Umineko Episode 6: Dawn of the Golden Witch

Last year someone left me a message asking about Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru Episode 6 review, which at that time I’ve read halfway through. Then last December the English translation patch for episode 7 was released by the Witch Hunt Translation Project. Unfortunately at that time my PC, along with most of my Umineko materials were still in the process of being shipped from Australia, so it is not until early this month, when my package arrived that I was finally able to continue my reading. So I started reading episode 7, only to find something seems missing. After I recheck my notes for Episode 6, I realize that I actually haven’t finished reading episode 6. Probably I stopped halfway through due to my Honours assignment. No wonder I can’t even find my review entry for episode 6 -_-

Anyway, I decided to re-read episode 6 (refreshing memories since I already forgot most of the stuff from this episode) and for the sake of completion, do the review for that episode first, before continuing with episode 7's. Recent mystery anime (Yakumo and Gosick), plus lots of Kindaichi manga I read since coming back kinda revived my interest toward this genre, and that made me want to continue Umineko even more. After finally finishing episode 6, my thoughts on the episode: nice conclusion, but not quite satisfactory.

Battler, the new Game Master

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru Episode 6: Dawn of the Golden Witch is the continuation of what happened in episode 5, which saw Battler inherited Beato's board as the Game Master after learning about the "truth", the sin committed by Battler that was often mentioned back in episode 4 which become the catalyst of the mass murder in Rokkenjima. This episode saw the addition of a few new characters which play pivotal role in this episode:

• A Hanyuu-wannabe who had 2 persona: a mystery novel writer, Hachijou Toya (aka Hachijo Ikuko) who claims to know the "truth" of Rokkenjima and wrote/forged many previous variant of Umineko tales; and her other persona in the magic world, the Witch of Theatergoing, Featherine Augustus Aurora, who observe each previous Fragments of Rokkenjima tales through Battler's eyes. It is the meeting of Hachijou Touya with Ange early in this episode that triggers the start of Episode 6, from the world of 1998's view.
• The Demon of Love, Zepar and Furfur (one of them is trap btw), playing crucial role in many scenes throughout this episode, from mediating the love of the couples, to the marriage at the Purgatorio Cathedral. The strangeness of this pair reminds me to Bonbori and Hozuki of Otome Youkai Zakuro...
• Moetrice, aka new Beato. Well, not really a new character, but she is essentially a revived Beato with the same exact physical features as the dead Beato, but with totally different personality - pure, innocent, moe Beato who is unable to use magic and claims to exist for the sake of Battler. She was the result of Battler's attempt to revive Beato who died at the end of episode 4. Although it was impossible for the old Beato to be revived, this new Beato can still be molded to become the old 1000 years old Beato (with the screwed up personality and evil grin). Moetrice met with the old Beato, one that simply play the role of the "witch of Rokkenjima night" which has no recollection of the Beato (game master) that died in episode 4, and throughout the episode, both tried to understand each other in order to become the ultimate Endless Witch that Beato once was, with the new Beato also learning much of her past thanks to the older Fragments lent by Featherine, in addition to her constant support to Battler who still battles Erika on the game board.

As mentioned, Ange’s meeting with Hachijou in 1998 tells much about the reality of many previous Umineko Fragments, when Hachijo admitted of forging all those tales, claiming they were the “truth”. She then asked Ange to read her new manuscript, which is essentially this episode itself where Battler play the role as the Game Master, battling against Erika who had sworn to avenge the humiliation she suffered in episode 5. As Ange read through the new tales, she gave her thoughts and interpretation about what’s been happening.

Erika continued her ever presence as one hell of an irritating, obnoxious bitch. As soon as the piece Erika arrived as an uninvited guest at Rokkenjima, she showed her arrogance and detestable attitude as an “intellectual rapist”, looking down on everyone’s intelligence while boasting about her knowledge. Not only that, she even involved in petty argument about the existence of magic against Maria, mercilessly crushing Maria’s child hope with her blue and red truths. It gets worse as the game started. Despite the previous defeat, Erika decided put herself in handicap situation by relinquishing her authority to use Detective Proclamation, the advantage that gave Battler so much trouble in Episode 5 (eg the duct tape seals that gave her power to create closed room and prove one's alibi). However that was one of her trickery to lure Battler into inescapable trap. A very sly and shameless acting by Erika and Bern then managed to fool Battler to give her 3 duct seals tape, which proves to be a fatal mistake by Battler as Erika fully utilized them to trap Battler into his own destruction.

Love seems to be the main theme of this episode, focusing on the love of the couples we've known (Jessica-Kanon and George-Shannon), as well as Beato-Battler, and the forger of this tale, Hachijou Touya (aka Featherine) cleverly incorporate this element with the first twilight of the game. Some of the love story early in the game were actually quite boring for me, although it holds much significance to the progress of the game. Kanon finally realize that he really want to be with Jessica and don’t want to lose to Shannon and George. There's a trick to their love however - since they are furniture, they're half complete as a human and needed the miracle of magic to succeed in their love. And for that, they need to golden butterfly brooch given by Beato to Shannon in episode 2. Since there’s only 1 of that Brooch, the pairs need to compete for it, at the expense of the other pair's love. That's when the new Beato somehow got dragged into the game, which eventually also drags Battler (the game master) into the game, as her partner. The pairs need to overcome trials given by the demon of love Furfur and Zepar. For the first trial, they just need to show their resolution to kill one person in the island. They all succeeded (some with nice fights, some with little effort needed), and coincidentally, these become the first twilight of Battler's game, with all victims were then placed in a comfortable "closed room". It kinda surprised me to see Battler picked his own piece as his sacrifice (since in all previous game, the piece Battler was never be the victim), but as the game went on, it was clear why.

Since all 3 couples passed their first trial, further trial need to be done to eliminate other couple, hence a direct duel between couples were held for the second trial. But it was not meant to be, because as the piece/player Erika started to investigate and reasons for the first twilight, player Battler was caught with Erika’s dirty tactic and hence unavailable to take part in the second duel. Battler’s trick for the first twilight was actually quite simple that it somehow disappoints me because it was far from unsolvable compared to the mass closed room trick that Beato showed in the first four games. Anyway, at first it was all fine for Battler, but his decision to grant 3 rooms worth of duct tape seals to Erika really cost him dearly, as Erika immediately use 2 of the seals to prevent the surviving people to commit further crime, while also using the remaining 1 on the room she suspect the culprit’s “corpse” was hidden. To make things short, various red truth that Battler and Erika use eventually came to haunt him and create a Logic Error – a situation when the statement of red truth conflict with each other which made the closed room unsolvable by human trick. By default, the rule of the game stated that for each of the mystery in the game which the witch side claims were the work of magic, the creator (aka the Game Master) must also design it so that it was also possible to be done by human trick no matter how ridiculous it was (small bomb anyone). Battler however was unable to solve that certain closed room thanks to Erika’s twisting word and trickery. Hence, Battler was trapped inside the room until he can find a trick which can solve the riddle…And with that, just like the 5th episode, the game board wa suspended midway through.

And just when all hope seems lost, the new Beato managed to regain most of her memories thanks to Kanon who earlier lost in his duel against Shannon in the second trial, and come charging to the Cathedral where the subdued Battler and Erika were, enduring various attempted attacks from the Siestas before challenging for one last time. Her goal is simple – solving Battler’s closed room riddle and frees him from the hell that is the Logic Error. She come up with new tricks, with even more ridiculous red truth that a normal human probably can’t hope to solve, which left Erika totally defeated, ending the neverending fight of the game board.

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So many twists and turns in this episode (well every episode did, I guess), and as usual, the game managed to stir my emotion in man occasion. The disgusted hate toward Erika, the sadness for Beato who try to search for herself, the pity toward Battler who lost in his Logic Error, and of course, the marriage at the Cathedral (contrast feeling for Erika and Beato's marriage). And again, once the red and blue exchange begin in the middle of the game, it’s hard for me to stop reading that I ended up reading for many hours straight, just because I don’t want the tense to wear down and had to build it again when I continue re-read it again lol.

Usually we saw the fights to solve the closed room and other murder cases done in the Tea Party or the Extra, but it surprised me that everything was finished in the same core episode. As for Battler’s game, I think he sucks in designing this game (or we could just blame Hachijou Touya for that), because as I stated earlier, his closed room trick was fairly easy to solve even for the average reader. Maybe it was partly because he designed it as a mere prank, only for Erika to spoil it with her own murder. But we got to feel for Battler. He always fought in disadvantage position in every game. I mean, he didn’t get the sheer help Erika receive from Dlanor when he fought Beato in the first 4 games. He didn’t even get to use blue truth until later in the Question’s Arc and had to rely on her own twisted logic to solve the closed room trick, which considering Beato was the designer, were almost impossible to solve.

The new Beato certainly caught me by surprise, and eventually, she really made me smile. I just can’t stop having a big smile on my face when she popped up at the Cathedral, with the overwhelming presence and oh-so-screwed up smile on her face and march right through the hurdles. How she regained her memories, I had no idea, but that scene when Ronove, Gaap, Virgilia and the 7 Stakes of Purgatory made way for her was really animation worthy. And the amazing thing is, despite her merciless and evil expression when she made her appearance, she was still able to show back her regular face when she spoke to Battler. Probably the best scene of this whole episode, too bad there’s really not many more interesting scenes. Jessica and George’s battle against their victims was splendidly done too, but still can’t match the great scene at the Cathedral.

There are quite a few things unanswered in my head as I finished the episode. The riddle part, like Beato’s solution to Battler’s Logic Error is already cumulated since even the first episode, but there are also other things. Like how the old Beato regained her old knowledge as closed room master after gaining the traits of the new Beato (who supposedly vanish due to her lost in the trial). Also, I don’t quite understand is the importance of the only gold text used in this episode by the old Beato: "You used magic to create a golden flower petal inside an overturned cup. It was a splendid bit of magic". Was it to deny the blue/red that it was a mere trick/sleight of hand? And Erika’s sudden Yuri conversation with Dlanor in her guest room, what the f%^# was that?

Anyway, since everything’s settled in the main core episode, so what did the Tea Party and the Extra left us? Not much, but it was a significant one. There’s the rreal marriage ceremony of Battler and Beato, which marked the end of their game board and in accordance to the epitaph, satisfied Beato and put to her sleep… I’m not sure if I’d be happy with this. Anyway, now that the tale has ended, Ange gave her final thought and excuse herself, whilst also wondering if she actually ever met Hachijou (since in episode 4, they went straight to Niijima before going to Rokkenjima). The Extra was a bit more meaningful; because we learnt that Featherine is actually Bern’s old master, and now that the game of Battler and Beato has ended, Featherine handed the game board to Bern as the new Game Master, all for her to satisfy her grudge toward Battler. This reeeeeaaally smells fishy.

Overall, it was a definitely a great episode to read, and most importantly, it ends in a good note for Battler and Beato. As the second episode of the Answer Arc, we expect to get something out of this episode that can answer the mysteries in the Question Arc. In episode 5, the key event revealed to us is the incident of 19 years ago related to Natsuhi and the newly born baby. But I'm not really sure what I've learnt from this episode, aside of the phrase "Without love, it cannot be seen".

As a whole, IMO this episode was less epic than episode 5 due to the lack (or the one-sidedness) of arguments involved to solve the case, which really is just a single closed room (2 if you include the rooms in the guesthouse), all for the first twilight; and no living/visible culprit to blame or defend (like Natsuhi in episode 5). The new Beato did made the episode more interesting (for me at least), but that probably wasn’t enough to cover the weaknesses I mentioned. Well, the end was worth it so it’s all good in the end. Oh and the ending theme “Birth of a New Witch” was awesome.

Episode 7 is going to be awesome, with some really intriguing changes and surprise, and provides more sensible answers to the mystery in the first four episodes.


p/s damn this is one big tl;dr. I want to make it shorter, but I feel many things won’t make sense if there’s no summary of the episode -___-