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- Okay, NOW I understand why Beatrice is considered by most to be the queen of trolls. Holy mother of Azathoth, that was the most elaborate deception I've ever seen. I heard some alarms inside my head when she suddenly started showing herself as meek, repentant and, dare I say it, moe, but it all seemed to fit with her backstory as presented in this episode. That double smirk with Virgilia when Battler was about to sign... I was kind of expecting something to happen, everything couldn't end that well in the third episode, but... Damn.
- That said, it was a good trick. Painting herself as the "good" witch in contrast to the completely deranged EVA Beatrice was a great move. Virgilia and Ronove helped the ruse along for sure. And poor Eva probably was little else than a tool in the whole scheme, ending up as the culprit and the heir to the Golden Witch's name and assets. She didn't seem to happy with the result in the tea party, that's for sure...
- That said, Eva was a bit stupid, and she herself realized before the end. If you find the gold, proclaim it! Otherwise, stuff like your dark side awakening and taking control due to your repressed greed and childhood dreams happens. Sheesh.
- The numbers, 07151129, which, according to the tips, were given by the witch "in exchange for George's soul", and "if you say it, a small Golden Land will appear". No idea what the numbers mean, though. Battler thought it could be a date (or two dates), but it sounds like a red herring to me for some reason. If it is a date, I'm willing to bet on 1129 being a year, not a second separate date. It almost fits with Beato's supposed age. Another weirdish thing I've notice is that if we add the numbers 0715 and 1129 we get 13 in both cases.
- By the way, one-thousand years old my rearside. The whole introduction sequence with Virgilia teaching Beato her first spell didn't fit at all with what I would expect to find in the early middle ages, neither in Japan nor anywhere else. Faulty memories? Beato bragging about something that's not true? Weird timelines? Time travel? Eh, everything's possible.
- Reviewing the tips, something weird came out in dead!Battler's profile: "Jessica lost her sight. Battler was with her. Wolf and Sheep puzzle". This is probably talking how the "sheep" (Battler) was left alone with the "wolf" (Eva) with Jessica blinded on the sidelines, and thus Eva could kill him without trouble, but eh. Maybe there's something else there.
- Regarding this final murder mystery, I think Battler may have overlooked something important: yeah, it's been said in red that the other fourteen were dead, but it wasn't said that they were dead before Nanjo died. Then again, in every previous murder it was said in red that the victims were truly dead, or at least I don't remember it being skipped at any point. Hm.
- The epitaph was solved, hooray. Except it was solved secretly and we didn't get to see the answers, just a few scattered tips. I like the family tree theory, and that "village" character in Maria's name can't be coincidence. It was chosen by Kinzo himself, after all. Now, we need a six-character (I'm guessing this means six kana, not six kanji) word to start with. What about Rokkenjima's old name, A-ku-ji-ki-shi-ma? Problem is, I have no idea what to do with this from now on. I'll bet that the book that Eva consulted was a kanji dictionary or something similar, though.
- Then again, the gold must be very close to the guesthouse, since no one noticed that Rosa and Eva were gone for a long time when they went to find it. That reminds me of that moment in EP2 when George was looking at some letters at the top of the door to the chapel. There were at least more than ten, since he couldn't count them with his hands, but we never got the whole thing, just a few scattered (latin) letters. Still, it's a sign towards the gold being hidden below the chapel. That would make sense given Kinjo's insistence in that no one should get inside that building, under any circumstances.
- Having Beatrice shoot down the 19th person theory in red was painful indeed. That makes finding an explanation that doesn't involve witches all the more difficult, unless we start pointing fingers at one of the eighteen. This time it was Eva who took the blame (and at least in a way it was true), but it's the first time we've been shown anyone finding the gold, so the culprit could be different in other scenarios. Even better: Beatrice said in red that there was no 19th person in that Rokkenjima. What about the other Rokkenjimas?
- About the "there are no more than 18 humans in this island" red line, though... Why did Beatrice not say so at the first chance she had? Why wait so long? Just to play, or was there a reason? Did a 19th person die offscreen in the meantime?
- Now, despite most of what Beato and co. said and did being a bold-faced lie, there must be some truth in the whole scenario. For example, Beato's story about how she was summoned by Kinzo, then trapped, then trapped again inside a new body when she tried to flee her old one, then lost her memories and became a "normal" human can hold shades of truth, but it's not the complete truth. I think Beato's memories may be faulty somehow at this point, or she's just lying about the whole "regaining her lost memories after the death of her physical body" thing. Beato's not as old as she pretends to be (or thinks she is), I'm sure of that.
- EVA Beatrice: a separate entity a la Stephen King's The Dark Side, or a second personality inside Eva's body that took control from time to time to commit the murders? The physical differences seem to point towards the first option, but somehow I'm doubtful. Both possibilities are open due to Battler's theory of Hideyoshi's involvement, but I don't like that option one bit. Hideyoshi's too nice for that, although he may be persuaded to keep silent due to his love for his wife. Hm.
- It's kind of funny how Beato explains the difference between "her" world and the world the island is in as two parallel lines that can't touch each other, then everyone starts jumping around from one world to the other in the finale. Fun.
- Virgilia has been sealed inside Kumasawa? Hah, I knew the old woman had some secret within herself, but that I didn't expect. I should pay more attention to color schemes, I think :smallbiggrin:. Now, the question is... how? Since when? Why? And... does it really matter?
- Those Shannon-like red barriers that appeared around Battler at three or four points during the episode are weird to say the least. Maybe he's unconsciously awakening to the magic world somehow? How about becoming a witch, Battler? If your sis can, you surely can, too! :smallbiggrin:
- So Lambdadelta is the one who made Beato a witch, huh. That actually supports my theory about Beato being much younger than that, and actually not that experienced as a witch as she likes to brag about. Dunno about Virgilia's role in all that, though.
- Funny stuff: Spear the Gungnir appearing in the Beato vs. Virgilia magic battle made me snicker. Yeah, I know, it's not like ZUN invented Gungnir, but with the precedents from EP2 this smells like another shout-out to me. And for some reason the music during the battle of wits between Battler and EVA Beatrice near the end reminded me of U.N. Owen was Her?. Probably a coincidence. Not.
- Finally, Ange. Bernkastel finally makes her move, and it's an unexpected one for sure. Something tells me we'll see much more of Battler's little sister during the answer arcs, and maybe in EP4 too. I look forward to see her rip Beato apart when they meet again :smallbiggrin:. The human side of the character grid in the Tips section is now full, by the way, so I guess that's it for new characters until the answer arcs. Although there's still lots of free space in the witches' side...
Character-wise, it was time for the adults to shine, I guess, and that's improved my opinion on most siblings notably. Eva showed her smarts even when her witch side wasn't on the forefront, Hideyoshi was her usual sweet self and gained even more points for slapping EVA Beatrice in the face just before his death. Rosa showed that she's not as dumb as she may seem, or at least has good intuition. Still can't forgive her for how she treats Maria, though. Even Krauss gained some sympathy points just before his death, showing that he actually cares about his brothers and sisters somewhat. But the high point was (finally) for Kyrie, who finally had a chance to show that she's the smartest one around and also terribly badass, and (somewhat surprisingly) Rudolf, who wasn't far behind in badassery during their duel with the Stakes while still remaining a pretty amusing wisecrack. Hey, Battler? Your parents are awesome. Give them some credit, please.
The kids were a bit more in the background, and killing all servants first thing didn't give them much chance to shine either. Yet they both did near the end thanks to the two most touching moments in the whole game so far, IMO. The poor Stakes were less fearful weapons and more the butt of all jokes and the victims of most acts of badassery by the main cast. Poor girls. And then the bunny girls show up to completely overshadow them. I smell a rebellion in the future... Those two are kind of fun, by the way, but don't have much depth to them besides being very, very good at their job. Ronove, on the other hand, was a treat. It's great to have someone who can tease both Beatrice and Battler without mercy while keeping an all-knowing smirk on at all times and serving tea and cookies. Lots of love for the demon butler. Virgilia... I don't know. Given the last minute revelations about the whole ruse thing, I'm not sure about her role in this story at all anymore. Wait and see.
All in all, another fine read full of surprises and with some scattered answers here and there. Still not enough for me to form any kind of cohesive theory, but some cracks are appearing here and there. It has also left me thoroughly confused with that ending, even if I saw some kind of twist come from afar. Sorting out what's real and what isn't from the previous chapters looks like the key to everything now. Damn you unreliable narrators, damn you!