I rewatched Higurashi a couple weeks ago, marathoning both the original and the sequel, and the one thing that was struck by (and have always been impressed by) is how much I cared for each one of the characters. My heart broke for each one of them as they succumbed to the madness during the question arcs. This made the answer arcs and the second season as powerful as it was. I felt like I was part of the gang. And I rooted for Rika and friends to break their treacherous fate harder than I've rooted for any characters to do anything ever.
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Episode 10: AcceptMy head always hurts after watching this one, but hey..this keeps me from watching Umineko!Confirmed facts of the episode: * The keys for the employee room are all within the key cabinet in the employee room.There is no way in or out besides the sole door and the sole window.Both were locked.No one can go through the door or window when they are locked.The door cannot be unlocked without either the key in the employee room or one of the master keys.There are only five master keys.Rosa's paranoiaRosa still doesn't believe that the servants are innocent and keeps on insisting that this is a game of charade. The theory is that they only made it look like they were dead with the pools of blood, but that they are actually hiding somewhere in the mansion. This would mean that the other servants would be in on it, so Rosa threatens them with her gun to the alarm of the others. To defuse her suspicions, Genji offers the master keys of all the servants to Rosa, and she puts all of them, including the two that were included in the envelope, into Maria’s handbag.AcceptThe title of the episode says it all. I guess the highlight of episode 10 is the fact that Battler has already gave up and decided to accept the presence of Beatrice is true. Even meta-Battler is having a hard time to prove the things that happened without the use of magic without arousing suspicion to any of the servants. This is contrary to how Rosa thinks as she that servants have spare keys and so she still suspects the servants to be the culprits.Both Battlers are totally dejected by this and they both hate this fact. Meta-Battler wants Meta-Beatrice to inform Rosa that there are no copies of the master keys. Meta-Beatrice sardonically asks if meta-Battler would be willing to swear himself in as meta-Beatrice’s furniture so that he could tell Rosa himself, thus she reveals the truth that there are only 5 master keys.Battler, having believe that Beatrice exists gains a kiss from Maria who is so happy that finally Battler gave in. She urged Battler to help her solve the riddle of the epitaph so that these tragedies will soon end. Maria tells Battler that there would be no more killings if the inscription were to be solved, and she also tells him that Beatrice is doing this because magic requires more risk for more rewards. Without the killings, there won’t be as much risk.MirrorIn the kitchen, Shannon revealed the mystery of the spider webs that she used to stop the fake Kanon in the previous episode. She said that spider webs are believed to have powers to suppress effect on the evil spirit that resided on Rokkenjima. She also told about her encounter with Beatrice and her shattering of the mirror act.The mirror reminder her that Natushi has kep a smaller mirror that has the same power to suppress evil. It supposedly is just as strong a charm against evil magic, and Genji says that Natsuhi is from a family that had traditionally been priests. The mirror is in a box in Natsuhi’s room, and George suggests that they get it so that they can fight Beatrice. However, they need to get Natsuhi’s key from the chapel to open the door to her room, but Genji remains behind in case Kinzou needs him. As soon as the others leave, a golden butterfly appears, which Genji dispels with a thrown knife.George, Shanon and Gouda are successful in obtaining the key to Natsuhi's room. However, golden butterflies appear, and while they try to run away, George is unable to unlock the door. Things get scarier as Beatrice appears, and George finally manages to unlock the door so that they can run away from the chapel.They arrived in Natsuhi's room and sought for the box that could contain the mirror. George tries to force open the box but Beatrice is already there. Beatrice's goat-like army arrives and so Gouda locked the door, but it keeps unlocking.Gouda tries to keep the door closed while George struggles to force the box open, but his terror reaches new heights as a pair of arms pass through the door to caress him. It is another furniture of Beatrice’s, a blond one, and soon she turns into a stake and flies through the door to impale Gouda fatally in the chest. Still having been unable to force open the box, George and Shannon must face the humanoid goats, with golden butterflies flying around them and Beatrice herself appearing.
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This episode 10 is full of tension: Rosa is still suspecting the servants (though she acts like she doesn't and wish to trust them) and therefore she's really becoming annoying, Battler-kun is on the edge and trapped by the twisted situations Beatrice set up and in this episode he apparently...I won't tell, watch xP But he starts thinking about the riddle with Maria (and I hope they'll find the
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According to tealovertoma, this episode was supposed to be mediocre, but I can’t see why. It yet again was a standard episode for Umineko, but the mystery yet again deepened, it gets harder and harder to explain everything with simple logic, which is exactly what the witch wants, and the situation gets more hopeless with [...]
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