#Natsuhi being autistic

[natsuhi-kinnie]

certified autism moment

[goldenlandfiascos]

SHE'S SO AUTISTIC, OH MY GOD

[bossbutch]

halfway thru chapter 1 of umineko. idk how meaningful it is to speculate this early, The Real Umineko hasnt even properly started. these arent fully thought out and organized it's just scattered thoughts

battler's gender politics are entertainingly weird. he's like "when i meet a woman, even if she's my cousin or my servant, i NEED to make a big show of grabbing her tits so that she can hit me and everyone will laugh at the Classic Gag and it'll lighten the mood" which is just ridiculous enough to be something a rich teenager in the 80s could convince himself is okay. and then he sees the dinner seating and he's like "damn my family's so patriarchal. thought gained: inexplicable feminist agenda". i'm assuming this is a genre deconstruction thing. also lol that he is right next to maria in grandpa's tier list

maria is awesome btw i hope she gets to infodump about magic a lot more. some goon in the SA thread said the umineko author was once a social worker, so like. even if they don't use the word because it's japan in the 80s she's gotta be Intended as autistic

kinzo's room is so telegraphed to be a locked room mystery. he's entertaining too but i kinda zone out when he's talking about how his magic system works. i get the basic of more risk = more magic power but i worry it's the kind of thing that has Important Clues that my brain autofills with [arcane rambling]

battler constantly gasses up how good george is with kids and then george sees a family member repeatedly hitting their 9 year old disabled child and says, out loud, "not my problem"

assuming the epitaph is a puzzle intended to be solved and not the kind of puzzle that frames all the other puzzles and isn't solvable til the end: until the first butterfly i thought all the death and traveling was metaphorical. it still could be. like the six chosen by the key could be objects. the hands of a clock may be involved because that's in all the promo stuff and chapter start art. kinzo acted like the riddle was totally solvable by the doc or kanon or any of his kids. but if it was unsolvable until People Started Dying, it seems kinda pointless to have put the painting up years ago? but beatrice is a Dramatic Bitch.

Who Took The Rose?! no idea, but i'm sure it's important. if there's a 19th person, definitely them. totally possible the wrapper fell off but they'd still recognize the withered rose i reckon

Who Gave Maria The Umbrella?! again, if there's a 19th person, it's them. if not, natsuhi was my prime suspect because her alibi didn't have any witnesses but everyone else's did (if you really count grandpa and the doctor, like doc could easily say "i was with kinzo" and no one would verify that with kinzo). but then there was a scene right after from natsuhi's pov (migraine and can't sleep without meds, literally me) where she speculates who did it. so either the narrative is heavily fucking with me, it's gramps or the doctor, or it's someone with an accomplice

the narration is from battler's pov except when it's not and it's strange. it even isn't from his pov in some scenes that he's in, like the letter reading scene. this is the type of thing that could Mean Something way later but is just a little confusing sometimes right now

kyrie saying there's a contradiction in beatrice showing herself to maria but hiding from everyone else, failing to consider beatrice may be a Dramatic Bitch. i think there's probably a 19th person even if they are not necessarily a witch with magic powers

the furniture being totally able to break promises but can't disobey orders is the kind of exact words semantic sillies that umineko memes made me expect

goes w/o saying that the way the servants are treated is supremely fucked up. going to servant school and then working in the mansion at age six... george proposing to a girl that he has so much power over is lol. it's nice that umineko cares who the servants are and why they're there, and other logistical human things like how kinzo made his money and what they're all doing with it

at midnight, where was the doctor?

they drop some hints that the non-shannon, non-krauss bodies have their faces disfigured and Could be other people but that is pretty ridiculous and there's no reasons to consider that yet

i wish the LP used the doughy original art but that's the price i pay for convenience

[sophieinwonderland]

Hello, uh... I'm umineko fan, and i hate being a bringer of bad news, but like, the system character that you was informed about are not a system, that's a single person... Umineko is work of art, it's very emotional and changing experience, umineko covers a lot of themes, including living with mental disabilities in 1980 (since it's 1980 it's rely on coding, but it's very easy to spot - Maria very autistic, Rosa and Natsuhi have a lot signs of PTSD etc) , and i hope that you want to read it. But, while person/system obviously could headcanon them as system, it's crucial for the plot for them to be a singular human...

Take care...?

Thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll just have to see for myself. 🤷‍♀️

Not that I don't trust you, but I think different people will see and define plurality in different ways.

I've had quite a few people argue against characters I'm convinced are 100% plural. Pearl from Steven Universe, Kronk from Emperor's New Groove...

*cough* God *cough*

I'm not really sure how someone being a singlet could be crucial to the plot, but I realize elaboration from either side on this will drift into spoilery territories that I want to avoid. So best to just find out for myself.

I'm also more than happy with pseudo-systems that may not meet some people's definitions of a system. The comedy Ghosts isn't about systemhood in the traditional sense (even if it drifts closer in possession episodes) but does an amazing job capturing the feel of having a bunch of people in your head that nobody else is aware of.

[deansnotstraight]

please read umineko

did you just finish succession? Are you wishing for more inheritance thunderdome, bickering siblings, eternal death spiral of turning into your parents, horrible people backstabbing one another, family drama of rich and powerful and utterly miserable people?

this story is primarily a murder mystery and fantasy story. but! it also contains all of those things. and more. Here's a roundup of the main characters, to get an idea what its like. I hope I can convince some people to get into it.

Kinzo: abusive and erratic family patriarch, hates all of his children, also everyone else, obsessed with some girl he met briefly like 5 decades ago or something. she happens to be magic, but still. Miserable old alcoholic, on the verge of death, he was supposed to die within a year like three years ago, but he's still kickin! (for now.) His kids largely hate him back.

Krauss: evil eldest brother failson. he sucks. theyre all failchildren but he is the failest. supposedly has his father's 'gift' for predicting future market patterns or whatever but he always chickens out right before it comes true and works out for him. Awful towards his wife.

Natsuhi: Krauss' wife. This woman is not unhinged. she is holding on to those hinges by the tips of her fingernails but by god is she holding on to them. she is HINGED goddamnit. perpetually has a headache. Her aggressive loyalty towards & defensiveness of the family name & status does not ever result in any respect or power.

Eva: bitchy second child eldest daughter. she loves the inheritance thunderdome. she is made for this. she is living. Eva & Natsuhi have an ongoing vaguely homoerotic bitchiness contest.

Hideyoshi: Eva's husband. wife guy. also kind of a malewife.

Rudolph: maybe the most together of the kids. this is not a high bar to clear. been married twice, immediately after his first wife died he married a woman he worked with at his high-powered corporate job.

Kyrie: logical, calculating milf-type. second wife of Rudolph. shes smart and together and her biggest failure is the fact that shes married to Rudolph. also the faschy vibes. whats up with that armband girl.

Rosa. also a milf. abusive single mother. youngest daughter, disrespected by all her older siblings, has a stupid haircut. likely acted much like her daughter as a child, now screams at and hits her for 'acting weird'. her siblings often try to close her out and avoid discussing things with her as the youngest child.

Jessica: Krauss & Natsuhi's daughter. Generally considered to be the most likely ultimate inheritor of the family wealth & name. (through her father but i think everyone's hoping he is in charge for as short a time period as possible) does not particularly care for her position as heir apparent.

George: Eva & Hideyoshi's son. was considered the likely heir until Jessica was born, which happened late into her parents marriage. was a whole thing. is the most competent & business-minded of the grandchildren, practically he's probably the best pick of their generation.

Battler: what is up with this guy's name. anyways. Rudolph's son with his first wife. hates his dad, gets on fine with his stepmom. mostly irrelevant to the inheritance plot, though as the perspective character we get information about the inheritance drama through him. he carries most of the mystery part of the plot.

Maria: Rosa's daughter, best grandchild. incredibly autistic. more relevant to the fantasy parts of the story than the inheritance thunderdome, but i love her and you should too.

Ange: Rudolf and Kyrie's daughter, the youngest child in the family. she is absent from the family conference due to being sick, and is thus not initially relevant at all

NON-FAMILY: due to the magic plotline, any of these people could hypothetically inherit all the money instead

Nanjo: family doctor. would like Kinzo to stop being an alcoholic, but he won't. he's really just vibing, mostly tries to keep himself out of the way when family arguments arise

Genji: devoted lifetime servant of Kinzo. has a weird gay thing going on with him. the children dislike and distrust him bc they consider him a pawn of Kinzo, which is completely fair. would also like Kinzo to stop being an alcoholic, but also will absolutely never do anything to try and stop him.

Shannon & Kanon: young servants currently on the island. have served long enough to be very trusted by Kinzo. these arent their real names; they have servant names bc insane rich family rules. Shannon is dating George and Kanon has a romance arc with Jessica.

Gohda: personal chef of the family. aligned with Krauss instead of Kinzo.

Kumasawa: fun old lady, bad at her job, has apparently quit multiple times and then just like showed back up at work i guess?

And finally, Beatrice: woman who Kinzo is in love with. he hasnt seen her since before any of his kids were born but devotes all his time to magic rituals to be able to see her again. she is much more relevant to the fantasy & mystery parts of the story, as she is both fantastical and mysterious. largely distrusted by the rest of the family, especially because she, and Kinzo's obsession with her, throws the whole inheritance thing into chaos. whether she actually exists is under debate.

there are others but they show up later in the story and are not potential heirs.

[dysfunctional-family-fight]

Ushiromiya propaganda: I have seen several people claiming that the Asanos are "realistic". I am not claiming that they aren't, or that the are less than the Ushiromiyas, but I want to stress that the Ushiromiya mess resonates with a lot of real abusive situations:

Maria is autistic, and her mother is frequently getting mad at her because she is neurodivergent.

The said mother, Rosa, has to deal with trauma (she was bullied by her siblings) and a shamed family situation (she is a single mother in the 1980's Japan).

Battler is in conflict with his father Rudolf (he did not see him during 6 years and he is only reconnected to him because he has no choice), Rudolf being a douchebag, behaving like an asshole with women.

Jessica has a distant relationship with her mother Natsuhi. When Natsuhi tries to reconnect, she is just widening the gap.

There is a lot that I did not mention. But my point is the following: a lot of this situations happens IRL. The author was a social worker and he witnessed a lot of abuse in family. And depicts these situations with a lot of delicacy and care for the characters.

The Ushiromiya drama involves incest and gore murders (that's part of the "when they cry" experience XD ), but I wanted to stress that behind the bloody aspect, this is an awesome picture of intergenerational transmission of violence.

.

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Sorry but as someone who played Umineko I disagree with Natsuhi being autistic. I saw the propaganda post and feel like it just reaching on 5% of time where she can be misrepresented as autistic and ignore 95% her other screentime of her not being one at all.

I know the poll is just for fun and all but it still feel like terrible misrepresentation of her character.

.

[construingseacats]

Umireread: Legend of the Golden Witch - Chapter 7: Letter and Umbrella 

Sat, Oct 4 1986 - 6:00PM

The following contains spoilers for the entirety of Umineko. Please do not read if you are yet to finish it.

And so we find ourselves back in the Guesthouse. Hopefully Battler can be a little less uncomfortable to read about this time.

I can’t help but feel this is a little too self indulgent. “Wow being trapped on an island is great! No school on monday!” “I can’t wait to go to college and never have to be on this island again!”. Ryukishi’s being a funny guy for writing this into his murder mystery. You could only be more on the nose if Gohda was one day from retirement or something.

This one’s also a pretty funny line. I know it’s a little contradictory of me to say given the paragraph we just had in defence of Rosa, but still, it’s quite the picture we paint when we go from Rosa beating Maria and leaving her in the rain to “no-one understands me :(“

Oh that’s… disconcerting. That feels like a trauma reaction. Hm.

It really is fascinating how much Rosa is being shown to be a good parent (in spite of her just being a terrible one). The moment she’s cognizant of the situation once again, she’s immediately out looking for Maria to make sure she’s okay. I suppose this is kind of mandated by her being one of the first sacrifices, since we only have so much time with her to paint her complexities beyond her moment in Chapter 6.

It feels odd for me to entirely skim over the umbrella scene in the garden, but there’s not really anything I have to add. Yeah, Yasu showed up in cosplay and gave Maria the Umbrella, but there’s no particular insight I have to say here.

I’m living for all the Kinzo Study scenes. Nanjo’s just sitting at a Chessboard by himself while Krauss is pounding on the door.

Stripping the fantasy and framing this as Nanjo giving himself a pep talk before going to the family is VERY funny.

So this is the kind of thing that I was hoping to see a little more of earlier on - this is a lot more representative of what Umineko is about, but is remarkably absent in the first few chapters in favour of… mundane greetings. Having a small, harmless mystery to break up Chapter 2 would have done the start a lot of favours, I think.

Either way - I really like this as a proxy mystery to ease the reader in before we get to the big howdunnits later on. Obviously the stakes don’t matter yet since no-one’s died, but we’re able to see how alibis are collaborating, and can start to think about how to peel things back to find the truth of the matter.

Even if it was mandated by how dinner is usually served, it’s interesting to see Shannon’s persona used here instead of Kanon’s. Her natural (or artificial, I suppose) meekness gives her an advantage since it immediately disarms everyone who would point an accusatory finger at her.

You know, I hadn’t thought about it until now, but the emphasis on Natsuhi’s headaches in Episode 1? Absolutely intentional, spiteful writing by Yasu to make her suffer as much as possible. Natsuhi faces so much anguish in almost every scene, almost like the writer wants her as a character to have the worst time she possibly can. Heck, you can go as far as to say that Jessica giving Natsuhi the scorpion charm was an intentional writing decision of “and then I’m going to kill her and her husband in the first twilight - no, that’ll be too easy. I’ll keep her alive and then kill her towards the end, after she’s suffered even more.”

Another one for reading Maria as autistic. I feel so bad for her here.

Fun confirmation that literally all anyone needs to do is dress up as Beato and say they’re Beato for Maria to believe it. It’s fun how early Umineko says the truth, and it’s obviously the truth, but you’re kind of digging into “but what if the witch is real?” territory so you feel compelled to disbelieve it.

Gotta love the time-honoured tradition of Umineko just flat out telling you the answer.

It’s interesting that they pick Genji for this example, however - that kind of makes it sound ridiculous and discredits it from the get-go. If you opened with Shannon dressing up then it’d sound far more plausible.

Speaking of which, time for another Shkanon scene!

Interesting phrasing - “me either” feels like it’s following from Kanon’s dialogue, but it could still be read as Genji referring to the adults. Maybe I’m onto something with this “Shkanon scenes can be read as if one of them isn’t there” idea.

Here again - you think nothing of it, but Gohda doesn’t even see Kanon here. He addresses the women and Genji. Then Genji patting Kanon on the shoulder can quite easily just be him patting Shannon and saying the same thing.

Ah, well that immediately torpedoes what I was just saying. Genji’s just talking to himself now. Long live fantasy.

That being said, this scene is just dripping in Yasu’s penmanship. Very clear that she’s writing both of them as they talk about Beatrice and being Furniture.

The letter looks so good. The one winged eagle is just a cool design in general.

Yeah, tell that to Rosa.

Interesting detail that Maria parroting English means we know that was a mannerism of the Beato cosplayer’s dialogue. Unfortunately I don’t think this serves as an actual hint since I’m pretty sure the only person we’ve established as being big into western stuff so far is Kinzo. I suppose it helps set the tone of them being an “outsider” though.

It’s extremely funny how everyone reading this scene for the first time jumps on the fact that we just saw Kinzo throw the ring out the window. It’s such a heavy loaded bait and switch since, you know, he’s been dead for a while.

I love how the adults are all up in arms at trying to disprove it’s official Kinzo correspondence, and the moment we get “it’s from Beatrice!” they’re all “oh okay then open it who cares lmao”

I can’t help but notice there’s been a lack of ambient music for quite a lot of these last 2 chapters. I kind of wish they had something here? The rain sfx only does so much for the scene.

IMMEDIATELY COUNTERED BY FISHY AROMA, I TAKE THAT COMMENT BACK, PEAK CHOICE

I always preferred the name “Suspicion’s Fragrance” for this song. I think I remember hearing that Umineko Project calls it Suspicion’s Scent? Anyway, I digress. This is the Umineko song.

Is Maria just doing an impression of Beato here? Very funny if she’s doing an impression of someone who was already doing a fake voice.

Nanjo sweating as he goes “Yes! Kinzo is definitely alive! The ring is gone but he is definitely alive. Do not question it.”

Nanjo is honestly so nervous about the Kinzo situation. Really panicking here when they suggest they’ll all go knock on his door.

Honestly, the first time I read this scene, I was so focused on “BEATRICE IS REALLLLL” that I completely missed the scrambling from the adults. They are so funny in this situation. Literally everyone has lost their cool after being so calculated during the inheritance discussion earlier.

I’m actually a little curious about what’s going on in this scene. So Kinzo refused to come down to dinner, but the servants still took some food up to him, and none of the adults thought to use this opportunity to try and get a word out of him? I know we’ve already established a mood of “lmao I ain’t gonna be the one to do that” from Rudolf, but I do feel it’s kind of off that they just let Kinzo get his food delivered to him and didn’t think to try and reach out to him in the process. I feel like it’d make more sense if he had food kept in his study and/or servants prepared something for him there, but they explicitly say it’s Gohda’s cooking from downstairs.

Ah, Genji and Shannon are just chilling and eating their dinner in here. Good vibe, honestly. They picked a damn nice room to relax in.

Hey. Hey Kanon. How would you know that. I’m pretty sure all the servants were out of the Dining Room by the time the letter was revealed. You want to confess something buddy?

Good chapter. The story is really starting to pick up here. Who knew a mystery novel would be interesting once you start getting to the mystery?

[horrible-monstrosity]

I’m checking out a part of ep6 to check something in particular and jesus christ is it stupid

The ‘piece’ characters are going on about how Maria and Battler could have gotten into the mansion without Gohda noticing, let alone an outside culprit, as well as why Natsuhi had only Gohda on duty in the mansion... None of this is ever explained, is it? Especially since Gohda is literally the only servant NOT involved. Any one of the other servants could and should have been in the mansion if Natsuhi was meant to be involved in some autistic fake murder scenario.

Also there’s a line about Erika being able to corral the aggrieved bereaved adult men due to being of the opposite sex... dude she’s like 12

[unladielike]

    Of course, it doesn't take long for Vivian to slide on her glasses, causing her to eventually discern what Sonia was doing; still, she's quick to sweat-drop when next her friend spoke. Why, if nothing else, she should have known her favourite part about Umineko was all the gruesome murders that occurred throughout the story.

    "...Personally, I just like that most of the characters are neurodivergent or are implied to be mentally ill. The murders, though, aren't something I could really derive any joy from; in fact, I remembered getting lowkey angry more than once because of how unjustifiable their deaths were, and sometimes, I found myself being stressed out... watching these characters activating the most obvious death flags," she then admits while bringing herself to slowly slip out of bed.

    Honestly, she could probably go on a long tangent about how Natsuhi and Maria were both autistic coded characters, but as it was still early on during the morning, Vivian would proceed to yawn instead. "...Morning, Nia-puff. Yeah, I'm still kinda sleepy, so I would appreciate you phoning them; only, I will have to respectfully decline your offer since I do intend to pay for my own coffee," Vivian goes on to tell her. Perhaps that made her seem stubborn and unreasonable, but even if Sonia happens to be a princess who could afford pretty much anything, she didn't want to take advantage of her friend's wealth.

    Regardless, it doesn't take long for her to hobble her way towards the suitcase she had set against the wall, for that was where she kept all her cosplay stuff. The moment Sonia asks if she would like her to do her makeup, though, Vivian soon turns to spare her a somewhat surprised glance behind her shoulder.

    "Mm... I'm probably good? To be honest, I'm not really one for makeup; then again, if it's simply eyebrow tinting, I guess I wouldn't mind," she states. Why, considering she was cosplaying Tanya from Granblue Fantasy and Quan'xi from Chainsaw Man, it probably wouldn't hurt to have her own brows dyed white. "But how long would it hypothetically take? 'Cause I still need to brush my teeth and get dressed..."

While Vivian's wish had good intentions behind it, it hadn't come to fruition: after all the excitement of travel, of meeting up with Vivian, and finally weaving in conversations they'd previously only engaged in online, Sonia had found herself exhausted. She'd slept deeply, though not enough to ignore her alarm early that morning. Thankfully, Vivian hadn't been subjected to Sonia's usual wakeup call: though in contrast to her room at Boudry House, this one didn't come with a tea tray, a biscuit or two, and her secretary, listing the details of the Princess's day while Sonia inhaled as much caffeine as she could take before dressing for the day and visiting the dining room for breakfast.

In contrast, by the time Vivian's alarm had gone off, Sonia had already showered and sat at a makeshift vanity table she'd arranged in their hotel room, clad in a terrycloth robe and her hair pinned away from her face. She'd been in the middle of preparing her skin for makeup when Kinzo Ushiromiya had shouted for his precious Beatrice, through Vivian's mobile phone.

"You know, I always loved how intricately the creator linked the likes of Bernkastel and Lambdadelta back to Higurashi, to show just how well Rika could transcend universes," Sonia smiled over her shoulder, far more awake than her friend. "And Kinzo's obsession with Beatrice and how it began in Italy during World War II. That, and all the gruesome murders, naturally."

She nodded, as if her proclivity for bloody whodunits was a completely natural thing. But Umineko was special, how it wove Western traditions and literary tropes in with a Japanese sound novel, though some of the games had been better than others. "Good morning, by the way. I hope you slept well, though if you could use some caffeine, I'd be happy to phone room service. My treat!"

Caffeine was simply her chosen word for 'breakfast' in this case, as trying to navigate the lobby cafe or eateries around the hotel would be madness, especially in a costume. Besides, she hardly ever got to stay with a friend in a hotel: it was usually their homes, and if they were in her family's social circle, they came with a full staff and a schedule to adhere to. For rest and relaxation.

It was of little surprise, then, that Sonia found Vivian so refreshing. The other woman didn't bat an eye at her mention of kinks in fanfiction, and had a horror sound novel as her alarm. "Oh, I meant to ask: would you like help with your makeup today?" She inquired. Even if they'd only gotten to know each other online until yesterday, she'd come to understand that Vivian wasn't exactly keen on cosmetics. That, or perhaps she hadn't been shown how to apply them. Regardless of the reason, Sonia was determined to use whatever skills she had in her arsenal to bolster her friend's spirits. "Whether it's for a costume or just regular clothes. I hardly ever get to do makeovers on friends anymore! At least, the ones at home: their families tend to protest."

[natsuhi-kinnie]

i fucking love Natsuhi's outfit, the way it simple and practical yet elegant and composed.

She wears three different shades of purple which signifies that: she's The fucking queen 👑. As an autistic person, i think she also wears dark shade of purple to signifie her being a feminine older woman / mother, since darker shades do not bring as much attention but still make her look feminine. Also her cravat of lighter shade of purple - lavender, and exquisite bit of jewelry....Ughhh..Stunning....

The way both Krauss and Natsuhi wear the green jewelry to symbolise their familiar bonds, and how Natsuhi is the one who wears both amulet and earrings since she's the one who bases her whole life on helping her family, while Krauss wears it only as a brooch close to chest (heart)... signifying that he does care for them, he just not so open with showing it... The way Lion in the miracle also wears it, and how Jessica is the only one who doesn't, but when you look at her outfit you see her parent's colours, purple and red, meaning that even if she doesn't outright says that she loves them, she still relies and trust them to part of her everyday life...

[goldenlandfiascos]

i think in ep8 VN version how it's so funny Natsuhi's riddle is one of the only ones Eva just CANNOT figure out, and Eva's like "GIVE ANGE-CHAN A CLUE!" and Natsuhi genuinely comes across as if she doesn't realize Eva's the one obviously struggling with it

she's like "oh, uh-, a hint... Well, it makes a beautiful sound whichever one you press :)" GIRL

ANGE-CHAN'S NOT THE ONE WHO NEEDS THE HINT

/Autistic Natsuhi post

[canmom]

Let’s read Umineko! part 9

[pt. 1] [pt. 2] [pt. 3] [pt.4] [pt. 5] [pt. 6] [pt. 7] [pt. 8]

We have murders, we have mystery, we have magic (or not...). And we have a gun. What next?

Well, next we have comments.

Comments

My friend had a few things to add about Japan inspired by recent posts:

on commuting to school on the train:

train transport is very very very cheap in Japan and the most common way to commute. Unless one lives right next to school (and can thus walk) most children start taking the trains as early as jr high school (grades 7-9, ages 13-15)

Train commute is even common in suburban and rural areas, if ones destination is outside of said areas. A day trip to the beach would likely be taken by train, unless it was a big party

In the suburbs, it's actually more common not to own a car -- bikes are more prevalent which is why you see gradeschoolers walking to school by themselves/with a buddy 

people with cars in suburban areas tend to have a reason to need them, unlike in the west where it's unthinkable not to have one. even a lot of white collar people take the train over using a car. 

culturally speaking too, japan is very environment friendly, and is one of the cleanest places in the world -- while there are some incentives to "being green" as we'd say in the west 

mostly it's just done because That's How it Is 

I'm not saying no one drives / has personal transport, far from it! But trains are definitely super common, even for super rich people (though the fantasy is more about personal drivers, like everywhere else in the world)

on the river in the riddle:

a lot of japanese mythology and folklore centre around rivers and other moving bodies of water. i am not certain that this one is referencing any specific legends (it doesn't ring any bells for me) but the use of rivers is not uncommon

on the situation

"They are completely isolated" ^closed circuit mysteries seem to be very popular in japan, In but really sure why

@red-zora also had some comments:

Maria is almost certainly coded as autistic FYI  - without giving any spoilers it ties in a lot with the themes Ryuukishi is discussing 

the riddle is actually solvable, but.... it is very, very difficult. i will tell you that all the information you need to solve the riddle is given in the first 4 Episodes if you do wanna tak e acrack at it XD 

tho it requires a bit of analysis of the original japanese text of the epitaph, e.g. Golden Land = Ougon Kyou vs Village of Gold = Ougon no Kyou etc

Thanks for the info, I’ll take a shot at that when I get to the end of ep. 4. At the current rate of progress, that will be some time next year :p

just as a note tho it’s kind airrelevant, beatrice is pronounce the italian way, “be-at-ri-che”

Ah, you can definitely here that when Kinzo shouts it. I assumed that was something to do with the Japanese rendition of the word and neading to insert extra vowels between consants or something, but it’s Italian?

Onwards to mystery

We get a scene with the three surviving servants in the kitchen. They are grieving Shannon. Kanon and Genji certainly seem to believe Beatrice was genuinely behind the murders.

Kanon interprets the marks on Natsuhi’s door as evidence Beatrice tried to enter, but couldn’t (presumably because of the charm left on the doorhandle, we the audience know). Then... Battler butts in from eavesdropping, and demands to hear what they know!

Battler gets his pushy jerk RPG protagonist hat on. He starts physically threatening Kanon.

Genji declares Beatrice is a real person, who did indeed give Kinzo the vast quantity of gold. Then Kumasawa drops a bigger reveal: Beatrice is a formless entity, though she was once a human who appeared as in the portrait. She can reveal herself as butterflies, but her default state is invisible.

The quotation marks are an odd touch here. I wonder what they mean?

Battler presses square to doubt, and who should turn up but Maria, ready to drop some more occult knowledge? She claims Battler can’t see Beatrice because his ‘wavelength’, set at birth, is wrong.

It’s time for the...... Beatrice fact sheet!

age: 1000 years

demons commanded: all of them

philosophers stone: alchemised

gold: alchemised

under contract: not for much longer

Maria says Battler was born without a trace of the sixth sense. And Beatrice, apparently, is right there in the room with them all, but he can’t tell.

*panto voice* SHE’S BEHIND YOU!

Maria seems to have become a totally different person since the scene with the Seal of Solomon. She needles Battler, constantly doing the evil laugh. She claims her charm is the only reason he wasn’t sacrificed.

Battler’s Rationality Music (called Core in the soundtrack) kicks in. He reveals he no longer has the charm on his person.

Ignoring ‘things [you] don’t see with my own eyes’ would rule out most of knowledge y’know, Battler. Inference and modelling is a thing, and I know you do it. Does the world cease to be every time you close your eyes?

Anyway, Battler argues epistemology with a nine-year-old. He accuses her and the three servants of trying to induct him into a cult. Maria basically retorts oh, you’ll see: once Beatrice resurrects, even out-of-phase people like Battler will be able to see her.

Later, Battler, Jessica and George start talking about childhood and what might motivate Maria’s weird behaviour. But I’m yawning in my chair rn so I’ll continue that later.

[vtomleni]

"i reserve the right to make fun of Natsuhi for the murder of a servant, attempted baby murder, and her commitment to the aristocratic honour to the point of absurdity."

Who told you have a right to make fun of her for it? Why do you think it is acceptable behaviour? I'm guessing, but could that be you think because she harmed someone she was supposed to protecting she deserves mockery and insults? Again, I'm only guessing here, and it can be not your way of thinking, but if it is, shouldn't Rosa also fall into that line since she's abusing Maria?

what makes you think Natsuhi blamed baby for her being abused by Ushiromiyas? Also, "denial of responsibility defended not just her conscience but her self righteousness" - not true. She tried to do it, i admit, however she still feels responsible for the baby and know that what she (presumably) did was wrong, if she didn't the Yasu tricks in 5 game wouldn't work.

i feel like we have different definitions of eye with and without love. For me it's either, she killed the baby or not. But that's also not the most important thing here, regardless of whether she did it or not, she blame herself for it, and Beatrice resents her for it. She bears the responsibility. That's the whole point. Natsuhi felt like that baby was symbol of her failure as a woman. She felt responsible. And after the incident, she was trying to forget, yes. But she never could. She can't forget that baby, because she feels responsible for it, and it's suffering. She thought the baby was dead, and since it wasn't documented, she couldn't grieve it death, Kraus told her to forget the death of baby, so she couldn't tell him either. She couldn't tell anyone. She was held responsible by her conscience, and since you've brought up "commitment to the aristocratic honour", she holding everyone, including herself to high standards, so just imagine what was going on inside her head all these years. She's a old conservative woman, and she (again, presumably) killed a baby. Can you imagine what she felt? Isn't that the most frightening responsibility, acknowledging her sin to the person who will judge her harshest and know everyone about her - herself?

Anyway, I'll recite your original post, and want to ask you something.

"you ever think about how rosa was so eaten up by guilt for accidentally letting beatrice tumble down the cliff while natsuhi PUSHED beatrice off that cliff and didn't even feel bad about it"

I'm not sure if that's meant to be a joke, partially because I'm autistic, partially because if it was it's just not funny for me. But if it was meat to be a joke, and i assume it was. What is a joke? Why am i supposed to laugh? Where's the punchline? Natsuhi being bad person, and not feeling bad for killing someone? Wow, you definitely have the eye with love for Natsuhi /s

"Don't forget the eye without love", sometimes i was blind to Natsuhi's faults, I did forget the eye without love a couple of times, i admit that. I fully realise that Natsuhi could have killed the baby, and i still love her as multidimensional character. You, on the other hand, have both eyes without love, which i personally believe is worse <3

you ever think about how rosa was so eaten up by guilt for accidentally letting beatrice tumble down the cliff while natsuhi PUSHED beatrice off that cliff and didn't even feel bad about it

[goldenlandfiascos]

i wish we knew more about natsuhi's childhood and life before she married into the ushiromiya family, i wish we knew more

who was she before she was "ushiromiya natsuhi" 😭

[natsuhi-kinnie]

Some random facts about Natsuhi:

She's insomniac

She has chronic fatigue and/or depression

She somewhat knows how to use naginata

It has been confirmed in tsubasa that, at least in fantasy narrative, she has "in her blood, the power to communicate with beings that transcended humanity"

She likes herbal tea

She goes non-speaking when overwhelmed

Natsuhi is pretty damn tall by my estimates (≈180 cm)

Her chronic headache gets better when she alone and feels soothing texture, which is a sign of autistic burnout

Her main love languages seems to be touch, words of affection and acts of service.

She has PTSD from accident 19 years ago, and one of her triggers is sound of the sea, which must be awful considering she still living in the same damn place...

There's TV and phone in her room. We don't see her watching tv except for one scene where it only was mentioned that she turned it off while alone in her own room

She has reading glasses

she tried out burning scents for her headaches (did not helped)