#keltena plays umineko

[keltena]

listen while you can

[keltena]

And... that's the game. That's Umineko.

God.

What can I even say in response to... all that? And that I haven't already said? I can't even say "holy shit, it's finally over", because if there's one thing that’s been made clear in these past two million-ish words, it's that the story is never over. I've just finally reached the point where it's locked up in the cat box and handed over to the reader to continue.

I guess I might have a few more things to do here—I'd like to check out the other ending variation (have since done so; wow that was short), and I might look into Tsubasa/Hane if there are translations available for those? But it's late, and those sound like a project for another day, so for now, I'll leave it at that.

... Well. Actually, I think I do have one more thing I can say, before I move on to anything else. Just give me a minute to get it ready.

[keltena]

And here you can pinpoint the exact moment I went from smiling to sobbing.

[keltena]

... Okay, I assume this was not an intended implication of this scene and I'll go back to trying to to think so hard about it in a moment, but... it is honestly astoundingly shitty to spring something like this on Tohya with no prior warning. Like, I honestly had to stop for a moment just to reel from it. I realize Ryukishi07 was presumably just focusing on the narrative meaning of the scenario and didn’t concern himself with thinking through the realistic implications, but seriously, what the fuck.

[keltena]

:’)

[keltena]

Wait, that's why he uses a wheelchair? I'd just assumed it was the whole, you know, almost drowning and getting hit by a car thing. Guess not.

Anyway. First: Okay, that is a very understandable reason. I mean, it’s no wonder that he's been kicking himself for it ever since, but I'm hardly going to blame Tohya for doing what he needs to do to protect his own physical and mental well-being.

Second: Seriously, is neither one of you familiar with the concept of writing a fucking letter???

Here, let me help. "Hey Tohya, I've written a letter to Ange letting her know what happened to her brother and explaining why you need to remain out of touch with her for your own health. I can handle any response we receive for now, so you can stop worrying so much about it for the time being. Cool? Cool." Is that really so hard??

[keltena]

Aaaand there it is.

I'd kind of figured, ever since that final scene with Beatrice and Battler, that this plotline must be heading somewhere like this. After all, Tohya was demonstrably alive and clearly an amnesiac Battler, but at the same time, we had red truth confirmation that Battler is dead. The only conclusion that seemed possible, especially after that final scene on Rokkenjima, was that "Battler" really did die that day, remaining with Beatrice at the bottom of the sea for the rest of time, and "Tohya" alone survived. i.e., Tohya is alive, but Battler is still gone forever. And the sheer density of overjoyed, completely internal monologuing from Ange in this scene about being reunited with her brother made it pretty obvious the other shoe was just waiting to drop.

But again: why didn't they just tell her? Tohya isn't obligated to be her brother or her support network or anything, but she had the right to know. How hard would it really have been to just say something to her, even once? Even let her know indirectly if talking to her sounded too daunting; I mean, Ikuko even says she thought Ange should meet him, so wouldn’t she presumably have been willing to at least speak to Ange about it herself? What reason is there to deliberately keep it a secret from her?

Like, I know we've spent all episode talking about why the truth isn't all it's cracked up to be and knowing isn't always necessarily better than not knowing, but the central element of all that was that it was Ange's choice. Keeping something like this secret from her entirely without her knowledge is a whole other ballpark.

[keltena]

... Mm. He did clearly start remembering before 1998, though. Maybe not completely, maybe not enough that he felt sure at first, but by the time Ange changed her name the two of them had already written and published at least three episodes' worth of forgeries working through the mysteries of his past.

I can understand how Tohya could have had his hands full just working through his own issues, never mind trying to get in touch with a relative when he might not even have necessarily been sure he remembered right. But by the time 1998 rolled around, he'd felt up to not only writing but publicly releasing multiple forgeries with Ikuko, and they presented them with the confidence that they knew the real truth. They would have known perfectly well Ange was alive all that time, and even if she would have been difficult to get ahold of, they presumably could have gotten some form of contact through to her, right? Why didn't they ever?

[keltena]

[ Tohya: “I’d prefer something that isn’t so bitter. ......How about you, Miss Kotobuki?” ]

Jeez, he says 'watashi'. That's kind of a surreal feeling.

[keltena]

... Okay, fair point. I guess I overreacted. There wasn't anything they could do about Ange going into hiding.

God, though. Decades. Imagine having something like this suddenly sprung on you, after all that time had passed.

[keltena]

... Ah, I see. 縁寿 (Ange) -> 寿縁 (Kotobuki Yukari). Cute.

[keltena]

... Never? Never once? It's been decades, and she's never met either of them?

What the actual fuck, you two? She deserved to know! And you never said even a word to her??

Why are they contacting her now? Because her health has been failing? Because she's become a celebrity and they realized that oh hey, she still exists, doesn't she, we should probably talk to her? Out of some bullshit logic about what they think she ~needs~ re: the truth?

[keltena]

And no wonder, with a title like that.

[keltena]

;____;

I'm sorry, you're going to have to come another day for coherent words. Right now, all you're getting is "Aaaaaange ; ;"

[keltena]

... Oh my god.

Ange ; ;

and also ♥♥♥

[keltena]

Cute. Very cute, Ryukishi.