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

Umineko motion graphic vol.1

the translated version of Umineko no Naku Koro Ni motion graphic volume 1. Overall this clip summarises the whole event occured in episode 1 of the visual novel, Legend of Golden Witch. From characters introduction, tiny bit of mindgames in the form of chessboard, to the twilights carried out. I must say that the song used was really nice.

unfortunately I can't find the translated version for Volume 2 and 3, which I believe are similar to volume 1, summarizing episode 2 (Turn) and 3 (Banquet) respectively.

Episode 4: Allies of Golden Witch

Here it comes, the final question arc of Umineko no Naku Koro ni. It took me unbeliavebly more than 1 week to finish this (unlike previous episodes which took me around 4 to 5 days at most) because me and my friends had some gaming every night since 2 weeks ago, and thus I only had around 2 to 3 hours daily for Umineko. The fact that the story is a bit more complicated doesn't help it either.

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 unfolded

*may contain spoiler*

Hm...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.

Episode 3: Banquet of Golden Witch

Following the end Umineko no Naku Koro Ni episode 2: Turn of Golden Witch, comes the 3rd episode.

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni Episode 3: Banquet of Golden Witch

The evil witch. so evil, it made punching pregnant women in the stomach with baby kittens after having just committed homosexual incest with your father look like squaredancing.

*may contain spoiler*

In Episode 2, we've seen background of Shannon and Kanon, as well as relationship with their lovers were explored. In this episode, the focus switched more into Eva and her past. She always feel that she is much superior than her aniki Krauss, hence strongly desire the position of Ushiromiya head. This, among others awaken her "other self" in the form of witch. Also worth mentioning is Rosa's confession about a truth regarding "new" existence on Rokkenjima, which added more element of surprise to the story. Just like previous episodes, the murders still occurred according to the epitaph, but different targets and methods were selected.Partway through the episode, for the first time, the epitaph of the portrait was solved, which means that the gold location has been found. Which means the discoverer can be named as the new head of Rokkenjima, and additionally, inherit the title of Golden Witch. Some new characters were introduced too, and this includes Beatrice's master Virgilia, her demonic butler Ronove, the "new" Beatrice and the lovely bunny girls, the Siesta Sisters <3 style="text-align: justify;">Twisted logic has been one of the things that made Umineko interesting read. Previously in episode 2 we've been introduced with Devil's Proof to deny the impossibility of something. Episode 3 meanwhile made use of Hempel's Raven to counter the Devil's Proof's argument. To be honest sometimes I think I was indulging myself too much into these theories that they drive me nuts. Battler and Beatrice continued their battle of wit, this time with Virgila on Battler's side while Ronove on Beato's side. This is where the most interesting part of Episode 3 came from, imo. So many twist and turn happened and I especially like Battler's rage on the 2nd twilight, as well as Beato trying to find the meaning of the true witch. And just when we thought that the scene would end in a good note, the mood turned sour due to certain things. Seeing Battler and Beato combined force to fight the "third" enemies, on the game board, as well as Beato's sacrifice in the end to save Battler is kinda touching. BUUUUUUT! The party on the Golden Land totally screw all these : (

To sum this episode, I find Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 3: Banquet of Golden Witch is one of the better Episode in the VN, definitely worth more than episode 2. The only thing that really, REALLY disturb me is the very last scene of the episode, which really made me RAGE. Despite that I'm a bit relieved because this means the game won't end and will continue with the 4th Episode. DAAAAAAAMN Beato is the biggest Troll. I can't believe I actually fall for that D :

New character come to save Battler by the end of the episode, sent by Furude Rika...I mean Federika Bern.

Episode 2: Turn of Golden Witch

My first review on Umineko no Naku Koro ni was focused on my impression toward the first episode of the visual novel, Legend of Golden Witch. Since I've just finished playing all 4 Episodes of the novel, I decided to put a little bit of my thought on all 4 episodes, starting with the second episode, Turn of Golden Witch since the first one has pretty much been summed up in my previous review.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 2: Turn of Golden Witch

Beato in formal outfit. Me like ♥

*may contain spoiler*

This is the continuation of the torment from Episode 1, Legend of Golden Witch. Everything return to square one and the tragedy will be repeating as if it's a game of chess, with players being Battler and Beatrice, each trying to deny each other. The neverending 2 days of October 4th and 5th that torment the people in Rokkenjima, repeating times and times again. This episode is my least favorite among all 4 episode, because halfway through the victory become obvious and I can't help myself but pitying the loser.

This episode gives a bit more depth on Shannon's past and how she and George started their relationship, as well as how it all related to Beatrice. At a point we might think that Beatrice is a casual witch with some humanity in her heart, but the truth seems far from that. This episode also provides more background on another master-servant couple in the game, Jessica and Kanon and how their relationship come to a stale. The scene on Kanon attending Jessica's school festival is really funny :3

As the story progress, it goes without saying that it eventually reach the day of the family conference on October 4th, and the mysterious murder starts to unveil. The sequence of which victims were selected are totally different than the first Episode, and more brutal. Imagine someone's front was sliced from chest to stomach, and the organs inside were replaced with sweets. And the murder goes on, according to the epitaph of the portrait. This time, the viewpoint often switch from one party to another, and this opportunity is used to show how magic was "directly" involved in that world, despite the fact that the piece Battler (not the player) didn't have the chance to observe any of the magic. We see the battle of magic between Kanon and the goat servant, slashing their red/blue arc-like weapon. We see the "doppelganger" who sliced Gohda and Kumasawa's throat. We see Shannon's futile magical barrier. We see the loli human form of the Seven Stakes of the Purgatory sisters who were used to pierce the victims in Episode 1 (and this episode too). And finally we see the ceremony of the banquet by the end of the game.

As previously mentioned, Battler and Beatrice sit on the outside world as the player, observing each murder case and try to deny each other. In this episode, Battler utilizes his best move, the "Devil's Proof" to explain many of the incidents and try to deny the witch. While Beatrice herself has her own weapon, that is the 'Red Truth" which means everything she says in red means absolute truth. By using the Devil's Proof, Battler finally manage to make Beatrice fall, although only for the first twilight. The first victory for Battler feel really sweet when he manage to beat Beato, but after that everything fall apart for Battler due to various reasons. He lost his composure and eventually surrendered.. it's really a pitiful ending.

Seeing how Battler was severely defeated, Federika (Furude Rika lmao) Bernkastel made her appearance and vows to help Battler in the next game..while battler himself has regained his composure and swear to fight again, refusing to surrender to Beatrice's evil grip.

And who's the culprit in Episode 2 from human point of view? *classified information*

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Umineko no Naku Koro ni (うみねこのなく頃に , lit. When Seagulls Cry) is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The first game in the series, Legend of the golden witch, was first released at Comiket 72 on August 17, 2007 playable on the PC; the game sold out in thirty minutes.The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two days, and the mysterious murders that befall most of the people. The goal of the game is to discern whether the murderer is human or of some other supernatural source. Umineko is the third title in the "When They Cry" series, preceded by Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai.

Links:
Umineko no Naku Koro ni on Wikipedia
Umineko no Naku Koro ni visual novel official website (7th expansion)

.......

Just today I finished the first chapter (or first arc) of Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Legend of the Golden Witch. Not exactly played, as what you would expect from a visual novel where the gameplay was very linear (and in this case, straightforward without any branch), and involved mere mouse clicks. And to be specific, I'm only playing the demo version, together with English translation patch.
All information on how to play the game can be obtained from the translator's group website, Witch Hunter translation:
http://witch-hunt.com/

The demo itself cover the whole chapter 1 of the series, which should be enough to give players on what to expect on future chapters/arcs, should they decide to purchase the rest of the series (currently up to chapter 4 is available). And that's what I'm planning on doing, in the near future. Oh, the thriller. Nothing less to expect from the creator of Higurashi, eh :3

These are what I can comment based on the demo I played.

Visual: definitely not the best aspect of Umineko, as most of the characters art were not as appealing as one would expect. Considering the game was released in 2007, I thought they could improve the character designs a bit, but then visual wasn't really the main point of Umineko. The feeling of the game was still successfully channeled to the reader via the story (of course) and music/sound effects.

Music: One of the better elements that made me continued playing this, despite the boredness of just clicking and reading through the texts (wall of text isn't my specialty after all). Clever use of music to fit the mood of joy, horror and suspense throughout the game. Although I think there were some musics that me, the demo player couldn't experience because they are only available in the full version.

Story: The strength of most visual novel, if not all. And this is what driven me to buy the original copy of the game (that is if the torrent isn't available lol). It all happened in the space of 2 days, a series of gruesome murders occurred in the island of Rokkenjima, the gathering place of Ushiromiya family. And this is driven by puzzle created by the head family, Ushiromiya Kinzo that hold the key to the so-called treasures granted by the Golden Witch, Beatrice.

The thrill and horror did send the chill down my spine especially since most of the time I played the game past midnight. Island isolated due to typhoon with communication totally cut. Horrible way of death. Blood all over the place. Mass killing with face totally crushed that they can't even be recognised. Icepick (Seven Stakes of Purgatory) struck into the forehead, to the chest, to the stomach, to the knee and to the leg. Incinerated to the point that the victim can't even be recognised. Each victims were brutally killed in a way that no human could ever imagined.

And in response to the murders, there's the searching for the cause and mystery that clouds the truth. Throughout the game, various theory were devised especially by the main character Ushiromiya Battler, a young man who stubbornly refuse to accept the existence of magic and witch till the very end. He tried to explain the mystery behind each death, the closed room (like we usually see in many detective novels) and the possibility of the existence of the extra person which could be the real culprit. And with that, he kept on repeating the idea of turning the chessboard to look at the motive in the culprit's point of view.
Although, in the end it's all come to nothing as the cases are far from the stretch of human imagination could reach. Simply because it's hard to deny that the murders was done by magic/witch, as many things can't really be explained by logic. Eg: Natsuhi's room and the presence of Maria's talisman at the other side of the knob.

Gameplay: Simple click all the way till the end, so what we really need is the will to read through all the text, although having nice music /special effects accompanied each scenes sorta make up for the lack of gameplay. Opening the menu (right click) allow us to save/load game, as well as Tips menu which contain the hierarchy of Ushiromiya family along with their brief description. The description (and visual) change whenever something happened to the character...that is when they're dead.