#Sayo Kotobuki

[batbeato]

for the family abolition, the vn pulls out the guts of the family as an institution and then asks you to pretend that it’s halloween candy. to look at them with love instead of endorising leaving the family register. ange forgiving eva at the end of alliance, for example. because ange can’t find the will to live without the family illusion, because yasu regrets the murders once they occur. i've heard some say it's toothless regardless of japanese context. or to at least endore parricide lol.

a. First, you quoted from @huayno for the "pulls out guts" / "halloween candy" bit. Credit people for taking their words at least.

b. You seem to think that "looking at family with love" and "leaving the family register" are mutually exclusive. They are not. Not only is it what Yukari herself does, but it is something that I see often in real life. People who have experienced family abuse can go no-contact with their family while also loving them and remembering their family as both loving and abusive. Family relationships are complicated.

Someone struggling with how they view their abusive family is different from the story endorsing a complete return to an abusive family situation, or endorsing that the person, despite their abuse, needs to love their family. Though I can admit that Umineko went back on it a bit in the manga, in the VN, Ange can choose whether she wants to view her family with love or not. In the Trick ending, Ange does commit murder, but she is still alive and going onwards. Of course, all magic disappears, so we cannot see the boat scene, or Lambdabern, or Tohya, but Ange, who has chosen not to see her family with love, is still alive and out there in some unwritten, unknown story, on her boat, going onwards.

And, Ange choosing to view her family with love does not mean that she is denying or apologizing for abuse, or choosing to remain part of the family. She leaves it behind and becomes Kotobuki Yukari.

Even though Ange's family is dead, Ange still struggled with the memory of her family. Family can deeply define who you are, especially when trauma is involved. Ange was also actively abused by Eva for 12 years - and she did try to leave. Eva stopped her and punished her. It is only when Ange resolves her trauma, either by accepting that her family was a bunch of abusive fucked-up people, or by choosing to remember that her family was abusive but also loving, that Ange can truly leave her family behind.

Ange forgiving Eva in Alliance and taking the blame onto herself for her abuse is her struggling with what happened to her. I've seen this a lot, actually - people who switch between despising their abusers or seeing them as inhuman monsters, and blaming themselves completely for something their abusers did to them. Umineko is always from some subjective POV - Dlanor even brings this up at one point, I believe in Our Confession, that Umineko is not told from the eyes of God - so we can really get into the warped mindsets people have due to their trauma. And, yes, taking on this mindset does allow Ange to forgive Eva and her family, and to become a witch, but in the end Ange does not love herself, instead seeing herself as disposable for some better Ange to exist in another timeline, and commits suicide to save Battler because of this. I... don't think the story is endorsing self-blame as a coping mechanism.

People who have been abused often take a long time for them to heal from their trauma and to truly be free of their abusers. It's just a bit more obvious for Ange given the magical/metaphorical nature of Umineko.

c. Sayo regretting the murders and Umineko not endorsing parricide are completely in line with everything. Ryukishi07 consistently talks about murder and how it can be incredibly traumatizing for the murderer as well as their community. In both Higurashi and Umineko, he stresses that you should rely on others (community, friends, family) and seek help rather than going to the most extreme option.

Sayo regrets the murders, but this is not because of family ties, but because murder is terrible and traumatizing. They realize how harmful and awful murder is, how much trauma it will cause the cousins/Ange, that people she cares about (the cousins) will die, etc.

If we say, "what if Sayo had only killed the corrupt adults?" we still have to contend with how murder would traumatize Sayo, and how it would also traumatize every survivor. In Higurashi, Ryukishi toys with the idea of parricide with Teppei. His conclusion is that murder is so traumatizing, so community-shattering, that there must be a better way. He shows how impossibly difficult it is for the group to get government assistance to protect Satoko, but how, by rallying their community together, and by convincing their friend to speak out against her family and seek help, they are able to get her to safety.

And, yes, maybe Maria shouldn't mourn her abusive mother's death. Maybe Jessica should be happy her parents, who kept her from doing things she loved, are gone. However, though their family was abusive, they also performed many acts of love. It's difficult to untangle love and abuse - Umineko is about that.

d. Let me know if you find receipts for Japanese people discussing this. And, since Japanese people aren't a monolith, if you would be able to find a variety of opinions, that would help a lot.

[whenthechickencry]

Umineko EP8 Tea Party, ??? and End

Featherine is writing and starts talking about when is an appropriate time to finish a tale, remarking that this kind of tale should probably be left in a cat box. Bernkastel is sewing Lambdadelta back up in very sexually charged language, Erika comes to the room, Bernkastel reveals Dlanor is still in touch with her, LambdaBern flirt some more and Erika gets jealous.

Gertrude has earned a promotion, Cornelia is learning martial arts. Will is.... a landlord who plays Badmington with Lion. Dlanor is still hard at work. Lambdadelta and Bernkastel promise to see each other when something else cries.

I think I mentioned it before, but one of my goals for this replay was to have a deeper appreciation for Bern and Lambda. I played the game originally as my first WTC game so I was constantly like, "Well that's definitely hinting at something I don't get". On replay, I appreciate them a lot more and I think reading their lines also gives you a lot of understanding towards other characters, as well.... a lot of scenes are even further contextualized by GouSotsu. If you don't have the context for Higurashi it is very easy to villainize Bernkastel a lot and not understand her as anything more than evil, which I think is a disservice for any Umineko character. I also appreciate Erika a lot more, she feels kind of like a tertiary main character of the answer arcs haha, I mentioned it a lot but I really do pity her a lot and I do kind of hope for better for her anyway. Meanwhile....

Sakutarou is now famous, and also Ange I guess. Or Kotobuki Yukari. Ange is spending her life writing books, hoping to help more children find magic and happiness. Then the name Hachijo Tohya gets brought up... Ange remembers how Hachijo's refusal to reveal the truth ultimately led to the Rokkenjima Mystery to die down, and thanks her. Ange agrees to meet with Hachijo and it is revealed that Hachijo is 2 people.

Ange doesn't really know how to deal with the reveal Battler is "Alive", other than shock. Happy he's alive though. She mentions how if it happened at another time, she would probably be pissed he hadn't shown himself up earlier, but right now she's just happy the miracle happened. Battler confirms what we saw at the very end of ep8, and Ange seems to blame herself for the reunion taking so long, due to her changing her name. But then she thinks about how she did try to meet with Hachijo once and was denied, but then instead of blaming anyone decides to just thank God for the miracle. I am so happy to see Ange so.... at peace. But Hachijo and Tohya reveal that they were perfectly capable of meeting her before, which throws her for a loop, and starts getting actually angry. Tohya explains how he has Battler's memories, but isn't Battler.

I forgot Tohya tried to kill himself, damn, considering Sayo's own issues with identity I can imagine writing the forgeries also helped him cope with his own fragmented identity....

Those tears are so pained... I want to cry. Ange accepts that Battler is both dead and came back to her, and is doing her best to hold herself together for Tohya.

I am a little relieved it is an entirely different Gospel House, the original was kind of fucked up, but this is a house for children to learn of magic. Ange reveals that not only is this a replica of the Ushiromiya Mansion hall, but it's the same as EP8's Halloween party... certainly showing the Battler inside Tohya that he can rest easy with everyone else now.

Battler is back home, Ange and Tohya can keep living in the future with no regrets.

Man, I really don't know what to say. I have already said so much but it still feels like I have so much to learn from Umineko. Umineko and Higurashi have meant so much to me across the years and I am so glad my replay led to me loving this experience more than I did. I hope one day I can revisit the game in Japanese, I am on classes and I want to come back once I am good enough to read this. That's uh, very far in the future though. I still have a lot to say and I will make more posts about my general thoughts once I finish reading all the side content. For now, I will say this replay made me appreciate a lot more how carefully handled the mystery was, and how it made me appreciate the answer arc in a lot of new ways.... first time I thought ep5-6 were one of the weaker arcs and now I think they are among the strongest. It's kind of funny though, I don't really feel the finality I feel when ending a lot of games. I still have so much more to learn about the world of Umineko and When They Cry, so finishing a game doesn't feel like an ending but just a step toward understanding more. This blog has mostly just been a tool for me to force myself to think a bit deeper into scenes than usual, via forcing myself to write down my thoughts. It's a little embarrassing but it has been a fun thing to do. I will probably keep doing it in the future, and I hope doing this will help me improve myself if only a little bit.

[paexgo-rosa]

See how i'm doing this? Actually, i haven't gone so far as to think when their actual birthdate are... sorry!!!

Writer by Mihona Fujii

[kineemchii]

[reading-is-an-escape]

Missing my squad hours

[golden-witch-of-rokkenjima-1986]

Cause of Ushiromiyas' extinction

Don't get me wrong though, I don't blame Ange for changing her identity. But technically, there is no Ushiromiya-named person left, so...

The reason for the Ushiromiya family's "extinction" was in the Ushiromiya bloodline itself lmao

PS. Yeah I know some of you are gonna say that it's Kyrie, but Kyrie wouldn't be able to do that if she's not married with Rudolph, so the reason they all died was still because of the siblings' greediness. Ange only changed her name, thus making the Ushiromiya family "extinct."

[bongaboi]

ISML 2020: Mikoto Misaka Wins Emerald Necklace

ISML 2020: Mikoto Misaka Wins Emerald Necklace Touma Kamijou Takes Emerald Pendant, Index Completes Sweep With Bracelet

By Jo-Ryan Salazar The Bedlam On Baltic Avenue December 1, 2020

On the heels of an update to its version, the Bedlam on Baltic Avenue hit a home run calling the winners of the Emerald Necklace, Pendant and Bracelet matches. You know the name, you know the legend. Winning necklaces is nothing new for Mikoto Misaka. In her bid for a historic reelection as Saimoe Prime Minister, the Railgun could do no wrong in her 4959-2490 rout of Mai Sakurajima. Yui Yuigahama was third with 1714 votes, Mashiro Shiina has 1297 votes, Rikka Takanashi had 954 votes, Rin Tohsaka had 847 votes, Ai Hayasaka had 563 votes and Misaki Shokuhou was last with 475 votes.

Misaka's presumptive partner, Touma Kamijou, finally got his pendant, winning the closest race of the round, a 4075-4034 nailbiter over Rintarou Okabe to secure the Emerald Pendant. Sakuta Azusagawa was third with 1964 votes, Yuuta Togashi was fourth with 1201 votes, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji had 963 votes to finish fifth, Shirou Emiya had 854 votes to finish sixth, Subaru Natsuki came in seventh with 576 votes and Yuzuru Otonashi was dead last with 537 votes.

Completing a signature ToAru Party sweep was Index Librorum Prohibitorum, putting the boots on loli peer Schwi Dola 4997-3410 to lay claim to the Emerald Bracelet. Iroha Isshiki was third with 2115 votes, Chika Fujiwara was fourth with 1401 votes, Eriri Spencer Sawamura was fifth with 906 votes, Nanami Aoyama was sixth with 797 votes, Utaha Kasumigaoka was seventh with 702 votes and Hina Amano was last with 544 votes.

Denied of his chance at glory the last period, Lancer, listed as a 40-1 longshot, delivered the Upset of the Round, albeit a 3919-3307 win over a dark horse in 20-1 Takashi Natsume. Kazuma Satou was third with 2053 votes, Ryuuji Takasu was fourth with 1527 votes, Saitama was fifth with 1236 votes, Yuu Otosaka was sixth with 1003 votes, Shido Itsuka was a disappointing seventh with 808 votes and Tanjiro Kamado was a flat-out embarassing last place with 738 votes in what was a shocker for the favorites as listed by the Bedlam.

Kei Shirogane inched one victory closer to succeeding future sister-in-law Kaguya Shinomiya as Speaker of the Saimoe Diet with a 4660-3315 victory over Chizuru Ichinose. Komachi Hikigaya took the Summer Seasonal four-way race with 3757 votes. Beatrice was second with 3710 votes, Echidna was third with 2159 votes and Shizuka Hiratsuka was last with 1607 votes.

Finally, in what was also considered an upset by way of the predictions, Cirno, one of the most underrated characters in the series, often overlooked by the power tandem of Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame, won the Touhou Project Saimoe Special Seat with a 3445-2538 pasting of Patchouli Knowledge. While this is considered an Upset by the Bedlam on Baltic Avenue, only one is allowed to be designated the Upset of the Round by BoBA and Lancer's victory in the Emerald Ring match carries more weight.

A series of matches involving musicians, singers and idols also took place. Yuuna Shigemura whipped past Ranko Kanzaki 3108-2291, Kanon Nakagawa prevailed over Miki Hoshii 2701-2569, Nodoka Toyohama eased past You Watanabe 3306-2949, Yui-nyan rocked Uzuki Shimamura 3457-2359, Miku Izayoi crushed Yoshiko Tsushima 3329-2577, Kotori Minami thumped Hikari Kagura 3984-1977, Nico Yazawa raced past Ranka Lee 4526-1723 and Arisa Ichigaya shot down Fumika Sagisawa 2552-2433.

Wrapping up Idol action, Sakura Minamoto defeated Miu Takigawa 2831-2387, Maki Nishikino slayed Lisa Imai 3888-2052, Ran Mitake got past Poporon 2870-2522, Honoka Kousaka drubbed Yukina Minato 3672-2342, Sayo Hikawa won a 2641-2526 snoozer over Iori Minase, Tsumugi Kotobuki pounded Chihaya Kisaragi 4389-1980, Rin Shibuya got the only win for Idolm@ster, a 3392-1917 hiding of Maya Tendou and Riko Sakurauchi salvaged a similarly shocking performance from Love Live! Sunshine!! with a 2747-2573 win over Haruka Amami.

The 2020 International Saimoe League Period continues with the Ruby Period. Vote for your favorite characters at InternationalSaimoe.com and join the ongoing debate. And keep it right here on the Bedlam on Baltic Avenue, now updated to Version 222, for continuing coverage of the 2020 International Saimoe League, the world's premier anime character competition.

[agepoyo-reviews]

[ Agepoyo Reviews ] Super Gals!

What is it about?

Set in 90s Shibuya, the series revolves Ran Kotobuki, a self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Gal.” Determined to live the best gal life, she builds a reputation around Shibuya for herself (and outside Shibuya, at least to other gals.) She is joined by her two best friends, Miyu Yamazaki, and Aya Hoshino; With them on her side, they seek out their best possible life, through romance, and rivalry.

CW: minor discussions of teenage prostitution (compensated dating, along with being almost lured into it.)

Ask any gal familiar with animanga as a whole, and they will most likely direct you to Super Gals! as the best view on gal subculture in any series, as it truly follows what the “gal life” holds for girls (and boys, as there are gyaru-o,) along with no sexualization of the subculture, as many series do in the modern era.

Revolving around the subculture as a whole, the series doesn’t just deal with the common, fun life of a gyaru, daily activities of shopping with friends, reading magazines, and keeping a look out for “hotties.” It also delves into the darker side of the subculture, and young girls in general. It doesn’t shy away from showing the girls falling into dangerous situations, while making sure to not fetishize any bit of it.

The first troublesome situation we see is when top student Aya is a victim to nasty gossip about her engaging in compensated dating, a rumor that ends up being true, as a last resort to make money, due to her parents forcing her to only dedicate her time to studying, not allowing her to get any sort of a part time job.

This is also the first time we see how Ran cares deeply about anyone, especially someone in such a dire situation, with Miyu at her side.

While Aya truly believes she is no longer a person, just a thing, but everything will be alright as long as she doesn’t “sell her heart,” 

After ensuring her that she’s not as controlled by this situation as she believes, she agrees to stop engaging in compensated dating for good, joining their group of friends.

The next struggle we see is only a few episodes more into the series. Miyu has been receiving harassing text messages, threatening to reveal her past self, and the things she did to the entire school.

It’s revealed to us that she used to be the head of a dangerous gang, one surrounded by actual violence. 

Miyu finally confronts a group of boys who formerly represented her rival gang, and after a seemingly dangerous exchange, with the help of Ran, she discovers the culprit of the threatening messages, the former leader of the gang.

This isn’t the only dangerous situation Miyu finds herself in, much later in the series, she becomes very insecure, as her tuition is just barely getting paid, her mother doesn’t want much to do with her, and her current relationship seems rocky. 

She attempts to find a part-time job for herself, gaining independence! Until it’s revealed that the “job” was a setup, a trap to lure young girls like her into becoming prostitutes. Miyu however, uses the independence she’s gained to stop it from going any further.

Probably the best scene in the entire show as far as the serious tone of it all. 

From there on out, we’re mostly just given typical shoujo, slice of life episodes. Rivalry with the “Top Gal of Ikebukuro,” drama with relationships all around, a wish coming true to make Ran and her younger sister Sayo trade places, and other similar scenarios. 

All in all, it’s my number one series to recommend to anyone even interested in the gal culture. The fashion is a great example of gals of the era, with platform boots, large coats, mini skirts,and animal print.

Every so often we’re also given “Gal-Lingo” tips! Translated from “Gal Lingo” to average slang. While they don’t give every bit of gal slang, it’s a great way to learn!

The only real complaint of the series I’ll put out there is the view on the actual tanned characters is... not great. We’re given a group of ganguro that regularly seek out conflict with the untanned gals, as far as I remember, there’s not much bad said against them, but with their larger lips, they definitely resemble blackface, their looks aren’t as extreme as some series, at least.

The worst however is Ran’s boyfriend, Tatsuki, who’s often referred to as the “monkey boy,” and whilst this is supposed to poke fun at his personality (Ran is even teased, being called a monkey girl,) he’s often given monkey features while being teased. Despite this not being their intent, could appear as pretty bad racist stereotype.

On the bright side, he’s an incredibly caring boyfriend to Ran. While being perhaps too wild and carefree, he makes a great pair for her.

With those issues aside, Super Gals is a wonder introduction to the gal life! It goes over nearly every topic related, breaking down harmful stereotypes girls face, while celebrating being a free-spirit. It’s a wonderful series, that even got officially dubbed (and for early 2000s, the dub isn’t bad! It’s silly, but not bad.), and even a great series if you’ve been involved in gal for a long time, but are looking for some gal related shows!

[ramblingsofthegoldenwitch]

Umineko Ramblings: The Structure of The Umineko Universe

Since there’s a lot of confusion in this regard I’ve tried to come up with a graphic and an explaination on the Umineko universe. Note that there’s no clear explanation about it through all Umineko and that this is a fantasy world so, when Ryukishi created it, he made up its rules.

This is how I understand it. As usual I might be wrong so you’re free to reject my interpretation and make up your own.

First the ‘easy’ part as this is, more or less, clearer in Umineko.

Let’s start with:

Prime: Prime is the supposed ‘real’ world. Why the supposed ‘real’ world and not just ‘the real world’? Prime is the ‘real’ world for MetaBattler, MetaBeatrice/MetaSayo and MetaAnge. As Umineko asks us to care for those characters the most, the world they come from is the world we focus on, and we discharge all the others as possibilities that didn’t happen. Note how Lion’s world isn’t in Prime. From MetaBattler, MetaBeatrice/MetaSayo and MetaAnge’s perspective, Lion’s world isn’t real, it’s not Prime. From MetaLion’s perspective though, the opposite is true, His world is the real one, Prime, and MetaBattler, MetaBeatrice/MetaSayo and MetaAnge’s world is just a possibility.

Lion’s World: Lion’s world is the world in which Natsuhi didn’t reject Lion. It’s in a catbox that’s bigger than Beatrice's catbox.

Purgatorio: It’s the land that hosts the wandering souls of Sayo, Battler and then Ange. It’s not quite our afterlife as it can be reached by souls whose body is still alive but that are temporally ‘wandering’ on the borders between life and death. The borders of this land of souls aren’t well defined but, it seems that, if you solve the issues that are tormenting your soul, you can either go back in the living world (if your body is still alive) or move to the next step, heaven/the golden land.

The Golden Land: The supposed heaven. It’s unclear if it’s on a higher level than the Purgatorio or if it is on the same level but, since you can reach it only after going through the Purgatorio I placed it above it. Note that in Umineko places that are the equivalent of heaven on Earth for some characters (for example Beatrice’s imaginary world or the room of gold) are also called Golden Land. It's the place where everything is possible, negative feelings are left behind and nobody is unhappy and also the place that Sayo wants to reach with Battler and all the others who died during those fateful day.

Beatrice’s catbox: Fundamentally it’s the name given to the whole amount of possibilities for what could have happened during the 4th and the 5th on Rokkenjima. It contains the real world as well as the gameboards, the forgeries, the messages in the bottles and… everything else that could have happened. It helps to remember that although the games we saw being played present similarities with the messages in the bottles and Tohya’s forgeries, they also present differences so THEY AREN’T THE SAME THING and similarities are COINCIDENTAL.

Bern’s larger than Beatrice’s catbox: The ‘borders’ of this catbox aren’t clearly defined but it’s easy to speculate that starts in 1967, with Natsuhi being handed Lion and ends in 1986, with the island exploding and creating the catbox. As a result this catbox contains Beatrice’s catbox.

Ange’s catbox: As Ange disappeared in 1996 her fate was trapped in a catbox, spawning various possibilities among which: the one in which Ange went to Rokkenjima without meeting ‘Hachijo Tohya’ and died there (Ep 4), the one in which Ange managed to meet a person claiming to be ‘Hachijo Tohya’ (Ep 6), the one in which Ange killed Amakusa and Kuwabata (trick ending) and the REAL one in which Ange became Yukari Kotobuki (magic ending).

Sea of fragments: Basically the whole amount of endless possibilities that likely contains ‘words’ like ‘Higurashi’ and ‘Rose guns days’ and so on (no, I'm not going to explain what are 'Higurashi' and 'Rose Guns Days', all I say is they're other works from Ryukishi and that, if I didn't add in the graphic all the other works from him, it's just for space reasons, as they probably would all fit in the 'sea of fragments').

The Meta World: This term started, like ‘Prime’, as a term used by the fandom only and was used as a name for the Purgatorio since in the Purgatorio the characters were discussing what was going in the tales (which are in the lower levels). However not just the Purgatorio is a Meta World as Featherine’s world is a Meta world as well. It had been later used in official sources as well as the name of the ‘world of the witches’, so it can be considered ‘official’.

Featherine’s world: so far the highest level known. Who is in it can control everything in regards to the beings of lower levels, making who resides in the purgatorio a mere piece compared to them.

This for what regards the universes. Now… the characters.

Prime characters: The so called ‘real’ characters, alive and kicking and residing in Prime.

Piece characters: While this term is occasionally used by someone to refer to a person or to a fantasy character he’s using, in the Umineko universe this also usually refers to the alternate versions of the Prime characters that appear in games, forgeries and messages in the bottles. They’re considered characters of a lower level compared to Prime characters as Prime characters can control them.

Fantasy characters: Characters that were made up by someone else, and that might or might not have a body (usually called ‘vessel’) but that fundamentally do not exist (the Chiesters, Gaap) or aren’t living beings (Sakutaro) or are imaginary versions of real people (Kinzo after he’s dead, the 7 sisters, Virgilia, Ronove)…

Meta characters: They’re souls. They might be souls of deceased people or souls that are temporally ‘wandering’ in the land of souls or PERSONIFICATIONS of various things (in Japan even objects can have souls...). They’re considered being of a upper level compared to the Prime characters. It helps to remember that the one we call MetaBeatrice is actually the soul of a deceased Sayo, that MetaBattler is the part of Battler’s soul that ‘died’ when he lost his memories, that MetaAnge is living Ange’s soul that’s wandering after she tossed herself off a building. Dlanor instead is the personification of the Knox’s Decalogue.

Now, if you thought I explained till now wasn’t easy… well, take a good breath and prepare yourself for a headache because we get to the REALLY difficult part or, to be more specific, to Lambda, Bern and Featherine.

Although they’re generally grouped with the Meta characters, Lambda, Bern and Featherine are actually of another league.

Lambda and Bern are WANDERING WITCHES, that can move through ‘words’ or, more likely, through the various purgatories of each world. The Purgatorio we see is the one for ‘Prime’, but if we consider Prime as merely a possibility in the sea of fragments, well, each possibility likely has its own Purgatorio and Bern and Lambda seem to be able to visit those Purgatorios and, from here, to look down at the fragment that generated it. It seems they come from a specific fragment (the Higurashi one) but are apparently ‘cut’ from it and now look at ALL the fragments as if they were gameboards, fantasy stories. Due to this they can take someone residing in that fragment and make it ‘their piece’, ‘their alterego’, controlling it. It is speculated that actually that someone is their own alternate version in that fragment but as everything is left VERY vague we can’t be sure.

Featherine is… on a level higher than Bern and Lambda, a level that’s even less explained. For being of that higher level the land of souls are the equivalent of gameboards. To interact with Featherine you’ve to either reach her higher level or she can send her own piece version of the land of soul level.

It is unclear from which fragment Featherine comes from, if from the Higurashi one as well (being somewhat an ‘evolution’ of Hai-Ryūn Ieasomūru Jeda or of Hanyu as the manga seems to hint) or from the Prime one (where she would be a combination of Tohya and Ikuko’s souls or, if you prefer, the soul of their writing duo) or from a fragment we hadn’t seen yet and, due to unknown circumstances, she managed to move to a level higher than the land of souls or if she’s something completely different.

The time in Prime works differently compared to the time in the other levels so it doesn’t matter if in Prime Ikuko and Tohya are alive and well, Featherine might have had birth when Ikuko and Tohya died, or split ways or decided to stop writing as Hachijo Tohya and be around taking advantage just of this, so we can’t even say if she’s the soul of a living or of a deceased or of a ‘personification’. Really, we know way too few about her to tell for sure from where she came from.

Despite those many question marks about her, there are some things we can say in her regard.

First of all Featherine isn’t the same person as Ikuko or Tohya. Ikuko or Tohya are Prime characters. Featherine is a character of a higher level with a version of herself also having access to the… let’s call it middle level. Featherine is likely a soul, Ikuko and Tohya are living people. While they’re somehow connected, Ikuko doesn’t transform into Featherine like Tsukino Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon.

So what about the times in which she seems to do it?

What we’re seeing are actually gameboards. It’s a little like when Battler in Ep 8 all of sudden wears his cape to face Ange and Ange grows up from her 6 years old self.

The Ikuko we see in Ep 6 and also in the first part of Ep 8, is just a piece, not the real person and is placed on a gameboard that lies in the Ange’s catbox. We know that in Prime Ikuko’s meeting with Ange went differently from the one we saw in Ep 6 or at the beginning of Ep 8, so those two meetings are just two possibilities, not the real thing.

Featherine clearly has control over Piece Ikuko… but we don’t know if she has control over Prime Ikuko. Meta Battler doesn’t control his Prime body anymore after all and, while Meta Ange remains in the Purgatory, her Prime body is unconscious. When she wakes up she seems to be able to bring back memories of her adventure in the land of the souls… but in the moment she wakes up Meta Ange leaves the land of the souls so this isn’t exactly helping us to understand how the connection between Featherine and Ikuko/Tohya works.

What now about the Featherine in the Land of souls? We see she can stop time and write off Lambda as being killed.

Very likely the Featherine who stops time is the one in the upper level. The one Lambda was fighting off is the Featherine in the ‘Land of the Souls’ world or middle level… in short the equivalent of a ‘Metapiece’ to the Featherine of a higher level.

So… is Featherine writing Umineko?

Well, actually Umineko is being written by Ryukishi and, unless we speculate that Featherine is his piece and self insertion, she’s just a character in the story… but I get what you want to ask, are we just reading a gameboard that Featherine is writing?

The Featherine in the Land of the soul level comments many times that she’s just RECORDING Ange’s story. In short yes, she’s writing it, but she’s not making it up, she’s just writing down what’s going on.

In short Ange is taking her own decisions and this is her story and Featherine is just writing a… ‘biography’, not a tale. So, back to Lambda, why could Featherine stop Lambda?

Even though this is Ange’s story, it’s possible that Featherine can embellish it as she sees fit. We can see the fight between Featherine and Lambda as a metaphor. Featherine represents Ange’s story that must go on. Lambda can’t stop the story from continuing, hence she certainly dies because the story must certainly continue toward its resolution. We know that Featherine is just a ‘spectator’ in a sense, as she doesn’t plan to stop Ange from doing this or that, she just watches and records. She will watch and record as Ange will come to her inevitable face off with Bern, or better with the truth that A MIRACLE CAN’T HAPPEN and that her family won’t come back to her.

So in Ep 8 Featherine is likely only transcribing what’s going on. Ange remains her own person with her own freedom of choice and is not Featherine’s piece and therefore moved by her. Featherine can, at best, influence her, but, ultimately, it’s up to Ange to decide.

If Ange were a mere puppet in Featherine’s hands the story of her struggles would have no purpose. She wouldn’t be struggling because she’s still finding inside herself the strength to fight against a sad fate but just because ‘the writer wants her to do so’. Even though we, as readers, know that Ange is a character, as long as Ange is a real person in the Umineko world and in control of her own life, we can see her as a person and take her as a model. If she’s just a puppet without will… the theme of the story would fall apart. If the purpose of the story was that Ange is a puppet that fights and win because Featherine says so, we wouldn’t empathize with her.

Ange needs to be like us. On her own, fighting the only way she knows how and writing, with her own actions, her own story.

At least... this is my interpretation of the chaotic universe that is Umineko. As the canon is REALLY unclear on many things I’m not afraid to admit I might have made mistakes in understanding how it works.

As the canon doesn’t really gives us many info, many things remains unexplained and we can only speculate on them.

I’ve seen theories of all sorts to explain Featherine and her ties with Higurashi (same goes with Bern and Lambda) but as long as Ryukishi doesn’t give us confirmation... we’re all making speculations and everyone is free to choose the theory they prefer.

I’m sorry for who’s confuse as I have no idea how to explain things better and I’m not even 100% sure my explanation is 100% right.

I tried my best but I’m just me and so this was all I was capable to do.

Please, don’t stop to just my explanation but keep on reading Umineko and trying to figure things on your own.

You might be capable to find an explanation that’s even better than mine! ^_^

[alltheseperfectseiyuu]

Kugimiya Rie

She's the seiyuu of:

Sayo Kotobuki from Super Gals

Lily from Pokémon

Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist

Catherine Elle Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist

Karin Kurosaki from Bleach

Nemu Kurotsuchi from Bleach

Hotaru Imai from Gakuen Alice

Alisa Bannings from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

Kouya Sakagami from Loveless

Shana from Shakugan no Shana

Ikuto Noguchi from Digimon

Kagura from Gintama

Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière from Zero no Tsukaima

Nena Trinity from Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Mizore Shirayuki from Rosario to Vampire

Taiga Aisaka from Toradora

Happy from Fairy Tail

Xiao Mei from Fullmetal Alchemist : Brotherhood

Truth from Fullmetal Alchemist : Brotherhood

Liechtenstein from Hetalia

Melona from Queen's Blade

Hysterica from Dance in the Vampire Bund

Yukimura Sanada from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

Kaouru Daichi from Ladies versus Butlers

Rise Kujikawa from Persona 4

Airi from Robotics;Notes

Usamaro from Ao no Exorcist (the movie)

Sugar from One Piece

Kanata Kurusu from Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai

Tet from No Game No Life

Nora from Noragami

All pictures belong to their rightful owners