Now this is the Umineko I’ve been missing! On a side note, I’d like to apologize for how long it’s taking me to get posts up. I’ve been suffering from a bad fatigue since Thanksgiving break.

The whole with Ange going places was pretty boring, but as soon as we got past that to the tests, the episode got a lot better. George reveals a not at all unexpected dark side, and Jessica proves that she understands that she can no longer make choices just for herself anymore.

My theory for the 3rd arch may be closer then I thought...

Both of these two led to the starts of some pretty awesome fights as George picks a battle with Gaap, and Jessica takes on Ronove.

He's willing to become a murderer for me! How romantic!

I’m not really sure what’s going to happen with Battler and Maria. I’m not even sure Battler wants to save his step-mommy, so I’m guessing Ange is going to be on that line. Still, I think it’s clear that Battler is a lot weaker in resolve then Jessica and George. I can’t see him trying to take on a witch or demon. Unless it’s Beato.

I’m not sure Maria even has anyone left she loves. Her response may be “Kill them all, kihehehe!”

-insert boob bounce here-

Things are mixed up once again, as now the kids will be competing with each other for the inheritance. Oh, and Kinzo has changed from his pathetic self in the second arc to this crazy ‘You all failed as kids, and should die!’

We flash back to Maria who goes off the deep end after the death of Sakutaro and attacks Rosa. To me, it felt excessive. Yes, Rosa sucked as a mother, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch Maria kill her off over and over again.

The episode definitely had its lulzy moments too. Shannon’s bouncing boobs that don’t follow the laws of physics at all anyone?

The theory is presented, thanks to RabbitPoet, who got it off Zilch, that Shannon may actually remember different archs. This actually does make sense.

Overall, this episode feels like one of the rougher episodes that happened earlier in the series, not the polished episodes I’ve come to expected, and not nearly enough of Battler and Beatrice showing off.

You should probably get comfy and use to painful deaths Shannon.

Ugh. I want cool Umineko back. Maybe I’m just missing the point. I don’t know.

To be blunt, this episode was not one of the best that Umineko has to offer. I think it was a needed evil to set up the fifth arc, but still…

EDIT: I apologize for my love of Woolly Mammoths messing up how to correctly spell Mammon’s name.

Sakutaro is a pimp~

Go Mammon, go!

We open with wrapping up with Ange, and seeing what caused her to snap and give up her magic. She seriously pissed me off in this scene. She didn’t even try to stand up for herself, or tell them to back off. She just starts sobbing and demanding the stakes to kill them. Great conflict resolution there. At least Mammon tells her off and tries to talk sense into her.

Maria's outfit is really cute. 5 stars.

Then we wrap up Maria’s backstory, where we see all of Rosa’s violence against Maria is really nothing compared to this scene. It was very sad, and made me feel uncomfortable to watch Maria have to go through that. She doesn’t even have a village to go try to save her…

;_;

At least in the end of the episode, Ange actually has a bit of character development, and does something that makes her actually LIKABLE. Call the presses. She reconciles with the stakes, and even summons Sakutaro to try to reunite him with Maria.

GREAT facial expression.

Just…more magic next episode? Kthx. I think that this ends the backstory, so let’s move foreword with the actual story.

She did. Really. I wasn’t entirely sure she was capable of anything but a cynical grin.

PROOF!

The more Maria develops, the more I like her as a character. She changed a lot from that really creepy girl in the first arch. I now feel like I can relate to her. Seeing the backstory on Maria was also very interesting, and her journey into becoming a Witch of Orgins. While the anime doesn’t explain that very well, a Witch of Orgins is akin to a white mage.

Umpfth! I think Sakutaro is the cutest mascot ever. In Umineko of all things.

Maria definitely a member of Team Beato though. However, I’ve been struck by a moment of insanity and can’t help but wonder if there’s a lot more dimensions to this then Beatrice good, Battler bad. It’s just…when Beato wants to be nice, she’s so dang nice.

He just gets cuter as the episode progresses.

Especially as the world of witches seems much better then the real world. At the very least, it’s thanks to witches that neither Maria nor Ange end up completely alone. Of course, you could argue that it’s thanks to witches Ange’s alone in the first place. Maria’s situation is definitely a sad one though, especially as she’s so willing to overlook what Rosa is doing.

Maria makes a good point.

Another character, or rather set of characters, that I’m getting more attached to as they develop are the Stakes of Purgatory. What were merely killing machines have become actual characters with personality.

Apparently the stakes are suckers for anything cute.

I really like Sakutaro’s voice actor. Usually, I don’t really care about voice actors, but this one’s voice is so adorable.

The episode ends with a deal with the devil. Say no Ange! These always end badly, and you don’t want to damn your brother to an eternity with Beato.

This episode was a little hard to keep track of all that was going on but it wasn’t too bad.

Why is Maria dressed differently...?

Basically, thanks to the events that occurred, Ange had a miserable time growing up, and is desperate to change her fate as well as save her family. Nice to know. Once again, the game restarts with our 18 players.

I find Ange interesting, for an unhappy person she’s rather kick-arse, but one thing keeps nagging me. Why did the animate her so badly?

Oh, a kudos to Ange for finally calling Battler out on the fact that he’s doing a terrible job. As Rabbitpoet pointed out, everytime Battler has the chance to prove himself, he drops the ball.

At least meta-Battler is making friends.

Also watching this episode, and from my post yesterday, I remembered how an outside force had something to do with the murders in Higurashi. Perhaps it’s possible there are more then 18 in that someone plotted it out behind, and then gave the plans to one of the family members to carrying out? However, I’d rather not see plots recycled.

On another note, I for one welcome the return of our normal evil Beato.

Oh. This episode introduces the cutest character ever to be seen in Umineko.  

D'awww

Squee~

Before I start episode 4, I wanted to put my thoughts on who did it. Let’s just make it clear though, I have no idea what happened in episode 1, my theories are only for episode 2+3. Inspired by a topic on the Umineko LJ community.

Image ganked from google.

Krauss- I’m split on this. In one view, he already is set up to inherit the money and has no reason to kill the family, in the other, it may be possible to guarentee his inheritence of the money.

Natushi-She definitely has motive, having no blood ties to the family, but after her role in Episode 1, I think she’s a huge red herring.

Jessica-Doesn’t have it in her.

Eva- Thanks to a split personality, I might believe this. However, as badly as Eva wants to inherit the money, I think her bark is worse then her bite. Especially as she’s presented as the murderer in episode 3. However, following on of my theories (see George and Shannon), I’d believe that she snapped after George’s and her husband’s death and went insane.

Hideyoshi-Doesn’t have in him.

George- I strongly believe that he and Shannon have had something to do with the murders, my guess is in episode 4. Their relationship is just so boring. Why? Simple. I WILL BE WITH SHANNON AT ANY COST, LOL. Further evidence? He is remarkably calm over his father’s death. My guess is his death in this arch is a suicide, which sets off Eva.

Rudolf- Has the skill, and wants the money. I kinda doubt he has it in, but I’m not sure.

Kyrie- Is a very likely suspect. I’m willing to bet she had something to do with the first arch. Kyrie has mostly been a background character, but we finally see in Episode 3 that she has a lot of anger, and not afraid to act on it. She also at least has motive for killing Battler, and possibly her own husband.

Rosa- Needs the money, and has a temper. I think she may be a bit of a red herring BUT I do believe she had something to do with the murders in the second arc. Not without aid though.

Maria-While she’s messed up, I don’t think she’s that messed up. She just wants her mommy to love her and to be a witch.

Genji-I think all the servents except Shannon were in on a plot in Episode 2, maybe with or without Rosa. However, a dispute emerged between everyone else and Kanon leading to a bloody battle to which Shannon found out about, and had to be killed. Alternatively, Kanon could have escaped then killed Shannon and George.

Nanjo-Has motive in that he needs the money. See Genji.

Ghoda-See Genji

Kanon-See Genji

Shannon-Continuing from George, Shannon is the one killed by accident on the theory Battler presents. However, it’s possible she doesn’t die right away/fakes her death somehow, but later she does somehow die. So either George kills her, George and Shannon are locked into a suicide pact, or she dies and then George kills himself.

Kumasawa- She kills everyone for being prettier finding other people prettier then her. In truth? See Genji.

Kinzo-He’s waaaay too into that occult stuff to resort to actual murder. He’d do some hokey spell to try to kill everyone.

Battler- Doesn’t have it in him.

Anyone else-It’s one of the orginal 18

Mackeral- Damn mackeral.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, WITCHES DID IT?- And aliens. Really, I wish it was this, but it can’t be that easy.

If any of these turn out even the slightest bit correct, I’m going to be so excited.

Hope everyone that celebrates Halloween has a Happy Halloween today. It’s still light out where I live so it doesn’t feel like Halloween yet. (And a totally old person thing to say is that in America, don’t forget the clocks go back an hour tonight.)

I decided that my sister needed to watch at least one 07th expansion/Studio Deen anime and episode 18 of Umineko No Naku Koro Ni being fresh on my mind (what an awesome episode), we started watched it last night – it also fits into the season. She seemed interested so let’s see how that plays out.

Here’s a picture of the pumpkins my family carved.

Mind’s the one on the bottom right. And here’s a few more Halloween themed anime pics – Happy Halloween.

What a wonderfully quotable episode! Finally get a chance to see what Battler’s parents are like, and I got to say, Kyrie is very awesome.

And right after the discussion about a stake making a perfect wife...

So true.

And this is the point I fell in love with Kyrie.

Although this episode also had it’s share of wtfery moments, such as the very classy stakes being replaced with these girls who seem like the meant to go to a generic magical girl anime, took a wrong turn, and ended up in Umineko.

O.O

WHAT IS MIKURU DOING IN UMINEKO???

Also, I was  kinda surprised that Battler wasn’t freaking out to discover Kyrie wasn’t his mommy persae…unless he already knows? There’s definitely some hidden drama to Battler’s family.

[No spoilers please, for myself, and for other readers.]

One of the interesting aspects of Umineko is watching Beatrice, well now, Beato grow and develop as a character, and her true personality being revealed, especially in this episode. Despite the whole crazy psychotic murderer thing, she comes across as rather childlike, naïve and innocent. Or maybe the psychotic murderer makes her seem even younger. Children are pretty damn ruthless, so it seems conceivable to me that she’s a child in an adult’s body.

Man, you still shouldn't hit a lady.

Another childlike aspect is her growing attachment to Battler that’s really came out in episode 15. At the start of the series, she could care less about how Battler cares about the situation as long as he’s a fun plaything. But the more the show goes on, the more Beato appear to feel that there’s a growing bond between her and Battler and that they’re on the same page. Of course, Battler still thinks she’s a psycho, but Beato fails to pick that up. Then again, Beato doesn’t seem to think there’s anything wrong with her way of doing ways.

Especially while we were playing Candyland!

It should be noted that there was a scene between Beato and Battler in the game that was omitted in the anime demonstrating a growing relationship.

Well, he has been watching you kill his family off over and over...

 So when Battler slaps Beato, the fantasy that she’s built comes crashing down, and for the first time she questions her way of doing things. However, I wonder if why is because she wants to do the right thing, or is blindly seeking approval from Battler?

I guess further episodes will tell. Not that Beato will stop being the crazy murderess persae…

 By the way, I definitely am a BeatoxBattler shipper

 [No spoilers please.]

            I tried to write a part 3 of the awards, but it sounded either bullshity, or like I had no idea what I was talking about. Between voice acting, music, and art, I kinda have an appreciation of music, and a large appreciation of art, but those two just wasn’t enough to make a post. So I’ve skipped ahead to the top seven of the season.

 Without further to do…

7. Umineko no Naku Koro Ni

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni got off to a slow start, working to flesh out and introduce us to the characters. However, at the end of episode II things truly started to pick up and episode III opened with a bang. We’re only two episodes into episode III, but I’m very excited. While Umineko has a tad too many characters, they’ve introduced a few I’ve become huge fans of, including Beatrice, Battler, and Shannon, who all have won their own awards this season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this show improve vastly over this season.

6. Baseball Playing Girls

“There’s no crying in baseball!” One of J.C. Staff’s three shows this season, this was probably their weakest show, although my no means a bad show. Baseball Playing Girls is the light hearted story about girl power, baseball, and 1920’s, and provides many entertaining moments. However, it also provides some wtf? moments and a few episodes that probably could have left out, or better yet, used to flesh out more of the supporting cast. While Akiko and Koume get plenty of screentime, the series fails to expand on the supporting characters. I would have liked to see every character get their own episode. Also, the show simply doesn’t have much depth. Although the show makes it obvious that it knows and accepts this, it doesn’t prevent it from being a weak point.

5. Cross Game

Cross Game is an excellent show with a well-paced story and well developed character. Over the course of the summer season, we did have some very excellent moments, especially with the addition of Azuma as an ally to the team. However, what knocked it down to number five on the list are a couple things. First off, it’s still an ongoing series halfway through its show. Cross Game continues on at a slow and steady pace, and is still in the stage of what would be rising action while other series have a completed story. Second of all, I have a few personal grippes with the series. Basically, the cousin creeps the hell out of me, and my enjoyment drops when he appears on the screen. Secondly, the creators have started indicating romantic interests between Kou and Aoba, but I don’t feel like there’s actual chemistry between the two yet. Hopefully, they’ll fix this as the series continues. Who knows? Maybe I just want Aoba for myself.

4. Pandora Hearts

Pandora Hearts is a kind of sore point for me, because I know people would have been all over this series if the animation had been better. But with the animation as bad as it is, you have to appreciate other parts of Pandora Hearts…and I don’t mean the convoluted story with its loose ends left unsolved. What Pandora Hearts does have going for it are for the most part well done and interesting characters, which it’s been proven many times over that if you can like the characters, it’s makes us for many lacking aspects. What else this series has going for it a better then average soundtrack. The second half of Pandora Hearts brought us the best the show had to offer. The was the development of the characters the show already introduced, especially Break who went from a character I didn’t like in the first half to a character I loved in the second half. We also met other characters, who while they didn’t get the screentime the deserved, still made the most of what they had, such as Elliot and Oliver.

3. Haruhi

I think this says something about the team behind Haruhi. I knocked it down to 3 because of The Endless Eight, but without it, who knows where Haruhi would have been? Haruhi makes it to #3 because of Signs. I loved Signs to death, and found it well done. With Mikuru beams, pigeons changing color, a talking cat, and an episode that brought on the fanwank Haruhi proves to use that it still have the potential to be epically awesome. Unfortunately, the high quality of Sighs only increases the wtf? factor of Endless Eight.

2. Sora no Manimani

Sora no Manimani is one of those show that gives me exactly what I want. Well-done interesting characters and a show that actually made me laugh out loud. The background music is surprisingly really well-done. Sora no Manimani was well executed, and for a show no one really knew what to expect, really outdid itself. However, the animation isn’t top notch, and Sora no Manimani doesn’t have such a strong storyline as our first place winner

1.Aoi Hana

Probably the only flaw I found with this show was the disappointing ending. Great characters, great animation, great plot, and one of my favorite things in the world, yuri. There’s so much I could say I love about this show, I could fangirl on for quite awhile. I think it’s safe to leave it at this show really showcases what makes an excellent anime, and deserves it’s number one spot.

Once again, you should check out the The Null Set if you haven’t. But as this is great advertising space, I’d like to add on that you should check out www.rabbitpoets.com for another great blog.

Now for the winners…

Best Action

Winner: CANNAN

Runner-up: Pandora Hearts

I was stuck between these two series as the both had some pretty awesome fights. While I felt Pandora Hearts action was just a tad better, we’d have it broken up by a few quieter episodes, while the action happened more often in CANNAN.  

Best Fight

Winner: Pandora Hearts with Xerxes Break and Chestire Cat

The best fight of the season was actually a fight that happened at the beginning of the season. An intense brutal fight with great dialogue, it lasted over a few episodes, and definitely pleased.

 Most Entertaining

Winner: Sora no Manimani

Sora no Manimani never failed to be entertaining with high energy and amusing situations. I always come out of it each episode feeling rejuvenated and with a smile on my face.

Most Interesting Setting

Winner: Baseball Playing Girls

Baseball Playing Girls is set in 1920 Japan. While 1920 in America brings up images of flappers, jazz, probation, and The Great Gatsby, Japan was a different place with a lot of social expectations. As I’m not overly informed about the Japan in this time setting, I find this extremely interesting.

Best Plot

Winner: Aoi Hana

Aoi Hana was an example of drama done right. With surprisingly revelations, and constants plot twist, this show did not fail to please.

 Best Villian

Winner: Beatrice from Umineko

Runner-up: Alphard from CANAAN

This season presented us with two fabulous villains, the unconventional Alpahrd of CANNAN with her obvious disrespect for anyone else yet refusing to kill both Maria and Cannan when she had the chance, she was also effective as she nearly killed off world leaders and defined the word ‘terror’ in terrorist. However, Beatrice proved even more fearsome then Alphard. Heck, she is forcing Battler to rewatch him family and friends die over and over. Her rap list doesn’t stop there, with the gruesome matter she kills his family, the humiliation of Battler whenever she admits defeat, and the feast she serves Maria’s mother. Her villainy only seems more fearsome when contrasted with her soft side she demonstrates on a few occasions, usually toward Maria.    

 Most in Need of a Sequel

Winner: Aoi Hana

Aoi Hana ended with Fumi realizing she loved Akira. I don’t know about anyone else, but I definitely want to see what happens next!

[Please warn before posting spoilers of any sort.]

Again, credit goes to The Null Set for the idea and the catagories. Check the blog out!

And without futher to do, the winners.

Best Female Main Character

Winner: Alice from Pandora Hearts

Our ever cheerful Alice.

Alice, who has been my fandom obsession for the past two seasons, takes the award for best female main character. The monstrous chain proved to a surprisingly complex character. Alice may have a tough exterior, but inside she was a rather lonely insecure person. She was also rather childish and playful. Still, unlike Oz who tended to be emo about his insecurities, she fought to overcome them, being blunt and straightforward with what she wanted. Not to mention her quite strong obsession with food. 

Best Male Main Character

Winner: Battler from Umineko

Any guy who has the line of ‘Slice up those cowtits and make me a sandwich,” is a pretty awesome guy. I rather like Battler have a character, he’s clever and tough, but he’s not perfect, as shown by his shameful loss in episode II of Umineko. Battler also shows himself as probably the only character in Umineko who can keep his head screwed on straight when everyone else is losing it.

Best Supporting Character

Winner: Shannon from Umineko

Runner-up: Itsuki from Haruhi and Break from Pandora Hearts

I place her as a supporting character because I view all the characters not in the metaworld as supporting character. I personally really like Shannon, her fighting spirit impresses me, as does her willingness to change her own destiny rather then accept it. Shannon also refuses to let Beatrice break her, choosing to treasure what she has at the end, rather then grieve over what she lost. Not to mention a yummy tattoo on her upper thigh.

It was hard to choose her over Itsuki from Haruhi and Break from Pandora Hearts. Itsuki is just an entertaining character who never fails to get an interesting response from Kyon. His manner of approaching problems is also unique, it’s not often in anime we get a good example of passive-aggressive character. Break is also a unique character, often hiding a very intelligent self under the mask of a complete clown. One of the interesting parts of Pandora Hearts was watching Oz manage to unravel who this man was.

Best Couple

Winner: Fumi and Akira from Aoi Hana

I know Fumi and Akira are not a canon couple, but the canon couples this season really didn’t appeal to me. There was the necrophilia couple in CANAAN, Akiko and her fiancée, Sugimoto and Fumi, as well as the Umineko couples.

Fumi and Akira are horribly cute, with the many activities they do together that feels very couple like, such as going to the movies, and their sleepovers together. The two also contrast each other very well, the quiet Fumi contrasted with the energetic Akira. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a couple that invoked so many ‘D’awww’ moments.

 Best Character Ability/Power

Winner: Mikuru Beam!

While it may not be the most practical power, and while people could argue that there were cooler powers this season, I’ve always wanted to shoot laser beams out of my eyes. Have a character with no idea how to control said power randomly shooting laser beams is a recipe for win in my book.

Best Cast of Characters

Winner: Sora no Manimani

Sa no Manimani gives a cast of lovable and thoroughly enjoyable characters. We’re given not only the members of the clubs, which includes an anemic President, but the two-sided head of the student council, the astronomy network, the museum staff, and so many more. All of these characters never fail to entertain, and receive a decent amount of screentime for a large cast in a 12 episode anime.

Best Character Development

Winner: Pandora Hearts

While there were a fair amount of characters that didn’t get much screentime, most of the ones that did grew and changed as characters. Although near the end of the series that tried to hit you over the head with how much the characters developed, it was indeed interesting to see how much the characters changed from point a to point b. The characters and the character development was the main draw to Pandora Hearts, and was done pretty well. It was enough to make up for lacking art and at times confusing storyline.

Best Character Development of a Single Character

Winner: Saku from Sora no Manimani

Watching Saku change as a character is a very interesting experience. He goes from a person closed off from the world and solely involved in books to a person openly interacting with the world around him, and noticing what’s happening. The metamorphous is startling, and beautiful to watch, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.