When They Cry/...no Naku Koro ni - Ryukishi07 Appreciation Station

[blkmage]

The only When They Cry series that is licensed and available in North America is the first season of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, which is the first half of the Higurashi story. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, the second season, is the second half of the Higurashi story and finishes it off. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei is a five-episode OVA containing a bunch of sidestories. Umineko no Naku Koro ni is considered When They Cry 3 and is a completely new story with no relation to Higurashi and is currently airing in Japan. Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru is the second part of Umineko and currently is not an anime yet, nor is the story finished yet.

[Bobtheduck]

Did the fansub team for Umineko go on vacation? Can't find it anywhere. I was lucky to find it raw, but... My Japanese isn't that good, unfortunately.

[blkmage]

They released it a day late, apparently because they're having too much fun in Aion.

[Bobtheduck]

SO is there any significance to Beatrice's two different sized eyes when she plays with Kinzo? I thought that was strange.

I have a theory about the witches...

[spoiler]Since that one "beatrice" with the blue hair was there before, and the "beatrice" that died said she wasn't a witch but human, I think they're sort of like the sorceress from FF8... It's just an entity that passes from person to person... [/spoiler]

[Yamamaya]

[SPOILER]It seems a bit odd that that old lady only revealed now that she is a retired witch. In the past two arcs she died without putting up much of a fight. All in all this was a good episode. It was interesting to see a more innocent almost childish Beatrice. Which is just another reason why she's so awesome. [/SPOILER]

[blkmage]

SO is there any significance to Beatrice's two different sized eyes when she plays with Kinzo? I thought that was strange.

I have a theory about the witches...

[spoiler]Since that one "beatrice" with the blue hair was there before, and the "beatrice" that died said she wasn't a witch but human, I think they're sort of like the sorceress from FF8... It's just an entity that passes from person to person... [/spoiler]

Her eyes are just Deen being Deen.
[spoiler]If that were the case, why is it that both current Beatrice and old-Beatrice can both use magic? Old-Beatrice's magic clearly isn't trivial, since she's deemed enough of a threat that current Beatrice tells the Stakes (who just finished trying to off Kanon and Shannon) to back off.[/spoiler]

[SPOILER]It seems a bit odd that that old lady only revealed now that she is a retired witch. In the past two arcs she died without putting up much of a fight. All in all this was a good episode. It was interesting to see a more innocent almost childish Beatrice. Which is just another reason why she's so awesome. [/SPOILER]

[spoiler]The same could be said for Kanon and Shannon. They didn't really do anything in EP1, but in EP2, they were suddenly flipping out and being cool.[/spoiler]

[Bobtheduck]

Her eyes are just Deen being Deen.
[spoiler]If that were the case, why is it that both current Beatrice and old-Beatrice can both use magic? Old-Beatrice's magic clearly isn't trivial, since she's deemed enough of a threat that current Beatrice tells the Stakes (who just finished trying to off Kanon and Shannon) to back off.[/spoiler]

Actually, I should have said I posted that before I'd finished the episode. I didn't know at the time she [spoiler]Still used magic[/spoiler] but I think it's possible she stayed [spoiler]A witch when she retired, but the entity of Beatrice gets passed from person to person...[/spoiler] I guess I was on the wrong line of thinking, though, since you've obviously played the VNs...

[spoiler]The same could be said for Kanon and Shannon. They didn't really do anything in EP1, but in EP2, they were suddenly flipping out and being cool.[/spoiler]

I still think [spoiler] her being a witch [/spoiler] was a bigger surprise than what happened with them, though. Not as cool, but more of a surprise.

[Fish and Chips]

Concerning Rokkenjima witches:[spoiler]My guess is that the woman Kinzo fell in love with was actually "Virgilia," who gave birth to Beatrice (and possibly died in the process). Kinzo, being Kinzo, thought Beatrice was a reincarnation of her mother, so he kept her in a luxurious prison to covet her as the last treasure he received from "Virgilia."

That said, Rosa being Beatrice's unintentional killer puts her in an incredibly suspicious position in my opinion.[/spoiler]

[blkmage]

Concerning Rokkenjima witches:[spoiler]My guess is that the woman Kinzo fell in love with was actually "Virgilia," who gave birth to Beatrice (and possibly died in the process). Kinzo, being Kinzo, thought Beatrice was a reincarnation of her mother, so he kept her in a luxurious prison to covet her as the last treasure he received from "Virgilia."

That said, Rosa being Beatrice's unintentional killer puts her in an incredibly suspicious position in my opinion.[/spoiler]

They haven't referred to her by that name yet ◔ ◡ ◔

[Fish and Chips]

[quote="blkmage (post: 1347582)"]They haven't referred to her by that name yet ◔]Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, just seems more clear cut than saying "Beatrice and Beatrice."

CONVERSELY, solve the mystery substituting Beatrice for everybody's name.

[Bobtheduck]

I've been reading the manga for Matsuribayashi (having the manga organized by TITLE instead of Chronologically is really annoying) and I have to say... The vague and mostly surface-y religious content in the anime never felt that extreme, but Dr. Takano's speech to Miyako was... much more blatant.

I know they use psalms for spells in Umineko, which never bugged me because it seemed like fluff. How much more explicit about this stuff do the VNs get?

[blkmage]

For Umineko, I don't think there was much beyond the Psalms and the naming of various characters. I did notice when they used the Psalms, so since I didn't notice anything else, I guess there wasn't much else. Although, I did find that reading things like "Satan-nee" and "Lucifer onee-sama/Luci-nee/Lucifer-chama" hilarious. That never gets old.

[Fish and Chips]

Magic in Umineko resembles its "Real World" equivalent less and less as the series progresses, though ironically the only episode where its strongly similar is the one episode we never see any magic. Heck, I'm not even sure what the purpose of the circles actually is besides stirring up belief in the witch.

Though I do find the Sisters of Purgatory more of a hoot than I probably should.

[Scarecrow]

Are all the "stories" in the When They Cry series, separate parallel story or are they all actually connected? I thought at first I thought it was the same story and they were showing stuff that they didn't show the first time around. But by the third "section" or chapter or whatever, I'm guessing this is not the case as they keep meeting the same people in new ways each time. And would that mean the 4 "Answer" chapters just answer their own storyline and not an answer to the whole series as a whole?

Don't get me wrong, I like the anime so far a lot (best "horror" type anime I think I've ever seen, that's for sure) but this better have a satisfying conclusion and not a big convoluted mess of nothing.

[blkmage]

You'll know what's going on by the end. You're right in thinking that there's more to the Answer arcs than a simple correspondence with their own Question arcs. By the end of the second Answer arc, you'll start to see that things aren't exactly what they seem and by the end of the third Answer arc (since there's an extra arc in between the two), things should be coming together.

[blkmage]

SO, in III-iii, stuff happens:
[spoiler]How cool is Virgilia now? And now there's an indication that the epitaph may be more than just a roadmap to murderings.[/spoiler]

[Fish and Chips]

So, subtitles are out for episode 14. How about that Virgilia, ladies and gentlemen?



I suppose this was a solid episode. Banquet of the Golden Witch has always been my favorite part from the visual novel, so I'm a bit pickier about the stuff they've decided to cut this time around.[spoiler]A few things I can understand, such as severely shortening the battle between Beatrice and Virgilia, but other stuff such asThe siblings working together to solve The Epitaph, particularly Rosa and Eva's conversation, annoys me.[/spoiler]Also, is this just me, or is Battler's dialogue really repetitive? Sure, Battler talks about chessboards and braum tubes a lot in the visual novel, but the pacing spreads it pretty evenly all out. In the Anime, his every other sentence is concerning chessboards and televisions.

[Bobtheduck]

Invoking Schrodinger's cat while completely missing the point, too... Clever...? Not that many people really grasped the satire of it.

I'm glad it really elaborated on Battler's process this time. Actually, while I haven't played the VNs, so I don't know what may have been left out, I liked this episode.

I also liked the alternate translation on the end theme... Picking through the engrish is fun. Sacrificing to God... Sacrifice a sheep to God. Let's Pickle!

[blkmage]

The translation changed because those are the official lyrics (taken from the ED single that came out a week or two ago).

[Yamamaya]

How dare Rondo insult Beatrice's laugh! She has the most awesome evil laugh I've ever heard!:thumb:

[blkmage]

I can't believe I (or anyone else) ever doubted Ohara Sayaka as Beato.

[Yamamaya]

Her laugh even pwns Light Yagami's evil laugh.

[blkmage]

And now, for III-iv:
[spoiler]The mystery is unveiled and we meet new portrait girl! Although, for full effect, the coronation scene should be viewed while blasting Happiness of Marionette in the background or something. And, we get to see a side of Beato we've never seen before. Another great episode. So, who's the killer now?[/spoiler]

[Yamamaya]

Gasp, Battler slapped the great Beatrice!!!:eh:

[SPOILER]Beatrice has said before that this was all just a game for her, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me to see her respond in such a childlike manner to Battler. Up to this point, she's seemed very evil, now she seems tolerable whereas Eva's spirit is the evil one. Perhaps the transfer of the title had something to do with it. It could be that Beatrice isn't as bad as she seems. She's just drunk on power and childlike. Of course this could just be another red herring. [/SPOILER]

[Fish and Chips]

Beatrice's treatment of the second twilight was actually more stomachable in the Anime than in the visual novel.[spoiler]Nearly drowning to death in a sea of Jelly is pretty bad, but getting crushed under the pressure of that same sea, deeper than the Mariana Trench, is worse. And that's not even touching on the cakes, the spider, the oven, etc.[/spoiler]Anyway, a sort of dark revelation I had concerning the nature of the culprit behind all four arcs (should be spoiler free for people keeping up with the Anime though).[spoiler]I'll have to toss my pet Beatrice Did Everything, Logically theory. Battler can't just draw up how the crimes were possible, but who was capable of performing them. And given the nature of certain details that should becoming evident in the ensuing episodes, this means that 2+ of the characters we've grown to like over the course of the series are actually lying killers. Not just one, but multiple. That's really going to be Battler's toughest hurdle to overcome, as well as the audience's. Of the 18 characters' we've met and followed so far, under certain circumstances, 2 or more of them are cold-blooded murders, despite how they've appealed to us in the story.

The only question is "Who."[/spoiler]It's not a very comforting thought, is it?

[mechana2015]

We just started watching Umineko in anime club.

[Yamamaya]

Interesting theory Fish. Of course it could also be a character in the background during a few of the arcs like Battler's mom.

[blkmage]

Interesting theory Fish. Of course it could also be a character in the background during a few of the arcs like Battler's mom.

About character screentime and prominence: remember that some characters who haven't been seen much yet have been dead for most of the important parts of the arc. Kyrie, in your example, has been a victim of the First Twilight for two out of the three arcs we've seen so far, so it's not surprising she hasn't been seen much.

Another thing to keep in mind is that one of the first things that people talked about when the anime adaptation was announced was how they'd handle a story in which everyone was essentially a main character. I have my doubts that Gohda's or Nanjo's character will be expanded upon at all in the anime, but most of the other characters who have been in the background should get more significant roles to play.

You'll find that any of the 18 could be a character you like because of the amount of character development that they give to each character. In fact, pretty much each of the 18 have entire scenes that are just them going through their thoughts. The distribution of time for each character is a lot more even than in the anime.

At this point, we're pretty familiar with the kids and the servants that they hang out with, but in the sound novel, we already know a fair amount about the adults as well: they're smart, they're ambitious, and each of them has a reason to be desperate for money.

In other news, I just watched the preview for III-v and I AM SO READY for next week HELLS YEAH:
[spoiler]Rudolf and Kyrie vs. Belphe-chan and Levia-nee, and SIESTAS, NYEH~[/spoiler]

[Yamamaya]

I believe I have figured it out.

Maria is Kira.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbolTImT3rY&feature=related

[blkmage]

Episode III-v:
[spoiler]Here's the Rudolf and Kyrie character development we've been missing, nihihi~! And yay, Siestas in action and they even played 月うさぎの舞踏, which was pleasant considering they didn't play Happiness of Marionette for the coronation, nyeh~.[/spoiler]