Episode 5: End of Golden Witch

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru (うみねこのなく頃に散, When Seagulls Cry Dispersal) tell the second half of the story and start to delve into the core of the mystery. These games are not simply solutions to the first four arcs, but also continue the story, shifting it into new terrain. However, as the core of the series is approached, several clues to the first four arcs are revealed along the way. Each arc in this series contains all of the previous Chiru arcs.

The first of Chiru series, Episode 5: End of Golden Witch was released in the last C76 and it was not until Boxing Day that translation by the Witch Hunt was finally completed. I'll treat this as my Umineko Christmas present :) It took me roughly 3 days to finish this episode, and in short, I would say that I'm pretty satisfied with End of Golden Witch although at some point I thought the plot is fcuked up.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru: End of Golden Witch

Furudo Erika...heh see this name coming miles away. I feel disgusted for having to use the picture of this self-proclaimed intellectual rapist

*may contain spoiler*

As a result of her showdown with Battler in episode 4, Beato lost her heart and turned into a motionless living doll, unable to do anything. Lambdadelta and Bern, full of their own agenda and troll face as seen in previus episode took over Beato's position as the Game Master and started their own 5th game. This put Battler is at a crossroad because as promised last time, he need to end Beato's suffering but at the same time he also need to return to Ange. He can only return by winning this game, and by prolonging the game, he would only more cause pain to Beato as her status as witch would be denied gradually. Sweet but touching scene of Battler trying to comfort the motionless Beato, giving her a hand to sip tea, questioning times and times again over beato's real motives of dragging him into her game...

Lambdadelta and Bern's interception to this game explains why there are many irregularities in episode 5 compared to the Question Arcs:

• The rule of character limit on Rokkenjima as claimed by Beatrice (that is, no more 17 people can exist on the island at the start of the game) is bypassed with the introduction of new character Furudo Erika (what an obvious name), claimed to be Bern's new piece for this game.
• The murders were not carried out fully according to the twilight of the epitaph, and only the first and partially second twilight are carried out. Or it might be best not to call it followed the twilight, because only 5 corpse was discovered while 1 was missing, and only one death occured in second twilight.
• The involvement of something from outside the game board "directly" with the game, as shown with the mysterious phone call to Natsuhi. But I interpret this as part of Braun's tube because nobody knows about the call apart from Natsuhi and a servant who was killed later.
• The golden witch epitaph was revisited again, and was solved before the first twilight even begin. Guess who's the victor? Much of hints was given for reader to solve the puzzles, like the description of the epitaph as a form of wordplay/anagram. Almost impossible to solve for someone with no japanese kanji knowledge like me I guess.
  

Outside the game board, it was all about Bern and Lambdadelta enjoying Beato's hijacked game for their lulz while Battler watched from afar, staying by Beato's side. On the game board, it was a one-on-two situation where piece Beato and her underlings need to fight Lambdadelta and Bern's force, consisting of piece Erika, piece Dlanor&her assistants Gertrude/Cornelia (all 3 are new characters) and piece Siesta Sisters. Basically from my understanding, the 3 worlds in episode 5 are similar to the previous arcs - the Purgatorio where (former) player Beato, Battler, Virgilia, Bern and Lambdadelta reside and play their game; a real time rokkenjima where human lives and murders take place; and a mystical setting of Rokkenjima where piece Kinzo, piece healthy Beato and other magical element exist.

There are slight and interesting alterations to this world however, where mystic and reality Rokkenjima do not mixed directly but what's happening on reality is described into mystic world. That is, whatever argument was thrown in real world turned into something magical in the mystic world. One example is Eva's receipt paper slip at the door which become the magic that try to disprove Kinzo's existence in reality world, and hence destroy piece Kinzo/Beato's existence in the magic world. Should Erika manage to prove that Kinzo never existed in the room in the first place, with those paper seal, the Kinzo in magic world will be destroyed and in the real world, Natsuhi would not be able to hide Kinzo's death anymore.

This episode is probably the game where you would want to side with the witches rather than the human side, merely because of that whore Furudo Erika, who definitely give me a false impression. At first I thought she was kinda cute and weird girl who claimed herself to be interested only in solving riddles, but as the story progress, she became a totally annoying bitch who cares only about her role as "assigned detectives" and finding the culprit based on sheer observation without considering any alternatives or whether the her claim is true or false. Her losing and embarrassed face when Battler proves the flaw in her theory is really priceless, she was so desperate to win and trying hard to impress her master Bern.

Knox's rule was used extensively in Episode 5 to prevent the interference of element of uncertainty in the mysteries. And rightly so, because we as the reader would be aggravated should we, for example, found that the culprit is actually a new character which only appear late in the game (Knox's rule #1), or if Erika is the culprit (Knox rule #7). In a sense, this was such a cruel game where Beato+Battler have to face many, and i mean many enemies at once. Bern. Lambda. Erika. Dlanor. Siesta Sisters. All at once, and at the same time unable to use red to prove their argument due to Knox's rule. Poor natsuhi for being accused have no way to fight back. As usual, extensive red and blue truth was repeatedly used to deny each others claim, and best one thus far is Battler's bravery of denying Erika's theory in Kinzo's room, although those are just farce by Lambdadelta and Bern to play their script, because player Battler has yet to join the game at that point of time. Nevertheless it's still a wonderful scenery, making Battler looked like some kind of knight coming to save Beato.

Maybe it's just me, but looking back at the murder case, I found a flaw in which the murder was presented, or especially on how the death timeframe is justified. 5 persons were murdered in the guesthouse, all which could only happens from 12.00 to 1.00am as "claimed" by Erika, and later confirmed by Red. But one of the victim (name shall not be revealed here) returned to the guesthouse at 1AM from the mansion! See the flaw here?

Overall the main story of Umineko no Naku Koro ni: End of Golden Witch is nothing short of pain and despair for me because of Lambdadelta and Bern's ruthlessness in forcing a false truth to Natsuhi, with the help of Erika. Seeing how one sided the Trial went, I can't help but getting rage over the main story. The Tea party is screwed up too and just as I'm about to fall into despair, the Extra saves the day. And probably the reason what made episode 5 worth even more than Episode 4's Tea Party. Battler finally learned what "truth" really is, and with the help of Beato, he inherits her power and become the new "Endless Witch". That's not all. With this, he was also granted the power of "Gold Truth" with a golden sword, an absolute power that far superior than Erika, Dlanor, Bern or whoever's Red Truth. With his new power, he took over Beato's position as the game master, protecting Beato's illusion from being tainted by Erika's delusional and arrogant truth and use his authority to present a new truth that enable Natsuhi escape from being suspected as culprit. From Erika's truth, she has all the evidence she need to accuse Natsuhi as culprit, while in Battler's truth, he can present equally creditable evidence that prove natsuhi's innocence (and make a certain someone as the real culprit). A truly spectacular Extras show, umineko never failed to surprise me. One thing for sure, Beato x Battler is closer than ever <3

As the game ends, we now know what's awaiting us in future episodes. Battler took over as the Game master, and future episode will be the fight between him and Erika to prove who is the real culprit in Rokkenjima's murder case. So I guess this means we won't see any case which one would claim it was done by the witches or magic, but rather who's the actual culprit. Erika with her own truth and interpretation, while Battler with his. In the end of the day, no absolute truth can be proven in Braun's tube. More questions remained as this episode folded, like Battler's real identity and the correlation with Natsuhi's case 19 years ago, as well as Beato's claim about 6 years ago and something that Rudolf never manage to tell Battler. Definitely looking forward to Episode 6: Dawn of Golden Witch!

Thank you...
liar...
goodbye
and...
...I'm sorry