some people will get and most won’t, really, it’s also being rather deliberately exclusive which ultimately just isn’t what he wants. The way he went about it, preserving the original while creating a more accessible version, was probably the best thing he could’ve done anyways.
All of this is my speculation of course, but I don’t think I’m wrong on this.
Btw I strongly recommend reading Fata Morgana for yourself ^^ it’s a great work, and it is very different from Umineko; it’s not doing it any favor to be put as an equal to it.
I do still see the distaste and dislike for Umineko, but I also think that Pandora’s supposed turnaround is very real. There’s essentially a divide in the fanbase between old, veteran fans, and new fans. People who were into Umineko when it was out, and people who got into the series after Chiru/the manga.
I wasn’t a part of the fandom when Umineko was still coming out, I first read it around 2013 or so, but I’ve talked to people who were in the fandom around that time and think I have a fairly good understanding of what happened. More than anything else, from what I’ve gathered, it was Ryukishi’s attitude that turned so many people off. The idea that he’d drag so many people into this huge web of mystery, and not only refuse to give them payoff but also insult them for expecting it- Yeah. I get it. I understand why people were upset. He didn’t handle it especially tactfully.
But do I think Ryukishi was trying to be malicious? No. I think he’s a great guy, actually. He’s got a big heart and really does care a good deal about his fans and puts a lot of effort into his works, which I think is exactly what lead to Umineko’s controversial second half in the first place. (And I absolutely think it’s the second half that’s controversial. I’ve seen quite a few people mock Ryukishi’s writing period, but I’ve never seen that stance or derision pre-Chiru, so I have a hard time believing it comes from somewhere genuine.)
So time passes since Chiru, and people start to play Umineko once the dust has settled. Even if they aren’t spoiled, per say, they don’t have the same kind of experience. They don’t have the competing theories, they aren’t comparing ideas and answers, and they certainly won’t experience the group disappointment that developed around EP7/8. Hell, they might even be warned before they even start. I know that a ton of people told me Umineko turned to shit towards the end, so I went in expecting disappointment. I honestly think this was for the best, because when I made it to Episode 7, bracing for the worst, I found myself enjoying it more than any previous chapter, or any Visual Novel I’d ever played. I’d been told over and over again not to expect any answers or resolution, and when I actually found myself receiving both, I was surprised and delighted. (And then horrified by the tea party, but even that was an amazing experience.)
It’s really a matter of experience and predisposition, I think. A lot of people, especially now that the manga is complete, are having totally different experiences reading Umineko. The fanbase is smaller now, perhaps, but it is definitely growing. I’ve seen a shocking number of Umineko cosplayers at my local conventions lately! I think that all the work MangaGamer/Witch Hunt and Yen Press did has worked out enormously well. Umineko is more accessible in the US now than ever before, and I think it’s beginning to show.
I think it isn’t the same fanbase that it used to be, but the people who’ve remained since the beginning are unbelievably loyal, and the new fans are people who knew exactly what they were getting into before they started.
This is a pretty good analysis. Honestly I feel like after the dust settled and more concrete answers were revealed, people gave umineko a second chance and began to love it.
For instance, there’s a guy named SG2 on tumblr who absolutely hated Umineko when it first ended, but recently he gave it a second chance and ended up liking and appreciating it even more. (He also gave some interesting reasons as to why a good chunk of the fanbase didn’t like Chiru at the time.)
There’s a question that’s been bugging me for a while since finished Umineko, how did Tohya learn about certain information? I can see how Sayo knew about a lot of things considering that she’s been a servant for 14 years, and you’re bound to hear tons of shit that way-especially since Kumasawa loves rumors. However, how exactly did Tohya know so much about Ange’s experience in St.Lucia? The stuff about Kyrie really being his mom doesn’t bother me since after reading Eva’s diary he could’ve gotten suspicious (perhaps that real conversation Eva and Kyrie had also included Battler in it) and just made up an excuse to look at Ushiromiya Battler and Asumu’s baby birth records.
Though, unless Ange Ushiromiya wasn’t really inside the in universe Alliance and was just included for the sake of the reader-which makes sense as he and Ikkuko pretty much just wrote about Ange-Beatrice who is a fictional Ange- then I could see how it would work.
@Pandora The St. Lucia scenes, as you suggest, are outside of the cat-box and are therefore not within Tohya’s knowledge. As for the rest of his knowledge, we can’t be entirely sure how accurate any of it is. As we saw in ep8’s abrupt change of personality with Kinzo, where he’s now portrayed as a loving grandfather, these depictions we see in the earlier episodes are not necessarily factual. Tohya might only be guessing, or projecting his own beliefs about character motivations and thoughts. However my preferred head-canon theory to explain this is that Yasu lived on as Ikuko, and she covertly helped fill in Tohya’s blanks. All those periods where he was struck by headaches and he had to go lie down to rest were moments where Ikuko could take over the writing and later tell him he wrote it himself. This theory is not canon, I’ve heard the manga disproves it, but it’s still my favoured interpretation.
Little question: where does the manga disprove the theory of Sayo = Ikuko? I personally don’t like the theory because it makes Sayo a potentially utterly horrible person (which stands at odds with how the story depicts her towards the end), depending on how you read Ikuko’s stuff, but still interested in what prevents the theory.
From what I remember, I don’t think the manga does.
It might be implied-but I think that’s just Kei Natsumi’s interpretation or just me reading to much into it.
@qno I haven’t read the manga, I was just told that it disproved the theory. Perhaps someone wanted to use evidence that I couldn’t refute by referring to stuff I haven’t read, which would be pretty cruel if untrue.
As for it making Sayo a horrible person, what do you mean? Ikuko would still see her old self as having died on Rokkenjima, she didn’t lie as she saw it. She tried to love Battler the only way she knew how with a platonic relationship (as she still has issues about her body being furniture, with her believing it to be unable to have any form of physical intimacy). She’d spend the days reading and writing mysteries with Battler, just as she’d always dreamt of, and keeping the spirit of those on the island alive in her cat-box.
edit: Warning, a real wandering of thoughts post, no real line of thought here.
Given the huge problems Tohya seems to have had in dealing with the Rokkenjima mystery, manipulating him towards it could be seen as cruel. Not telling him but letting him fret over his own identity even as Battler (remember the heroic BSOD in EP4?) could be seen as cruel. Leaving him potentially alone with the thought of maybe, possibly, being the culprit himself while knowing better could be seen as cruel. Instead of letting Tohya live his own life monopolizing him in her house, with him having no real choice in the matter (no memories, easy to control) could be seen as cruel, especially giving her own past (and the past of her mother). Having had a hand in creating the entire massacre, even if we assume Sayo didn’t kill anyone herself, thus having had a hand in killing off Battler’s entire family and not telling him about it, etc. etc.
I am not saying it is cruel, but depending on how you read those actions I wouldn’t feel comfortable with the idea. Although Ikuko = Yasu does make interpretations towards Meta-Beatrice easier. It would also raise one question: how come Ikuko/Yasu was not able to let Battler finally come to rest (magic ending)? You’d think she would be in the best position to do so. Unless Battler/Tohya needed a chance like Kinzo towards Yasu so let go if his regrets and past, with Ange being the last remnant of his former life.
Sorry, don’t really know where to go with this portion. I don’t mean to offend with personally rejecting the theory, I personally don’t like where it goes, although it does raise interesting questions.
I don’t really think that the manga disproves it although I have only read a few chapters. It adds the whole “souls of the dead” thingie regarding the meta-world, but you can write that off as the magic perspective. Still, even if Beatrice/Shannon/Kanon are the multiple souls of one dead person, you can look at the same way we look at Tohya/Battler; personality death, with Ikuko/Yasu already having let go of her past.
@qno Before I defend Yasu, I just want to preface this with saying that you aren’t wrong. You’ve expressed a fair criticism of her actions, and while I may view her actions from a different angle, it doesn’t make your view invalid.
So in general, I think a lot of the criticism directed at Sayo comes from looking at her predicament from our own comfortable 3rd party position. “Why didn’t Sayo just poop in Kinzo’s bed, hand over her resignation letter, and head off to make a better life for herself” is the kind of question asked frequently here. But Sayo doesn’t live in the same world as you or me. Her view is warped by her upbringing and she doesn’t see a life outside of Rokkenjima. She’s been raised as furniture and that’s how she sees herself, it doesn’t matter how much we know she can be so much more, she’ll live believing that’s all she is.
To put it another way, Sayo is like a beaten wife in an abusive relationship. The rest of us can see it’s a terrible relationship and she’d be so much better off divorcing her husband, but for her, this is her entire world. She can’t see herself outside of the marriage. She wants to believe her husband loves her, so she conjures up excuses for the beatings.
Now, to address your points more specifically…
“Why didn’t Ikuko tell Tohya about who he was and what had happened?”
Battler suffered massive psychological trauma from what happened on Rokkenjima. He was the one who buried his own memories, not Sayo. She was trying to guide him slowly back to those memories, at a pace that he could handle, rather than throw the whole thing at him at once. Perhaps he could have handled the whole truth immediately, or maybe it would have broken him. You don’t know, I don’t know, Sayo didn’t know. She did what she thought best for him.
“Ikuko kept Tokya trapped.”
I agree with you that there are troubling comparisons with how she treated him and how Kinzo treated Sayo’s mother, but the difference is that Tokya didn’t want to leave. He had nowhere else to go, he was physically and mentally crippled, and she was trying to taking care of him in the most loving environment she could provide.
“She didn’t tell him of her role in the massacre.”
We don’t know what happened within the cat-box so we don’t actually know what her role was. My preferred explanation is that the depiction of Rudolph and Kyrie being primarily responsible is the most accurate one. It explains why Kyrie lied about Ange being ill as an excuse to keep her away from the family fathering. It also explains Eva’s resentment towards Ange. Telling Battler that his parents were the ones responsible for what happened could also be seen as cruel. Sayo might have thought she was saving him from pain by not revealing it. The fact that we see such a cruel depiction of Kyrie and Rudolph in ep7 could be a sign of Ikuko’s influence on Tohya and as she attempts to tentatively guide him to the truth through feedback on his writing.
“How come Ikuko/Yasu was not able to let Battler finally come to rest?”
Actually I thought that’s exactly what happened at the end of the magic end. Ikuko could finally be open about her identity to Tohya, and that’s why he was reunited with Beatrice in that final scene.
As I said in the preface, you aren’t wrong to judge Sayo harshly for her actions. Each of us have to choose what to base our morals on. For me, the intent is always the most important factor in judging someone. In this case, Sayo’s intent was born of love for Battler and an attempt to make him happy, so I look upon her actions favourably.
Big Manga spoilers so only open at your own peril. Given the manga, the EP7 TP is more or less what happened, with some omissions (mostly regarding Yasu and Battler). So we do know.
Regarding the last point, Ange is what laid him to rest. It is something Ikuko had never been able to do. This wouldn’t even disprove your theory. In a way it is really similar to Kinzo’s death: he wanted to come clean to the person he feels he wronged the most, Beatrice (although mostly 1 and 2, barely giving a single shit about Yasu). Tohya might’ve felt the same towards Ange; he never made contact, left her alone out of fear what it would do to him. But only by coming clean to her, and seeing acceptance and understanding towards the past from Ange’s side (the remodelled Fukuin), Battler was able to finally truly die/rest. Beatrice and the rest were already dead, waiting only for him. At least that is what I took from it.
What would you make of Ikuko’s actions in EP8 then? About intending to release the truth to the public, with the gathered might of hapless characters in a tale trying to prevent it, to make a plea to let the already-dead dogs lie in peace?
Again, I am not trying to change your mind either, just trying to see what your viewpoint is. I like Ikuko as one of the “outside” people of the witch-hunt, who oh so enjoyed the mystery. In Ikuko’s case, manga spoilers again despite knowing the truth behind the message bottles thanks to the completely-out-of-nowhere-never-even-mentioned-in-the-VN confession of the golden witch she failed to see the the characters in the stories as actual people who actually died in an event surprisingly similar to the mesage bottles. It is something Yasu as Ikuko wouldn’t do, at least not after “reforming”, so it removes any real conflict between Tohya and Ikuko in EP8. Yasu would not release the truth, I think.
This however does slightly touch on something I wondered about: is it ever made clear what Yasu’s viewpoint on mysteries is? We know she likes to imagine the unseen-events as the act of a witch, a viewpoint she got from Kumasawa if I remember correctly, with her trying to uncover the magic behind. She admired Battler’s approach, although it is questionable whether it is even true or whether he just said it to be cool, of putting the motive and situation of the culprit into the center, of showing a heart towards the culprit. But is that how Yasu approached mysteries?
I basically wonder whether Erika is some perverted version of Yasu’s approach to mysteries. Purely wild-mass guessing obviously. Since EP5 in particular is a game with no love (in many ways).
Funny enough, I actually consider Sayo, Ange, and Erika to all be parallels of each other.
Ange is what laid him to rest. It is something Ikuko had never been able to do.
@qno If I were to be generous to Ikuko (which I will because I’m a Yasu=Ikuko fangirl), I’d claim that Ikuko spent the past few decades loosening that jar lid then Ange just pops it off at the last moment and claimed all the credit ;p
Yes I agree that Ange was an essential part of healing Tohya, but I don’t think she’d have been capable of helping him take that final step if not for him slowly coming to understand and accept his past through his writing with Ikuko.
Battler was able to finally truly die/rest. Beatrice and the rest were already dead, waiting only for him.
I agree with your take on the scene and I think it’s the most plausible explanation. I just recoil from it ever so slightly because it’s still so tragic. As much as I want to accept the magic, a part of me can’t forget that the golden land reunion also takes place in a room where there’s still an old man still sitting in a wheelchair, all alone. That’s why I like to believe Yasu, as Ikuko, could be finally reunited with Battler fully. It makes it hurt a little less.
What would you make of Ikuko’s actions in EP8 then? About intending to release the truth to the public, with the gathered might of hapless characters in a tale trying to prevent it, to make a plea to let the already-dead dogs lie in peace?
I think there’s a few possible explanations, and they aren’t mutually exclusive, so they might all have been factors to varying amounts.
she failed to see the the characters in the stories as actual people who actually died in an event surprisingly similar to the mesage bottles
Her relationship with those characters was a complicated one. As much as I’m a vocal believer in the magic of Umineko… someone cover Maria’s ears… it’s not exactly real. As the keeper of the cat-box, Yasu would know more than anyone how her golden land was in a way, a fake. It’s not a physical place, it’s a belief. So it could make her seem a little heartless, after all, do you worry about the well-being of those you only ever met in a dream?
I feel awful about writing that paragraph, and this harsh view on the nature of magic is what makes me so fervently want to believe in Yasu=Ikuko, so at least there’s some solid happy reality I can hold onto whenever my faith in the Golden Land slips.
is it ever made clear what Yasu’s viewpoint on mysteries is?
That’s a great question. I believe Beatrice is probably the best single character showcasing Yasu’s attitude towards mysteries because she imbued Beatrice with her love of Battler, and I feel like her love of mysteries would be entwined with that. However there’s probably a little bit of Yasu in many of the meta-world characters. Both in Dlanor’s love of rules, and Erika’s crackpot obsession with solving mysteries at any cost.
Thank you for the discussion, it’s been wonderful to discuss this with you (:
While I personally don’t believe that Yasu is Ikuko because it’s goes against how I see Yasu and Umineko (mostly the fact that despite how much I wish that Yasu would have been able to find happiness I personally think that there is too much baggage and too many wounds in her mind for it to have ended in any way except for the way she did in Ep 8) it’s still an intriguing theory and I really enjoy your discussion.
The manga at least shows that Tohya was not only surrounded by the children from the orphanage but that he was also still alive and well after Battler had finally joined his family in the Golden Land so there’s that. It’s still a tragic ending since there’s now nothing left of the Ushiromiya family but it’s not that tragic.
[quote]
It could have been a ploy to help draw out Ange.
It may have been Ikuko’s way of forcing Tohya to accept his past. It was only once she met Ange that she realised there might still be another way.
She might have felt the dead deserved justice, the villains exposed and the innocent extolled. Some of the uglier fan theories must have been hurtful to hear, and these ugly theories were drowning out her own, more beautiful golden land.[/quote]
No problem, I enjoy it too. However be happy, there are some people over at Animesuki who really tore into the morality of Yasu = Ikuko, but I cannot really remember the detailed discussions. Although searching for it is also impossible with those 35k posts in the general spoiler discussion.
This might be the little difference in how we take our stories: I don’t mind tragic endings, in fact “bad” endings are my jam to be perfectly honest. And after all, Bernkastel confirmed that this story wouldn’t have a happy ending.
If we really want, we could claim that the entire magic ending is merely what Featherine promised to Ange in EP6, to write her a happy ending.
Guess that makes the ending even sadder if you look at it from that way.
So about the Erika - Yasu (- Ange) connection, mind sharing your thoughts Pandora? While Ange and Erika have an obvious connection (see: EP8), Ange being the “last Beatrice” with her smaller catbox (her fate being unknown to the public and both being toyed by circumstances outside their control) and the possible Yasu - Erika being two sides of the same coin (from EP1-2 I kinda get the impression that Yasu loved the how-dunnit so I could imagine that she herself, while solving mysteries as a reader, was closer to Erika than to Battler in her enjoyment of logic puzzles). Is that what you mean or do you go somewhere else?
Yeah I agree that carrying on the emotional burden of what had happened on Rokkenjima would have been too much for anyone to bear, which is why I think she had to let those personas die to gain some distance. Not that I mean to convert you to Yasu=Ikuko, I just wanted to share my perspective.
The manga at least shows that Tohya was not only surrounded by the children from the orphanage but that he was also still alive and well after Battler had finally joined his family in the Golden Land so there’s that.
Oh that changes the scene significantly. I’d believed there was a strong possibility that Tohya had literally died during that scene, so I’m glad that didn’t happen.
Haha, I agree things might not have turned out well for Ange, but Yasu isn’t god. Ange was already in a pretty dire situation before her interaction with her. I’m not sure if Ikuko can be blamed for Kasumi’s actions.
Wasn’t the whole deal of Yasu = Ikuko to do it gently, guide him slowly to the past and let him deal with it in his own time? Since Tohya, even while dealing with it slowly, nearly died from a stroke?
Yep, she tried to go slowly for 10 years. But she might have felt that path had gone as far as it could (which she’d be right to believe as Tokya still didn’t accept his identity until 20+ years later with Ange’s intervention), so she was willing to consider more drastic measures.
Although I am not sure whether the text supports this.
Yeah I’d be wary of accepting Yasu=Ikuko as canon, there’s a lot of generous interpretation involved in explaining some of the gaps.
Another version would of course be that she never intended to reveal it and merely tried to use the hysteria to let it go nowhere and thus to let the Rokkenjima mystery craze die.
Ah that’s an interesting idea. I’m not sure how successful an approach like that would be, it seemed to drive even more interest, but the success or not doesn’t deny that it could have been her belief that it would help.
there are some people over at Animesuki who really tore into the morality of Yasu = Ikuko
Oh yeah I think I’ve seen some of that before, back when I first finished Umineko a few years back. It kind of hurts to read, so many people not really understanding or sympathising with Yasu, who see her as a villain.
This might be the little difference in how we take our stories: I don’t mind tragic endings, in fact “bad” endings are my jam to be perfectly honest. And after all, Bernkastel confirmed that this story wouldn’t have a happy ending.
I can enjoy bad endings, and were Yasu=Ikuko not true (which I admit is probably the case), I’d still adore Umineko and see it as my favourite VN ever. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try to find a little wriggle room to find a little happiness for those characters I care deeply for.
we could claim that the entire magic ending is merely what Featherine promised to Ange in EP6, to write her a happy ending.
Oh that’s an interesting idea, but if I were Ange, I’d be demanding my money back for that ending. It’s still pretty sad ;p