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I'm re-watching Banner Of The Stars now. The romance between Lafiel and Jinto is so cute. It feels very nostalgic to watch this anime for some reason. It was one of the first anime I watched, but I also like the sci-fi setting a lot.

[spoiler]*nods* yeah, that's been floating around the internet and so I kinda got spoiled before I saw the riddle everyone was talking about. Bah![/spoiler]

Speaking of that puzzle:
[spoiler]The Anime removed the first hint of it from Game 2: the message of "mbtq" written when the bodies are found for HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Then again, I think figuring out mbtq = million, billion, trillion, quadrillion requires a fucked up math-y brain anyway so it's probably a moot point.

...

OR IS IT.[/spoiler]

Haven't seen 25 yet but I've heard ... not so good things. I may wait for Ep26 and just do both together. Hmmmm...

Edit: Also, started catching up on The Sacred [s]Boobsmith[/s] Blacksmith. I'd enjoy it a lot more without the fanservice. If only for the nice animation quality.

Just wait. Ep 25... was... kinda pointless in my mind and just seemed to restate a lot of things that had already been said and was not spectacular at ALL. :\

My understanding of the pacing places it somewhere around
[spoiler]Ange v Kasumi[/spoiler]

But, knowing DEEN, it's probably like 90% that and Episode 26 will suck due to being rushed thanks to Episode 25 being so slow.

Edit: Went ahead and watched it ... it's ironically probably the best episode in the series as far as keeping true to the VN. However, it's so fucking slow If we could've had a 50-ish episode series with this pacing than the first half of Umineko wouldn't have been so "wait, what?" throughout.

They cut absolutely NOTHING.
[spoiler]Well, some explanation of why the "Black Witch" looks like Eva but that's pretty easy to figure out if you have a brain (hint hint, the last Black Witch was Eva-Beatrice; hint hint, the only Black Witch Ange knows is Eva-Beatrice).[/spoiler]

This, however, means Episode 26 is going to go at breakneck pace ... come on hour long special! COME ON!

[spoiler]Anyway, Episode 25 is a confirmation episode plus it gives the hint of "without love there is no magic" as well as some thoughts behind the identities of the "Beatrice" in every game (???-Beatrice, Suit-Beatrice, Eva-Beatrice, Maria-Beatrice / Ange-Beatrice / Oddly, Suit-Beatrice too).

Not sure if DEEN did a good enough job, though, to drive home the point that Kasumi is to be pitied; that she isn't evil. She merely gave in to the chain of hatred; Ange could easily have been Kasumi if Ange was equally evil and vile / didn't "meet the White Witch."

Also, stylish kills for the Purgatory sisters; lord knows they haven't done shit in awhile. I wonder if it was to be this fucking obvious behind the "magic" though ... well, sans Eva's death there.

All-in-all, it's actually a pretty good episode ... though I'd have preferred THIS being rushed so the finale can be seen in the full glory. Cut Red v Blue and I hate you forever.

Also, start actually using tracks from the fucking game besides the same, what, 6?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]All in all, I think they drove the points home well. Especially about Ange could be Kasumi and visa versa. Had Ange not had Maria's diary and had not loved her family so much to find out the truth, she could have easily turned into that.

I think the main theme of the episode is "magic is love" and was created due to some response of a person in the family craving that love, but as they have each been tortured that magic turned dark, but deep at the center of it, love is really still there.

I don't think I understand your line here: "I wonder if it was to be this fucking obvious behind the "magic" though ... well, sans Eva's death there." - what you mean what really happened if we take away the fact that "witches and magic don't exist." She's on a fucking cliff, I'm going to guess that the guy with hair in his eyes was probably watching out for her and didn't hesitate to pop a few at them and that Ange, too, probably had a gun.

Of course, I could still probably be missing something.

I can't help but feel that at this point Suit-Beatrice is Jessica-Beatrice.

But somewhere I think we have to stick Rosa into it or something. She's the only who has confessed to some kind of actual past with a Beatrice (real or imagined).[/spoiler]

Oh. Well.

Does anyone else think that George and Shannon have gotten very lucky in terms of avoiding the second twilight?

And I suspect Nanjo.

[spoiler]If only because he hasn't died in the first twilight yet...[/spoiler]

It's weird, isn't it?

[spoiler]The two who fit it the most, following the "there's an ideal victim for each twilight" theory, are oddly Kanon and Rudolf. Not in the sense of them being close, as there's nothing that fucking ties them together, but in the sense that Rudolf has died in the 1st Twilight twice but has been staked by Asmodeus/Lust when the other options were left (that is, the other choices that died to Lust were alive but he was staked instead), Kanon has died to Satan/Wrath twice, and these two sins have fallen to the 2nd Twilight the most.

As for Kanon, he's always done in by Satan/Wrath unless otherwise killed, then Wrath claimed someone else. Timing wise, Wrath has fallen to the 2nd Twilight twice (and so has Lust) which makes it seem like Lust and Wrath are the 2nd Twilight pairing with Rudolf and Kanon as the two meant for those sins. However, they don't seem like they fit for a 2nd Twilight pair ("...those that are close.")

...

Kanon is Rudolf's secret son!1!!!

As for Nanjo, I think it's pretty obvious that he's somehow involved, probably as an accomplice. He's the only one who can claim time of death which helps the alibi of the murderer as well as, if the need comes to it, helping declare dead someone who is still alive (assuming a faked death scenario).

So far, if someone has been staked, they've been staked by the same one twice (Kanon/Wrath, Kumasawa/Envy, Nanjo/Sloth, Hideyoshi/Gluttony). Currently, my belief is:

2nd Twilight - Lust and Wrath - Rudolf? and Kanon
4th Twilight - Greed - ? ? ? (Shannon, Kyrie)
5th Twilight - Gluttony - Hideyoshi
6th Twilight - Pride - Krauss?
7th Twilight - Sloth - Nanjo
8th Twilight - Envy - Kumasawa[/spoiler]

Edit: Incidentally, DEEN has announced that Umineko Chiru may not happen if the DVD sales continue to suck. Considering they didn't fix the animation errors for the DVD/BRURAY releases, I have to wonder why this is so ... ... ...

>>

[spoiler]Ushiromiya Jessica is dead.

This does not have to be a state of actually being alive or dead. If Jessica has dropped her name - her HATED Ushiromiya name - the statement still fits. If Jessica is going on a killing rampage, chances are she has said "FUCK MY TITLE! FUCK ALL OF YOU!"

I can't remember all of the red statements, though, so I'd have to do double checks to make sure this fits, but nothing off the top of my head denies this possibility.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]The actual Red Text refers to her as a corpse, though it is worth noting that Beatrice forgets mentioning she's "present" for her own body being found:

"When Jessica's corpse was discovered, only Battler, George, Maria, Rosa, Genji, Gohda, Shannon, Kumasawa, and Nanjo were in Jessica's room!
Whoops, the corpse of Jessica is also included!!"

As for the naming, I think there's a Red Truth about it in regards to Kanon; that "Kanon is Kanon" and he cannot remove his title and bestow it to anyone else nor can anyone else claim to be Kanon (since his whereabouts are usually the hardest nail down >>). There's probably one for Kinzo as well. As such, we can't rule out anyone ELSE abandoning their names to be their "death" but, to be honest, it'll be pretty lame if the 'trick' was "Red Truth death text meant they merely left their name!"

Then again, my current theory for Game 3 is merely the timing of the Red Text ("Someone fatally wounded kills Nanjo and then dies; this is between Nanjo being killed and the Red Text stating everyone on the island is dead!")* so who am I to really say that "Red Text death confirmation is lies!" is weak I suppose.

Edit: It is worth noting that Jessica mentions briefly her "other side" that exists outside Rokkenjima. The public face / private face motif is a pretty strong one that occurs frequently in Umineko so it isn't that farfetched. Still, I like the thought of an actual trick outside of "abandoned name, therefore dead but not dead!" since it requires thought and craftiness, and not just angst.

*Personally, I find there to be some significance that Eva-Beatrice takes the time for Game 3 to state each individual person is dead AS WELL AS the one line of normal text that occurs during this: "So you understand that accordingly, when the last victim, Nanjo, died, only 3 people, Battler, Eva, and Jessica, were alive, right?" ... makes me think the Red Text confirmations here are a trap.[/spoiler]

sure is open discussion in here.