Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 4: Allies of Golden Witch
The end of question arc, with a lot of mysteries have yet to be unfoldedHm...where should I start. This episode seems significantly longer than any previous episodes, probably due to the fact that this is the final question arc. It is heavily related to episode 3 as the events that episode is happened as the consequence of the game in episode 3 - yes, finally a "certain someone" made it out alive from the endless night on Rokkenjima and inherit the wealth of Kinzo's. But this dos not mean the game of Battler-Beatrice will end though, as it could be said that they're in parallel world and didn't seem to affect the current world where the survivor live in. This episode is heavily focused on Battler's imouto, Ushiromiya Ange who is the only other survivors of Ushiromiya family (the 2nd person after the Rokkenjima's survivor mentioned before) and her miserable life she lead due to losing everything she had. For that reason, the timeline of this episode can be divided into 2 main years - the day of the accident on Rokkenjima on 1986, and the future days on 1998 where Ange live and how she desire to unveil the mystery behind Rokkenjima's tragedy which took everything from her life. There's also story about Maria world and how she get her first "friend", Sakutarou, her daily lives with Rosa. A lot of new characters were introduced in this episode, especially on the day of 1998. On a side note, Maria is 3 years older than Ange, hence Ange always call her Onee-chan.
Due to this, episode 4 can be confusing at times since it kept on switching settings from one to another timeline. From Ange's time in 1998, then back briefly to Rokkenjima in 1986, then back again to the future with more of Ange's past, and in between are stories about Maria and her magic, and Ange's miserable life in high school due. It all interconnected, but for some reason I still couldn't grasp the exact sequence of event's in this episode. For example - Maria get Sakutarou as her birthday present and made him a living furniture. Then come the mess which made Rosa to destroy Sakutaro. I believe it all happened before Rokkenjima tragedy. So how come the lamenting Maria at that time hate Rosa AND Ange, since Ange practically only notice the existence of magic when she live in an all girl school AFTER the tragedy in Rokkenjima in 1986? At that time Maria is dead and only her grimoire left as the remnant of her magic. And one more confusing fact from this episode is Ange's claim, which says how hurting Onee-chan (Maria) would connect with a mysterious incident "several years" later (ie the rokkenjima's).
Ok so let's talk about the year 1986 and the tragedy of Rokkenjima. At this point the involvement of magic is not an issue anymore in an island as isolated as Rokkenjima. It started normally as previous episodes, but everything started to get really interesting after the first twilight is reached. To make it even more unique is the fact that unlike previous episodes, ALL twilight of the epitaph occurred before the 2nd day (October 5th is reached). The 13th sacrifice (8th twilight) happened just a few minute before 12:00am, and when the clock ticks 12:01 am Sunday the 5th October, only 1 survivor left on the island to endure a whole day before the rescue bot could come on Monday. Compared to previous episodes, the sacrifices were selected in a more random way, and they were more specifically killed so that it easy to identify their face, yet easy to know that they're definitely dead. How? Maybe something like smashing half of the head, or crush the abdomen/chest.
The best part of the night, for me is the battles between human and demon that is happening in this episode. George vs the new character Gaap is just epic, Jessica vs Ronove is also nice with all determination converted into magic. Then comes Shannon and Kanon linked together just like Siesta 56 and 210 to counter the golden missile flying toward them. And finally Krauss vs Virgilia's goat servant. I somehow chuckled at this part, because Krauss's power level is OVER 9000!!! No I'm not joking, it's true. His power level start off at mere 6, then increased multiple times due to various factors (critical hit rofl) to 11k+ power level. And I also somehow laugh my ass off the goat servant, seeing how moronic actually they are. I can only laugh seeing how they stuck several times when Virgilia gave her orders.
On the outside parallel world, Battler and Beatrice as usual were observing the game for the 4th time. Overcoming his dejection due to Beatrice's MASSIVE troll from last episode, Battler toughen his resolution and not taking this game easy anymore, especially since the her imouto Ange has come all the way from 1998 (thanks to Bern) to save her from Beato's grip. Ange had a rule that she cannot reveal her true identity to Battler, hence using the nickname Gretel. For this reason, Battler who didn't recognize her (because Ange was only 6 when he left the island for Rokkenjima) did not wholeheartedly believe Ange as his true Allies. After all he does not want the same thing from episode 3 to repeat (Virgilia). In this episode, a new rule is introduced for battler's convenience, that is the
Blue Text of truth (as oppose of Beato's red text). This allow him to attack Beato with his argument, and unless Beato didn't strike back with red truth, then the victory is Battler's to take. By the end of the episode, Beato become disheartened and refuse to continue the game. She denied Battler's existence and qualification as Beato's opponent, sending him to the abyss of darkness. Without thinking, Ange sacrifices by revealing her real identity to bring Battler back... kinda touching ending : (
And the best part of the whole episode come - the episode 4 Tea Party which was unlocked upon completing the game. This time, once and for all, Battler decide to end the game for real after watching the sacrifice of his sister. Battler and Beato started exchanging blue and red truth, explaining each and every murder cases from way back in episode 1 to episode 4. Battler's reasoning has significantly improved this time, as he is no longer intimidated by Beato's difficult red truth. Although sometimes his argument is kinda laughable. Come on, trace of bomb in the food that explode once it's inside the stomach??? ROFL I know it's all devil's proof, but how ridiculous can this argument be?
Anyway for some reason it looks like after being recalled back to the game board to face Battler, Beato seems willingly accept defeat, looking for Battle to end the game for her sake since she didn't really counter most of the blue texts flying toward her. In the end of the day, we still don't know who's the real victor..
A hell lot of question still remains in my mind after finishing this episode, and I hope all these can be answered in the answer Arc later. Who "exactly" is the Battler who played against the witch beatrice in her board? What is the significance of showing the "07151129" code to the four survivors by the end of episode 3? Siesta 00 have once mentioned about Siesta 556, who is she exactly (Wiki have mentioned her name, but I can't remember seeing her in the VN so far). And this might seem trivial, but what is the "ping pong" sound that Virgilia heard when she face off Krauss?
dang I wrote too much.
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