And finally the penultimate episode of Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru: Requiem of the Golden Witch – a tale of Beato’s funeral. As in other Chiru arc, the aim of this episode is to provide the much needed answers to the many mysteries presented to the readers throughout Beato’s game in the first four game. From the last episode, we saw the conclusion of Battler and Beato’s fairy tale with a fitting ceremony between the two, which allows Beato to have an eternal, peaceful rest. In episode 6 and 7, we learnt 2 important points that could answers the many questions posed in Beato's game: the incident involving Natsuhi and a certain “baby” occurred 19 years ago, as well as the key phrase “without love, it cannot be seen”. These keys were thoroughly elaborated in Requiem of the Golden Witch, which eventually answers one, no, probably two main aspects of a mystery genre: “who dunnit” and “why dunnit”. The third aspect, “how dunnit” was partly answered in the Tea Party, but it was only one of the many possibilities existed in a cat box theory.
To be honest, it was hard for me to write this review because there are so many informations in episode 7, and arranging them in the most possible manner was quite challenging, especially since I was planning to make this review shorter than episode 6 (but in the end failed).
As a start, there’s probably a need to clarify the 3 forms of Beatrice in the story: The first Beatrice, whom Kinzo met in his young day, the one that grant him the wealth of 10 tons of gold. The second Beato, which is the Kuwadorian Beato, whom Rosa claim to meet almost 20 years ago and accidentally fell off the cliff. She was the child of Kinzo and the first Beato, whom Kinzo belief is the reincarnation of the first Beatrice as she died right after giving birth to the second Beatrice. And finally the third Beato, which is the witch of Rokkenjima night and the legend of the Island.
Episode summary (spoilers and tl;dr ahead)
To be honest, it was hard for me to write this review because there are so many informations in episode 7, and arranging them in the most possible manner was quite challenging, especially since I was planning to make this review shorter than episode 6 (but in the end failed).
Will and Lion, the main protagonist for Requiem
As a start, there’s probably a need to clarify the 3 forms of Beatrice in the story: The first Beatrice, whom Kinzo met in his young day, the one that grant him the wealth of 10 tons of gold. The second Beato, which is the Kuwadorian Beato, whom Rosa claim to meet almost 20 years ago and accidentally fell off the cliff. She was the child of Kinzo and the first Beato, whom Kinzo belief is the reincarnation of the first Beatrice as she died right after giving birth to the second Beatrice. And finally the third Beato, which is the witch of Rokkenjima night and the legend of the Island.
Episode summary (spoilers and tl;dr ahead)
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Man, this whole thing feels like Battler is the bad guy for making a girl cry. But its kinda funny that a misunderstanding between Battler and Shannon triggered all these massacre. Now the phrase that was so popular in episode 6: “Without Love, It cannot be Seen” made a lot of sense
Nevertheless, this game really give me a lot of surprise, but mostly in a good way. So many irregularities and inconsistencies right from the start. New character Will aka Wright. Beato’s funeral. Ushiromiya Lion. The Future Head, with Lion chosen instead of Krauss. The Silver Ring of the Head. Shannon stuttering, looking unfamiliar with Lion. Kinzo’s presence at the funeral when he’s supposed to be dead at that time (1986). Piece Battler not attending. Epitaph of the gold and legend of the night witch not existing. Lion’s existence was looked to be forced upon by Bern that it create many irregularities, even to the point of causing confusion to the dining table seat arrangement. But her existence also explains a lot of the mysteries in Umineko, since she was the other side of the coin (dice?) that represent Beatrice, Yasu, and of course, Clair herself.
A lot of answers were explained in logical manner, with little interference from magical perspective. The source of Kinzo's gold, the answer to the epitaph, the three versions of Beatrice, and most importantly, the "promise" that become the motive of the crimes on 1986. This episode looked better than ep6 because we’re served with something new and fresh. Free from the game board duel of reasoning. No more pointless word games (unless if you count the epitaph solving part). Will and Lion’s presence really made this episode interesting. Will was pretty incredible himself. He claim to simply skimming the notes of previous episodes given by Bern, but he still know much detail about them. He was also a rather tactless and unmannered man, but that kinda made it funny to see whenever Lion try to correct his manner (and Jessica's) of speaking to the relatives by pinching his butt.
Aaaaaand, another theme of this episode is…..WINCEST. I kinda suspected it at first, but wow Lion’s history definitely left me with a big gap on my mouth. Not often you find a novel, a game or a story that deal with this kind of incest. Kinzo got Beatrice pregnant with Kuwadorian Beatrice, then due to his burning passion and obsession, he got that Kuwadorian Beatrice pregnant with Lion. And hence, Lion is both Kinzo’s child and Beartice’s Grandchild. Would be “interesting” if there’s a fragment where Lion is accepted and Kinzo commits the same sin again. Nevertheless, Kinzo's past story about how he met Beatrice Castiglioni (nicknamed Bice lawl) was a really interesting one, perhaps one of my favorite moment in this episode. Those scene remind me to the current Battler-Beato (especially since the young Kinzo really resembles Battler). At least we know how deep Kinzo's love for Beatrice and why he looked like a madman trying to revive her. “I wont let you die. Take some responsibility. After all, you’re the one kidnapping me”. Damn nice line XD
The part in Clair's story when it was reveled that Battler made some promise with Shannon really surprise me. I mean, the person Shannon talked to was never shown, and it totally made me think that she was talking with George (without considering the person's interest in mystery novel). I decided to go along the story anyway, then its explained why. That's one of the biggest psychological mindplay that I’ve been tricked into. It feel weird to see magical element stil fused with Shannon and Yasu life story, because if Shannon was the one that made the promise with Battler, then it also partially made her the main culprit. But in this story we're shown that magic still involved when Shannon transferred her love to Yasu, implying that Yasu, the child of Kinzo and Kuwadorian Beatrice was totally responsible for the crime. Poor for her though, since the one she wanted to understand (Battler) didn’t, while the person she didn’t know (Will) did understand.
The Epitaph of the gold was revisited again. In episode 3 and 5, we’ve learnt quite a lot of hint when Eva and Erika discussed about the word play involved in the creation of the epitaph, and it was indeed a beautifully crafted riddles. This time, it was the Beato originated from Yasu, aka Lion’s alternate self were able to solve the riddle, with Will playing the role of explaining the intricate details of the solution to the riddles, from the way they start searching the Taiwan map, to the key word of Danshui Line, Qilian and Quadrillion. Indeed, a very complicated riddles.
Will’s answers to Clair's riddle of the murder in the Beato's game were rather confusing (all with Illusions to Illusions and Earth to Earth). But then, it doesn’t mater what method the culprit use to kill, because in the end, almost everyone died and that’s what matter. It’s like a cat in the box. Regardless of the red truth etc, nobody from outside know in what situation the victims were found etc, only those survived, and then died knew. When we open the box, we get a tale where no one except Eva survives. And since Eva died without saying anything, all the truth is shut inside the cat box, leaving anything possible with endless possibilities. Hence that’s why the motive or the “why dunnit” was heavily focused throughout this episode.
Will’s had show that Beato's fantasy is a mystery. In a way it was good that it’s sensible, but also, not that good because we still wish to know the method of murder, the tricks etc, even if they all are mere fakes. And all in all, the core episode of Requiem of the Golden Witch ended with a good note. That was the case, until the Tea Party. It was a damn long Tea Party, which is still part of Bern's tale, although she was no longer the Game Master. And it tells how the murder in the Island could be conducted from human point of view, with Rudolf and Kyrie becoming the main culprit. With Lion and Ange spectating the show, it become a painful experience for both, especialy Ange who was forced to see her parent committing murders and even seeing Kyrie admitting she didn't even love Ange. Of course, this is one of the endless possibilities inside the cat box. But after reading through the Tea Party, I don’t even know what’s right and wrong and it got me confused =_=
The episode was ended with the final segment of the Extra, which showed Battler visiting the lamenting Ange who didn't attend the family conference in 1986, and consequently lost her entire family. Battler finally promised to tell the truth of Rokkenjima on that day of 1986, and promised that it's not to be a sad or painful story. The final game, made just for Ange, awaits us in the Twilight of the Golden Witch, answering much of the "how dunnit" aspects of mysteries of Rokkenjima murders.
Great episode overall.
Tales of Grace F
Warrior Orochi 3
FFXIII-2
Since Will had read through all previous fragment, he found so many peculiarities in this world. Aside from the fact that Kinzo is still alive, he also was introduced with a new unfamiliar character as his assistant throughout this game– Ushiromiya Lion, which in this tale is the adopted child of Natsuhi and Krauss, and the true successor of the Ushiromiya family selected personally by Kinzo. It's not even told what's the gender of Lion as Lion's appearance was rather androgenic, but later it was evident that Lion is a female. Will also noticed that some of the servants (eg Shannon) seems unfamiliar with Lion, which means he is not alone who find Lion's existence strange. Additionally, Battler didn't come to that year's family conference, while the portrait of Beatrice which was hanged at the main entrance was not accompanied by the epitaph of the gold. Lion also had no recollection of the witch's legend, or the epitaph.
Anyway, Bern already set up barriers around the area, so unless Will and Lion solved the mystery asked by Bern, they will forever be trapped in that area. Will was granted with “Theatergoing Authority” – a power that allows him to interact with the person he touched in another world. Will’s started to investigate by asking various questions from almost every family members of the Ushiromiya family, which unfortunately provided him with the information that he already know (eg Rosa’s meeting with the Kuwadorian Beatrice, and Maria’s obsession with cult and magic). His meetings with Kinzo however resulted in some of the most important backstory of Umineko – about the Kinzo’s past, his meeting with the first Beato (named Beatrice Castiglioni). Briefly, in 1944 Kinzo met Beatrice when the Italian Army submarine that she board made an emergency stop at Rokkenjima, which at that time was a military base. It was during those times that the two of them started to become affectionate toward each other. It was then revealed that the sub also carry the 10 tons of gold which belongs to the Italian army. Consumed by greed, both the Japanese and Italian officials on that island started killing each other, eventually leaving the only people who's not affected by the gold, Kinzo and Beatrice alive. Beato and Kinzo, In the end, the gold belong to Kinzo who survived the incident, who then build his fortune and brought the entire island, building 2 separate mansion for his family and Beato.
Now that Will had finished asking everyone, he’s ready to solve all the mystery of the death of Beatrice. This Beatrice actually refer to the 3rd Beato – the witch Beato of 1986, and not the Italian Beato, or the Kuwadorian Beato. Will explained that there are 2 culprit involved in the death of Beato – the human who can create and kill Beato (the living cat in the box), and the human who can kill the entire concept of Beato (the dead cat in the box). And to her surprise, the dead cat is Lion herself. Will deduce that Lion is the alternate persona of Beatrice, because way she didn't even know about the legend of the witch. Basically, Lion is the same exact child that fell over the cliff on the incident 19 years ago, caused by Natsuhi's rejection toward the baby. In this extraordinarily rare fragment, somehow Natsuhi accepted the baby and the baby went on to live to be the present Ushiromiya Lion. It was also mentioned that Lion is actually the child of Kinzo and the Kuwadorian Beatrice, which can only mean one thing - due to her sheer resemblance toward her mother Beatrice Costiglioni, Kinzo committed the forbidden sin of impregnating his own daughter - the Kuwadorian Beatrice, and resulted in the baby that is Ushiromiya Lion. That explains the strong affection that Kinzo had toward Lion. And hence, Lion's existence virtually wipe the necessity of having the legend of the witch Beatrice, because Kinzo already had something important to him, which is Lion. Nevertheless, Kinzo deeply regretted his mistake and vow to atone for his sin by making Lion a proper Ushiromiya Head, or in other fragment, apologize with all his heart to the revived Beatrice before having his last breath.
With the mystery behind Lion's existence unraveled, it's time for Will to expose all the secret and truth behind the mysterious murder of Rokkenjima on 1986. For that, he asked the "culprit" to come forward and reveal the motives - the "why dunnit" aspect of the mystery. The motive, the reason why the culprit had to commit a game-like crime on Oct 5th 1986, putting even her own fate on the line. Another new character was introduced to personify the culprit - Clair vauxof Bernard. Clair then told a tale of her life which reveals the events from her early days to the moment when she solved the epitaph of the gold and become a true witch, which eventually leads to the motive of the mass murders. Her tale was told in 9 chapters in total.
Her tale began when she was chosen to become a servant at the Ushiromiya house at the very young age of 6 – although in actual she was 9 years old. The servant, known as Yasu, was the exact same baby that fell off the cliff 19 years ago. Somehow she miraculously survived albeit with grave injuries. Genji, fearing the worst possible future if Kinzo would commit the same sin again, decided to lie about the baby being dead. This whole tale of course would not happen if the baby did not fell off the cliff. Due to her young age, she still was lacking the necessary skills to do the regular work, so she often only helped other servant, while also completing her school. The fact that she became a servant at such a young age made other regular servants feeling uncomfortable, and for that reason, she was often scolded for her clumsiness and the way she often forgot to put her things. Until one day when she met and made a friend with a witch who often hides things she lost, named Beatrice (though in fact, she was Gaap in the appearance). Since the witch often pranks her, Yasu asked Kumasawa for an advice to avoid losing things. The charm she learnt from Kumasawa (string attachment and “omochikaeri” charm) drastically changed her as the witch often unable to hide her stuff anymore. At the same time, Yasu also developed interest for mystery novels.
Some years later, an incident totally changed her life. One day, she was introduced with the wonder of magic by Gaap, which totally charmed her and made her changed her way of life. That night, she told her roommate, Shannon (who is her ideal servant and was very close to her) that she want to quit as a servant and become a witch. And in that instant, she become a witch, erasing her memory from Shannon. And from that onward, Yasu become Beatrice, while the old Beatrice become Gaap. Beatrice feel content with what she had as a witch so far, but she still lacked something, as thought by Shannon – love.
It was somewhere in 1980, 6 years untill the Rokkenjima murders. The scene then switched, showing Shannon having a chat with “someone”, talking about mystery novel. It was a teenager’s chat, but eventually ended as what Shannon thought was a love confession, along with a certain promise made by that “someone”, saying that he will return with a white horse to take Shannon away on the next year. It was this incident that triggers the great misfortune on 1986. And that "someone" is none other than….Battler.
That year too, Battler’s “mother” Asumu died, and Battler got very upset that Rudolf immediately remarried to Kyrie, as if disrespecting his deceased mother. For that, Battler decided to forsake the Ushiromiya family and live with his grandparent of her mother side. Due to this incident, Battler did not attend the family conference for the next 6 years, completely forgotten about the promise he made with Shannon. One year after another, Shannon kept on waiting for Battler to the point that she suffers dearly from her love sickness. Added to her pain, Beatrice aka Yasu kept on saying that Battler would come back to Rokkenjima someday, giving a false hope to Shannon. Until 3 years later, on 1983, when Battler wrote each of the cousin letters, but completely forgotten to write one for Shannon. Her final strand of hope finally crushed when in one of the letter, Battler said he didn’t plan to return to Rokkenjima…For all these years, Shannon has been a living dreamer, creating illusion that is the promise made with Battler that she misunderstood as a confession.
Hence, Battler’s sin is not that he forgot the promise he made, it’s just that he simply didn’t remember making that promise. She’s unable to hate Battler, since he didn’t even break his promise, and this really hurt her feeling, because as long as she love Battler, her pain will always continue. Beato who feel guilty for giving Shannon false hope, decided to release Shannon from her pain, and hold Shannon’s bud of love to herself so that she can learn one aspect she lacks – love. And for that, she will also be the maiden in love with Battler and wait for his return to Rokkenjima in place of Shannon…
A year later, another miracle occurred as Beatrice somehow managed to solve the difficult riddle of the epitaph of the gold. It all started when Kinzo ordered the portrait of Beatrice to be hanged at the main entrance, along with the epitaph. Beato decided to try solving the riddle. It was indeed a very difficult riddle, which took her days to find clue and answers. That eventually led her to the Golden Land – the underground VIP room unlocked after she solve the riddles, along with the 10 tons of gold inside the room. Genji then came to congratulate her, saying how miraculous was it that the one who solved the puzzle is none other than Beatrice – Kinzo’s descendant herself. That brought her to Kinzo study, where Kinzo announced that she would become the new Head, and then deeply apologized to her for his past mistake (incest), and ask for her forgiveness. With that, Kinzo has no more regret in life, and passed away soon after. Nevertheless, Beato didn’t want to be the new Head as she already got what she want – learning about who she is. For that reason, she wish to remain her usual self, while Krauss becoming the new head. After all, her heart still was missing a piece – the return of Battler…
As a last resort, Beatrice finally decided to abandon everything and leave everyting to the choice of the roulette of fate, and the roulette chose the specific date – those days in 1986 as the day where absolutely no one could escape if the epitaph was not solved again. And with that, Clair/Yasu/Beatrice’s confession is over. Before she gave her final farewell, she want to entrust her final moment to Will – so that he could solve all the mystery behind the crimes in her games, as the last rite of her burial. And with that, Beatrice/Clair/Yasu’s tale had finally ended, all her riddles had ben “solved”, leaving her with no regret. Inside her coffin, there was the game tale written by Battler, which was probably the happiest possible tale for Beato – full with love and happy tale, most fitting tale to put in her coffin.
The funeral is over, and Bern released the barrier. With that, the core story of Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru: Requiem of the Golden Witch ended, and the funeral at the chapel Is adjourned…