Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru - 8 - Twilight of the Golden Witch recap part 1

In this version of October 4th and 5th, Ange actually came with the family to the island...
Even Kinzo is still alive in this version... the guests all bring Kinzo halloween treats, in exchange for a present from Kinzo. they do this every year..
This is kinda reminiscent of the beginning of Madoka Rebellion. It's like Ange's perfect reality.

When Ange went to give Kinzo her present, Kinzo suddenly turned from cheery and weird to stern and terrifying. This is how Ange has always seen him. She only remembers Kinzo yelling and being scary...

Ange starts doubting that this whole thing is real, because Kinzo is not like how she remembers him. Battler tries to assures her that this is the real Kinzo, and that her early impression of him was exaggerated by her imagination. She also says that the adults were supposed to be arguing about the inheritance, but now they were all friendly with each other... She learned about all of that after 1986, because of the conspiracies that came up about it... Ange took that for the truth because it fit with her blurry early-age memories...

Ange declares that she doesn't believe this story that Battler created on his game board.

Now I get it, you damn witches. So, you've sent Onii-chan as a final assassin to finish me off.

You're right... This is... my game. So, of course, this is my tale, and I'm the one making it. That's why I'm able to add in "what if" situations, like what would happen if you came to the island too.

Why won't you tell me the truth.

... Because there's something I must get you to understand... something more important than the truth.

Just as Beato's games were made to make Battler believe in witches. Battler's game... was made to help Ange understand something that was more important than the truth.

No. This is a game... I made a wish, hoping to learn the truth of October 4th, 1986. And so, you invited me to this game, saying that you'd show me the truth. And now, you're showing me this strange illusion, trying to make me believe that it's the truth!

Back in the story, Battler introduced young Ange to Beatrice. This Beatrice was very different from the witch Maria told her her about, who had lived for a thousand years and had various servants from the demon world. Battler says that this witch is the granddaughter of the original Beatrice who gave Kinzo his gold.

Kinzo officially returns the gold to Beatrice, and decides to leave his inheritance to Kraus and the others before he passes away, to avoid troublesome conflicts...

Today marks the day of a new flight, when the Ushiromiya family will depart from the Golden Witch's patronage.

Meanwhile, Beatrice and Battler talk to each other about their past games... and they tell Ange that this game is for her. That key around her neck is for opening to cat box of October 4th.

With the miracle of magic, I've brought you to the day you wanted to reach so much... You must continue telling the story of this day, as the final witch.

The message bottles that gave Ange her idea of the catbox, those were written by Beatrice for her game against Battler.

The clock rigged with a bomb set to blow up the entire island at midnight... When Kinzo felt mentally cornered and had to think up a brilliant plan, he would activate the device and use the tension of the approaching midnight to bring some flash of inspiration to him. Eva refused to tell Ange what happened on that day... She sealed the truth in a cat box, and left this world, taking the key with her. Ange now has the key. She wants to expose Eva's crime and have her revenge... since nobody could prove that Eva did it, the event is being treated as if the Golden Witch did it all. defeating the Golden Witch would mean exposing Eva's crime for what it was.

Amakusa tries to convince her that living for revenge is a waste...

I already jumped, remember? Off this huge skyscraper.

Back then... I died. So, I'm already a ghost. And my only purpose is to expose the truth of that day to take revenge on my family's enemy.

Kinzo began the ceremony to return the gold to Beatrice...

Beatrice. You are a member of the Ushiromiya family. And your bond to us is more sacred than one of blood.

Then he divided the inheritance... and the siblings all acknowledged Kraus as the new head without any conflict.
Ange refuses to believe this... she wants Battler to give her the red truth.

Is everything you can't say in red a lie?

The red truth only exists on the game board... in the world of humans, red truth doesn't exist. People see things, hear things... and when they believe that something is worth believing, they accept it as truth. Ange must use her own power, her own heart... To accept the truth as truth.

Then Gohda brings out a cake, and declares that 1 slice has an almond inside it. the person who gets the almond is the winner, who gets to make a wish, and everyone else must try to fulfill their wish. Ange got to choose the first slice. she thought that even if she chose the almond, that almond might disappear if someone else wins before she checks... The real Ange, who is observing the game piece Ange, starts thinking... There is always just one truth inside a cat box. No matter what happens outside the box... it shouldn't be be able to shake the truth inside. And yet, I'm being shaken about by events outside the cat box, trying to use those to change the way I observe the box's contents.

Ange becomes the princess, and Eva her attendant. She gets everyone to make fun quizzes for her to solve. So now th is becomes a Layton game... you get a multiple choice quiz from each character. the dialog changes based on whether you got it right or not. you collect medals for all the ones you got right. Eva also gives you hints. I got a few of them wrong, so probably gonna want to replay this part to see all the alternate dialog... I guess.

lol, Rosa's quiz is a question having to do with Rokkenjima exploding, and the gold ingots in the VIP room...

After solving Maria's quiz, Maria talks to Sakutaro about how this game is about teaching Ange how to find fragments of happiness. For the past 12 years she's been unable to learn. Ange, the girl who didn't believe and said that everything was a trick, no matter what magic was shown to her... 12 years in the future, she will become the last person to inherit Beatrice's name.

At one point in time, that kid understood my white magic. She even summoned all of the Seven Sisters and understood magic itself... and yet, she still can't use magic on herself.

She's lost the magic of children, and yet, she has yet to understand the magic of adults. The most painful period of one's life.

George and Jessica teamed up for a single quiz. The probability of a 1-in-2 chance changes when you learn something about the 2 items.

Depending on whether you know or don't know a certain fact, the probability of picking the winning slice of cake changes. Doesn't that sound strange?

By now, Ange was getting tired, and had trouble thinking about this.

In the future, various bits of information will affect the slice of cake in your hands. By learning about those, the insides of your slice might change... Sometimes, they'll change into things you want... But, most likely, almost all of the changes will be into bad things.

The truth is always right there in your hands, Ange... Don't you think it's stupid to let it change around just because you hear someone else's words? Just because you hear what they think the truth should be?

The truth inside of you has been in your hands from the beginning... And the nature of that truth is actually something you decide for yourself. You change it yourself depending on what you hear, and what you refuse to listen to.

The truth that lies in your hands is not unchangeable. You'll be interfered with in many ways that'll make it change... So if the truth you hold in your hands is really important to you... You need to protect it yourself.

wow... that was some deep stuff...

Ange falls asleep before she gets the chance to do Battler's and Beatrice's quizzes... everyone gathers around and starts talking to her as she's sleeping. They all know that she is destined to never be able to meet them again...

It goes without saying... that this is an illusion. You cannot come to Rokkenjima on October 4th, 1986. This whole party we shared was all a magical illusion, created by the Game Master, Battler.

But you've remembered, right...? You've remembered the truth... about how kind everyone was, and how much of a blast we all had at the family conferences, right?

Eva cries, saying she doesn't deserve to become Ange's mother... in the future, she and Ange will hurt each other.
Shannon tells Kinzo that Ange got 7 medals in the end... he places something by Ange's pillow. Shannon placed a letter from the family by Ange's pillow, along with a Kinzo pin-up poster...

Battler:

Okay, the anti-magic toxin is totally gone!! Everyone, come on in! The party after the show is about to start!!

Gold butterflies surrounded the room...
Dlanor informs Battler that Erika's invitation was sent back... destination unknown.
Bernkastel and Lambdadelta were also invited...

Lady Bernkastel is just like a cat. She'll show up whenever she feels like it, but when she doesn't feel in the mood, she'll never come no matter how often you call her.

Lambda showed up... and brought presents. Bern isn't likely to show up because she lost. Lambda also brought along 2 extra guests... Lion and Will...

Bern brought them in and made them pieces... When she was done with them and about to crush them, I picked them up.

- but what if Bern comes -

On this game board, they're my pieces, okay? And I can't wait to see the look on that kid's face when she bumps into them in a place like this.

Ange wakes up... she wants to go where all the fun noise is... but the door wouldn't open... wind starts blowing in... cat eyes...
The cat leads her outside, she sees the party through the window, but can't get in... it leads her through a window to the dining room, she turns on the lights, and sees her parents dead bodies...

Back at the party, everyone (including Ange's parents) were all still there, socializing with the witches and demons... Battler and Shannon go to check on Ange... they didn't lock the door so they assumed Ange locked it... she wasn't in the parlor.

This shouldn't be happening. I'm the Game Master of this game board. So why are we in a situation that the Game Master can't understand...?

Bern suddenly showed up to the party with a loud thunder crash, answering Lambda's quiz question.

Sorry I'm late. I was just so caught up working out some festivities to liven up the party.

Battler gets right to the point and asks Bern where Ange is... Lambda:

If Ange disappearing isn't a scenario created by Battler, that means there must be another Game Master.

Oh yes, I was surprised myself. Just when I opened the game board to start a delightful game of my own, I found that Battler had started up this bizarre game at the same time.

Bernkastel has finally moved from the audience to the stage. she challenges Battler and Beato.
Bern's game is an ordinary human mystery. Battler and Beato have to figure out the culprit... there's no red truth or blue truth.
In Beato's games, the argument was about whether it was a mystery or not. However, Bern's game was a mystery.

I don't need a reader... A Reader miko can use her own voice to embellish or distort the tale. Even if there was no cheap trickery in my game, by having a Reader, any amount of trickery could be added.

With no reader, that means there will be no falsehoods in the written text.