Episode 3 review

While I don’t think that I was left quite on the edge of my seat, Episode 4 of Umineko was still extremely compelling. There were a lot of very strong and emotional scenes here that greatly moved me, and many worldbuilding elements have finally started to become elaborated upon.

This episode finally confirmed that yes, we have been playing through and observing multiple timelines over the course of the game. It also confirmed that the events of the previous episode did happen, and they weren’t all completely fabricated. It actually expands upon the real world consequences of episode 3’s ending, specifically how Eva finding the gold as well as how the death of everyone else on Rokkenjima altered the course of Ange’s life for the far, far worse. For once, we actually get to see a little bit of the world outside of Rokkenjima, which is a refreshing change of pace.

Speaking of Ange, this episode mostly focused on her, and I think that this character was really fantastic. I wish that she could’ve stuck around a bit longer than she did, but I think that the role she plays in this episode was likely the best use of her character. Her finale with revealing who she was to Battler and her subsequent death was such a tear-jerking way to cap off the incredibly sad and tragic life that she’s lived.

Another big focus of this episode was Maria and Rosa… again. I mentioned in my review of the previous episode that I really hoped that the game would give Rosa a break with the torture scenes and uh… yeah, that didn’t happen. That didn’t happen at all. However, we did learn extensively about Maria’s home life: the story of what happened with Sakutaro, that Maria is actually a witch, how her split personality developed, as well as the actual full extent of her mother’s abuse. It was all so, so sad, and it really struck a chord with me as someone who didn’t grow up with the best family situation. Rosa’s actions during this episode are truly heinous and utterly deplorable. There’s no excuse for them. However, I do understand and to an extent sympathize with why Rosa is the way that she is.

Maria and Rosa are two of the characters that best illustrate one of the key themes of Umineko: how the circumstances of one’s childhood shapes who they become as a person, as well as how it can potentially create this never-ending cycle of pain that gets passed down generation after generation. Kinzo Ushiromiya is a selfish bastard, but he was thrust into a life of suffocating responsibility and expectations by his family, which surely robbed him of his youth. He treated his children horribly, and in turn, his children treated each other as well as their own children horribly. It’s an endless spiral of pain and misery. It’s honestly amazing that George, Jessica, and Battler have turned out the way that they have. I think that those three, as well as Ange, inspire hope that they will break this tragic cycle of generational torment.

Speaking of Kinzo, he takes a more hands on approach during the ritual this time. I thought that Kinzo acted really strange and out of character this episode. He’s always been cold and ruthless, but he’s never acted so… maniacally evil before. The entire time I assumed that another character was posing as him, possessing him, or manipulating him. If that was the case, it wasn’t revealed during this episode. Given how Umineko has developed so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if that does become a revelation in a future episode.

I think what dragged this episode down for me a bit was that there were a lot of really long action scenes which just weren’t super interesting outside of the fact that the Ushiromiyas are finally fighting back against the forces that have been mutilating them over and over again. I also think that I’m getting a bit wary of the repeating ritual itself. The focus on Ange as well as how the events on the island affect people who weren’t present for the ritual was a huge breath of fresh air, and I lost interest a bit when the ritual began to take place yet again. I really hope that future episodes do something to keep things feeling fresh. I also really hope that some other characters get more attention. It feels like Krauss, Natsuhi, Rudolph, and Kyrie haven’t really had much screen time compared to everyone else because they’re almost always the first characters to die once the ritual starts. As great as the scenes with Maria and Rosa were in this episode, I’m going to be a bit disappointed if there are even more extended scenes where Rosa gets tortured.

I was really surprised at the outcome of Battler and Beatrice’s grand debate, especially at Beatrice’s sudden change in character. Apparently there’s another Battler Ushiromiya that Beatrice knows? And the fact that the Battler we know doesn’t realize this caused Beatrice to lose her motivation to continue the game? It feels a little weird because it was quite clear she was enjoying herself before, but after this revelation, she just… gave up, seemingly accepted her fate and perished at the end of the episode. This was really sudden, and it also felt like it came out of nowhere. Maybe that was the point? She is fickle after all. Still, this really threw me off and left me with mixed feelings at the end of the episode.

I’m still finding Umineko to be really enjoyable, especially with the abundance of extremely well executed emotional scenes in this episode. However, there were some parts that did feel a tad repetitive and dull. The ending teased some major shake ups, with Lambda and Bern seemingly being set up as the new primary antagonists, so I have high hopes that future episodes are able to hold my interest. I’m still really excited to continue reading, but there are four more episodes of Umineko to go, so they’re really going to have to pull out all of the stops to keep things interesting if the ritual ends up being repeated four more times.